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Emsak: Fajer: Shoruk: Dohr: Asr: Maghreb: Eshaa:

Gaddafi forces fire Scud missile

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RAMADAN 17, 1432 AH

Emboldened by uprising, Syrian clerics speak out

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15 minutes of exercise can extend life 3 years

Man City trash Swansea 4-0

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Where is our money?, Kuwait lawmaker asks MP Muwaizri to launch anti-corruption campaign

Max 45º Min 33º Low Tide 08:03 & 20:29 High Tide 02:01 & 13:50

By B Izzak conspiracy theories

Hijacking tradition

KUWAIT: A road sign giving directions to the construction site of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port on Boubyan Island is seen on the road to Subiya. — Photo

by Yasser Al-Zayyat

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

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ugust 15 fell earlier this week. Kuwait has a tradition that the 12th, 13, and 14th days of Ramadan are special days for children when we celebrate something called Girgian. There is not an accurate interpretation of the word Girgian, but it is something similar to the way children in the West celebrate Halloween.

Girgian used to be held in the end of the month before Ramadan known as Sha’aban. Since it was in the end of the month and there was no electricity in Continued on Page 13 Ramadan Kareem See Page 13

Kuwait, Iraq hold talks over controversial port KUWAIT: An Iraqi technical delegation has held talks in Kuwait over a seaport Baghdad claims would strangle its narrow shipping lanes in the Gulf, the Kuwaiti foreign ministry said yesterday. The Kuwaiti side presented illustrations and studies on Mubarak Al-Kabeer port and its impact on shipping in Khour Abdullah waterway, said an official quoted by the KUNA news agency.

Khour Abdullah is a narrow waterway that separates

Iraqi and Kuwaiti shores off Boubyan Island where the megaport is being built, and leads to Iraq’s Umm Qasr port and other smaller ports. On Monday, the Iraqi delegation visited the site of the port, some 120 km north of Kuwait City and is due to hold more meetings with a regional environment organization and other technical bodies, the ministry said.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: MP Shuwaib Al-Muwaizri called yesterday for launching a major campaign against corruption in Kuwait and urged all sides to take part in the campaign which would be launched after the holy month of Ramadan. Titled “Where is our money”, the campaign aims at making Kuwaitis know where and how the country’s wealth has been squandered and to chase public funds thieves and those who assist them, Muwaizri said.

He said that “we want the campaign to be the first message to the government and those concerned that the Kuwaiti people are fed up with ongoing financial and administrative corruption” and deals carried out at the expense of the people. Muwaizri called on all MPs, citizens and the media to support the campaign which ultimately aim to hold to account all those who are responsible for squandering public funds.

The lawmaker said that those who squandered public funds now want the people to bear the burden of their actions, calling on those who doubt in this fact to review the events in the country during the past 10 years. Muwaizri described the proposed campaign as vital in order to avert the country the results of actions of corrupt elements.

In the meantime, MP Faisal Al-Muslim yesterday urged the government and other MPs to attend the emergency parliamentary session tomorrow, but at the same time charged that there are sides trying to foil the session from being held. Assembly speaker Jassem AlKhorafi on Monday sent out invitations for the session Continued on Page 13

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

local

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad hosts ghabqa

KUWAIT: Sheikh Ahmad Fahad AlAhmad Al-Sabah hosted a ghabqa last Saturday at the Regency Hotel, attended by a large number of guests, government officials, parliament members, ambassadors, as well as political, social and media and other dignitaries. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Chidren at the ghabqa.

Sheikh Ahmad welcoming the Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi.

Sheikh Salman Al-Hmoud and Sheikh Ahmad.

Sheikh Ahmad with MP Saadoun Al-Otaibi.

Sheikh Ahmad welcoming artist Hayat Al-Fahad.

Sheikh Talal Al-Ahmad and artist Suad Abdullah.

Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Fayez, Sheikh Talal and other guests

Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad and Nabilah Al-Anjari and other guests.

MP Falah Al-Azmi in the centre.

Guests seen at Sheikh Ahmad’s ghabqa.

Sheikh Khalifa Al-Duaij Al-Sabah and Abdulaziz AlBabtain.

Popular band performing traditional songs.

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Arayes bil Lahem

Ingredients • 1/2 large white onion, roughly chopped • 2 cloves garlic, smashed • 1/2 small bunch fresh parsley • 1 pound ground beef • 1 small tomato, diced fine • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • salt • 4 pieces pita (whole wheat or regular), cut into quarters • Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing Preparation 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Combine the onions, garlic, and parsley until finely minced. Remove to a large bowl and add in the beef, tomato, pine nuts, and lemon juice. Season with salt. Mix with your hands until well combined.

3. Arrange the pita quarters on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Fill each quarter with about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture, flattening it out so the filling is even. Brush each quarter on both sides with a little olive oil. Sprinkle salt on top.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. Pitas should be browned and crispy.

5. Served with fresh yoghurt

(From right) Zeyad, Ramzy and Kareem from Al-Rai Group welcoming guests.

Talib, Waleed and Rami

(From left) Abdullah, Raniya, Kowthar, and Adnan Saad

(From right) Rami, Rula, Zeyad and Hatim

Guests at the annual ghabqa

Hanaan, Souzi, and Haala

Al-Rai hosts media ghabqa KUWAIT: Al-Rai Media Group held its annual ghabqa event at the Holiday Inn in Salmiya, attended by staff members as well as representatives of local press, media and advertising firms.

The guests were welcomed personally by a team of senior directors in Al-Rai Group, led by General Manager of Marketing Kareem Thabet, and Advertising Manager Zeyad Majzoub, as they enjoyed a very special night featuring distribution of valuable prizes.

—Photos by Joseph Shagra

A view of people in attendance

Munjid and Zeyad

Sea Food Tharmadoor Guests at the event

Serves 5 Fish Hamour 200gm Shrimps 200gm Squid 200gm Lobster 200gm Cooking cream 200ml Mushroom 100gm Onion 50gm Garlic 20gm Parmesan cheese 50gm Salt 10gm Black pepper powder 5gm Tarragon or basil leaves 2gm Milk 150ml Butter 50gm Egg 3pieces White flour 5gm Preparation • Saute onion & garlic till became brown add mushroom.

• Add some basil or Tarragon leaves • Add all the sea food with mixer of sautÈ onion , garlic and mushroom • Add cooking cream with cheese and cooked till the seafood became cooked.

• Once the food cooked put in dish and put Egg yolk on the top of the cooked seafood and baked till the egg get dry and served.

Zeyad Majzoub and his spouse

Julie and Zeyad

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

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in my view

kuwait digest

Involve the right people

Surreal ordeal unfolds

By Abdellatif Al-Duaij he advisory committee to discuss local, international, economic and financial developments, includes representatives from the finance ministry, development and planning, central bank governor and Nasser Al-Roudhan in addition to Nabil Al-Manaee, Ali Rasheed Al-Bader, Jasim Al-Saadoun, Hamza Abbas, Abdelwahab Al-Wazan, Anas Al-Saleh, Khalid Al-Essa and Bader Malallah and other academicians and experts. The committee’s mission, as announced, is to report the squandering and overspending of public funds or national income by the populist members of parliament.

What is noticed is that the committee did not come to study the situation or evaluate matters. In reality, the policy of paying attention to securing the countr y ’s future was adopted when HH the Amir was prime minister as he had a strict stand regarding financial gifts, grants and increases. Yet, with regret, the populist pressures and appeals were given in to at the end and grants continued.

The government is required to take strict and instant decisions to stop overspending and guarantee the future of current and coming generations which will be threatened if the current spending policy continues. So either it issues its required decisions to guarantee the country’s security and safety immediately or convince the majority by involving it directly in making the required national decision.

The proposed committee does not include an official among those responsible for the fatal overspending and squandering. It will not be of any benefit for Jasim Al-Saadoun, for example, to lecture on rationalization for those who believe in the same among the committee members. So the government should involve the MPs who are interested in the financial squandering issue in the committee and let them see the true situation first hand. This will ensure that we get their support for the rationalization process in return, because they are keen on their children’s interests and their support to the national interest is almost guaranteed. — Al-Qabas

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By Lisa Conrad

lisa@kuwaittimes.net

kuwait digest

Ambitions to save Kuwait’s environment

By Iqbal Al-Ahmad ne of the best ways to contribute to charity is by having goals with unique, special elements and careful planning. Charity isn’t always about giving money, however, as remedying issues which have been reaping negative consequences on a long-term basis is certainly an extremely successful charitable endeavor.

Kuwait has some exceptional forms of charity work, carried out by committed volunteers who work on passion and genuine concern instead of praise or financial benefit. This group of young Kuwaiti men work to increase environmental awareness and promote volunteer work both within the region and internationally.

Their tireless work represents their love of Kuwait.

Working four meters underwater, these volunteers defy strong currents and temperatures that reach 33 C degrees.

Dubbed ‘The Kuwait Dive Team of the Environment Voluntary Foundation’ they are on a voluntary mission to save the environment of Kuwait. They’ve been able to remove waste stuck to coral reefs, in depths ranging between four and six meters underwater south of Um Al-Maradem Island. They were also successful in lifting huge tires, steel cables and fishing net out. They

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achieved these feats from their own initiative and with no expectations of reward, and it was their eagerness to serve their country which made their work a great success.

Coral reefs play a pivotal part in protecting biodiversity in Kuwait’s territorial waters, as they form a safe haven for many marine species, and solid waste discarded in the sea eventually settles on the reefs, thus harming the marine life within them.

Experts are already concerned about the possible environmental damage when the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port is constructed at Boubyan Island. Aside from the political controversy surrounding the port, many experts have called for environmental studies to be carried out in order to ensure that the impact the port will have on the current’s movement won’t harm the biodiversity in the Kuwait’s territorial waters.

Like the Kuwaiti divers who volunteer out of concern for their country, there are many Kuwaiti experts who are eager to meet with state officials to discuss the environmental aspects associated with the construction of Mubarak Al-Kabeer port. Just like the divers, these experts aren’t asking for fortune or fame in return; they act for Kuwait and Kuwait only. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Achieve reforms or resign

By Meshal Al-Thufairi ducation can help contribute towards the cause of society ’s improvement, depending on the quality involved.

Unfortunately, education in Kuwait, whether formal or not, has been suffering from negligence due to the lack of a clear plan.

Instead, there are individual efforts being made by each minister of education and higher education who ignore predecessors’ work and start from the scratch, turning the educational sector into an experimental field.

Education is one of the sectors affected most by tardiness. The Kuwait University’s overcapacity dilemma gained huge media attention. It is one aspect of this problem.

Other factors include building schools using corrugated metal panels.

The government tried to contain the KU overcapacity dilemma - a natural result of the fact that it remains the country’s only public university since 1966 - by building a ne w p ub l i c uni ve r s i t y i n S ha d d a d i ya .

However, the project has been suffering from a series of setbacks in the form of delays owing to pressure placed by people with influence. They take an interest in watching the business of private universities flourish.

To save the educational field in Kuwait, the Parliament should pass a law where the government can put in place a five -year plan that every new minister commits to. In addition, the government should assign a senior official to work with the minister of education and higher education, while introducing reforms to the Kuwait University and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). The PAAET will be separate d and begin granting BA degrees instead of diplomas.

S o, A hm a d A l -Mul a i f i , M i ni s te r of Education and Higher Education: if you are up to the challenge and can implement solutions to end the country’s educational woes, then your name will forever be etched in history. Otherwise, if you fail to place viable solutions and fight external intervention, I urge you to resign. — Al-Rai

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a tc hi ng t he r i ot s unrave l a c ros s England was an incredibly surreal, d e p re s s i ng ord e a l. Wi d e - e ye d, I watched in disbelief as the cities I had grown up in, attended university in, had all my memor i e s i n, b e s e t a f l a m e. The t hi ng t ha t w a s depressing, however, wasn’t as much to do with my attachment to the cities. It was more a dull, gnawing anger that England has seemingly lost an entire generation of youths and instead ended up with moronic gangs who have no regard for anyone, including their own neighbors.

Some have argued that the riots were a disaster waiting to happen, that the marginalized parts of society were already frustrated and disillusioned. Walking past the high-end boutiques of London, the defenders of rioters insisted, was reminding them of everything they couldn’t have. They lived in poor areas, they didn’t have the same chances, they were excluded from society and this was their way of taking power over a society that keeps them weak. Is this really true?

No. It’s not. The arguments in defense of rioters are indefinitely flawed however because in

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Furthermore, education is there to be taken advantage of. If you want to become something more and pursue a career that will allow you to enjoy higher standards of living, then go to school. Enjoy various grants, awards and loans to get through University. It is possible. But not if the majority of these youth’s time is spent begrudgingly blaming the ‘system’ for all of their woes.

England, you do have a huge amount of opportunity served to you on a silver platter. You may not be wealthy or enjoying a luxurious life, but you will receive free education. You will be treated in a healthcare system (albeit of questionable quality, but that’s another issue all together) at no cost. Should you find yourself single and pregnant without the means to pay for housing and food, a home will be provided for you along with an allowance. Living off of the government certainly isn’t ideal, but it is much more than many other countries provide.

Others fight for safety, shelter and democracy, whilst England’s youth fights for plasma screen televisions and Ugg boots.

Furthermore, education is there to be taken advantage of. If you want to become something more and pursue a career that will allow you to enjoy higher standards of living, then go to school. Enjoy various grants, awards and loans to get through University. It is possible. But not if the majority of these youth’s time is spent begrudgingly blaming the ‘system’ for all of their woes.

A girl that I attended school with had come from a drama and tear-filled background. Her parents were divorced, her father had no interest in financially supporting or seeing her or her sister. Her mother worked a minimum wage job and they lived in a council house in one of the most infamously crime-ridden neighborhoods in the area. All of her clothes were second hand, and she cut her own hair whenever it ne e d e d a t r i m . Thi s gi r l we nt on to s t ud y English literature at one of the most revered university’s in the country. She’s now pursuing her masters, and intends to complete a PhD and become a lecturer.

The issue in England, I feel, is the extent to which people have become accustomed confusing wants with needs. “I need a 42” plasma screen television, and society won’t give me one, so I’ll take it.” This is spoilt behavior at its worst, and ruins the image of the youths who are working hard to make a future for themselves. The actions of rioters and looters are consequences of spoiling, laziness and a real lack of ethical values. Local, small, independent shops were looted. If the wealthy and the government were to blame, and not greed, what was the motive for robbing them, exactly?

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Amir keen on giving committee freedom to initiate solutions Economic working team to meet next week KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is keen on giving the advisory committee for monitoring the local and international economic developments all freedom to propose their visions and solutions to the imbalances of the local economy, committee member and former minister of oil Dr Adel Al-Subeih said.

KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with President and members of the administrative bodies of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students. —KUNA

Crown Prince receives members of National Union of Kuwaiti Students KUWAIT: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah received President and members of the administrative bodies of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, France, the Arab Republic of Egypt, University of Kuwait and the United States of America.

HH the Crown Prince confirmed to the students the need to be armed with science and knowledge as they are the backbone of nation-building and industry of the future.

He also urged them to obtain the highest degrees for the sake of elevating the nation because they are young people of tomorrow and the future men and encouraged them to be good ambassadors for

their countr y in all scientific forums.

His Highness also told them to convey his greetings to all the Kuwaiti students studying abroad and wished them luck and success.

In turn, National Union of Kuwait Students (NUKS) members stressed the importance of taking the guidance of His Highness as a beacon and as an approach that would illuminate their way for them to achieve their hopes and aspirations of the future, praising at the same time the permanent support of the political leadership to overcome all the difficulties which impede their march of science. At the conclusion of the meeting, they presented HH a memorial gift on the occasion.

The meeting was attended by

Head of the Diwan of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mubarak Al-Faisal AlSaud Al-Sabah and Undersecretary of HH the Crown Prince’s Diwan for Local Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad AlJaber Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah.

HH received at Seif Palace yesterday Minister of State for Planning and Development Abdulwahab Rashed Al-Haroun. HH also met at Seif Palace Grandson of the Bahra Sultan Tikhom Muhiddin and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of his visit to the country.

The meeting was attended by Head of the Diwan of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mubarak Al-Faisal Al-Saud AlSabah. He also received at Seif Palace Dr. Anas Mohammed Al-Rashid. His Highness also received Dean of the Faculty of Arts Dr. Maymouna AlAthbi Al-Sabah. —KUNA

Awqaf Ministry prepares for last ten nights of Ramadan KUWAIT: Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs represented by the Grand M osque launched the schedule of activities and programs to be held while observing the last ten nights of the holy month of Ramadan at the mosque.

Deputy Undersecretary of the ministry Dr Mutlaq Al-Qarawi said in a press conference M onday evening, that the preparation of the mosques and setting the right ambiance of spirituality for the last ten nights of Ramadan is an important task for the ministry.

Al- Qarawi praised the role played by the Grand M osque department in early preparations for the holy month.

On his part, the director of the Grand Mosque department Saad Al-Hajji announced the readiness of the mosque on administrative, technical, as well as cultural level.

The depar tment, he added, selected the best Quran reciters to

“The initiative of HH the Amir to hold the meeting of the Advisory Committee stems from his feeling that the local economy has been gravely affected by the internal political disputes and the fallouts of the global financial crisis in 2008 as well as to HH the Amir’s concerns about the expected repercussions of this crisis in the coming stage,” Dr Subeih told KUNA yesterday.

He revealed that HH the Amir has urged the committee to take into account the financial situation of Kuwait while making proposals and taking decisions. HH the Amir has called for “objective and applicable solutions,” he said.

With regard to his view to the current economic situation, Dr Subeih described the situation as “worrying particularly to the political leadership”. “ The situation requires careful study in order to be able to implement the agreed upon policies quickly and effectively,” Dr Subeih pointed out.

Asked about the structural imbalances in the state budget, Dr Subeih admitted that there are clear imbalances in the budget as a huge percentage of oil and investment revenues are being spent on salaries, warning that if the oil price dropped a certain level set by the state, Kuwait’s ability to pay civil servants salaries would be negatively impacted.

He described the global economic situation as unstable due to countries’ interference in investments, noting that this would impact

Kuwaiti economy, citing the impact of the US debt crisis on the local economy.

He disclosed that the preliminar y meeting of the Advisor y Committee is meant to set outlines

Dr Adel Al-Subeih for reform measures and update previous studies in order to address the current imbalances.

The committee’s next move is to form a working group (executive committee) to study thoroughly these imbalances and propose solutions to them and referring them for final approval by His Highness the Amir. Subeih underlined that the Kuwaiti political leadership, headed by His Highness the Amir, is keen on taking all required reform measures to revive the national economy.

Meanwhile, the working team (or the executive committee) formed by the Advisory Committee on

global and local economic developments in its meeting, held under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah on Monday, will hold its first meeting next week.

Minister of State for Development Affairs Abdul-Wahab Al-Haroun told KUNA that the ten-member working team will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah AlSalem Al-Sabah.

It will also include as members ministers, government officials and representatives of private sector, the cabinet’s economic committee and the economic committee of the Supreme Council for Planning.

He added that the working group will hold its first meeting next week to study all the issues raised at the meeting of the Advisory Committee, set priorities and form subcommittees.

“The subcommittees will focus not only on diagnosing and theoretical researches, but on finding practical and applicable solutions to the raised problems,” he stressed.

The minister noted that HH the Amir directives have been reflected in his address to the Advisory committee.

“HH the Amir has voiced concerns over the future of coming generations, the structural imbalances in the state budget and the decline in crude oil prices in world markets and its impacts on the national economy,” Al-Haroun said. —KUNA

Underage girls found working as promoters

KUWAIT: Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs officials seen during the press conference. — KUNA lead the prayers for the last ten nights of the holy month. Mishari Al-Afasi, Fahad Al-Kandari, Khaled Al-Juhaim, Majed Al-Enizi, and Qutaiba Al-Zwaid are the chosen readers this year, Al-Hajji announced.

In collaboration with the ministry, Al-Hajji said that the Grand Mosque department prepared an awareness campaign for this season, out of strong belief in the

important role of media in spreading the right atmosphere as well as improving level of awareness.

The printed press, as well as audio and visual and multimedia media are all important and to be used to send out daily coverage of the activities held as well a s t h e Ta r a w e e h a n d Q i a m prayer. There would be live coverage via the Internet as well, he said. —KUNA

Health Minister warns doctors KUWAIT: Doctors and other medical staff at state hospitals must comply with regulations and work their full shifts in the interests of the patients and the greater good of the country, said health minister Dr. Helal Al-Sayer on Sunday, urging medical personnel to use the digital fingerprint attendance monitoring system when arriving at and leaving work.

Dr. Al-Sayer is reportedly concerned at the number of doctors and other medical personnel at state hospitals working for only par t of their scheduled hours before leaving to conduct operations at private hospitals to augment their income.

He has apparently requested that the health ministry’s medical licenses department monitor private hospitals in order to ensure that doctors working at state hospitals are not working at any of these facilities during their scheduled working hours at the state hospitals. If it is proven that they have done so, he said, “the [private] hospital in question may be penalized by the closure of the surgical suite for a minimum of one week, as well as punishing the doctor himself.” —Al-Jarida

KUWAIT: An official source at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) revealed that several companies have been illegally hiring underage girls to work as promoters in malls, Co-ops and marketing events. The source added that hundreds of underage girls have been hired for the promotional work.

The girls reportedly entered Kuwait on family visas but have instead been working, in violation of the private sector labor law. The source also noted that, in addition to their work in Co-ops and malls, one company had hired more than 200 of the girls to work at various, very prof-

itable, trade fairs. The MSAL insider said that the relevant authorities would be held responsible for failing to fulfill their duties, as well as failing to utilize the three-party parliamentary committee, which was set up to adjudicate on issues of this nature. The insider further contended that although the MSAL had asked the Ministry of Interior to revive the three-party committee to draw up new regulations to more strictly control the local labor market, the interior ministry refused the request on the basis of a lack of accommodation for the increasing number of illegal residents in the country. —Al Rai

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Suspending agreements with Syria could harm Kuwait Hayef condemns MoI for filing case against him

KUWAIT: A public transportation bus is seen following a collision on the Sixth Ring Road yesterday. Police, who headed to the scene with an ambulance crew minutes after the accident was reported, controlled the traffic after the crash led to a tailback. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Five hurt in road accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 27-year-old Kuwaiti woman was rushed to Mubarak Hospital after suffering multiple injuries in a car crash on Damascus Road near the Qurtuba turn-off. In a separate incident, a 38year-old Syrian sustained fractures to bones in his left foot in a car crash in Block 12 of Salmiya. He was also taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Following another car crash, this time on Mohammed Ben Al-Qassem Street between the Riggae and Al-Rai areas, a 33-year-old Iraqi woman who complained of severe back pain and a 48year-old Bangladeshi man who complained of bad chest pain were taken to Farwaniya and Al-Razi Hospitals respectively. Meanwhile, a 28-year-old Syrian motorist received treatment for minor burns to his hands at the scene from paramedics after putting out a blaze that broke out in his car engine on the Airport Road opposite the Dajeej turn-off.

Naha suicide A 25-year-old Indian man committed suicide by hanging himself in a room at his accommodation in Naha. The body was removed for autopsy. In a separate incident, a 23-year-old Sri Lankan maid was rushed to Hawally Medical Center after attempting to kill herself by slashing the veins in her left wrist. Staff at the center subsequently referred to Mubarak Hospital. Police are investigating the reasons behind her suicide attempt.

Two fires Two elderly Jordanian ladies both

aged 70 were rescued from a blaze that broke out at their apartment in Salmiya.

One of the women was treated at the scene for minor burns to her left arm whilst the other was taken to Mubarak Hospital after suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.

Another blaze broke out in a thirdfloor apartment in a Salhiya apartment block. Two firefighters, both aged 28, were treated at the scene, one for minor injuries and the other for smoke inhalation. The fire was quickly extinguished and no other casualties were reported.

Newborn abandoned Emergency services personnel rushed to the scene after a householder in Sabah Al-Salem reported that a newborn baby had been abandoned outside his home. The infant is currently being cared for at Adan Hospital. A case has been filed and police are attempting to trace the mother.

Driver robbed An Arab expatriate, working as a delivery driver, reported to police that he was attacked and mugged by four unknown men, who stole his mobile phone and the KD 230 that he was carrying. Police are hunting for the culprits.

Salon scrap A number of youths were taken to Sabah Hospital after sustaining various injuries in a fight that broke out at a hairdressing salon in Riggae. Police have launched an investigation to find out how the fracas began.

KUWAIT: Any move by the Kuwaiti government to suspend previous agreements with the Syrian administration would harm Kuwait by giving Damascus free rein to cancel repayment of its loans, according to a cabinet insider.

Speaking on condition of anonymity after the cabinet reportedly referred the proposal on suspending relations to its legal committee in order to verify its legality and assess any possible repercussions for Kuwait, the insider insisted that “suspending the agreements signed between Kuwait and Syria serves the Syrian administration, which is compelled by these agreements to repay monies loaned by Kuwait.” The insider further suggested that such an action would lead to financial losses for Kuwait.

The cabinet discussed the issue during its weekly meeting on Sunday, with attention currently focused on what action the international community plans to take over the ongoing carnage in Syria.

On a related issue, a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee said on Monday that the committee had received no requests to hold any extraordinary session to discuss the parliamentary proposal to freeze all ties with Damascus, which would include the suspension of loans and commercial agreements with the Syrian administration.

The committee member, MP Dr Maasouma Mubarak, revealed that the committee had met with Deputy Premier and Foreign

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: The GCC Council of Ministers is reportedly set to meet shortly in order to coordinate their stance on current events in the region, with particular reference to the situations in Syria and Libya, as well as conferring on the GCC initiative on the crisis in Yemen.

According to one high-level insider, the ministers are likely to formulate an initiative on Syria like the one already in place on Yemen, which will follow a similar strategy to that put forward in previous statements and match Turkish moves to find a solution to the turmoil besetting Syria at present. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the insider said that the GCC nations’ foreign ministers are set to put forward a joint strategy to be discussed at a series of UN meetings set to take place next month focusing on the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In other news, the government is apparently set to request amend-

Statement from the Russian Embassy human lives. There is no doubt that the population of South Ossetia would simply have been wiped out without Russia’s protection. Indeed, staff documents captured by our troops have proven that Georgia had been preparing a similar attack on Abkhazia.

After the inglorious failure of its criminal venture, Thilisi categorically refused to discuss the status of the two republics in any form, and the Georgian leaders plainly said that “the war was not over.”

Simultaneously, certain states sponsors of Georgia - voiced the intention to restore its military potential. It became clear then that Georgia and its allies continued to pursue the policy of violently resolving the Abkhazian and South Ossetian issues against the will of these peoples. The opportunity for peaceful settlement and these people’s ability to exercise their right to self-determination within the Georgian state was completely lost.

It was clear, therefore, that the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could guarantee their survival and peaceful development only by establishing independent states.

This is the ground for recognition of their independence by Russia and some other states, which fully meets the fundamental principles of international law.

Today, the young republics of Transcaucasia, under Russia’s protection and relying on its comprehensive support, are successfully building their statehood. They are overcoming the effects of a long-term suffocating blockade and the barbarous military activities by Tbilisi, and are making gradual economic and social improvements.

The overall situation in the region

has also calmed down. A certain system of maintaining security has been set up at the borders between Georgia and Abkhazia, and Georgia and South Ossetia: the presence of Russian border guards and military bases on one side of the border and the European Union observers on the other side makes it possible to contain Thilisi from serious provocations. Late last year, Mikhail Saakashvili, under pressure from the international community, officially renounced the use of force. Sukhum and Tskhinval did the same, although, with their bitter experience, they are skeptical about the promises of the Georgian side.

However, the Georgian leadership continues to persistently deny the obvious, i.e. the irreversibility of the political implications of its criminal venture in August 2008. Time and again, Mikhail Saakashvili has strayed from peaceful assurances and claims that the war is not over to invitations to “celebrate New Year’s Day in Sukhumi.” In an attempt to bring Abkhazia and South Ossetia back to Georgia, he suggests taking measures that are infeasible or sometimes even quite insulting to Abkhazians and Ossetians.

We are convinced, however, that over time Georgia will come to an understanding that it is impossible to bring back the lost territories by force or fraud. Then the time will come for Thilisi to begin establishing equal, warm neighborly relations with Abkhazians and South Ossetians, which will undoubtedly serve the interests of the region and the entire international community.

There is no doubt that the two new states will continue to fairly integrate into the international community.

E-Dama pays tribute to late Khalid Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah

Khalid Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah

KUWAIT: Official sponsor of the Seventh Late Sheikh Yousuf Al-Saud Al-Sabah EDama Tournament, Sheikh Ali Al-Yousuf Al-Saud Al-Sabah will award three more coveted prizes to top three finalists. This move is a tribute to the late Sheikh Khalid Al-Yousuf Al-Saud Al-Sabah who passed away this year, commemorating his efforts to support the youth and sporting activities.

ment insider also revealed that three cabinet members plan to attend the extraordinary parliamentary session convened for tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss the overcapacity problem at Kuwait University, Kuwait’s sole state university which opened in 1966. It has been decided that the session should go ahead as planned, despite the university’s decision to accept almost 2,100 more new students in the second semester of the 2011-12 academic year, on top of the 8,000 other high school graduates already set to start there when the university reopens in a few weeks.

As well as education minister Ahmad AlMulaifi, two other ministers, Ali Al-Rashid and Dr. Mohammad Al-Busairi, respectively the ministers of cabinet affairs and parliamentary affairs, will be attending tomorrow’s session, with the cabinet team reportedly set to explain a number of proposals put forward to resolve the problems facing the country’s further education system. As well as pushing for the university to accept greater student numbers, the government has also increased the financial subsidies given to the university to fund the necessary purchase of additional equipment and the recruitment of more lecturers. Another issue which the government representatives reportedly plan to touch on during the parliamentary session is the government’s long-term plans for Kuwait University and Kuwait’s further education system generally in order to avoid further problems to those faced this year. — Al-Rai

GCC ministers to discuss current regional events

On the international recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia KUWAIT: The roots of the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia and the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia are related to radical nationalists who took over in Georgia in 1990 under the slogan ‘Georgia for Georgians.’ The chauvinistic policy towards ethnic minorities led to violent attempts to suppress the Abkhazians and Ossetians who were seeking national self-determination. An end was only brought to the rapidly unfolding armed confrontation in 1992-1993, thanks to Russia’s peacekeeping efforts.

Even after this, however, the Georgian leadership for many years constantly sabotaged the peace agreements reached with the help of Russia and implemented with the participation of the UN and OSCE. The attempts to gain control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia by force, provocations and attacks continued. In August 2004 President Saakashvili’s armed units attacked Tskhinval, but defenders of the city stopped them. In July 2006 Georgian troops occupied the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia in defiance of the current settlement agreements. In August 2008 Georgian troops, under the orders of President Saakashvili, launched a new military attack, unprecedented by its scale and cruelty. A large-scale attack on South Ossetia began on the night of August 8, with the massive bombardment of Tskhinval using heavy artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems. Hundreds of civilians were victims, with Russian peacekeepers also killed.

The Russian leadership had no choice other than to stand up to the Georgian militarists. This decision was not only legitimate, it was also in line with the moral duty to defend

Minister Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah to discuss the situation in Syria, but cautioned that “the [Kuwaiti] constitution doesn’t permit the parliament to intervene in agreements that the government signs with foreign governments.”

Also in connection with events in Syria, MP Mohammad Hayef has condemned the Ministry of Interior for filing a case against him concerning a recent statement in which he suggested that religious scholars should be consulted on the possibility of executing the Syrian ambassador to Kuwait over his relations to the Syrian regime, as well as his alleged involvement in war crimes. Speaking at a press conference held on Monday, Hayef controversially claimed that an “Iranian lobby” in Kuwait had influenced the government’s decision to “prosecute a man who defends the Syrian people in their revolution against its regime”, arguing at the same time that the case has no legal basis.

On the same subject, MP Jamaan AlHarbish told the Public Prosecution that Hayef merely asked for a religious consultation over the subject as opposed to clearly advocating the murder of the ambassador, as his statements might imply. Al-Harbish was summoned to give his testimony as a witness since he was present during the gathering at which Hayef made his controversial comments. Other MPs who were present at the Irada Square where the gathering was held are also expected to be summoned during the trial. On a separate subject, the govern-

This announcement was made by Dr Nouri Al-Wattar Head of the tournament’s organizing committee, noting that the new prizes will be added to the grand prize. The E-Dama tournament will be held at the Yacht Club of the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) till August 18, featuring participation of more than 100 enthusiasts of the traditional board game.

ments to the laws governing the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system, after the ministerial economic committee urged changes to the current system, which it insists is incapable of meeting the objectives required of it. One source close to the committee explained that the proposed amendments would be submitted to the National Assembly (parliament) Council shortly to be put on the agenda for discussion during the upcoming parliamentary term as an “urgent” priority issue.

A number of projects using the BOT system are currently suspended since no firms are interested in bidding given the numerous bureaucratic complexities involved in the system at present, the source explained.

The source also asserted that the government is untroubled by the prospect of being questioned over the proposed amendments since they are concerned with benefiting the Kuwaiti economy rather than certain individuals, as some have already claimed, and will only be passed with the agreement of the NA Council.

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Frequent flier fracas: Muslims face travel woes

Obama, Reps clash on jobs

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Indian anti-graft activist arrested Nation in uproar over corruption protest crackdown

AHMEDABAD, India: Indian supporters of People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL) hold cutouts of social activist Anna Hazare and shout slogans during a protest yesterday. —AP NEW DELHI: Indian police arrested an anticorruption hunger-striker and detained 1,400 of his supporters yesterday in a crackdown that provoked outrage in the world’s biggest democracy. Veteran campaigner Anna Hazare, 74, was taken to jail after plain-clothed police picked him up at an apartment in New Delhi yesterday morning shortly before he was due to start his “fast unto death” in a public park.

About 1,400 people rallying in protest at Hazare’s arrest were held by police and taken to a sports stadium where a large crowd gathered outside, sparking a tense stand-off with officers.

Corruption has become a key issue of public discontent in India, and Hazare has emerged as a prominent national figure for his campaign to demand changes to a new anti-graft law currently before parliament. “Will this movement be stopped by my arrest? No, not at all. Do not let it happen,” Hazare said in a message yesterday morning predicting the day’s drama. “This fight for change which has begun, we will take

it forward on the path of non-violence as long as there is life in the body. Thank you. Victory to Mother India!” he added.

Home Minister P Chidambaram denied the government was quashing dissent, saying protest organisers had refused to guarantee to obey police orders that the rally would be limited to 5,000 people and could only last three days. “This government is not against peaceful protest,” he stressed. Further demonstrations erupted in Chennai, Hazare’s home state of Maharashtra and elsewhere after the frail devotee of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi was taken to the capital’s Tihar jail.

“Anna Hazare refused to provide an undertaking to a special executive magistrate (to follow police orders on the protest),” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. “He has been taken to the jail for seven days but he can always submit a plea for his release.” Supporters said he started his fast in jail, but police declined to confirm the reports.

Corruption has rocketed up the agenda in

fast-developing India after a series of scandals, notably a telecom licence scam that is thought to have cost the country up to $39 billion in lost revenue. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the opposition, accused authorities of an “absolutely undemocratic” act in arresting Hazare as protests in the national parliament forced business to be adjourned for the day. “It’s a bizarre and thoughtless act on the part of the government,” party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy told AFP, describing the police action as an “instigation to aggression”.

Many observers believe the crackdown reflects concern that Hazare may become a figurehead for a broader protest movement against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which is also grappling with an economic slowdown and high inflation. Zoya Hassan, a politics professor at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told AFP that Hazare’s detention was a “violation of basic liberties”. “It’s a bumpy road ahead,” she said. “The civil society activists have significant middle-class support

and they have ample media support. The detention will cause a lot of unrest.”

In June, police halted another anti-corruption hunger strike in Delhi when officers broke up a protest by yoga guru Swami Ramdev that had attracted national headlines. In April, Hazare staged a 98-hour hunger strike that pushed the Congress-led government into allowing him and his supporters to help draft the new anti-corruption law, called the “Lokpal” bill. The bill, since introduced in parliament, would create a new ombudsman tasked with investigating and prosecuting politicians and bureaucrats, but Hazare wants the prime minister and higher judiciary to come under scrutiny.

Arguing that his recommendations had been ignored, Hazare had planned to begin a second hunger strike yesterday. Hazare, a life-long bachelor who wears simple, white homespun cotton, is a social conservative who dreams of an India centred around selfsufficient villages - much like his hero Gandhi. —AFP

Gaddafi forces fire Scud missile BENGHAZI, Libya: Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fired a Scud missile for the first time in Libya’s civil war, a US defence official said, after rebel advances left the Libyan leader isolated in his capital. Rebels fighting to end Gaddafi’s 41year rule seized two strategic towns near Tripoli over the past two days, cutting the city off from its supply lines and leaving the Libyan leader with a dwindling set of options if he is to stay in power. However, pro-Gaddafi forces were encountering a fight-back in one of those towns, Zawiyah, west of Tripoli. Snipers concealed in tall buildings were picking off rebel fighters, and salvos of Russianmade Grad rockets landed in the town.

The Scud missile was fired on Sunday morning from near Sirte, Gaddafi’s home town 500 km (310.7 miles) east of Tripoli, and landed further east between the rebel-held towns of Brega and Ajdabiyah, said the US official. The missile came down in the desert, injuring no one, said the official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate comment from the government in Tripoli. Firing the missile, which poses little military threat because it is so inaccurate, is evidence of the Gaddafi administration’s desperation, said Shashank Joshi, Associate Fellow at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute. “It’s an obvious sign that the regime’s back is to the wall,” he said.

In the six months of fighting up to

now, Gaddafi’s forces have used shortrange Grad rockets but have not before deployed Scud missiles, which have a range of about 300 km. In the rebel headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi, officials said the Scud was probably intended to hit rebel forces near Ajdabiyah. “Gaddafi troops are using his last gun. He’s crazy,” said Mohammad Zawawi, media director for rebel forces.

“We’re scared he’ll use chemicals. That’s why we’re trying to end this war and we hope to end it with the least number of casualties. We can’t prevent the scuds but we hope NATO can. NATO has the technology to detect them.”

Analysts say the rebel strategy is to isolate Tripoli and hope the government collapses, but they say it is also possible Gaddafi will opt to stage a last-ditch fight for the capital. In a barely audible telephone call to state television in the early hours of Monday, Gaddafi called on his followers to liberate Libya from rebels and their NATO supporters. “Get ready for the fight ... The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield,” he said.

He was speaking as rebels made their most dramatic advances in months of fighting, shifting the momentum in a conflict that had been largely static and was testing the patience of NATO powers anxious for a swift outcome. Rebel forces in the Western Mountains south of Tripoli surged forward at the weekend to enter Zawiyah. The town is about 50 km west of

Tripoli and, crucially, straddles the main highway linking the capital to Tunisia. A day later, rebels said they had captured the town of Garyan, which controls the highway south from Tripoli linking it to Sabha, a Gaddafi stronghold deep in the desert. “Gaddafi has been isolated. He has been cut off from the outside world,” a rebel spokesman from the Western Mountains, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters by telephone.

Tripoli officials deny the rebels control Zawiyah, and say their forces are preparing to drive “armed gangs” from Garyan.

Rebels on the outskirts of Zawiyah said most of Gaddafi’s forces had pulled out of the town, but left behind snipers who made it dangerous for the anti-Gaddafi fighters to move around. A Reuters reporter saw a rebel pick-up truck deliver six government troops to a makeshift prison. Each of the prisoners was blindfolded with green fabric. They were made to kneel facing a wall and several rebels walked by, shouting at them and slapping them on the head. “They were firing at us,” said Abdel-Muiz Ramadan, 20, a rebel fighter. “We captured one of them and he gave us the location of the others.”

He said the snipers were concentrated in tall buildings around Martyrs’ Square, focus of a failed revolt by Zawiyah residents earlier this year. “Every time we approach the area, one of their snipers fires at us,” said Ramadan. —Reuters

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Emboldened by uprising, Syrian clerics speak out AMMAN: Inside an old Damascus mosque, Sheikh Sariya Al-Rifai departs from state-sanctioned sermons to warn President Bashar AlAssad that the whole country will rise up against him if he does not halt a bloody clampdown against protesters. “Beware ... all of Syria will erupt if you don’t stop. I hold the leadership responsible for every drop of spilled blood,” Rifai said in a sermon marking dawn prayers on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, just as tanks rolled into the Sunni Muslim bastion of Hama. “I never imagined that the leadership of this country would give such a gift to its people and country ... blood spilling into the streets of Hama and other provinces.”

Rifai’s comments earlier this month inside the Zaid bin Thabet mosque were seen on an Internet video and confirmed to Reuters by worshippers who attended the prayer service. A pillar of a conservative religious establishment linked to the state, Rifai comes from a long line of Quran scholars who have taught generations of devout followers and refrained from challenging the iron rule of the Assad family. But as the civilian death toll from a crackdown on five months of protests rose past 1,700, Rifai joined 19 leading clerics to sign a rare petition, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, blaming Assad for wreaking carnage on the eve of Ramadan, “the month of mercy and compassion”.

The onset of the holy month on Aug 1 coincided with the start of the bloodiest week in the uprising, helping drive some clerics to break their silence, clerics and analysts say. Their new boldness could pile more pressure on Assad and give

extra momentum to protests against Assad’s minority Alawite rule over the mainly Sunni Muslim country.

In an effort to preempt dissent, security forces in Ramadan stepped up detentions of clerics known for attracting large crowds by their fiery anti-government sermons. Others have gone into hiding, activists said. In Deraa, where the uprising erupted in March, Sheikh Ahmad Sayasneh remains under house arrest in a residential compound close to the city’s security headquarters after criticising authorities early on, residents say.

“In Ramadan, sheikhs who have spoken against the regime are being rounded up and arrested because they are influencing people and whip up sentiment to join protests,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The dissenting preachers contrast with a majority of Sunni Muslim clerics dependent on the state for their livelihood who - although they may harbour misgivings about Assad’s rule deliver sermons that shower support on his ruling family. Pillars of the establishment, symbolised by prominent Islamist scholar Sheikh Said Ramadan Al-Bouti and the Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hassoun, remain solidly behind Assad and have implored Syrians on state media to stay off the streets. From the pulpit of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, one of Islam’s holiest sites, Bouti has equated those calling for the downfall of the regime with “those seeking the demise of Islam”. “They are scum,” he added on several occasions. Witnesses say the numbers of worshippers at the historic and once-overcrowded mosque

have dwindled, as its clerics are seen as mouthpieces for Assad, while other places of worship have turned into magnets for protesters. Sheikh Muaz Al-Khatib, banned for the last 15 years from preaching after he was removed from his post as Imam of the Umayyad mosque, criticised proAssad clerics for not condemning the intensifying military assaults on protesters. “The big symbols of the religious establishment should be the umbrella that brings together the state and people to prevent bloodshed,” Khatib, who was jailed for a month during the uprising, told Reuters from Damascus.

Khatib is one of a few prominent anti-Assad clerics who remained in Syria, enduring decades of repression. Many others fled after the Baath Party ’s brutal repression of the Muslim Brotherhood, culminating in the 1982 crushing of an armed Islamist uprising in Hama in which many thousands were killed.

Assad’s assault on Hama at the start of Ramadan showed disregard for majority Sunni sentiment, said Andrew J Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Tabler described the assault as “a bizarre calculation for a minority Alawite dominated-regime that carried out a massacre in the same city in 1982”.

Sunni disquiet toward Syria’s Alawites, an offshoot of Shiism, has built up in the last few months as security forces shoot at funerals in and around mosques and the army encircle leading mosques ahead of Friday, witnesses and human rights campaigners say.

In Hama, damage to at least a dozen mosques not only has inflamed passions among its reli-

Israel kills Hamas man after Gaza rocket strike Israel nabs Al-Jazeera Kabul bureau chief GAZA CITY: One Palestinian was killed and seven wounded in at least four overnight Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said yesterday. The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted four areas in the Gaza Strip in response to the firing of a Grad rocket from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel. Adham Abu Selmiya, spokesman for the Hamas-run emergency services in the Gaza Strip, said the strikes had killed one Palestinian and wounded seven.

“We learned of the martyrdom of the youth Musa Shtawe, 29, who died of his injuries after a strike east of Gaza City,” he said. “The outcome of the Israeli aggression during the past 24 hours is now one martyr and seven injured.”

The Israeli military did not specify which sites it had targeted, but Palestinian sources said they counted five air strikes across Gaza.

Three of the raids hit targets east of Gaza City, including the Zeitun neighbourhood, they said. Further south, two more raids were carried out east of Khan Yunis and on a tunnel under the border with Egypt near Rafah, they said. “The raid in Rafah left three people injured, including a child,” Abu Selmiya said. In a statement, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said Shtawe was a member of the group. “He was martyred after a journey of jihad... and hard jihadi work,” the group said.

The Israeli military said it carried out the strikes “in response to the firing of a rocket from the Gaza Strip at the city of Beersheva.

“In a separate incident, IDF soldiers identified a squad of terrorists planning to fire rockets at Israel. IAF (Israel Air Force) aircraft thwarted the attempt, confirming a hit,” it said. The rocket that hit near Beersheva did not cause any damage or injuries, the military said.

Israeli public radio said a second rocket had been fired at Beersheva, but it was not immediately clear where it landed.

Meanwhile, Israel has arrested the Palestinian head of Al-Jazeera’s Kabul office, accusing him of belonging to Hamas and contacting its militar y wing, the channel’s Jerusalem bureau chief told AFP yesterday.

Samer Allawi was arrested last Wednesday as he tried to cross to Jordan from the West Bank, where he had been visiting his family, Walid Al-Omary said. Yesterday morning, he was taken before an Israeli military court in the northern West Bank which extended his

GAZACITY: Palestinian mourners cary the body of Musa Shtawe during his funeral in Gaza City yesterday after he was killed and seven injured by overnight Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip. (Inset) Palestinian Wajeeha Allawi, 76, mother of Al-Jazeera reporter Samer Allawi poses with a picture of his son inside her home in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday. — AFP/AP detention for another seven days. It accused him of “membership in Hamas” and having “contact with members in Hamas’s military wing,” Omary said after the court hearing.

Allawi’s lawyer told Al-Jazeera it was the first time he had heard the allegations against his client who had not been questioned about ties to Hamas. “This is the first time such accusations were pointed at Allawi, which are completely denied by Allawi and his lawyer,” Omary said. The Kabul bureau chief was detained at the Israeli-controlled Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan last week. Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service confirmed the arrest but declined to give any additional details.

Omary said Allawi, who has been given access to a lawyer, was being held at the Kishon prison in northern Israel and had been questioned extensively about his family and his work in Afghanistan. “They’re asking him ‘Who visited you when you were at your family’s house? With whom did you meet? How do you do your job there in

Afghanistan? Do you have any contacts with the Taleban?’” Omary said interrogators had also asked Allawi about his schooling in Nablus, his personal finances and whether he had contacts with foreign intelligence services.

“The investigators have taken his password for his personal email and also his password for I-News ... which is Al-Jazeera’s specialised news program,” he said. Omary said Allawi was detained after spending around three weeks with his family in the northern West Bank village of Sebastia near Nablus. Yesterday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling on Israel “to clarify the legal basis for holding Al-Jazeera correspondent Samer Allawi.” “Israel must clarify why it continues to hold Samer Allawi,” the group’s regional program coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem said. “Our concern for Allawi’s well-being and his legal rights is amplified with every passing day that he is held without due process.” — AP

giously conservative majority Sunni residents but revived memories of a time when the city’s centre and symbols of Islamic heritage were razed. “ They want to provoke a Sunni backlash to plunge Syria into sectarian warfare,” said Sheikh Ahmad Al-Alawani, who preached at the Muaz Ibn Jabal mosque in Hama, one of the mosques that had shell holes from the Ramadan assault. In the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor, security forces scribbled graffiti of “No God but Bashar” instead of the “No God but Allah” on several mosques in the Juwra neighbourhood.

In a country where political gatherings are banned, mosques remain a focus of the protests.

Authorities have also shown on state television alleged confessions of detainees who have talked about how mosques have been used as centres to store weapons for armed groups they say are instigating the uprising. “We are not afraid. Down with tyrants,” Internet video footage showed hundreds of worshippers chanting during Ramadan night prayers at the Rifai mosque in the Kfar Souseh neighbourhood of Damascus.

Sheikh Majd Ahmad Maki, a prominent cleric who fled his hometown of Aleppo in 1980, and a main figure among Syria’s Religious Scholars Association that brings together over 150 leading Islamic scholars in exile, said that Assad cannot keep relying on establishment clerics to justify the killings.

“The regime with its killings has embarrassed even those clerics closest to him. I am not finding now any cleric with a turban who openly supports the killings perpetrated by Assad,” Sheikh Maki said from Saudi Arabia. — Reuters

Chaotic Mubarak trial worries families of dead CAIRO: Moustafa Morsy arrived at the Cairo court room on Monday morning, hoping to get some justice for his 22year-old son, shot dead during protests that ousted Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak. After sitting through hours of legal wrangling and chaotic arguments, Morsy left the court again fearing he might never see Mubarak and his allies answer for their role in the violence.

Morsy was one of a small handful of bereaved relatives who managed to squeeze into the trial of Mubarak, charged with authorising the use of live ammunition to shoot protesters, of corruption and abuse of power. “(The lawyers) are disorganised and because of this, we may lose everything,” said Morsy, wearing a picture of his son tied on a string around his neck.

“Some of these lawyers are idiotic ... Too many want to become overnight celebrities,” he told Reuters. Mubarak is the first head of state swept aside in the “Arab Spring” uprisings to stand trial in person. His first appearance in the court’s steel cage on Aug. 3, lying on a hospital bed, caused a sensation across the Middle East and captivated viewers beyond.

But that hearing, and his second appearance on Monday, were hardly an advertisement for justice in postMubarak Egypt. More than a hundred lawyers defending relatives of those killed in the uprising argued bitterly over tiny points of procedure. Lawyers for hundreds of plaintiffs struggled to agree on a common set of demands, prompting Judge Ahmed Refaat to call a halt to their speeches until he had a list of written legal arguments. On one occasion, an argument almost came to physical blows after lawyers disagreed on whether Mubarak should be judged for his 30 years in power or his last 18 days. Legal representatives at the hearing insisted they were doing their best.

“We are trying to coordinate across the country. This is a major case. There is a huge number of plaintiffs and we each have local details to worry about,” said lawyer Khalef Bayoumy. Nearby, a group of lawyers clustered together, trying to agree on a common strategy.

“Who said you can speak on our behalf,” one shouted. Another snapped back: “We need to get our act together soon-

Iran welcomes Russia nuclear proposals TEHRAN: Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said yesterday that Tehran welcomes Russia’s latest proposals for restarting dialogue on its controversial atomic program, after talks with a top official from Moscow. “Our Russian friends’ proposals can be the basis for commencing talks on regional and international cooperation, particularly in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,” Saeed Jalili said, quoted on state television’s website. “Talks for cooperation and dialogue-cooperation strategy can be a good strategy,” Jalili said after two rounds of talks with Moscow’s National Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev. “We and six countries - P5+1 - as seven nations can work out cooperation through this strategy.” Patrushev, who arrived in Iran on Monday and was to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later Tuesday, was also upbeat on the outcome of his talks with Jalili. “I am here on an invitation from Mr Jalili and we had very good negotiations,” Patrushev was quoted on the website as saying. “We also talked about multilateral cooperation, particularly about Iran’s nuclear issue and the necessity of interaction with 5+1 group

and the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he said. Moscow is seeking to revive nuclear negotiations between Iran and major world powers known as the P5+1, the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany. In mid-

July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposed a new “step-by-step” approach to restart the talks on the nuclear issue. Under the proposal, Iran could address questions about its activities and the major powers would then

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) meets Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev at the presidency office yesterday. — AP

start reducing international economic sanctions against Tehran. As a follow-up to Patrushev ’s visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was due to travel to Moscow later yesterday to continue the talks. Tehran is at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear program, and the last round of talks between the Islamic republic and the world powers in January broke down in Istanbul. Iran has been hit by four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its program of uranium enrichment, which Western powers suspect has a military dimension despite Tehran’s repeated denials. The United States and European Union have also imposed their own unilateral sanctions on Iranian banks and the oil sector, posing risks for foreign companies which deal with them.

Iran remains adamant, however, that it will push ahead with its controversial enrichment activities, which can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the fissile material for an atomic warhead. In early July, Iran announced it will triple its production of enriched uranium, a move denounced as “provocation” by the US and France. — AFP

er rather than later.”

As Mubarak was wheeled into the dock for the second session, his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, watched in bemusement as a court clerk shouted at lawyers to sit down: “Please respected lawyers, sit down! This is not the civilised picture we want! The judges are standing outside.” Dozens of lawyers crowded around the podium for a chance to speak into the microphone. “It’s going to take ten years at this rate, just to listen to all these speeches,” lawyer Islam Mandour joked.

“Half of the things said can be expressed in writing or not at all.”

The court’s patience was running thin. “ This is not something to be allowed or accepted. We are exerting effort beyond the ability of any court. It is beyond the capacity of any court to have more than 100 lawyers speaking,” judge Refaat told the court room. He then ordered the suspension of live broadcasting of the trial, to applause from the courtroom and shouts of “long live justice”. “There are a lot of egos inside the court. Lawyers are more concerned with their image and seeing themselves on television than working for a swift trial,” said Mahmoud Khadrawy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Some officials said the proceedings would calm down after the television cameras were removed.

The decision to pull the cameras angered the bereaved relatives, who said they now feared for the transparency of the trial. For thousands of other family members outside the court room, it robbed them of their own way of watching the proceedings.

“They aired the court session live to appease Egyptians. Now they are taking that from us. This is unfair,” said 66year-old Hassan Mohamed Abdel Fattah, who lost his nine-year old son to what he says was a sniper’s bullet.

Abdel Fattah carried a sweater marked with a bullet hole and a white T-shirt stained brown from his son‘s dried blood. “He didn’t even say ‘ouch’. He just dropped dead in front of my eyes. The bullet went from the back and out of his chest,” the mechanic said. “I just want to see Mubarak hanged.” Back inside the court room, Morsy echoed the sentiment. — Reuters

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Nordics set sights on gun control after attacks STOCKHOLM: In the Nordic countries, where hunting is popular and firearms are plentiful, the twin July 22 attacks that killed 77 people in Norway have spurred lawmakers to consider tighter gun laws. But change will not come without resistance in a region where hunting is viewed by many as a cultural heritage passed down from Viking ancestors, and sport shooting is a favourite pastime. Finland, which has one of the world’s highest gun ownership rates at 1.5 million firearms for 5.3 million people, has reopened the debate on arms control just two months after new, stricter laws raised the firearm licence age from 15 to 20 for short weapons and 18 for hunting guns.

“No one in a country like Finland needs to have a gun at home,” Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said days after Anders Behring Breivik shot dead 69 people, many of them teenagers, in a rampage on the island of Utoeya after killing eight others in a bombing of government offices in Oslo. Up to June

this year, Finns as young as 15 could own guns, but the law was changed after the country was rattled to the core by two school shootings within the space of a year.

In Nov 2007, 18-year-old Pekka Eric Auvinen shot dead eight people at a high school in Jokela, north of Helsinki, before turning the gun on himself. And in Sept 2008, 22-year-old culinary arts student Matti Saari killed 10 people in a classroom in the small town of Kauhajoki before committing suicide. Reeling from their own encounters with senseless gun violence, many Finns experienced the tragedy in neighbouring Norway as another assault on their own security and the traditionally peaceful region as a whole. Since then, Tuomioja has insisted that access to guns be further restricted, suggesting that “gun hobbyists and hunters could store their weapons with supervised and registered gun clubs” instead of at home.

Similar calls for stricter legislation have been heard in Norway of course,

but also in Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. But not all are in favour.

“There is no legislation that could stop a man willing, as the case was in Norway, to spend nine years of his life to prepare for his attacks,” Erik Lakomaa of the Swedish National Shooting Association said in a television debate, insisting there was no reason to change the law. With a population of 9.4 million people, Sweden counts about two million guns and 190,000 members of the national hunter’s federation each permitted to own up to six firearms. But according to Lakomaa, “the easiest way to get hold of weapons today is on the illegal market”, where he suggested police should focus their efforts.

Matti Roponen, who heads the Finnish Game Management Association, agreed that tighter legislation was not the answer. “The people who do these horrible things are not the ones who are active in gun clubs or hunting clubs. That’s where responsible use is taught,” he told AFP. A

Cameron’s war against gangs ‘long overdue’ Govt’s new drive cautiously welcomed LONDON: For the communities and youth workers facing the daily horror of gang violence on England’s streets, Prime Minister David Cameron’s vow to tackle the problem following last week’s riots is long overdue. Cameron has declared “all-out war” on gangs, which he blamed for fuelling four nights of frenzied looting and said they were “a major criminal disease that has infected streets and estates across our country”.

He has hired US “supercop” Bill Bratton to advise on tackling street gangs and has rolled out the use of court injunctions to stop gangs wearing colours of allegiance, congregating in certain places and using dangerous dogs as weapons.

Cameron also admitted that “social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our faces”, and vowed to redouble efforts to tackle broken families, welfare dependence and educational failure.

But to those living and working with the problem, many question why it has taken so long for the government to notice - during which time gangs are getting more and more violent, and their members younger and younger. Sheldon Thomas, an ex-gang member who runs a mentoring program in London, supports Cameron’s assertion that British society is “broken”.

“People like me have been saying this for decades,” he said, adding: “People are angry, people are frustrated. There are no jobs, there is no aspiration.”

He also accused Cameron of only acting on gangs now because shocking images of youths rampaging through relatively wealthy areas of London last week caused a national outcry, when successive governments failed to respond in the same way to up to 800 gang-

LONDON: London Mayor Boris Johnson visits a Police CCT V Investigation Unit that is gathering evidence of the London riots Monday. — AP related murders in the past decade.

“Are we now a nation that values materialism - businesses and shops - more than the life of a 14-year-old kid who was chased down a road by several gang members who stabbed him 17 times for his BlackBerry?” he asked angrily.

Youth worker Patrick Regan, who has been advising Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on the recent violence, agrees that the government has failed to address the issue, although he is more hopeful that ministers can help. “People have been warning for years that something like this could happen. I’m hoping there will be a long-term view of things, that we won’t paper over the cracks,” he told AFP. Regan, the chief executive of youth charity XLP, cautioned however against any simplistic definition of gangs, and also warned that it was unlikely that organised criminal groups were entirely responsible for last week’s riots. “It wasn’t all young people, and some were just purely opportunistic. Young people

who just got wrapped up in it, crowd dynamics took over,” he said.

He said he had spoken to his local authority who reported that known gang members had actually stayed home during the riots, “because they knew if they went out they’d get targeted by police”.

One of the main pieces of research on British gangs, a 2009 report by the respected Centre for Social Justice thinktank, found that 170 gangs operated in London, although Thomas puts the number at 260, with 15,000 individual members. Another 170 operate in the Scottish city of Glasgow, where police and local authorities claim to have cut violent offending among gang members by almost 50 percent in two years through a targeted community initiative.

Community workers are calling for more resources for proven mentoring and intervention schemes, and the US supercop, Bratton, warned this weekend that a police crackdown alone would not solve Britain’s gang problems. — AFP

Nigeria police kill ‘suicide bomber’ KANO, Nigeria: Nigerian police said they killed a “would-be suicide bomber” seeking to drive an explosives-laden car into state police headquarters in the violence-torn city of Maiduguri on Monday. The incident came a day before a committee appointed by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to look into violence in the northeast, where Maiduguri is located, is to submit its report to the government. Police said the man was around 25 years old and suspected to be a member of an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which has been blamed for scores of attacks, mainly in the northeast.

The committee appointed by the president was expected to recommend whether to negotiate with the sect.

Later Monday in another part of Nigeria’s north, gunmen robbed a bank then used explosives to attack a police station in the town of Gamawa, leaving one officer dead and two wounded, a military source said. It was unclear whether the incidents were related. “Our men succeeded in killing a would-be suicide bomber who attempted to force his way into the police headquarters while screening for police recruits was going on,” said Simeon Midenda, police commissioner for Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital.

He said bombs made up of seven gas cylinders and a number of other containers were found in the boot of the man’s car. Some 1,500 recruits were on the grounds at the time for screening, he said. “Our initial suspicion is the attacker is from the Boko Haram sect,” said Midenda.

It would have marked the first known attack by a suicide bomber in Nigeria if the commissioner’s statement were proved correct. On June 16, a powerful bomb ripped through a car park at national police headquarters in Abuja, killing at least two people.

Authorities first attributed that attack to a suicide bomber before later retracting the claim, saying they could not be sure. Bomb blasts blamed on Boko Haram have mainly resulted from improvised devices left on roadsides, near police and military patrols or at open-air pubs. Most of the attacks have occurred in Maiduguri.

There has been intense speculation over whether the sect has formed links with Islamist groups outside of Nigeria, particularly since attacks have seemed to become more sophisticated in recent months. — AFP

case in point: 32-year-old rightwing extremist Behring Breivik obtained the guns he used for his attack through legal channels.

Norway responded to the rampage by saying its regulations had been too lax, and police chief Oeystein Maeland called for an immediate tightening of access to semi-automatic firearms like the ones Behring Breivik used on Utoeya. It is legal to hunt with such guns in Norway, which has a million guns for a population of nearly five million. A committee set up before the attacks to evaluate Norwegian gun laws is set to present its findings by Dec 1. There have also been calls for tighter gun laws in Denmark, under threat of attack ever since the daily Jyllands-Posten published controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2005. Since the Norway attacks, Denmark’s centre-left opposition, leading in polls ahead of general elections for which a date have to be set by November, has said it wants to ban reserve soldiers from storing their

service weapons at home. Denmark’s 5.5 million inhabitants own about 750,000 guns.

Sweden, which has experienced several devastating shootings in recent decades, including the 1986 murder of prime minister Olof Palme and two separate cases of random immigrant shootings, already has strict gun laws. The country is studying how better to coordinate the fight against illegal arms smuggling, Ann-Sofie Bodin, a justice ministry expert, told AFP. In Iceland, which has largely been spared the traumatising gun violence seen among its Nordic neighbours, the interior ministry recently commissioned an evaluation of existing laws to determine if they are strict enough.

Iceland’s 320,000 inhabitants own about 60,000 guns. But Reykjavik police chief Geir Jon Thorisson has already called for tougher regulations for weapons storage at home, and has told AFP: “We also need a ceiling on the number of weapons each person can own.” — AFP

Madrid mass launches six-day party for pope MADRID: Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Madrid for a giant open-air mass yesterday, launching a six-day youth party for Pope Benedict XVI at a time of economic hardship in Spain. The faithful will pack into the emblematic central Madrid square of Cibeles for the inaugural mass celebrated

by Madrid’s archbishop, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela. A massive white stage decorated with an image of Mary and Jesus has been built in the square, named after a stone fountain featuring the Roman goddess of nature on a chariot hauled by two lions.

More than a million Roman Catholics from 193 nations are congregating in the capital for the World Youth Day celebrations. The 84-year-old pontiff, spiritual leader of the world’s more than one billion Roman Catholics, will be welcomed at a ceremony in Cibeles square when he arrives tomorrow.

The expense of staging the event

has sparked howls of protest in some quarters in a country tightening its belt and suffering a jobless rate of more than 20 percent.

“It is an abuse, stupidity, because they occupy the squares for several days,” said 78-year-old retired Spanish and English language professor Amadeo Alaez in central Madrid. “But on the other hand it is tourism, folklore, people have fun,

the youngsters dance and have a good time because they are on holiday.” Church officials say most of the cost will be covered by the pilgrims themselves, who pay to join the event, and the celebration will be a massive tourist boost for the city of Madrid. Some 150 groups that oppose the pope’s visit plan to protest Wednesday on the eve of his arrival. — AFP

MADRID: Spanish policemen take picture of a group of pilgrims at Cibeles square yesterday. — AFP

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

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

Frequent flier fracas: Muslims face travel woes McLEAN, Virginia: The calls have reached a point of repetitive regularity for civil rights lawyer Gadeir Abbas: A young Muslim American, somewhere in the world, is barred from boarding an airplane. The exact reasons are never fully articulated, but the reality is clear. The traveler has been placed on the government’s terror watchlist - or the more serious no-fly list - and clearing one’s name becomes a legal and bureaucratic nightmare.

On Monday Abbas sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting assistance for his two most recent clients. One is a resident of Portland, Oregon, who is trying to fly to Italy to live with his mother. The other, a teenager and US citizen living in Jordan, has been unable to travel to Connecticut to lead prayers at a mosque. “All American citizens have the unqualified right to reside in the United States,” Abbas wrote Monday in a letter to secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking a change in status for the client in Jordan.

Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tries to piece together the reason why a client has been placed on the list. Perhaps a person has a similar name to a known terrorist. Maybe their travels to Yemen or some other Middle East hot spot have garnered suspicion. Maybe they told the FBI to take a hike when they requested an interview. Ultimately, though, the reasons are almost irrelevant. From Abbas’ perspective, the placement on the no-fly list amounts to a denial of a traveler’s basic rights:

US citizens can’t return home from overseas vacations, children are separated from parents, and those under suspicion are denied the basic due process rights that would allow them to clear their name.

Abbas describes the security bureaucracy as Kafkaesque, a labyrinthine maze of overlapping agencies, all of which refuse to provide answers unless they are threatened with legal action. One lawsuit is still pending in federal court in Virginia.

That case has followed what has become a familiar pattern: Abbas either files a lawsuit or exposes the case to public scrutiny through the media, and within a few days the individual in question is able to travel.

Government officials then ask a judge to dismiss any lawsuits that were filed, saying the cases are now moot.

“The amount of people who experience tragic, life-altering travel delays is significant,” said Abbas, who estimates he gets a call at least once a month from a Muslim American in dire straits because their travel has been restricted. Government officials, of course, see it differently. They say they have a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program that lets people wrongly placed on the nofly list, or the much broader terrorist watchlist, fix their circumstances.

More broadly, the government has argued in court that placing somebody on the no-fly list does not deprive them of any constitutional rights. Just because a person can’t fly doesn’t mean they can’t travel, the government lawyers argue. They can always take a boat, for example. “Neither Plaintiff nor

any other American citizen has either a right to international travel or a right to travel by airplane,” government lawyers wrote in their defense against a lawsuit by another of Abbas’ clients. The teenager from Virginia had found himself stuck in Kuwait after suspicions

that 3,400 individuals, including roughly 170 US residents, are on the no-fly list. Calls and emails to the Department of Homeland Security and State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs were not returned.

Michael Migliore was told by securi-

Amr Abulrub

Michael Migliore about has travel to Somalia apparently landed him on the no-fly list.

Exactly how many people are on the government’s lists is unclear. Some of the most recent estimates, from late 2009, state that about 400,000 individuals are on the “watchlist,” which requires a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is known or suspected to be engaged in terrorist activities. A much smaller number - about 14,000 - is on the “selectee list,” meaning they will likely have to undergo rigorous screening to travel. And officials estimated

ty officials last month that he is on the no-fly list after he tried to take a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Italy following his college graduation. Migliore, a Muslim and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, was planning a permanent move to Italy to live with his mother.

Migliore, 23, suspects he was placed on the no-fly list after he refused to talk to the FBI without a lawyer in November 2010, when the bureau was investigating an acquaintance charged in a plot to detonate bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. “I feel that I did the

Obama, Reps clash on jobs US prez on ‘Magical Misery’ bus tour DECORAH, Iowa: US President Barack Obama has told Republicans to stop playing games that hurt the US economy, but his foes mocked his “Magical Misery” tour by bus through key Midwest swing states. Reeling from one of the bleakest patches of his crisisstrewn presidency, Obama on Monday boarded his new $1.1 million Secret Service armored bus for a three-day, three-state bus trip at a time of deep national gloom over the economy. He pressed the flesh, parried a question from a conservative Tea Party activist, hugged children, stopped at a sandwich bar and bought pumpkin pie, energized by his escape from the febrile politics of Washington.

In two town-hall style question-and-answer events, Obama took his clearest swipes yet at potential 2012 election foes, and he warned Republican lawmakers he would make them pay at the polls if they block his plans for jobs growth. “We’ve got a politics in which some folks in Congress... would rather see their opponents lose than America win,” Obama told 500 people beside a pastoral riverbank in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. “You’ve got to send a message to Washington that it’s time for the games to stop. It’s time to put country first.”

Later, back in Iowa, the heartland state where he set sights on the White House in 2008, Obama promised he would ask voters to judge Republicans harshly if they knocked back new jobs programs he plans to unveil in September. “My attitude is get it done. And if they don’t get it done we will be running against a Congress that is not doing anything for the American people,” he said. “The choice will be very stark and will be very clear.”

But Republican criticism of Obama’s economic leadership has resonance because although the president claims to have staved off a second Great Depression, the recovery is too slow to dent 9.1 percent unemployment.

Mitt Romney, front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, zeroed in on Obama’s weakness, saying he was oblivious to the human cost of the lagging economy. “During his Magical Misery bus tour this week, it is unlikely President Obama will speak with unemployed Americans, to near-bankrupt

business owners, or to families struggling to survive in this economy,” Romney said. “He is more interested in campaigning in swing states than working to solve the economic crisis that is crushing the middle class.”

struction workers back on the job repairing America’s crumbling infrastructure, though the initiative faces a tough road through Congress. He also jabbed at Romney and House of Representatives Speaker John

CHATFIELD, Minnesota: US President Barack Obama poses for a photo with summer school kids Monday during his three-day economic bus tour. — AP Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Republican of the moment who jumped into the race at the weekend, issued a direct challenge to Obama. “He says he’s on a listening tour so I’m going to talk to him,” Perry was quoted as saying in Iowa by the Des Moines Register newspaper. “Mr President you need to free up the employers of this country to create jobs. Get rid of the regulations that are stifling jobs in America.” Obama called on Republicans to back an extension of a payroll tax cut, ratify free trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea, and support his plan to put Iraq and Afghan war veterans to work.

Republicans however complain he is yet to send the deals to Congress. He implored lawmakers to put hundreds of thousands of con-

Boehner, who, he argued, scuppered chances for a $4 trillion deficit reduction deal to shield the rich from higher taxes.

Obama said it was “puzzling” that Romney was criticizing his health care plan, dubbed “Obamacare” by critics, given that the Republican introduced a similar one himself when he was governor of Massachusetts. “I have no problem with folks saying Obama cares. I do care. If the other side wants to be the folks who don’t care, that is fine by me.”

Unemployment in Iowa and Minnesota is lower than the national average, partly due to booming agriculture, but Obama’s message on jobs, infrastructure spending and education investment got a warm welcome from friendly crowds. — AFP

Disabled US boy, 7, decapitated by dad NEW ORLEANS: A Louisiana man told investigators he decapitated his disabled 7-year-old son because he had grown tired of caring for the boy, who had cerebral palsy and heart problems, needed a feeding tube and used a wheelchair, police said. Police Chief Scott Silverii said Monday that Jeremiah Lee Wright, 30, of Thibodaux waived his right to an attorney and confessed to killing Jori Lirette within a half-hour of being brought to the police station Sunday. Wright was booked with first-degree murder and held in lieu of $5 million bond. Detective Ricky Ross, a department spokesman, said Wright did not have an attorney.

Silverii said the boy’s feet and one hand also were cut off, recovered in several white plastic garbage bags. A preliminary autopsy indicated Jori also had been bludgeoned, he said. His head was

left by the side of the road so the child’s mother, 27-year-old Jesslyn Lirette, would see it when she came home, the chief said. Wright’s only explanation for doing so was “just that he wanted her to feel stupid when she saw the head,” Silverii said. The killing was the first since 2008 in Thibodaux, a city of about 14,500 people.

Silverii said the boy apparently was decapitated over the kitchen sink, which was sent to the Louisiana State Police crime lab along with a box of tools found nearby. Wright told investigators he began killing the boy about 30 minutes after Lirette had left Sunday to repair her pickup truck so she could take Jori to a doctor yesterday. Police had been called to the house last month when the couple had an argument - possibly about money - though neither person brought charges, Ross said. — AP

THIBODAUX, Louisiana: In this Aug. 14, 2011 photo, Joey Quinn leads Jeremiah Wright out of the Thibodaux Police Office. Wright is charged with killing the 7-year-old son (inset) of his girlfriend. — AP

right thing,” Migliore said of his decision to exercise his rights when questioned by the FBI. “I didn’t do anything wrong. ... It’s very frustrating, not knowing what’s going to happen, if I’m ever going to get off this list.”

For now, he’s waiting in Portland until he can get his name cleared for travel. In another case, an 18 year-old US citizen living in Jordan with his parents was bounced from an EgyptAir flight to New York. Amr Abulrub had planned to lead Ramadan prayers at a Connecticut mosque. After a few days of confusion, Abulrub learned from airline officials that the U.S. government had instructed EgyptAir to cancel his ticket. US embassy officials in Amman have subsequently told Abulrub he can travel under certain restrictions, including a requirement that his flight to the US be booked on an American airline.

But Abulrub is leery of traveling at all for fear that he won’t be allowed to go back to Jordan.

Abulrub’s father, Jalal Abulrub, suspects his son has come to the attention of US authorities because of his own writings. Jalal is a Salafist scholar who has sometimes written provocative articles and antagonized Christian evangelists he believed were disrespectful to Muslims. While Jalal says his family is Salafist - generally considered a fundamentalist sect of Islam - he is quick to point out that he has a long history of writing in opposition to the ideology espoused by Osama bin laden and Al-Qaeda. “I am not going to let this go,” Jalal said, referring to his son’s inability to travel. “We don’t allow anyone to oppress us.” — AP

10 years after 9/11, did Laden or America win?

WASHINGTON: Osama bin Laden is gone, but 10 years after the September 11 attacks the United States is still entangled both by his legacy and the impact of its own avenging actions after the 2001 terror strike. The horror unleashed in New York and Washington traumatized the public and sparked a “war on terror” that would stretch the legal system, send American soldiers to die in Muslim lands and eventually drain US global power. In anguished days of mourning after September 11, the phrase “everything has changed” seemed on everyone’s lips as the country united, then went to war, starting with bin Laden’s Afghan lair.

A decade on, nearly 100,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan and almost 7,500 US and allied soldiers have died there and in Iraq in wars financed by borrowing that sent America deep into the red. So is there a case to be made that bin Laden, despite dying a diminished figure gunned down by Navy SEALs, won his showdown with the United States? Did an audacious attack, which lured America into combat in the Middle East, end a century of US dominance?

On Sept 10, 2001 the world’s sole superpower basked unchallenged, awash in cash, after a growth spurt that now seems an elusive golden age. But that era ended in an instant when an American Airlines jet smashed into the World Trade Center ’s north tower.

Exploiting America’s freedoms, bin Laden had sent suicide operatives armed with box cutters and fundamentalist zeal to hijack airliners and steer them as fuel-laden bombs at the epicenter of US economic and political power.

It was the most spectacular terror attack in history. A disbelieving world watched the New York landmark felled in a murderous cloud of ash and steel as the Pentagon blazed after another direct hit. Heroic passengers downed another jet, apparently headed to Washington. On a new day of infamy, nearly 3,000 people died and America’s cherished feeling of safety within its shores was history. “Bin Laden did have one big victory,” said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University. “Simply as a pure terrorist action, as a pure criminal action, it was a success. It really revealed a million holes in American national security, it was devastating psychologically to the nation, devastating in human costs.”

Fear flashing across president George W Bush’s face when he learned of the attacks at a Florida school epitomized the deep trauma into which his nation plunged. Some analysts believe the swift declaration of a global war on terror, set off consequences that did more damage to America than the actual attacks. “There was a moment caused by national post-traumatic stress disorder which led the United States to buy into the misguided, overthe-top response of the Bush administration,” said David Rothkopf, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Panic, overreaction (and) compromising our values... did more damage to the United States than bin Laden did. That’s the objective in terrorism - you take an act and hope it triggers a response in your enemy

that actually does more damage than the initial act.”

In a cathartic address to Congress, Bush said no terrorist would ever rest safe again, anywhere, a vow that underpinned a doctrine of preventive war.

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” The result: a 10-year quagmire in Afghanistan, an invasion of Iraq justified by weapons of mass destruction that were never found which estranged Washington from its allies, and prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib that sullied the US image abroad. Harsh interrogations of terror suspects - torture to critics -

SARASOTA, Florida: US President George W Bush has his early morning school reading event interrupted by his Chief of Staff Andrew Card in this Sept 11, 2001 file photo. — AFP tore at the fabric of US constitutional law. The political system remains convulsed over how to try “enemy combatants” and suspects languish in Guantanamo Bay, which a new president, Barack Obama, tried, but failed to close. Trillions of dollars in unfinanced wars left the United States weakened when a debt bubble burst and triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression. But bin Laden’s longterm legacy is more complex: though Al-Qaeda inflicted misery, it did not “change everything”. The US political system did not break - at least not because of bin Laden - though some argue the anti-terror Patriot Act curtailed basic freedoms.

Though people complain about shuffling shoeless through airport security, America made itself safer since 2001 by strangling Al-Qaeda in a secret drone war and remaking its intelligence apparatus. And remarkably, there has not been another spectacular attack on US soil, though luck has played a role in foiling some airborne plots and the fear of terrorists wielding weapons of mass destruction lingers.

Bin Laden’s dreams of an international jihad failed to materialize. The Arab Spring also suggests many Muslims reject his ideology. The United States retains the capacity, though, as Libya has shown, a diminished desire, to project force abroad. And the greatest threat to American dominance may not lie in bin Ladenism, rather longterm trends of decline that predated the Al-Qaeda chief. “9/11 is an important incident... (but) it is not causative of any of the major shifts in geopolitics, nor is it causative of any of the major shifts in geoeconomics,” said Rothkopf.

“It was interesting and revealing but it was not the end of anything.” — AFP

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

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

Mystery surrounding Sonia Gandhi’s health NEW DELHI: Since the shock announcement on Aug 4 that India’s most powerful politician Sonia Gandhi was to undergo surgery in the United States, barely a word has leaked out about her health.

The silence in most of the Indian media about the 64-year-old’s condition and the refusal of the ruling Congress party to divulge information has raised some uncomfortable questions about transparency in the world’s biggest democracy. The independence of the media and the country’s openness - it passed a Right to Information Act in 2005 - are a source of national pride, often contrasted with conditions in secretive regimes elsewhere in South Asia.

“I was really shocked to see in regular Congress party briefings, the media present there did not seek information, did not demand information,” the editor of the Business Standard newspaper Sanjaya Baru says. “We have had silence from the media... There is nothing about Mrs Gandhi’s health and she’s the most important politician in the country,” he said during a debate on the CNN-IBN news channel. The Business Standard has been the most aggressive of the Indian newspapers it demanded answers in an editorial - and Baru believes they are entitled to information.

On India’s boisterous cable news channels, which are normally quick to

pressure and criticise the government, Gandhi has featured rarely, with news and debates focused on corruption or the national cricket team’s recent defeats. The Italian-born Gandhi is the widow of assassinated former premier Rajiv Gandhi and wields enormous clout from her power-broking position as Congress party president and coalition chairperson. Since she was admitted to hospital, aides to the leader have confirmed she spent 24 hours in intensive care and was recovering from successful surger y at an undisclosed location, believed to be New York.

The government has argued that further disclosures would be made by the famously media-shy political boss if she desired. “Only that much information would be shared which they would want to share,” Information Minister Ambika Soni said last week. Speaking on Monday, Gandhi’s politician son Rahul, who has been left jointly in control during his mother’s convalescence, told journalists that “she is much better” without elaborating.

In the absence of concrete information about the woman who heads the ruling party and chairs the ruling coalition, speculation has been rife on social networks. A few anonymously sourced news reports have attempted to fill the void. The investigative current affairs

magazine Tehelka reported that Gandhi was operated on at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, while the Deccan Herald newspaper said she had undergone surgery for cervical cancer.

“When you are in the public domain... you cannot claim the benefits of privacy of the private citizen,” the editor of The Hindu newspaper, Siddhar th Varadarajan, told CNN-IBN. “I think it is something that people have the right to know. What we have heard so far is wholly inadequate.”

Others have suggested that the cosy relationships between top journalists and politicians in India means the Congress party has been able to impose a code of silence among senior editors.

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a political analyst and journalist, told AFP he believed the Indian media had done their best to cover the story, but were being wrongly starved of information.

“Do public figures have a right to private lives? Most journalists believe they do,” he said. “But as soon as your personal life in whatever way starts impinging on your public life then everyone has a right to know.”

He contrasted the handling of Gandhi’s problems to those of 78-yearold Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who underwent a highly publicised heart bypass operation in 2009 which

Man arrested over fake ‘collar bomb’ FBI team captures Australian businessman in US SYDNEY: An Australian businessman has been arrested by an FBI SWAT team in the United States over a bizarre incident in which a fake bomb was strapped around the neck of a Sydney schoolgirl, police said yesterday. Madeleine Pulver, 18, a member of one of the city’s wealthiest families, endured a horrifying 10-hour ordeal earlier this month when a masked man fixed a device around her neck at her luxury home in the leafy suburb of Mosman. “We will allege the suspect was responsible for entering the Pulver home and placing the device around Madeleine’s neck,” New South Wales Assistant Commissioner Dave Hudson told reporters in Sydney.

Australian detectives said the 50year-old was taken into custody in Louisville, Kentucky, in an operation led by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI named the man as Paul “Doug” Peters, saying he had been staying at the home of his ex-wife near La Grange, Kentucky and was arrested without incident by one of its SWAT teams.

Australian police said the suspect, who had indirect links to the Pulver family but was not known to them, had family and business ties in both the United States and Australia but his primary residence was in Sydney.

They are still working on a motive for the alleged crime which has baffled the Pulver family. “There are some (links) between the two, between the suspect and the family, however no direct links, and that’s still a matter of investigation,” Hudson told reporters at a press conference with Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione. “The actual ins and outs of motive and everything else are yet to be determined and that’s part of our ongoing investigation.”

Peters, reportedly a father of three and a former executive at a collapsed financial firm, allegedly left Australia on August 8, five days after the incident that gripped the nation. “Over the course of the last three or four

SYDNEY: William Pulver makes a statement with his wife Belinda at his side regarding the arrest of a 50-year-old man yesterday. — AP days, NSW police, working closely with the FBI, identified the man and confirmed he travelled to the United States in the last few days,” Scipione said. “A male was taken into custody after a search warrant was executed in Louisville.” He is yet to be charged, but was expected to appear in court in the United States yesterday on a provisional warrant for aggravated breaking and entering, committing a felony and kidnapping offences. Australia will seek his extradition, police said. At the time of the incident, police described the collar bomb as “a very, very elaborate hoax”. Bomb specialists worked through the night to free Pulver but the device was later found to contain no explosives. A note, believed to have made reference to the epic historic novel Tai-Pan by James Clavell, was allegedly left with the fake bomb, with police revealing to ABC television Tuesday that it contained financial demands.

Police believe Peters has been employed in a number of different countries around the world during his career, with the Sydney Morning

Herald saying he has lived in Hong Kong and Malaysia. He was “just a rambunctious, aggressive character who was very intellectual”, a former schoolmate told the paper, requesting anonymity. Another friend said he had a volatile nature, but the allegations against him were entirely out of character. Police added that they always believed the story given to them by Pulver, who is completing her final year of school.

“She, from the very start, despite reports that suggested otherwise, was totally believed by the police officers who took those statements, and we have looked at this as a true offence from the very beginning,” NSW assistant commissioner Hudson said.

Madeleine’s father Bill Pulver said he hoped the arrest marked a turning point in his family’s traumatic ordeal.

He said his daughter was “a bright, happy young woman who for reasons we still don’t understand had her life turned upside down, going through this dreadful experience”. “This has been a baffling and frightening experience,” he added. — AFP

Coalition tries to build cadre of Afghan leaders SIRAQULA, Afghanistan: The local Afghan leader’s community meeting was off to an unpromising start.

Hours after the meeting, called a shura, was supposed to begin, only seven old men waited at the gate of US Marine Patrol Base Salaam Bazaar in the northern part of Helmand province. Frustrated, Naw Zad District Chief Said Murad Sadtak chastised an Afghan army commander. “ Why did you not invite more people?” he demanded.

“It was your task to tell the people and make sure that they come to see us so we can discuss their problems. It’s kind of a waste that I am here.”

The army commander had invited locals to the small fortified camp, but sometimes those invitations were extended during gunfights when soldiers and US Marines were using private Afghan homes and farmers’ poppy fields for cover.

Sadtak continued to complain and his American mentor, US Marine Maj Aniela Szymanski, moved to the old man’s side. “Maybe we should welcome those who have come to see you,” she said gently.

In Helmand, unpracticed local

HELMAND, Afghanistan: In this July 23, 2011 photo, local cleric Abdul Nasir (left) expresses his concerns to Now Zad district governor Said Murad Sadtak (left) during a shura with local villagers at US Marine Patrol Base Salaam Bazaar. — AP leaders are wielding the levers of a fragile government for the first time.

They urge local communities to support the government and reject the Taleban, often in places where the insurgency is more conspicuous than the new Afghan state. But many local Afghan leaders still lack

skills and resources to address severe problems facing Helmand communities, including drought, joblessness and the chaos of living between two determined combat forces. Others are cut off from their constituents by insecurity. Some are corrupt. —AP

NEW DELHI: This file photo taken on May 21, 2009 shows Congress Party president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government coalition chairman Sonia Gandhi praying during a memorial ceremony for slain former Indian prime minister and husband Rajiv Gandhi on his 18th death anniversary. — AFP was fully disclosed. Singh, a diabetic, had previously undergone surgery for prostate cancer. “Everybody speculates.

Nobody has the foggiest idea,” Thakurta said of Gandhi’s condition. The Gandhi dynasty, which stems from first postindependence premier Jawaharlal Nehru

and has no link to independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, has exerted huge influence in India during most of its post-independence history. Three members of the family have become prime minister and 41-year-old Rahul is widely tipped for the top job. —AFP

Afghan govt worker killed KANDAHAR: An 18-year-old woman working for the Afghan government was killed in Kandahar yesterday, hours after suicide bombers targeted a nearby NATO fuel depot, killing four security guards. Rabia Sadat, who worked on rural development, was shot dead as she left home in the southern city of Kandahar to go to work at around 8:00 am (0330 GMT ), provincial spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi said. She had been assigned to a Western-funded project which aims to boost the quality of life in Afghanistan’s deprived villages by improving irrigation and the provision of drinking water.

The Taleban did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. But they frequently target government employees in a 10-year insurgency against US-led foreign forces and President Hamid Karzai’s Westernbacked government. Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan, the Taleban’s birthplace and the traditional heart of the insurgency. In recent weeks, the city’s mayor and Karzai’s powerful brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, have both been assassinated in Kandahar.

The attacks have raised fears about a power vacuum in the south as NATO troops start withdrawing from Afghanistan under a tight timetable set to repatriate all

foreign combat troops by the end of 2014. The government blamed yesterday ’s killing on “enemies of Afghanistan”, a phrase often used by officials to refer to insurgents. Before the 2001 US-led invasion ousted them from power, the Taleban banned women from attending school or working outside the home under their interpretation of Islamic law.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, several thousand people including Afghan lawmakers took to the streets of Kabul on Tuesday to protest against the latest twist in a long-running row over vote fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections. President Hamid Karzai last week ordered the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to resolve the long-standing dispute and it is expected to announce within days how many members of parliament will be kicked out. The protestors were fiercely opposed to any change in the results as they stand.

Two NATO troops also died of “non-battle related” injuries in the south and east of Afghanistan, the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. The killing of Sadat was the latest attack within hours in the Kandahar area after three suicide bombers struck at a fuel depot for foreign forces, killing four security guards near the city late Monday. —AFP

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US-South Korea exercise begins North Korea warns of war SEOUL: South Korea and the United States launched a massive joint military exercise yesterday, prompting the North to condemn the manoeuvres as provocative and warn that “all-out war” could erupt. The two allies have described the 10-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise as defensive and routine but the North habitually terms such joint drills a rehearsal for invasion and launches its own counter-exercises. “The exercise started this morning,” a spokesman of the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC) told AFP, referring to the annual computer-assisted simulation command-post exercise.

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (front right) gestures as he walks next to parliament speaker Marzuki Ali (left) at the parliament yesterday. —AFP

Indonesia tolerant nation: Yudhoyono JAKARTA: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday defended Indonesia’s reputation for pluralism, as his government faces growing criticism over its failure to respond to a spate of religious hate crimes.

In an Independence Day speech, the ex-general accepted that the mainly Muslim country was facing “threats” to religious harmony but offered little to reassure minorities which have come under frequent attack in recent months.

“Even though there are challenges and threats to pluralism, tolerance and social harmony, we cannot move from our belief that Indonesia is a nation that is able to live in pluralism,” he said in a televised address. “We have to defend this belief without any doubt.”

Local and international human rights groups have expressed outrage recently over sentences handed out to members of a religious lynch mob who killed three Muslim minority sect members in February. A court jailed 12 members of the Sunni Muslim mob for three to six months each, even though they were caught on film viciously attacking Ahmadiyah sect members in front of police officers. The same court on Monday jailed one of the Ahmadiyah survivors of the attack, a man who almost lost his hand in the violence, for six months for defending himself and his friends, prompting criticism from the United States.

“We are disappointed by today’s sentencing of Deden Sudjana who was a victim of the February 6 attacks,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “We again encourage Indonesia to defend its tradition of

tolerance for all religions, a tradition praised by President (Barack) Obama in his November 2010 visit to Jakarta.”

A panel of judges found Sudjana guilty of ill-treatment and ignoring an order to evacuate the sect’s property in Cikeusik, western Java, as the 1,500strong mob arrived. Earlier, the court gave a teenager who was filmed crushing one victim’s head with a stone only three months’ jail. That individual is already free and has been welcomed back to his village as a hero.

Anti-Ahmadiyah violence erupted again this week in Makassar, Sulawesi, when hundreds of Sunni extremists raided one of the sect’s places of worship on Sunday in front of police, who did nothing to intervene, rights groups said. One sect member suffered severe head injuries and three local human rights workers who tried to stop the attack were badly beaten, Amnesty International said. “The Ahmadiyah are not receiving adequate protection from the security forces or the courts,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director, Donna Guest, said in a statement. “We fear that some groups now think that they can attack religious minorities and human rights defenders without any fear of serious consequences.”

The Ahmadiyah community claims to have some 500,000 followers in Indonesia, where it has been established since the 1920s after originating in South Asia. It is regarded as heretical by mainstream Muslims because it teaches followers to regard the sect’s Indian founder as the last prophet of Islam, instead of Muhammad (PBUH). —AFP

Army surrounds China monastery after death BEIJING: Soldiers and police yesterday surrounded a monastery in southwest China where a Tibetan monk set himself on fire and died, sparking fears of a fresh crackdown on the area’s large Tibetan population. The death of the 29-year-old monk, who campaigners said drank petrol before setting himself alight, came five months after a similar incident in a nearby area triggered protests and a huge security crackdown. “There are at least 1,000 soldiers and police guarding the monastery and about 100 monks inside,” one monk said over the phone from inside the Nyitso monastery in Sichuan province’s Daofu county, not far from Tibet. “The power and water have been cut off for days, and we have no food supplies coming in.”

The London-based Free Tibet rights group cited local contacts as saying authorities had cut off water and power supplies to the monastery after monks celebrated the Dalai Lama’s birthday on July 6 despite a ban on doing so. The monk, called Tsewang Norbu, set himself on fire after drinking petrol and spraying himself with the flammable liquid, the group said. He was heard calling out “We Tibetan people want freedom”, “Long live the Dalai Lama”, and “Let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet” before he died, the group said, quoting local contacts.

Sichuan has a large population of ethnic Tibetans, many of whom object to what they say is repressive Chinese rule - a claim Beijing denies. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and is now persona non grata in the Asian nation.

Tsewang Norbu’s self-immolation was the second reported such incident this year in this area of Sichuan, which has experienced sporadic bouts of unrest.

In March, a young monk called Phuntsog set himself on fire and died near Kirti Monastery in Aba county,

around 200 km from Daofu, in apparent protest against the government.

Monks and civilians staged a protest after the incident, prompting an immediate crackdown on the monastery in which exile groups say two Tibetans died. The restive area was closed to foreigners.

Phelim Kine, a senior Asia researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch, told AFP there appeared to be a pattern for the way authorities dealt with unrest in Tibetan areas. “This includes isolating the area and demanding that its inhabitants comply with government directives, with defiance of those directives reaping severe punishments,” he said. Hotel and restaurant owners in Daofu said there was a heavy army and police presence in the city, adding they were not accepting foreigners. “There are many soldiers and police on the streets, they have surrounded the monastery and the government headquarters,” said a hotel owner, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A restaurant owner said the police and army had set up roadblocks around the county and were checking every vehicle that approached the government headquarters and the monastery. An official at the Daofu government office refused to comment.

Many Tibetans in China are angry about what they view as increasing domination by China’s majority Han ethnic group, and accuse the government of trying to dilute their culture.

This resentment spilled over into violent demonstrations in March 2008 in Tibet’s capital Lhasa, which then spread to neighbouring areas including Sichuan. Authorities have increased security in the region since then. China however says Tibetan living standards have improved markedly in recent decades, pointing to the billions of dollars in spending on infrastructure and development projects. —AFP

All of CFC’s major units are taking part, involving more than 530,000 troops, including some 3,000 military personnel from the United States and other bases around the Pacific region, CFC said. CFC commander US General James D Thurman said the drill was focused on “preparing, preventing and prevailing against the full range of current and future external threats” to South Korea and the region. “We are applying lessons learned out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those garnered by the Alliance’s recent experiences with North Korean provocations on the peninsula and past exercises,” he said.

Pyongyang condemned the exercise as “extremely provocative”, calling it a preparation for an “all- out war ” against the Nor th and the “largest- ever nuclear war exercise”. “ The Korean peninsula is faced with the worst crisis ever. An all-out war can be triggered by any accidents,” the Nor th’s ruling communist par ty newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary. Seoul and Washington wanted to use the latest exercises to build up their capability to mount surprise attacks on the North’s nuclear and missile facilities, it said. “ The US war-mongers are planning to carry out a realistic war drill to remove our nuclear facilities with a mobile unit led by the US 20th Suppor t Command which was sent to

Iraq to find and disable weapons of mass destruction,” it said. “Our military and the people will not sit idle as US imperialists mobilise massive military forces and threaten our sovereign rights.” It accused the United States of seeking to bring war to the Korean peninsula af ter

atomic bombs, missiles and chemical weapons, Yonhap news agency said last week. Professor Yang Moo-Jin, of the University of Nor th Korean Studies in Seoul, said the North was unlikely to escalate tensions despite its criticism of the exercise, one of two annual Korean peninsula-

open letter published by its state media, Pyongyang also called for a peace-keeping mechanism to replace the current armistice that ended the 1950-1953 war.

A flurry of diplomatic efforts have been under way to resume stalled six-party disarmament talks involving the two Koreas,

TAEAN, South Korea: South Korean special warfare command soldiers ride on inflatable boats during a sea infiltration drill yesterday. —AP Afghanistan and Iraq as a way to “extricate itself from its worsening economic crisis”.

The CFC spokesman said that during the exercise, troops would train for a “wide variety of missions including those involving the location and security of chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological threats”. The allies will simulate the detection and destruc tion of Nor th Korean

wide drills by the CFC. “The North is unlikely to raise tension at a time when diplomatic efforts are underway to resume dialogue” even though the North’s yesterday statement is strongly-worded, Yang told AFP. The North’s military urged Seoul and Washington last week to show their willingness to work towards denuclearisation by scrapping the exercise. In an

Russia, China, Japan and the United States. Senior Pyongyang officials met their counterparts in Seoul and Washington last month, raising hopes that the talks - last held in Dec 2008 could resume. The Nor th has repeatedly expressed a desire to return to the forum, but the United States has urged it to show more sincerity and mend ties with the South first. —AFP

New Thai govt focuses on pushing up incomes BANGKOK: Thailand’s new government said yesterday it would focus on increasing people’s income and holding down the cost of living rather than simply aim for higher economic growth through the promotion of exports. The cabinet of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra held its first full meeting yesterday to agree on the program it will present to parliament, probably next week on Aug 23 or 24. “Before, we were focusing on exports but today we have to focus on the domestic economy - increase people’s income and bring down their cost of living,” Yingluck told reporters after the meeting.

The government seems determined to push ahead with the populist program that won it a landslide election victory on July 3, although some economists warn this could set off a wage-price spiral.

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said earlier that among the priorities were a minimum wage of 300 baht ($10) a day, a starting salary for university graduates of 15,000 baht a month, a cut in company taxes, a reduction in fuel prices and a campaign against drug use.

“Other governments would have insisted on economic growth, which is understandable. But what we care about most is not just growth, but increases in people’s income, and how to distribute this higher income to everybody fairly,” he told reporters before going into the meeting. The proposed nationwide minimum wage would mean an increase of 90 percent in some provinces, which is bound to hurt small businesses. These firms say they would not be helped much by an offsetting cut in corporate tax to 23 percent from 30 percent.

On Monday, Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said his ministry would look at the central bank’s inflation target, which is used to guide monetary policy, to see whether it was causing problems for the economy. A senior central bank official said yesterday it felt the target range was appropriate for current economic conditions. “We are ready to discuss (the inflation target). As for now, we think the target is appropriate,” Mathee Supapongse, director of the domestic economy department, told reporters.

The central bank aims to hold core inflation, which excludes fresh food and energy prices, in a range of 0.5 to 3.0 percent and it sets monetary policy to achieve that. Core inflation hit 2.59 percent in July, approaching the top of that band. To contain it, the Bank of Thailand has increased interest rates eight times over the past year to 3.25 percent. Economists expect at least one more rate rise this year, perhaps at the next policy meeting on Aug 24.

Thirachai may want to raise the top of the target range, which might give the central bank scope to delay rate rises. The range is generally reviewed each year. It is proposed by the central bank but has to be approved by cabinet. The government also promised to double the farmgate price for rice to 15,000 baht per tonne, which exporters say will make Thai rice uncompetitive and could cause it to lose its position as top exporter to Vietnam. Kittirat, who has direct responsibility for rice as commerce minister, made no reference to that. —Reuters

HONG KONG: China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang addresses the media upon his arrival while Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang (right) listens at Hong Kong’s international airport yesterday. —AFP

China PM-in-waiting arrives in Hong Kong HONG KONG: China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Hong Kong yesterday as he looks to showcase himself ahead of a key leadership reshuffle in Beijing next year, and soothe tense relations with city officials. Li, the expected successor to Premier Wen Jiabao as head of China’s dayto-day administration, is making a threeday visit to Hong Kong and plans to speak about economic ties with the semiautonomous territory. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang led the dignitaries greeting Li at the airport, where the 56year-old vice premier said he would announce new measures to boost Hong Kong’s profile as a trade and finance hub.

The visit “shows the central government’s concern and support for Hong Kong’s development”, Li told reporters, adding that “I hope to see more and listen more to deepen my understanding of Hong Kong.” Unofficially, Li is aiming to boost his own profile as Wen’s term draws to a close in 2013, giving him “a precious opportunity to demonstrate his worth”, said Willy Lam, a history professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong. “(The trip) tells us about the political jockeying going on in Beijing ahead of next year’s once-in-a-decade leadership change,” Lam told AFP. “Li has been cautious to a fault over the past few years and for good reason - his power is not secure,” he added.

But only the most senior Chinese politicians make official visits to Hong Kong - a former British colony returned to China in 1997 - so the trip all but guarantees that Li will be China’s next premier, Lam said. Li’s high-powered delegation includes Commerce Minister Chen Deming, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou

Xiaochuan and National Development and Reform Commission chairman Zhang Ping.

The visit comes amid strained relations with Hong Kong, despite increasing economic integration which has seen the city become a test bed for Beijing’s bid to turn the yuan into a global currency to rival the US dollar.

Tensions flared last month when Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, or cabinet, said local officials’ colonial-era roots meant they “don’t know how to be a boss”. Hong Kong maintains its own political and legal system under the “one country, two systems” model, and guarantees civil liberties not seen on the mainland. Li will try to “endear himself to Hong Kong” and underscore that Beijing’s hands-off policy toward the territory remains unchanged, Lam said.

He added that Li would likely avoid commenting on calls for political reform in the territory after the violent unrest that has spread across the Middle East. The senior Chinese official had no plans for an official meeting with city lawmakers, unlike US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a recent visit. “They have always avoided direct contact with legislators,” said prominent lawmaker Albert Ho, chairman of the Democratic Party. “(Chinese officials) are not used to having dialogue with people of different political persuasions,” he added.

Hong Kong’s government faces rising public anger over soaring property prices, while several protests have called on Beijing to speed up promised political reforms, including direct elections for the territory’s leader. —AFP

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NEWS

Ramadan Kareem

Hijacking tradition Continued from Page1

The way to attainment

By Omer Bin Abdullah

“F

asting during R amadan is a unique opportunity to attain both peace of mind and heart,” says Imam Gayth Nur Kashif, Director of Washington, DC’s inner city Masjid ashShura. Imam Kashif, who came to Islam by way of the Black Muslim movement and was an editor of the movement’s Muhammad Speaks newspaper and a contemporar y of Malcolm X, explains: “During Ramadan one concentrates on rendering good and abstaining from the wrong. Such a pursuit creates peaceful serenity in the hearts of men and women.

Ramadan fasting cannot be complete and in fact, the fast can be invalidated if one fails to control his or her temper. The fasting persons are advised to refrain from argument and to inform the other party that they cannot continue the troublesome dialogue because they are engaged in the sublime obligation of fasting. Without doubt a full month of such restraint is destined to leave its mark upon our bodies and souls.” The fasting during Ramadan that requires certain restraints from dawn to dusk, the hours when the human interaction is the greatest, is designed to mould the lives of its practitioners.

Dr Molook Roghanizad, a member of the Curriculum Advisory Committee of the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia and an educational consultant, says, “Ramadan fasting offers an opportunity for Tazkiyah, - the cleansing of the self through its disciplinary regimen. And on another level, Ramadan offers a unique opportunity for synthesizing with the less fortunate.” She points out that the tazkiyah aspect is clearly emphasized by Prophet Muhammad who, according to Ka’b ibn Malik, said: “Two hungry wolves sent against a herd of sheep will not do more damage to it than a man’s eagerness for wealth and prestige does to his religion.” [Cited in Ahmad, al-Tirmidhi and Abu Yahya] “The Quran,” she adds, “started to be revealed during Ramadan and it is recommended that during this month we concentrate on the reading of the Quran. Why? This is because during this month, we are less involved with physical needs and have a better opportunity of understanding the Message the Quran, that is. Therefore there is a better chance of understanding the truth and reaching that spiritual elevation that we all desire.” This state of ‘special elevation’, she is says comes when we elevate ourselves through understanding the true message. “ The moment you have reached the absolute truth is your Lailut ul Qadr, the Night of Power,” she stresses.

She says that the real attainment of Qadr for ordinary beings is not a physical act, nothing sort of pulling a spiritual rabbit out of a hat, but in reality that indescribable moment when all things become clear to you and this moment of truth is worth one thousand months, more than a lifetime.

Considering the ambience of spirituality, there is a chance that is other worldly experience of a person, the Qadr, may occur in Ramadan. The Quran says: “But those will prosper who purify themselves and glorify of their Guardian-Lord and (lift their hear ts) in Prayer.” (87:14-15). Dr Muhammad Hamidullah, 95, the eminent scholar and translator of the Quran into French, in his monograph Why Fast? discusses the physical aspect of fasting. He likens fasting to the break from the ordinary to sleeping and to the weekend breaks in work and school.

He points out that just as sleep renovates the body, the fast rejuvenates and invigorates the body, noting that Prophet Muhammad said, “There is a tax on everything, the tax of the body being the fast.” What is fasting does to a Muslim is perhaps best explained by Jim Quraishi, who wrote in an internet religion forum, “I am much more forgiving and accepting of my coworkers. I am more liable to overlook their frailties and petty jealousies. I’m like a man who knows that at the end of the day there is a pot of gold that awaits him.”

Islam does order withdrawal nor asceticism, however those who desire can undertake itikaf, that is to confine oneself to a secluded corner of a mosque - women can select a corner at home - during the last ten days of Ramadan to devote their full-time to prayer and remembrance of God. The itikaf experience can be likened to a retreat in a secluded camp. Ibn ‘Umar said, “The Messenger of Allah [Prophet Muhammad] used to seclude himself for the last ten days of the month of Ramadan.”

Dr Alija Izetbekovic, former President of Bosnia, (Islam Between East & West, American Trust Publications, p. 210) says: “The Islamic fast which is the union of asceticism and joy - and even pleasure in certain cases - is the most natural and most radical educational measure that has ever been put into practice. It is equally present in the king’s palace and the peasant’s hut, in a philosopher’s home and a worker’s home. Its greatest advantage is that it is really practiced.”

The fasting during Ramadan has been ordained for Muslims as fasting had been ordained for people that preceded them. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), addressing his companions on the last day of Sha’ban, the preceding month, said: “O people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which is a night better than a thousand months; month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night.

Whoever draws nearer (to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in (this month) shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer’s sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all.” www.zawaj.com

BEIRUT: A Lebanese anti-Syrian regime protester, holds up an Arabic placard read: ”Yes for the Syrian revolution, Solidarity for the Arab revolutions from the Ocean to the Gulf,” as she protests during a demonstration to show her support to the Syrian protesters, in Beirut, Lebanon. — AP

Assad ‘losing last shreds of legitimacy’: Britain PLO accuses Syria of crimes against humanity LONDON: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is “fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy”, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday as the regime escalated its crackdown on pro-democracy protests. As Syrian forces raked the revolt-hit Mediterranean port city of Latakia with machinegun fire that has already killed dozens, Hague said he was “appalled by the ongoing repression of civilians by the Syrian government”.

“The Syrian people are calling for peaceful change; the international community is calling for an immediate end to the violence. Now is the time for President Assad to act in response to these calls,” Hague said in a statement. “He is fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy.

He must stop the violence immediately.” The statement was the strongest yet by Britain against the Syrian leader. It comes three days after US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Saudi King Abdullah jointly expressed “shared, deep concerns” about the regime’s use of violence towards its citizens.

Crimes against humanity An assault by Syrian security forces on a Palestinian refugee camp in the coastal city of Latakia amounts to a crime against humanity, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization said. “The shelling is taking place using gunships and tanks on houses built from tin, on people who have no place to run to or even a shelter to hide in,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PLO secretary general said. “This is a crime against humanity.”

Residents of Latakia say Syrian security forces have been targeting areas where demonstrators have been protesting against President Bashar Al-Assad’s rule.

UNRWA, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, said its latest reports indicated that Al-Raml

camp, home to 10,000 registered refugees, was now almost completely deserted.

On Monday, UNRWA reported that four refugees had been killed and 17 wounded in the violence. “Our fear is that without access, the figures are higher, but we simply don’t know,” Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman in Jerusalem, said. “It’s obviously been the scene of a security or military operation. We remain extremely concerned. UNRWA needs to get in there. We need urgent humanitarian access,” he said. “Things get more and more grim and worrying by the minute. A forgotten population has now become a disappeared population,” he said. — Agencies

Saleh vows to return SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday he would return home “soon” from his convalescence in Saudi Arabia after an assassination attempt and accused the opposition of hijacking a protest movement that is demanding he quits. In a speech broadcast live to a gathering of tribesmen loyal to Saleh, he invited the opposition to go to the ballot box to end Yemen’s political crisis, which has dragged into its seventh month. “See you soon in Sanaa,” said Saleh at the end of his speech, which was watched by an audience of some 6,000 tribesmen in the Yemeni capital.

Saleh, who looked in visibly better health than in his last televised appearance from a hospital in Riyadh, attacked the opposition parties and tribesmen who have sided with them as “highway robbers” and “opportunists” and told protesters their movement had been hijacked. “There is a political party in the opposition whose slogan claims it is the party of Islam. What Islam? They have distorted Islam,” he said in reference to leading opposition party, the Islamist Islah party. — Agencies

Gulf economy hoping for Ramadan rebound DUBAI: Businesses in the Middle East are betting that Ramadan, the high-grossing annual month of fasting and reflection, will be able to shake off any dip in spending due to the social unrest seen in parts of the region. After the Arab world, mainly the oil-rich Gulf, was hit hard by the global financial crisis and local debt woes, its economies began recovering in 2010 until the arrival of the Arab Spring threw into doubt the sustainability of a recovery in countries such as Egypt and Bahrain. Governments have made up for dips in private spending by boosting their own funding of projects and infrastructure.

Ramadan, and the Eid holiday immediately after, has become an annual opportunity for businesses to ring up profits, and is in focus this year given the regional turmoil and its impact on spending. “Post-Ramadan there is more economic activity. The month instills fresh energy into the system,” said Shaharayar Umar, marketing director at Dubaibased Pan Arab Research Center. According to PARC, across the Arab World advertising spending generally doubles in Ramadan, with some companies spending up to 78 percent of their annual advertising budget during these 30 days. In 2010, the Middle East’s top five spenders on advertising put down an average of 25 percent of their annual advertising budget in just Ramadan of that year.

During Ramadan, a month-long lifestyle shift that includes shortened working hours and large family gatherings to break the daily fast, spending on food tends to increase because of the lavish meals set out after the fast ends at sunset. The gift-giving Eid holiday that immediately follows Ramadan is also big business, with auto sellers offering discounts and shopping malls launching sales. Private consumption is a significant driver of economic activity in the Arab world. In Saudi Arabia, consumer spending accounts for around 35 percent of the economy. It is around 73 percent in Egypt, whose unrest-hit economy is expected to see growth

of 1 percent in 2011 according to the IMF, its slowest since 1992.

This year, because of the lunar rhythm of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan falls right in the middle of August, usually a slow time across the region, with searing temperatures and holidays. But Ramadan usually encourages people to stay at home, and has been immune to political and commercial cycles. “Our experience says that no matter where and in which calendar month Ramadan falls, it’s a seasonality by itself,” said Mazen Hayek, official spokesperson for regional television giant MBC Group. “Is there a Ramadan economy, definitely. In the car business, in the electronic business, in the food business, in the advertisement business,” said Hayek.

Television is one of the main drivers for increased spending as the lifestyle shift translates into more time spent in front of the television during the day. According to Hayek, the average time spent watching TV doubles to seven hours per day during Ramadan. Of the total $2.2 billion spent on advertising in Ramadan in 2010, $1.7 billion was allocated to television alone. Advertisers are betting the same will happen this year, to help make up for a drop in overall advertising due to the region’s political and economic turmoil. On the eve of this year’s Ramadan, consumption shot up by 30 percent in the United Arab Emirates, retailers said.

That’s similar to the boost seen elsewhere as people stocked up on groceries needed for putting together iftar meals. “We have seen a sales growth, about 20 percent higher than normal sales. From 2 o’clock to 6 o’clock we are busy, after that people are at home to break the fast. Then we are busy again after 9 o’clock,” said Shaji Philip, grocery manager at local grocery chain Spinneys. Food demand increases so much during Ramadan that some retailers hike up prices to get more out of consumers - a trend the UAE government acted against by imposing a price freeze on food items throughout the month. — Reuters

Kuwait, Iraq hold talks...

Continued from Page 1 The official expressed ‘satisfaction’ over the talks and expected the outcome will serve the interests of the two neighbors.

Kuwait began construction on the multibillion-dollar container port in 2007 but Baghdad only raised objections to the port in May this year, a month after Kuwait’s Amir laid the foundation stone. An Iraqi delegation visited Kuwait City in May and held talks with officials, who assured them the port will not affect navigation in the strategic area at the tip of the Gulf. Iraq had officially asked Kuwait to suspend construction until the controversy had been settled. The State rejected the call by

its former occupier, insisting the port will not affect Iraq.

Earlier this week, Kuwait beefed up security around the project following fresh threats

by Iraqi militant groups and MP Kadhim AlShammari who said his comments were misunderstood. Last week, Kuwait’s foreign ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah said threats by Iraqi militants would not deter the oil-rich State from completing the construction of the port. The Gulf is the main export outlet for Iraqi oil, which accounts for the lion’s share of the country’s revenues, and Baghdad has started major work to modernize its outdated ports and plans to build a new one.— AFP

those days in Kuwait, kids used to go in the dark lanes between houses to knock on doors, sing and ask for sweets. So, people thought that it was better to shift the celebration to the 12th, 13th and 14th days of the month when there was full moon.

During the Girgian period, kids will gather together into groups after Iftar and wander their neighborhoods dressed mainly in national costume. Girls wear the traditional, beautifully embroidered Kuwaiti thobes, while the boys are clad in dishdashas and carry something like a cloth sack.

They knock on doors and sing songs for the householders, who in return offer them sweets. It is a beautiful tradition which kids enjoy immensely.

We’ve always prepared for Girgian from the start of Ramadan onwards, waiting for the children to come and sing. Things were going well until, in the last couple of years, this beautiful tradition was hijacked by commercialization, by people thinking that they were being more up-to-date by changing the tradition.

As this has happened, Girgian has become dull and uncreative; now, it’s no longer about innocent children enjoying spending an evening collecting a sack of goodies, but about fun for the mothers, aunties and sisters wanting to show off by buying expensive candies and sweets and put them in even more expensive gift-wrapping costing between KD10-KD300 depending on how rich you are. You can gift-wrap the presents in various containers some of them even covered with gold coins.

Some people have gone as far as attaching gold coins and pictures of the child with his or her name beneath it to give to their friends - but where’s the fun in that for kids?

Girgian has turned into a competition between rich, poor and middle class adults. Everyone is bragging about where she bought the Girgian for her children and what type of expensive chocolate was put inside. Others compete over where the sweets came from. It’s like a designer clothes competition; I wear Versace and you wear Dolce and Gabbana.

But children are not here to publicize companies you can do this with your clothes or your make-up or the jewelry you wear or the shoes, handbags etc., but you can’t and shouldn’t wreck and steal innocent children’s tradition.

I think by next year the designer fashion houses will realize that they’re missing an opportunity and get involved in the game. Maybe at the markets and in the malls we’ll see Swarovski Girgian; Prada Girgian or maybe Gucci Girgian on offer. And the list goes on. How sad to see the theft of innocence!

15 minutes of exercise can extend life HONG KONG: Doing just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day may add three years to your life, a large study in Taiwan has found. Most people struggle to stick to the standard guideline of 30 minutes a day of exercise, five days a week, and experts hope that by identifying a lower dose, more people will be motivated to get off the couch.

Lead researcher Chi Pang Wen of Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes said dedicating 15 minutes a day to a moderate form of exercise, like brisk walking, would benefit anyone. “It’s for men, women, the young and old, smokers, healthy and unhealthy people. Doctors, when they see any type of patient, this is a one-size-fits-all type of advice,” Wen said in a telephone interview. Wen and colleagues, who published their findings in medical journal The Lancet yesterday, tracked over 416,000 participants for 13 years, analyzing their health records and reported levels of physical activity each year.

After taking into account differences in age, weight, sex and a range of health-related indicators, they found that just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day increased life expectancy by three years compared to those who remained inactive. “The first 15 minutes ... the benefits are enormous,” Wen said. Daily exercise was also linked to a lower incidence of cancer, and appeared to reduce cancer-related deaths in one person in ten. “Sooner or later, you are going to die. But compared to the inactive group, the low exercise group has a reduction of 10 percent in cancer mortality,” Wen said.

Wen said the Taiwan findings were consistent with similar studies in the past using Caucasian participants, but his team was the first to come up with the minimum level of exercise necessary. “None of the other papers were able to conclude ... what specific amount of exercise would be enough. Ours is the first one to say that 15 minutes would be enough,” he said.

“We hope this will make it more attractive for inactive people, that they can allocate 15 minutes a day, rather than 30, which is more difficult.” — Reuters

Where is our money?, Kuwait...

Continued from Page 1 on Thursday at 9.00 in the morning to debate solutions for thousands of Kuwaiti students who were denied admission at Kuwait University despite meeting requirements. Muslim however accused the government and Education Minister Ahmad Al-Mulaifi of attempting to foil the holding of the session, saying the timing during the holy month of Ramadan is very suspicious.

Opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak meanwhile sent a series of questions to the

finance minister inquiring about the results of the ministry’s monitoring of the accounts of the state Audit Bureau.

Barrak said in his questions that based on Kuwaiti law, the finance ministry is required to examine the accounts of the Audit Bureau every year to ensure they are in line with the rules and regulations. The lawmaker asked the minister if the revisions between 2008/2009 and 2010/2011 have discovered any abnormality in the accounts, especially with those related to its chairman.

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

opinion

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Issues

UK riots a blow for small businesses, economy

By Philippe Valat

he riots in Britain threaten fresh trouble for the country’s fragile economy should consumer sentiment be affected by last week’s looting that left many small independent shops destroyed, analysts said. The most severe rioting occurred in London and with less than a year to go before the city hosts the Olympics, some experts are warning that Britain’s tourism industry and ability to attract new foreign investment could suffer.

The Association of British Insurers estimates that the four nights of rioting-which also hit major cities Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool-will cost the industry more than £200 million ($328 million, 227 million euros). The figure is similar to the cost of three weeks of rioting in France during 2005, when thousands of cars were set alight. In Britain, the principal target was shops. According to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), 400 independent stores were smashed or looted, including 30 which were razed to the ground by flames. Its findings exclude a sizeable amount of well-known large stores, notably sports and electronics retailers, whose premises were also ransacked.

Another research body, the Local Data Company, said a total of 28 centrally-located shopping districts were hit by the riots and estimated that 10 percent of shops were “directly or indirectly” affected by the violence. Many stores, it claims, were forced to shut for business because of the unrest. The government has provided £20 million in emergency funds and urged banks to provide exceptional credit facilities to help affected shops. Royal Bank of Scotland has said it will provide six-month interest and fee-free loans of up to £25,000 to its small business customers hit by the violence. But all the measures may not be enough to help the most vulnerable. “In the affected areas, one shop in ten might have to close, and it could be more than that,” said CRR director Joshua Bramfield. “It is one more factor that will affect consumers’ confidence, when people are already worried about the eurozone crisis or the war in Libya. It adds to a global feeling of uncertainty and anguish,” he told AFP. Chris Scicluna, deputy head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe, agreed that the rioting risked harming the wider British economy. “It is clear that the widespread social disorder occurring across London and other UK cities will directly hit domestic demand, and add a further blow to economic sentiment, which already looks shaky against the backdrop of recent market events.”

Scicluna said the risks to British gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the second half of 2011 were now biased even more heavily to the downside.

“And to the extent that we had anyway foreseen weak GDP growth of just 0.8 percent this year, that means that at best we are looking at continued anemic economic growth, if not a slide back into recession,” he added. As the rioting wound down, the Bank of England last week forecast that the British economy would grow less than expected this year amid concerns over the eurozone debt crisis, markets turmoil and government austerity measures.

Barclays Capital analyst Simon Hayes argued that Britain’s social unrest would have “no significant impact” on headline GDP data.

But what about the impact on the country’s tourism industry and ability to attract foreign investment? One of the most shocking images beamed worldwide was of a Sony warehouse in London engulfed by flames. A recent poll of London businesses found that 83 percent of respondents agreed that the capital’s reputation as a place to do business had been damaged.

Meanwhile the head of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, said Britain’s image “has suffered a significant blow... with knock-on impacts for our retail and tourism industries, as well as international investment in our cities and towns.” He added in a statement: “We now need to show the world that Britain remains a secure and strong destination for investment and business growth.”— AFP

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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.

Libya rebels show new discipline in push to Tripoli

By Michael Georgy t a checkpoint on the road leading south out of Zawiyah, a rebel fighter on Sunday sat at a table with a sheet of paper listing suspected agents working for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Anyone passing whose documents matched a name on the list was likely to end up in a makeshift prison attached to a nearby clinic where about 15 government soldiers were already held. For the rebels who made a dramatic advance to Zawiyah, 50 km west of the Libyan capital, at the weekend, such evidence of organization could be the difference between ousting Gaddafi and being forced into yet another humiliating retreat.

After a six-month-old conflict when inexperience and ill-discipline undermined their offensives time and again, rebels have formed themselves into a more organized fighting force. That organization will be crucial if they are to consolidate their latest advances which allow them to encircle Gaddafi’s stronghold in Tripoli and, they hope, force his capitulation. “The rebels have a reputation for being chronically over-optimistic and they have to be able to hold their gains, which they haven’t always succeeded in doing,” said Shashank Joshi, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute in London. “The way they fight now is going to determine how successful they will be.”

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HARDENED FIGHTERS The last time the rebels made rapid territorial advances was early in the conflict in

the east of Libya. Then rag-tag groups of leaderless volunteers would dash across the desert, only to pull back just as quickly when Gaddafi’s troops started firing. The rebels who took Zawiyah, many of them hardened by months of fighting in the Nafusa mountain range to the south, were a different proposition. “During the previous uprising the young people like me, we just attacked on our own free will,” said Nagi, a 31-year-old rebel fighter from Zawiyah.

“But now when our commanders speak we do as we are told and we have tactics, it is not just a free assault without thinking.”

Rebels are now formed into units, mostly based on their native towns or villages, and each unit has a commander. That may be standard battlecraft, but for the sometimes anarchic rebel movement, it is a novelty. In contrast to previous offensives, the rebels do not waste ammunition. There is little celebratory gunfire.

The rebels also seem to have at least a rudimentary idea about military tactics.

“We are going to go to Tripoli very methodically,” said Murad Badda, a 39-year-old shopkeeper-turned rebel fighter who was driving around the town on Monday in a pickup truck with a group of other fighters.”

“We will do what we did during our offensive from the Western mountains. We will attack one area, clear it and then move forward very carefully.” There was still some bravado. “We don’t expect a huge amount of resistance. We believe that Gaddafi’s men think they’re fighting a losing cause.

That’s why they’ve been retreating during our offensive,” Badda said.

There remains a risk the rebels could be forced to retreat. Pro-Gaddafi forces on the eastern edge of Zawiyah were on Monday firing Russian-made Grad rockets and mortars at rebel positions, though there was no sign they were gaining ground. But the rebels are better placed than their comrades who were put to flight in eastern Libya a few months back, said John Drake, senior risk consultant with London-based consultancy AKE. “The difference now ... is that the rebels emerging from the Nafusa Mountains appear to have acquired quite a significant amount of weaponry.” “They were struggling a few weeks ago but not only do they now have greater amounts of weaponry, many of them also have quite high morale,” he said.

COORDINATED FIREPOWER Another element of the rebels’ improved battlefield performance is a new ability to coordinate. The attack on Zawiyah was carried out by a combined force of rebels from the town itself, and from Zintan and other towns in the Western Mountains which in the past have treated each other with suspicion.

While the main force pushed toward Zawiyah, another was attacking Gaddafi forces in Garyan to the southeast and a third was encircling a government garrison in Tiji, to the southwest. Those operations meant that the forces that could have cut off the rebel supply lines to Zawiyah were pinned down and unable to move. “We have better cooperation between rebels ... than ever before,” said Amin Mustapha, 40, a rebel in Zawiyah.

“This time we all feel very united and it will help us when we try to get Tripoli.”

The killing last month of Abdel Fattah Younes, the opposition’s military commander, was unlikely to have disrupted preparations. Fighters in the west of Libya have a large degree of autonomy from the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi, where Younes was based. The coordination most vital to the rebels though is with NATO warplanes. The alliance says it is attacking solely to protect civilians under a UN mandate. “We are not coordinating our strikes with the rebels. We are not clearing the way for the rebel advances. It’s the other way around: Gaddafi is moving his forces into the open to respond to rebel advances and we are reacting to that,” a NATO official said.

However, along the route that took the rebels from the Western Mountains to Zawiyah was a trail of buildings and tanks which had been destroyed by NATO air strikes. When rebels attacked pro-Gaddafi forces in Garyan on Sunday, NATO struck too, sending plumes of smoke into the air.

“They (NATO) are not picking targets at random, or simply to protect the civilian population, they are picking targets in order to help consolidate rebel gains,” analyst Joshi said.

One rebel from the Western Mountains told Reuters a group of intelligence operatives from a NATO member state had set up a coordination centre in the rebel-held town of Nalut, near the border with Tunisia, though it was not possible to confirm that. — Reuters

Fight or flee: Decision time for Libya’s Gaddafi

By Christian Lowe he battle to control Libya has entered its final phase when Muammar Gaddafi must make a choice: to seek a negotiated exit or to defend his capital to the last bullet. Rebels with support from NATO warplanes have, over the past 48 hours, taken key towns around Gaddafi’s stronghold in Tripoli in a dramatic series of advances which cut the city off from supplies of fuel and food. Rebel offensives have, in the past, turned into headlong retreats. But if they hold their ground, the end of Gaddafi’s 41-year rule will be closer than at any time since the conflict began six months ago.

A US official said that for the first time in the conflict, government forces on Sunday fired a Scud missile-an act that was pointless from a military point of view but signaled the desperation of pro-Gaddafi forces. “The Libyan regime may or may not collapse forthwith but it now looks like it will happen sooner or later,” said Daniel Korski, a fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations. He added: “The manner of its collapse, however, and the method of the rebel takeover will be just as important as the conduct of the war.”

Flushed by their success in getting so close to Tripoli, some rank-and-file rebels on Monday spoke of attacking the capital next. But analysts said that will not be the favored option for rebel commanders.

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UNWANTED BATTLE Gaddafi will throw all the men and weapons he has left into a defense of the capital, civilian casualties in urban fighting will be high, and sections of the population in Tripoli are likely to oppose the rebels. Even if Gaddafi’s opponents were able to win that fight, the bloodshed would create grievances and vendettas which could make the capital-and maybe even the country-ungovernable.

“Any fight for Tripoli can be expected to be extremely bloody,” said David Hartwell, North Africa and Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s, a defense and security consultancy, “My guess is the strategy is to isolate the capital and start applying pressure ... They (the rebels) seem to be trying to cut the links to the capital, one assumes with the aim of not having to assault the capital.” But will that approach work? Encircling Tripoli and cutting off supplies could produce any one of three outcomes, or a combination of the three. Starved of

fuel and unable to bring in more weapons and reinforcements, elements of Gaddafi’s security forces in Tripoli may decide the best way to save themselves is to lay down their arms or cross over and join the rebels.

Fractures in Gaddafi’s security apparatus could be the signal for the second outcome: Gaddafi’s underground opponents launch an uprising from within the city. Representatives of the clandestine opposition have told Reuters they are waiting for the right moment to begin a revolt. Some of them have weapons. It will take time though before Tripoli is ripe for an uprising, said Shashank Joshi, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute in London. “It is not on the edge of a cusp of falling and it’s entirely possible that many people in Tripoli are not really aware of what has happened at Zawiyah. So it may not yet bring us to the tipping point.”

GADDAFI’S CHOICE The third possibility is that Gaddafi will decide to negotiate an exit deal. That would possibly involve him and his family going into exile in a state which will not hand him over for prosecution to the International Criminal Court. People who know him say Gaddafi-beneath his eccentric image-is a pragmatist who will cut a deal if that is what it takes to save the lives of his family. But they also say this will not happen until he is convinced he can no longer win.

His spokesman on Sunday denied there were any negotiations on Gaddafi’s departure. “If he is going to try to strike a deal he will leave it until the last minute,” said Hartwell of IHS Janes. “He still thinks he has something to fight for.”

The worst case scenario for the rebels and their Western backers is that the strategy of strangling Gaddafi’s capital will not dislodge him. In this event, there will be a battle for Tripoli and the only thing certain then is that there will be huge loss of life. “It

would not be surprising if Gaddafi were to go out with all guns blazing so long as no deal is on the table and he does not have an exit strategy,” said Anthony Skinner, an analyst with risk advisory firm Maplecroft.

“The colonel may booby trap Tripoli and loyalists may also put up a fight to the death.”— Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

analysis

Russia still lags on democracy 20 years after coup

By Timothy Heritage wenty years after a coup in which hardline communists made a last, desperate attempt to save the Soviet Union, Russia is still travelling the long and bumpy road to democracy. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was seized at his dacha on Aug 19, 1991, but the putsch collapsed two days later after public resistance led by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and merely hastened the Soviet Union’s demise months later.

The end of the Soviet empire inspired dreams of a better life that have been at least partly fulfilled for many, though not all, Russians. But politics is still dominated by one man, Vladimir Putin, under a system which few regard as a panacea. Many of those who stood for three days outside the Russian parliament headquarters, risking their lives to defend it against army tanks, had hoped for more. “It felt like a new beginning. We felt we could do anything,” said Milena Orlova, then a student and now an art critic, who was one of thousands who defended the White House parliament building in Moscow in August 1991.

“Some of our dreams have been realized. We’ve managed to travel abroad, some of my friends have done very well and artists have tasted freedom. But democracy has gone backwards. I thought we would have got further by now.” Polls suggest opinion is divided about the coup and the fall of the Soviet Union.

Some Russians, mainly older people, still yearn for the predictability and stability of Communist times and there is little official fanfare to mark the anniversary.

Few remember the names of the coup leaders and are hazy about the significance of the putsch, but historians say its failure showed Russians had finally lost the fear of the party and its power structures on which the Soviet system was based. “It was the last nail in the coffin of the Soviet Union,” said Anton Fedyashin, a historian specializing in Russia at the American University in Washington.

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“Looking back, it was one of the most astounding examples of historical events where the result achieved was exactly the opposite of what the perpetrators set out to do. It was a historical catalyst for the end of the Soviet Union.”

CHAOS TO STABILITY? Many historians and political analysts divide the 20 years that have followed into two periodsYeltsin’s chaotic rule until the end of 1999 and the more stable

therapy” reforms, Soviet assets and raw materials were sold off cheaply to a few businessmen, later known as the oligarchs, who amassed fortunes and political influence while ordinary people struggled to make ends meet.The media won unprecedented freedom and new political parties grew up, but corruption was rife and the rule of law collapsed. Yeltsin suffered from heart problems and rumors that he drank too much, and his liberal credentials were undermined

has overseen economic and political stability, strengthened a state that was in a mess and presided over an increase in private incomes. They underline that the Russian economy managed to withstand the 2008 financial crisis.

But critics say Putin was lucky because of an economic boom in the first years of his presidency that was more to do with a surge in global energy prices than his own policies. They say he has resisted economic reforms and

MOSCOW: A picture taken on August 19, 1991 shows Soviet Army tanks parked near Spassky gate (left), an entrance to the Kremlin and Basil’s Cathedral (center) in Moscow’s Red Square after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. — AFP Putin era since then. They disagree about how successful the transition has been but broadly agree that ordinary Russians still feel they have little impact on how the country is run. “Russia still has what is just an imitation of democracy,” said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, head of the Centre for Elites at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Sociology.

“People feel it doesn’t matter how they vote, that if Putin goes, someone else will come along who’s just like him. They ’re resigned to it because they think the Russian state has been like this for centuries and it won’t change.” Under Yeltsin’s “shock

by the war he launched with the breakaway Chechnya region. “It’s difficult to call the 1990s a successful transition, especially compared to what was happening in central Europe, where a lot of countries adapted better to democracy,” Fedyashin said.

Yeltsin resigned on the last day of 1999 and ceded the presidency to his preferred successor, Putin, who was then elected in March 2000. The former KGB spy is still Russia’s dominant politician despite stepping aside in favor of his protege, Dmitr y Medvedev, to become prime minister in 2008 because the constitution forbade a third successive term. Backers say Putin

built an authoritarian political system that has little semblance of democracy. “We can blame both Yeltsin and Putin for not using their opportunities better,” said Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Centre. “Yeltsin had huge suppor t to carr y things out and Putin benefited from sudden prosperity in Russia that he could have made better use of. Great expectations have for many become great disappointment.”

WHAT COMES NEXT? Political analysts say Russia’s road to democracy was always going to be long and tough and that its achievements should not

be underestimated. They also say it should not necessarily be judged by comparisons with Western-style democracy. “While Yeltsin’s Russia was inclined to imitate Western models, the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is trying to come up with a model of its own,” analysts Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard and Andrew Wilson wrote in an essay. Just what that model is, or will be, is not yet clear. The Kremlin has talked about “sovereign democracy”, which allows for the domination of a single party, and the current buzzword is “modernization”. Few would disagree that modernizing Russia’s economy, to reduce its heavy reliance on energy exports, as well as its politics is vital. But who will lead that modernization after the next presidential election, due in March, is not clear. Putin is widely expected to return as president if he wishes but Medvedev has indicated a desire to stay on if his mentor decides not to run again. Either would be all but certain to win because of strong opinion poll ratings, the lack of a genuine alternative and the Kremlin’s grip on the media.

Some businessmen fear Putin has come to stand for stagnation and this would not augur well for Russia. But pressure for change is building and signs of discontent are growing, analysts and critics of the system say.

“Modernization can be carried out only if the people, the entire population, are included in the whole process,” Gorbachev told Reuters in an interview last year.

“We need democracy, we need improvement of the electoral system and so on. Without that, we will not succeed.”

Since then he has been more direct in criticizing Putin, 58, and urged him not to run for president again. A former Yeltsin aide, Gennnady Burbulis, says the Russian Federation risks the same fate as the Soviet Union if reforms are not carried out soon and more investment is not made into Russia’s creaking infrastructure. “The threat is huge if this regime is unable to transform itself. The threat eventually is the disintegration of Russia,” Burbulis said. — Reuters

A golden decade for defense companies is ending

By Jonathan Fahey he wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry. In the decade since the Sept 11 attacks, the annual defense budget has more than doubled to $700 billion and annual defense industry profits have nearly quadrupled, approaching $25 billion last year.

Now defense spending is poised to retreat, and so are industry profits. “We’re about to go into the downhill side of the roller coaster here,” said David Berteau, a defense industry analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Congress agreed last month to cut military spending by $350 billion over the next 10 years. The defense budget will automatically be cut by another $500 billion over that period if lawmakers fail to reach a deficit-cutting deal by November.

Defense industry stocks have already begun to suffer; they are lagging the S&P 500 in recent months. During the last defense spending downturn, which lasted from 1985 to 1997, defense stocks underperformed the broader market by 33 percent, according to an analysis by RBC Capital Markets. The Sept 11 attacks forced the world’s biggest and best-funded military to quickly retool itself. It needed to develop technologies, weapons and strategies to find and fight an elusive network of terrorists that seemed more sophisticated and dangerous than ever imagined.

The US spent $1.3 trillion in the ten years following the attacks chasing AlQaeda and fighting two wars. That was on top of baseline military spending in excess of $4 trillion. “After 9/11 the floodgates opened,” says Eric Hugel, a defense industry analyst at Stephens Inc. The defense budget grew from $316 billion in 2001 to $708 billion in 2011. Federal spending on homeland security, which includes everything from airport security to border control, also rose dramatically.

Last year dozens of federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, spent $70 billion on such programs, according to the Office of Management and Budget. That’s up from $37 billion in 2003, the first year after DHS was formed.

All that spending was reflected in the soaring performance of the defense industry, led by the top five defense contractors: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon. In 2001, revenues for US-

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based defense contractors totaled $217 billion, according to data compiled by the analytics firm Capital IQ. By 2010 revenues had grown to $386 billion. Profits grew more than twice as fast over the same time period, from $6.7 billion to

had to increase its ability to find, recognize and track enemies that were scattered in many countries and dispersed among the civilian population. During the war in Iraq the military realized that it couldn’t protect troops from a low-tech,

FLORIDA: US President George W Bush has his early morning school reading event interrupted by his Chief of Staff Andrew Card (left) in this September 11, 2001 file photo, shortly after news of the New York City airplane crashes was available in Sarasota, Florida. — AFP $24.8 billion. Contractors based abroad, such as BAE Systems, also flourished. BAE was the sixth biggest defense contractor in 2010, with $7.2 billion in US military contracts.

Stock prices of defense companies in the S&P 500 index have risen 67 percent since September 11. The index as a whole climbed 8 percent in that period.

Military spending typically rises during wartime and falls during peacetime. But after Sept. 11, and as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan evolved, it became clear the country needed to spend money on very different militar y technologies and strategies.

Fighter jets, missile defenses and other Cold War-era systems designed to deal with the perceived threats of nationstates were less useful. The US military

but potent threat: jerry-rigged road side bombs. In Afghanistan, commanders needed ways to find and root out insurgents that had tucked themselves in caves in hard-to-reach mountains.

These challenges led to new hardware. Among the most important: Transport trucks that protect troops and supplies from roadside bombs. Mineresistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, quickly became crucial equipment for the Army. Oshkosh Corp., a maker of these trucks, was the 9th biggest military contractor last year.

Before 9/11, it wasn’t in the top 20.

Identification tools. Soldiers now carry small portable devices that identify a person by scanning fingerprints, irises and faces. These devices, made by L-1 Identity Solutions, which was recently

acquired by Safran, can weigh as little as 3 pounds, transmit data by several different wireless methods and remember 1 million identities.

Unmanned aircraft. General Atomics’ Predators, drones that can fire missiles, have killed several Al-Qaeda commanders. Lockheed Martin’s RQ-170 Sentinel reportedly kept watch on Osama bin Laden’s compound as the raid that killed him was taking place. Another type of company surged in importance in the last decade: Companies that provide services and support to military operations. As of March, the Defense Department had more contractor personnel in Afghanistan in Iraq than uniformed personnel, according to a study by the Congressional Research Service.

Afghanistan has the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel than any other US war.

This has boosted companies like KBR, once a division of Halliburton. KBR, which builds and maintains military bases and other facilities, had $4.7 billion in military contracts in 2010, up from $860 million a decade earlier. Analysts say the heavy reliance on contractors should allow the military to wind down spending more quickly, because it is easier to terminate a contract than to reduce uniformed troop levels. Also, the government isn’t responsible for pensions, health care and other benefits for contract workers, which should save money.

Equipment spending is already being scaled back. In 2009, funding for the F-22 fighter jet, a $65 billion program, was discontinued. Spending on the F-35 fighter jet is in danger of being cut back. An advanced warship called the DDG1000 has been canceled, and an upgrade to the Bradley tank called the Ground Combat Vehicle may also be scaled back or canceled. Over the past six months, defense company stocks in the S&P 500 index have fallen 16 percent. That compares with an 11 percent decline for the entire index.

During wartime, when dollars are flowing, the new equipment developed to battle new enemies is used together with the equipment that had been developed for earlier wars. But as budgets shrink this time, some of the technologies that were developed during the past decade, such as the unmanned aircraft, will have to replace older systems entirely. “The era of manned airplanes should be seen as over,” says Michael O’Hanlon, a defense policy expert at the Brookings Institution. “ The problem is nobody wants to give up the previously agreed on platform.”— AP

Focus

The Soviet coup attempt in 1991

By Mira Oberman

MOSCOW: File photo shows Russian President Boris Yeltsin (right) gesturing towards Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. — AFP ardline communists opposed to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms staged a coup in August 1991, but the putsch failed two days later and ultimately hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following are some facts about the botched putsch.

H

WHAT WAS THE COUP? The coup was a plot by hardline members of the ruling Communist Party to take control of the Soviet Union and stop Gorbachev’s “perestroika” program of political and economic reforms, which threatened the break-up of the country created after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The coup plotters hoped to prevent the signing of a new union treaty which was to decentralize much of the Soviet government’s power to the Soviet Union’s constituent republics.

WHO WAS INVOLVED? The conspirators included Soviet Vice President Gennady Yanayev, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov and Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov as well as Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov and Interior Minister Boris Pugo. Others involved were Valery Boldin, the head of Gorbachev’s secretariat, Oleg Baklanov, the deputy head of the Soviet Defence Council, and Oleg Shenin, a Communist Party Central Committee secretary. They were joined by Deputy Defence Minister Valentin Varennikov and two others, Vasily Starodubtsev and Alexander Tizyakov, were part of a state committee intended to oversee a planned state of emergency.

HOW WAS THE COUP IMPLEMENTED? Gorbachev went on holiday to his dacha, or country residence, in Foros in Crimea on Aug. 4, 1991. The conspirators met in Moscow to decide on a plan of action. Baklanov, Boldin, Shenin and Varennikov flew to Foros and demanded that Gorbachev declare a state of emergency or resign and name Yanayev acting president to enable them to “restore order”. Gorbachev did not comply but was confined to his dacha and the hardliners issued a statement on Aug. 19 saying they were saving the Soviet Union from a “national catastrophe” and Gorbachev was now “resting” to get his health back.

WHY DID IT FAIL? The coup was opposed by thousands of people who protested outside the Russian Soviet republic’s parliament building, the White House, in Moscow. Resistance was led by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who climbed onto a tank outside the White House to appeal to the army not to turn against the people and called for a general strike.

The coup was poorly planned-the leaders who were to oppose the events were not rounded up and communications were kept open. Foreign leaders including U.S. President George Bush condemned the coup. Three men were killed during disturbances but the security forces vacillated and ultimately did not use force to disperse the protesters outside the White House.

HOW DID THE COUP END?

By Aug 21 the coup had failed. Troops withdrew from Moscow and Gorbachev was able to fly back to Moscow, although he looked badly shaken by the experience. The coup leaders were arrested but Pugo and his wife later committed suicide. The conspirators were eventually tried for treason but were offered an amnesty in 1994. All accepted except Varennikov, who insisted on facing trial and was later acquitted.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE COUP? Many historians say the coup achieved the opposite of what the plotters intended and hastened the demise of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party on Aug 24 and Yeltsin banned the party’s activities in Russia on Nov. 6. The leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus created the Commonwealth of Independent States on Dec. 8 and annulled the 1922 treaty that had established the Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president on Dec. 25 and the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist the next day.— Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

sp orts

Robben fit for playoff

Winnipeg center found dead

BERLIN: Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben is fit to play in today’s Champions League playoff first leg against FC Zurich after missing last week’s Bundesliga game with VfL Wolfsburg because of back and adductor problems.

Coach Jupp Heynckes said the Dutchman was ready to help the Bavarians try to reach the group stages after they finished third in the Bundesliga last season and were forced to prequalify.

“He trained very well for the past three days,” Heynckes told reporters yesterday. Bayern are desperate to go through especially as the final will be held in Munich next year. The financial fallout from failing to advance is also estimated at about 20 million euros ($28.89 million).

“We know this is a challenge for us.

We are aware of the importance of this game and the demand to reach the group stages,” said Heynckes. “We are up against a creative and strong opponent who will not go into hiding against us.” The return leg is on Aug 23. —Reuters

WINNIPEG: Winnipeg Jets center Rick Rypien was found dead at his Alberta home on Monday, with the police telling local media there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the 27-year- old ’s death. R ypien signed a one -year, $700,000 contract with the Jets as a free agent last month after six seasons with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Canadian had not played for the Canucks since last November when he took an indefinite leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.

Rypien’s 2010-11 campaign was marred by a six-game NHL suspension for an altercation with a fan in M innesota in Oc tober. “ We would like to

express our sincere sympathies to the Rypien family as well as Rick’s friends,” the Jets said in a statement.

“Rick was a talented player with an extremely bright future.

His hunger for the game made him a valued team member both on and off the ice. This loss has impacted us as more than just a hockey team.”

The Canucks echoed the Jets’ sentiments. “Rick has been a beloved member of the Canucks family for the past six years,” a statement read.

“Rick was a great team mate and friend to our players, coaches and staff. We send our deepest condolences to the Rypien family at this most difficult time.”—Reuters

Wiggins returns after surgery LONDON: Bradley Wiggins will return to lead Team Sky in this week’s Tour of Spain after being forced to abandon the Tour de France last month with a broken collarbone. “Having Bradley back has reinvigorated us all. He has trained well since his operation but the fact he hasn’t been able to race for seven weeks means we will have to take things day by day,” team principal Dave Brailsford said in a news release yesterday.

Wiggins underwent surgery on his left collarbone after crashing out of the Tour in a multiple pile-up during the seventh stage. The Briton, who has not ridden in the Vuelta before, said: “I want to produce a strong performance for all those people who have supported me since my crash.

“The level of encouragement I’ve received has been overwhelming and I’d like to do everyone proud.” The Vuelta, which starts on Saturday in Benidorm, will be an emotional race for Team Sky who abandoned last year’s edition when their Spanish assistant Txema Gonzalez died after contracting a bacterial infection. —Reuters

Braves rally to beat Giants ATLANTA: Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to lead the Atlanta’s ninth-inning rally as the Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 in the National League on Monday night.

San Francisco closer Brian Wilson (6-4) gave up three hits and two walks in the ninth for his fifth blown save in 40 chances.

The Giants went ahead 3-2 after Nate Schierholtz hit a homer to right in the sixth. Mike Fontenot added an eighth-inning homer off Tim Hudson to make it 4-2 going into the ninth. It was the Giants’ first return to Atlanta since beating the Braves in the 2010 NL division series.

KANSAS: New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter hits a two-run triple during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals. —AP

Twins get past Tigers DETROIT: Jim Thome hit his 600th career home run an inning after he hit No. 599 to help the M innesota Twins outlast the Detroit Tigers 9-6 in the American League on Monday night.

The 40-year- old Thome became the eighth MLB player to reach 600, hitting a three-run shot off Daniel Schlereth in the seventh inning to give Minnesota a 9-5 lead.

An inning earlier, Thome reached 599 with a two-run homer off Rick Porcello (118). Only seven hitters have hit more home runs than the burley Thome: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa.

Francisco Liriano (8-9) allowed five runs in six innings for the Twins and Joe Nathan earned his 10th save. Before Monday ’s game, Thome hadn’t homered since Aug. 4.

Yankees 7, Royals 4 In Kansas City, Missouri, Derek Jeter drove in three runs, including two with a triple in the sixth, to lead New York.

AJ Burnett (9-9) allowed 10 singles and a walk over 5 2-3 innings, but they only resulted in three runs. The right-hander had been winless in 13 starts in August since signing a five-year, $82.5 million deal with New York, going 0-8.

Brett Gardner added a pair of RBIs and Mariano Rivera got his 31st save for the Yankees. Felipe Paulino (1-5) allowed five runs on five walks and eight hits in just 5 13 innings.

Rangers 8, Angels 4 In Anaheim, California, Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli hit back-to-back homers and Michael Young added a two-run single during a six-run fifth inning to lead Texas over Los Angeles.

Ian Kinsler had four hits and scored

three runs, and Josh Hamilton added an RBI double in Texas’ fourth straight win.

Alexi Ogando (12-5) pitched eight-hit ball into the seventh inning for the Rangers, who have won nine of 11. The Angels lost Garrett Richards to a strained groin muscle in the first inning of his second MLB start.

Bobby Cassevah (1-1) gave up one run while pitching 2 2-3 innings in relief of Richards.

Orioles 6, Athletics 2 In Oakland, California, Robert Andino hit a bases-loaded double in the seventh inning and Josh Bell added a two-run single as Baltimore picked up a rare victory on the road. Tommy Hunter (2-2) allowed two runs over 6 2-3 innings to earn his first win with Baltimore. The right-hander, who struck out three and walked one, had been winless in two starts since being acquired in a trade from Texas on July 30.

Matt Wieters and Mark Reynolds both homered for the Orioles. Gio Gonzalez (911) gave up four runs and four hits with three walks for the A’s, who have dropped four straight.

Mariners 6, Blue Jays 5 At Seattle, Mike Carp and Casper Wells hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth to lead the Mariners’ comeback victory over Toronto.

Carp, who also homered in the third inning, has a 15-game hitting streak and 17 RBIs in August - the most in baseball this month. It was his first two-home run game.

Eric Thames and Adam Lind had two-run home runs for the Blue Jays, and Brett Lawrie had a solo shot. Tom Wilhelmsen (10) earned his first MLB win by working a 12-3 eighth inning. Jon Rauch (5-4) gave up one run on three hits in 2-3 of an inning to take the loss. —AP

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

Minnesota 9, Detroit 6; Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 2; Atlanta 5, San Francisco 4; Chicago Cubs 4, Houston 3; Milwaukee 3, LA Dodgers 0; NY Yankees 7, Kansas City 4; Colorado 7, Florida 4; Texas 8, LA Angels 4; Baltimore 6, Oakland 2; Seattle 6, Toronto 5.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 73 46 .613 Boston 73 46 .613 Tampa Bay 64 55 .538 Toronto 61 60 .504 Baltimore 47 72 .395 Central Division Detroit 64 57 Cleveland 60 57 Chicago White Sox 60 60 Minnesota 53 67 Kansas City 50 72

GB 9 13 26

.529 .513 2 .500 3.5 .442 10.5 .410 14.5

Western Division Texas 70 52 .574 LA Angels 65 57 .533 5 Seattle 53 67 .442 16 Oakland 53 68 .438 16.5

National League Eastern Division Philadelphia 78 41 Atlanta 71 51 NY Mets 59 62 Washington 57 62 Florida 56 65

.655 .582 .488 .479 .463

Central Division Milwaukee 71 51 St. Louis 65 57 Cincinnati 59 62 Pittsburgh 57 63 Chicago Cubs 54 68 Houston 38 84

.582 .533 6 .488 11.5 .475 13 .443 17 .311 33

8.5 20 21 23

Western Division Arizona 68 53 .562 San Francisco 66 56 .541 2.5 Colorado 57 66 .463 12 LA Dodgers 55 65 .458 12.5 San Diego 54 69 .439 15

Mets 5, Padres 4 In San Diego, Scott Hairston drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning as New York ended a five-game losing streak with a win over the Padres.

Lucas Duda and Josh Thole both had homers among their three hits, and Thole had three RBIs. Manny Acosta (1-0) got the win after pitching the ninth. Jason Isringhausen allowed a walk and a single in the 10th before securing his seventh save in 11 chances this season and the 300th of his career.

Josh Spence (0-2) was credited with the loss after giving up the game winning run in the 10th.

Pirates 6, Cardinals 2 In Pittsburgh, Ryan Doumit matched a career high with a fourhit game, including a three-run home run, as the Pirates beat St. Louis.

Doumit’s homer in the fourth inning off Jake Westbrook (9-7) broke open a 1-1 game and helped Pittsburgh end its threegame losing streak.

Xavier Paul also homered and

ATLANTA: Braves starting pitcher Tim Hudson (15) works in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants. —AP Neil Walker had two hits for the Pirates. James McDonald (8-6) pitched 5 2-3 uneven innings to end his three-start winless streak.

He allowed two runs and six hits while walking two and striking out four.

Cubs 4, Astros 3 At Houston, Geovany Soto had three hits and two RBIs and Kerry Wood earned his first save in over a year as Chicago won for the 12th time in 15 games. Rodrigo Lopez (4-3) pitched an effective 5 1-3 innings, allowing two earned runs.

Henry Sosa (0-2) allowed four runs on seven hits with six strike-

outs in six innings for Houston, which has dropped seven in a row and 10 of its last 11.

Rockies 7, Marlins 4 In Denver, Jason Giambi hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run ninth inning as the Rockies rallied for a victory over Florida.

The Rockies, who had been 055 this season when trailing after eight innings, were down to their last out when Dexter Fowler hit a double off Leo Nunez (1-3). Carlos Gonzalez followed with a double to right and Troy Tulowitzki was walked intentionally before Randy Choate relieved Nunez. Giambi then hit his 11th home run of the

season for the win.

Brewers 3, Dodgers 0 In Milwaukee, Randy Wolf pitched eight effective innings and the Brewers turned a triple play as part of a superb defensive effort in a victory over the Dodgers.

Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Hart each homered for the Brewers, who have won 17 of 19.

Milwaukee converted four double plays and threw out two runners at home, including one on the triple play. Wolf (10-8) allowed six hits and five walks in eight innings. —AP

Thome warms hearts with 600th home run of Famer Mike Schmidt’s franchise record.

NEW YORK: Jim Thome powered his way into year-old third baseman.

He followed that with a 42 home run seaThome split the next two seasons between one of Major League Baseball’s most exclusive clubs on Monday when he slugged his 600th the minors and the big league team before son, before an elbow injury led to mid-season home run after a long journey built on hard reaching the majors for good in 1994, hitting surgery. His replacement at first base, Ryan 20 homers and following that with 25, 38 and Howard, went on to Rookie of the Year honwork and consistency. ours and a suddenly expendable Thome was The 40-year-old Minnesota Twin became 40.

In 1997, the left-hander switched to first dealt to Chicago. just the eighth major league player to reach Thome resumed his slugging ways as desigthe milestone, adding his name to a list of base after the Indians traded for third basegreats including Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth man Matt Williams and he became an All-Star nated hitter for the White Sox, belting 42 homers with a .288 batting average in 2006 at the position for the next three seasons.

(714) and Willie Mays (660).

Thome, who once smashed a 511-foot and followed that with 35 home runs.

The achievement will warm the hearts of With 25 members of his family traditionalists, coming through the soand friends in attendance, the slugcalled ‘steroids era’ of baseball without a ger connected for his 500th home hint of controversy tainting Thome’s run against the Angels to give image as an honest, old-fashioned slugChicago a 9-7 walkoff victory in ger.

Sept. 2007.

Recent inductees to the 600-club Following a late-season 2009 have been dogged by admissions or trade to help the Los Angeles allegations of having used performDodgers in a postseason bid, Thome ance-enhancing drugs, including Barry joined the Twins in 2010, blasting Bonds (762), Sammy Sosa (609) and curthe first walk-off hit at Minnesota’s rent New York Yankees third baseman new Target Field with a 445-foot Alex Rodriguez (626). rocket in the bottom of the 10th Thome, untainted like Ken Griffey Jr inning against his former team (630) who retired last season, was more Chicago. of a throwback player. He wore his socks That was the 12th walk-off home pulled up high in the old style and his run of his career, bringing him level hair cut short, with his bulging forearms with all-time leaders Jimmie Foxx, warning opposing pitchers to keep the Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank ball away from the barrel of his bat.

Robinson and Babe Ruth.

What he lacked in glamour, soft-spoThome is not without flaws and ken Thome made up in integrity and his power-hitting action has seen determination as he battled injuries, him prone to strike-outs throughout including a chronic back problem that his career. He stands second on the made it a struggle for him to reach the all-time list behind Hall-of-Famer goal in his 21st major league season.

Reggie Jackson.

Thome began his career with the DETROIT: Minnesota Twins’ Jim Thome watches his 600th That weakness has been offset, Cleveland Indians in 1991 and moved career home run in the seventh inning of a baseball game however, with a keen batting eye on to the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago that has him eighth all-time in White Sox and had a brief stint with the against the Detroit Tigers. —AP drawing walks and boasting a .403 Los Angeles Dodgers before ending up home run for the longest blast ever recorded on-base percentage. at the Twins.

His frequency at clearing the fences has Thome was selected by the Indians in the in Cleveland, helped the Indians reach the 13th round of the 1989 MLB Draft and quickly World Series in 1995 and 1997 and bashed 49 also underlined his mastery. His average of homers for them in 2001 and 52 the following belting a home run for every 13.7 at-bats proved to be a bargain. stands fifth best in the major leagues behind He hit .340 with 16 home runs combined year.

In 2003, he signed a six-year, $85 million Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), in two minor league stops in 1990, and batted .319 the nex t year, leading to a free-agent deal to join the Phillies and in his Ryan Howard (12.16) and Barr y Bonds September call-up by Cleveland as a 21- first season hit 47 home runs, one short of Hall (12.90). —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

S P ORT S

Basketball event first test for Olympic park LONDON: London’s Olympic Park hosts its first tournament yesterday as six international basketball sides tip off to test out the basketball arena for the 2012 Games.

London is staging a series of test events this summer, a year before the Olympics get under way, to give their venues a dry run and allow organisers to iron out any problems before the Games begin next July. The basketball arena is the fourth-largest venue on the park in Stratford, east London, measuring 35 metres (115 feet) high and 115 metres long. With 12,000 seats, the white-clad structure is one of the largest ever temporary venues built for any Games. However, only 3,000 seats will be available per session for the warm-up basketball tournament, with three matches per day. The first four

days of the six-day event are sold out.

The round-robin tournament features Serbia, ranked eighth in the world, Australia (9th), China (10th), France (14th), Croatia (19th) and host nation Great Britain, ranked a lowly 56th, who should feature Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng in their ranks.

“Having our first test event on Olympic Park makes the Games seem even closer and excitement is building,” said Debbie Jevans, the Games organising committee’s director of sport.

“We are looking forward to hosting our first ever tournament in the Basketball Arena and testing our operations which will include transport into Olympic Park as well as the venue operations and of course the sporting field of play.”

Patrick Baumann, secretary general of basket-

ball’s global governing body FIBA, said: “This invitational tournament will be a very interesting and competitive one, with six of the best teams in men’s basketball. The Olympic Basketball Arena is a wonderful and world class venue.”

Organisers are testing out not only the arenaincluding the experience for players, spectators, broadcasters, photographers and print journalistsbut also transport to the site.

Construction of the arena was completed in June within the £43 million ($70 million, 50 million euro) budget. Inside, the seats are in the black and orange colors of a basketball. Outside, the frame of 20 steel arches has been wrapped in white fabric to form the canvas for an innovative lighting display. Some commentators say it resembles icing on a cake.

It will host the basketball up to the finals, which will be held at the former Millennium Dome.

Officials then have 22 hours to get it ready to host the handball finals.

The venue will then host the wheelchair basketball and rugby competitions during the Paralympic Games. After the Olympics, parts of it are expected to be reused or relocated elsewhere in Britain.

Rio de Janeiro hosts the next Olympic Games in 2016 and Richard Arnold, from London’s Olympic Delivery Authority, said the venue might end up being shipped to Brazil. “There is not a definitive plan, yet Rio has shown quite a bit of interest in having the fabric and the structure,” he said, according to the BBC. “All these elements have been developed so they can be reused.” — AFP

Mullings missing from Bolt-led Jamaica team Daegu world championships

CASCAIS: New Zealand’s Emirates Team New Zealand AC45 (center) skippered by Dean Barker, Oracle Racing 4 AC45, from the US (right) skippered by James Spithill, from Australia, and Korea’s Team Korea AC45 (left) skippered by Chris Draper, from Britain, sail during the America’s Cup World Series. —AP

Sailors rave about new America’s Cup Series NEW YORK: Two of the biggest names in the America’s Cup say sailing’s marquee event has hit a home run with fast catamarans and a World Series.

Software tycoon Larry Ellison, whose Oracle Racing reclaimed the oldest trophy in international sports for the United States last year, and Paul Cayard, a veteran of the America’s Cup, Olympics and round-the-world racing, raved about the new format following the first stop of the America’s Cup World Series in Cascais, Portugal.

Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp., pushed for big changes to make the stodgy old regatta more fan-friendly after his giant trimaran swept two races from Alinghi of Switzerland in February 2010 in Valencia, Spain. On Sunday, Ellison rode along on skipper Jimmy Spithill’s 45-foot catamaran in the nine-boat, winnertake-all ACWS final, which went to Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand.

“We’re very excited that these boats go as fast as they do and can be pushed to such extremes by these great sailors who are driving them,” Ellison said. “I think we made the right decision. It’s extreme sailing. Something the kids can get excited about, TV viewers can get excited about and even old monohull sailors like me can get excited about.”

The switch from plodding monohulls to the fast cats upset many sailing traditionalists.

Cayard, an American who is CEO of Sweden’s Artemis Racing, said it’s hard to argue with the results of the first ACWS regatta.

“For those who thought catamaran racing would be dull and boring, this past week has been a wakeup call,” Cayard wrote in his blog.

“In yesterday’s only and final race, there were three lead changes, the top boat speed was 24 knots, the course had six legs, and the race took 40 minutes and was within .5 miles of the shore. Everything that had been promised was delivered.”

On Saturday, Spithill, the winning skipper in the 2010 America’s Cup, swept Barker in

two races to win the match-racing title. Cayard called it “classic match racing with the competitors even tacking on each other at upwind speeds of 15 knots.”

The wet-and-wild 45-foot cats clearly are the stars of the new America’s Cup. Powered by wing sails, they are so cutting edge that crewmen wear crash helmets and padded vests. There had been several capsizes in the months leading up to the ACWS, including one by Oracle Racing CEO Russell Coutts, a four-time America’s Cup winner, on San Francisco Bay in June. Coutts was thrown through the wing sail and into the chilly water, and another crewman was slightly injured in that flip. There weren’t any capsizes in Cascais, but there was one man overboard and one crash, when Coutts collided with the Kiwis.

The 45-footers will be used this year and next. In 2013, the Louis Vuitton Cup for challengers and the America’s Cup match will be sailed in 72-footers on San Francisco Bay. Ellison has sailed the past several years in the RC44 class, a 44-foot boat co-designed by Coutts. “That, up until these boats, was the most fun I ever had sailing,” Ellison said. “Now the RC44 seems like old technology.”

Barker and Team New Zealand showed they are still a force by winning the final fleet race and finishing second in match racing.

Team New Zealand won the America’s Cup in 1995 and 2000 with Coutts as skipper.

With Barker as skipper in 2003, the Kiwis lost the Auld Mug to Alinghi after Coutts and a handful of his top crewmen jumped ship to the Swiss team. Coutts had a falling out with Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli and was forced to sit out the America’s Cup in 2007, when Alinghi beat the Kiwis.

Artemis Racing, skippered by American Terry Hutchinson, finished third in match racing and second in the final fleet race. There was one surprise, when Team Korea and its British skipper, Chris Draper, beat Coutts in the match-racing quarterfinals. —AP

KINGSTON: Jamaica has left 200 metres national champion Steve Mullings out of its 50-member team for the world championships starting in Daegu on Aug. 27 after local media reported the sprinter had failed a doping test.

Jamaican officials confirmed Mullings, the year’s third fastest sprinter in the 100m, had been suspended from the team headlined by triple Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt, but declined to elaborate on what grounds.

“Because of the outstanding issue surrounding Mr. Mullings he had to be omitted from the team,” Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) executive member and treasurer Ludlow Watts told Reuters.

“However, if the matter is resolved in his favour, there is a provision where he (Mullings) can be re-instated at a later date.” JAAA general secretary Garth Gayle added that Mullings had been omitted “because of his suspension.”

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) last week said a Jamaican track and field athlete had tested positive at national trials for the world championships but did not release a name.

Jamaica athletics sources with knowledge of the issue confirmed to Reuters that Mullings was the athlete who had failed the doping test.

Mullings, a member of Jamaica’s gold medalwinning 4x100 metres relay team at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, was fastest in the 200m and placed third in the 100m at Jamaica’s trials in June. He had been expected to join defending champion Bolt in the 100 and 200m and help Jamaica defend their 4x100m relay title.

The team, announced on Monday, did not specify which events Bolt or any of the other athletes would contest at the Aug. 27-Sept. 4 world championships.

Asafa Powell, the former world record holder and world bronze medallist, was included and should be one of Bolt’s biggest challengers in the 100m.

Reigning world champions Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (100m), Brigitte Foster-Hylton (100m hurdles) and Melaine Walker (400m hurdles) were also included in the team along with Olympic 200m champion Veronica CampbellBrown.

Meanwhile, reigning world indoor 400 metres gold medallist Debbie Dunn has withdrawn from the US world outdoor championship team with an unspecified injury, USA Track & Field (USATF) said on Monday.

USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer said she had no additional information on the injury and neither Dunn nor her agent could be reached for comment.

The announcement came as the United States finalized its team for the Aug 27-Sept 4 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Former US 100 metres champion Mike Rodgers remained on the team pending a hearing on his positive test for a stimulant, officials said. The fourth-fastest sprinter in the world this

Ambrose wins at Watkins Glen WATKINS GLEN: Australian Marcos Ambrose won the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International in a two-lap dash to the finish Monday for his first victory in NASCAR’s top series. Ambrose beat Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch on a green-white-checkered finish to atone for a slip-up a year ago on the road course at Sonoma, California, when he stalled his car under caution while leading with six laps to go and ended up sixth.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Ambrose, who drives the No. 9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. “I’ve tried for 21/2 years.”

It was the Australian’s first win in 105 Sprint Cup starts. It was also Ford’s first victo-

ry on a road course since Geoff Bodine won in Watkins Glen in 1996.

Ambrose signed a multiyear deal with struggling RPM a year ago to drive the No. 9 this season. That capped a tumultuous summer in which he opted to leave the No. 47 at JTG Daugherty Racing with one year left on his contract, even though he knew he was taking a big risk in difficult economic times.

“There were days, weeks when I was anxious,” Ambrose said. “There were times I was sitting around the boardroom table and there was nobody else there. But you’ve got to roll the dice sometimes.”

Busch, trying to win for a second time

WATKINS GLEN: Race-winner Marcos Ambrose (left) of Australia, waves while doing a burnout as second-placed Brad Keselowski pulls up alongside him after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race. — AP

from the pole at Watkins Glen, led the field to the green flag for the final two laps. But Keselowski, racing with a broken left ankle and trying for his second straight win and third of the season, drove from third to the lead entering the first turn with Ambrose following. “Those guys didn’t care to give me any room,” Busch said. “There’s only one corner you’ve got to make, and as soon as you make it through that corner and can keep everybody behind, it’s smooth sailing from there.”Ambrose then closed on Keselowski in the chicane and passed him for the lead before the final lap. “I wanted to win,” said Keselowski. “We had a shot at it, and that’s all you can ask as a driver.”

The race ended with a caution as David Reutimann and David Ragan crashed entering the second turn, with Ragan slamming head-on into the guard rail and Reutimann’s car bouncing hard off the barrier and sliding upside down across the track.

Busch finished third, and Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Kevin Harvick was sixth, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson.

Kurt Busch, who won at Sonoma in June, crashed early and finished 38th. He wasn’t alone: Denny Hamlin also crashed and ended up 36th; five-time Watkins Glen winner Tony Stewart, running up front all race, was taken out on the final lap in the chicane and finished 27th; and Paul Menard wrecked on the 86th lap and finished 32nd. Ambrose used a conservative pit strategy all day despite threatening weather - the race was postponed by rain Sunday and more was in the forecast on Monday. —AP

Jamaica’ s 200 metres national champion Steve Mullings year, he was selected in the 100 metres and 4x400 relay pool. She won her world indoor title 4x100 relay. Rodgers’ agent told Reuters on and helped the Americans win the 4x400 relay Saturday the sprinter had tested positive for the at Doha in 2010. Dunn, 33, will be replaced in stimulant methylhexaneamine after mistakenly the 400 by U.S. fourth-place finisher Jessica consuming an energy drink that contained the Beard, who was already in the relay pool.

Keshia Baker will be Dunn’s replacement banned substance. His second or “B” sample is i n t h e r e l a y. U S AT F a l s o s a i d i n j u r e d scheduled for testing today.

An arbitration panel will determine his eligi- women’s steeplechaser Delilah DiCrescenzo bility for the world championships. Dunn, third h a d b e e n r e p l a c e d o n t h e t e a m b y in the U.S trials, had been named to the Stephanie Garcia. DiCrescenzo was third in American squad in both the 400 metres and the the US trials. — Reuters

Boks drop Smit for All Blacks test PORT ELIZABETH: South Africa dropped veteran captain John Smit to the bench yesterday amid five changes to its starting lineup for Saturday’s Tri-Nations test against defending champion New Zealand.

Smit was rested, coach Peter de Villiers said, despite doubts over a right elbow injury, and was replaced by Bismarck du Plessis. Lock Victor Matfield will captain the team for the 16th time in his 107th test.

Fullback Patrick Lambie, flyhalf Morne Steyn, flanker Willem Alber ts and prop Gurthro Steenkamp were also called into the 15 for the struggling Springboks’ final game before the start of their World Cup defense next month.

South Africa is 0-3 in this year’s Tri-Nations and in danger of going through the tournament winless for the first time ever. Butch James, Danie Rossouw, Tendai Mtawarira and Smit — who all started last weekend’s 14-9 defeat by Australia - were named on the bench by De Villiers.

Lambie replaces Frans Steyn, who was ruled out against the No. 1-ranked All Blacks in Port Elizabeth with a hamstring injury.

Smit left the field against the Wallabies holding his elbow and was also struggling with a cold this week. But coach De Villiers said it was always part of the Boks’ World Cup planning to rest the 105-times capped hooker for the final game of the Tri-Nations after he started all three previous matches.

“This is our last chance to look at certain

combinations before the Rugby World Cup,” De Villiers said. “We’ve had these changes in mind since we started our planning for the international season, depending on the injury situation.

“To keep the competition going you have to keep Bizzy (Bismarck du Plessis) on his toes and John (Smit) on his toes so they can compete,” De Villiers said. “For me, going into this World Cup without giving Bizzy a fair chance would have been unfair to him, unfair to the team and unfair to the country.”

Alberts, Du Plessis and Steenkamp make their first starts of the year and in changes to the bench, loose forward Ashley Johnson and prop CJ van der Linde were called in after missing out completely against Australia. Jean Deysel and Gerhard Mostert were dropped from the 22.

South Africa’s defeat to the Wallabies in Durban was the under-fire world champion’s eighth loss in its last nine Tri-Nations matches. South Africa and New Zealand meet in the south eastern city of Port Elizabeth for the first time since 1970. It’s also the first rugby international at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

“The last game before the World Cup is a really big challenge for us,” Du Plessis said.

“We want to be on an upward curve when we go in to the World Cup. It’s always a physical battle against New Zealand and we’re looking to playing the first game here in PE (Port Elizabeth).”—AP

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More change needed at FIFA says TI BERNE: FIFA should limit terms for senior officials, set up an independent group to clear up anti-corruption allegations and “embrace transparency”, corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said yesterday.

TI said that, despite recent measures, world soccer’s governing body still gave the impression of being run “like an old boys’ network”.

FIFA reacted swiftly to TI’s findings, issuing a statement which said: “The FIFA President already publicly stated in October 2010 that FIFA would show zero tolerance towards any form of corruption in football. “While FIFA acknowledges that work remains to be done, it is convinced that the measures which have been implemented and the direction which has been taken will help to further strengthen FIFA’s governance in cooperation with the FIFA Executive Committee, the member associations, the confederations and other FIFA stakeholders.”

TI, however, said a great deal remained to be done at FIFA and urged that a new anti-corruption group should be composed of representatives from outside FIFA, such as elder statesmen, sponsors, media and civil society, and from inside football, such as players, those involved in women’s football, referees and supporters.

“FIFA says it wants to reform, but successive bribery scandals have left public trust in it at an all-time low,” said Sylvia Schenk, TI’s senior advisor on sport.

“Working with an oversight group - taking its advice, giving it access, letting it participate in

investigations - will show whether there is going to be real change. The process has to start now.”

Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s 75-year-old president reelected for a fourth term in June, promised to create a new committee to act as a watchdog, mentioning former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Spanish tenor Placido Domingo as possible members. He has yet to announce further details.

In its report, the Berlin-based watchdog, which issues a global league table of the least corrupt nations, said: “FIFA is both a non-governmental, non-profit organisation and a global company with huge revenues, unprecedented reach, political clout and enormous worldwide social influence.” However, it said FIFA was accountable only to its 208 member associations who elected the FIFA president and, in turn, received handouts from soccer’s governing body.

“This lack of mandatory accountability to the outside world makes it unlikely that change will come either from within the organisation or from the grassroots of the football organisations,” the report added. FIFA has been hit by a series of corruption scandals in the last year.

Two executive committee members were banned last November for allegedly offering to sell their votes in the contest to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, subsequently awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively. Last month, Asian Football Confederation chief Mohammed Bin Hammam was banned for life for allegedly trying to buy votes in the June presidential election

where he was a candidate.

Fellow executive committee member Jack Warner, a leading FIFA powerbroker, quit after being put under investigation in the same case.

All decisions were taken by FIFA’s ethics committee but TI said this did not go far enough. “The lack of a fully transparent investigation leaves the root of the problem untouched,” it said.

“Similar scandals have hit FIFA before, and without a comprehensive process that deals with all allegations from the past, with consequences for anyone who has behaved unethically...and/or given or requested bribes, the scandals are likely to recur.”

It said the ethics committee hearing took place behind closed doors and added: “The members of the ethics committee are appointed by FIFA’s executive committee, raising doubts about their independence, and not all allegations discussed in the public have yet been dealt with.”

TI said FIFA needed to do more to improve its reporting and accounting standards. “The officials leading world football still give the impression of operating as an ‘old boy’s network’.

“With only three presidents since 1961 and the current president in his fourth term, FIFA does not match standards for rotation of top positions set by businesses or by other large organisations.”

Positions on the executive and finance committee, currently unlimited, should be limited to two terms. Listing a number of suggested improvements, TI said: “A new era for FIFA requires a review of its internal governance and

the introduction of transparency and accountability into its decision-making processes and operations. “This is a critical step that FIFA must take if it is to become a sustainable, accountable and transparent organisation.”

The report concluded: “Throughout its history, the workings of football’s governing body have been opaque. However, people across the world, in all walks of life, are calling for an end to ‘business as usual’ and demanding accountability from those in power.

“If FIFA wants to rebuild trust it must embrace transparency. “Football’s governing body must be an example of the fair play that it promotes on the pitch.”

In its defence FIFA said it had read and welcomed the report, adding: “ The FIFA President...insists that especially after the FIFA Congress on 1 June 2011 FIFA remains committed to the task of continuing to improve its organisation, with a strong focus on increasing transparency and acting with zero tolerance against any form of corruption.”

It continued: “FIFA is pleased to note that several of the best practices and recommendations made by the TI report are already being implemented by FIFA, and that others have been approved by the 2011 FIFA Congress for their implementation in the coming months.”

FIFA said it was a transparent organisation, publishing all its regulations, circular letters to members and principal decisions on its websites and in other publications. —Reuters

Real look to overcome Barcelona in Super Cup BARCELONA: Real Madrid needs to overcome the disappointment of a frustrating 22 draw when it plays at Barcelona in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup yesterday.

Madrid dominated the first leg on Sunday and created the best scoring opportunities, but the team was eventually undone by the individual talent of the Spanish champions, notably David Villa and Lionel Messi.

Barcelona will welcome a return to the Camp Nou after an uncharacteristic match where it failed to impose itself through its usual passing game.

The Catalans may also be able to count on Cesc Fabregas, who joined his boyhood club from Arsenal on Monday, as they look to win the annual preseason matchup between the league champions and the cup winners for the first time in five tries against Madrid.

“I am physically ready (to play), but it’s the coach’s decision,” Fabregas said. “Barca and Madrid are two of the best teams in Europe, the competition (between the two) is brutal.

Madrid never throws in the towel. We know they are a great team.”

Fabregas’ long-awaited return could be celebrated against Madrid, although the Spain midfielder’s arrival illustrates the Barcelona’s squad lack of preseason training time with so many international players away at different times. Fabregas can at least slide right into the Catalan club’s system since he came up through the youth ranks before his move to north London eight years ago. “It was a good result considering the shape we were in coming into the

game,” Barcelona defender Daniel Alves said.

“Several players had managed to play only some minutes for Barcelona this preseason and we played pretty well against this Madrid, which enjoyed more time together

SPAIN: Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain from Argentina (left) hugs FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina during a first leg Spanish Super Cup in this file photo. —AP

as a team. Our team responded (Sunday) so we have to be happy.”

Former Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano asked if the performance signaled the beginning of “Barcelona’s deterioration” in his Marca sports daily column yesterday.

As Di Stefano asked if it was time for Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola - who is vying for his 11th major trophy - to revise his system, Guardiola labeled his team’s first-leg performance “titanic.”

“In the return leg we’ll play in a different manner since our team will also have more minutes,” Alves said. “We’ll (also) arrive in better shape, physically. I’m sure we can achieve our objective.” Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is likely to stay with the same lineup he used at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium with Fabio Coentrao possibly replacing Angel Di Maria on the wing. Whether the Portuguese coach meets the Spanish media or not is the doubt.

Mourinho again dodged the post-match news conference just as he has done since the being sanctioned for comments made after the first leg of the Champions League semifinals between the clubs in April. There seemed little to complain about from Sunday’s wide-open match when both teams could be upset over potential penalty calls. “We were stronger, a better unit and I think we dominated and created more situations on goal, which is good,” Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain said. “We have to be happy with our play.” Madrid beat three-time defending league champion Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final. —AP

Wenger sad to lose ‘world class’ Fabregas LONDON: Arsenal have lost a “world class player ” with the departure of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona, manager Arsene Wenger said on Monday at the same time his former club captain was speaking to the media in Spain.

Fabregas, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and has turned into one of the best midfielders in world football, moved back to his boyhood club on Monday.

“We have lost a world class player and we are sad about it, we did try to keep him,” Wenger told a news conference ahead of his club’s Champions League playoff first leg against Italians Udinese at the Emirates Stadium yesterday.

“In the end we had to respect the desire of the player. This club is 125 years old this season and many big players have left the club and the club has gone on. So we want to show we have the strength and the unity to fight as ever.” He added the move made sense for Fabregas for many reasons. “He comes back to Barcelona, he was educated at Barcelona. His grandfather was part of the (club) committee,” Wenger said in his native French.

“He was virtually brought up at Barcelona’s creche. On top of that, he is going to a club that has the best team in the world at the moment.

“So from that point of view, we can also understand that it has nothing to do with money, it is an affair of the heart.” At the same

time Wenger was speaking, so was Fabregas who praised his former manager in front of the Spanish media.

“I’ll never have enough words to say what I think about Arsene Wenger and if Arsenal wants to be the club they are they always have to be under his control,” the 24-year-old said.

“He is the best, ever yone respects him and he will always be the best person I met in football. He was like a father figure to me. If today I am here with you, living my dream, then it’s greatly due to him.” Fabregas added he was sorry he had not been able to tell fans what was happening, explaining Arsenal had effectively gagged him from speaking about the situation.

“My biggest regret is that we won only one FA Cup and the biggest regret I will have in my career is that I did not lift a trophy as an Arsenal captain, but I am sure they will be a strong team again,” he added. “I will always be an Arsenal fan because what they have done for me is unbelievable and I will never forget it.” Losing Fabregas’s creativity, versatility and eye for a goal is a big blow for Wenger and his squad could be further depleted if France midfielder Samir Nasri heads off to Manchester City. “The two things are not linked,” Wenger said.

“Ideally I want Samir Nasri to stay ... the situation is a bit different with Samir and hopefully we can sort the situation out and keep him. — Reuters

BUENOS AIRES: Boca’Juniors’ Dario Cvitanich (right) and Union de Santa Fe’s Pablo Cardenas (left) go for a header during an Argentine soccer league match. —AP

Boca crush Union 4-0, fans make fun of River BUENOS AIRES: Striker Lucas Viatri scored twice as Boca Juniors crushed promoted Union 4-0 while their fans made fun of relegated arch-rivals River Plate at a packed Bombonera on Monday.

Champions Velez Sarsfield also turned on the style to beat Banfield 3-0 at home as they went joint top with Boca with four points apiece after two matches of the Apertura championship.

Boca fans lit candles wrapped in the badge of River Plate, who were relegated in June, and chanted “we won’t be playing with the chickens ever again” before the start of a match played in almost constant drizzle.

Viatri, making the centre forward role his own after the retirement at the end of last season of Boca idol Martin Palermo, put the home side ahead after 45 seconds when he scored from Walter Erviti’s cheeky backheel.

Boca scored three more goals in the final ten minutes with Viatri slotting home his second in the 80th from substitute Nicolas Colazo’s low left cross.

Playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who had a part in the first two goals, tucked a fine third inside the far post in the 84th and Colazo completed a night of misery for Union goalkeeper Enrique Bologna and his defence in the 86th.

Velez, held 1-1 at Godoy Cruz in their opening match, went ahead with a penalty by Santiago Silva in the 21st minute after left back Emiliano Papa was brought down.

Five minutes after the interval, playmaker David Ramirez won a corner when his shot from the right was well saved by Cristian Lucchetti. Ramirez took the corner and found centre back Fernando Ortiz, who headed the second.

With seven minutes left and after Silva had hit the post, his fellow striker Juan Manuel Martinez scored the third with a shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar. San Lorenzo bounced back from a 1-0 home defeat by Lanus to upset Estudiantes 2-0 in La Plata scoring two goals in less than two minutes just past the hour.

Busy midfielder Gabriel Mendez scooped the ball forward as he fell in a tackle near the halfway line and striker Emanuel Giglioti, a new signing from All Boys, shot low under Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar to open the scoring on the hour. A minute and a half later, Mendez ran onto a left cross into the box, rounded Villar and clipped the ball into the empty net. River make their Nacional B division bow against Chacarita Juniors at the Monumental late yesterday. —Reuters

Chelsea’s Mikel pleads for safe return of dad

LONDON: Arsenalís Cesc Fabregas talks to his French manager Arsene Wenger at the start of a training session in this file photo. —AP

LONDON: Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel appealed to kidnappers on Monday for the safe return of his father after he was abducted in Nigeria last week. The 24-year-old Nigeria international played in Sunday’s season-opening 0-0 draw at Stoke City despite knowing his father Michael was abducted on Friday.

In an interview with Sky Sports News, Mikel said: “We haven’t heard anything, no phone calls, nothing.

“Whoever has got my dad or knows where my dad is please contact me and hopefully he will be released.

Please let him go — my dad is an old man and he hasn’t done any harm to anyone as far as I know and I don’t know why he has been taken. “ This happens a lot, not in the northern part of Nigeria but in the eastern part. It’s a very safe place where we live in Jos, I think it’s a first that my father has been taken in the northern part,” the midfielder added.

His father’s house in Jos was aban-

doned and the local police told Reuters they were investigating the disappearance but most of the local law enforcement were focused on dealing with a burst of religious unrest in the region.

At least 10 people were killed on Monday in the area around Jos when Christian and Muslim youths and the military clashed, local officials said.

Jos lies in the central “Middle Belt” of Africa’s most populous nation, where the largely-Christian south meets the mostly-Muslim north, and has often been the scene of deadly religious violence. Mikel, who has never managed a Premier League goal for Chelsea, came close to scoring against Stoke with a long-range volley that goalkeeper Asmir Begovic tipped over the crossbar. “It was really difficult. I spoke to the manager (Andre VillasBoas) who asked me if I wanted to play the game and I said I wanted to play,” explained Mikel, who joined Chelsea in 2006 and won a league winner’s medal last year. — Reuters

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Tharanga, Malinga shape Sri Lanka’s vital victory

HARARE: Zimbabwean players celebrate after beating Bangladesh by 5 runs during the one-day series against Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club.—AP

Zimbabwe seal ODI series in dramatic style HARARE: Zimbabwe snatched an astonishing victory over Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club here yesterday to win their five-match ODI series three up and two to play.

They got home with just four balls to spare, grabbing the final Bangladesh wicket with a boundary catch when the tourists needed only six runs to win themselves.

Zimbabwe, having been put into bat, made 250 for seven wickets down, with Bangladesh 245 all out in reply as darkness was closing in.

Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taykor said afterwards: “This was absolutely awesome, the most exhilarating match of my life and the most dramatic for all Zimbabweans.

“I was never sure we had enough with our 250 runs effort and so it almost proved. It just shows that you never know in cricket. I am really proud of the team for sticking to their guns, not just in this match but for the entire tour so far.” A century in exactly 100 balls by Mushfuqur Rahim in a gallant attempt to get his Bangladeshis home was almost lost in the excitement. It was his first in internationals and he simply needed a good partner to achieve victory.

The match started in dismal fashion for Zimbabwe when Brendan Taylor was out for three runs, his third successive failure. Sibanda steadied his team with 26. But then came what turned out to be a winning partnership of 142 between Hamilton Mazakadza, who made 74 and Tatenda Taibu who scored 83.

They both scored quickly but with some luck. It was Mazakadza’s 17th half

century and Taibu’s 20th. Taibu lost his wicket racing to get his second century but he failed in that in offering a towering catch to Rubel Hossain off the bowling of Nazibul Hossain.

Craig Er vine made 18 and Elton Chigumbura 31 to keep the momentum going. The story of the innings was told by a score of 22-1 after ten overs, 60-2 in 20 overs and then another 116 runs in the next 20 overs.

Zimbabwe’s total of 250 was a challenging score, but with the wicket easing to a slower pace in the afternoon, Bangladesh expected to meet the challenge and keep the series alive.

Their run rate was much faster in the early par t of the innings than Zimbabwe’s but when Tamim Iqbal was run out after scoring 44 there were was nobody else able to link up to any extent with Rahim.

Shakib Al Hassan (19) and debutant Juniad Siddique (22) were both caught and bowled by Prosper Utseya, who ended with 3-47. Neither they nor the other middle and lower order batsmen stayed significantly with Rahim.

Suddenly, within sight of the winning line, Bangladesh’s tail collapsed.

From 229-5 and with 22 to win in two overs and with nine to win in the last over they were tossed aside, mainly by Kyle Jarvis, who bowled out Shafiul Islam and Robiul Hossain to deliver a coup de grace, just as the opportunity for a dramatic Bangladesh victor y looked within their grasp. The tour now moves to Bulawayo for two dead rubber matches with the series done and dusted.—AFP

SCOREBOARD HARARE: Full scoreboard of the third one-day international between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

Zimbabwe B. Taylor c Siddique b S. Hossain 4 V. Sibanda c Kayes b R. Hossain 27 H. Masakadza b R. Hossain 74 T. Taibu c R. Hossain b Nazimul Hossain 83 C. Ervine st Rahim b Mahmudullah 18 Chigumbura c R. Hossain b S. Hassan 31 F. Mtizwa lbw b S. Al Hassan 2 P. Utseya not out 4 K. Jarvis not out 1 Extras (1b, 2lb, 3w) 6 Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 250 Fall of wickets: 1-14 ( Taylor), 2-39 (Sibanda), 3-181 (Masakadza), 4-206 (Ervine), 5-217 (Taibu), 6-245 (Chigumbura), 7-245 (Mtizwa) Did not bat: Christopher Mpofu, Brian Vetori Bowling: S. Islam 10-2-40-1 (1w): R. Hossain 10-0-41-2 ; Nazimul Hossain 9-1-341 (2w); Nasir Hossain 6-0-37-0 ; Mahmudullah 9-1-49-1 ; S. Al Hassan 6-046-2.

Bangladesh T. Iqbal run out (Utseya) 44 I. Kayes lbw b Utseya 16 J. Siddique c and b Utseya 12 M. Rahim not out 101 S. Al Hassan c and b Utseya 19 S. Hom run out (Vitori) 22 Mahmudullah c Masakadza b Vitori 14 Nasir Hossain not out 0 S. Islam b Jarvis 1 R. Hossain b Jarvis 0 Nazimul Hossain not out 0 Extras (4lb, 2w) 6 Total 245 (all out , 49,2 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Kayes), 2-66 (Siddique), 3-91 Iqbal), 4-124 S. Al Haasan), 5-183 (Hom), 6-229 (Mahmadullah) 7-229 (Nazimil Hossain), 8-235 (S. Islam), 9-245 (M. Rahim).

Bowling: Vitori 10-1-45-1 (1w); Jarvis 10-052-2 (1w); Mpofu 9.2-1-43-2; Utseya 10-1-47-3; Masakadza 4-0-17-0; Chigumbura 6-0-37-0.

Zimbabwe won by five runs

Brazil youngsters out to emulate seniors BOGOTA: Brazil’s youngsters have an eye on emulating their senior counterparts as they chase down a fifth world title at under20 level.

The junior ‘auriverde’ can book a place in the final today if they can see off Mexico for the right to face either France or Portugal in the trophy match. Brazil have five World Cups to their name at senior level, a record, but at under20 level it is neighbours Argentina who hold the mark with six crowns, hence the Brazilians need no second bidding as they look to close that gap. Having seen off Spain in a thrilling quarterfinal which went down to a penalty shootout while the French were ending African interest by dumping out Nigeria after extra-time, the Brazilians also have the added impetus of shaping up for next year’s Olympic tournament in London.

In addition, with a World Cup on home soil three years away their budding starlets will also feel they can muscle into the frame for a place on the 2014 senior squad.

Under20 coach Ney Franco will have taken comfort from having passed the Spanish test while there is now no concern about Argentina adding to their tally after the albiceleste’s exit on spotkicks to the Portuguese.

Brazil won the event in 1983, 1985, 1993 and 2003 but Franco is aware that the Mexicans are looking strong as “El Tri” try to go one better than their final loss in the inaugural event in

1977. The Mexicans come into the meeting on a major psychological high after knocking out hosts Colombia but Brazil have proved their own mettle in the absence of Neymar and Lucas, who have already graduated to the senior squad.

“The Mexicans have a completely different set up compared with that of Spain,” noted Franco, alluding to his rivals’ propensity to play three at the back as well as in attack.

“We will adapt our team to the Mexican game - they are very competitive. At this stage there are no favourites,” said Franco ahead of the meeting in Pereira.

Brazil’s penalty prowess in seeing off the Spanish was in stark contrast to the seniors’ flop at the Copa America when they failed to net any of their spotkicks in a quarter-final reverse against Paraguay.

Medellin will be the setting for the France versus Portugal showdown as the French look to secure a first ever passage to the trophy match at the expense of rivals who won the event, then known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, in 1989 and 1991 with their ‘golden generation’ of Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Paulo Sousa.

French coach Francis Smerecki said he was now “hoping for a shot at the Cup.” He told reporters: “We know the Portuguese well we’ve had them watched twice here.”—AFP

HAMBANTOTA: Upul Tharanga hit a century and paceman Lasith Malinga grabbed five wickets as Sri Lanka posted a crucial 78-run win over Australia in the third one-day international yesterday.

Left-handed opener Tharanga made 111 for his 12th one-day hundred as Sri Lanka scored 286-9 before dismissing Australia for 208 in the must-win match, despite Michael Hussey’s fighting 63.

Man-of-the-match Tharanga, playing his first series after serving a three-month drugs ban, also completed 4,000 runs in one-day internationals during his 139-ball knock, which contained 12 fours. Australia, who won the first two games of the five-match series, were struggling at 52-3 after debutant seamer Shaminda Eranga bowled Brad Haddin in his opening over and then held a return catch to dismiss Ricky Ponting (22).

Skipper Michael Clarke (46) and Hussey steadied the innings with a 71-run stand for the fourth wicket before Malinga struck a vital blow.

The Australian captain looked set for a third successive half-century before being caught by Mahela Jayawardene at mid-on. Malinga ensured the win when he dismissed Hussey to finish with 5-28, his fourth five-wicket haul.

Sri Lanka were earlier strongly placed at 220-1 after 38 overs but paceman Doug Bollinger (4-42) bagged three wickets in two overs, including those of Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara (49).

The hosts made their best start in the series when Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan (55) put on 139 for the first wicket in the day-night match, watched by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Maldivian counterpart Mohamed Nasheed.

Jayawardene was the other main scorer with a 33-ball 36. The Australian bowlers, who set up their team’s comfortable victories in previous games, had to wait for more than 25 overs for the first wicket.

Bollinger provided the breakthrough when he had Dilshan caught pulling by Michael Hussey before Tharanga and Sangakkara added 81 in 13 overs for the second wicket.

Sangakkara hit a 37-ball 49 before being trapped legbefore by Bollinger, who got his second wicket in the same over when he had Dinesh Chandimal caught by Clarke in the slips. Bollinger struck again when he had Tharanga caught behind in his next over.—AFP

India out to restore some pride LONDON: India will be out to salvage anything it can from a series in which it has been completely overwhelmed by a rampant England. A powerful seam attack and determined batsmen snatched the No. 1 crown from a weary India in the third test at Edgbaston.

The fourth test takes place at The Oval, a heavy scoring ground, and if India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni can lift morale he has enough worldclass batsmen to restore pride to his deposed team.

Rahul Dravid has scored two hundreds in the series and Sachin Tendulkar is still looking for his first to reach the magical 100 international hundreds. His highest score in three tests at The Oval is 82 in 2007, when India won the toss and batted for 170 overs to score 664 in a drawn game.

Suresh Raina’s place is under threat after making 105 runs in six innings in the series. Left-armer RP Singh arrived after problems with his visa and may replace Sreesanth, who has been expensive with five wickets in two tests at 74 apiece.

England’s stated ambition is to win the series 4-0.

It has won all the tests in a four- or five-match series only twice: Against India in 1959 and against West Indies in 2004.

It has won eight out of its last 12 tests, including six by an innings, with three draws and one defeat.

India last lost every test in a series against Australia in 1999-2000, when it lost 3-0.

The gap between the teams shows up in the stats: In this series England has had nine 100-run partnerships, India one. England batsmen have scored five hundreds, while for India, Dravid has the only two. England has taken 60 wickets in the series, India 41.

James Anderson has tightness in his right quadriceps, and in the absence of the still-injured Chris Tremlett the question will be whether to play Steve Finn or Graham Onions. Finn was included in the squad for the second and third tests and earlier replaced Anderson against Sri Lanka in the second test at Lord’s when Anderson had a minor side strain. Finn took four wickets in that match and was leading wicket-taker in the Ashes series with 14 at 33.14 after three tests, when he was dropped in favor of Tim Bresnan.

Onions has been recalled after an absence of 18 months and has recovered from surgery to insert metal pins in his spine. Recent history suggests the selectors will stick with Finn, the youngest England bowler to take 50 wickets.

The two Andrews, Flower and Strauss, could take the view that Ravi Bopara is dispensable. He scored 7 in England’s total of 710-7 declared at Edgbaston and did not bowl. He gets another chance because Jonathan Trott has not recovered from his shoulder injury.—AP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

World Youth Championship 2011 France vs Portugal Al Jazeera Sport 1 HD Al Jazeera Sport 1 HD

1:01

Spanish Super Cup Barcelona vs Real Madrid Al Jazeera Sport +2 Al Jazeera Sport +3 Al Jazeera Sport 1 HD

0:00

HAMBANTOTA: Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga (right) celebrates with teammate Kumar Sangakkara after the dismissal of Australia’s captain Michael Clarke (not seen) during their third one-day international cricket match.—AP

SCOREBOARD HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka: Complete scoreboard of the third one-day international between Sri Lanka and Australia yesterday: Sri Lanka: Tharanga c Haddin b Bollinger 111 T. Dilshan c M. Hussey b Bollinger 55 K. Sangakkara lbw b Bollinger 49 D. Chandimal c Clarke b Bollinger 4 M. Jayawardene c M. Hussey b Watson36 C. Silva c Smith b Lee 9 J. Mendis lbw b Johnson 1 N. Kulasekara c M. Hussey b Johnson 4 S. Eranga b Watson 2 L. Malinga not out 1 Extras (lb4, w10) 14 Total (for nine wickets; 50 overs) 286 Fall of wickets: 1-139 (Dilshan), 2-220 (Sangakkara), 3-224 (Chandimal), 4-230 (Tharanga), 5-252 (Silva), 6-255 (J. Mendis), 7-276 (Kulasekara), 8-284 (Jayawardene), 9-286 (Eranga).

Australia: S. Watson b Jayawardene b Malinga 5 B. Haddin b Eranga 5 R. Ponting c and b Eranga 22 M. Clarke c Jayawardene b Malinga 46 M. Hussey c sub (Randiv) b Malinga 63 D. Hussey b A. Mendis 8 S. Smith run out 18 M. Johnson c Chandimal b Kulasekara 1 B. Lee not out 14 X. Doherty b Malinga 2 D. Bollinger b Malinga 4 Extras (b4, lb6, nb1, w9) 20 Total (for all out; 44.2 overs) 208 Fall of wickets: 1-6 ( Watson), 2-18 (Haddin), 3-52 (Ponting), 4-123 (Clarke), 5138 (D. Hussey), 6-183 (Smith), 7-183 (M. Hussey), 8-189 (Johnson), 9-198 (Doherty), 10-208 (Bollinger).

Bowling: Lee 10-0-47-1, Bollinger 10-0-42-4 (w5), Johnson 9-0-45-2 (w1), Watson 9-058-2 (w2), Doherty 5-0-41-0, D. Hussey 5-034-0 (w2), Smith 2-0-15-0.

Bowling: Malinga 8.2-2-28-5 (nb1, w3), Kulasekara 10-1-50-1, Eranga 7-0-38-2 (w6), Dilshan 10-0-39-0, J. Mendis 1-0-5-0, A. Mendis 8-0-38-1.

Result: Sri Lanka win by 78 runs

Bradley’s PGA win underscores modern game’s strength JOHNS CREEK: The wild, roller-coaster finish to the 93rd PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club on Sunday was unpredictable as it unfolded but it was not unlikely.

Keegan Bradley’s gripping playoff victory over fellow American Jason Dufner underlined how much strength in depth the modern game now enjoys and that virtually any player in the field can triumph if on song that week. PGA Tour rookie Bradley, ranked 108th in the world, was competing in his very first major while 80thranked journeyman Dufner was competing in his 11th in as many years.

Coming into this week, most of the game’s leading players felt at least 40 golfers were capable of winning the year’s final major, and that number almost certainly did not include either Bradley or Dufner. Ten of the last 11 majors have been clinched by first-time winners, with 2010 Masters champion Phil Mickelson the sole exception in that span. “The top players are not dominating like they were, which I think is great for the Tour,” Bradley told reporters after beating Dufner by one stroke over three extra holes to claim his second victory on the US circuit.

“It gives an opportunity for a player like me to win this thing. I just think the game is as deep as it’s ever been and it’s only getting deeper.”

Former world number one Tiger Woods, who missed the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in only his second PGA Tour event following a three-month injury absence, has been hugely impressed by the game’s emerging young talent.

“You have this new young crew coming up, and there are probably two generations to that young crew,” the 14-times major champion said on the eve of the tournament.

“You have the guys in their early 30s, like Adam (Scott), and those guys in their mid-20s and the teenagers, Ryo (Ishikawa) being 19. It’s just ungodly how good these guys are at such an early age.” Of all the majors in recent times, the PGA Championship attracts the strongest field and yet it has often been the most likely to produce a surprise winner.

The coveted Wanamaker Trophy was won in consecutive years from 2002 by unheralded Americans Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel, showing how wide open the season’s final major has been. “The whole game has opened up now,” said Northern Irishman Darren Clarke, who claimed his first major title at last month’s British Open. “The European Tour now, of which I’m proud to be a member, we have got some fantas-

tic players. “There are great players dotted all around the world, and the more that the (PGA) Tour has opened up (for others) to come and play over here, the stronger the foreign players have become.”

Another reason why the PGA Championship has tended to produce ‘surprising’ winners is that of all the majors, it is the one most likely to be staged on a PGA Tour-style venue.

Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highland course fit the bill in this regard, though it also featured a closing four-hole stretch that Woods rated as among the most punishing he has ever seen.

“It’s a hell of a test coming in,” four-times winner Woods said after a practice session. “I don’t think there’s another stretch that I can remember that’s this difficult.

“You have two long par-fours going uphill, a par-three in which more guys will be hitting lumber (woods) and 18 being as tight as it is for as long as it is. If you play those 16 holes even par, you’ll be picking up a ton of shots on the guys.”

As it happened, those last four holes played .584 strokes over par during the PGA Championship, making them the fourth most difficult closing stretch in a major dating back to 1983.—Reuters

JOHN CREEK: Keegan Bradley celebrates on the 18th green after winning a three-hole playoff in this file photo. —AP

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LONDON: Manchester City’s David Silva (right) is closed down by Swansea City’s Angel Rangel during the English Premier League match. —AP

Aguero nets twice as City down Swansea Man City 4

Swansea 0 MANCHESTER: Sergio Aguero made a stunning debut as the Argentina striker scored twice after coming on as a substitute in Manchester City’s crushing 4-0 victory over Premier League debutants Swansea on Monday.

Aguero, a £38 million signing from Atletico Madrid, made it 2-0 from close range in the 68th minute after Edin Dzeko had broken the deadlock 11 minutes earlier.

Man of the match David Silva added the third before Aguero capped a delightful performance with a spectacular 30yard finish in stoppage time.

City manager Roberto Mancini — who was delighted with the team’s performance — said that Aguero’s performance

was all the more astonishing as he wasn’t 100percent back to his best. “I think he needs to recover as he only finished the Copa America three weeks ago,” saiod Mancini.

“He needs another two to three weeks to be 100 percent, maybe. For me he’s a fantastic striker, young, and he’s going to be a fantastic player for us.”

Aguero also got the thumbs-up from club captain Vincent Kompany. “He’s come in with a surprise. The great thing for me was that he was defending too. That’s important,” said the Belgian.

Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers said that he wasn’t too depressed as his side wouldn’t play the equivalent of City every week. “I said to the players I was proud of them,” he said.

“Up until the hour I thought we were fantastic. “I was disappointed with two quick goals, but we conceded goals against a terrific team.”

Swansea are back in England’s top-tier for the first time since 1983. And a visit to City represented a daunting start for them

even though the hosts were without Carlos Tevez, who was not considered fit enough to start.

Considerable investment has once again been ploughed into Mancini’s squad, with £50 million spent and counting. In contrast, Swansea have conducted a moderate recruitment drive compared to City with striker Danny Graham, the £3.5 million signing from Watford, the most expensive arrival.

Graham was included in the starting line up along with Michel Vorm, the keeper signed from Utrecht, and Steven Caulker, who has joined on loan from Tottenham.

And both had their work cut out as frustrated City did everything but score during a goalless first half.

The visitors had dominated the opening exchanges when Micah Richards narrowly failed to get on the end of Silva’s 16th minute cross.

Silva is proof that there is still plenty of exceptional Spanish talent left in the Premier League despite Cesc Fabregas’

departure to Barcelona.

City’s World Cup winner let fly with a vicious 23rd minute effort which was heading for the top corner before Vorm made a spectacular one handed stop.

The Welsh team’s bar was rattled on the stroke of half-time by Gareth Barry in what had become a one-sided contest.

But City made their dominance count after half-time with four goals in the space of 33 minutes.

Dzeko was in the right place at the right time to break the deadlock from close range after Adam Johnson’s curling 57th minute effort was parried into the striker’s path by Vorm.

Aguero received a rousing reception when he replaced Nigel De Jong in the 59th minute and nine minutes later the striker was celebrating his first goal in a City shirt after connecting with Richards’ low cross.

Silva made it 3-0 in the 71st minute after Aguero turned provider before the debutant capped a fine display with a stunning 30-yard finish. —AFP

Roddick loses cool as he crashes out of Open MASON: An angry and frustrated Andy Roddick lost his cool as he crashed out of the Cincinnati Open in the first round on Monday, suffering a three-set loss to 47th-ranked German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Kohlschreiber advanced with a 6-7 7-5 6-1 victory but 15th ranked Roddick left the court complaining to the umpire after a bad-tempered display, where he petulantly smashed his racket and fired the ball into the crowd. Roddick, who continues to be dogged by injury troubles, was given a warning after throwing down his racket at the loss of the second set and whacked the ball into the stands after double-faulting in the third set’s second game.

The American was handed a penalty point for the incident, which gave the break to Kohlschreiber and Roddick, making frequent comments to the umpire, never regained his composure. Rather than celebrate, Kohlschreiber departed the court shaking his head while Roddick was left with a disappointing defeat to contemplate ahead of the U.S. Open that starts in two weeks.

But the American, who having lost his spot among the world’s elite is now likely to exit the top 20 in the next rankings, insisted the official had over-reacted to blast into the stands.

“Obviously it a split second thing. Soon as I did

it I wanted it back. It was a judgment call for him. I am pretty sure I saw an eight year old girl catch it on the way down. He was telling my I hit it as hard as I could,” said the American, who has been out with an abdominal muscle injury.

“It just sucks. I can’t blame him, but I’m sitting here turning a six-week injury into a three-week injury, rehabbing eight hours a day, and a split second decision he interjects himself and it’s done.

“It’s so frustrating. I certainly accept what I did. I put him in a bad situation out there.

“But I do think it’s stupid in tennis that I mean, in football if someone throws a helmet on the sideline, it’s their helmet. We wonder where we lose our ratings battles to the WWE, Monday Night Raw,” he said, referring to the popular US wrestling show.

“John McEnroe, the guy is still getting endorsements because he was allowed to throw (expletive). “I understand where (the umpire) is coming from but at a certain point, you know, you hit a tennis ball into a stadium, someone goes home with a souvenir, and it pretty much ruins the match from there. Seems counterproductive.”

Roddick, who is attempting to get himself back in shape ahead of the U.S. Open at the end of the month, will play the ATP event in Winston-Salem next week but admitted he was still some way from full fitness. —Reuters

Spanish strike still on as talks stall MADRID: Negotiations appeared to be close to collapse in the dispute between Spain’s top football clubs and the players’ association, which has threatened to strike at the start of the season over wage guarantees.

A meeting was scheduled for today between the Professional Football League (LFP), which represents clubs in the top two divisions, and the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) to try and reach an agreement. But a spokesman for the AFE said it was uncertain whether the association’s representatives would attend. “We had proposed a meeting today, Tuesday, which the (LFP) totally ignored.”

Then “we received a summons for tomorrow morning. Faced with this unilateral summons, we are therefore still thinking about whether we will show up or not.”

AFE chairman Luis Rubiales said last week that the players from Spain’s top two divisions had decided to go on strike for the first two days of the

season, which starts on Saturday.

The AFE is in dispute with the LFP over unpaid salaries by some indebted clubs. It is demanding a wage guarantee and that players be allowed to break their contracts if they are not paid for three consecutive months. “What we are asking for from the League is that the wages of footballers be guaranteed, which is far from the case now,” the AFE spokesman said.

“A lot of Spanish clubs which have filed for bankruptcy protection do not pay their players, and with complete impunity.”

He said 200 players are concerned by the issue in the top two divisions, and the total of unpaid salaries is now around 50 million euros.

The LFP voiced puzzlement over the strike call. “The League does not understand the call for a strike by the AFE,” it said in a statement, arguing that it has recently taken “historic measures in response to the requests of Spanish players.” —AFP

United plan IPO in Singapore

OHIO: Andy Roddick of the United States returns to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in a first round match at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament. —AP

SINGAPORE: English Premier League giants Manchester United plan to raise one billion US dollars in an initial public offering (IPO) in Singapore later this year, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday.

The share sale is planned for the fourth quarter, Dow Jones said, quoting people familiar with the situation.

Credit Suisse Group has been mandated by as sole global coordinator and bookrunner on the deal, said the the sources, who were not named.

One source said other banks are expected to be added as bookrunners later.

The club, which was once listed on the London Stock Exchange as Manchester United PLC, had initially planned to list in Hong Kong.

But the club changed is its mind

and now prefers to list in Hong Kong’s regional rival Singapore, according to the Dow Jones sources.

United were delisted from the London exchange in 2005 after US tycoon Malcolm Glazer bought the club. A Singapore listing by United, ranked by Forbes earlier this year as the world’s most valuable football team in 2011 with a value of $1.86 billion, is expected to boost the citystate’s credentials as a financial centre.

Analysts said United have chosen to list in Asia because of the club’s popularity in the football-mad region where it has legions of fans.

United have been seeking ways to cut financing costs and raise money to expand their lucrative business, as well as acquire players to strengthen the club. —AFP

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HEFEI: Young Chinese women queue up to take part in an interview to be airline flight attendants for a Chinese airline company, in Hefei, in central China’s Anhui province yesterday. China aims to expand its aircraft fleet to more than 4,500 planes by 2015 from over 2,600 at present and increase its number of commercial airports to 220 from the current 175, as it expands its fleet to meet growing demand. —AFP

Merkel, Sarkozy meet as economy stalls Global stocks lose steam on weak German growth PARIS: The leaders of Germany and France was due to meet yesterday to discuss Europe’s debt crisis as new figures show their economies stalled even before the latest bout of turmoil struck financial markets.

The meeting between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris comes after a week of huge turbulence in financial markets, largely blamed on Europe’s sprawling government debts and worries that European leaders aren’t doing enough to address them.

Economic growth in the 17 countries that use the euro sagged to a lackluster quarterly rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter, as a previously robust expansion in Germany and France almost ground to a halt, according to figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.

Europe’s sagging growth prospects complicate the debt crisis, because slower growth makes it even harder for governments to shrink debt. Less growth in the German-French - the two economic heavyweights of the euro-zone makes it harder for those countries

to serve as creditors and back increased bailouts, while a slower economy also shrinks potential export markets for countries, like Greece, mired in recession.

PARIS: France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy (right) welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she arrives for a meeting on debt crisis yesterday. —AFP After an optimistic start to the trading week, global stock markets lost their steam yesterday after subdued German growth figures and

disappointing U.S. economic data reinforced fears over the global economy. The fall in German growth was the root cause behind the fall in the euro-zone’s expansion to 0.2 percent during the quarter from 0.8 percent in the previous three month period. Markets fell even lower after US data showing that builders broke ground on fewer single-family homes in July, leaving home construction at depressed levels. In Europe, Germany’s DAX was 2.4 percent lower at 5,876, while the CAC-40 in France fell 1.2 percent to 3,182. Britain’s FTSE 100 of leading British shares was down 1.21 percent at 5,285. Milan markets, in the first test of ?45.5 billion ($64.8 billion) in emergency austerity measures announced last week, was down 3.2 percent at 15,317.

Wall Street was also headed for a lower opening after posting impressive gains Monday on a round of corporate deals. Dow futures were down 0.7 percent to 11,328, while S&P 500 futures fell 1 percent to 1,186. The euro also was weighed down by the growth data, trading

US housing starts fall less than expected WASHINGTON: US housing starts fell less than expected in July as builders broke ground on new multifamily units likely to meet demand for rental apartments, while permits for future construction dropped.

The Commerce Department said yesterday housing starts slipped 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000 units, but above economists expectations for a 600,000-unit pace. The report painted a picture of a housing market that continues to bounce along the bottom, swamped by an oversupply of unsold homes.

Compared to July last year, residential construction was up 9.8 percent. “The market is continuing to adjust to a reduction in the national home ownership rate at the same time the supply of existing single-family homes remain excessive,” said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

US financial markets were little moved by the report as investors focused on weak euro zone growth data, which heightened fears the global economy might be slowing down much faster than previously thought. US data

so far for the third quarter have painted a mixed picture of the economy which barely grew in the first half of the year.

While there has been a moderation in the pace of layoffs in July and early August, the slowdown in manufacturing appears to be deepening.

A bloated inventory of unsold homes and a weak economy are weighing down on the housing market, whose collapse was the main catalyst of the 2007-09 recession. A large foreclosure pipeline also is not helping, leaving builders with little incentive to break ground on new projects. —AFP

0.3 percent lower on the day at $1.438. Europe’s single currency has prospered in recent sessions as stocks recovered their poise following dramatic losses. When investors have a higher appetite for risk, assets like shares and the euro garner support. Also weighing on the single currency yesterday is unease over a highly anticipated summit between French leader Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. There had been hopes over the weekend that the two would discuss issuing jointly guaranteed European government bonds as a means to end the eurozone’s crippling debt crisis.

However, the prospect of socalled eurobonds featuring at the summit appear to have been dashed after two leading German ministers reiterated opposition to them. Eurobonds would be a major step toward the bloc’s economic integration, and are billed by supporters as an overnight solution to the crisis. Italy, Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg are among the nations calling for eurobonds. —AP

Fitch affirms US at AAA, outlook stable NEW YORK: Fitch Ratings said yesterday it affirmed the United States’ top-notch credit rating at AAA, giving the world’s largest economy a reprieve after it was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s little more than a week ago. Fitch said the outlook for the rating was stable.

“The affirmation of the US ‘AAA’ sovereign rating reflects the fact that the key pillars of US’s exceptional creditworthiness remains intact: its pivotal role in the global financial system and the flexible, diversified and wealthy economy that provides its revenue base,” Fitch said in its statement.

“Monetary and exchange rate flexibility further enhances the capacity of the economy to absorb and adjust to ‘shocks’.” However,

Fitch warned the outlook for the rating depended on the economy and the political process in Washington to reduce the public debt.

It said an upward revision to medium to long term projections for public debt either as a result of weaker than expected economic recovery or failure of the joint committee to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction would likely put the United States on negative outlook.

“The rating action would most likely be a revision of the rating Outlook to Negative, which would indicate a greater than 50 percent chance of a downgrade over a two-year horizon. Less likely would be a one-notch downgrade,” the statement said. —Reuters

Kuwait’s Global narrows Q2 loss Regional unrest hits H1 results KUWAIT: Kuwait ’s Global Investment House reported a narrower second quar ter loss on M onday, buoyed by fee -based income and lower operating costs.

Global, whose two largest shareholders are the governments of Kuwait and Dubai, had a net loss KD16.7 million ($61.1 million) in the second quarter, according to Reuters calculations, compared to a net loss of KD20.2 million in the year-earlier period.

Its shares rose 13.51 percent on the Kuwait bourse at 0937 GMT. The firm said its asset management, investment banking and brokerage operations generated

operating income of KD8.3 million in the first half. Global said interest expenses were cut by 7 percent during the period while operating expenses were 33-percent lower in the first half this year than in 2010.

Global, which said its first half results were hit by political unrest in the M iddle East and Nor th Africa, reported a wider net loss in the period of KD38.7 million, compared to a loss of KD34.4 million in the first half of 2010. It did not provide a quarterly breakdown of results. “Principal investments losses stood at KD28.2 million during the first half ... largely due to KD6.8 million losses from share of

results of associates and the political unrest,” Global said in a statement.

The investment firm, which was hard hit by the global financial crisis in 2008, said debt was reduced to KD504.8 million in the first half of 2011, from KD578.95 million in the year-earlier period.

“On 13 July ... the majorit y lenders approved an amendment to the facilities agreement to waive until March 31, 2012 a condition that might have restricted any negotiations for the rescheduling or restruc turing of the Group’s indebtedness,” it said without elaborating. —Reuters

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GCC corporate earnings fell 7% against Q2 10 MARKAZ ECONOMIC BRIEF KUWAIT: As of first week of this month, we have 84% visibility in terms of market cap and 59% visibility in terms of number of companies to measure the performance of GCC corporate earnings, according to a recent report by Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz”...

Saudi Arabia enjoys nearly 100% market capitalization visibility, followed by Oman with 77% visibility. Bahrain’s visibility at 49% is the lowest in GCC region.

During 2Q11, GCC corporate earnings declined by 7% when compared to 2Q10. Total earnings,

which came in at $12.8bn was less than the profits posted during the previous quarter (1Q11) by 7%. In 1H11, the GCC corporate earnings show an upswing of 5% compared to 1H10. Total earnings came at $26.5bn compared to $25.3bn in 1H10, mainly due to the improved performance in 1Q11.

Corporate earnings declined due to weak performance by the Telecom sector in the region.

Nevertheless, Banks and Commodity companies continued to perform strongly. The region’s continued dominance as a petrochemical hub, global recovery, and spikes in commodity prices supported the performance of companies across the region.

Aggregate Net Profits from the Commodity sector were $3.4bn (+54% YoY, +4% QoQ). Amongst sectors, Banking continued to deliver the highest profits, at $5.0bn. Robust demand and access to low cost funds improved spreads in this quarter. Telecom sector registered 66% YoY decline in net income due to Zain’s one time profit from discontinued income reported in 2Q10.

Excluding this one-time adjustment, the sector’s earnings fell by only 11% YoY. Real Estate sector

with good results during the year.

However, the performance of the telecommunication sector was disappointing. Oman’s corporate earnings declined 16% YoY during the first half of the year to USD 0.8bn. The decrease in profit was mainly due the low profits reported by the Banking and the Telecommunication sectors. On a like-to-like basis, Bahrain’s corporate reported a profit of USD 510mn in 1H11, an increase of 5% YoY. The increase in profit was due to the improved results posted by the Banking sector in Bahrain.

recovered from the slump experienced last year and reported a profit of $386mn in 2Q11, up 127% YoY. 1H11 Earnings During 1H11, Saudi Arabian companies posted a total profit of $12.7bn an increase of 25% YoY. The increase was due to higher earnings reported during the 2Q11 by all the sectors across the board. Earnings of Kuwaiti companies during the 1H11 were down 33% YoY to 2.9bn. The decline in earnings was mainly

2Q11 Earnings of Saudi Arabian companies totaled $6.9bn, an increase of 28% YoY and 20% QoQ. SABIC, which reported $2.2bn in 2Q profits, led the growth which was driven by higher volumes and prices. Al Rajhi Bank reported net income of $491mn, up 4% YoY. Saudi Telecom’s net profit increased 9% YoY to $602mn. The increase in net profit is mainly on account of

due the decreased profits reported by the Telecommunication sector in Kuwait. UAE companies reported a profit of $5.2bn during the half year, an increase of 5% YoY. The surge in the Banking sector performance during the year supported the increased profits.

Qatar earnings during the first half of the year was USD 4.3bn, almost flat compared to the previous year. The banking and the commodities sectors came up

higher sales and lower operating expenses in this quarter.

Kuwait Corporate earnings fell by 73% YoY, due to decrease in profit reported by the Telecom sector. Telecom sector growth in 2Q10 was driven by one time gain of $2.75bn reported by Zain from discontinued operations.

However, after adjusting for this one-time gain, corporate earnings increased by 57% YoY in 2Q11, as other sectors performed well in the Kuwait region.

Banking sector was up 15% YoY, while Real Estate and Construction related companies posted positive earnings compared to last year.

During 2Q11, UAE posted earnings of $2.4bn as against a profit of $2.1bn in 2Q10. Real Estate recovery and profits from Banks led earnings growth in UAE. Bank earnings at $1.5bn, were higher by 33% on YoY basis.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank led the growth in 2Q11 with positive earnings reported during the quarter compared to last year.

Emirates NBD reported earnings growth of 87% YoY, due to higher other operating income.

Qatar earnings declined in 2Q11, with corporate earnings coming at $1.9bn, down 12% over 2Q10. Though, on a like-to-like basis the profit for the quarter was up 18% YoY. Industries Qatar delivered a strong set of numbers with net income of $570mn.

Higher volumes and improved demand proved beneficial for the company. Bank earnings grew 13% YoY to $944mn. Qatar National Bank grew its earnings by 26% YoY and 6% over the quarter. QNB’s net income of $497mn was driven by lower cost of funds and higher NIMs. Oman’s corporate earnings declined 10% YoY basis, though it was up by 35% on QoQ basis to $472mn as the Sultanate started to recover from the political turmoil that had effect it during the last quarter. Banking sector’s earnings were down at $94mn (-28% YoY, -38% QoQ), due to negative earnings posted by Bank Dhofar.

Bank Muscat’s net income of $76mn was 30% higher on YoY basis and 6% on QoQ basis.

On a like-to-like basis, Bahrain’s corporate reported a profit of $270mn in 2Q11, an increase of 28% YoY and 13% QoQ. On liketo-like basis, Banks reported an earnings growth of 63% on YoY basis. Ahli United Bank grew its earnings over the year by 20% to $84mn. Net income of Bahrain Telecom suffered, declining 5% YoY, though increasing by 22% on a QoQ basis.

From left to right: Iain Stephen (FM Account Manager)- Ecovert FM Kuwait, Renimah Al-Mattar (Vice Chairman)- United Tower Holding Company, Mohammed Al-Thuwaini (General Manager) Ahmadiah, Ahmed Al-Sumait (Chairman)-United Tower Holding Company, Elie Khalife (Chief Executive Officer) - Ecovert FM Kuwait and Tom Gilmartin (General Manager)- Ecovert FM Kuwait.

United Towers Holding, Ecovert sign Facilities Management Agreement to integrate residential, retail and office components into one SMART tower in Kuwait. The residential apartments will be offered for rent and include one, two and three bedroom apartments. The 38 office floors will be occupied by premier tenants who represent diversified business segments. United Tower will also include the Angsana Spa, operated by Banyan Tree.

Given the complexity and scope of facilities offered in United Tower, Ecovert was awarded this contract owing to its international experience and industry excellence. Ecovert’s portfolio of projects in Kuwait extends to other commercial and mixed-use properties including AlHamra Tower, 360 Mall and Al-Kout Mall.

United Tower is expected to announce its soft opening by the end of the year.

KUWAIT: United Towers Holding Company, a subsidiary of United Real Estate Company, signed an agreement with Ecovert FM Kuwait to manage the facilities of their new mixed-use tower in Sharq branded United Tower. The partnership will help both organizations provide a range of facilities management services including building maintenance, cleaning, security and landscaping through an experienced and dedicated management team.

Ahmad Al-Sumait, Chairman and Managing Director of United Towers Holding Company commented, “I would like to thank the teams that worked on this agreement which we hope will be the foundation of a lasting partnership.”

United Tower is an innovative business community and the first of its kind

Burgan Bank announces winners of daily Yawmi Account draw KUWAIT: Burgan Bank held its Yawmi account draw announcing a total of 5 lucky daily prize winners, each tak ing home KD 5000. The winners for the five daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5000 each. The lucky winners are: 1- Ali Majid Bani Neami Khazaei 2- Sheikh Faisal Mohd Al-Salman AlSabah 3- Musa’ed Saleh G anem AlGowanem 4- Abdulla Abdul-Aziz Yousef AlMuzaini 5- Fakhri Araj Menshdawi Burgan Bank ’s Yawmi account was the first in the country to have a daily draw, thereby entitling account holders who deposit KD 500 to win every day. For every KD 50 deposited in the account, the account holder receives an additional entry into the draw. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily win-

ner. The more you deposit, the higher the chances of winning the draw.

Opening a Yawmi account is simple, just visit your nearest Burgan Bank branch and get all the details.

Or simply call our Call Center 1804080 and our customer service representative will be more than happy to assist you. For fur ther information visit www.burgan.com

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 .4410000 .3880000 .3450000 .2740000 .2810000 .0040000 .0020000 .0738330 .7193300 .3810000 .0700000 .7051700 .0040000 .0430000

.2760000 .4540000 .3970000 .3580000 .2860000 .2930000 .0072500 .0035000 .0745750 .7265590 .4010000 .0760000 .7122580 .0072000 .0530000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2716000 .2737000 .4438890 .4473220 .3906560 .3936760 .3478260 .3505150 .2760300 .2781650 .0524440 .0528500 .0421870 .0425130 .2835100 .2857020 .0348530 .0351220 .2256380 .2273820 .0035360 .0035630 .0000000 .0060820 .0000000 .0025000 .0000000 .0031710 .0000000 .0036790 .0740710 .0745470 .0739750 .7262840 .0000000 .3871290 .0724460 .0730060 .7057300 .7111860 .0000000 .0065010

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 3.575 6.029 3.147 2.481 3.772 227.500 35.042 3.645

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

6.440 9.139 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 47.250 45.700 1.250 200.880 385.670 1.832 5.896 35.226

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 273.000 Euro 394.350 Sterling Pound 447.450 Canadian dollar 279.430 Turkish lire 154.630 Swiss Franc 352.490 Australian dollar 285.830 US Dollar Buying 273.000

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 289.400 725.690 3.850 281.600 536.000 36.300 53.200 167.800 47.860 397.600 35.690 6.280

SELL DRAFT 287.900 725.690 3.647 280.100

226.500 45.746 396.100 35.540 6.030

0.033 0.240 0.237 3.650 387.530 0.185 94.310 47.100 4.210 232.200 1.850 50.900 708.730 3.260 6.580 75.490 72.850 226.540 41.120 2.625 450.700 43.200 353.300 5.600 9.460 198.263 74.400 273.200 1.210

0.033

385.650 0.184 94.310 3.800 230.700

351.800 5.600 9.320 74.300 272.800

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 448.700 272.800

Selling Rate 272.750 279.310 446.905 394.500 350.040 723.150 74.235 74.865 72.695 383.925 45.776 2.479 6.038

3.154 3.650 6.425 669.019 3.645 9.230 5.743 3.860 90.599

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) 272.800 3.160 6.040 2.495 3.655 6.485 74.375 72.950 725.300 45.700 452.000 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 387.600 5.750 397.700 283.800

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 6.445 75.060 72.850 226.540 41.120 2.484 448.700

GOLD 1,779.460

10 Tola

GOLD 323.000 163.000 84.000

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) 272.250 395.900 448.500 279.900 3.575 6.023 45.690 2.479 3.650 6.435 3.150 725.600 74.250 72.775

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Kuwait budget surplus may reach KD11.4bn Global downturn hits oil prices KUWAIT: After remaining stable through most of July, oil prices saw a major sell-off in early August as fears over renewed weakness in the global economy gathered momentum, triggered in part by S&P’s decision to strip US sovereign debt of its AAA status. The prices of most global oil benchmarks dropped by more than $15 per barrel (pb) in the first week in August. While the price of Brent the main European crude - stood at around the $100 mark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to just $78, its lowest in 11 months.

The heavy discount for WTI partly reflects oversupply issues at its storage point at Cushing in the US. The price of KEC had fallen to $101 pb by August 9. Time-lags in the reporting process mean that the Kuwaiti blend had not by then seen the same magnitude of declines seen in other crudes.

Of the two events, signs of global economic weakness arguably have more scope than the US debt downgrade to do lasting damage to oil prices. The latter need not directly affect the demand for oil. And to the extent that the downgrade undermines the US dollar, it may boost demand for dollar-denominated commodities whose prices will fall in foreign currency terms. The overall impact might also depend on how the financial sector makes the technical adjustment to holding now lower-rated US government debt. The US authorities are likely to try to keep any such disruption to a minimum.

While the sudden shift in sentiment has rekindled talk of a re-run of the collapse in prices seen in 2008, analysts are also pointing

out the differences between now and then. These include the recent loss of Libyan output, which means that OPEC may find it easier to restrict output and defend a price floor; the lower likelihood of a major drop in global oil demand; and evidence from the last cycle that oil prices below $70-$80 pb are not sustainable, given the oil industry’s production costs and the need to finance new investment.

Oil demand outlook Forecasters’ projections for growth in global oil demand had recently moderated, and the latest bout of pessimism could take them down further. The Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) sees incremental demand in 2011 of 0.9 million barrels per day (mbpd), or 1%, with a deceleration in 2H 2011 thanks to slowing economic growth and the impact of high oil prices. 2012 is expected to see a similarly mild increase. These forecasts are - for now at least - below the consensus. The International Energy Agency (IEA), for example, expects oil demand growth of 1.2 mbpd this year (1.4%) and 1.5 mbpd (1.7%) in 2012, with all of the increase coming from nonOECD countries. These forecasts may be subject to downward revisions in light of the latest global turmoil. However, it is worth noting that - if sustained - the latest fall in oil prices may itself provide some relief for the global economy, and by implication serve to moderate any further deterioration in oil demand.

Oil supply outlook Latest data shows that crude

NBK ECONOMIC REPORT production of the OPEC 11 (i.e. excluding Iraq) jumped by 492,000 bpd to 26.9 mbpd in June, as the organization moved decisively to replace the near 1.5 mbpd of Libyan output lost since the start of the year. The increase was entirely due to higher output from the three main Gulf produc-

ers - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE - whose attempts to push through a formal increase in production quotas were rebuffed at OPEC’s acrimonious meeting in early June. Between them, the three Gulf producers have added 1.1 mbpd in output since January.

But this is still not enough to compensate for the 1.5 mbpd lost from Libya.

Indeed, after accounting for more or less unchanged production in Iraq and other OPEC members, OPEC’s overall supply has shrunk by around 0.4 mbpd so far this year. Since Saudi Arabia’s cur-

Emirates NBD wins ‘Marketing Department of the Year’ award KUWAIT: Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the Middle East, announced yesterday that it has won the top award for ‘Marketing Department of the Year ’ at the eighth annual International Business Awards, also known as the Stevies. The bank was further recognised by the global business awards program as Distinguished Honoree in the categor y of Communications or PR Campaign of the Year, for their prominent ‘Truth and Reality’ brand campaign.

Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 3,000 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 50 nations. Among the other winners and honorees were iconic global brands such as Siemens, Daimler, Cisco, General Motors and Coca Cola.

“Emirates NBD is proud to stand among numerous distinguished global brands that have been recognized at these top international awards,” said Jamal Bin Ghalaita, Group Deputy CEO, Emirates NBD. “In recent years we have consolidated our position as a leading financial services provider in the Middle East.

This award is a testament to the efficac y of our international brand strategy, which aims to strengthen our brand presence in strategic overseas territories, and has succeeded in positioning Emirates NBD on par with brands of international distinction.” Honourees were determined through two rounds of judging by 10 specialized committees and close to 200 professionals worldwide, who participated in the judging process.

Emirates NBD’s trophy-winning nomination was for building the leading banking brand in the UAE through an innovative 360 degree marketing approach, which encompasses eight distinct fields. These include consumer insights, product innovation, internal branding, brand activation, events & sponsorships,

Jamal Bin Ghalaita, Group Deputy CEO, Emirates NBD local area marketing, digital marketing and communications.

“By focusing efforts in each area of our unique 360 degree marketing program, we have succeeded in communicating our new brand value proposition of an enriched banking experience to our customers,” said Vikram Krishna, Head of Group Marketing, Emirates NBD. “ These international awards are a tremendous achievement for the bank, and recognize the hard work and dedication of our teams who have succeeded in scaling great heights in the short lifespan of our brand.”

Emirates NBD was also recently lauded for its PR/marketing initiatives at the Middle East focused Arab Achievement Awards, when it won top award for Best Marketing/PR Company. It was also named Asia’s Best Brand at 2011 CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Branding and Marketing, held in Singapore.

The bank will be presented with one Stevie Award trophy and one Distinguished Honoree medal at an awards gala ceremony to be held on Tuesday, 11 October in the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Kayan, Sinopec to build $130 m alcohol plant JEDDAH: Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp signed a 488 million Saudi riyal ($130 million) contract with China’s Sinopec to build a natural alcohol plant in Saudi Arabia, Kayan said yesterday. “Kayan signed on Monday a contract to build a

natural alcohol plant (detergents) with China’s Sinopec... The production capacity of the plant will be 50,000 tons annually and is expected to start during the second half of 2013,” Kayan said in a statement. SABIC owns a 35-percent stake in Kayan.- Reuters

rent production level, at 9.4 mbpd, is still short of its believed capacity of 12.5 mbpd, it still has scope to increase its own output if needed. The latest sharp drop in oil prices, however, may have reduced its desire to do so. At current production rates, OPEC output in 2011 will be up 0.3 mbpd,

or 1%, on its average for 2010.

Non-OPEC supplies this year have been given a boost by the IEA’s decision in June to release 60 million barrels of crude held in storage. This will add nearly 165,000 bpd to non-OPEC output in 2011, an increase of around 0.3% (though it will reverse in 2012). Including this, non-OPEC supplies are expected to rise by up to 1 mbpd this year, incorporating up to 0.5 mbpd in OPEC natural gas liquids, or NGLs, which are not affected by quotas.

Early projections are for a similarsized increase in non-OPEC out-

put next year, again boosted by OPEC NGLs. Price projections The forecast changes in demand and supply in 2011 seem to be broadly offsetting.

But after the stock drawdown in 2010, the market needed more oil this year to be brought back into balance. Nevertheless, from a quarterly perspective, the bulk of any market tightening might now be behind us: the global economy is weakening, falling post-summer energy demand should free-up more Saudi oil for export, while the recent rise in OPEC output may now be feeding through the supply chain.

Notwithstanding the chance of a 2008-style crisis, therefore, our base case is for oil prices to slip from recent levels and into next year. The price of KEC edges down from its 2Q11 level of $109 pb, but remains above $100 through 1Q12. OPEC is expected to tolerate such a dip, trimming its output only at the margin.

Even if oil demand growth holds up, oil prices could still be pushed lower by stronger than expected supplies, coming either from more aggressive production increases by Saudi Arabia, or from a further release of strategic reserves by the IEA. An extra 0.3 mbpd of oil on the market by 4Q11 would push the price of KEC well below $100 by the end of this year, even if OPEC had already began to trim back its output.

If, on the other hand, global oil demand were to brush off the latest bout of financial market turbulence and turn out stronger

than expected, oil market fundamentals could begin to tighten again. An extra 0.4 mbpd of demand in the final quarter of this year, for example, followed by a similar sized increase spread across 2012 would set prices on a firm upward trajectory from the beginning of next year. In this scenario, the price of KEC rises to $113 pb in 1Q12, and higher through the course of the year.

Budget projections The recently-released government closing accounts for FY2010/11 reveal a budget surplus of KD 5.3 billion before allocations to the Reserve Fund for Future Generations (RFFG). This compares to a budgeted deficit of KD 6.4 billion. With oil prices averaging $82.5 for the year, government revenues reached KD 21.5 billion, more than double the budgeted figures. Total government spending jumped to KD 16.2 billion - a 44% increase on the previous year - thanks partly to the inclusion of an un-budgeted KD 1.1 billion in spending linked to February’s Amiri grant and a large intergovernmental social security transfer.

The three oil price scenarios described above would generate average oil prices of between $104 and $112 per barrel for FY2011/12, a 26%-35% increase on a year earlier. If, as we expect, spending comes in at 5-10% below the government’s forecast, the budget could see a surplus of between KD 7.3 billion and KD 11.4 billion before allocations to the RFFG. This would be Kuwait’s 13th successive budget surplus.

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KSE equities end mixed GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) had a mixed performance yesterday backed by some good corporate results and the speech of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The results gave investors some incentives and a little confidence to invest again. The words of HH the Amir at the meeting of the Advisory committee addressed the structural imbalances in Kuwait’s economy and said it threatens the future of the country and that changes must be made. The speech gave great confidence to investors.

Market weighted, Global General Index (GGI) ended the day down by 0.35 percent, at 177.99 point dragged down mainly by the negative performance of the banking sector. Market capitalization was also down for the day at KD29.13bn.

On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 5,846.40 point, adding 15.60 points (0.27 percent) to its previous close.

Market Breadth During the session, 97 companies were traded, knowing that KSE announced before the opening of the session the suspension of 38 companies from trading for not submitting their results for the three months ending in June 2011. Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 39 equities advanced versus 26 that retreated.

Trading activity was mixed this session. Total volume traded was up by 43.56 percent with 111.64mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD12.85mn (1.28 percent lower compared to the day before). Real estate sector was the volume leader for the day, accounting for 31.66 percent of total shares. Abyaar Real Estate Development Company alone accounted for 21 percent of the market’s traded shares with 23.60mn shares exchanged. The scrip closed down by 1.92 percent at KD0.0255.

Banking sector was the value leader, with 27.68 percent of total traded

value. National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) was the most active in terms of value traded during yesterday’s session with 2.09mn shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD2.18mn. NBK ended the day with a 1.89 percent drop in its share price, closing at KD1.040. In terms of top gainers, National Ranges Company took the top spot for the day, adding 22.73 percent and closing at KD0.0135. On

the other hand, Arab Real Estate Company shed 9.09 percent and closed at KD0.030, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors Sector-wise, five out of the eight sectors increased during the day.

High trading was observed on the Real Estate, Investment, and Services sectors. Global Industrial Index was the top gaining for the day, producing 0.45 percent in gains. Heavy Engineering Industries & Shipbuilding Company ’s stock

reported a 7.81 percent improvement to end the day as one of the top gainers at KD0.345. Gulf Glass Manufacturing Company too reported a 5.56 percent increase.

Services stocks followed, adding 0.36 percent in sector gains backed

by National Ranges Company advance which was the top gainer for the day. Furthermore, Wataniya Telecom and Agility added 1.02 per-

cent and 2.82 percent, to their share prices and closed at KD1.980 and KD0.255, respectively.

Real Estate stocks too were notable advancers, adding 0.12 percent in sector gains. United Real Estate Company was the top gaining stock in the sector and one of the top gainers for the day. The scrip added 6.33 percent to its share value. Al-Enma’a Real Estate Company and Munshaat Real Estate projects Company were up by 3.19 percent and 2.04 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, heavyweight

Global Banking Sector Index ended the day down by 1.05 percent, dragging the market index with it south.

Ahli United Bank was the only gainer in the sector with an increase of 2.27 percent, while NBK, Kuwait Finance House and Commercial Bank of Kuwait ended the day down by 1.89 percent, 1.11 percent and 4.60 percent, respectively. Heavyweight, Kuwait Foodstuff Company

(Americana) was also down by 1.32 percent. Food sector was the only other loser for the day, shedding 1.31 percent.

Oil News Kuwaiti crude oil increased $0.98 to reach $102.63 per barrel (pb) on Monday, said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) yesterday. The increase in oil prices came after a report on US retails which showed a hike in sales during last month, hitting a record high in the past four months.

Lulu opens 95th store at Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Saadi, Minister of Commerce and Industry, inaugurated Lulu’s newest landmark at Nizwa, at a glittering ceremony in the presence of dignitaries and officials from the government and the private sector. This marks Lulu’s 10th venture in Oman and the 95th in the region, following an aggressive expansion policy that saw it opening several new stores in cities and wilayats across Oman during the past ten years. It reinforces Lulu Group’s policy and dedicated efforts to spread its network throughout the length and breadth of the country, creating vital connect with consumers. With plans of reaching 100 stores by the end of the year, Lulu has embarked on an aggressive growth plan said Yusuffali, Managing Director of Lulu Group, who attributed the Group’s successful presence in the country to the goodwill of the people and the government.

Elaborating on this, he added, “ This growth has been impressive, considering that in a span of ten years, we have relentlessly pursued our dream of paving the path for Lulu to become a household name and have realized it with more than 10 stores in the Sultanate. We are indeed on track to meet our set targets.” According to him, this uninhibited growth has been possible thanks mainly to the government of Oman, which has facilitated the smooth establishment of stores throughout the country and has assured support all the way. Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s benevolent leadership has

helped chart the growth of private sector organizations like ours, whose core objective is to follow the set guidelines in creating job opportunities and aiding the economy. We have been fortunate in the human resource department too, having recruited some of the best Omani employees from the pool of talented local workforce. Our constant endeavor is to develop and upgrade our staff and provide them opportunities to grow in the employee hierarchy,” he explained.

The new mall, which houses Lulu’s dedicated anchor store, amongst other facilities and host of international brands, is a reflection of the Group’s credo to offer the best shopping experience to its customers. With a dedicated team of trained locals from around the area, the outlet demonstrates Lulu’s intent to not only provide shopping opportunities in every part of the country, but also present equal opportunities for the local community to grow and experience a world class shopping environment.

Shoppers at this newest destination in Nizwa can soon look forward to the opening of several multi-brand outlets at the Nizwa Mall. The 200,000 sq. ft. Lulu Hypermarket is housed within the newly built Nizwa Mall constructed by Lulu Group and it will have Food Court, Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Children’s Amusement area and more than 70 branded stores in coming months.

Strategically located in the heart of the city with large spaces dedicated to the hyper-

market as well as its regular stores, this will soon become a landmark for all shoppers and visitors to Nizwa.

The anchor store has been designed to promote local products through the Origin Oman campaign, with dedicated aisles devoted for the display. The fresh food section, which is a hit in every Lulu hypermarket, has on offer some of the choicest local and international products at competitive prices. From fresh fruits and vegetables to fish, meat and dairy products, shoppers are spoilt for choice. The ready-to-eat counter is stacked with items that suit different palates.

The department stores will house shops dealing in electronics and electrical products, home appliances and IT products, furniture, furnishing, fashion accessories, clothes, etc. A separate food court and amusement section has been provided for leisurely shoppers.

Lulu Group investments are spread all over the Gulf region, Egypt, Yemen and today the group dominates 32 percent of the retail hypermarket sector in the Middle East. Its expansion plan includes opening new hypermarkets in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain in the coming months.

Mr. Yusuffali said that the Group’s expansion plans were not affected by the world financial crisis as its business is relevant to the retail sector which was the least affected by the crisis, explaining that the group has already opened around 20 branches in 2009 and 2010, inside and outside the UAE.

Panamera Turbo S arrives at Porsche Centre Kuwait KUWAIT: Porsche Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company, announces the arrival of the new Panamera Turbo S. With its strong 4.8 litre, V8 biturbo charged engine which delivers 550 hp and a maximum torque of 800 Nm, this exclusive model represents the most powerful Gran Turismo made by Porsche. Kuwaiti enthusiasts can view the Panamera Turbo S at the local Porsche Centre from today.

The new model is a unique combination of performance and efficiency, driving dynamics and comfort. The uncompromising power results in an astonishing acceleration time of only 3.8 seconds from 0 to 100 km. However, it is the sprint to 200 km/h in 12.9 seconds that shows the real performance of the Panamera Turbo S; the time needed for this is only 1 second behind the acceleration time of the renowned Carrera GT. Representing the flagship in the luxury Panamera line-up the new model reaches a top speed of 306 km/h. Despite the increased performance, fuel consumption remains at the same level as that of a Panamera Turbo - another example of “Porsche Intelligent Performance”. In the NEDC the Gran Turismo covers 100 kilometres on 11.3 litres of fuel per 100 km, when fitted with the 19 inch, all-season tyres with optimised rolling resistance developed for the Panamera by Michelin.

Porsche’s new top-of-the-range Panamera boasts an extraordinarily comprehensive equipment level. Vehicles are delivered to customers with Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC), Porsche

Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) as well as a steering system using the speeddependent Servotronic as standard. In addition, every Panamera Turbo S features the Sport Chrono Package Turbo, which tunes the suspension and power unit when pressing the additional “Sport Plus” button. The engine sounds becomes even more emotional with the sports exhaust system included in the basic configuration.

As it is custom for a top luxury class model, the interior and exterior reflect pure elegance - typical for every Porsche this includes visual effects for a sporty appearance. The model comes standard with 20-inch 911 Turbo II wheels with increased rear axle track width and side skirts from the Porsche Exclusive range.

Whilst typically rear spoilers for the Panamera range are only available in black, the adaptive extending four-way rear spoiler for the Turbo S model matches the exterior colour of the car. In the interior a unique bi-colour leather finish with two new combinations in black/cream and agate grey/cream complete the fusion of exclusivity and sportiness.

Commenting on the introduction of this new luxury model, Darren Abel, Brand Manager of Porsche Centre Kuwait, states: “We are confident that the new Panamera Turbo S will meet the exclusive taste of our customers. Its exceptional standard equipment and new interior design features make this a very special addition to our existing range.”

The Panamera Turbo S has a basic retail price of 65,600 in Kuwaiti Dinar.

Brent slides on weak global data, firm dollar LONDON: Brent crude futures fell yesterday, after rising nearly $2 the previous day, as worries about global economic growth and a stronger dollar reduced appetite for risky assets.

The focus was on the euro-zone crisis ahead of a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. By 1117 GMT, September Brent crude futures were $1.06 lower at $108.85 a barrel, having plumbed earlier lows of $108.39. US crude fell by $1.30 cents to $86.58.

“All eyes are on this European meeting today, so it’s going to be rather choppy and volatile ahead of that,” GFT Global market strategist David Morrison said. “(Oil is) reacting to the weakness in the euro, the strength in the dollar, and there is a general risk-off mode ... traders taking money off the table.”

Manufacturing in the New York area contracted for a third straight month in August, data showed on Monday, dashing any lingering hopes for a rebound in the second half of the year. The survey is one of the earliest regional guideposts to US factory conditions, and analysts said it boded poorly for the larger national survey due at the beginning of September.

“In the current economic climate we see therefore little sustainable upside in buying Brent above $110 a barrel,” Petromatrix’s Olivier Jakob said in a note.

Worries about the faltering economic recovery also gained prominence after data from European powerhouse Germany showed its gross domestic product growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter.

“The overall feeling looking at the Germany data is that the outlook for global growth doesn’t look particularly good, in which case the upside to oil is capped into the medium term,” Morrison added. Oil prices were also pushed lower by a stronger dollar, which makes commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies.

The dollar was up 0.40 percent against a basket of currencies by 1138 GMT. The greenback had fallen to a near threeweek low against the euro on Monday.

V TB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said Brent prices continued to trade in parallel with the UK blue chip

index performance. “Brent’s monthly rolling correlation to the FTSE 100 index remained at a more than a one-year high, near 95 percent, with intraday direction still dictated mostly by the equity markets at the moment”, he wrote in a note. The market will be watching for a slew of US economic reports that come out this week, including housing starts and industrial production data later, for clues on the health of the world’s biggest economy.

Concerns over the US recovery and the ongoing euro-zone crisis have dragged down oil prices this month.

Brent surged on Monday as hopes for a resolution to Europe’s issues rose ahead of the meeting between French and German politicians.

While the risk of a new US recession has risen over the past couple of months, an outright contraction will most likely be avoided, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhar t said on Monday. The World Bank called for national governments to seek long-term debt curbs to solve the current sovereign debt crises in Europe and the United States but said it was too early for special action by the Group of 20 nations.

The shutdown of a North Sea oil well at a Royal Dutch Shell Plc field after an oil leak looked unlikely to affect supplies significantly from the home of the Brent oil benchmark, oil traders said on Monday. In the United States, crude oil stock piles are expected to have fallen for a second straight week due to lower impor ts, a preliminar y Reuters poll showed ahead of weekly inventory data.

Supply disruptions caused by the ongoing fighting in Libya should continue to underpin prices, despite the worries on the economic front.

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi fired a Scud missile for the first time in the country’s civil war, a US defense official said, after rebel advances left the Libyan leader isolated in his capital. “ We continue to believe that the return of Libyan crude supplies to the market will be seen in 2012, and as such any sell-off associated with headlines of a regime change in the country provide consumers with a good hedging opportunity,” J P Morgan analysts said in a report on Monday.— Reuters

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China bank shares may rise from H1 earnings HONG KONG: China’s major banks are expected to post strong first-half results in coming days, with investors viewing them as a proxy for betting on China’s growth, although bad debts that threaten to overwhelm the financial system are seen as a key risk.

“Most fund managers have found owning China banks difficult in the past 18 months because of continuous regulatory and market headwinds,” said Macquarie analyst Victor Wang.

“They’ve had to repeatedly explain to internal colleagues why they should own Chinese banks.”

With expectations so low, shares of Chinese banks are now trading near record low valuations and analysts including Macquarie and Barclays Capital expect a short run-up in shares after their earnings, beginning with China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) on Sunday. CCB, the world’s No.2 lender by market capitalization and the country’s biggest mortgage lender, is expected to report a 30 percent jump in first-half net profit to 92.3 billion yuan ($14.4 billion), a poll of nine analysts surveyed by Reuters showed.

The other three of the Big Four are

expected to post similar growth in first-half earnings, with Agbank expected to lead the pack with a bigger rise on increased financial services and lending growth in China’s coun-

ties, analysts said. Bank of China Co Ltd is expected to announce its earnings on Aug. 24, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC)

XINJIANG: A Chinese laborer working at a saltern in Hami, northwest China’s Xinjiang region. China said its politically sensitive inflation rate rose in July to its highest level in more than three years, as the government struggles to rein in soaring food costs. — AFP

will announce their earnings on Aug 25.

CCB’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed down 0.18 percent at HK$5.53 yesterday, an 8.5 percent potential upside from the median price target of HK$6.01 according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Chinese banks as a whole have had a busy year so far, with three interest rate increases, expectations that about 1.7 trillion yuan worth of local government debt may sour, and fears that foreign investors such as Bank of America Corp may soon sell out. These factors have all weighed on their shares, with ICBC and Bank of China lagging the performance of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index this year. Chief among worries is that the lending boom of 2008 and 2009 during the global financial crisis is likely to catch up with them soon, with Moody’s projecting the 14 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion) lent to local governments to be most at risk.

Most of these bad loans are likely to have gone to local government financing vehicles (LGFV), companies set up by city and provincial governments to pay for local real estate and infrastruc-

ture projects. Signs that Beijing is worried about the situation have not helped. It has reclassified a third of local government debt as corporate debt, and sources told Reuters in May that the central government may step in.

Few analysts expect loan quality to have worsened in the first half of this year, with analysts from Barclays Capital and JP Morgan Chase & Co saying they expect non-performing loan ratios to have remained largely stable.

“Investors should understand that banking in essence is taking an appropriate level of risk,” JP Morgan analyst Samuel Chen wrote in a note.

“Extremely low NPLs may also mean insufficient risk-reward balance.” Also weighing on Chinese banking shares, especially CCB, is talk that cornerstone investors such as Bank of America are in talks with Middle East wealth funds to cash out. The lock-up period for AgBank’s cornerstone investors, which include the Qatar Investment Authority, expired in mid-July, meaning they are now free to sell the shares they bought during the lender’s initial public offering. — Reuters

Global food prices near three-year highs: WB July World Bank food price index up 33% from year-ago WASHINGTON: Global food prices held near three-year highs in July and stocks were low, piling on pressure on the world’s poor, the World Bank said yesterday.

The World Bank Food Price index increased 33 percent in July from a year-ago and stayed close to 2008 peak levels, with large rises in the prices for maize, or corn, and sugar.

“Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we’re still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope,” said World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

High food and energy prices have stoked inflation pressures around the global, but the problem has been more acute in developing nations. Although food prices are moderating in most advanced countries, uncertainties about the global economy and the political situation in the Middle East and North Africa

mean oil prices likely will remain volatile, keeping inflation on the radar.

While overall food supply has improved since April- mainly because of good wheat harvests in the United States and Europe and better maize yields in Argentina and Brazilglobal stocks remained “alarmingly” low, the World Bank said.

Global output of grains in 2011/12 is projected to be 3 percent higher than the estimated output for 2010/11. But the stocks-touse ratio for maize currently stands at about 13 percent, the smallest since the early 1970s.

Wheat and rice stocks also remain well below their late 1990s and early 2000 levels.

“Coupled with the fact that the realization of the forecast yields is itself contingent on benign weather conditions in the major exporting countries, the low stock environment has created a situation in which even

small shortfalls in yields can have amplified effects on prices,” the World Bank said.

The price of maize was up 84 percent in July from a year ago and sugar increased 62 percent. The World Bank said the move into production for biofuels was also driving up the price of maize, noting that in the first four months of 2011, US maize demand for ethanol production rose 8 percent from the same period last year. Rice prices increased 11 percent in the last quarter after declining since February. Sugar prices increased 29 percent between May and July amid worries about Brazil’s lower-than-expected sugarcane harvest. “Given that sugar and vegetable oils together account for roughly 50 percent of the World Bank’s food price index, volatility in these prices is likely to have unexpected effects on food prices in the months ahead,” the World Bank said. — Reuters

South Sudan CB chief replaced by deputy JUBA: South Sudan, which broke away from the north only last month, has replaced its central bank governor with his deputy, the outgoing bank chief said yesterday.

The central bank of Africa’s newest nation has been selling dollars to try to stop a slide in its currency, the pound. “My deputy has now been appointed (as governor), Kornelio Koriom,” Elijah Malok told Reuters by telephone. He did not say why he was standing down or give any other details.

As well as his role as Malok’s deputy, Koriom was also chairman of the South Sudan Currency Conversion Committee. Malok previously headed the Bank of Southern Sudan, which was linked to the Khartoumbased Central Bank of Sudan until southern independence. Malok said last week that the southern central bank had enough reserves to pay for the basic needs of the state for a “few months”, even if it does not receive oil revenues. The war-ravaged and underdeveloped new state has been trying to build up efficient institutions and develop an economy that is at present totally dependent on oil. — Reuters LOS ANGELES: Shoppers wheeling their purchases out of a Wal-Mart store in Los Angeles, California. Wal-Mart yesterday reported solidly higher profit for its fiscal second quarter yesterday as US sales rebounded. Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, said net income was $3.8 billion for the three months ending July 31, a rise of 5.7 percent from the 2010 second quarter. — AFP

Singapore tightens rules for hiring foreigners SINGAPORE: Singapore’s government, facing complaints from residents having to compete with foreigners for jobs, tightened rules yesterday for firms hiring overseas workers in mid-level positions.

The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is under pressure to slow the rise in the number of foreigners seeking work in the rich city-state after May parliamentary elections that saw the opposition make historic gains. Labor shortages mean the country has to rely on immigrant workers for many jobs. The unhappiness voiced by voters in the run-up to the elections included competition for jobs and places in schools.

Starting in January next year, a foreigner must earn S$3,000 ($2,493) or more a month before he can qualify for an employment pass that will let him work in Singapore.

Singapore in July raised the minimum qualifying salar y to S$2,800 from S$2,500.“Our aim is to avoid increasing dependence on foreign workers over the long term, by keeping the foreign share of the workforce at about one-third,” the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.

The changes will ensure that “as salaries of locals rise as they gain in experience and progress in their careers, they will not be disadvantaged by EP (employment pass) holders coming in at

lower wages,” the ministry added.

People who do not qualify for employment pass can continue to work in Singapore but their employers will be subject to various quotas and levies. The rules do not affect those who hold permanent residency status.

The ministry said it would give businesses time to make the necessar y adjustments by phasing in the new requirements for existing staff over a one-to-two-year period.

Overall, about one-in-five existing employment pass holders will be affected by the changes. Economists say the hardest-hit sectors will be hotels and the offshore marine industry which hires large number of engineers from abroad.

Foreigners currently account for about 35 percent of the 5.1 million people in Singapore, which serves as a regional headquarters for many banks and multinational firms.

The Southeast Asian country is also a key centre for wealth management and commodities trading. The tighter requirements for mid-level staff, which had been flagged by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over the weekend, has already sparked complaints by emp l oyer groups such as th e Singapore International Chamber of Commerce and Singapore Business Federation. — Reuters

Statoil announces huge North Sea oil discovery OSLO, Norway: Norway’s Statoil has received a huge boost to its reserves with the announcement that two previous North Sea oil discoveries are connected which may represent the biggest find in the Norwegian continental shelf in 30 years.

Statoil said in a statement yesterday that the Aldous and Avaldsnes oil discoveries together contain between 500 million and 1.2 billion barrels of oil - significantly more than previously thought.

Statoil owns a 40 percent stake in both discoveries and is the operator of Aldous. Tim Dodson, the company’s vice president for exploration, called the combined discovery “giant,” adding that “Norway has not seen a similar oil discovery since the mid-80’s.” The discoveries show the Norwegian continental shelf remains an attractive source for crude, he said.

Trond Frode Omdal, an oil analyst at Oslo-based Arctic Securities ASA, said the size of the discovery was surprising. “I think the companies had almost given up making such a huge discovery in the North Sea,” he said, adding that the gross value of the discoveries could be as much as $40 billion.

Omdal said Norway’s proven oil reserves amount to 6.7 billion barrels, according to the BP Statistical Review, so a discovery containing 1 billion barrels is significant.

He said last year Norway produced 2.1 million barrels per day and that Statoil’s new fields might produce as much as 300,000 barrels per day.

Statoil’s stock was up less than 1 percent to 123.5 kroner ($22.6) on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, shares of Lundin Petroleum, an independent Swedish oil and gas firm that owns 40 percent of Avaldsnes and 10 percent of Aldous Major South, rose more than 6 percent to 84.95 kroner ($13.25) on the Stockholm Stock Exchange yesterday.

“It’s clear that the Avaldsnes/Aldous Major South is a world class find and will probably become one of the largest Norwegian fields that have been discovered in recent times,” Lundin Petroleum CEO Ashley Heppenstall said in that statement. Lundin Petroleum is the operator of the Avaldsnes discovery. — AP

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co employees work on cars on the assembly line at the Japanese automaker’s Oppama plant in Yokosuka near Tokyo. Japan’s economy contracted in the April-June quarter, due to the lingering impact from March’s massive earthquake and tsunami. —AP

India inflation eases but rate hike likely NEW DELHI: India’s annual inflation slowed in July but remained near double digits, making further interest rate hikes likely despite global economic uncertainty, economists said yesterday.

Inflation, according to the benchmark wholesale price index, slipped to 9.22 percent in July from June’s 9.44 percent, mainly due to a fall in food prices, while May’s inflation rate was revised up to 9.6 percent from 9.1 percent.

“Inflation is still much above the bank’s comfort zone (of five percent),” said D K Joshi, chief economist at leading credit rating agency Crisil. “We will get another rate hike when the central bank meets next month unless risks materialize of a very sharp global slowdown,” he said.

The bank has raised rates 11 times in 18 months-the longest stretch of monetary tightening in a decade-in a bid to tame inflation which is the fastest among major economies. India’s economic growth has slowed under the brunt of the hikes as borrowing costs have surged for everything from consumer appliances to cars to plant equipment. The government still forecasts growth of around 8.5 percent but economists’ projections are in the seven-to-eight percent range, below the 10 percent level experts say is needed to cut India’s widespread chronic poverty.

The bank, which last month raised its benchmark lending rate by a stronger-than-expected 50 basis points to a near three-year high of 8.0 percent, has said it is willing to sacrifice “some growth” to curb inflation. Economists said increasing fears about the global

economy could mean the bank might hit the pause button at its policy meeting September 16 but most were still betting on another rate increase.

“Notwithstanding growing concerns about the prospects for US and euro zone growth, a further rate hike still looks the most likely outcome,” said Credit Suisse economist Robert PriorWandesforde, who projected a quarter point rise.

Inflation is one of the biggest headaches for India’s Congress-led government, which is also battling a slew of corruption charges. The price gains have heaped misery on India’s hundreds of millions of poor, who are the Congress party’s main supporters.

Premier Manmohan Singh said in recent speech the “country is passing through a phase of sustained high inflation,” adding that “finding a solution to this problem will be our topmost priority”. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said yesterday he hoped good monsoon rains would boost farm output and ease inflation but economists say most of the price gains stem from supply bottlenecks in the antiquated agricultural food chain.

Mukherjee added he hoped it would be “possible to strike the right balance (in monetary policy) to achieve moderation of inflation and reasonable growth.”

Some economists were betting the bank would opt for another half percentage point rise next month-and then call a halt to its rate-hiking cycle.

“A 50 basis point rise makes transmission of the increase much more effective,” Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, said. —AFP

SEOUL: Currency traders talk each other in front of screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (left) and the exchange rate between the US dollar and the South Korean won at the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul. —AP

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ECB in record $32bn bond buying spree PARIS: The leaders of Germany and France are discussing yesterday how to get the euro-zone’s 17 countries to work together to address Europe’s debt crisis, a day after the European Central Bank revealed that it splashed out more money than ever trying to appease the markets.

The meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy comes after a week of turmoil in financial markets, largely blamed on Europe’s sprawling government debt crisis and worries that European leaders aren’t doing enough to address it.

Fears that Italy and Spain, the eurozone’s third and fourth largest economies, may find it too expensive to service their debts triggered last week’s intervention in the bond mar-

kets from the ECB, which has increasingly stepped in as Europe scrambles.

France and Germany, which together account for almost half of the eurozone’s economic output, are taking the lead in pushing for reforms. But, speculation that the two leaders would consider proposals for the euro-zone to issue jointly guaranteed government debt appear to have been dashed, with officials for both sides indicating that would not be on the agenda.

Germany has remained firm in its stance that other EU countries must exert more fiscal discipline. The discussions will center on “measures for better agreement of financial policies,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said. Officials for both Merkel and Sarkozy said Monday that jointly guaranteed eurobonds would not be on

the agenda. Eurobonds would be a major step toward the bloc’s economic integration, and are billed by supporters as an overnight solution to the crisis. Italy, Greece, Belgium and Luxembourg are among the nations calling for eurobonds. However, Germany has been adamantly against their creation, saying the EU cannot have a one-size-fits-all policy.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble reiterated his opposition when he told the German news magazine Der Spiegel that eurobonds were out of the question as long as the currency zone’s 17 nations still run their own budget policies. Different interest rates for euro-zone nations, he added, were needed to provide “incentives and the possibility of sanctions to enforce solid

financial policy.” Schaeuble acknowledged that the EU must, and will, beef up its response to the crisis to assist the heavily indebted nations, but that “there won’t be a collectivization of debt or unlimited assistance.”

Merkel has long ruled out eurobonds, and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler joined the chorus Monday, describing jointly guaranteed debt as “the wrong way” out of the crisis. “Eurobonds would mean that everybody shares the same interest burden which would be a punishment for (financially) sound nations,” he was quoted as saying by the German news agency dapd. “We cannot want this for Germany and for all other good states.”

France, itself, was caught in the crossfire last week, with investors worrying about the financial health of the

country ’s banks in particular and whether it would be the next country after the US to lose its triple-A credit rating.

With Europe still scrambling to come up with measures that appease the markets, the European Central Bank has been taking a more central role in dealing with the crisis, that has already seen Greece, Ireland and Portugal bailed out.

It revealed Monday that it spent ?22 billion ($32 billion) in the bond markets. Analysts think a large chunk, if not all, of that money was spent propping up the bond prices of Italy and Spain, which had seen their borrowing costs ratchet up sharply in the preceding weeks. Baetz reported from Berlin; AP Business Writer David McHugh also contributed from Frankfurt. — AP

Euro-zone growth slides Slowing German, French economies hit outlook BRUSSELS: The euro-zone yesterday posted meager 0.2 percent growth in the second quarter, dragged down by a rapid decline in German performance and a stagnant France economy.

Moving in the opposite direction from the United States and Japan, which both logged steady improvement, Eurostat’s preliminary estimate showed the eurozone slowing from 0.8 percent growth in the first three months of 2011. Its powerhouse economy, Germany, saw growth collapse spectacularly from a downwardrevised 1.3 percent to a meager 0.1 percent expansion.

France, the euro-zone’s second largest economy, reported last week that its growth stalled in the second quarter, following 0.9 percent in the first. Italy and Spain, each under pressure on bond markets with the European Central Bank being forced to step in to reduce lending rates, logged only 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent growth respectively.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones had forecast 0.3 percent growth across the single currency area of 330 million people. “Admittedly, a correction in the second quarter was expected,” said Parisbased BNP Paribas analyst Clemente De

WOLFSBURG: A worker wrapping a protective liner around a Volkswagen Tiguan at quality control portion of the production line in the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. Germany’s economic growth nearly ground to a halt in the second quarter, in another downbeat sign for the global economy. — AP Lucia. “More alarming, however, is that its underlying trend is losing momentum.”

He said that recent hard data showed that in the United States, “the recession

was much worse than previously estimated and the recovery weaker than anticipated.” The United States increased its second-quarter growth from 0.1 per-

cent to 0.3 percent, while Japan, which had logged a 0.9 percent contraction between January and March, came in at minus-0.3 percent this time. Also citing a “cooling off ” in emerging economies led by China who had driven the global exit from recession after the 2008 financial crisis, De Lucia said the coming quarters would be choppy.

“The recent intensification of market turmoil will not help,” he said, referring to recent sharp sell-offs on stock exchanges. He underlined: “The longer financial market tensions persist, the greater the risk that they spill over the real economy.”

Another euro-zone powerhouse, the Netherlands, saw a similarly sharp contraction in its rate of growth, from 0.8 percent to the same 0.1 percent level as Germany.

Notable euro-zone exceptions were triple-A rated Austria, which held up at 1.0 percent growth, and Finland, which logged 1.2 percent. Belgium, a country without a stable government for more than a year, posted 0.7 percent growth.

The 27-member European Union as a whole posted the same 0.2 percent growth rate in the second quarter. — AFP

UK consumer price inflation rises to 4.4% LONDON: Rising rents and banking fees pushed Britain’s annual inflation rate up to 4.4 percent in July. The rate reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday was up from 4.2 percent recorded in June. The increase does not come as a surprise, as Bank of England’s governor Mervyn King recently warned that the rate could rise to over 5 percent in the coming months in the wake of rising utility bills.

The office said the upward pressure on prices came from several different factors, mainly rising rents, higher fees for financial services like arranging a mortgage, and from volatile bread and cereal prices.

Even though inflation is running at double the Bank of England’s target of 2 percent, rate-setters have refrained from raising borrowing costs given subdued economic growth levels.

The markets expect the Bank’s main

interest rate to remain at the record low of 0.5 percent for many months to come.

Under the terms of the 1997 deal to give the Bank of England independence in setting interest rates, the governor has to write a letter to the government whenever inflation is more than one full percentage point away from the 2 percent target.

King said in a letter to treasury chief George Osborne published yesterday that an increase in sales tax and rising global energy prices have pushed Britain’s annual inflation rate up. He confirmed inflation will rise to around 5 percent in coming months. He said he expects it to fall back down in 2012 but added that “significant uncertainties and risks around the outlook for inflation remain.”

King said the big risks to the British economy come from the rest of the world. — AP

SPRINGFIELD: A shopper exits the Lowe’s home improvement center in Springfield, Illinois. Lowe’s Cos said on Monday, its second-quarter net income was nearly flat as volatile weather and shoppers’ worries about the economy muted demand during the key summer selling season. —AP

Spain pays lower rates in bond issue MADRID: Spain paid lower rates to raise 5.7 billion euros in government bonds yesterday, a major test in the midst of a deepening euro-zone debt crisis. The average yield for the 12-month bills was 3.335%, down from 3.702% at a similar auction on July 19, and demand outstripped supply two to one.

Demand for the 18-month bonds was three times the amount sold, and the yield was 3.592%, down from 3.912%. The sale confirmed an easing of rates, helped by the intervention of the European Central Bank

which said Monday it bought a record 22 billion euros ($32 billion) of government bonds last week in a bid to calm a eurozone debt crisis threatening Italy and Spain. The Spanish Treasury announced early this month it would not hold a bond auction previously scheduled for August 18. Euro-zone woes and weak US data have sparked concern that the world could be heading for another sharp downturn.

On August 5, the debt risk premium for Spain and Italy reached a record gap with the benchmark German bond. — AFP

Philippines protests WTO ruling on spirits

LITTLE ROCK: Tom Malone lashes building materials down to his truck at a Home Depot store in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Home Depot Inc’s secondquarter net income rose 14 percent as shoppers picked up lawn and garden products and made storm-related repairs during the summer, company said yesterday. —AP

MANILA: The Philippine government said yesterday it would appeal a World Trade Organization ruling that the country’s high excise taxes on imported liquor were illegal.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal said the government was working with local distillers to prepare the appeal that it expects to lodge within two months.

“We are thoroughly reviewing the WTO report while at the same time working closely with our relevant stakeholders to present a strong case in the appeal process,” he said in a statement.

The trade body ruled in favor of the European Union and the United States on Monday in finding the Philippines’

excise tax on imported alcohol unfair to American and European distillers.

The EU had alleged that in some cases levies on foreign spirits may be as much as 50 times higher than those on local liquor.

It said that the excise tax, designed to help domestic producers who use local cane and palm sugar, unfairly disadvantaged imported hard liquor. Manila applies a lower tax rate on sugar and palm-based drinks produced within the country. But the EU and the US argued that since Filipino products were being sold as whisky, gin, vodka, and tequila, they should be taxed at the same rate as the foreign products, even if they are made from different raw materials. — AFP

Jetstar Group CEO Bruce Buchanan, right, speaks as President of Japan Airlines, Masaru Onishi listens during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday. Japan Airlines Co., The Qantas Group of Australia and Mitsubishi Corp. say they will launch a budget carrier in Japan. —AP

New planes, new airlines in major Qantas overhaul SYDNEY: Australian carrier Qantas yesterday unveiled plans to launch two Asia-focussed airlines, buy 110 new Airbus planes and cut up to 1,000 jobs as part of a major revamp to stem financial losses.

Unions, accusing Qantas of outsourcing jobs, threatened strike action. But the airline said it needed “fundamental change” to its business model, and one analyst described the new emphasis on fastgrowing Asia as a “no-brainer”.

“To do nothing, or tinker around the edges, is not an option,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told reporters. As part of the focus on Asia, Qantas will strengthen its code-share partnership with British Airways, which will carry more passengers between Qantas’s Asian destinations and Europe.

Qantas deferred delivery of six Airbus A380 superjumbos for up to six years to keep costs down.

Instead, the airline said it would buy up to 110 A320s at an estimated list price of US$9.5 billion to service its expansion into Asia. Under the plan, Qantas will team up with Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi Corp. to launch a new low-cost domestic airline, Jetstar Japan, by the end of next year.

The carrier will also set up a joint-venture premium airline based in Asia, with the location yet to be finalized as it sets its sights firmly on the growth region while capping its losses. Qantas has been grappling with disasters and surging fuel costs that have hit its bottom line, with a string of natural disasters this year costing it Aus$206 ($218) million. It announces its year to June 30 results next week.

Joyce has previously estimated the company’s international operations will record a loss of Aus$200 million before tax. “Qantas International is a great airline with a proud history,” he said.

“But it is suffering big financial losses and a substantial decline in market share. To reverse that decline we need fundamental change.” The market initially liked the news, with the airline’s share price spiking almost five percent before retreating to close marginally lower at Aus$1.52.

The key objective of the new five-year plan was to return the airline’s international operations to profitability, Joyce said. “As a nation we used to fly over or via Asia, on our way to Europe,” said Joyce.

“Now we fly to Asia, both for business and relaxation. And as Asian economies grow, the future will be about travel to and within Asia.”

But the plans were lashed by the Australian and International Pilots Association, which warned of strike action. “(This) is exactly what Qantas pilots have been warning of for months: a shift of Australian Qantas operations into Asia to start employing people working to Asian conditions and standards,” said AIPA president Barry Jackson.

Industry observers, however, backed the move.

“They had to do something and the changes are a step in the right direction,” Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation executive chairman Peter Harbison told AFP. “It’s the growth market,” he said of Asia. “The domestic market is mature with increasing competition, so this is pretty much a no-brainer.”

Qantas also announced its new gateway to South America would be the Chilean capital, Santiago, replacing its Sydney-Buenos Aires route. Joyce said the purchases of the new Airbus planes in the coming years would position Qantas “very strongly in the competitive Asia-Pacific aviation market, while containing costs”.

The first of the A320s will be allocated to the new Jetstar Japan venture, which will be one-third controlled by each company and commence by the end of 2012 with three new planes, growing to a fleet of 24. It will initially fly domestically from Tokyo’s Narita airport and Osaka, with plans to offer short-haul international services to key Asian cities. — AFP

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TECHNOLOGY

Facebook submits evidence in lawsuit BUFFALO: Facebook attorneys late Monday revealed evidence that they say proves a New York man fabricated a contract that he says entitles him to part ownership of the $50 billion social network. Included in an after-hours court filing is an image of a two-page contract signed by Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recovered by forensics experts from Ceglia’s computer. The image is blurry and difficult to read but appears only to refer to a street-mapping database Ceglia hired Zuckerberg to work on in 2003 - and not Facebook.

Ceglia’s lawsuit against Zuckerberg is based on a contract that he says shows that when he hired Zuckerberg for the streets project, he also invested $1,000 in the then-Harvard University

student’s fledgling Facebook idea on the condition he’d own half if it expanded.

From the beginning, Facebook has said the contract submitted by Ceglia was doctored.

Now, attorneys said, they’ve got the original, retrieved from embedded electronic data.

Facebook alluded to the find as “smoking gun” evidence in earlier court filings but was barred from publicly identifying it by a confidentiality order which has since been modified. “This smoking gun evidence confirms what defendants have said all along: the purported contract attached to the complaint is an outright fabrication,” attorney Orin Snyder of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, wrote Monday.

Ceglia’s attorney, Jeffrey Lake of San Diego, did not respond to an emailed request for com-

ment from The Associated Press Monday night.

Ceglia is in Ireland, according to emails he’s written to his hometown newspaper, the Wellsville Daily Reporter. In court papers filed last week, Ceglia’s attorneys took issue with Facebook’s claims that Ceglia had concealed certain documents.

“No good-faith basis has been shown for such an accusation,” Lake wrote. He said Cegla had complied with the court’s instructions to turn over all of his computers and electronic media as part of the discovery process in the case.

Zuckerberg’s lawyers say six removable storage devices containing files entitled “Zuckerberg Contract” and “Facebook Files” are missing. The lawyers are scheduled to appear

before US Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio in Buffalo on Wednesday to argue a series of motions. Ceglia wants the judge to compel Facebook to turn over emails between Ceglia and Zuckerberg captured from Zuckerberg’s Harvard account from 2003 and 2004. He’s also asked that the case be sent to mediation for possible settlement to avoid protracted proceedings.

Facebook wants the judge to require Ceglia to produce the original electronic version of the contract and other electronic files and to allow further ink sampling from a hard-copy version of the contract. Zuckerberg’s attorneys oppose mediation as “pointless,” saying the only resolution to the case they’re willing to accept is to see it thrown out. — AP

Google buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn Google’s buy could reshape Asian phone makers

SHAUMBURG: The Silver Kite Touch Chat communications device is displayed at the Assistive Technology Industry Conference. — MCT

Technology opens new doors for challenged CHICAGO: Sophie Prunty has a rare neurological disorder that makes it difficult for her to get around and communicate.

But fastened to the front of the teen’s wheelchair is a computer that has changed her life. Looking like an overgrown iPad, the touch-screen tablet allows Sophie, 16, to control devices such as a television and an MP3 player. Most importantly, when she pushes buttons on the screen, a robotic voice speaks for her. “She can hold a conversation, although like most teenagers she likes to keep it short,” said her mother, Jody Prunty, of Wheaton, Ill. “It has opened up a new world.”

Technology is creating new opportunities for countless people with disabilities, and many of the latest gadgets were on display recently at a Schaumburg trade show, where the Pruntys were browsing for educational software. The show, put on by the Chicago-based Assistive Technology Industry Association, included music players that can also tell you the color of your shirt, devices that translate Web pages into Braille, and computers that are controlled by eye movement.

Some say these are mere forerunners of a larger revolution that is yet to come.

They envision products designed so that anyone can use them, appliances that automatically detect a person’s needs and become more user friendly, and a transformed Internet that welcomes the blind and developmentally disabled.

“There are a lot of things people are exploring that can be game changers,” said Gregg Vanderheiden, a University of Wisconsin engineering professor who works on making technology accessible.

Yet for all of technology’s promised advances, some worry that the cost will keep helpful devices out of many people’s reach. Others are concerned that governments, schools and institutions might think that high-tech gadgetry has relieved them of their responsibility to serve the disabled.

“Technology is not a solution for every problem,” said Paul Schroeder of the American Foundation for the Blind. “It doesn’t replace the need for quality teaching. It doesn’t replace the need to teach social skills.” Marca Bristo, president of the Chicago-based advocacy group Access Living, said not all technical advances are electronic. Her titanium wheelchair, for example, is half as heavy and much easier to push than the model she first used after breaking her neck in 1977.

But as computers and other digital devices become ever more widespread, she said, it is vital that they be made so people with disabilities can use them.

“What we want to see is technology that uses universal design principals, meaning it’s designed for everyone from the ground up,” she said. “Technology moves so fast that unless you commit yourself

to universality at the front end, you’ll always be catching up.”

Some people at the show said one product that has come close to that sort of usability is the smart phone.

Robert Thompson, who works for the Chicago Lighthouse, a service agency for the visually impaired, has extreme tunnel vision and once needed a magnifying glass to use his cell phone. But he recently got an iPhone, whose easily adjustable text size makes it much simpler for him to use.

More specialized devices, though, can be extremely expensive. A scanner featured at the show that reads text aloud cost $2,300. A camera system that allowed a computer to be controlled by eye movement was more than $10,000.

David Dikter, CEO of the Assistive Technology Industry Association, said that although school systems and federal insurance programs sometimes pick up the cost of new devices, families often must pay the tab themselves. “This is always what technology is,” lamented Marie Simmons of Griffith, Ind., whose two sons have a rare genetic disorder that forces them to spend much of their lives in wheelchairs. “You buy something this year, next year something comes out that’s newer and better.”

Justin Benes, 14, of Waunakee, Wis., had a $7,000 computer attached to his $35,000 wheelchair, but his grandfather Jim Benes said the state picked up the cost. As they browsed the trade show booths, looking for a better way to fasten the computer to the chair, Jim Benes said the devices have enhanced his grandson’s quality of life.

Justin, who has a condition similar to cerebral palsy that affects his motor skills, works at a cafe at his high school.

He uses the computer to speak for him, welcoming other students and telling them about the daily specials. “ This allows him to communicate,” Jim Benes said. Vanderheiden, the University of Wisconsin engineer, said the next frontier is the Internet, with the US Department of Justice exploring whether Web sites, like public buildings, should be accessible. That means designing them so that text-to-speech readers and other adaptive technologies can work easily, Vanderheiden said.

In the more distant future, he said, he expects everything from home appliances to airport kiosks to adapt technology that allows them to change their interfaces depending on who is using them, offering larger text, voice commands or whatever is necessary. Bristo, of Access Living, said such advances would also be a boon for America’s aging population.

“Up to this point, the disabled community has really been seen as a small market,” she said. “ That’s going to change. Things made for us will benefit other people.” — MCT

SEOUL/TAIPEI: Asian handset makers using Google Inc’s Android operating system might turn to rival platforms such as Microsoft Corp’s Windows after Google upended the mobile landscape with its $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility Holdings . Taiwan’s HTC and Korea’s Samsung Electronics have sold millions of mobile devices running on the free Android system, catapulting Google to the top slot in the booming global mobile software market. But the acquisition of Motorola could turn Google from a partner to a competitor for more than 30 other Android-handset companies. “The deal will make most Android players realize how dependent they are on Google and how quickly Google’s plans can change their businesses,” said Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at research firm IDC. Wall Street quickly anointed Microsoft a winner in the deal, with Windows potentially benefiting if the acquisition alienates the other phone makers that rely on Android.

Android held a 43.4 percent share of the smartphone market at the end of the second quarter, ahead of Nokia’s 22 percent, according to data from research firm Gartner. Apple ranked third with 18 percent, the data showed. Nokia earlier this year opted for Microsoft’s software, dropping its own software and shunning Android. Its first Windows Phone handsets are due out later this year.

Shares in Nokia, which had fallen around 45 percent since from the start of the year to last Friday due to worries about its declining market share, rose 5.5 percent yesterday, extending Monday’s 9 percent jump. Much of that was due to speculation Nokia could become the next buyout target, although analysts were mixed about the possibility of a bid emerging. Some said the high offer for Motorola made Nokia look cheap by comparison. But others said that while Nokia could benefit from the deal if it stirs confusion among Google’s other handset partners, such a situation could compel a company like Microsoft to shun a buyout of any particular handset maker. “Eventually, we think that conflicts of interest may force Google to choose between vertical integration and shutting down device production at Motorola Mobility,” J.P. Morgan analyst Rod Hall said in a note to clients.

Bets on Motorola turnaround Shares in Motorola’s Asia’s suppliers jumped on the deal. Foxconn International

MOUNTAIN VIEW: In this file photo, a Motorola Mobility Xoom tablet is shown at Google headquarters. — AP Holdings Ltd , the world’s top contract cellphone maker which counts Motorola as a client, surged as up to 17 percent on prospects of more business. Shares of Compal Communications Inc and Arima Communications were among a slew of Motorola suppliers that hit the 7-percent daily limit in Taiwan. “Everybody is betting on a Motorola turnaround. Motorola will get more help from Google to push its Android handsets with the deal,” said Yuanta Securities analyst Bonnie Chang in Taipei. “Outsourcing companies such as Foxconn International and Compal Communications will benefit directly the most.” Shares in Samsung, which has businesses from chips to TVs and energy as well as phones, ended 6.1 percent higher. Fellow Korean phone maker LG Electronics edged up 0.3 percent. HTC closed up 3.1 percent in a Taiwan market down 0.3 percent.

Android umbrella Some brokers said the Motorola deal could be Google’s way to provide support to Android players. Phone makers and software firms are involved in copy-cat lawsuits in the fierce battle over who owns patents used in mobile devices, with Apple going after Android device makers. “We suspect that Google will now try to provide an umbrella for

the Android community that provides IP protection from key rivals such as Apple and Microsoft. This is broadly how Microsoft protects Windows Phone,” Nomura said in a note.

“We do not believe that Google will aim to continue to make handsets long term, but will rather look to spin the business out to an Android partner-such as Huawei, LG, ZTE, for example.” Globally, HTC has been a standout winner after being the first to roll out an Android-backed smartphone, leaving it most exposed to any shift in the landscape, analysts said. Nearly all of its smartphones run on Android but it also has a long-standing partnership with Microsoft.

“HTC and Samsung are companies Google can trust but not control to drive market share,” Chang said. “If in the long run Google decides HTC and Samsung have very different business roadmaps, it may want to leverage on Motorola to gain market share.” HTC said in May it plans to bring out phones based on Microsoft’s new Mango Windows phone software. However yesterday, HTC said the Google-Motorola deal would not affect its partnership with Google. “This is a positive development to the Android ecosystem, which we believe is beneficial to HTC’s promotion of Android phones,” HTC said in a statement. — Reuters

Military deploys virtual reality to train soldiers eated in a tan leather couch, Petty Officer Sarax suddenly straightens his back and begins flailing his right arm.

“She doesn’t know what I’ve been through,” Sarax, who just returned from Iraq, says when asked about his marriage. “There are things that I just don’t want to talk about with her. And she keeps pushing.” He talks and behaves like a soldier overcome by combat trauma, but Sarax isn’t real.

He is a software program, a life-size projection on a movie screen that is reacting and responding to questions from a psychologist being trained to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Sarax is a virtual patient, one of many computer-simulated humans created by artists, engineers and scientists at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies. By the end of the year, the virtual patient is expected to be in use in university classrooms, and eventually in clinical hospitals and military bases.

Interactive computer patients are just one of many cutting-edge virtual technologies being developed at the institute. Many of them are used as training tools for US military personnel, from fighting insurgents to calming nerves of combat-weary soldiers.

The institute’s wide-ranging virtual technologies, now found on 65 military sites across the country, have popped in and out of the public spotlight, but they’re on full display now that the institute has opened the doors to its new 72,000-square-foot facility in Playa Vista, Calif. “The move is a mark of a new era for us,” said Randall W Hill Jr, executive director of the institute, which outgrew

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CALIFORNIA: Andrew Jones, research programmer, watches a 3D projection called the “headspin” that utilizes images from the “Light Stage” projected on a spinning mirror. — MCT its facility in Marina del Rey, Calif. “But really, it’s a new era for the Army as well.”

The institute’s funding has increased from $5 million in 1999 to about $30 million today - as the Pentagon has stepped up spending on training military personnel through simulations. It has also attracted a diverse staff of more than 180 professionals, from graphic designers to psychologists. “Five years ago, the characters were talking heads with computer-generated voices with no emotion,” said Patrick G Kenny, who leads the virtual patient program. “Today, it’s getting harder to distinguish what is real from what is not with virtual human characters.”

Walking through the institute’s new Playa Vista offices is like walking through a fraternity house for high-tech geeks. Cubicles have white boards on which workers can quickly jot down ideas whenever they have an “aha” moment.

And a corner office is more likely to be occupied by a twenty something in a T-shirt huddled over a computer monitor than a supervisor in a suit. On a recent visit, the institute engineers were testing one of their latest first-person, multi-player games that allows players to take part in a simulated attack that includes dealing with an improvised explosive device. —MCT

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Rise in Iraqi C-sections leaves doctors worried Uneducated patients demand cesareans despite risks BAGHDAD: Cesarean sections have jumped in Iraq in recent years - accounting for 79 percent of births at private hospitals - worrying health officials who say doctors are pushing women into unnecessary surgeries with potentially serious consequences in order to make more money. The rise in C-sections is primarily due to private hospitals, where patients pay out of pocket, and it’s already having repercussions for women and Iraq’s overburdened health care system. Doctors report longer medical stays for women who undergo cesareans, more women needing blood transfusions and suffering from infections, and babies with serious breathing problems. Although C-sections can save lives when they are necessary, Adel Muhsen, the Health Ministry’s inspector general, say doctors’ greed is often behind the decision for the surgery. At private hospitals, C-sections cost two to three times as much as vaginal births.

“When I accompany my own patients to private hospitals, I see disastrous things there,” said gynecologist Ulfat al-Nakkash, the general director of Alwiyah Maternity hospital in Baghdad. “The gang-like medical staff there fight each other over patients to do C-sections and get the money.”

The rate of C-sections in Iraq has climbed from 18 percent in 2008 to 32 percent in 2010.

That’s on par with the US rate of about 30 percent, but far higher than the global average of 15 percent, according to the World Health Organization. Private hospitals handled about 10 percent of births in 2010, Muhsen said. But as Iraq’s economy improves and more people opt for private hospitals, the rate of C-sections is expected to climb.

Even public hospitals, which are virtually free to patients, have been opening private wings where a slightly better level of service is available - for a price. Officials say women there are also encouraged to have C-sections.

Almost 26 percent of Iraqi women giving birth at public hospitals do so via C-section, according to the 2010 health report for the Iraqi Health Ministry. It wasn’t clear whether private hospitals treated more high risk pregnancies, which could account for the higher rate of C-sections. But officials said the common factor between women at private hospitals was their ability to pay.

Private hospital officials said the patients themselves are requesting the surgeries.

Nibras Mohammed, a 30-year-old government employee, delivered both of her children by C-sections at private hospitals. It took her almost a year to recover from the first birth, and she had to take antibiotics for 40 days to treat an infection caused because the surgery to sew up her uterus was botched.

When it came time to have her second child, she said she was terrified. She suspects the first C-section wasn’t necessary.

BAGHDAD: In this photo, an Iraqi woman carries her child as she walks at the maternity hospital sponsored by the Iraq Red Crescent Society. — AP “My doctor frightened me when I was full term. She told me that I had to do the surgery otherwise I would lose the baby because my (amniotic fluid) was becoming less than normal,” Mohammed said.

Low amniotic fluid is a legitimate reason to have a C-section, but Mohammed suspects she did not have the condition and the doctor made it up to get her to agree to the surgery.

In a private hospital, a natural childbirth can cost between 300,000 Iraqi dinar to 400,000 Iraqi dinar ($250 to $330) while a C-section can cost between 600,000 to 1,000,000 ($510 to $850). Other countries face their own debates about C-sections. In the US a controversy surrounds elective C-sections, or those that are not medically necessary.

Some women fear a long, painful labor and the potential side effects such as severe tissue tearing or incontinence. Others have tried so hard to get pregnant, and they believe a Csection is safer for the baby. Some want to be able to control their delivery date. Many women and doctors view C-sections as interfering the natural childbirth process. In Iraq and elsewhere, once women have one C-section, they’re more likely to have to have another, partly due to worries of a rupture of the uterus during childbirth. But it is possible for women to have a vaginal birth following a C-section, depending on her medical history and the type of cut made in the uterus.

C-sections take a longer recovery time than vaginal births. Like any major surgery, they

also pose some major health problems including risk of blood clots and inflammation and infection of the uterus lining. Babies delivered via C-section can also have breathing problems. Officials at private hospital say it is not greed that’s driving the C-section boom but the patients themselves. Dr Aseel Ahmed Salman from the Al-Jarrah private hospital in Baghdad acknowledged the higher risks of Csections but said many patients are uneducated, don’t know the risks and just want the process over with.

“They cannot endure pain. They want the easy way. They are not even encouraged by their own families or mothers,” to have a vaginal childbirth, she said. “The mothers of these wives, most of the time, come to us crying and requesting Cesareans for their daughters because they cannot endure seeing their daughters in pain.” There seems to be little plan to try to lower the C-section rate in Iraq, in part because after eight years of war the government’s attention has been on much more basic needs. Also, the decision on whether to have a C-section is perceived as an extremely personal choice. Muhsen, from the Health Ministry, said the decision is between a woman and her doctor, and the government cannot interfere. Mohammed is not planning to have any more children out of fear she’ll have to undergo another C-section.

“Unfortunately, I cannot be like my mother who had nine children, all were natural deliveries,” Mohammed said. — AP

Pacific shark sanctuary faces hurdles MAJURO: An ambitious plan to create the world’s largest shark sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean will struggle to succeed without support from locals, a conservationist warned yesterday.

Five Micronesian states voted last month to create a shark sanctuary by the end of next year covering more than five million square kilometers (two million square miles) — an area two-thirds the size of the United States. The sanctuary would make it illegal to fish for sharks and outlaw the trade in shark fins, which has boomed in recent years to meet growing

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demand from Asia’s burgeoning middle classes for the delicacy shark fin soup.

Marshall Islands Conservation Society director Albon Ishoda welcomed the proposal but said there was likely to be resistance from islanders if the sanctuary was imposed on them without consultation. He said many locals supplemented their meager incomes by selling shark fins and also regarded the predators as competition for fish without realizing their importance to the marine ecosystem. “They don’t see the value of (living) sharks, we need a lot of

education on the ground,” Ishoda said. “Once people understand the issue better, they become advocates for a ban.” The Pew Environment Group estimates more than 70 million sharks are killed annually for their fins, leaving up to a third of open-water species on the brink of extinction.

And Pew shark conservation campaigner Matt Rand hailed the Pacific plan-endorsed by Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and Northern Marianas-as a major breakthrough. “(It) should serve as a model for

other coastal nations to safeguard these important keystone species which are rapidly disappearing from the world’s oceans,” he said.

Palau led the way by declaring its waters a shark sanctuary in 2009, but leaders of the five Micronesian nations said unified action was needed to save the animals.

“Effective protection of sharks in our Pacific region requires a joint and concerted effort by all jurisdictions to develop a single shark sanctuary where it is prohibited to possess, sell or trade shark fins or to commercially harvest sharks,” they said in a statement. — AFP

Greenpeace hands Rainbow Warrior to Bangladesh aid SINGAPORE: Environmental campaign group Greenpeace yesterday handed over its iconic protest ship Rainbow Warrior II to a Bangladeshi charity which will turn it into a floating hospital. Greenpeace said it hoped that Friendship would continue to use the ship as a beacon of hope. “This ship has carried people from around the world and has stood as an icon of hope over pessimism and as an emblem of action over complacency,” Rainbow Warrior II captain Mike Fincken said during a sombre handover ceremony in Singapore. “It is time to pass that task on.” Friendship has renamed the vessel Rongdhonu, which also means Rainbow, and will turn it into a hospital ship.

From plying the high seas to protest against whaling and nuclear testing, the ship will now stay close to shore to deliver medical assistance to impoverished communities in Bangladesh, Greenpeace said.

“Bangladesh has a coastline and the condition of healthcare in the coastline is as bad as the river areas,” said Runa Khan, the executive director of Friendship Bangladesh. “More environmental issues are going to come up, and there’s going to be more and more tsunamis and cyclones and we need a medical ship fully equipped as a hospital to be able to reach (victims) as soon as possible,” she told AFP. Greenpeace’s original Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French intelligence agents in 1985 in New Zealand in a bid to stop activists from protesting against France’s nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean.

It was replaced by Rainbow Warrior II, which first sailed for the organization in 1989. The ship confronted environmental crimes and nuclear testing, provided disaster relief to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, and blocked shipments of illegal timber from the world’s rainforests, Greenpeace said. — AFP

MUEHLDORF: Picture shows a free-ranging cow named Yvonne in Zangberg. —AFP

Hunt on for German cow - dead or alive BERLIN: The hunt is on in deepest Bavaria for a cow who escaped from a farm and who has been on the run for weeks after Germany’s leading newspaper, Bild, put up a 10,000 euro ($14,000) reward for her capture. Yvonne the cow took to the woods in late May in the vicinity of Zangberg and has evaded pursuers ever since. Bild published the reward offer Saturday after local authorities told hunters they could shoot the cow on sight because she was a threat to traffic. The decision was taken after the cow ran across a forest road in front of a police car. Local authorities said however her shooting should be “a last resort”.

“We only hope for the best for the cow,” a spokeswoman for district authorities said, adding that she might yet safely be

caught. Since news of the reward was splashed on Bild’s front page, hunters and locals have been out in numbers beating about the woods, and an Austrian animal sanctuary has offered to buy the cow if it can be taken alive.

The head of the Aiderbichl sanctuary, near Salzburg, Dieter Ehrengruber, even took to a helicopter on Monday in an attempt to track her down. Earlier this month, a posse of hunters and vets on horseback managed to briefly flush her out from dense forest undergrowth but immediately lost her again in the night.

Locals have also brought in Yvonne’s sister, Waltraut, and an alluring bull called Ernst in a bid to lure her out. And her son, Friesi, is also expected to take part in the dragnet, Bild said. — AFP

Time for strategy to save mammals PARIS: Time is running out to craft a plan to save Earth’s rich diversity of mammals, a quarter of whose species could be wiped out, biologists warned yesterday. “A global mammal strategy is urgent,” they said in a journal published by the Royal Society, Britain’s academy of sciences. Millions of people have rallied to the cause of large iconic mammals such as the tiger, the polar bear and the giant panda, they noted. But the news for less visible species is grim, especially those with a commercial value for poachers or whose habitat is at risk from farming, development or impending climate change.

Of the 5,339 documented species of mammals that are alive today, a quarter are threatened with extinction in the wild, according to their estimates, appearing in the journal Philosophical Transactions. “As of today, there is not yet a comprehensive, widely agreed, global conservation strategy to tackle the mammal decline,” said Carlo Rondinini and Luigi Boitani of the Global Mammal Assessment Programme at Rome’s Sapienza University, and Ana Rodrigues of the Centre of Evolutive and Functional Ecology in Montpellier, France.

They suggested the UN’s Biodiversity Convention weave a single vision, identifying which areas and species are at risk and how resources can be mustered to save them. This work should then be coordinated by an authoritative institution with global reach, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Accompanying papers in the journal predicted that the biggest losses of mammal habitat will be in Africa and the Americas, while many species will be lost on the Mediterranean rim if predictions of climate change prove correct.

Quantifying such perils is hard, given that many mammals are elusive species and may live in fragmented, out-of-the-way habitats, the experts admitted.

Indeed, Australian investigators reported last September that of 187 mammals that have been “missing” since 1500, 67 species have subsequently been found again. In one of the new papers, scientists reported on the world’s biggest “camera trap” survey, aimed at getting an accurate idea of mammal populations, the size of animals and availability of food.

Creatures snapped automatically as they passed by a hidden lens ranged from a tiny mouse to the African elephant, gorillas, cougars and giant anteaters, as well as occasional poachers and tourists, according to the team from the US organization Conservation International. The probe set up 420 cameras at protected sites in Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Laos, Suriname, Tanzania and Uganda in a project that ran from 2008-2010 and yielded 52,000 images.

“We take away two key findings,” said Jorge Ahumada of the NGO’s Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network. “First, protected areas matter: the bigger the forest they live in, the higher the number and diversity of species, body sizes and diet types. “Second, some mammals seem more vulnerable to habitat loss than others: insect-eating mammals-like anteaters, armadillos and some primates-are the first to disappear, while other groups, like herbivores, seem to be less sensitive.” — AFP

NUREMBERG: A visitor takes pictures of a sea cow (sirenia) yesterday at the Tiergarten zoo. — AFP

In polluted Nigeria region, a disaster long in the making BODO: The air smells like poison, the creek water carpeted with crude, and the boat operator covers his nose as he steps on a jetty in a region hit by what may be the world’s worst oil contamination. “We have been living with this mess for years,” says 31-year-old Friday Gimmogho, who is now forced to drive his boat out to sea to catch fish. “The oil companies are simply irresponsible and wicked.”

The UN released a report this month saying decades of oil spills in the Nigerian region of Ogoniland may require the biggest cleanup ever undertaken, with communities dependent upon farmers and fishermen left ravaged. As a start, it calls for $1 billion dollars from the Nigerian government and the petroleum industry in Africa’s largest oil producer. Drinking water has been dangerously contaminated, including at one location where levels of the carcinogen benzene are more than 900 times above World Health Organization guidelines.

Families were still drinking from those wells in Nisisioken Ogale, the report from the UN Environment Program points out.

“If you drink this water, it tastes like petrol,” said Austin Kpalap, a 31-year-old pharmacy student and local resident.

“We used to do everything with it-drank it, bathed with it and washed with it-until UNEP said it was not safe.” While UNEP’s chief scientist has called the environmental crisis “unprecedented,” it has largely gone unnoticed, unlike last year’s massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to hefty payouts from BP. In this case, Shell and Nigeria’s state oil company have come under heavy criticism over the contamination.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant operated in Ogoniland until it was forced to pull out amid unrest in 1993, but it still has infrastructure there. It argues it is not responsible for most spills. Shell’s Nigerian joint venture was taken to task in the UN report, which says its procedures for con-

trol and maintenance of infrastructure have not been followed. Oil spills have also not been sufficiently cleaned, the report says. Shell says it is taking the report seriously and looking at how it can improve, but maintains that more than 70 percent of the spills in the vast Niger Delta, Nigeria’s main oil-producing region and where Ogoniland is located, are caused by sabotage.

The managing director for its Nigerian joint venture, Mutiu Sunmonu, has said that until illegal activity is brought under control, “there is little that can be done to bring an end to the problem of spills.” Oil theft and illegal refining to feed the black market, as well as militant attacks on pipelines, have been common in the Niger Delta. But activists strongly dispute Shell’s argument, and a UNEP representative points out that illegal refining is a more recent phenomenon in an area that has seen 50 years of spills.

Meanwhile in Ogoniland, a kingdom with an estimated population of nearly one million, mangrove swamps soak in a stew of toxins. Farmland sits in ruin and anger continues to build in the native region of renowned environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed in 1995 after what was widely viewed as a show trial. In the town of Bodo, residents cover their noses with their hands or handkerchiefs as they approach the jetty. At nearby B-Dere village, people lament what has been lost. “As far back as 1992, 1993, 1994, I used to follow my father to this place for fishing, but now the fish are gone because of spillage,” local politician Kposbae Ereba said. “What you see is water covered with crude.”

UNEP senior official Henrik Slotte told AFP the report was the most complex ever handled by the agency. It has detailed for the first time scientific evidence of the contamination in Ogoniland. “This contamination requires emergency action before any other remediation efforts to reduce the health risk to the people,” he said. — AFP

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Fish, coral from off-limits Hawaii come to Waikiki HONOLULU: Hundreds of rare fish and coral pieces from one of the most remote parts of the planet have arrived in bustling Waik ik i. The Waik ik i Aquarium’s newest permanent exhibit which opened Monday, showcases specimens gathered from the pristine atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands - an area so well- protected it’s generally off-limits to everyone but researchers and Native Hawaiians performing cultural rites.

It promises to be a special treat for scuba divers and fish enthusiasts only rarely able to see species like the whiteand-black-colored masked angelfish or table corals - corals that spread out like tabletops around a central stem. It should also appeal to those curious about the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) long string of atolls so highly valued the United Nations named them a World Heritage Site last year and thenPresident George W Bush designated them a marine national monument in 2006. “Given the challenges in getting to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the vast, vast majority of people, this will be their only chance to see a taste

of some of the wonders that exist up there,” said Andrew Rossiter, the aquarium’s director.

The islands are all so small they’re inhospitable to human settlement. But this has also meant people have mostly left them alone and in their natural condition. The limited signs of human presence include ancient Hawaiian heiau, or shrines, lining the top of a ridge running along the spine of Mokumanamana island. The Navy once had a base at Midway Atoll - the site of the famous 1942 battle between the US and Japan that turned the tide of World War II - but turned the island over to the Fish and Wildlife Service for a wildlife refuge in 1993.

Today, the atolls have thriving coral reefs accounting for nearly 70 percent of all coral under US jurisdiction. Experts say the robust reefs are what the rest of Hawaii’s reefs looked like before they were damaged by coral mining, runoff from land, over fishing, and other human activity over the years. Sharks which have been overfished in many other parts of the world - are richly abundant there. Life also comes in

unusual forms: 25 percent of the 7,000 marine species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are found nowhere else in the world.

“This is a really, really unique place nothing else like it in the world. And it’s exactly how a coral reef should look, and this is how it was once around here,” Rossiter said during an interview in his Honolulu office. Fish and coral from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have been on display before, in limited circumstances. The Waikiki Aquarium has a small, existing exhibit, as does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s discovery center in Hilo on the Big Island. But the aquarium’s new display sets a new standard. The tank occupies about 10 percent of the aquarium’s exhibit space, and will boast some 30 different fish species and 20 coral varieties. Altogether, the exhibit will feature 225 fish and 200 coral fragments.

The masked angelfish will allow researchers to observe how the unusual sex-changing fish behave and interact.

Around the main Hawaiian islands the fish lives in deep water that’s impracti-

cal for extended human observation.

But scientists watching the aquarium tank may watch the fish for hours or days at a time. The species is notable in part because they’re all female when they’re a certain size. Then one member of the group gets a little more aggressive, dominates the others, and changes its sex to male. The newly male fish uses the remaining females as his harem.

Scientists will not only be able to observe this process, but perhaps begin to understand why some of the fish change sex and others not, Rossiter said. The exhibit will have five to start with, and the aquarium will add four more by mid-September for a total of nine. Aulani Wilhelm, superintendent of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, said the aquarium is offering people a way to connect to a place that by necessity must be appreciated from afar.

“These are atolls, these are fragile places,” Wilhelm said, noting even wellintentioned or well-regulated travel would inflict harm on the islands. “There’s only so much visitation a place like that can handle before it’s changed.” — AP

HONOLULU: In this photo, a new marine life exhibit is shown at the Waikiki Aquarium in Hawaii. — AP

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W H AT ’ S O N

Birthday Greetings

Many happy returns of the day to Christo John. Best wishes come from Mathai and Sisly family.

Announcements Girgian Fashion Show Get your kids dressed up in their best Girgian costumes or Fair y 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 16th, Where: Baroue, Avenues Mall, Time: 8pm, For more info: 2259-7457 to 60

The NBK Executive Management is pictured.

NBK Ramadan ghabqa brings together NBK staff

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BK’s Public Relations department hosted recently the annual Ramadan Staff ghabqa. NBK employees were treated to an evening of traditional Ramadan hospitality in addition to an array of entertainment activities and contests. The fun-filled evening included a full Ramadan suhoor and attendees participated in the various competitions and games, with many of them winning prizes ranging from fabulous travel tickets to valuable electronics.

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 talent- now 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 Alva- 23726164, 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 Shetty67712409.

The ghabqa presenters are pictured in action.

The Public Relations team is pictured.

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.

Aware Arabic courses 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 Kuwaitbased comedian Philip’s third musical show after the overwhelming success of staging “Tum Vhoir Aum Sokol” and “Hem Kazar Koslem” in Kuwait and overseas.

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he AWARE Management is glad to announce that Ramadan Arabic language courses run till September 15th, 2011.

AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers & those working in the private business sector.

AWARE Arabic courses highlight lIntroductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics lBetter prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic lCombine language learning with cultural insights lTaught in multi-nationality group settings lProvide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs. For more information, call 25335260 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

Squash tournament

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nce again this year, the stage is set for the third annual ‘Ramadan Stars Squash Tournament’ to be held from 15th to 22nd August at the Kazma Sporting Club, Adailiya. Abdulrahim Al Awadi, the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee has announced that doors are now open for registration to all those who are interested in participating, stating that the deadline for registration will be 13th of August.

The participation in this tournament is open to all and will fall under three categories this year. The first category is for amateurs from ages 17 and above, second category is for professional players from ages 20 and above and the third category is for ladies 17 and above.

Following its last two years of grand success, the 3rd annual Ramadan Stars Squash Tournament is being organized during Ramadan for squash lovers who will have an opportunity to practice the sport while being encouraged to develop their skills in a healthy and competitive environment.

Al Awadi, the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee, commented, “In our last two tournaments, we

have received very positive feedback and have witnessed a huge number of interested participants thus giving us immense encouragement to hold an exciting tournament this year. The 2011 squash tournament offers a great opportunity to all squash players to accept another challenge and build on their sports skills in midst of a friendly atmosphere. I highly encourage all interested players to maintain their level of activity during Ramadan while balancing fitness and fasting and to register before the deadline ends”.

All details pertaining to the tournament and means to participate can be found on the tournaments facebook page under ‘Ramadan Stars Squash Tourney’. The registration is taking place at GO SPORTS located at The Avenues Mall.

Alawadi also pointed out the great interest the ‘Ramadan Stars Squash tournament’ received from the private sector, where companies took the initiative in sponsoring the tournament. Alawadi expressed his gratitude and thanks to Go Sports, Comtel, Right Guard, TRACCS Public Relations, and Unite Colors, guaranteeing unique prizes for all winners.

For details contact Sarah Saeed TRACCS Tel: 22916093/ 66491539

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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 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

KFSD hosts girgian

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he Kuwait Fire Service Directorate held a girgian at the Mishref, Al-Shamiya and Al-Rumathiya Co-operative Society, which featured many activities including an activity to increase awareness regarding precautionary measures against fires. Girgian gifts were distributed to the children.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form.

All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed.

To ensure that the most recent version of the Temporary Resident Visa application form is being utilized, applicants should refer to the CIC website. As of January 15, 2011, forms are to be filled in electronically. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday.

The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5257E. PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5256E.PDF. 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 During the holy month of Ramadan, the office timings of the Indian Passport and Visa Service Centres of BLS International Visa Services Co., Kuwait, situated at (a) Emad Commercial Centre, Basement Floor, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Sharq, Kuwait, and (b) Mujamma Unood, 4th floor, Office No. 25-26 Makka Street, Fahaheel, Kuwait, will be from 8 am - 3 pm from Saturday to Thursday (i.e. six days a week). Embassy of India, Kuwait, will maintain its usual working hours. 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

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 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 03:30 Ray Mears’Wild Britain 04:25 Buggin’With Ruud 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 The Really Wild Show 07:50 Jeff Corwin Unleashed 08:15 Natural Born Hunters 08:40 Breed All About It 09:10 Dogs 101 10:05 Dogs 101 11:00 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:55 Meerkat Manor 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 K9 Cops 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 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 17:00 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 17:25 Bad Dog 18:20 Breed All About It 18:45 Orangutan Island 19:15 Crocodile Hunter 20:10 Cats 101 21:05 Austin Stevens Adventures 22:00 Monster Bug Wars 22:55 Attack Of The Giant Jellyfish

00:00 00:30 01:15 02:10 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 04:50 05:05 05:25 05:40 05:50 06:10 06:25 06:45 07:00 07:20 07:35 07:55 08:10 08:20 08:40 08:55 09:15 09:30 09:40 10:10 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 21:45 22:35 Fallen

My Family The Weakest Link Holby City Spooks Eastenders Doctors My Family Tweenies The Roly Mo Show Me Too Forget Me Not Farm Spot’s Musical Adventures Tweenies The Roly Mo Show Me Too Forget Me Not Farm Tweenies The Roly Mo Show Me Too Forget Me Not Farm Spot’s Musical Adventures Tweenies The Roly Mo Show Me Too Forget Me Not Farm Spot’s Musical Adventures My Family My Family The Weakest Link Himalaya with Michael Palin Doctors Eastenders Holby City My Family Himalaya with Michael Palin The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Himalaya with Michael Palin The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Spanish Flu - The Forgotten

00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 03:55 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:45 09:10 10:05 10:30

Dirty Jobs Miami Ink Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers On The Road Fifth Gear Mythbusters How Do They Do It? How Does It Work Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers On The Road Fifth Gear Street Customs 2008 How Does It Work Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security

10:55 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 15:05 16:00 16:25 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Auction Hunters Taking On Tyson Pit Bulls And Parolees Ultimate Survival Miami Ink Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers On The Road Fifth Gear Mythbusters Deadliest Catch Cake Boss Border Security Auction Hunters How Does It Work Cash Cab (US) Science Of The Movies Mythbusters Weird Or What?

Deadliest Catch

00:05 Smash Lab 00:55 Extreme Engineering 01:45 Bad Universe 02:35 How The Universe Works 03:25 Scrapheap Challenge 04:15 How Stuff’s Made 04:45 Extreme Engineering 05:40 One Step Beyond 06:10 Superships 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 07:55 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 08:50 The Gadget Show 09:15 The Gadget Show 09:40 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 14:05 Alien Planet 14:55 Alien Planet 15:45 Weird Connections 16:10 Scrapheap Challenge 17:00 Stephen Hawking’s Universe 17:50 Sci-Fi Science 18:15 The Gadget Show 18:40 What’s That About?

19:30 Weird Connections 19:55 Weird Connections 20:20 Smash Lab 21:10 The Gadget Show 21:35 The Gadget Show 22:00 What’s That About?

22:50 Weird Connections 23:40 The Gadget Show

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 20 Most Shocking Unsolved Crimes 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 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 10:15 THS 12:05 E! News 13:05 Holly’s World 13:35 Holly’s World 14:05 THS 15:00 Kendra 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 The Dance Scene 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Kourtney And Kim Take New York

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10

Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Good Eats - Special Guy’s Big Bite Guy’s Big Bite World Cafe Asia World Cafe Asia

02:35 03:25 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 05:50 06:35 Basics 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 09:55 Basics 10:20 10:45 11:10 11:35 12:25 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:35 17:00 Basics 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:05 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 23:00 23:30

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:45 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50

Food Network Challenge Barefoot Contessa Good Eats - Special Unwrapped Ten Dollar Dinners Paula’s Best Dishes Paula’s Party Barefoot Contessa - Back To Chopped Guy’s Big Bite Everyday Italian Good Deal With Dave Lieberman Ten Dollar Dinners Paula’s Best Dishes Barefoot Contessa - Back To Good Eats - Special Boy Meets Grill Unwrapped Paula’s Party Everyday Italian Paula’s Best Dishes Good Deal With Dave Lieberman World Cafe Asia Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Good Eats - Special Unwrapped Boy Meets Grill Chopped Guy’s Big Bite Barefoot Contessa - Back To Paula’s Best Dishes Everyday Italian World Cafe Asia Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Good Eats - Special Food Network Challenge Paula’s Best Dishes Paula’s Best Dishes Unwrapped Unwrapped World Cafe Middle East Chopped World Cafe Asia

Morning Drive Golf Central International Audi MedCup Major League Baseball Women’s Professional Soccer Morning Drive Golf with Style Golf’s Amazing Videos Golf Central International School of Golf Major League Baseball Golf Central International Audi MedCup Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour Athletics Outdoor Major League Baseball Prime/Time Boxing Mobil 1 The Grid Inside The PGA Tour

Ghost Lab Psychic Witness Deadly Women Couples Who Kill Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghost Lab Mystery Diagnosis Murder Shift Forensic Detectives Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn Royal Inquest Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift

18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol On The Case With Paula Zahn Royal Inquest I Almost Got Away With It I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:00 A World Apart 01:00 Meet The Natives 02:00 Banged Up Abroad 03:00 Eccentric Uk 03:30 Eccentric Uk 04:00 Weird & Wonderful Hotels 04:30 By Any Means 05:30 Earth Tripping 06:00 A World Apart 07:00 Meet The Natives 08:00 Banged Up Abroad 09:00 Eccentric Uk 09:30 Eccentric Uk 10:00 Weird & Wonderful Hotels 10:30 By Any Means 11:30 Earth Tripping 12:00 A World Apart 13:00 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 13:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 14:00 Destination Extreme 14:30 Destination Extreme 15:00 Endurance Traveller 16:00 Departures 17:00 Departures 18:00 Meet The Amish 19:00 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 19:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 20:00 Destination Extreme 20:30 Destination Extreme 21:00 Endurance Traveller 22:00 Departures 23:00 Departures

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

Zambezi World’s Deadliest Animals Killer Shots Shane Untamed Swamp Men Insects From Hell Wild Chronicles Blue-Collar Dogs The Living Edens Lizard Kings Caught On Safari Killer Shots Shane Untamed Swamp Men Asia’s Deadliest Snakes The Living Edens Brutal Killers Bonecrusher Queens Killer Shots Shane Untamed Swamp Men The Living Edens Brutal Killers Bonecrusher Queens Killer Shots Shane Untamed

00:00 John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars-PG15 02:00 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 04:00 Zombieland-18 06:00 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 07:45 Lost In Space-PG15 10:00 The Sum Of All Fears-PG15 12:15 Changing Lanes-PG15 14:00 Lost In Space-PG15 16:15 The Truth About Charlie-PG15 18:00 Changing Lanes-PG15 20:00 Ballistica-PG15 22:00 The Spirit-PG15

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

Black Death-PG15 Good Hair-PG15 On Broadway-PG15 Far North-PG15 Good Hair-PG15 Dean Spanley-PG Skellig-PG15 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 It’s A Wonderful Afterlife-PG15 The Devil’s Teardrop-PG15 The Open Road-PG15 Inglourious Basterds-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 02:00 The Cleveland Show 02:30 Rita Rocks 03:00 Just Shoot Me 03:30 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 Raising Hope 10:00 Cougar Town 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 Raising Hope 15:00 Cougar Town 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 18:30 Just Shoot Me 19:00 Parks And Recreation 19:30 The Simpsons 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Louie 22:30 Rita Rocks 23:00 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Smallville Criminal Minds House Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Detroit 1-8-7 Smallville 8 Simple Rules ...

Coronation Street Tower Prep Detroit 1-8-7 Grey’s Anatomy House 8 Simple Rules ...

Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tower Prep Smallville Hot In Cleveland Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tower Prep Warehouse 13 Supernatural Terriers Criminal Minds Detroit 1-8-7

01:00 The Thirteenth Floor-18 03:00 Zombieland-18 05:00 Rage: Carrie 2-PG15 07:00 The Stepfather-PG15 09:00 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 11:00 King Arthur-PG15 13:15 No Escape-PG15 15:15 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 17:15 2012-PG15 20:00 Unbreakable-PG15 21:45 Blood And Bone-18 23:30 A Lonely Place For Dying-PG15

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

Saved!-PG15 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 Bandslam-PG15 Nine Months-PG15 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 Return To Me-PG15 Imagine That-PG The Country Bears-PG Saved!-PG15 Marci X-PG15 The Allnighter-PG15 Garage Days-18

01:15 Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation-18 03:00 Legends Of The Fall-18 05:15 Strange Culture-PG15 07:00 Astro Boy-FAM 09:00 Free Style (2008)-PG15 11:00 Tuck Everlasting-PG 13:00 Enid-PG15 15:00 Alice In Wonderland-PG 17:00 Simon Birch-PG 19:00 The Shock Doctrine-PG15 21:00 Up In The Air-PG15 23:00 Return To Rajapur-PG15

The-Sum-Of-All-Fears On Osn Action HD

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hen the president of Russia suddenly dies and is succeeded by a man about whom little is known, tension increases as old fears ignite new paranoia. Director of Central Intelligence Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst from the Russia desk, Jack Ryan, to supply insight and advice. Then the unthinkable happens: the capital of Chechnya is leveled by a nuclear bomb. America is quick to blame the Russians, and mistrust escalates despite

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

TV PROGRAMS

Ryan's certainty that other players are at work. He is right. Terrorists bent on provoking open war between the two nations are moving behind the scenes to manufacture and escalate a conflict. When they successfully detonate a second bomb outside Baltimore during the Super Bowl, the world is pushed inexorably towards war... unless Ryan can supply the needed proof to stem the tide of disaster in time.

01:00 03:00 05:30 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Witness To Jonestown-PG15 Finding Forrester-PG 12 Men Of Christmas-PG15 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea District 9-PG15 Someone Like You-PG15 Anger Management-PG15 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past-PG15 District 9-PG15 The Greatest-PG15 The Open Road-PG15 Agora-18

The Fast And The Furious On Osn Action HD

01:00 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM 03:00 Leave It To Beaver-PG 05:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 07:00 Inspector Gadget’s Biggest Caper Ever-FAM 09:00 The Archies In Jugman-FAM 11:00 The Princess And The Frog-FAM 13:00 Yogi & The Invasion Of The Space Bears-FAM 15:00 Cats & Dogs-PG 17:00 The Princess And The Frog-FAM 19:00 Tooth Fairy-PG 21:00 Yogi & The Invasion Of The Space Bears-FAM 23:00 Inspector Gadget’s Biggest Caper Ever-FAM

00:00 Saint John Of Las Vegas-18 02:00 Cop Out-PG15 04:00 The People Speak-PG15 06:00 Carnera: The Walking Mountain 08:00 The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond-PG15 10:00 Long Weekend-PG15 12:00 My Dog Tulip-PG15 14:00 Winning Time-PG15 16:00 The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond-PG15 18:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 20:00 Death At A Funeral-PG15 22:00 Goodbye Solo-PG15

00:30 02:30 04:30 05:30 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 11:00 16:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

NRL Premiership ITM Cup Rugby Union Trans World Sport WWE Bottomline Le Mans Series Highlights Powerboats F1 Speedway Live ITM Cup Rugby Union PGA Championship Powerboats F1 NRL Premiership ITM Cup Rugby Union WWE SmackDown!

WWE Vintage Collection

00:30 FIVB Beach Volley Ball 01:00 Golfing World 02:00 NRL Premiership 04:00 NRL Full Time 04:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 05:00 International Rugby Union 07:00 Rugby World Cup Classics 07:30 ICC Cricket World 08:00 Trans World Sport 09:00 Live ITM Cup Rugby Union 11:00 AFL Highlights 12:00 Futbol Mundial 12:30 Rugby World Cup Classics 13:00 Trans World Sport 14:00 ICC Cricket World 14:30 World Hockey 15:00 ITM Cup Rugby Union 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 Trans World Sport 18:30 Golfing World 19:30 European Tour Weekly 20:00 AFL Highlights 21:00 ITM Cup Rugby Union 23:00 Trans World Sport

00:00 00:30 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:30 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:30

ICC Cricket World Scottish Premier League Rugby World Cup Classics FIVB Beach Volley Ball Trans World Sport Super League Futbol Mundial Golfing World The Challenge Series Golf Asian Tour Golf Asian Tour Highlights FIVB Beach Volley Ball AFL Highlights World Hockey

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

Mobil 1 The Grid SPL Highlights Golfing World FEI Equestrain World Asian Tour Highlights AFL Highlights International Rugby Union Mobil 1 The Grid Trans World Sport Asian Tour Highlights Rugby World Cup Classics Futbol Mundial International Rugby Union

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 01:00 UFC Unleashed 03:00 Speedway 04:00 UFC 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE Vintage Collection 08:00 Speedway 09:00 Super League Formula 11:30 Powerboats F1 Highlights 12:00 WWE NXT 13:00 WWE SmackDown!

15:00 V8 Supercars Extra 15:30 Powerboats UIM Class One Highlights 16:00 Modern Pentaholn 17:00 Modern Pentaholn 18:00 Speedway 19:00 Powerboats F1 21:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 22:00 UFC Unleashed

01:00 Blackboard Jungle-PG 02:40 The Shoes Of The FishermanFAM 05:10 The Petrified Forest-PG 06:30 TCM Presents Under The Influence-U 07:00 Father’s Little Dividend-FAM 08:20 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn-FAM 10:05 The Angel Wore Red-PG 11:40 Seven Brides For Seven BrothersFAM 13:20 Singin’ In The Rain-FAM 15:00 Ziegfeld Girl-FAM 17:10 My Favorite Year-PG 18:40 Manpower-PG 20:20 Forbidden Planet-FAM 22:00 Mr. Ricco 23:35 School Daze

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Life After People Ice Road Truckers Patton 360 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars American Pickers Lock N’ Load With R. Lee Ermey Life After People Ice Road Truckers Patton 360 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars American Pickers Lock N’ Load With R. Lee Ermey Life After People Ice Road Truckers Patton 360 Pawn Stars Pawn Stars American Pickers Lock N’ Load With R. Lee Ermey Life After People Ice Road Truckers Patton 360 Britain At War Tales Of The Gun UFO Hunters

00:00 01:00 01:30 01:55 02:25 03:20

Jerseylicious Fashion Avenue Fashion Avenue Big Boutique How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

04:15 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

05:10 Homes With Style 05:35 Area 06:05 Clean House 07:00 Big Boutique 07:30 Big Boutique 08:00 Homes With Style 08:30 Homes With Style 09:00 Fashion Avenue 09:25 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 Clean House Comes Clean 14:15 Mel B: It’s A Scary World 14:45 Jerseylicious 15:40 Ruby 16:35 Giuliana & Bill 17:30 Jerseylicious 18:25 Clean House 19:25 Top 10 19:50 Top 10 20:20 Clean House 21:15 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

22:10 How Do I Look?

23:05 Ruby

00:00 The Soller Railway 01:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 02:00 Safari Stopovers 03:00 Trabant Trek 03:30 Word Travels 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 The Soller Railway 06:00 Cruise Today 06:30 Travel Today 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Indian Times 09:00 Essential Specials 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Top Travel 11:30 Top Travel 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Flavours Of Spain 13:30 Flavours Of Spain 14:00 Indian Times 15:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 First Class Cornwall 18:00 Flavours Of Mexico 18:30 Flavours Of Mexico 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Megalopolis 21:00 Going South 21:30 Cruise Today 22:00 Intrepid Journeys 23:00 Globe Trekker

00:00 01:00 02:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Music For The Masses Greatest Hits VH1 Music VH1 Hits Aerobic VH1 Hits Music For The Masses Top 10 Music For The Masses VH1 Pop Chart VH1 Hits Music For The Masses VH1 Loves Guess The Year Music For The Masses The Album Chart Show VH1 Pop Chart VH1 Rocks Smells Like The 90s

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available at Khaitan in a studio flat for a single bachelor with a Mangalorean R/C bachelor near to bus stop.

Contact: 66036893. (C 3565) Room for rent in Hawally, location - interaction of Beirut + Tunis Street behind Popeye Restaurant. Contact: 66266105/ 66440968.

(C 3575) Sharing accommodation available with Indian decent bachelor single bed room flat. 1+1 basic. Very good location in Salmiya, Amman street, Indian community school-3, adjacent building.

Please contact Mob: 99813483. (C 3577) 17-8-2011 Sharing accommodation in Abbassiya near Balansiya Bakery, from 1st September, fully 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 3568) 16-8-2011 Sharing accommodation available for non-smoking Indian couple or bachelors

with a Keralite couple in double room flat in Abbassiya from 1st September. Contact: 99378344/ 24332105 (after 3pm). (C 3567) 15-8-2011 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

FOR SALE

For sale computer HP Compaq P4 1.7 Ghz, Ram 256, Hard disk 20 GB, CD Rom, 17” Monitor - Price KD 27/-.

Contact: 66762737. (C 3569) 15-8-2011

CHANGE OF NAME I, Aravind Krishnakumar Sunitha (s/o Krishna Kumar.

R) holder of Indian Passport No. J5398981 (D.O.B - 2306-1995) would like to

change my name to Aravind Krishnakumar.

(C 3563) 13-8-2011

TUITION Tutoring available for English/ Math and all other subjects. All ages including refresher, tutoring by an American teacher with many years of experience. Contact: 66616900. (C 3570) 16-8-2011

SITUATION VACANT A lady maid is needed to work part time in an apartment located in Salmiya.

Salary and time are negotiable. Call: 66417504.

(C 3571) 16-8-2011 English family needs full time maid. Call: 66094562. (C 3572) Required English speaking nanny/ maid. Please Contact: 99824597.

No: 15183

Nissan Pathfinder 2002, BMW 740i registered in 2000 for immediate sale.

Best offer above KD 2,000 secures. Contact: 99443876.

(C 3576) 17-8-2011 Toyota Aurion 2007, sky blue color, excellent condition, run only 61,000KM, well maintained, ready to check, price KD 3,950. Contact: 96676507. (C 3573) 16-8-2011 Mercedes C180 model 1995, white color, registration up to August 19th 2012, owner leaving Kuwait soon. Price KD 1,250 or nearest offer. Contact: 66556591. (C 3566)

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 THY KAC UAE DHX MSR GFA QTR ETH JZR FCX KAC BAW JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA FCX MEA IRM RBG MSR IRC UAL RJA MSR JZR FDB KAC KAC SVA QTR

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 17/8/2011 Flt Route 642 AMMAN 772 ISTANBUL 1758 JEDDAH 853 DUBAI 370 BAHRAIN 614 CAIRO 211 BAHRAIN 138 DOHA 620 ADDIS ABABA / BAHRAIN 539 CAIRO 201 DUBAI 412 MANILA / BANGKOK 157 LONDON 507 LUXOR 557 ALEXANDRIA 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 302 MUMBAI 53 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 132 DOHA 125 SHARJAH 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 203 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 5066 MASHAD 3557 ALEXANDRIA 610 CAIRO 6791 MASHAD 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 640 AMMAN 621 ASSIUT 775 JEDDAH 57 DUBAI 802 CAIRO 790 MEDINAH 500 JEDDAH 134 DOHA

Time 0:05 1:15 1:50 2:25 2:55 3:05 3:15 3:20 3:25 3:50 5:25 6:15 6:30 6:40 7:05 7:15 7:20 7:40 7:40 7:50 7:55 8:20 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:35 10:30 10:55 11:50 12:55 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:05 14:30 15:15

KAC KNE SYR ETD UAE GFA SVA JZR BBC ABY KAC KAC KNE FDB ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC AIC JAI FDB OMA VOS MEA JZR MSR DHX KAC UAE GFA QTR UAL MSR JZR DLH SAI AXB KLM PIA

546 701 341 303 857 215 510 561 45 127 550 1760 745 63 227 166 502 542 786 774 777 674 1762 102 575 572 61 647 81 402 203 618 372 614 859 217 136 981 612 185 636 441 393 447 215

ALEXANDRIA RIYADH DAMASCUS ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH SOHAG DHAKA SHARJAH SHARM EL SHEIKH / SOHAG JEDDAH JEDDAH DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI PARIS / ROME BEIRUT CAIRO JEDDAH RIYADH JEDDAH DUBAI JEDDAH NEW YORK / LONDON CHENNAI / GOA MUMBAI DUBAI MUSCAT BAGHDAD BEIRUT DAMASCUS ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO DUBAI FRANKFURT LAHORE KOZHIKODE / COCHIN AMSTERDAM / BAHRAIN KARACHI

15:30 16:00 16:30 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:50 17:55 18:00 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:00 19:10 19:15 19:25 19:25 19:25 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:15 20:20 20:55 21:00 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:35 22:00 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:15 23:35 23:55

Airlines AXB JZR DLH AIC PIA THY UAE DHX MSR ETH QTR RJA GFA KAC VOS JZR BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD GFA JZR KAC FCX MEA KAC KAC KAC KAC IRM KAC RBG JZR KAC MSR IRC RJA

Departure Flights on Wednesday 17/8/2011 Flt Route 390 MANGALORE / KOZHIKODE 506 LUXOR 637 FRANKFURT 982 AHMEDABAD / CHENNAI 206 LAHORE 773 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 615 CAIRO 620 ADDIS ABABA 139 DOHA 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 801 CAIRO 94 DUBAI / KANDAHAR 774 JEDDAH 156 LONDON 545 ALEXANDRIA 54 DUBAI 177 FRANKFURT / GENEVA 117 NEW YORK 789 MEDINAH 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 560 SOHAG 549 SOHAG 204 DUBAI 405 BEIRUT 541 CAIRO 1759 JEDDAH 103 LONDON 501 BEIRUT 5065 MASHAD 785 JEDDAH 3558 SOHAG / ALEXANDRIA 776 JEDDAH 1761 JEDDAH 611 CAIRO 6792 MASHAD 641 AMMAN

Time 0:25 0:30 0:40 1:05 1:10 2:15 3:45 3:55 4:05 4:10 5:00 7:00 7:10 7:20 8:00 8:15 8:25 8:35 8:40 8:55 9:05 9:25 9:40 9:50 10:00 10:15 10:20 10:55 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:15 12:30 13:00 13:20 13:30 13:35 13:50 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

FDB MSR UAL JZR KAC SVA KAC KAC KNE SYR ETD QTR UAE GFA ABY JZR KNE SVA FDB JZR BBC ALK KAC KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC OMA MEA MSR DHX UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC UAL MSR KAC JZR SAI

58 622 982 202 673 503 773 613 704 342 304 135 858 216 128 268 746 511 64 184 46 228 283 361 571 62 1765 331 538 351 648 403 619 373 860 218 381 102 137 301 205 981 613 415 556 442

DUBAI ASSIUT BAHRAIN DAMASCUS DUBAI MEDINAH / JEDDAH RIYADH BAHRAIN / DOHA MEDINAH DAMASCUS ABU DHABI DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH BEIRUT JEDDAH RIYADH DUBAI DUBAI DHAKA DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI JEDDAH TRIVANDRUM CAIRO COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA ALEXANDRIA LAHORE

14:35 14:40 14:45 14:55 15:10 15:45 15:50 16:20 16:45 17:30 17:35 17:45 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:35 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:10 20:00 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:40 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:55 22:00 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:40 23:50 23:50 23:55 23:59

34

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

stars CROSSWORD 412

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) You may feel restricted in some way today—never fear, this is short term. Perhaps this is not the time to try to solve any serious problems or make important decisions. It could be hard to think. This certainly makes problem solving somewhat complex. It could be important for you to get the counsel of a trusted friend—someone who can advise you as to the right choices. Whether you happen to like them or not, once you have determined the right route, you should take it. A social occasion this evening will find you at your most elegant.

Everything works together and you may find yourself expressive and holding the attention of others. You may feel more personal and direct and find that you are more confident than before.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You are driven when it comes to fulfilling your ambitions and carving out a career. No lack of energy or drive here—nothing can stand in your way. Everything is poured into making the right moves, the correct decisions. You are outgoing, enthusiastic and always diplomatic—everybody’s favorite.

You have a natural instinct for making the correct move at the right time. Some public career seems inevitable. The good life and all that is fine and luxurious may be what you value just now. You could enjoy making your own way and finding solutions to whatever problems you have. Team sports or fitness classes will add a bit of vitality to your energies. Now is the time to join an exercise group or team sports activity.

Tonight is a good time to visit a friend.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

4. Optical instrument consisting of a pair of lenses for correcting defective vision.

9. Brick that is laid sideways at the top of a wall.

13. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War. 14. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934).

15. Advanced in years.

16. Fiddler crabs.

17. A support that steadies or strengthens something else.

18. Soft white semisolid fat obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of the hog v 1.

19. The sacred city of Lamaism.

21. Genus of tall smooth herbs of forested mountains of Europe and Asia minor.

23. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

25. Jordan's port.

26. A rapid bustling commotion.

28. Strong lightweight wood of the balsa tree used especially for floats.

31. A day of rest and worship.

35. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

36. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

37. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

40. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

41. Being two more than ninety.

43. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

44. A state in east central United States.

45. Make visible.

49. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

51. (informal) Very tired.

52. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

54. English scholastic philosopher and assumed author of Occam's Razor (1285-1349).

57. A motorized wheeled vehicle used for camping or other recreational activities.

59. Being one more than two.

60. A sport in which participants must travel on skis.

63. Any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse.

64. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products.

65. German poet and novelist and dramatist who lived in Weimar (1749-1832).

66. Small cubes with 1 to 6 spots on the faces.

DOWN 1. An artificial language intended for international use as an auxiliary language.

2. A summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion.

3. Lower in esteem.

4. A island in the Netherlands Antilles that is the top of an extinct volcano.

5. (in golf) The standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course.

6. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event.

7. Of or relating to or near the coccyx.

8. Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy.

9. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.

10. A member of the Siouan people formerly inhabiting the Black Hills of western South Dakota.

11. A beautiful and graceful girl.

12. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

20. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

22. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

24. Any of various herbaceous plants whose leaves or stems or flowers are cooked and used for food or seasoning.

27. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

29. Experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness.

30. Someone who engages in arbitrage (who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential).

32. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

33. Anything that serves as an enticement.

34. A thin morbid discharge as from a wound or especially chronic gonorrhea.

38. Scandinavian liquor usually flavored with caraway seeds.

39. Food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing.

42. A ruler of the Inca Empire (or a member of his family).

46. Suggestive of the supernatural.

47. An island of central Hawaii.

48. Make less active or intense.

50. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

51. A toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium.

53. Not easy.

55. An independent agency of the United States government responsible for collecting and coordinating intelligence and counterintelligence activities abroad in the national interest.

56. White crystalline compound used as a food additive to enhance flavor.

58. How long something has existed.

59. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

61. A blow that renders the opponent unconscious.

62. A state in New England.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This Tuesday could be an action-filled day when time seems to be moving too slow. This kind of intensity points to an ability to perform successfully in the workplace. You will have opportunities to add your own personal touch to the work you do today. You would love a career that is creative and expressive. Always dramatic, you are a born entertainer and salesperson—warm, sometimes loud and gregarious. Proud, you have an inner need to express feelings and emotions to others. You can be self-centered and are driven to leadership positions by a sense of your own inner worth. Let yourself dream this afternoon. Let your imagination loose; perhaps you can return to your work on some invention or enjoy a good book or movie.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

This is a good time to listen and accumulate your thoughts in order to form an opinion of some very important work-related situation. An important relationship, perhaps an older person or someone in authority, may come into focus today. There could be some tension or sense of opposition requiring compromise or negotiation on your part. There is an opportunity for understanding and even growth. You are independent, confident and more than likely a little self-centered. You radiate energy and information and have to just accept the fact that people like to feel your warmth. One of the reasons you have so many friends is the unconditional love that friends so often offer—you will enjoy the company of your friends tonight.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may find yourself wanting to stop and review the numbers or facts of some subject today in order to have a correct report or some research backing up a particular report; timing is everything. Some disagreements are to be expected when you are in a debate or a roundtable discussion but you will be ready to back up your ideas or summations with quotes, research, etc. Take your time in making any final decisions today—work with the truth, not the emotions.

Yours is a passionate life. Intense feelings and strong attachments make for interesting times. You are fiercely loyal, if not sometimes possessive; careful. You have a sense for power, wealth and passion. You are steadfast, practical and loyal in the workplace as well as in the home place.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) There is a yearning to broaden your horizons now. You have a wish that could be granted soon! Everything may be pouring in at once—and it’s all good news. Your career direction gets some encouragement and life’s problems should find easy solutions. Someone in authority thinks you will fit in nicely in a new job identity—which means more money! Your life takes on a kind of mystical quality at the emotional and instinctive levels now. Dreams and illusions, forgiveness and understanding human frailties arouse deep feelings. The feeling for today is that anything is possible. One of your most creative times ever begins now.

Write, paint or dance and enjoy the release of stress. Why not plan a candlelit dinner with your loved one this evening?

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This may be a challenging day, but only to the extent that you do not express or assert yourself. You will prosper by pursuing your ideals and most deep-seated dreams of how life could be. Don’t be afraid to project that image—make those dreams real. Ideas of group cooperation and gatherings could further your career. Your life takes on a kind of mystical quality at the emotional and instinctive levels now. Dreams and illusions, forgiveness and understanding human frailties are the things that arouse deep feelings. The past and the future blend together and the barriers between people dissolve—there is the key to the greater spiritual sensitivity you feel now.

You can really get your thoughts and ideas across to others.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You love to communicate and discuss ideas with other people. Your ideas are fair and impartial, especially when it comes to other people—the social scene. You are at your mental best when you are communicating with others this Tuesday. Your professional life gets a boost at this time.

Luck is with you all day long; reach for the stars. During the noon break a co-worker comes to your attention and between the two of you a newsletter creation can began. You both have a lot to say and can entertain or help or share helpful information with other co-workers. Consider this or some other way to help improve working conditions . . . you have the good ideas. This evening at home you talk about this creative idea. A great trip is in the forecast.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

You have a clear-minded insight into your own plans and methods today. This is a very good time to communicate your goals and put them into words. Presentations are positive and working partners want to help follow through with any business plans. Independence, as well as anything unusual or different, is valued now. This is a great time to work in teams or to consult. You may be the one chosen for a particular job. Your management and directional abilities are in high focus. Lovely words and a flair for description help you to express yourself in original, but excellent ways. You display an inner sense of warmth and goodness and you have the ability to express this as well.

Others find you kind, easy to be with and harmonious.

This is a very lucky day for making plans or decisions and finding your way through just about any problem you may discover. You feel successful and able to solve problems. Good advice from a guide or older person may be expected. Insights into your deeper, more spiritual nature are available to you during this time. You may be able to discover whole new areas of your psyche or mind that have been closed before now. You will have good fortune on all you do to create a happier atmosphere around you at this time. If you like to expand or extend your home and family in some way, this could be the time to do it. Look for the home of your dreams in the outskirts of town. If you do not find a home, you might find some land upon which to build.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You will find new ways to serve others this Wednesday. You have brilliant insights into diet, health, ecology and conservation.

You are interested in new and different life styles and ways to make a living. You are economy personified, always able to salvage and redeem anything. You may try to persuade others of ways that will help you save money. Being able to go without new toys or extra accessories may not be something that is agreeable. Stand strong in your good habits and have patience; with time they will understand. You have an enchanting way of working and communicating with music—music and the arts inspire you.

This evening may bring opportunities to enjoy some form of expression of music or art. Romance is possible.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Your career always seems to get the support you need and this is one area of life that runs smoothly. You seem to understand what the public wants and mass marketing is a natural for you. You have a flair for description—the artistic in all its many forms—and there is an inner sense of warmth and goodness with the ability to express this. Patience on some personal project is very important just now. There is a lot going on behind the scene to make this project work. You have a very clear vision into what you want. Now it is time to consider the timing. With your problem-solving abilities, you are able to help dissolve any barriers between friends today. This may happen through some psychic insight you feel. Keep notes on your dreams.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 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

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Years

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

lifestyle G O S S I P

im Kardashian is “so ner vous” about walking down the aisle on her wedding day. The reality TV star - whose biological dad, Robert, passed away in 2003 to esophageal cancer at the age of 59 - admitted she is fearful of falling over and fainting during the ceremony of her marriage to basketball player Kris Humphries on Saturday. Speaking to Extra’s Mario Lopez, Kim - whose mother Kris has been married to Bruce Jenner since 1991 - explained: “I was so nervous to walk down the aisle by myself. “For some reason I wasn’t thinking, like, ‘Oh, Bruce will be there right with me,’ so I was thinking, ‘I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna faint, oh my God, my train!’ “ The 30-year-old socialite - whose dress will be designed by her close friend Vera Wang - has been seeking advice from supermodel Tyra Banks about the gown prior to her big day. The talk show host told People magazine: “I gave [Kim] the advice of going with a silhouette that the world isn’t used to seeing her in. So we’ll see.” Despite her nerves, Kim recently explained the wedding planning process has been “more” than she could have hoped for. She said: “I mean it’s been so like everything that I have dreamed of and more. I had no idea how much work really goes into wedding planning and I really do have this newfound respect for Sharon Sacks, my wedding planner!”

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Winehouse movie in the works

roducers are looking for an actress to play Amy Winehouse in a movie of her life. A number of TV stations have been in touch with the family of the singer - who died unexpectedly at her home in north London aged 27 on July 23 - to ask for their permission to turn her life into a serialised film. A source close to the family told The Sun newspaper: “The feeling is there wouldn’t be an actress under 30 who wouldn’t want to play her. “The first job is to get financial backing from co-production companies in the US. Some are showing interest because it’s a sure-fire money-spinner. “They know anything Amy-related is going to be a huge success.” Hollywood sources have also been interested in turning Amy’s tragic story which saw her achieve worldwide stardom with her album ‘Back to Black’, battle drink and drug abuse and endure a turbulent marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil into a film, with one insider saying: “ Amy’s life story reads like a movie even without her tragic end.”

Finding an actress to play Amy could prove difficult, because of her distinctive features, fluctuating weight in the latter years of her life and unique smoky voice.

One star reportedly interested in tackling the role is Lady Gaga, who previously stated when she started her career people used to mistake her for the ‘Back to Black’ singer, and was so shocked when she heard of her untimely passing, she claimed she couldn’t speak for 48 hours. The pop superstar said: “I was nobody when she was first coming out. I have really dark hair and all the time on the street people would go, ‘Amy!’ And they would go, ‘Back to Black.’ They’d scream at me.” A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Lady Gaga worshiped Amy and would love nothing more than to transform herself into her idol on the big screen. She’d be spot on performing Amy’s songs and has got the right look and attitude. “Gaga’s been itching to make the transition from music into movies and sees this as the ideal role to launch her film career.”

ine medical staff are set to give evidence that Michael Jackson was mentally unstable at the time of his death. Lawyers acting for Dr Conrad Murray - who is due to stand trial for the involuntary manslaughter of the music legend following his passing from acute Propofol intoxication in June 2009 - have a list of 103 potential witnesses, including doctors and nurses, in hope of strengthening his claim that he did not administer the lethal dose of the anesthetic that killed the iconic singer by exposing Michael’s erratic behavior and demanding personality.

Among those who could be called as witnesses are Dr Arnold Klein - a dermatologist who Murray’s lawyers previously blamed for getting Michael addicted to painkillers - and Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who claims the ‘Thriller’ hit maker asked her for Propofol in the weeks leading up to his death, but she refused to supply the powerful anesthetic. A source told RadarOnline.com: “Cherilyn is prepared to testify at the trial and tell the truth.

Cherilyn has never spoken with anyone from the District Attorney’s office. She was interviewed in the weeks after Jackson’s

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death by the coroner and the LAPD. Cherilyn hasn’t heard from those agencies since that time.” Dr Neil Ratner, who toured with the singer in 1996 and 1997 is also on the witness list following previous claims that he would keep medical equipment which would monitor his client’s vital signs as he was “under.” Ratner was allegedly hired to combat the singer’s sleeping problems by “taking him down” and “bringing him back up”, a CNN report has previously claimed. It is expected that Murray’s lawyers will quiz Dr Ratner about the specific details of his medical treatment for the star, as he has previously refused to disclose more than the fact Michael had a sleep disorder. Dr David Adams, a Las Vegas anesthesiologist who gave the singer Propofol at least four times for medical reasons, will also be asked to testify. According to a source, the defense feels “Dr Adams is clearly relevant.” Jury selection for the trial begins on September 8, with opening arguments scheduled to begin on September 26, with the case potentially lasting until November. Dr Murray could be jailed for up to four years if convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Bieber

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is richest teenager ustin Bieber is Hollywood’s richest teenager. The 17-year-old singer topped People magazine’s annual list after earning a reported $53 million in the last year, beating the likes of Miley Cyrus - who shot to fame playing the title character in Disney TV show ‘Hannah Montana’ - and his girlfriend Selena Gomez. Justin’s earnings are thought to have increased after the success of his 3-D concert movie, ‘Never Say Never’, and from sales of his new perfume Someday. Miley, 18, took home a cool $48 million, while 19-yearold Selena banked just $5.5 million in comparison. Will Smith’s children Jaden and Willow made $9 million combined, while Jonas Brothers star Nick Jonas racked in an impressive $12.5 million. And it seems Justin has been keen to spend some of his hardearned cash as he recently splashed out $25,000 on a necklace. The ‘Baby’ hit maker also had a hand in designing his new piece of jewelr y which is based on animated ‘Family Guy’ talking baby Stewie Griffin voiced by Seth McFarlane - and features 12 carats of rubies and diamonds. Beverley Hills

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Kutcher spends $9K a week on new home shton Kutcher is splashing out $9,000-a-week on a brand new mobile home. The 33-year-old actor - who has replaced Charlie Sheen in ‘Two and a Half Men’ following the troubled star being fired from the lead role as Charlie Harper earlier this year - will be moving in to the plush new trailer during shooting, according to Australian radio station 2Day FM. With Ashton set to run his production company from the mobile home in between filming, the lavish trailer comes complete with a 60inch plasma TV, a full bedroom, two bathrooms, a working kitchen, conference area and more than 1,000-square feet of space spread across two floors. Ashton - who will portray broken-hearted internet billionaire Walden Schmidt in the sitcom - is said to have settled in well on the ‘Two and a Half Men’ set, and he and wife Demi Moore even threw a party for the cast and crew when the first day of filming wrapped earlier this month. An insider said: “Ashton and Demi were both cute together and friendly with everyone. Everybody is loving Ashton on the set. He’s really coming off like a cool low maintenance guy, and with everything that went down with Charlie everyone is breathing a sigh of relief. He jokes with the crew, has no tantrums, he comes in well studied in his lines - it’s such a nice change.”

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Rihanna

works out at 4am

he ‘California King Bed’ hit maker is so determined to stay in shape at all times, she adjusts her lifestyle in order to accommodate her fitness sessions, even getting up extra early to make sure she doesn’t miss out on her daily physical activities. Her trainer, Ary Nunez, said: “Rihanna trains as much as she can, whenever she can. “This could be every day or three times a week. Her work schedule is extremely demanding, so thank goodness she’s naturally a hardworking person. “We make time and find time - whether it is at 4am or 9am.” According to her trainer, the 23-year-old beauty is even willing to work out while having her hair and make-up done. Ary added: “We always squeeze it in.” While Rihanna works hard to maintain her toned physique, Ary believes she is naturally in good shape because it doesn’t take long for her to look her best. She told the new issue of Britain’s Star magazine: “Rihanna has a gifted physique. She can become lean, get ‘baby guns’ [biceps] and firm up her core quickly. “Her physique is the epitome of classic beauty, it’s feminine, strong, agile, poetic and versatile.”

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Jackson was mentally unstable

jeweler Jason Arasheben helped Justin create the necklace, revealing the ‘One Time’ performer “had a specific vision for how he wanted it to look”.

Michele’s fashion improved with Glee

Kardashian nervous to walk down aisle

ea Michele developed an interest in fashion thanks to ‘Glee’. The actress who plays preppy Rachel Berry in the TV musical drama - has seen her style evolve since becoming a worldwide star and the show’s creator Ryan Murphy has put that down to her growing confidence.

He told America’s Vogue magazine: “When I met Lea, she was only sort of interested in clothes- but in the last two years she’s become a red-carpet star. I think what happened is Lea went to an event, and someone said, ‘Oh, you look pretty.’ It was

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an interesting moment for her.” Lea’s costar Chris Colfer - who plays camp teenager Kurt Hummel - also says his views on fashion have changed since appearing in the smash hit show. He said: “When Glee started, I had no idea who Marc Jacobs was. In no way was I a fashion person! I did all my shopping at my small-town Target.

Maybe if I dressed better I wouldn’t have had such a hard time in school. Now, as Kurt, I get to wear all these amazing things, by people whose names I can’t even pronounce.” — Bang Showbiz

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lifestyle

Years

F A S H I O N

Designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka hold their dogs Rommel and Whiskey during a doggie fashion show at Bergdorf Goodman during Fashion’s Night Out during Fashion Week in New York. (Right) Jason Wu autographs a box at Bergdorf Goodman during Fashion’s Night Out. —AP photos

Fashion’s Night Out zeroes in on style celebrities F

ashion’s Night Out, the shopping initiative driven by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, returns as a bigger event next month, extending to 250 US cities. But there seems to be a sharper focus on industry stars - including designers, red carpet experts, and makeup artists - instead of the Hollywood celebrities who grabbed headlines the past two years.

The event aims to draw consumers into stores on one night during the all-important fall retail season by making shopping an exciting, interactive experience with how-to sessions, music, refreshments and glimpses of insider glamour. This year’s FNO is Sept 8, with New York still clearly its home base, but many national retailers and mall operators joining in: For example, stylists

will be at select Nordstrom stores, and Neiman Marcus has special events planned at more than two dozen locations.

Don’t live in a big city? Shopbop.com is streaming footage of its fashion gurus visiting stores, and QVC plans a live broadcast, including a fashion show. The buzz, however, will likely still come from Manhattan, where Michael Kors plans to stand in the window at Bergdorf Goodman, Rachel Zoe will visit Bloomingdale’s to debut her new collection and model Coco Rocha will talk up the Karl Lagerfeld line at Macy’s Herald Square. Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa are among the judges of Bergdorf’s best-in-show dog contest, and Lloyd Boston gives you “seven ways to wear it” at Lord & Taylor. At Saks Fifth Avenue’s

flagship, shoppers can have their photo snapped with Stella McCartney models and have it loaded to Facebook, and Yigal Azrouel is partnering with surf brand Sundeck to “surf” on simulators in the store.

The New York Jets Flight Crew Cheerleaders will be signing their 2012 calendar at Lord & Taylor. It’s not quite Naomi Campbell dancing in the streets - which she did last year in front of Dolce & Gabbana - but as FNO looks to become an annual appointment on the fall fashion calendar, there is a shift toward directing people to new merchandise and makeovers instead of jamming stores to get an autograph but otherwise leave emptyhanded. The inaugural FNO was held in 2009 as a way to restart sales after a disastrous year, especially at the luxury stores the

recession hit very hard. ShopperTrak, an independent reporter of consumer traffic, estimates that night saw a 50 percent jump in retail foot traffic.

There is also a designated fundraising FNO collection, including a graphic T-shirt modeled on the website by Karlie Kloss and photographed by Craig McDean. Hundreds of stores will have FNO items that send 40 percent of proceeds to benefit The New York City AIDS Fund in the New York Community Trust. Meanwhile, Barneys New York announced it will donate 10 percent of sales from its Fifth Avenue store, as well as Barneys.com, to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Additions and changes to this year’s schedule are likely up until the night of the event.— AP

People queue up to gain entrance into Bergdorf Goodman during Fashion’s Night Out.

Move over Santa, Gaga is taking over the workshop C hristmas is getting a makeover - Lady Gaga style: The singer and her team are going to reinterpret Santa’s workshop and put it on display at Barneys. She’ll get an entire floor and take over the coveted windows starting in mid-November at the retail-

Centrepoint rings in ʻBack to Schoolʼ collection

er’s flagship Madison Avenue store, Mark Lee, Barneys CEO, announced Monday. There will also be a collection of Gaga’s Workshop gift items that will raise money for a charity of her choice.

Campaign visuals, including a cartoon ren-

dering of Gaga with long blue hair and a sparkly red jumpsuit, will be used to decorate shopping bags and other packaging, and will be featured on the company ’s website.

Barneys’ typically nontraditional windows are a popular stop for holiday shoppers. — AP

Spanish designer Jesus Del Pozo waves after his fashion show at the Pasarela Cibeles in Madrid.—AP

Spanish designer Jesus del Pozo dies aged 65

F

ashion designer Jesus del Pozo, one of Spain’s most influential style modernizers, has died aged 65. A statement released late Saturday by Spain’s Fashion Creators Association said Del Pozo had succumbed to a lung problem. Association presi-

dent Modesto Lomba said although Del Pozo had looked weak in recent months he had worked with commitment and energy to the end.

“We have to recognize he was one of the instigators of Spain’s current fashion era,” said

Lomba. “He made possible the reality the rest of us live in today.” Del Pozo opened his first outlet in Madrid in 1974, making him a contemporar y of Antonio Miro and Adolfo Dominguez. His first collection was unveiled in 1976. — AP

Coco Chanel spied for the Nazis

F

rench designer Coco Chanel spied for the Nazis during the German occupation of France in World War II, according to a new book on sale yesterday. “Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War,” by Hal Vaughan, expands on long-standing evidence that the iconic designer had a double life and was the lover of a spy, Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage. “Sleeping with the Enemy pieces together how Coco Chanel became a German Intelligence

operative; how and why she was enlisted in a number of spy missions; how she escaped arrest in France after the war,” New York publishers Knopf said in a statement. Vaughan’s book reveals that not only was Chanel recruited to the Abwehr military intelligence organization, but that von Dincklage was himself a “Nazi master spy.” He “ran a spy ring in the Mediterranean and in Paris and reported directly to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, right hand of

Hitler.” Chanel was also “fiercely” antiSemitic, the book says, although at the time she would not have stood out among numerous other high-profile compatriots later seen as having collaborated during the 1940-44 occupation.

Chanel, an orphan who became a revolutionary fashion designer, moved to Switzerland after the war before returning to Paris to take up her career in fashion. She was never charged with any wrongdoing and died in 1971. — AFP

G

etting back to school will be even more fun this year as Centrepoint launches its ‘Back to School’ collection across all its concepts.

Centrepoint is a one stop shop having a variety of concepts offering the biggest collection of school essentials. The ‘Back to School’ collection offers a unique combination of style, comfort, durability and affordability expected of children’s essentials.

Juniors, the region’s leading children’s retail concept, has pieced together a collection to help children get over their school-day blues at the end of the summer-vacation and inspire them to go back to school in style. Juniors ‘Backto-School’ includes interesting options for boys and girls of all ages. While the Barbie, Micky Mouse Club House, Dora, My Melody and Disney Princess ranges are ideal for any girl, boys will enjoy flaunting their bags and accessories including water bottles, stationery items etc featuring Ben10, Spiderman, Cars, Ferrari, Hotwheels, Manchester-United and Transformers. The comprehensive assortment that extends across every educational facet of a child’s life also includes school staples and uniforms.

‘Back to school’ this year offers a great collection to choose from along with an amazing gift exclusively at Shoe Mart stores. The Shoe Mart Back to School’ Campaign entitles every purchase of school shoes and or a school bag from Shoe Mart’s new collection a funky stationery set. The unique colorful set includes a pen, pencil, eraser, sharpener, whistle, ruler and a tape dispenser.

An essential school kit for every child making a new start.

For school essentials and footwear Shoe Mart’s ‘Back to School’ has a collection which ranges from pumps and Mary Jane’s in straps for girls and court shoes. For boys they have moccasins adorned with buckles or straps. A vivid

range of colors and cartoon characters are seen on various school bags in the range. Also available in store are school essentials such as lunch bags and water bottles.

Shoe Mart also has a collection consisting of movie sensations and child artists such as Selena Gomez, Hannah Montana and High School Musical allow children to latch on to the feel-good factor. Girls will have every reason to flaunt the cotton candy pink colour with charming characters. Boys will speak louder with Ben 10, Hot Wheels and Transformers creating action packed fun. They would also get to take to school pencil cases and other stationary items with their favourite characters on them.

Get the kids ready for the new term with Lifestyle ‘Back to School’ offering an array of bright and stylish yet durable and essential bags and accessories. Lifestyle’s exclusive ranges for little princesses include school accessories from brands such as Happy House, Jordi Labanda and Kimmidoll, which all include beautiful bags, quality lunch boxes and a pretty yet functional array of stationery to get kids organized for the term ahead. For boys this year, the hardwearing collections offer quality and strength without forgoing style.

The themes focus on racing cars, warriors and bikers - cool favourites for the boys. Available in grown up blues, reds and black, a wide assortment can be purchased with matching school bags, satchels and lunchboxes, pencil cases and water bottle holders.

So gear up for the new academic year with the latest ‘Back to school’ collection which is up for grabs across all Centrepoint showrooms at Al Rai, Fahaheel, Kuwait City, Salmiya, Hawally, Jahra and Fintas. Discover a whole new range of school essentials for your little ones!

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Fans flock to Graceland to remember

Elvis Presley S

ilent mourners with heads bowed and yellow-orange candlelight leading the way paid their respects to Elvis Presley at his grave at Graceland, his longtime Memphis home, to remember the 34th anniversary of his sudden death.

Thousands of Elvis devotees, candles in hand, walked in the humid night to the graves of Elvis and his relatives, some wiping away tears as they filed past. Flower arrangements and heart-shaped wreaths decorated the burial site as “If I Can Dream” and other songs played softly in the background.

The vigil extended to yesterday morning, marking the anniversary of the King’s death on Aug 16, 1977. The vigil is the main draw of “Elvis Week,” and some waited hours outside the stately mansion for the procession to start. Paula Penna came with her family from Campinas, Brazil, for her sixth vigil.

Penna, who met her Brazilian husband in an Elvis fan club, cried and hugged him, her sister and aunt after paying her respects. She said Elvis songs have helped her family though good and bad. All four have Elvis tattoos.

“Elvis music keeps the family together,” said Penna, who also was born on Aug. 16 and will celebrate her 27th birthday Tuesday. “I promised to come every year to pay tribute to Elvis because he is very important to the family life.”

Fans like 60-year-old Joe Makowski - who claims he saw Elvis in concert 81 times - and his girlfriend, Pamela Hembree, were among the first in line and waited for hours along Graceland’s outer brick wall. A New Jersey native who owns four of Elvis’ concert-worn scarves and has attended several vigils, he said it was time to introduce Hembree to the Elvis Week experience honoring the life and career of the rock ‘n’ roll star. “I get to meet new fans and meet new people, so that’s why I line up here early in the day,” said Makowski, who went to Las Vegas twice a year between 1971 and 1976 to see Elvis perform. “The biggest thing I get out of it is seeing the young fans that weren’t even born until years after he passed away.” Makowski said he admires Elvis because of his singing

Elvis fans from all over the world gather at the gates of Graceland for a candlelight vigil marking the 34th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, Monday, in Memphis, Tenn. —AP and performing prowess, of course, but also for what he called the singer’s overall coolness.

“He helped me break out of my shell because I was kind of a shy kid,” said Makowski, an actor who now lives in Palm Harbor, Fla. Visitors came from Japan, England, Germany and other countries. Some wore full Elvis outfits, others just his trademark sunglasses or sideburns. Patrick Lucas sported sideburns and pompadour going as he walked to the vigil with the rest of the Elvis Presley Fans of Alabama, a club he joined on the Internet. Hunter, 22, came from Ehlange-Mess, Luxembourg, for the vigil. “I try to be like him, in the ways that he was nice to people and how he treated people,” Lucas said.

“He was a giving person.” Temperatures were in the high 80s much of the day, sharply down from the suffocating 100degree heat that greeted Elvis fans last August. About 15,000 to 20,000 people attended, according to estimates by police and an Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman - nothing near the 75,000-strong crowd that’s expected to flock to Graceland in 2012 for the 35th anniversary of the singer’s death.

The annual vigil began when some Elvis fans traveled to

Graceland the year their idol died. It grew into an organized event in 1982. This year, fans have something else to commemorate. It was 55 years ago - 1956 - when the first two Elvis albums were released. That year alone, Elvis sold 10 million singles and 800,000 LPs. Glenys Sites said she still remembers watching Elvis perform “Love Me Tender” for the first time. “He’s got everything stage presence, charisma; he was sexy, great voice,” Sites said.

“There’s never been anybody like him. I don’t think he’ll ever die.” Many still remember where they were when they found out the singer was dead. Debbie Moller says she was seated on her couch when her sister called that August day in 1977 at the mansion. She didn’t believe her sister at first, so she turned on the radio. “I was bawling non-stop,” said Moller, who makes Elvis T-shirts and is now attending her 15th vigil. Like many who make the walk up the hill and see the Elvis gravesite and those of his parents, Moller expected to get emotional. “I cry,” said Moller, of Colorado Springs, Colo. “The songs they play make you think back to what you were doing they day he died.” —AP

Brandon Bird, 9, tries to keep cool in his self-designed jumpsuit during a series of performances by Elvis tribute artists. —AP

Review

Beyonce showcases her dominance at concert

W Fans waiting to see Sugarland attempt to hold up the stage after high winds blew the stage over at the Indiana State Fair Grandstands. — AP

Indiana State Fair reopens with memorial service

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he Indiana State Fair reopened Monday with a half-hour service remembering those who died following the collapse of its main concert stage over the weekend in heavy wind. The disaster, which killed five people and injured scores more, occurred on Saturday night and the fair had been shut down on Sunday. “There was a hero every 10 feet Saturday night,” Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said at the service, recalling how concertgoers rushed toward the collapsed stage and scaffolding to free the trapped and rescue the injured.

“We come today with hearts that are broken but also hearts that are filled.” “Our first love, our first concern is with our neighbors and our first job is to get back to the business of living,” Daniels said. Fair officials were still updating changes to its schedule on Monday. A fireworks display set for the fair’s final night has been canceled. No announce-

ments have been made regarding big entertainment acts, including Janet Jackson, Train and Maroon5, that had been scheduled to perform this week.

The fair appearance was no longer on Jackson’s website tour information but Maroon5 still had the performance on its site. More than 40 people were injured in the Saturday stage collapse just minutes before the country duo Sugarland was set to begin per forming.

Concert officials had informed spectators prior to the show that the concert might have to be postponed due to the weather, but a strong gust blew the stage over before any official evacuation order was issued.

Asked in a CNN inter view on Monday whether more precautions should have been taken in light of the storm forecast, Daniels said: “Obviously everyone regrets the outcome here, but you know our first instinct in Indiana is not to go

rushing around looking for scapegoats.” He said separately on the CBS Early Show that while it was legitimate to ask whether the concert should have been canceled , nothing else on the fairgrounds had been affected by the blast of wind that hit the stage.

Some of the injuries from the disaster were extremely serious, and more people could die, State Police Sergeant Dave Bursten had said at a news conference on Sunday. State fire marshal’s and the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the collapse. Sugarland sent a Twitter message on Saturday night about the incident, saying: “We are all right. We are praying for our fans, and the people of Indianapolis. We hope you’ll join us. They need your strength.” The Hoosier Lotter y Grandstand at the state fairgrounds can seat more than 15,000 people.—Reuters

ith 16 Grammys, millions of records sold, several defining hits and a superstar husband among her accomplishments, Beyonce has nothing to prove. But sometimes, even queens need to show what it means to be royalty. And on Sunday night, Beyonce arrived at the Roseland Ballroom to give fans and critics alike a reminder that despite chatter that might try to suggest otherwise, she remains the head diva in the music world, and she made her case to a select group of fans, one rump-shaking move at a time.

“This show is gonna be a little different,” Beyonce told the standing-room crowd at the show’s outset. “I just wanna have a good time.” But she clearly had more on her agenda for this concert, the first of a four-night stand at the famed concert hall. While she usually performs for audiences of around 20,000, she downsized at Roseland for a sold-out crowd of about 3,000 to promote her new album “4,” which has received critical acclaim and gone gold since its June release but has not dominated sales and radio charts like her previous three solo albums, all multiplatinum successes with multiple hits.

The album’s release came at a critical time for Beyonce, with the 29-year-old firing her father and longtime manager Matthew Knowles and taking control of her own career, amid the increasing chart dominance of competing acts like Lady Gaga and Rihanna. With the initial slower-than-usual start for her latest album, there’s been discussion about whether her career is heading in the right direction.

Sunday’s concert was Beyonce’s dazzling rebuttal to all that talk: She put her track record up for display along with her new material with a subtle but undeniable message that she is not to be doubted, or counted against. Dressed in a shimmering gold minidress, the 29-year-old performer gave fans a history lesson of how Beyonce became Beyonce, from her early days as the star of Destiny’s Child to her reign at the top of the charts with hits like “Crazy in Love” and “Single Ladies.”

She kicked things off by reaching deep into the past, not to sing one of her on hits, but one by one of her idols - “I Wanna Be Where You Are,” by Michael Jackson.

Like Jackson, Beyonce started singing as a child, and like Jackson, she became the undisputed star of her group.

It was a song Destiny’s Child once sang for a recording

In this July 1, 2011 file photo, Beyonce performs on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” in New York. —AP contract audition, one that ended unsuccessfully. But, Beyonce duly noted that the setback didn’t stop them, a recurring theme for her concert, and her career.

Throughout the first half of the concert, Beyonce ran through the chart-topping hits that came from her pen like “Independent Women,” and noted that they were often inspired by her constant critics. Before launching into “Survivor,” she told the crowd about all the jokes lobbed at Destiny’s Child and their ever-changing personnel.

“This song was the defining moment of our career,” she said, noting the constant criticism she received at the time. “It actually inspired me.”

Later, she recalled how her record company wasn’t a fan of her solo debut, “Dangerously in Love.” “They told me I did not have one hit song on my album,” she said of the album that contained hits like the title track and “Baby Boy.” “I guess they were kind of right: I had five,” she boasted, before launching into a smoldering, slowed down version of the album’s biggest hit, “Crazy in Love.” Backed by her all-female band, Beyonce reaffirmed her role as a peerless entertainer with her fullthroated, soulful soprano and killer dance moves, in her signature stilettos. While she spent the first half the concert burnishing her bio (including her romance with husband Jay-Z) an re-affirming her credentials through her past, the latter half was devoted to the future courtesy of “4.” —AP

Bob Dylan

The songs they are a’changing for The Dylan Project W

hen a band of veteran British rock musicians took to the stage with a different take on Bob Dylan’s music at the weekend, they were so good someone in the crowd even shouted “Judas.” The reference to the infamous moment when Dylan turned electric was tongue-in-cheek. The musicians concerned make no pretensions about being acoustic folkies. Slide guitar, driving bass and drums is what they are in this per-

sona. More blow the house down than “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

The Dylan Project is fronted by Steve Gibbons, who like Dylan turned 70 earlier this year-a happy coincidence given that he claims Dylan’s music changed his life.

Gibbons is one of those musicians who is well known in certain die-hard music circles, making a critically successful career for years without achieving widespread celebrity. The eponymous Steve Gibbons

Band is said to be the first rock band from the West to have been invited to tour East Germany in the early 1980s when the Berlin Wall was still up. It has toured with The Who and shared the stage with a plethora of rock names. But when friends got together to celebrate Gibbons’s big birthday in Austria in July, it was The Dylan Project that tuned up. The band is a side project for various musicians from the British folk-rock or roots-rock scene,

notably bassist Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention and slide guitarist PJ Wright of Little Johnny England. It plays Dylan. But it is no tribute band, more an homage to the man Wright describes as inventing rock music. “We have our own take on Bob’s songs. We don’t do core versions,” Pegg said backstage after the Project played at his other band’s annual Fairport’s Cropredy Convention festival in rural north Oxfordshire. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

lifestyle M O V I E S

Colin Farrell opens up during ‘Fright Night’ panel C

olin Farrell plays a vampire in his latest film, but he says almost any role will do: He just loves being an actor. The 35-year-old opened up during a panel featuring the update of “Fright Night” Friday at the Comic-Con fan convention. When a fan asked whether he preferred his earlier starring roles or his more recent character parts, Farrell said that in the last six years, he “reconnected with the mystery of the whole thing and the imagination of the whole thing and how much fun it is to be an actor.”

“I came to success really quickly in relation to most other actors,” he said. “The idea of how fast the chaos around me took grip, it’s insane. And I, myself personally, I lost sight of why I went to my first acting class when I was 17 in Dublin ... I lost sight of that through this good fortune I was experiencing in Hollywood. So in the last six years I reconnected with the Colin who was 17.

“It’s a lot of fun to do what we do. It’s such a fortunate place to find yourself,” he said. He plays the vampire-next-door Jerry Dandrige in “Fright

In this film image released by Disney-DreamWorks Pictures, David Tennant stars as Peter Vincent, a Las Vegas illusionist and self-proclaimed vampire expert in “Fright Night.” —AP

Night,” a reimagining of the 1985 horror classic that’s set for release Aug 19. Farrell took the stage again later in the day for a panel about the reboot of “Total Recall.” He plays Doug Quaid, the same role originated by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 original.

Farrell’s description of his character’s arc echoes what the actor has experienced in his own life: “I loved the idea of a man journeying from being a man in a deep, deep slumber to consciousness,” he said. He described his character’s battle in the film as one between the intellectual and the emotional.

“Total Recall” director Len Wiseman said that while his version is totally different from the first film, it also draws from the original source material: Philip K. Dick’s story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale.” Besides Farrell, the film stars Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, John Cho and Kate Beckinsale. It is set for release next summer. Comic-Con continues through Sunday at the San Diego Convention Center.—AP

Muppets, penguins,

Portman offered lead role in indie ‘Adaline’

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in brief...

vampires lead end-of-year films

In this image released by Disney, Jason Segel, left and Amy Adams are shown with muppet characters Walter, Kermit and Fozzie Bear in a scene from the film, ‘The Muppets.’ — AP

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rad Pitt reinvents baseball, while Kristen Stewart acquires a taste for blood. George Clooney runs for president, while Meryl Streep impersonates Margaret Thatcher. Leonardo DiCaprio puts America under surveillance, while Robert Downey Jr faces a criminal mastermind. Variety abounds in Hollywood’s fall and holiday seasons as studios pack the schedule with Oscar hopefuls, action flicks, comedy and music-themed tales, as well as a family lineup that brings the return of the Muppets, dancing penguins, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Puss in Boots.

Downey ’s back in “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” as the great detective and his ally Watson (Jude Law) meet archenemy Professor Moriarty. Clooney directs and stars as a White House aspirant in “The Ides of March,” with Ryan Gosling as an aide who stumbles onto disturbing campaign secrets. Stewart reunites with vampire lover Robert Pattinson and werewolf pal Taylor Lautner in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1,” the next-to-last chapter in their supernatural saga.

Split into two movies, the final book in Stephenie Meyer’s series holds major life changes for Stewart’s Bella, which we will not divulge here for sake of the handful of fans who have not read it. For those who have, director Bill Condon says the cliffhanger that concludes part one is a no-brainer. “The clue lies in the book,” Condon said. “I would say that if you know the book well, I think you’ll have a good sense of where the first movie will end.”

The season also brings two films directed by Steven Spielberg, the globe-trotting story “The Adventures of Tintin” and the World War I saga “War Horse”; Martin Scorsese’s 3-D family film “Hugo,” about an orphan boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station; “Mission:

Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” with Tom Cruise’s elite team going rogue after an attack on the Kremlin; the comedy “Jack and Jill,” with Adam Sandler in dual roles as a family guy and his pesky sister; and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” an adaptation of the Swedish best-seller starring Daniel Craig as a journalist aided on an investigation by a deeply troubled computer genius (Rooney Mara).

Real people provide intriguing stories as Streep seeks to add to her record 16 Oscar acting nominations, playing the British prime minister in “The Iron Lady”; Pitt takes over the front office of the Oakland A’s major league baseball team as pioneering baseball strategist Billy Beane in “Moneyball”; and DiCaprio takes on the sweeping life of FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in “J. Edgar,” directed by Clint Eastwood. The film spans decades, covering the bureau’s successes taking down gangsters in the 1930s, Hoover’s paranoia about communists and civil-rights leaders, and questions about his sexual orientation.

“He was surrounded in mystery. I’d always heard a lot about rumors of his sexuality, the cross-dressing; but more than that, the man had absolute power when it came to forming the bureau of investigation and its influence over the government,” DiCaprio said. “He was pretty much a historical figure that wasn’t to be messed with.”

In “Moneyball,” Pitt’s Beane takes over the Oakland baseball team and builds one of baseball’s most cost-effective teams through “sabermetrics,” a statistical analysis that broke with conventional Major League scouting by identifying undervalued players. “It’s tough, tough material in a sense of how do you make a dramatic film out of sabermetrics?

But there is a story of going up against a system,” Pitt

said. “If we hadn’t been doing it this way for so long, is this the way we’d begin if we were starting today? Like our use of oil. You could ask the same question if the automobile was being invented today. Would we really be going oil?”

Hollywood is giving a fresh start to familiar titles and characters. Among them: the animated sequel “Happy Feet Two,” with Elijah Wood’s tap-dancing penguin coping with fatherhood issues; “Puss in Boots,” an animated “Shrek” spinoff chronicling the early adventures of Antonio Banderas’ gutsy cat; “The Muppets,” the first big-screen outing in more than a decade for the beloved puppet gang; “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked!”, with the talking rodents stranded on a remote island; “The Thing,” a prequel to the 1982 horror tale about Antarctic researchers terrorized by an organism that replicates human forms; and “Footloose,” with newcomer Kenny Wormald as a youth rebelling against a town’s ban on dancing. “Footloose” director Craig Brewer was 13 when he saw the 1984 original. It was a seminal movie for Brewer, whose credits include the acclaimed “Hustle & Flow,” and it bothered him when the remake was announced and people asked, “why would you want to do some tripe like ‘Footloose?’,” “Are you kidding? ‘Footloose’ rocked my world. It really rocked my world,” Brewer said. “I made it for a new generation, but I’m a filmmaker because of ‘Footloose.’ I think I’m actually a better man because of ‘Footloose.’” Peter Jackson shares similar childhood fondness for “Tintin,” on which “The Lord of the Rings” filmmaker is a producer.

New Zealander Jackson said Belgian writer Herge’s stories of intrepid young reporter Tintin are as popular there as they are in Europe. —AP

Why the world is ready for 2 ‘Snow Whites’

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oviegoers may want to take two bites of the same apple next year: A pair of live-action adventure flicks based on the Snow White fairy tale will come out in theaters just months apart. As it stands, the first, still-unnamed Snow White movie is scheduled for release March 16. That gives moviegoers two and a half months before “Snow White and the Huntsman” on June 1.

Executives are confident that both projects can succeed, given their differences in stars, tone and plot.

However bizarre the coincidence is, history shows that two similar projects like these can both attract large audiences. In May 1998, viewers turned out for “Deep Impact,” a movie about a comet threatening Earth. They showed up again that July when an asteroid did the same in “Armageddon.” “Deep Impact” sold $349 million in tickets worldwide, and “Armageddon” followed with $555 million.

Audiences didn’t duck for cover either when “Dante’s Peak” blew in February 1997 only to have “Volcano” erupt that

April. The first made $169 million and the other $120 million at the box office.

The latest standoff pits a couple of studios against each other - new studio Relativity Media and its longtime distribution partner, Universal Pictures. Since 2005, Relativity had provided financial backing for most of Universal’s new movies in a deal that was to last through 2015. But Relativity has been eager to make money from distributing as well, as it did with the March 8 release of “Limitless,” which has sold more than $150 million in tickets worldwide. So in June, Relativity passed its co-financing deal with Universal to Relativity’s financial backer, Elliott Management. That paved the way for the two studios to compete head to head - Relativity with the unnamed movie and Universal with “Huntsman.” “Everybody kind of goes into this eyes wide open,” said Tucker Tooley, Relativity’s president of worldwide production. “It’s the nature of competition.

It’s the nature of this business.” Universal executives declined to comment.

cademy Award winner Natalie Portman has been offered the lead role in the indie drama “Adaline,” TheWrap’s sister publication ItsontheGrid.com is reporting. It’s a project about a woman who was born at the turn of the 20th century. An accident renders her ageless, and after years of a solitary life, she meets a man who may be worth giving up her immortality.

Angela Lansbury co-stars. Steve Golin, Sidney Kimmel, Alix Madigan, Gary Lucchesi, and Tom Rosenberg are producing. Production companies backing the project are Anonymous Content, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Sierra Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment.

Summit is distributing domestically.

Portman’s manager wasn’t available for comment.

Pitt is ready to go ‘Gray’ for New Regency

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rad Pitt is negotiating to become “The Gray Man” for New Regency, TheWrap has confirmed. He’d play Court Gentry, a CIA agent-turnedassassin who’s famous in the shadowy world of covert operations but is now targeted by mysterious forces. As he tries to dodge the forces who are out to get him, he has to save the lives of daughters he didn’t know existed. The movie is based on Mark Greaney’s novel.

James Gray is set to direct. Adam Cozad wrote the script. Plan B and Dede Gardner are producing with Stephen Garrett of Shine. Pitt’s “World War Z” is filming now.

Myers rep says still no ‘Austin Powers’ deal

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here’s still no deal for a fourth “Austin Powers” movie, although actor-writer-producer Mike Myers and New Line Cinema are “in talks,” Myers’ publicist has re-confirmed to TheWrap. Though website HitFix wrote on Friday that a deal was done-a report numerous other sites picked up on Saturday-TheWrap reported that while a deal was “close,” nothing yet had been signed. “They are in talks,” Ina Treciokas said late Monday in an email to TheWrap. And a movie without Myers is unlikely. Myers is Austin Powers. He writes the movies, plays many of the characters and produces. Whatever the next “Austin Powers” movie is-if there is one at all-will be his idea. He’ll need the studio to sign off on it and to set a budget, and that’s likely what the “talks” are all about. ‘Austin Powers” has been a successful franchise - the three movies grossed $675 million worldwide. But the last installment was in 2002. Since then, Myers had a cameo in “Inglorious Basterds,” and has continued his successful run as the voice of “Shrek.” But even the substantial talent of Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Kanye West, Jessica Simpson and Deepak Chopra couldn’t prop up Myers’ last movie, the dreadful 2008 “The Love Guru.” So it’s unclear if Myers still has his gold ... er, touch. HitFix did not return an email for comment Monday afternoon.

Moore in talks to star in HBO’s ‘Dope’

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In this Aug. 10, 2010 file photo, actress Julia Roberts attends the the world premiere of ‘Eat Pray Love’ at the Ziegfeld Theatre, in New York.

Kristen Stewart arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala, in New York.—AP

Executives argue that the two Snow White movies are spaced far enough apart so that advertising one won’t inadvertently drive people to the other.

Most movies make 95 percent of their sales in the first four weeks. On average, people in North America see four movies a year. There’s plenty of time to get refreshed and go out again. “Ten weeks in the movie business is a lifetime,” said “Huntsman” producer Joe Roth. He should know. Roth was head of Disney’s studios when its “Armageddon” opened second

but still sold $200 million more in tickets worldwide than “Deep Impact.”

The casts of both Snow Whites are also distinct enough to merit a return trip to the theater. In Relativity’s version, billed as a family comedy, Julia Roberts is in for an intriguing role reversal as the former “Pretty Woman” plays the Evil Queen.

“She’s a very fun and evil and wicked Evil Queen,” said producer Bernie Goldmann, who also produced “300.” Nathan Lane is set to add a humorous touch as a bumbling Huntsman. —AP

he people who brought James M Cain’s “Mildred Pierce” to the small screen for HBO are preparing to do the same with another literary work.

“Mildred Pierce” producer and director Todd Haynes is reuniting with the miniseries’ executive producers, John Wells and Christine Vachon, to adapt Sara Gran’s 2006 novel, “Dope,” project producer Warner Bros. Television confirmed to TheWrap. Set in the 1950s, “Dope” tells the tale of former junkie and prostitute, Josephine Flannigan, who gets sober, goes (mostly) straight and is hired by a wealthy couple to find their daughter, who has fallen prey to a heroin habit.

Julianne Moore, who stars as former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in HBO’s upcoming “Game Change,” is in talks to star in the project. —Agencies

Why the world is ready for 2 ‘Snow Whites’

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011

A Palestinian vendor arranges dolls wearing Muslim head scarves in the West Bank city of Jenin, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Muslims throughout the world are marking the month of Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar where observants fast from dawn till dusk. —AP

Arab drama stirs sectarian debate in Iraq Viewers in Iraq divided over program

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n Iraqi lawmakers’ move to ban a television drama about events leading up to the historic split in Islam into Sunni and Shi’ite sects lays bare the fears of anything that could ignite sectarian tensions as US troops prepare to leave. Iraq’s parliament voted on Saturday to ask the Communication and Media Commission, a media regulator affiliated with parliament, to ban “Al Hassan and Al Hussein” on the grounds it incites sectarian tensions and misrepresents historical facts.

“This TV serial includes sensitive issues in Islamic history ... Presenting them in a TV series leads to agitated strife in Islamic communities,” said Ali al-Alaq, a Shi’ite politician who heads the religious affairs committee. “We are concerned with Iraqi national unity ... You know that Iraq’s reality is sensitive,” he said. The fragility of Iraq’s security was underscored on Monday when suicide attackers and car bombs killed at least 60 people across the country in apparently coordinated assaults.

Authorities blamed the violence on al Qaeda affiliates who they say are testing local security forces just as Baghdad and Washington debate whether U.S. troops should stay past a year-end deadline for withdrawal. The controversy over the program illustrates how close to the surface sectarian issues remain in Iraq just a few years after inter-communal killings among Shi’ites and Sunnis brought the country to the edge of a civil war.

Grandsons of the prophet The banned series, a joint Arab work with a Syrian director and Kuwait production company, revolves around the lives of Al Hassan and Al Hussein, grandsons of Prophet Mohammed, and depicts the infighting between Muslims over the Islamic caliphate after the death of the prophet.

The two imams are revered by both Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims but their lives, and deaths, mark the start of a deep rift between Muslims-an era known by many as “the

Great Sedition” after which Islam split into Sunni and Shi’ite. Sectarian tensions in Muslim countries are often ignited by issues concerning figures from early Islam.

Only one Iraqi channel, Baghdad TV, broadcast the show during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The channel is owned by a conservative Sunni party, which has a handful of seats in parliament. On Saturday night, the show was still being televised but on Sunday, the channel said it was halted until further notice.

Baghdad TV is now running a campaign asking the public to vote on whether to resume broadcasting the program, each segment of which is preceded by a list of the Sunni and Shi’ite Islamic institutions and religious figures who have approved of its content. Mohammed alEnezi, a co-owner of the production company al-Maha, said he was surprised about the decision to halt the series.

“This is the first time that a TV serial gets stopped like this,” he told Reuters. “The show does not contain any insult to

any person, or any sect ... They voted for political reasons and not based on what the show contains” The TV series has been criticized elsewhere in the Arab world, though it continues to be shown. In Sunni-led Egypt, the country’s highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar, one of the oldest seats of Sunni Islamic learning, has objected to the series on the grounds it “impersonates” the Prophet’s family members. In Iraq, Sunni and Shi’ite viewers were divided in their opinions. Some said they watched it despite their disapproval of impersonating the imams, but others saw no harm.

“This is just a political sectarian issue. They (parliament) have more important issues to deal with than a TV series,” said Mostafa Assem, 38, a Sunni Iraqi in Baghdad.

But others welcomed the parliament’s vote. “I don’t want to watch it. I refused to see it,” said Israa Saiedy, a teacher in Baghdad’s Karrada district. “It is against Shi’ite people.” — Reuters

Facelift for

Budapest’s famous baths A

Guests stroll through the Gellert bath in Budapest. — AFP photos

Guests lounge on the deck of an indoor pool at the Gellert bath.

fter years, sometimes decades of neglect, Budapest’s historic thermal baths are in different stages of renovation to restore crumbling and rotting infrastructure to their heyday state. The city’s 50-odd baths are a major tourist magnet for Budapest, also known as the “world spa capital”-ranging from 500-year-old Turkish pools with intricate mozaic patterns and high domes supported by massive pillars left by the former Ottoman occupiers to more modern Art Nouveau spa complexes. But the state of the facilities is as varied as their styles, and much of the work done so far has involved cosmetic or emergency fixes as a shortage of funds hampers the constant battle against the baths’ complete disintegration.

No mason since the 1950s has set foot in the state-owned Kiraly spa-one of the oldest and grandest in Budapest, built in 1565. The result is crumbling mortar, rusty pipes and an over spilling Turkish pool below a dome dotted with tiny circular windows each with its own trail of black rot. “It is ripe for renovation,” but work will start at the earliest in two years’ time, Laszlo Miko, an architect involved in planning the reconstruction, told AFP, citing bureaucratic authorization processes. No funding source has yet been identified for Kiraly’s facelift. A few bus stops away at another state-owned spa-the Rudas, built between 1571 and 1572 by a local Ottoman leader, the pasha of Buda-the facade is also crumbling, revealing at least three layers of different paint.

But the interior is state-of-the-art after a massive upgrade in 2005-06, to be followed by an exterior spruce-up shortly. Renovation is also underway at many other beautiful spas

The open-air pool at the Gellert bath. in the city, including the Ottoman-era Lukacs baths. At the ancient Racz Turkish bath, 75percent privately owned, a makeover was recently completed by private entrepreneurs.

Some of Budapest’s baths are in private hands, some are the property of the municipality and yet others of the state. Local government financing taps were closed five years ago by the then-leadership of Budapest, but a new municipality last year approved a oneoff 710-million-forint (2.5-million-euro, $3.6million) injection for the general management of the baths, as well as restoration work.

This represented 0.03 percent of the city’s overall expenses for 2010. With state money in short supply in tough economic times, 80 percent of the Rudas renovation, which cost

nearly 500 million forints (1.8 million euros, $2.6 million), was funded by the European Union, according to Gyorgy Kozak, development director of Budapest Healing Baths and Hot Springs Ltd. The spa company, which is municipality-owned and operates 13 baths and open-air pools in the city, including some of its more elegant ones, plans to apply for more EU funding for its other facilities as well.

Not that the baths’ clientele, almost equally composed of tourists and locals, seems to care much about the dereliction. On a recent morning, as Kiraly filled with visitors from Italy, Holland and France eager to experience Hungary’s famous thermal waters, no one seemed to mind the decaying walls, the leaking windows and rattling showers. —AFP