27 Aug

N PT IO RI SU BS C

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

03:50 04:00 05:22 11:50 15:23 18:16 19:36

150 Fils

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

No: 15193

RAMADAN 27, 1432 AH

Beleaguered Japan PM Kan bows out

80 putrefying bodies found in Tripoli hospital

Europa: Celtic and Rangers crash out

14 7 46 Three rockets rock Kuwait-Iraq border Baghdad denies missiles target Kuwait port

Max 47º Min 30º

By A Saleh and Agencies DUBAI: Three rockets have hit the border area between Kuwait and Iraq, Al Arabiya TV reported yesterday quoting diplomatic sources. The pro-Gaddafi TV channel Al Orouba reported the rockets had targeted Kuwait’s Mubarak port, which is under construction and has been the subject of arguments between oil-producing Iraq and Kuwait, which share a small border.

Meanwhile, Iraq yesterday officially denied reports suggesting that three missiles had been fired from southern Iraq with the intention of targeting Kuwait’s Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, currently being built on the east coast of Boubyan Island. The denial came in the form of an official statement released by the office of the Iraqi Chief-of-Staff. A Kuwaiti military insider confirmed the reports, however, telling Kuwait’s Al-Aan news agency that three missiles were fired at Kuwaiti targets from Iraq on Thursday night, with the principal target being the mega port on Boubyan Island, a few kilometers away from Iraq’s outlet to the Arabian Gulf.

Continued on Page 2

Ramadan Kareem

Night of Power (II)

By ProductiveMuslim

H

ere are some recommendations on how to make the most out of your search for Laylatul-Qadr.

Itikaaf This was a practice of Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). Abdullah bin Umar narrated that Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) used to practice Itikaaf in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan.

Dedicate the last ten days and nights of Ramadan to the worship of your Creator, Al-Khalaq. Spend the time performing dhikr, reading Quran, praying supererogatory prayers, tahajjud, etc. If you can’t devote the full 10 days and nights, it’s encouraged that you do what you can, even if it’s a night or two.

Make a master du’a list Take some time and brainstorm all the things you would like to ask from Allah in your du’a. Include anything and everything, whether it be things in this dunya or Continued on Page 2

KUWAIT: Muslim men and women (inset), separated by a wall, pray at the Grand Mosque in Kuwait City on the night of “Lailat al-Qadr” which marks the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) through the archangel Gabriel during the fasting month of Ramadan.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

UN HQ in Nigeria bombed; 18 dead ABUJA: A car bomb ripped through the United Nations’ headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja yesterday, killing at least 18 people, in an attack reminiscent of a June blast claimed by a local radical Islamist group.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the final casualty toll was likely to be considerable, and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered tighter security around the capital after what he called a “most despica-

in the

ble assault”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for a radical Muslim sect in Nigeria known locally as Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the car bombing at the United Nations’ office. The spokesman yesterday talked with the BBC’s Hausa language service, which is widely trusted and listened to throughout Nigeria’s Muslim north. They often make claims via that BBC service.

Security sources and witnesses said the car rammed into the building and blew up, badly damaging parts of an office complex where close to 400 people normally work for UN agencies. “We do not yet have precise casualty figures but they are likely to be considerable,” Ban said, adding that the building housed 26 UN humanitarian and development agencies.

Continued on Page 2

news 53 killed in Mexico

‘Reform or risk ouster’

MEXICO CITY: An arson attack on a casino in the northern Mexican industrial city of Monterrey sparked a massive fire and killed at least 53 people, the governor of the state of Nuevo Leon said Thursday.

Governor Rodrigo Medina announced the grim toll in an interview with the Televisa network, adding that the vast establishment, the Casino Royale, had been set ablaze using some kind of flammable liquid “like gasoline.” President Felipe Calderon condemned the attack, calling it an “abhorrent and barbaric act of terror” in a message on Twitter and expressing his solidarity with the people of Nuevo Leon, of which Monterrey is the capital.

MANAMA: Bahrain’s most senior Shiite cleric is warning the Gulf kingdom’s rulers to either ease their grip on power or risk joining Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and other Arab leaders swept aside by uprisings. The defiant Friday sermon by Sheikh Isa Qassim was attended by thousands of worshippers after Bahrain’s justice minister accused the cleric of promoting unrest. Qassim vowed he would not be silenced, saying it’s his religious duty to support demands by Bahrain’s majority Shiites for greater rights. He says that Bahrain’s ruling Sunni dynasty can either enact sweeping reforms or risk the same fate as Gaddafi and the ousted presidents of Egypt and Tunisia.

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

local SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

UN HQ in Nigeria bombed...

Continued from Page 1 “This was an assault on those who devote their lives to helping others,” Ban said in a statement to reporters. “We condemn this terrible act, utterly.”

Body parts were strewn on the ground as emergency workers, soldiers and police swarmed around the building, cordoned roads and rushed the wounded to hospital. “Different people have been taken to different hospitals so we’re not sure of casualty figures. It is at least 18,” said Mike Zuokumor, Abuja police commissioner. In yesterday’s attack the car slammed through security gates of the UN complex, crashed into the basement and exploded, sending vehicles flying and setting the building ablaze.

“When the car got inside it went straight to the basement and exploded, killing people in reception, right and left,” said Abuja resident James John, who saw the attack. “The entire building, from the ground floor to the topmost, was just fire and smoke. I saw six bodies been carried. I can’t believe it.” “All the people in the basement were killed.

Their bodies are littered all over the place,” said Ocilaje Michael, a UN

employee at the complex. The building was blackened from top to bottom. In places, walls were blown away and there were piles of debris.

Militant attacks in the oil-producing regions of southern Nigeria have subsided but the north has been hit by a round of bombings and killings by Islamist extremists. Boko Haram, whose name translates from the local northern Hausa language as “Western education is sinful”, has been behind almost daily bombings and shootings, mostly targeting police in the northeast of Africa’s most populous nation. The group claimed responsibility for a June bomb attack on the car park of the Abuja police headquarters which bore similarities to yesterday’s blast at the UN building.

In the June attack, a car rammed through the gates of the police headquarters in the capital and exploded, killing the bomber and narrowly missing the chief of police. Boko Haram has mostly targeted police in Nigeria’s remote northeast, which borders Cameroon, Chad and Niger. However, its ambitions are growing and if it were responsible for yesterday’s attack, this would mark a shift beyond domestic targets. — Agencies

Three rockets rock Kuwait-Iraq ...

Continued from Page 1 Another news report quoted unnamed Iraqi diplomats as denying any relationship between the Iraqi government and an Iraqi militant group calling itself ‘Knights of the State of Law,’ which threatened to carry out a military strike against Kuwait if construction at the port complex continues. The diplomats condemned the Iraqi group’s threats, suggesting that the group is actually “controlled by parties outside Iraq.”

In related news, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry has denied recent press reports that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry had summoned the Kuwait Ambassador to Iraq to protest against alleged violation of the Iraqi borders’ safety. A number of Iraqi media carried reports to this effect, quoting an Iraqi Foreign Ministry Undersecretary who was commenting on the protests in Baghdad against the bombardment of northern Iraqi border areas by Iranian and Turkish forces.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) strongly rejected the statement, however, with a senior MoFA official expressing astonishment at “such allegations.” “The State of Kuwait respects the safety of Iraq’s borders out of its enthusiasm for [maintaining] neighborly ties with Iraq and its full commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 833,” said the senior Kuwaiti official, adding, “There has never been any Kuwaiti infringement whatsoever of the Iraqi borders,” he underscored.

On the continuing tension over the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port issue, the MoFA official reaffirmed that the seaport is being constructed on Kuwaiti territory and within Kuwait’s territorial waters. “The issue is being addressed through offi-

cial diplomatic channels between the two countries,” he continued, adding, “We are keen on pursuing constructive cooperation with the brothers in Iraq with a view to cementing sisterly ties between the two countries.”

Dozens of Iraqi citizens demonstrated in front of the Foreign Ministry building in Baghdad on Thursday, against “violations of neighboring countries against Iraqi borders,” referring both to the Iranian and Turkish attacks which have targeted rebel groups in the north of the country who oppose the governments of both countries and to Kuwait’s construction of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port. During the gathering, Iraqi human rights activist Hanaa Adour criticized “the Iraqi government’s silence over the continuous violations,” urging Iraqi politicians to adopt “a unified stance to stop these attacks.”

In related news, Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense is set to establish a helicopter airstrip at the border with Iraq, according to ministry insiders who told Al-Aan news agency that $50 million has been earmarked to conduct a feasibility study and establish the foundations of the project. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that this measure comes following threats made by Iraqi militant groups as well as insurgencies from Iraqi groups at the border, given the inability of the Iraqi government at the present time to contain activity of militants south of Iraq.

The MoI has also reportedly asked the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) to prepare a tender for a project to build a new high steel fence across the Kuwaiti border with Iraq, according to Kuwaiti daily Annahar, which cited a ministry insider. — Agencies

Night of Power (II) Continued from Page 1 in the akhira. Don’t feel shy, as Allah is Ar-Razzaq (the One Who Provides your Sustenance), Ar-Rahman (the Most Merciful) and Al-Wali (the One Who Protects you the Most). Allah loves for His servants to supplicate and ask for their desires to be met. He is Al-Ghani (the Rich), and His Provisions do not diminish by answering the du’as of His servant. In fact, it is out of the arrogance of us if we do not seek Allah’s guidance, mercy and provisions by supplicating in du’a.

Now with this exhaustive list of things you would like to ask Allah begin to segment and categorize these items. Group like items with each other. You should be left with a list of high-level categories with the detailed items beneath it. Having an organized list will help you visualize and remember your list, so that when you make your du’a to Allah you will be prepared, knowing exactly what you desire and being efficient in your supplications. Also, be sure to include some of the du’as that were commonly recited by Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam). A’isha radi Allahu ‘anha asked Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam), “If I knew which night is Laylatul Qadr , what should I say during it?” Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) told her to say: Allahumma

Badria Al Reshaid

innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibul ‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni. “O Allah, indeed You are the Pardoner, You love to Pardon, so Pardon me.” This is a very simple, yet powerful du’a. One of the beautiful names of Allah is Al-Afuw, the One Who Pardons your sins and Removes them from your record (as if you never committed them). Allah loves to pardon so ask Him for your pardon. He loves to forgive those who sin and ask for their forgiveness.

Reflect on the Words of Allah During these last ten nights, use the opportunity to become closer to kalam-Allah (the speech of Allah). Reflect and ponder over its meaning. Read what the scholars of Tafseer and the Ulema have commented on the Quran and try to derive lessons that you can immediately implement into your daily life.

Pray Tahajjud/Qiyaam Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said “Whoever stands (in qiyaam) in (the night of power) Laylatul Qadr out of faith and expectation (of Allah’s reward), will have all of his previous sins forgiven.” Strive to perform prayer in the last 1/3rd of the night as that is the most virtuous portion of the night. Abu Huraira reports that Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the

The winner Yousef Al Shutail

night remains, saying: ‘Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?’”

Avoid sins As much as we plan on striving to increase our ibadaat during these nights, it’s important to refrain from those actions which displease Allah. Minimize idle conversations and actions which take you away from the remembrance of Allah.

Be extra generous Rasullulah (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) was well known to be generous - but he was especially generous during the month of Ramadan.

Aim to be charitable during these nights, whether you donate your time, your effort in volunteering or just being kind to your fellow Muslims.

A Final Note There are many things you can do to realize the blessings of this merciful night. Encourage your family members to join in on the search for Laylatul-Qadr. The magnitude of this night demands our effort and sacrifice.

The winner Batool Ashkanani

NBK announces Facebook quiz winners KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announces the winners of its Ramadan Facebook quiz on its Official Facebook page, which posts a daily question and awards three KD 50 prizes each day.

“The competition is our way of rewarding our fans and also encouraging the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan by reminding people to Do Good,” said NBK Public Relations Officer Badria Al Reshaid.

Yousef Al Shutail, one of 57 winners so far, expressed his thanks and appreciation for NBK saying: “I am extremely happy for winning this prize. I am glad to participate in NBK Ramadan Facebook quiz every day”.

Al Reshaid noted that NBK has seen a jump in fans since Ramadan began and pointed out that NBK’s Facebook page currently has more than 22,200 fans. “NBK greatly values the role that social media channels such as Twitter and

Facebook play in Kuwait and utilizes them as an important means of keeping in touch with NBK customers and their concerns,” Al Reshaid explained. NBK’s Ramadan Facebook quiz continues until the end of Ramadan. Participants of the must be fans of NBK’s Official Facebook page but do not need to be NBK customers.

Questions revolve around NBK’s Ramadan programs and events and winners are announced daily on NBK’s Official Facebook page.

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

local SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

KHRS, CSRSIR discuss Bedoon naturalization Stateless residents to get civil IDs with civil security number

By A Saleh KUWAIT: A senior government official told a team of Kuwaiti human rights activists yesterday that the government is taking measures to naturalize stateless residents whose predecessors lived in Kuwait prior to 1965, as well as giving priority to stateless residents after Kuwaitis for civil service positions.

A delegation from the Kuwait Human Rights Society led by Chairman Ali Al-Baghli met with Saleh AlFadhalah, the chairman of the state’s Central System for Resolving the Status of Illegal Residents (CSRSIR), to discuss the situation. During the meeting, the officials from both sides discussed the CSRSIR’s plans to date, which it stressed comply fully with the Kuwaiti constitution and international human rights regulations. AlFadhalah told the KHRS delegation that plans call for granting Kuwaiti citizenship to all Bedoon residents who can provide full documentary proof that they or their ancestors were resident in the country in or before 1965, such as documents related to that year’s census. The naturalization process would also cover those Bedoons with ‘first-degree’ Kuwaiti relatives.

The CSRSIR is also looking into measures to facilitate the employment of stateless residents in state departments as well as private companies, and to give them priority of employment in posts in which there is a shortage of Kuwaiti candidates.

Al-Fadhalah assured the KHRS delegates that all Kuwait’s stateless residents will obtain civil IDs with civil security numbers, while Bedoons on limited pay will be exempt from the fees charged for the DNA tests necessary to issue birth certificates for children who are six years old or older. The CSRSIR head also revealed that work is almost complete on examining the files of Bedoons facing security restrictions, adding that the CSRSIR cannot address cases in which Bedoon individuals are accused of forging passports.

In separate news, the Kuwaiti Cabinet’s legal committee is working on the final formula of a draft law to establish a labor authority after receiving all the neces-

JEDDAH: Kuwait’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conveyed condolences from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah, their Highnesses the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, and the Kuwaiti people, to Prince Khalid Al-Faisal of Makkah on the sad demise of the late Prince Mohammad Al-Abdullah AlFaisal. — KUNA

sary documentation from the Fatwa and Legislation Department.

According to a committee insider, the draft law is expected to arrive on the Cabinet’s table directly after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, with plans calling for the authority to begin work by the second half of next year. The

authority will be chaired by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Mohammad Al-Afasi, and will contain representatives from the MSAL, as well as other members from the interior, health and commerce ministries, the Kuwait Municipality, the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and representatives from the private sector.

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

LOCAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Citizens with multiple IDs raise corruption worries Cards could be misused during elections KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) has received an alarming number of requests from Kuwaiti citizens to change the address on their civil IDs or replace a lost ID, which has raised officials’ suspicions amid reports of people using multiple IDs carrying different addresses to fraudulently obtain certain benefits, such as taking part in elections outside their area of residence.

One PACI insider alleged that officials in the authority itself are “not doing their job properly” in connection with enforcing the law against forgery attempts, mentioning for example cases of citizens who were granted as many as four new IDs within a short period of time without taking measures to investigate the reason behind this unusually high number of requests.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the insider further indicated that these cases take place despite the fact that citizens’ ID cards are computerized ‘smart’ cards, which store information that should make these types of attempts at fraud impossible to achieve “unless there are PACI officials involved.”

Some citizens use the fraudulently obtained ID cards to vote in Cooperative Society or sports club management boards’ elections outside their own areas, the insider alleged, as well as to access medical services in other areas.

The insider warned that these cards could be misused during parliamentary elections to allow citizens to vote in multiple constituencies.

Meanwhile, an expert subcommittee formed by the high-profile state consultative committee to study the local economic situation, held a “positive” meeting on Thursday during which several recommendations to achieve economic reform were addressed.

According to insiders at the meeting, which was chaired by former minister and MP Nasser Al-Roudhan, agreement was reached on a number of central points, including the necessity to come up with solutions to economic problems, not limited to diagnosing them, while giving priority to resolving structural flaws in the national economy.

The subcommittee also agreed on recommendations to achieve a connection between financial privileges and employee productivity and maintain average salary increases below the inflation levels, as well as to enforce existing regulations such as the privatization law, in addition to expediting the process of establishing development projects.

The subcommittee members also agreed, however, that the introduction of non-corporate taxation is not a viable option at the present time, and that any consideration of such a move should be debated when more suitable circumstances present themselves. — Al-Rai, Al-Qabas

KUWAIT: Worshippers praying at the Grand Mosque. — KUNA

Libyan diplomat praises GCC, Kuwait for support GENEVA: Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Kuwait, have contributed effectively in achieving the victory of the 17th February revolution in Libya, said Libyan deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) Adel Shaltut.

Speaking to KUNA yesterday, the Libyan diplomat lauded the Kuwaiti Amir, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, along with the country’s government and people, for their support for the Libyan people.

The new Libya will cooperate with the Gulf states in all fields, said Shaltut, who made a now famous statement in February 25th, before the UN Human Rights Council special session on Libya, where he declared that the Libyan Mission to UNOG would no longer represent the Gaddafi regime. The Libyan diplomat made it clear that the new Libya will respect human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the Libyan people. — KUNA

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

local SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Iran complains over Tabtabaie’s participation in opposition rally No more Tweets for public sector workers KUWAIT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has received an official letter of condemnation from the Iranian embassy in Kuwait about the participation of a Kuwaiti lawmaker in a recent demonstration for the Iranian opposition in Paris, France.

Iran’s condemnation concerned a demonstration attended

by MP Dr. Walid Al-Tabtabaie at the embassy against recent alleged massacres in Iran.

“The embassy delivered the letter [on Thursday] as part of Iran’s commitment to maintaining brotherly relations with Kuwait”, said Iranian ChargÈ d’Affaires Mohammad Shehabi, adding that the MoFA had promised to provide a response within a few days.

Meanwhile, the Civil Service Commission has instructed state bodies to block access to social networking sites and online chat programs on all computers in public sector buildings in order to help boost productivity, which is negatively affected by the time employees spend on these services.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior CSC official said that the measure has been introduced following a number of complaints received against employees who fail to fully commit themselves to their duties due to spending large parts of their working hours on Twitter, Facebook and MSN Chat, amongst other programs. The source confirms that efforts to clamp down on employee time-wasting, including periodic monitoring, will be utilized to ensure that computers at state departments are solely used for work-related duties.

CSC Undersecretary Mohammad Al-Roumi asserted, however, that managerial personnel at all state bodies are already required by law to ensure that staff members aren’t wasting their time during working hours on browsing social networking websites, holding phone conversations or taking snack breaks. He further denied that the CSC would personally monitor staff members’ activity.

KFH team with Adan Hospital employees

KFH visits employees of Emergency Center at Adan Hospital KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Public Relations team visited the Emergency Center at Adan Hospital and had breakfast with them at sunset. The team also gave them unique Ramadan gifts, since the employees have been working around the clock to respond to any emergency, in collaboration with other concerned authorities.

KFH is keen to reinforce relationships with employees working at places that offer services to the public throughout the day, especially during Ramadan, since these people miss social gatherings to perform their duties and keep the society safe.

The visit was applauded by the employees who praised KFH’s efforts in relating to various segments in the society and its institutions.

The visit comes as part of the social and religious program that KFH follows during Ramadan, not to mention KFH keenness to serve and support the health sector.

Another CSC official, Faisal Al-Glares, the Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, further confirmed that only direct administrators can take measures against lazy employ-

ees, through which the employees in question would be referred for investigation to face punitive measures.

— Annahar, Al-Jarida, Al-Rai & Al-Qabas

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

LOCAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Wife beater arrested Police hunt for attacker KUWAIT: Police are hunting for an unidentified man who attempted to sexually assault a 25year-old woman in Mahboula. The woman, an Asian expatriate, was apparently walking home when the assailant’s car pulled up beside her.

He rolled down his window and told her to get into his car, which offer she refused. He then got out of the car and grabbed her, touching her inappropriately and sexually harassing her before she managed to escape and hide until he disappeared. Once she was sure her attacker had gone, the woman immediately went to the local police, who have launched an investigation.

Wife beater A Kuwaiti thug assaulted and beat his wife after she told him that she had not prepared the meal he had requested for Iftar and suggested that he would have to eat what was available.

On being informed that his desired dish was not available, the husband apparently began admonishing his spouse, who reminded him that his fast would not be accepted by Allah if he were to lose his temper. He then proceeded to beat her, inflicting a number of injuries. The woman escaped and went to the local police station to lodge a complaint against him, but the charges were dropped after the couple were reconciled.

Briber busted Police have arrested a male expatriate who reportedly attempted to bribe a mechanic conducting automobile safety tests into passing a number of cars without carrying out any checks on them. The mechanic pretended to accept the offer, telling the man, who worked as a mandoub (fixer), to return the next day with the money. The mandoub agreed and left, at which point the mechanic called the police, with officers arresting the would-be briber red-handed

as he was handing over the money.

Sex pest stopped Capital police arrested a male expatriate from another Gulf nation after a number of women in the Salhiya area complained of his lecherous advances and harassment.

With friends like that...

A 17-year-old Egyptian girl was arrested by police in Nugra for stealing jewelry worth a total of KD13,500 from eight erstwhile friends during visits to their homes. After the thefts, which all took place on the same day, were reported, detectives questioned the victims, discovering that the one common factor in all eight cases was a ‘friendly’ visit by the girl now in custody.

She had apparently used an upcoming trip abroad as a pretext to visit her ‘friends’’ homes supposedly to say goodbye; during her visits, she would wait until her associates were busy before ransacking their jewelry boxes and stealing the valuable items.

Traffic dept tantrum Work was halted at the Capital traffic department for an hour on Thursday during a long, loud and colorful tirade by an irate Kuwaiti patron who flung abuse at the staff member serving him and the other personnel working there. The incident began after the staff member told the patron that he was unable to process his transaction at the current time. On hearing this, the patron flew into a tantrum and began screaming invective at all the staff working in the office. When the unfortunate staff member attempted to calm the situation, the unhappy patron turned on him with a further series of insults before hurling a final slur describing all the employees there as trash, and leaving. The incident is under investigation. — Al-Rai, Al-Watan

KUWAIT: Paramedics ready for emergency. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Fatal overdose

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti man in his early 40s was found dead at his apartment in Jabriya, with paramedics subsequently confirming that the death was caused by a drug overdose.

The man was discovered after a worried friend and the apartment block janitor reported that he was not answering the door or his phone and requested that police check to see he was okay. Drug paraphernalia was reportedly f ound around the man’s body, which was removed for autopsy and an investigation has been launched.

Grand Mosque medical report Paramedics dealt with 97 medical cases during the seventh night of the ten-day Qiam late-night prayers at the Grand Mosque on Thursday night. Nasser AlNajjar, the Deputy Director of the Grand Mosque’s Health Committee, said that 32 cases were dealt with at the men’s clinic set up on the mosque’s premises, while another 44 cases were handled at the adjacent women’s clinic, and 21 more were handled at the clinic at the eastern side of the mosque. One of the female worshippers taken to the women’s clinic was subsequently referred to Amiri Hospital for further treatment, said Al-Najjar.

Eid premier for Born to be Wild 3D at TSC’s iMAX KUWAIT: The Kuwait Scientific Center’s iMAX theater will launch the premier viewing of the movie ‘Born to be Wild 3D’ starting from the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, announced the center’s CEO and Managing Director Mejbel Al-Mutawa yesterday.

The movie tells the story of two scientists who dedicate themselves to taking care of orphaned orangutans in the Borneo Island East Asia, and elephants at the Kenyan jungles respectively. It’s described as a “story of dedication and remarkable bond between humans and animals.”

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

No place for Israel in region: Ahmadinejad

8

Somali Islamists behead 11 civilians in capital

9

Japan PM resigning amid sinking public confidence

14

TRIPOLI: Libyan women holding the old flag of Libya chant slogans to support the rebellion in the Green square after the Friday muslim prayer in Tripoli, Libya yesterday.—AP

Tripoli prays as rebels hunt Gaddafi 80 putrefying bodies found in hospital TRIPOLI: The people of Tripoli ventured out to mosques yesterday, praying for peace and offering thanks for the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, though the Libyan capital remained locked down and dangerous as rebel fighters hunted the fugitive strongman. Libya’s new leaders pressed foreign powers for cash to build an army and police force, as well as hospitals, schools and the means to exploit their oil wealth. But as Muslims prepared for the great festival of Eid, many Libyans and their backers in the West saw the first priority as capturing or killing Gaddafi.

“Gaddafi is the biggest criminal and dictator and we hope we will find him before the end of Ramadan,” said Milad Abu Aisha, a 60year-old pensioner who joined friends at his local mosque in Tripoli.

The last Friday prayers of the fasting month, which ends with Eid on Monday, are traditionally well attended. “It will be the happiest Eid in 42 years,” said Mohammed AlMisrati, a 52-year-old office worker who was among hundreds streaming toward the

mosque under the protection of armed local men who have formed ad hoc security units across the capital.

“We have a taste of freedom after 42 years of repression and oppression,” said Misrati.

“We have discovered freedom.” Despite sporadic gunfire, Tripoli was quieter than in recent days. Dead bodies, the stench of rotting garbage in the oppressive summer heat, wrecked cars and the other detritus of war were evidence of frantic efforts to stamp out loyalist resistance that have failed to track down Gaddafi or his sons.

“Things have been relatively quiet this morning. It’s the result of the intense fighting of the last few days,” said one rebel field commander Omar Ghirani. “This is the first Friday since the fall of the tyrant. It’s a very important day. “Fear has been with us for 42 years but is no more.” Some do fear, however, that the 69-year-old “Brother Leader”, who issued a defiant call to arms on Thursday, may have fled the capital along long-planned escape routes in order to mount an insurgent fight-

back. After his compound was overrun on Tuesday, rebel leaders put a price on his head and said victory would only be complete when Gaddafi was found, “dead or alive”.

Putrefying bodies found The putrefying bodies of around 80 people were found in a Tripoli hospital yesterday, apparently the unlucky victims of fighting that prevented the wounded from being treated, an AFP correspondent reported.

However, 17 patients were found alive, including a child, after having been trapped for days as rebel fighters sought to dislodge Gaddafi loyalists in the surrounding area of Abu Slim.

Rebels swarmed into the capital over the weekend and by Wednesday had seized control of most of the city. But there was continued fighting in Abu Slim, a generally proGaddafi neighborhood, and loyalist snipers kept new patients and health care workers away from the hospital until Thursday, doctors said. As the days passed, one after another of those wounded already inside died from

lack of treatment.

BUNKER BOMBED British aircraft bombed a headquarters bunker overnight in his birthplace of Sirte. A city beyond rebel control, on the Mediterranean coast 450 km (300 miles) east of Tripoli, some believe he might seek refuge there among his tribesmen. Loyalist forces also still hold positions deep in the Sahara desert. “Sirte remains an operating base from which pro-Gaddafi troops project hostile forces against Misrata and Tripoli,” a NATO official said, adding that its forces had also acted to stop a column of 29 vehicles heading west toward Misrata.

In Benghazi, rebel military spokesman Ahmed Bani said the bombing in Sirte was aimed at ammunition stores and depots for Scud missiles. “Maybe the mercenaries will run away,” he said, referring to suggestions Gaddafi’s forces include hired fighters from Chad and other sub-Saharan African countries. “After this bombing, maybe the people there will try to rise up.” — Agencies

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Qatar Emir: Syria force is ‘fruitless’ DOHA: The emir of Qatar criticized Syria for using force against protesters demanding democratic change, describing the approach as fruitless and urging serious reforms, QNA state news agency said yesterday. “All of us, who stood

by Syria in its difficult times, have tried to encourage our brothers in Syria to make real reforms,” said Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who was on a visit to Iran. “The Syrian people have taken to the street in a real civil uprising to demand change, justice and freedom,” he said following talks with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Everyone knows that the security approach has proven fruitless, and the Syrian people does not seem about to abandon its demands after the price that it has paid,” he added. QNA said Sheikh Hamad hoped policy makers in Damascus would realize the need to change in a manner that meets the aspirations of the people, quoting him as saying that “we should help them to take such a decision.”

The United Nations has said that more than 2,200 people have died in the Syrian crackdown.

Qatar had long enjoyed cordial relations with Damascus, but Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based pan-Arab news channel, has come under strong criticism by the Syrian authorities for its coverage of the popular revolt that erupted in mid-March.

Damascus deems Al-Jazeera to be exaggerating the protest movement.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the visiting Qatari emir the region must resolve issues on its own, saying Western “interference” would complicate the situation, the presidency website reported yesterday.

“Regional countries can resolve (their) issues... without the interference of the West,” Ahmadinejad said Thursday in a two-hour meeting with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

The Qatari emir arrived Thursday night for talks on regional issues with Ahmadinejad, before wrapping up his hours-long visit after midnight. “The president emphasized that the interference of foreigners and domineering powers in the regional countries’ internal affairs would complicate the situation and make it more difficult,” the website quoted him as saying. Sheikh Hamad, for his part, said “those who cannot meet the demands of their people and resolve their issues through understanding... are pushing their country and nation as well as the region towards insecurity,” the website reported.

Iran and the Gulf Arab monarchies do not see eye-to-eye on regional crises of recent months, including the uprisings in Bahrain and Syria, which were not explicitly mentioned by the website. Tehran supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while advocating reforms in its key regional ally. The Gulf countries have denounced Damascus’s deadly crackdown on protesters.

But on Bahrain, Iran has repeatedly expressed its backing for the anti-regime protest movement led by the Shiite majority in the Sunni-ruled Island. The Arab states, meanwhile, support the government, and have even provided military support. Sheikh Hamad’s visit to Tehran marked the first by one of the leaders of Gulf monarchies following the political crisis in Bahrain. Despite lingering tensions between the Islamic republic and the Gulf Cooperation Council-comprised of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman-Doha has kept close relations with Tehran. Qatar has also acted several times as mediator between Tehran and Riyadh.— Agencies

TEHRAN: Covering his face and holding a stone, in the style of Palestinian militants, an Iranian youngster attends an annual nation-wide pro-Palestine rally known as Quds Day, while he holds a poster of late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran yesterday.—AP

No place for Israel in region: Ahmadinejad Iranians mark ‘Quds Day’; Chant ‘Death to Israel, America’ TEHRAN: The Iranian president said yesterday there will be no room for Israel in the region after the formation of a Palestinian state, and that once the state is established, the liberation of all Palestinian lands should follow. The comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reflected his typical anti-Israeli rhetoric, which has drawn international condemnation since he first said in 2005 that Israel should be “wiped off the map.”

Tens of thousands of people marched in Tehran yesterday at the “Quds Day” rally, an annual regime-sanctioned demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel, according to footage aired on state television.

The television showed large crowds in major cities, carrying banners of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Many demonstrators also brandished portraits of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the founder of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ahmadinejad spoke at a Tehran ceremony following nationwide proPalestinian rallies marking Quds Day. Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem.

The annual demonstration is an occasion for Iranian officials to show off their support for Palestinians and condemn archenemy Israel. The remarks come as the Palestinians are pushing this year to achieve recognition at the United Nations during the General Assembly meeting in September.

The statehood bid comes amid stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and although the UN vote in New York will be largely symbolic, the Palestinians believe it will send a powerful message to Israel. “Do not assume you will be boosted with (UN) recognition of a Palestinian state,” Ahmadinejad said, addressing Israel. “There is no room for you in the region.” “Recognition of a Palestinian state is the first step in the liberation of the entire Palestine,” he added.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought hardline Islamists to power in Tehran, Iran’s leadership has been hostile to Israel, backing anti-Israel groups like the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Ahmadinejad also urged the West to stop supporting Israel. “You (the West) and the Zionist

regime will have no base in the Middle East,” he warned, and dismissed the West’s support for a two-state solution as a tactic meant “to save” Israel.

Reiterating his anti-Holocaust rhetoric, Ahmadinejad also said Israel was created on lies and added, “the Zionist regime is the axis of unity among all thieves and criminals of the world.” He also called on rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to form a strong, unified state and not “consider it sufficient to have minor and weak governments in a small area.” In 2007, the militant Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, leaving Fatah only in control of the West Bank.

Iran faces increased pressure from the West over its controversial nuclear program that Israel, the United States and others contend is intended for nuclear weapons making. Tehran denies the charge, insisting the program is for peaceful purposes only, such as generating power. Tens of thousands attended the Quds Day rally in Tehran. State TV said millions of Iranians participated in the rallies in cities and towns across Iran.— Agencies

Syrian forces kill eight, protesters hail Libya AMMAN: Forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad killed eight people across Syria overnight, activists said yesterday, in a sustained campaign to crush street protests against his rule buoyed by the demise of Muammar Gaddafi’s power in Libya. Many of the deaths occurred as a result of attacks on street demonstrations demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family domination that have been breaking out daily after Ramadan prayers that follow the breaking of the fast, they said.

“Congratulations to the Libyan people,”

read signs carried by protesters who marched at night demanding Assad’s removal in the town of Kisweh, where thousands of refugees from the Israelioccupied Golan Heights live, just south of Damascus. “God is with us. The revolution is bringing together the free,” shouted demonstrators in the resort town of Zabadani, west of the capital and near the border with Lebanon.

Any power shakeup in Syria would have major regional repercussions. But Assad, from Syria’s minority Alawite sect still has

alliances with an influential Sunni business class, a loyalist core in the army and security apparatus facing little resistance in crushing protests anywhere in the country.

The 45-year president, who inherited power from his late father in 2000, has pursued parallel policies of strengthening ties with Iran and Shiite Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah while seeking peace talks with Israel and accepting European and US overtures that were key in rehabilitating him on the international stage.

In an interview with state television

broadcast on Sunday, Assad said he was responding to armed unrest and that he would not bow to Western pressure because “reform for colonialist states among the West means to offer them all what they want and sell out all rights”. The activists said yesterday seven of the protesters were killed in the city of Hama, which has been besieged by the military since the beginning of Ramadan on Aug 1, in the countryside of Aleppo to the north, in the northwestern province of Idlib and in Homs, hometown of Assad’s wife Asma. —Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Somali Islamists behead 11 civilians in capital Campaign of terror to show insurgency still in Mogadishu

NOUMEA: French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Pacific’s battalion yesterday in Noumea. —AFP

France’s Sarkozy calls for restraint in New Caledonia NOUMEA: Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday called for rival groups in New Caledonia to show restraint after recent deadly protests in the South Pacific archipelago, as he began his first visit as French president. Sarkozy, who stopped in Beijing on Thursday for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, will open the Pacific Games today during a brief trip to the French territory, which is going through a process of de-colonisation.

Speaking shortly after his arrival, Sarkozy said violence that erupted on the island of Mare on August 6, when protesters angry at rising air fares blockaded an airfield, was inexcusable.

The clashes left four people dead-all of them from the archipelago’s indigenous Kanak people, many of whom favour independence from France.

“Conflicts, whether they are between communities, unions or of a political nature, must be resolved by dialogue, exchanges, if applicable by elections, but never by violence,” Sarkozy said. “Nothing justifies the death of four people in such circumstances.” Under an agreement signed in 1998, New Caledonia is to hold a referendum between 2014 and 2018 on whether or not to become fully independent. The deal, known as the Noumea Accord, followed a period of unrest in the 1980s sparked by tensions between the proindependence camp and those in favour of remaining part of France. It also established more local autonomy.

Sarkozy said that both sides in the self-determination debate needed to work towards finding common ground. “I remain convinced that, even among the pro-independence camp that I respect, there is an attachment for France and for our shared history,” Sarkozy told parliamentarians. “There is even concern at the idea that we might separate... but let us reflect, there will have to be compromises.”

He said this month’s violence in Mare “goes against the grain of the immense progress that New Caledonia has made since the end of the 1980s”. The French leader further offered his support for the decision to use two flags-with that of the Kanak people flying alongside the French tricolore-as the islands’ emblem.

The flag issue has been a constant battleground between the two sides and led the coalition government to collapse in February. “There will be no reconciliation unless all identities are taken into account,” Sarkozy said. He added that 70 police officers would be sent to the islands to help tackle a rising tide of drug trafficking and alcohol-related crime. New Caledonia lies around 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) east of Australia. It has seen its wealth grow in recent years thanks to its nickel deposits, which are thought to account for around 25 percent of global reserves. The 230,000-strong population of the island group is deeply divided between the Kanaks, a Melanesian ethnic group who make up about 44 percent of the population, and ethnic Europeans, who make up 34 percent.— AFP

MOGADISHU: Somali Islamist rebels have beheaded at least 11 civilians in the capital in the past two weeks, a campaign of terror that residents said yesterday is designed to show the insurgency can still act in Mogadishu after withdrawing from their bases there earlier this month.

“We wake up with beheaded bodies on the streets every day,” said Abdinur Marwan, who lives in a district of Mogadishu called Hewila.

“They call themselves Muslims while doing what Allah banned! Everyone is trying to leave here because people are being killed like goats.”

The Islamist Al-Shabab militia withdrew from their bases in the Somali capital after being steadily pushed back by more heavily armed African Union forces supporting the UNbacked Somali government. The Islamists described the withdrawal as a “tactical retreat” and said they would still carry out operations in the capital. Resident Afrah Abdikhayre said five decapitated bodies were found in his Suqa Holaha area last week. He says two beheaded men in Somali government uniforms and another three headless bodies were found this week.

Resident Nur Sugow said AlShabab beheaded a donkey cart driver in the Yaqshid district. Al-Shabab frequently carries out beheadings and

amputations. The militia also executed two men and a 16-year-old boy by firing squad on Tuesday after accusing them of spying.

Residents - some to terrified to give their names - appealed to the Somali government and AU troops to secure

their neighborhood. Although AlShabab has pulled back, individual fighters are still active in the city and gunfire is still common. Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991 and at least five of its districts are suffering from famine.—AP

MOGADISHU: A doctor examines a malnourished child from southern Somalia at refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia yesterday. The United Nations says famine will probably spread to all of southern Somalia within a month and force tens of thousands more people to flee into the capital of Mogadishu. —AP

Fears of fresh riots at major London carnival LONDON: Police will be on high alert at the Notting Hill Carnival in London this weekend amid fears that Europe’s biggest street festival could be marred by a repeat of this month’s devastating riots. The annual extravaganza, dubbed by organizers as a “Caribbean showcase for the world”, attracts a million spectators to see floats with powerful sound systems packed with outlandishly dressed dancers make their way through west London.

With costumes such as colorful headdresses decorated with feathers and huge wings, the troupes dance in front of packed crowds as the smell of exotic food fills the air, in an event that is a huge tourist draw for the area. But the festivities on Sunday and Monday’s highpoint-which is also a public holiday-almost did not take place at all this year in the wake of riots that erupted in the capital and spread across England.

The frenzy of looting and destruction, which started in the north London district of Tottenham on August 6 before spreading across the capital and to other cities, left five people dead in the worst riots in England for decades.

Police have arrested more than 2,000

people in London alone in connection with the violence.

Add to this the Notting Hill Carnival’s reputation as a magnet for troublemakers, and many commentators thought it inevitable the event would be axed. The organizers were not ready to admit defeat in the face of an outbreak of civil disobedience, however, especially because the carnival itself originated as an act of defiant celebration in response to race riots in the 1950s.

The carnival was founded in 1964 following the disturbances in Notting Hill six years earlier, which saw clashes between whites and newly arrived immigrants from the West Indies. “We are not going to let a minority stop us from doing what we want,” Ancil Barclay, the festival’s co-director, told AFP. “Cancelling the event would have had a negative impact and would have sent a bad message with the Olympics next year. It would have told the world that London isn’t equipped to deal with disturbances.”

Nevertheless, authorities are on edge. Police said Wednesday they had made at least 35 arrests ahead of the carnival and warned intelligence

showed that gangs were planning to cause trouble. There will be 6,500 police officers on duty in the area on Monday, almost 1,000 more than last year, while there will also be several hundred extra officers on duty tomorrow. More than 4,000 officers will be on duty elsewhere in the capital “as well as the thousands who are normally on duty”, said Steve Rodhouse, a commander with London’s Metropolitan Police.

“We realize that carnival will be taking place this year in unusual and exceptional circumstances,” Rodhouse said. Organisers have also taken steps to ensure trouble does not flare up, with the festival starting and finishing earlier and extra stewards to keep order. But despite fears of violence, many remain positive about the event, which Barclay hailed as “a Caribbean showcase for the world and... the biggest ethnically diverse event in Europe.” “It is a joy to be there, a joy to show off your handiwork, to know it’s your culture,” Rochelle Birbal, a 23-yearold nursery nurse who has spent three months preparing her carnival outfit, told The Times newspaper.— AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

WikiLeaks publishes tens of thousands more cables WASHINGTON: The WikiLeaks organization said on Thursday it was releasing tens of thousands of previously unpublished US diplomatic cables, some of which are still classified. “We will have released over 100,000 US embassy cables from around the world by the end of today,” said a message on WikiLeaks’ Twitter feed. The Twitter page is believed to be controlled by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’ controversial Australian-born founder and chief.

The cables which the website said it is dumping onto the public record appear to be from a cache of more than 250,000 State Department reports leaked to the group.

WikiLeaks began releasing the cables in smaller batches late last year, but until now had made them public in piecemeal fashion. Several news organizations around the world, including Reuters, have had complete sets of the cables for months.

But for the most part, media outlets have only cited or published cables when publishing specific news or investigative stories based on them.

By late afternoon on Thursday, the WikiLeaks website said it had published 97,115 of the 251,287 cables it possesses. It did not specify its motives for releasing such a large amount of material at once. A person in contact with Assange’s inner circle told Reuters the rationale behind the mass release of documents was dismay among WikiLeaks activists that media organizations had lost interest in publishing stories based on the material. The source described Assange and his associates as “frustrated” at the lack of media interest.

The document release began hours after WikiLeaks revealed on Twitter that Dynadot, a California Internet registrar which had hosted WikiLeaks, had received an order, generated by federal prosecutors in

Alexandria, Virginia, requiring it to produce “information on Julian Assange.” WikiLeaks said Dynadot had complied with the order.

According to a copy of the document published by WikiLeaks, US investigators want any “customer or subscriber account information” held

by Dynadot since Nov 1 that relates to Assange, WikiLeaks or the domain name wikileaks.org.

Dynadot and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment. It is unclear when or how WikiLeaks acquired a copy of the government order to Dynadot, which was dated Jan 4, 2011. A US official indicated that the document, which was sealed by court order, had not been officially unsealed. US officials have indicated that prosecutors and a grand jury in Alexandria, have a long-running investigation into WikiLeaks, Assange and others associated with

the website. A few weeks earlier, the same prosecutors sent a similar request to Twitter seeking records of accounts held by Assange, WikiLeaks, and others. They include Bradley Manning, a USArmy private being detained for alleged unauthorized disclosures of classified information which was believed to have gone to WikiLeaks.

Last year WikiLeaks and Assange were celebrated after their release of State Department cables, tens of thousands of other secret US files, and a classified video of a contested American military operation in Iraq.

Since then public interest in WikiLeaks has waned. It may have suffered from publicity related to Assange’s flight to Britain after sexual misconduct allegations were made against him in Sweden and a subsequent protracted extradition fight.

Assange has also publicly fueded with former collaborators. — Reuters

Warren Buffett to host Obama election campaign fundraiser

SANTIAGO: Protesters throw stones at an armored police vehicle spraying tear gas during the second day of a national strike in Santiago, Chile on Thursday. —AP

Teen shot in Chile protest dies Pinera most unpopular leader since Pinochet SANTIAGO: A Chilean teenager died early yesterday after being shot in the chest during massive protests in the capital against President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday, police said. The government said the boy was 16 years old, calling the incident a tragedy. Local media said he was shot near a security barricade as protesters battled police in Santiago on Thursday, the second day of a two-day strike against unpopular Pinera marked by violent clashes and sporadic looting.

“The youth died from a bullet impact in the chest. He died in hospital,” a police spokesman said. Local media said witnesses blamed police for firing the shots. “The death of any citizen is a very serious situation,” said Rodrigo Ubilla, undersecretary at the Interior Ministry. Led by students demanding free education, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months to call for greater distribution of the income of a copper price boom in the world’s top producer of the metal. On Thursday, youths blocked roads, threw rocks and set fire to piles of trash at intersections in Santiago and other cities to block traffic. Police used water cannon and tear gas to defuse the latest social unrest against conserva-

tive billionaire Pinera’s policies. The government said more than 1,300 people have been detained since Wednesday and several police officers were badly wounded-two of them shot-as violence flared when dozens of shops and supermarkets were looted and buses damaged.

Organizers said around 600,000 people joined Thursday’s protest across Chile. Reuters reporters estimated crowds in the capital alone at around 200,000 people. Operations at some of the world’s biggest copper mines were not affected by the protests, which also seek to pressure the government into raising wages and revamping the constitution and tax system.

While Latin America’s model economy is seen expanding 6.6 percent this year and is an investor magnet thanks to prudent fiscal and monetary policies, many ordinary Chileans feel they are not sharing in the economic miracle.

Investors, long used to economic stability, are weighing risk, although markets have taken the protests in stride. Previous governments have faced one-day national strikes but this was the first 48-hour stoppage since the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. — Reuters

CHICAGO: Billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett will boost President Barack Obama’s re-election bid next month by appearing at a New York fundraiser that will charge as much as $35,800 per guest, the Obama campaign said on Thursday. The Sept 30 fundraiser, billed as an Economic Forum Dinner and Discussion with Warren Buffett, signals the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman’s support for the Democratic incumbent. Obama spoke with the “Oracle of Omaha” for advice on Monday on how to invigorate the US economy and spur job creation, a linchpin for Obama’s re-election prospects.

Obama, with his approval ratings hovering at roughly 40 percent, is set to propose short-term measures to boost hiring and call on a congressional panel to deliver more than the $1.5 trillion in savings partly through increased tax revenue. Former White House economic advisor Austan Goolsbee also will be at the fundraiser at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City, according to the event’s invitation. Tickets run $10,000 to

$35,800 per guest. The top-dollar donation “includes VIP pre-reception with Warren Buffett,” according to the Obama campaign website. The cash will go the Obama Victory Fund, a joint account benefiting the President’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Buffett has been a longtime Obama supporter, donating to the his campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 presidential race.

Buffett has supported Obama’s policy decisions. Obama referred to an opinion column written by Buffett as he made the case to about 500 people at a town hall meeting in rural Minnesota last week that any attempt to close the US deficit gap should include tax increases for the rich as well as spending cuts. Buffett’s New York Times piece was criticized by Obama’s Republican challengers, such as Michele Bachmann, who suggested during a stump speech in Iowa that Buffett simply write a check to the federal government rather than subject the wealthy to higher tax rates. — Reuters

Catholic school cancels Muslim goodwill event CINCINNATI: Complaints and a request from the archbishop have led a Cincinnati Roman Catholic high school to drop plans for a Ramadan dinner to build goodwill with Muslims.

Kirsten MacDougal, president of Mother of Mercy school, says Archbishop Dennis Schnurr received “emotionally charged” emails, mostly from outside the area, and asked the girls’ school to cancel its Friday night plans. The event instead will be held at a church parish center. A spokesman for Schnurr tells The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://bit.ly/pXflfW ) the complaints centered around the school’s partnership with the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The US has linked the council to a terror financing case and the FBI won’t work directly with its members. Local Council on American-Islamic Relations officials say they work against terrorism and violence. — AP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Irene to hit cities, resorts on US east coast Millions of beach goers evacuate WILMINGTON: North Carolina braced yesterday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene, cities along the US east coast were on alert and millions of beach goers cut short vacations to escape the powerful storm. With more than 50 million people potentially in Irene’s path, residents stocked up on food and water and worked to secure homes, vehicles and boats. States, cities, ports, oil refineries and nuclear plants scrambled to activate emergency plans. “I filled my tank up with gas in case I need to leave in a hurry or something, and get a lot of food supplies, taking everything out of my yard ... anything that can fly into a window,” said Patricia Stapleton of Newport, North Carolina. Irene lashed the low-lying Bahamas on Thursday and was expected to hit North Carolina on Saturday before heading up the coast to New York and beyond. Irene weakened slightly early yesterday-to a Category 2 hurricane from a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale-but still was packing winds of up to 110 miles per hour (175 km per hour).

At 5 am EDT (0900 GMT), its center was about 420 miles (675 km) south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. “Some re-intensification is possible today and Irene is expected to be near the threshold between Category Two and Three as it reaches the North Carolina coast,” the USNational Hurricane Center said. Coastal evacuations were under way in North Carolina and were ordered for beach resorts in Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. Airlines began to cut flights at eastern airports, made plans to move aircraft from the region and encouraged travelers to consider postponing trips.

“All the major metropolitan areas along the northeast are going to be impacted,” National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read told Reuters Insider. “Being a large hurricane, tropical storm-force winds will extend far inland.”

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell urged residents to seek shelter by yesterday night, before the winds kick up.

“Saturday is going to be a horrendous day for travel. There will be roads and bridges closed,” he said. Anticipating severe storm damage in North Carolina, USPresident Barack Obama declared an emergency on Thursday, authorizing federal aid to support that state’s response.

The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut also declared emergencies.

Even if the center of Irene stays offshore as it tracks up the coast, its heavy winds and rain could lash cities like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York and knock out power, forecasters said. Irene will be the first hurricane to hit the US mainland since Ike pounded Texas

Landless workers leader shot to death in Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO: A leader of landless workers was shot to death Thursday while riding his bike in Brazil’s forested state of Para, a watchdog group that focuses on land rights said. Catholic Land Pastoral said Valdemar Oliveira Barbosa was the fourth person murdered in Para since May who was involved in environmental or land rights movements. It said Barbosa was slain in Maraba, the town where he lived.

Barbosa coordinated more than a year ago the invasion of a farm called California, which raises cattle and burns wood to make charcoal, Catholic Land Pastroal said in a news release. The families that invaded the ranch were pushed out by police toward the end of last year, but Barbosa had planned to return, the group said. It said his killing might be connected to that plan.

Catholic Land Pastoral says more than 1,150 rural activists have been killed in Brazil over the past 20 years. It says the slayings are mostly carried out by gunmen working for loggers, ranchers and farmers to silence protests over illegal logging and land rights in the environmentally sensitive region. Para is one of Brazil’s most violent and lawless states. Police in Maraba have no suspects in Barbosa’s killing. No one has been arrested so far in the killings of four other activists this year. — AP

in 2008. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the most populous US city was bracing for storm conditions and flooding starting on Sunday. He urged residents of vulnerable areas to move to safety yesterday because the mass transit system, the nation’s biggest with 8 million passengers a day, may have to shut if flooding or high winds

endanger its buses, subways and commuter trains. Many New Yorkers do not have cars, so mass transit could be vital in evacuations. Long Island, the populous area that extends about 100 miles (160 km) east into the Atlantic Ocean from New York City, could be hit hard if Irene stays on its current track. — Reuters

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

international SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Son of slain Pakistan governor abducted 4 men intercepted car in Lahore

AHMEDABAD: Supporters of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare thrash an effigy representing corruption during a rally in Ahmedabad yesterday.—AP

Rahul Gandhi breaks silence on India corruption protests NEW DELHI: India’s Rahul Gandhi broke his silence on the faceoff between the government and a hunger-striking anti-corruption campaigner yesterday, praising the activist in a speech aimed at flexing his muscle as the emerging leader of the ruling Congress party. The speech by the Gandhi family scion, who is widely seen as the prime minister-in-waiting, came as parliament will likely debate today demands made by Anna Hazare to end his 11-day-old fast, which has united millions of Indians against the government.

Gandhi, 41, has spent the last few years travelling across the country to take up the cause of poor farmers, a bedrock of Congress’ voter support. He has rarely spoken on national issues, focusing instead on the party’s youth organization. But the undisclosed illness of his mother, Sonia Gandhi, elevated him in August into a quartet of Congress leaders, and put him under pressure to show leadership qualities that will help the centre-left party win the next 2014 general election. While Hazare’s protest has galvanized India’s growing urban middle class, Gandhi aimed his speech more at India’s poor.

“We are all aware that corruption is pervasive. It operates at every level. The poor may carry its greatest burden but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid off,” Gandhi, speaking in English, told a raucous parliament. While praising 74year-old Hazare, he also criticised the movement for setting “a dangerous precendent for a democracy” by trying to dictate their demands to parliament.

He called for regulation against corruption over land, mining and ration cards, issues which affect the poor. He also proposed reforming election funding, a root cause of political corruption “In the last few months, Anna has helped the people to articulate this same sentiment (against corruption). I thank him for that,” Gandhi said as his sister, Priyanka, sat watching. Hazare has emerged as a lightening rod for widespread anger at a political class seen as arrogant and out of touch. Politicians from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Gandhi appeared outmaneuvered by the extent of the protests.

The debate on Hazare’s proposals to create a powerful anticorruption agency, a condition he made to end his fast, will likely take place today after bickering between the opposition and the government delayed the session. More than 13,000 supportersmany singing Bollywood movie songs-gathered beside the stage where Hazare was fasting in a muddy open ground in the capital, New Delhi. Hazare, an austere campaigner who is often compared to India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, has lost 7 kg (15 lb), but his health is stable, doctors said. Dozens of activists briefly sneaked past police barricades in the diplomatic quarter to reach Rahul Gandhi’s residence, demanding adoption of the anti-graft legislation. After a personal appeal from Singh, Hazare said on Thursday evening that he would consider breaking his fast if parliament began discussing his anti-corruption proposals, including incorporating low-level civil servants into graft probes.

It was not clear whether he would end his fast at the start of the debate or when an anti-corruption resolution was passed.

With state polls next year ahead of a general election in 2014, Singh is under intense pressure to end a crisis that has paralysed policy making and parliament. Already under fire for high inflation and a string of corruption scandals, the 78-year-old prime minister has seen his popularity dented even further by the Hazare saga. —Reuters

LAHORE: The son of former Pakistani governor Salman Taseer, who was killed in January for opposing controversial Islamic blasphemy laws, was abducted by gunmen in Lahore yesterday, police said. Shahbaz Taseer, who had been given police protection, was abducted from a wealthy neighbourhood of Lahore, the capital of the eastern province of Punjab and considered one of Pakistan’s more liberal cities, while on his way to work.

“Four men in a car intercepted Shahbaz Taseer’s car in Lahore’s upmarket Gulberg area,” police emergency official Syed Mumtaz told AFP. “They overpowered him at gunpoint and forcibly put him in their car and sped away.” Two other police officials confirmed the information. The official said police were searching for the car but there was no indication of who may have been behind the daylight abduction.

Provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah said the Punjab government had provided Taseer with a police escort after his father was killed “but he did not ask them to accompany today”.”It was his routine. Sometimes he would go with guards, sometimes not,” he told Geo television.”The gunmen were young, wearing jeans, they came on a motorbike and in a vehicle.”He said it was too early to say who the abductors were. “It is a sensitive issue and any statement at this stage would be premature. We will come to know when the investigations proceed,” he said.

Shahbaz’s sports car was abandoned in the Gulberg area not far from his house, an AFP reporter said. Police investigators were seen examining finger prints on the white Mercedes. Police said the gunmen did not take his mobile phone and lap top which were still lying in the vehicle. Salman Taseer was killed by a bodyguard outside an Islamabad coffee shop for criticizing the blasphemy law, which provides for the death penalty. It was the highest-profile political killing in Pakistan in more than three years. Police officials said Taseer’s family had been repeatedly threatened to withdraw the murder case against the

police bodyguard accused of his killing.

Senior police investigation officer Razzaq Cheema said that Shahbaz, 27, was on his way to his office from his home when some people on motorbikes and in a four-wheel drive vehicle “intercepted him near an intersection and abducted him”. “Later they threw out their rifle which is now with the police. We have called Shahbaz’s guard for interrogation,” Cheema told Geo television.

US-based Human Rights Watch confirmed the abduction. Its Pakistan director Ali Dayan said the federal and provincial governments “must ensure that the younger Taseer is recovered speedily and his abductors are held

only Christian in Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s cabinet. The government backtracked on amending the blasphemy law in December after a number of popular protests despite criticism from rights groups who say it is often abused to settle personal scores. Islamabad, weakened by rampant corruption, an economic crisis and a wave of suicide bombings, allowed imams and fundamentalist leaders to court public opinion with calls for the slaying of supporters of amending the law.

Salman Taseer had set up consultancy firms and a brokerage house, and invested lucratively in telecommunications, a newspaper, insurance and real estate. Shahbaz is one of the directors of

LAHORE: Pakistani police officers surround a car of Shahbaz Taseer, who was kidnapped from Lahore, Pakistan yesterday.—AP accountable”. “This family has suffered too much already and given the security threats directed towards them in the aftermath of governor Taseer’s death, this kidnapping underscores the failing writ of the state and its inability to provide security even to those known to be at high risk,” he said.

Taseer’s murder was followed two months later by the assassination of another vocal opponent of the law, minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the

the Media Times private limited, which publishes two newspapers and runs a television channel. His abduction came after the kidnapping of a 70-year old US aid expert Warren Weinstein from his Lahore residence before dawn on August 13. Police have so far drawn a blank on who kidnapped the elderly American and why. Officials said security had been beefed up at all exit points to Lahore yesterday amid a manhunt for Shahbaz’s abductors.—AFP

Civilians killed in Afghan air strike PULI ALAM: Six Afghan civilians from the same family were killed by a coalition air strike in the insurgenthit east of the country, local officials said yesterday. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said he could not confirm civilians were killed but that several insurgents were among the dead in the operation at around midnight Thursday in Logar province.

Logar pro vincial police chief Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewani said the operation targeted a Taleban commander with a bounty on his head known as Qari Hijran and had also

killed civilians. “Four Taleban militants were killed along with three Afghan army and six members of a family during the incident,” he said.

The top official in the district of Baraki Barak where the incident happened, Mohammad Rahim Amin, claimed it occurred when a local teacher provided shelter for the commander in his home.

Although it is just south of the Afghan capital Kabul, there is a heavy presence of insurgents in Logar province. An ISAF spokesman in Kabul said he could confirm that several insurgents were killed in the operation but not that civilians were

among the dead, adding the foreign force was looking into the matter.

International forces are frequently accused of killing civilians in their operations in Afghanistan, an issue which is highly controversial with President Hamid Karzai and Afghan civilians.

ISAF insists it takes all measures it can to prevent civilian casualties.

There are around 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan helping Afghan forces to fight a ten-year Taleban-led insurgency. Limited coalition combat troop withdrawals have started ahead of a 2014 deadline for them all to leave.— AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

international SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Six killed in bombing, shooting in Thai south YALA: A bomb explosion killed five defense volunteers, and a rubber tapper was shot dead in Thailand’s restive deep south yesterday, police said, the latest violent incident in a region plagued for seven years by separatist unrest. Suspected Muslim insurgents detonated a bomb buried in a road as a truck carrying six

defense volunteers drove to the scene of a shooting at a rubber plantation during the night, in which a Buddhist man was shot dead.

Five of the volunteers were killed and the other seriously wounded in Narathiwat, one of three Muslimdominated provinces bordering Malaysia. Rebels often carry out

Kim renews push for resuming North Korean nuclear talks BEIJING: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il renewed a push to restart talks on swapping aid for his country’s nuclear disarmament during a stop in northeastern China yesterday on his return journey from Russia. Kim said he was willing to impose a nuclear test and production moratorium and return to international talks on Pyongyang’s atomic program without preconditions, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said, echoing a commitment made earlier in the week in a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a Siberian city.

In talks with State Counselor Dai Bingguo, CCTV said Kim also praised relations with China, his isolated communist state’s most important diplomatic ally and a major source of economic assistance. Traveling aboard his armored train, Kim also toured a machine tool factory, a dairy, an urban planning exhibition and a residential district in the cities of Qiqihar and Daqing in Heilongjiang province, CCTV said. CCTV did not say where Kim was headed next. Daqing lies about 450 miles (750 kilometers) from the North Korean border by rail. Kim,69, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 but appeared relatively vigorous in the CCTV coverage, shaking hands with numerous officials and smiling broadly in his trademark sun glasses and beige leisure suit. The broadcast was unusual because China usually withholds confirmation of Kim’s visits to the country until he has returned home.

Kim’s last trip to China earlier this year focused on manufacturing and economic sites as China encourages its impoverished ally to reform its economy. North Korea is eager to see a resumption of the six-nation nuclear talks, a move that could help relieve growing economic woes stemming from natural disasters and deepening international sanctions. However, Washington and Seoul have been wary of the North’s appeals for renewed talks, calling first for an improvement in dismal ties between the Koreas and for a sincere sign from the North that it will abide by past commitments it has made in previous rounds of talks.

North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least six atomic bombs, and is believed to be working toward mounting a nuclear bomb on a longrange missile. Last year, it unveiled a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second way to make nuclear weapons.—AP

One missing as strong typhoon skirts Philippines MANILA: At least one fisherman is reported missing and several towns in the northern and central Philippines are flooded as a slow-moving typhoon gains strength while drifting toward Taiwan.

Forecasters say Nanmadol was expected to become a super-typhoon later yesterday with winds of up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) per hour as it hovers about 105 miles (170 kilometers) east of the Philippine coast.

TV footage showed farmers in northeastern provinces reinforcing dikes in rice paddies with sandbags while floodwaters swamped several towns. The coast guard has grounded vessels and warned of waves about 16 feet (5 meters) high extending to Manila Bay. An extended forecast track shows Nanmadol weakening slightly east of southern Taiwan by Monday morning—AP

shootings as a trap to lure security forces into an ambush. Bombs are buried in roads or close to the scene of shootings and detonated as groups of police or soldiers arrive to investigate. Four rangers were wounded in a similar incident in Yala on Thursday when a bomb exploded under their vehicle as they rushed to the scene of

a gunfight in a village where a man and his 5-year-old daughter were killed. More than 4,600 people have been killed in violence since January 2004 in the once independent Malay Muslim region encompassing the Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, which were annexed by Thailand, then known as Siam, in 1909. — Reuters

Japan PM resigning amid sinking public confidence Decision was widely expected TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced yesterday he would resign after almost 15 months in office amid plunging approval ratings over his government’s handling of the tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis. In a nationally televised speech, Kan said he was stepping down as chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and would officially quit as prime minister after the ruling party votes Monday to pick a new leader - the country’s sixth prime minister in five years.

Japan has been plagued by high turnover in political leadership at a time when the country faces huge problems, including an aging population, bulging debt and stagnant economy - and now reconstruction from the worst disaster to hit the country since World War II. Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, a 49-year-old expert in defense and a China hawk, is viewed as the front-runner to replace Kan. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Trade Minister Banri Kaieda are also viewed as contenders.

The decision was widely expected because in June, Kan had promised to quit once lawmakers passed three key pieces of legislation, the final two of which cleared the parliament earlier yesterday. Kan managed to survive only a few months longer than the four previous prime ministers, who each lasted a year or less.

Looking back on his year and three months in office, Kan said he did all he could given difficulties he faced, including the disasters and a major election defeat in upper house elections last summer that left the parliament in gridlock. “Under the severe circumstances, I feel I’ve done everything that I had to do,” he said. “Now I would like to see you choose someone respectable as a new prime minister.” The 64-year-old Kan has seen his approval ratings tumble below 20 percent amid a perceived lack of leadership after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which led to meltdowns at three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

Only 10 percent of respondents approved of Kan’s job performance, while 69 percent disapproved, in an AP-GfK poll conducted between July 29 and Aug 10. Some 21 percent said they neither approved or disappoved. The poll’s margin of error was 3.8 percent. Survivors have complained about slow recovery efforts, and radiation has spread into the air, water and some foods. Radiation leaking from the plant has declined dramatically as workers try to bring the plant to a cold shutdown by January. Many of the 100,000 people who were evacuated from around the plant live in temporary housing or shelter, and have no idea when they will be able to return to their homes. Accumulated radiation in some locations may keep them away for a long time, government officials have said recently.

Kan was at least partly undone by persistent political infighting, including within his own party. While the public hungered for political cooperation and vision in the wake of the crisis, parliamentary sessions frequently descended into squabbling matches that have disillusioned with public.

It was a no-confidence motion in June submitted by an opposition bloc that prompted Kan in June to promise he would resign in a desperate attempt to keep his own party members from joining the vote. In the wake of the crisis, Kan urged Japan to become less reliant on nuclear energy, but his appeal did little to boost his image.

At an evening press conference, Kan said that the atomic crisis made him realize that having so many nuclear power plants in quake-prone Japan “could endanger the people’s future.” Contenders will officially declare their candidacy

today, followed by a debate tomorrow and party vote Monday. The new Cabinet is expected to be installed Tuesday.

Kan urged the Democrats to seek unity as they pick a new leader. A key player in the process remains party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, who still wields enormous influence even though he lost to Kan in the party leadership election last September.

“I hope to see this party become one, where everyone from the young to the veterans can discuss policy actively and freely, then cooperate and act as one,” Kan said. Kan, who called off a planned trip to visit President Barack Obama next month due to the political uncertainty, said Tokyo should keep Japan-U.S. alliance as “cornerstone” of its security and foreign policy. He also urged his successor to “not put off any longer” attempts to rein in Japan’s public debt, which has grown to more than twice the size of the country’s gross domestic product. The idea of raising the country’s 5 percent sales tax as a way to address this problem and raise money for reconstruction efforts seems to have lost traction.—AP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan speaks before press at his official residence in Tokyo yesterday. Kan announced his resignation as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, paving the way for the nation’s sixth premier in five years.—AFP

Slump, not protest, threatens French deficit campaign

20

Petronas profit up but outlook weak

Business

19

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

World stocks drop before Fed speech

17

ANA to get world’s first Dreamliner on Sept 25

18

HONG KONG: Job seekers fill in job application forms to work within the airport industry during the Hong Kong International Airport Job Expo 2011 in Hong Kong yesterday. The three-day career expo offers over 6,000 openings across a wide variety of job types at one of the busiest international aviation hubs in the world. —AFP

US Q2 growth revised down Bernanke offers no stimulus to economy JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming: Chairman Ben Bernanke is proposing no new steps by the Federal Reserve to boost the economy while hinting that Congress may need to act to stimulate hiring and growth. Bernanke says that while record-low interest rates will promote growth over time, the weak economy requires further help in the short run.

The Fed chairman was speaking at an annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

His speech follows news that the economy grew at an annual rate of just 1 percent this spring and 0.7 percent for the first six months of the year. Only slightly healthier expansion is foreseen for the second half.

Bernanke says he’s optimistic that the job market and the economy will return to full health in the long run.

Meanwhile, the US economy grew slower than previously thought in the second quarter as business inventories and exports were less robust, a government report showed yesterday, although consumer spending was revised up. Gross domestic product

expanded at an annual rate of 1 percent the Commerce Department said, a downward revision of its prior estimate of 1.3 percent.

It also said after-tax corporate profits rose at the fastest pace in a year.

Economists had expected GDP growth to be lowered to 1.1 percent. The economy advanced just 0.4 percent in the first quarter. The second GDP estimate for the quarter confirmed growth almost stalled in the first six months of this year. “We were expecting a bit of a downward revision, which reflects the headwinds on the recovery and all the factors we’re trying to wrestle to the ground,” said Paul Ballew, chief economist at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio.

“We’re expecting that things will be marginally stronger in the last part of the year.

The question is are we looking at a fourth quarter recovery?” The United States is on a recession watch after a massive sell-off in the stock market knocked down consumer and business sentiment. The plunge in share prices followed Standard & Poor’s decision to strip the nation of its top notch AAA cred-

it rating and a spreading sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

While sentiment has deteriorated, data such as industrial production, retail sales and employment suggest the economy could avoid an outright contraction. The GDP report comes as central bankers from around the globe gathered for a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver the keynote address on Friday, which will be watched for any sign a further easing of US monetary policy is on the way to support the ailing economy.

US financial markets were little moved by the GDP report as traders awaited Bernanke’s speech.

The downward revisions to second-quarter growth came as businesses accumulated fewer goods than previously estimated.

Business inventories increased $40.6 billion instead of $49.6 billion, cutting 0.23 percentage point from GDP growth during the quarter.

However, the slow build-up of invento-

ries means goods are not piling up on shelves, which should support growth in the third quarter. Excluding inventories, the economy grew at a 1.2 percent rate.

Output was also curbed by exports, which grew at a 3.1 percent pace instead of 6.0 percent. Imports increased at a 1.9 percent rate rather than 1.3 percent.

That left a slightly wider trade deficit and trade barely contributed to GDP growth.

Trade had previously been estimated to have added 0.58 percentage point to overall output.

The drag from business inventories was offset by growth in consumer spending, which was revised up to a 0.4 percent rate from 0.1 percent. The increase in spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, was still the smallest since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Business spending was revised to a 9.9 percent rate of increase from 6.3 percent as investment in nonresidential structures and equipment and software was stronger than previously estimated.—Reuters

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Middle East Crude-Oman, Basrah, condensates rise SINGAPORE: October trade drew to a close yesterday with strength across the Middle East crude complex, after Oman, Basrah and Qatari condensates traded at their peaks for the month. ExxonMobil was heard to have bought an Oman crude cargo at a premium of 75 cents to Dubai quotes, up from discounts as deep as 30 cents just two weeks ago.

Cargos of Iraqi Basrah Light for loading in October had cleared, earlier than in recent months, when a backlog contributed to weaken values into the following trading month.

Traders value Basrah at premiums of about 10 cents to the grade’s official selling price.

Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Co, or Tasweeq, sold fewer than usual October-loading deodorized field condensate (DFC) cargoes via tender because of abundant term sales and an outage at Qatargas LNG trains, traders said yesterday. Qatargas will reduce output including condensates in October because of maintenance at its liquefied natural gas plant (LNG), two trading sources with knowledge of the situation said yesterday. Rotating maintenance at three LNG trains, numbers 5, 6 and 7, between mid-September and early November will curb production, one of the trading sources said. Repairs at each train will last for about two weeks, curbing condensate loadings by as much as four cargoes of 500,000 barrels. Tasweeq sold DFC at premiums as high as $2.50 a barrel to Dubai quotes in the tender after naphtha margins strengthened, up from premiums of $1.70-$1.80 last month. DFC prices were attractive before the tender because of expensive alternative Australian condensate, allowing Tasweeq to place a greater-than-usual amount of cargoes among term buyers and leaving less supplies for spot sales.

The company also sold as much as three cargoes of Qatar low sulfur condensate (LSC) at premiums of more than $1 a barrel to Dubai quotes. EAST-WEST. The Brent/Dubai Exchange of Futures for Swaps (EFS) for October gained 10 cents to $4.58 a barrel at 0830 GMT, Reuters data showed, down from levels above $5 last week, before the Libyan rebels’ decisive advance against Muammar Gaddafi.

The front-month EFS on June 15 touched $9.20, the highest intraday value since the spread reached a record of almost $12 in October 2004.

• DME OMAN • October Oman traded on the DME rose 18 cents to a premium of 82 cents to Dubai swap quotes at 0830 GMT, using the settlement price for DME futures, the ICE one-minute marker for Singapore and the Brent-Dubai EFS as calculated

by Reuters.

• MARKET NEWS • The Libyan rebel government hopes to restart oil exports within two to three months and reach full volumes in about a year, Ali Tarhouni, the official in charge of financial and oil matters told Reuters from Libya’s oil ministry in Tripoli.

• Iraq, a major buyer of oil products, is set to import around 950,000 tons of gasoline and gas oil in the fourth quarter, the country’s deputy oil minister told Reuters. Oil major Royal Dutch Shell is planning to continue exporting Syrian oil in September despite fresh US sanctions and a looming EU embargo, which have already forced at least one company to cut oil trade with the country. — Reuters

DAMASCUS: A banker stacks packed Syrian lira bills at the Central Bank in Damascus on Thursday. US sanctions have forced Syria to stop all transactions in US dollars, with the country turning completely to euro deals, the governor of the Central Bank Adib Mayaleh told the AFP during an interview. — AFP

Oil prices edge lower, Bernanke speech eyed Concerns over hurricane in the US LONDON: Oil prices fell yesterday as analysts played down expectations of further quantitative easing ahead of a speech by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the health of the world’s top oil consumer, after the US economy grew slower than previously thought in the second quarter.

Brent crude futures were 53 cents lower at $110.09 a barrel as of 1337 GMT. US light crude futures were down $1.15 to $84.15 a barrel. All eyes were on Bernanke’s speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming scheduled for 1400 GMT, with markets eager to hear what the Fed’s plan is to help a struggling US economy, although the consensus was that its options are limited.

The US economy grew slower than previously thought in the second quarter as business inventories and exports were less robust, a government report showed yesterday, although consumer spending was revised up. “Today the focus will be on Ben (Bernanke) and (hurricane) Irene, and one is as unpredictable as the other,” said Petromatrix’s Olivier Jakob.

At last year’s meeting, Bernanke hinted at what eventually became a $600 billion quantitative easing bond-buying program. “The key question is whether Bernanke will announce a further round of quantitative easing of US monetary policy, as he did last year,” Commerzbank

analysts said In a note.

“We do not expect such an announcement, however, and oil prices could come under pressure as a result. The price rally of past days was mainly due to the expectation of further liquidity.”

Some price support came from Hurricane Irene as it barrelled towards US East Coast refineries, posing a potential threat to supply; while the ongoing conflict in OPEC member Libya and international pressure on Syria also underpinned sentiment.

But worries about the outlook of the faltering recovery remained high on the agenda. Deutsche Bank joined a growing chorus of banks in downgrading oil price forecasts, trimming its Brent forecast for 2011 to $112 a barrel from $114 a barrel and US light crude to $94 a barrel from $100.

“We now believe that the economy is likely to grow more slowly in 2011-2012,” Deutsche Bank’s Adam Sieminski said in a note. A Reuters poll of analysts meanwhile showed that oil prices are likely to stay above $100 a barrel next year despite increasing downward pressure from the expected return of some Libyan production and fears of a double-dip recession.

Economic worries on the other side of the Atlantic also kept investors on edge.

The Spanish economy grew at a slower

pace in the second quarter than the first, fuelling concerns Spain could slip back into recession if the euro zone economy continued to worsen.

German consumer sentiment fell slightly going into September, hitting a 10-month low as the euro zone debt crisis and fears of another recession in Europe and the United States weighed on consumer expectations, a survey showed.

Hurricane Irene, a Category 3 storm that lashed the low-lying Bahamas on Thursday, was expected to hit North Carolina on Saturday before heading up the coast to New York and beyond. MF Global said in its daily report that it expected refineries in the path of the hurricane to withstand the winds from the storm and not shut down for now.While the East Coast region has no major offshore oil and gas production like the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast, the stakes are still high.

The region has around a dozen nuclear plants and a massive oil delivery hub at New York Harbor. Its pipelines and power networks serve more than 100 million Americans.

“The biggest issue may be flooding if the storm surge brings water up into New York Harbor. The harbor imports 400 kb/d in gasoline,” the MF Global report said. — Reuters

KSE index loses Markaz weekly update

Open: 5,809, High: 5,809, Low: 5,746 Close: 5,786.

KUWAIT: This week the KSE market price index lost 0.7% or 41 points and closed at 5786 level. While the KSE weight index lost 0.7% or 3 points to reach 400 level. Among the sectors this week all the negative this week. The Food Sector was the worst performer this week losing 1.7% followed by the Real Estate Sector which lost 1.5%, Banking Sector down 1.1%, Investment Sector down 0.7%, Industrial Sector down 0.4%, Non-Kuwaiti Sector down 0.3% and Services Sector down 0.2%. The market sentiment was negative as 41 stocks declined against 21 stocks gained and 12 stocks remained flat compared to the previous week. Among the blue chips this week Agility was the top performer gaining 3.9% followed by CBK up 3.5%,BPCC up 1.9%KFIN and GBK both up 1.1% each. NBK and NIND were all flat this week. Among the top blue chip losers PIPE was the leader down 9.6% followed by KIB down 3.7%, FOOD down 2.7%, BURG down 2.2%, KPRIJ down 1.6%, MABANEE down 1.2%, NINV and ZAIN both

down 1.1% and NMTC down 1%.

The KSE weighted index has downside support at 394 level and upside it faces resistance at 400 lev-

el. While the KSE price index has upside resistance at 5,800 level and downside support remains at 5,750 level.

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

World stocks drop before Fed speech Frankfurt stocks lose more than 3%

NEW DELHI: Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrives at Parliament in New Delhi yesterday. — AFP

Asian LNG prices rise on strong demand PERTH: Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices for September rose to around $15.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) during the week, as strong demand in Asia continued to draw some cargoes from the Atlantic Basin.

Japanese demand, which has been rising at a record pace this year, continued to be a driving factor.

Japanese utilities have ramped up gas-fired power units to compensate for nuclear reactors shut in the aftermath of the March earthquake, sparking a runup in LNG demand and prices.

Spot LNG prices in the Pacific have risen over 50 percent since March largely due to the increase in Japanese demand, with some offers near $16 per mmBtu for October cargoes, traders said.

The supply tightness caused by growing Japanese demand has attracted an increasing amount of Atlantic Basin supply to Asia where LNG is sold at a significant premium. Japan bought its first LNG supplies from Norway for the first time since 2008 via Kyushu Electric Power Co and the cargo is expected to arrive in Japan in September.

“Demand is still quite strong and supply is limited and constrained given the shipping situation,” one market source said. LNG tankers have been in short supply as LNG demand has grown with rates rising to around $96,000 per day, according to Waterborne LNG analysts, and cargoes making the trip from the Atlantic Basin to Asia have only exacerbated the problem.

“The longer voyage time associated with taking Atlantic Basin LNG to the Far East has put a real strain on the shipping market; this has reduced tanker deliverability rates which in turn frees up LNG cargoes, which need to be sent out in order to continue with production,” Waterborne LNG said in a note this week.

Chinese demand was also stronger, with imports at a new record of 1.18 million tons in July, up 13.5 percent from June. Imports reached 6.36 million tons in the first seven months of 2011, up 32.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the report. China also announced this week that it will grant tax rebates for gas imports, a move that would reduce state energy company losses and may marginally increase spot LNG imports. — Reuters

LONDON: Global stock markets were mostly lower and the dollar fell yesterday as traders banked recent profits before a keenly-awaited speech on the economy by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Traders were also awaiting a gross domestic product (GDP) reading from the United States and tracking the unrest in Libya, after an expected announcement that Japan’s prime minister had resigned.

London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.46 percent and the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.71 percent after Asian markets closed mostly down and Wall Street slumped overnight.

The Frankfurt DAX stock index fell briefly by more than 3.0 percent in yesterday’s afternoon trade after second quarter US growth figures were revised lower to 1.0 percent from 1.3 percent. The DAX showed a loss of 2.93 percent to 5,420.49 points at 1500 GMT, after falling by 1.71 percent on Thursday.

In the first three months of the year, US gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a feeble rate of just 0.4 percent, Commerce Department data showed. Economic activity was hit by cutbacks in state and local government spending and private inventory investment, and by an increase in imports. The second-quarter reading was slightly worse than analysts expected and came less than two hours before a much awaited speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Investors are hoping the central bank chief will offer more exceptional support in the form of quantitative easing-essentially ramping up the dollar printing presses-to boost sluggish growth. Frankfurt suffered heavy losses a day after sliding on rumors, later denied, that Germany could lose its triple-A credit rating while London showed little reaction to confirmation Friday that Britain’s economy slowed sharply in the second quarter.

“It is shaping up to be a very interesting and potentially volatile afternoon, with US GDP data ... followed by Bernanke’s speech at Jackson Hole,” said Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist at London-based trading group City Index. “Both factors are likely to play a significant role in how European equities close out the week,” he added.

In foreign exchange deals, the euro rose to $1.4440 from $1.4379 in New York late Thursday. The dollar also fell to 76.99 yen from 77.45 yen Thursday. Bernanke was to address a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming beginning at 1400 GMT. With its easy-money stimulus policy having run its course, many are worried the Fed does not have enough left in the way of monetary tools to give the faltering US economy another boost.

“There’s a widespread belief that, with further intervention seemingly required to keep the US economy moving

along, some solid indications will be included” in Bernanke’s address, said Cameron Peacock, an analyst at trading group IG Markets.

“Perhaps most critical is the fact that the market appears to have priced in such news already so any failure to deliver risks initiating another bout of (stocks) selling in the

NEW YORK: David McHugh, center, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

World stock markets dropped yesterday, as jittery investors waited to see whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would promise new steps to help the US economy ward off another recession. —AP short term,” Peacock said. US stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1.51 percent. However global markets have risen over the week after recent slumps caused by fears of a fresh recession and due to fallout from the European debt crisis.

Tokyo closed up 0.29 percent on Friday after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a long-expected announcement that he would resign as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, ending his tenure as Japanese leader. —AFP

Nobel economists say euro-zone will survive LINDAU: The finest economic minds in the world believe the euro zone will survive its crippling debt crisis, but think that if the bloc splinters it would make more sense for powerhouse Germany and not stricken Greece to break away.

With markets on edge over the huge debt mountains that built up in Europe and the United States during the global financial crisis, 17 economics Nobel Prize winners gathered this week on the picturesque island of Lindau on Lake Constance in southern Germany to discuss the discipline.

Among them are Joseph Stiglitz, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize for work on how markets cope with

asymmetric information, Myron Scholes who won in 1997 for his work on derivatives, and Robert Mundell, a winner in 1999 for his analysis of optimum currency areas.

“I don’t think the euro is on the verge of collapsing,” said Mundell.

Europe needs to move towards “something like the equivalent of the United States of Europe,” he added.

The turmoil seems a world away in tranquil Lindau, where conference participants sipped cool drinks on the terrace of the lake-front conference centre, while pedal boats-some shaped like swans-rocked up and down in the swell. But the debate has been intense. Big topics of discussion

have been the US economic slowdown and whether a third round of quantitative easing, so-called QE3, from the Federal Reserve would help.

Most think it wouldn’t. The stimulus versus austerity debate has also been fierce, but the euro zone’s woes, and the threat of a breakup, have taken centre stage. “It is very difficult to unscramble a scrambled egg,” said Stiglitz, while acknowledging that a discussion was under way on whether there was “an optimal way of disintegrating”. “A consensus is emerging among economists which is it would be better in terms of contractual complexity for Germany to leave than for Greece to leave,” he said. — Reuters

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

ANA to get world’s first Dreamliner on Sept 25 More than three years later than planned TOKYO: Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) and aviation giant Boeing said yesterday the airline will receive the world’s first 787 Dreamliner on September 25, more than three years later than first planned.

The ANA plane will be delivered in Everett, Washington in the United States before being flown to Tokyo where it is scheduled to arrive on September 28, the companies said in a joint statement.

“The airplane is ready. ANA is ready.

And, Boeing is ready,” Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement.

“This airplane begins a new chapter in aviation history.” ANA is the launch airline for the troubled 787 program, and has 55 of the aircraft on order.

Boeing had originally promised to roll out the aircraft in 2008. But a string of technical mishaps and delays have slowed testing programs for the jets.

The highly anticipated 787 Dreamliner is made out of lighter materials that help increase its fuel efficiency, while it boasts larger windows and more humid cabin air than conventional jets.

Boeing says this will allow passengers to arrive at their destinations more refreshed. Shinichiro Ito, president and CEO of ANA Group said that the aircraft “will play an important role in our international expansion strategy as we seek to become Asia’s number one airline”.

The mid-sized plane is crucial to Boeing’s future. It is the maker’s first new design in more than a decade, drawing on huge advances in aviation technology and can fly long-haul routes

TOKYO: A Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, painted in the ANA colors of white and blue, arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda airport as fire engines spray it with water during a test flight. Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) and aviation giant Boeing said yesterday the airline will receive the world’s first 787 Dreamliner on September 25, more than three years later than first planned. — AFP using up to 20 percent less fuel. Boeing, the world’s second-biggest aircraft maker after Airbus, launched the Dreamliner program in April 2004 and initially had planned to deliver the first plane to ANA in the first half of 2008. But the aircraft, which can seat up to 330 passengers, only made its maiden flight in December 2009.

The series of delays in the 787 program has cost Boeing billions of dollars as some airlines cancelled their orders.

Another Boeing project, the 747-8, is a longer and more fuel-efficient update of Boeing’s double-decker 747 jumbo jet,

Optimum Coal shares up as Glencore circles JOHANNESBURG/LONDON: Glencore, the world’s largest commodities trader, stood on the verge of its largest takeover bid since its May stock market listing yesterday, after South Africa’s Optimum Coal confirmed it had received approaches.

The move on Optimum, South Africa’s sixth-largest coal producer, illustrates Glencore’s appetite for deals in the volatile equity and commodity markets, which it has said will throw up bargains. Sources close to the deal said late on Thursday that the Swiss-based trader plans to bid for a majority stake in Optimum with its South African partner, politician-turned-businessman Cyril Ramaphosa. Shares in Optimum, worth around $1 billion at current market prices, were up 5 percent at 31.5 rand at 1223 GMT after hitting their highest level in about four months.

Glencore, run by South African former coal buyer Ivan Glasenberg, is already a major player in both the South African and global coal trades. Its move to grow by snapping up Optimum taps into what analysts have long said is a need for small and medium-sized coal miners there to consolidate.

Optimum, a mid-size producer has export capacity and reserves that make it attractive prey for Glencore and other big foreign companies hoping to capitalise on Indian and Chinese demand. South Africa’s enviable geographic position, with access to both the Atlantic and the Pacific coal markets, adds to its appeal. Optimum, South Africa’s fourth-largest exporter, said yesterday it had received “unsolicited, non-binding expressions of interest from third parties to acquire a controlling interest,” without naming the parties involved. Glencore declined to comment.

A purchase of the South African company would be Glencore’s most significant since its record listing, when it sacrificed its fiercely protected privacy to gain the balance sheet firepower for acquisitions. — Reuters

and will compete with European rival Airbus’s A380, the world’s biggest passenger plane.

That program is running two years behind schedule. ANA this week said it would conduct the first commercial 787 flights from Tokyo to Hong Kong in October, followed by regular services to Beijing and Frankfurt. The aircraft’s first regular international service will start from December for the Haneda-Beijing route, followed by the Dreamliner’s first regular long-haul international operation between Haneda and Frankfurt from January. — AFP

China-built oil rig setting sail for Cuban waters HAVANA: A new, Chinese-built drilling rig was expected to depart Singapore yesterday or later this weekend on its way to Cuba where it will be used to usher in a new era in offshore oil exploration for the communist-led island.

The Scarabeo 9, owned by Italian oil giant Eni SpA’soffshore unit Saipem and contracted in Cuba by Spanish oil firm Repsol YPF, was anchored in Singapore and ready to leave on what an Eni spokesman said would be an 80-day voyage. A Western diplomat in Havana said the rig would stop in South Africa and Brazil before reaching Cuba in November, with the expectation it will start drilling shortly after arrival.

Oil experts on the island say Cuba may have 20 billion barrels of oil in its still-untapped portion of the Gulf of Mexico, although the US Geological Survey estimates reserves are a more modest 5 billion barrels. Repsol drilled a well in Cuban waters in 2004 and found oil there, but for various reasons, including the longstanding US trade embargo against the island, has not drilled again.

For Cuba, a big oil find will give its struggling economy a boost and reduce or eliminate its dependence on oil-rich leftist ally Venezuela, which ships 113,000 barrels a day to the island at reduced prices. Opponents of the Cuban government fear that if significant oil reserves are discovered, it will only further entrench the communist system and its leaders.

Cuban President Raul Castro, 80, is in the midst of liberalizing the Soviet-style economy with the goal of assuring the survival of communism once he and his elderly leadership group are gone. The Scarabeo 9, which has the latest technology and is capable of drilling in up to 12,000 feet (3,600 metres) of water, was built in Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyards in Yantai, China, but after a number of delays was shipped to the Keppel FELS shipyard in Singapore last fall for completion. — Reuters

Buffett trades off his reputation, returns follow NEW YORK: Warren Buffett showed again that his name and money is enough to give a struggling company instant credibility in the market. But the legendary investor also demonstrated his canny command of that reputation means that such deals can immediately generate profits. Bank of America Corp on Thursday said Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway would invest $5 billion in the bank, the largest by assets in the United States. Buffett, known for his grand gestures and his calls to buy American assets, may have looked like he was a lender of last resort-or at least a lender of last credible resort-but he was also turning a hefty profit, experts said.

“He’s not doing it out of charitable motive or even out of a concern for the safety and soundness of the financial system,” said Robert Reich, who served in three US governments, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. “He’s got a lot of shareholders and they depend upon him to maximize the value of their investments,” said Reich, now a public policy professor at the University of California Berkeley.

Bank of America’s shares had been sinking on worries that it might need a massive injection of capital, a major concern given the importance of the bank to the American financial system.

Buffett is buying preferred shares and receiving warrants. The deal guarantees Berkshire $300 million a year in dividends and offers a chance for huge returns if the stock climbs. At one point on Thursday the shares climbed 25.8 percent. By the close those gains were trimmed back to 9.4 percent, but Berkshire was still sitting on a paper profit of nearly $3 billion. Berkshire Class A shares closed down 2.8 percent at $103,415 on Thursday, while its Class B shares closed 2.5 percent lower at $68.99. In many ways, Buffett has perfected the art of swooping in at the last minute when he thinks an American icon is undervalued and has hit troubled times.

Back in the late 1980s, Buffett purchased a stake in Salomon Brothers and even temporarily stepped in as chairman after a trading scandal threatened the company.

The investment was ultimately profitable but for a while looked like it could turn into a bankruptcy, the inside story of which was described in an October 1997 Fortune magazine article. Since then, Buffett has continued to profit on financial stocks. During the 2008 financial crisis, he invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group Inc and $3 billion in General Electric Co .

Buffet got a 10 percent dividend on each of those investments. The investment in Goldman famously earned him the equivalent of more than $15 in dividends each second, or $500 million per year. In March, Goldman said it would buy back its preferred stock from Buffett at the agreed upon 10 percent premium. GE, which also has an agreement with Buffett that includes a 10 percent redemption premium, plans to buy back its shares in October. By then, dividends will have topped $900 million.

In the Bank of America deal, the annual dividend may only be 6 percent, but that isn’t bad at a time when an investor can only get a 2.2 percent yield on a 10-year Treasury note or next to nothing from a bank deposit or money-market fund. “Mr. Buffett is a very shrewd investor and is not altruistic at all. The terms he gets are very favorable to him,” said Richard Bernstein, former chief investment strategist at Merrill Lynch and current CEO of investment advisory Richard Bernstein Advisors. —AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Greece: No bond swaps without 90% participation ATHENS: Greece said yesterday it would only go ahead with a bond swap plan that is a critical part of its second bailout if at least 90 percent of private creditors participate.

The July 21 bailout plan would see banks and other financial institutions give Greece easier repayment terms on its bonds. However, in return, Greece has to fund an expensive collateral

arrangement, which will secure the remaining face value of the bonds and would cost the country about ?42 billion ($60 billion) until 2020.

The Athens Stock Exchange on Friday posted extracts of a letter sent by the government to foreign finance ministers saying that Greece “shall not be obliged to proceed” unless it could get at least 90 percent of its eligible

bonds swapped or rolled over. It also said 90 percent of that must be bonds maturing between June 30, 2011 and Aug. 31, 2014. “If these thresholds are not met, Greece shall not proceed with any portion of the transaction,” the letter said. The letter was sent to foreign finance ministers asking for help in determining which institutions in their countries hold Greek bonds maturing

through the end of 2020.

Debt-strapped Greece has been relying rescue loans from European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund since last year. It was granted a first, €110 billion ($159 billion) bailout in May 2010 but still needed to get a second rescue deal worth a further €109 billion ($157 billion) last month. — AP

China yuan must rise: Australia bank chief Strong currency beneficial for global economy

All eyes on Bernanke for more stimulus WASHINGTON: US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke takes center stage yesterday facing hopes from around the world that he will shore up faith in the US economy and offer more stimulus to boost business. Bernanke is to address a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming beginning at 1400 GMT on the US economy in what many hope will reprise his speech a year ago, when he signaled the coming of the $600 billion “QE2” quantitative easing and delivered a much-needed shot of adrenalin to markets.

But with that easy-money policy having run its course, many are worried the Fed does not have enough left in the way of monetary tools to lift the economy from its near-stagnant pace. After three straight days of expectant gains, US stocks dropped 1.5 percent Thursday as investors turned pessimistic about what Bernanke might be able to offer.

“The market was nervous about (Friday),” said Marc Pado, chief US market strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald. “He’s not going to come out with (a new) QE. It’s not going to happen,” Pado said. The landscape for the Fed summit at the resort nestled up next to the stunning Teton mountain range is eerily like last year’s: the economy seemed to be stagnating, markets were losing faith in the recovery, and the government seemed unequipped to counter it. Economists said the resultant QE2 prevented a deflationary spiral, by steadily injecting money into the economy via purchases of Treasury bonds from November to June. But that did not kick the economy into self-sustaining growth as hoped. Reflecting the glum outlook after growth ran under a one percent pace in the first half, markets have now dropped back to where they stood last October. “Contrary to expectations, the United States may not have laid the foundation for sustained expansion,” said former Fed official Vincent Reinhart, now an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute. “The chance that the economy slips into another recession within a year is about four in ten.”

Bernanke does have some tools but not a lot, and no one is certain whether they will have the desired impact. He could launch a QE3, or signal that the Fed would make unscheduled QE2-like purchases if and when the economy needs it.

A $1 trillion dollar QE3 could increase GDP growth by up to 0.5 percent over one year, said Goldman Sachs economist Sven Jari Stehn. But that is not a lot of bang for the buck, and “is unlikely to be a panacea for growth,” he said. Another possibility is to cut further, or to zero, what the central bank pays commercial banks for parking their reserves with it-or even charge them for the favor. —AFP

SYDNEY: Reserve Bank of Australia chief Glenn Stevens yesterday joined calls for China to strengthen the yuan, saying it would be beneficial to the global economy if there was more flexibility. The central bank governor said the matter had been raised in private discussions with Chinese officials.

“In my opinion, in any objective gauge, the Chinese currency should be higher than it is today,” he told a House of Representatives economics committee.

“There is no shortage of people telling the Chinese authorities that.” In recent days Treasurer Wayne Swan repeated warnings on the yuan, urging “large developing economies to put in place policies to boost home-grown demand and move towards more market-based exchange rates”. Swan departs for talks on a range of issues in China on Monday. Officials argue that the undervalued renminbi gives China an unfair trade advantage, with a weaker yuan making China’s imports more expensive while its exports are cheaper for foreign buyers. Beijing has recently shown signs it is willing to guide the currency higher, with the yuan rising steadily against the US dollar since mid-2010 when Beijing relaxed a de-facto peg to the US currency. This had been imposed in 2008 to protect its exporters during the global financial crisis.

“They are still doing quite a bit of intervention,” Stevens said. “It is coming up some, but I think it would be beneficial to the global economy, and beneficial to the Chinese people, if there was more flexibility in that price.” Stevens was critical of the political noise that surrounds the issue in Washington, which he warned would not help achieve a resolution on the low renminbi. “Unfortunately it also gets surrounded by the whole US-China relationship issue. The megaphones come out.

BEIJING: A trader shows yuan banknotes at a foreign exchange market in Beijing.

There’s a bit of shouting to and fro and actually that’s not all that productive,” he said. China is key market for Australia’s resource driven economy and Stevens said Canberra was well placed to weather any further global financial uncertainty, with growth prospects in key Asian markets remaining strong. Australian corporate balance sheets were solid, terms of trade at record highs and unemployment low, he said, despite the jobless rate unexpectedly rising 0.1 percentage point to 5.1 percent in July.

“There is a heightened degree of uncertainty at present. There are major challenges in the global economy and significant forces at work in the Australian economy,” he said. “But at this point in time, our terms of trade are at a record high, while our unemployment rate remains

low. Inflation bears careful watching, but we can keep it under control. “Our banks are strong, our currency is sound and our sovereign credit position is in the international top tier.” Mining-driven Australia weathered the last global downturn without entering recession thanks to the resilience of key export markets such as China. Stevens said investment in the resources sector was continuing and “has some distance to run yet”.

As far as key Asian markets go, he said “indicators suggest some moderation in growth in the Chinese economy. But it appears to be still pretty solid”. “A key question for the countries in the region is whether enough has been done to contain the inflation pressure, which does look to have spread beyond initial rises in food and energy prices,” he added. —AFP

Petronas profit up but outlook weak KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said yesterday its net profit surged nearly 50 percent in the latest quarter on higher oil prices but warned the weak global economy could hit full-year profits. Profit at Malaysia’s biggest company in the three months to June 30, the first quarter of the country’s financial year, grew 48.6 percent from the same period a year-earlier to 21.7 billion ringgit ($7.27 billion). “In a nutshell, the first quarter was quite a good run for Petronas,” chief execu-

tive Shamsul Azhar Abbas told reporters at a press conference. Shamsul said the firm was helped by an average price per barrel of oil of $122.26 in the quarter compared to $76.14 in the January-March period, citing the “turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa” for the strong prices.

Revenue rose 24.6 percent to 73 billion ringgit. But Shamsul warned the outlook for the rest of the financial year was challenging because of the weak global economy. “Based on our July numbers, we are

definitely going towards a slowdown. We had a good run (in the first quarter) and I think the party is over. “We are moving into a slowdown and I think this will continue into next year.” He said demand will be hurt by near-stagnant economic growth in the United States-the world’s largest oil consumer-and the possible resumption in the coming months of oil supplies from Libya, where rebels appear close to overthrowing longtime ruler Muamer Gaddafi after a six-month civil war. —AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

BUSINESS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Spain govt, PP agree to deficit limit law New law will allow for some flexibility in times of crisis

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin talks to the media at the French ambassador’s residence in Beijing on August 26, 2011. Baroin is in Beijing for talks on the G20 summit to be held in the southern French resort town of Cannes on November 3-4 and will mark the end of France’s presidency of the Group of 20 forum. —AFP

Slump, not protest, threatens French deficit campaign PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy is aiming to do what no French government has dared in nearly four decades-cut the deficit in a presidential election year.

But an about-turn in French voters’ attitudes to austerity means that the biggest risk to Sarkozy’s plan lies not in a backlash of street protests ahead of April’s election, but that deficit-cutting measures unveiled this week prove insufficient.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Wednesday announced plans for 12 billion extra euros in deficit cuts this year and next- mostly in the form of higher tax revenues-to ensure France hits what he called “sacrosanct” budget targets. The government had no choice but to come up with the measures after disappointing growth made it unlikely that the euro zone’s second-biggest economy would generate enough tax.

Acknowledging a global slowdown would weigh on France, officials have pared growth forecasts to 1.75 percent in 2011 and 2012 from 2.0 percent and 2.25 percent respectively. However, many economists warn that those estimates remain too optimistic, raising the threat of France failing to reach its deficit goal of 4.5 percent of output next year. “The real question is what do we do if we don’t have 1.75 percent growth?” said Dominique Barbet, BNP Paribas’ head of market economics. “The answer, which is not the same as it would have been several years ago, is that we take whatever measures are necessary to reach the target.” A second round of belttightening would not necessarily have to be put off until after April’s vote because shifting attitudes in France against debt and deficits mean budgetary rigor no longer spells political suicide, Barbet said.

As he did in the latest package, Sarkozy could tighten loopholes and cut tax breaks while avoiding wide-ranging and politically sensitive tax hikes or spending cuts.The French tax code is littered with over 500 tax breaks that the government estimates cost some 75 billion euros in revenues a year, making them ripe for the picking.

CHANGING ATTITUDES If Sarkozy, widely expected to run for a second term in the election, meets the targets, his government will be the first on either the right or left to reduce its deficit since France began running deficits every year since 1975. In the past, turning the fiscal screws in the run-up to a major election would have risked antagonizing voters weaned on one of Europe’s most generous welfare systems, which had traditionally made talks of budget austerity a political no-no.

Mindful that austerity measures drove centre-right prime minister Alain Juppe from power in 1997, Sarkozy forbade ministers from uttering the word “rigueur” to a French public wedded to high-class but expensive public services. — Reuters

MADRID: The Spanish government said yesterday it had reached an agreement with the main opposition People’s Party (PP) to establish limits on the public deficit and debt as part of the constitution. The constitutional amendment, which will not include specific deficit cap figures, will be accompanied by a law which will set a ceiling for Spain’s structural deficit over the course of an economic cycle at 0.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The law must be approved before June 30, 2012, and will come into effect from 2020, the government said in a statement early yesterday morning. The move follows calls by Germany and France for countries immersed in the euro zone’s debt crisis to set obligatory limits on deficits to regain the trust of investors.

Spain’s deficit is at the heart of concerns it could need a bail-out like Greece. It has pledged to bring its headline public sector shortfall down

to 3 percent of GDP by end-2013, in line with European Union guidelines.

Spain has slashed the headline deficit, one of the highest in the euro-zone, to an expected level of around 6 percent of GDP at the end of this year from 11.1 percent in 2009.

The constitutional amendment, only the second since it was drawn up after the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1978, will not include a deficit figure to give the economy greater flexibility during times of crisis. The framework for the law says the central government’s structural deficit should not exceed 0.26 percent of GDP, while that of each regional government should not be over 0.14 percent. Local governments must present a balanced budget. The law will also establish criteria for the progressive reduction in the level of the country’s debt in line with the euro zone’s growth and stability pact, the government said.

Both parties subscribing to the

agreement can revise the deficit caps in 2015 and 2018.

Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who will not be renewing his term as leader of the Socialists in November’s general election, said he wanted to set the constitutional cap before he left office.

Following Zapatero’s announcement, economists applauded the call to include some level of budgetary prudence in the constitution saying it would help assure markets concerned by the fiscal outlook.

“This proposal comes as a (positive) surprise as it was expected that an expenditure-ceiling rule would be voted by each of the regional parliaments in September, but there is no guarantee that every regional parliament would support it,” Barclays Capital said. “However, the proposed constitutional amendment would automatically apply to all levels of the government, including the regions.” — Reuters

Anglo Irish Bank narrows huge loss

Jobless people line at a job fair in Marid.

British growth slows to 0.2% in second quarter LONDON: Britain’s economy slowed sharply in the second quarter, posting growth of only 0.2 percent after 0.5 percent in the first, official data showed yesterday, confirming an initial reading. “Gross Domestic Product increased by 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2011, following an increase of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

The data was unchanged from an initial estimate published in July. The ONS also said that GDP grew by 0.7 percent compared with the second quarter of 2010, unchanged from the initial estimate. There was little movement for sterling or on the London stock market following the data which matched analysts’ expectations. The

ONS maintained its reasons for the slower quarter-on-quarter growth, which it said were a series of one-off events including a public holiday for the royal wedding. Most workers in Britain did not work on April 29, the day of Prince William’s marriage to Catherine Middleton. Also during the second quarter, British manufacturing was hit by a shortage of parts arriving from earthquake-hit Japan.

“As was widely expected, the preliminary estimate of a 0.2 percent quarterly rise in GDP in the second quarter was unrevised, confirming that the economic recovery had little momentum heading into the third quarter,” said Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics research group. — AFP

DUBLIN: State-rescued Anglo Irish Bank said yesterday that its pre-tax losses narrowed to 101 million euros ($146 million) in the first half after an Irish corporate record loss of 8.2 billion euros a year earlier.

The 2010 figure included huge losses on toxic loans Anglo Irish later sold to the National Asset Management Agency, the state’s ‘bad bank’ set up to bailout out its bankrupt banking sector.

Anglo Irish, nationalised bank receiving 29.3 billion euros in rescue funding from the Irish government, is to be wound down by 2020.

It merged with the Irish Nationwide Building Society in June as part of the government’s radical overhaul of the country’s lenders. The new group has been named the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

Anglo Irish chairman Alan Dukes said yesterday that while the bank had made “considerable progress ... the unprecedented market turmoil, market liquidity and currency issues that currently face euro-zone countries present a challenging background.”

Last November, euro-zone member Ireland had to seek an 85 billion-euros rescue package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund as massive debt and deficit problems left the country on the verge of collapse. — AFP

A

y

SaturDaY, auGuSt 27, 2011

e niv rsar n

Years

Bollywood’s Salman Khan to have surgery Page 25

Brazil’s blind ballet dancers find stride Page 24

Jeweled rings adorn an ice cream cone display at Tiffany & Co, in San Jose, California. — AP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Selena Gomez has no plans to go to college

Lindsay Lohan

compares herself to Monroe

T

he 19-year-old star - who is dating Justin Bieber - is “open” to returning to her studies in future but is currently happy to focus on her career. She told ‘The Ralphie Radio Show’: “I’m of course always open to [going to college], but at the moment I’m definitely enjoying where I’m at right now and having a great time touring and focusing on that.” The ‘Love You Like A Love Song’ singer also insisted that recent speculation she is

to star in a new prequel to hit TV series ‘Sex and the City’ is not true, though she admitted she would be “honored” to appear if the show did happen. Asked about the speculation, she said: “That’s all rumors, it would definitely be an honor but I haven’t been approached “I am a ‘Sex and the City’ fan, actually my mom is probably more, I wasn’t allowed to watch it when I was younger, so I kind of missed a lot but I saw a couple of episodes.”

Denise Richards moving near ex-husband Charlie

D

enise Richards is moving to a house six doors away from ex-husband Charlie Sheen. The actress who has two daughters, Sam, seven, and six-year-old Lola, with the actor, as well as three-month-old adopted daughter Eloise is set to move to a property Charlie purchased earlier this year, which is in the same gated community as his own mansion. Sources claim the former couple are getting on reasonably well and Charlie wants his two daughters to be closer to him so they can spend more time together.

According to gossip site TMZ, Denise has started moving her belongings in and has told her girls they will begin living there

T

Marcia Cross hates saying goodbye to ‘Desperate Housewives’

within the next two weeks. And it’s not just Denise and her daughters moving into the gated community in Los Angeles. The former ‘Two and a Half Men’ star is also set to purchase a property for his other exwife, Brooke Mueller, to live in with their two-year-old twin sons, Bob and Max. However, it seems Brooke could soon be moving back into Charlie’s house as the pair - whose divorce was finalized earlier this year - are rumored to have rekindled their relationship. The couple - who have both battled drink and drug addictions in the past - recently enjoyed a romantic break in Mexico and sources say they are considering giving things another go.

he actress has played perfectionist Bree Van de Kamp in the TV drama, which is coming to an end after the next season, since 2004 and while she thinks it’s the right decision, she will miss her co-stars, crew and the rest of the team. She said: “I was glad in a way because I thought it was coming. Everyone seemed to be in denial until the announcement actually came. But it was a good thing. It feels right, even though it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye. “It’s not just the cast, it’s the people you don’t see that we’ve all grown attached to over the years, like my hair and make-up girls. They’ve supported me throughout this entire thing, so it goes without saying that we’re so bonded and connected. I have some really strong ties.” Although the show is finishing, the 49-year-old actress - who stars in the series with Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman says it would be “interesting” if there is a movie version of ‘Desperate Housewives’. She said: “I’d be really surprised if there was a movie, but I never say never. It will be interesting to see what happens.”

T

he troubled actress - who has had several stints in rehab and a string of legal problems, most recently serving 35 days house arrest after breaching probation by stealing a necklace - insists she doesn’t want to be a “celebrity” and believes people no longer view her as a “real person”. Comparing herself to late screen icon Marilyn Monroe, she said: “People in their mind have created who I am and act as if there is no real person inside of me. Just like Marilyn. “Marilyn never wanted to be just a celebrity. Neither do I. “I had always thought that movie stars were in films that would last forever in your mind. But now the films don’t. I don’t want to be remembered as someone who just wanted to be photographed, who goes out at night, and gets in trouble. “Heath Ledger once said to me, ‘It’s built you up to knock you down’ and that’s all it is. “Marilyn said she had no foundation. But she said she was really working on it. I’ve been trying to do the same thing. I believe in myself and I’m a good actress.” Lindsay, 25, says she has always identified with Marilyn - who died in 1962 at the age of 36 - and says the blonde beauty inspired her to always want to appear strong and in control. In a foreword for Susan Bernard’s new book ‘Marilyn: Intimate Exposures’ she wrote: “Marilyn was the beautiful bad girl in that tight, rose dress. The character she played was strong and taking control, which I unconsciously knew at that young age [12] was a necessary quality for a woman.” Lindsay writes. “I can understand the photographer [Bruno] Bernard of Hollywood’s statement, ‘It took a superhuman effort to be Marilyn.’ I identify.”

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Kelly Brook wants to marry boyfriend

K

elly Brook would “love” to get married. The ‘Piranha 3D’ actress - who experienced a tragic miscarriage in March - would like to walk down the aisle with her rugby player boyfriend Thom Evans at some point in the future but is not in a rush and is focusing on being a “good girlfriend” for the moment. She said: “One day I’d love to have children

and I’d love to be married but now I’m just focusing on working on staying healthy and fit and being a good girlfriend. That’s my priority. When the time’s right and if it happens, it happens. “I won’t be proposing to anyone anytime soon, put it that way.” Kelly, 31, is currently enjoying spending time at home with her family in Kent, South East England, getting back in

shape and focusing on her modeling and acting careers. She added: “I’ve been getting fit, working out, riding my bike, going back to the gym and doing photo shoots and modeling. It’s been really nice to get back in my body and get fit again. I’ve really enjoyed just being with boyfriend and my family, being at home in Kent and having time to myself.”

Robbie Williams shaves off ageing beard

Kris Jenner

R

obbie Williams shaved his beard after being mistaken for an old man. The ‘Angels’ singer has been back at home in Los Angeles working on his new solo album after finishing a tour with Take That, but decided to cut the beard he had been growing after a dinner guest mistook his for a man approaching 60. The 37-year-old pop star wrote on his blog: “I had some guests for dinner. One, who didn’t know anything about me, was 57. We were talking about skiing and he said, ‘You and I have to be careful at our age’. Then he referred again to ‘our’ age. “It’s the beard, isn’t it? I’ve trimmed it down.” Robbie then posted a photo with him sporting a greying goatee. In an earlier post titled ‘Beard Watch’ Robbie had remarked on the fact his beard hair had started coming through differently, writing: “I have new grey stuff ... It wasn’t there when I last grew one.” Robbie was last spotted with a beard in late 2007 when he first started dating his now wife Ayda Field. The singer recently revealed he had finished writing the lyrics for several new tracks and is confident the new record is going to be a hit. He wrote on his blog: “I wrote everything I needed to finish - aren’t I a good boy? “I know I like blanket statements about my music - but this album is by far my most consistent. “We have an embarrassment of riches where singles are concerned - happy days.”

to host The Talk

Kelly Rowland looking for ‘Mr Right’

T

he 30-year-old singer - who has previously been linked to British TV presenter Reggie Yates - admits she has little time to search for love but is happy to settle down if she can find someone who will commit.

She told Vibe magazine: “I don’t have time for love right now. I’ve only been in love once. I’d like a Mr Right. “I don’t want them hopping around with Sarah, Michelle, Jessica. I want him to be mine.” The former Destiny’s Child singer - who is currently a judge on the British version of ‘The X Factor’ - has previously revealed she would like to settle down and have children in the future, and is actively dating. She said: “I’m dating and happy. I definitely want to get married and I definitely want babies.”

However, she will not settle for anyone and has no hesitation in ridding herself of a bad boyfriend. She added: “When I noticed myself starting to creeps, and unavailable guys, I changed that real quick.”

K

ris Jenner is going to be a guest host on ‘The Talk’. The showbiz matriarch - who manages the careers of her daughters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian - has signed up to appear on the panel of the CBS TV show for two weeks in the upcoming season. Kris, 55, is also being considered as a permanent substitute when regular Sharon Osbourne is unable to appear. Sheryl Underwood will also be joining ‘The Talk’ as a permanent member of the panel, which as well as Sharon also includes Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert. However, Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete haven’t had their contracts renewed for the second series which kicks off on September 6.

Meanwhile, Kris’ lesser known daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner are set to take more prominent roles in the family’s reality TV show ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’. The pair are going to be featured more because Kim - who married basketball star Kris Humphries last weekend - and Kourtney have their own upcoming series ‘Kim & Kourtney Take New York’ and Khloe has a spinoff show with husband Lamar Odom and it’s something Kendall is looking forward to. Kendall said: “We’re having so much fun.

Kylie and I are really happy ... We weren’t really a big deal in the show a while ago ... We didn’t even really wanna be in it too much, we were just not into it, we were in school, we wanted to be with our friends and have fun.”

Sean Penn

has a new girlfriend

S

ean Penn reportedly has a new girlfriend. The romance between the ‘Milk’ actor and Shannon Costello is said to have blossomed when they both worked together for his non-profit J/P Haitian Relief Organization charity, where she was formerly communications director, according to People magazine. Sean, 51, and Shannon, 26, are said to have been friends since 2009 and were first spotted together in July after Sean’s three-month relationship with Scarlett Johansson had ended. —Bang Showbiz

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Brazil’s

blind ballet dancers find stride

W

ith a lost look, a group of dancers hold the bar as they practice plies, twists and turns, as their teacher corrects their posture with a gentle touch. Learning is slow and arduous, requiring much patience from ballerina Fernanda Bianchini, 32, who is trying to convey the beauty of the discipline to the students, who have one major difficulty: they are blind. “The hardest thing is to teach the movement of the arms,” Bianchini says, saying that some have never seen these motions. It is easier to show the position of the legs, by focusing on the natural stiffness of the lower appendages, she adds.

But the challenges become surmountable with some creative

instruction. “We try to associate each step with something concrete,” said Bianchini, who asks the dancers to imagine movements such as hugging a tree, and uses palm leaves to assist in the motions of the arms and hands.

“I love dancing, it is my life. I want to be a professional,” said Giselle Aparecida Camillo, 32, who became blind at 16 from glaucoma. “It will be tough but I’ll get there,” said the woman who has been with the ballet company for one year.

She does get frustrated at times, such as the battements, or kicking motions: “the others do it well, but I am terrible,” she said. The dancers of the Fernanda Bianchini Association, the only Brazilian ballet company for

the blind, are practicing hard as they prepare for a performance of “Don Pasquale” in Sao Paulo’s National Dance Encounter gathering. They manage to maintain the company through foundation grants and from ticket sales.

“Increasingly the public wants to see something different. And we understand then they like us,” said Gyza Pereira, 25, who became blind at age nine and spends six hours a day at the ballet, including giving instruction to others. “I did not believe a blind dancer could do those moves so perfectly,” she said. The hardest are leaps and pirouettes, “which require a lot of balance, and someone without sight has no reference points.” “We

have to concentrate a lot,” she added.

These dancers began performing at the Sao Paulo festival in 1998, before an audience that knows ballet well. Although they may not have the ideal build, they have shown a tremendous ability to learn and overcome barriers, says the company director. People can see “that they are able to dance, and dance well,” says Bianchini, who teaches 70 students, including around 50 with sight problems, and others with hearing or other handicaps. They gain inspiration from the legendary Alicia Alonso, a choreographer and founder of Cuba’s national, who was one of the great 20th century ballerinas despite being nearly blind. — AFP

G

round-breaking chef Ferran Adria is on a quest to find the soul of Asian cooking, which could perhaps provide key hints for future gastronomic inventions from the man who brought the world culinary foam.

Considered the world’s best chef by several critics, Adria and his El Bulli restaurant became synonymous with a transformation of traditional dishes into fun and funky culinary adventures.

But, pleading a need for transformation, he last month shut the restaurant down-at least in its current incarnation. It will re-open in 2014 as the El Bulli Foundation. “I don’t know much about Asia, and Asia could be an archive of ideas,” Adria told Reuters in Hong Kong, on the sidelines of a trip promoting Spanish food, after a visit to Beijing and Shanghai.

“The gastronomical culture of China is very, very important. Simply to just get to know all the products that exist in China but not exist in the West would take months.” Roughly 15 trips to Japan have helped him understand the country and its cuisine a little, but this has merely whetted his appetite for learning about the rest of the continent. “I’ve looked at the soul of the cooking and the reason of things (in Japan) and then I started looking at cooking techniques.

But I haven’t got to that point for the rest of Asia

yet,” he added.

At this stage he said his visit had almost sparked more questions than answers. “What kinds of Chinese cuisine are there? Does imperial cuisine come from traditional cuisine or not?

These are all the things we need to know,” he said. “You cannot get an influence from the cuisine of a country if you don’t understand it. And to understand it, you’ve got to study it.”

Taming the monster At the final El Bulli dinner last month Adria said the restaurant had become “a monster” that needed taming and transformation. Its new incarnation, the El Bulli Foundation, will be a centre for new culinary inventions from the Catalan who gave the world paella made of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and gazpacho popsicles.

Asked about his comment, Adria chuckled but said that success requires transformation, especially once things becomes as complex as the restaurant had. But he is confident the foundation will again stamp his mark on the gastronomic world. It will be open to the public, although reservations and opening hours will not be those of any usual eatery. “(It) is to be a think tank where we will share everything that we create and divulge it around the world,” he added. —Reuters

Taiwan Art Show

Ferran Adria

‘Soul-searching’ chef Ferran Adria looks to Asia

A visitor views the “Double Neon Fragment” by artist Jeppe Heln during the 2011 Art Taipei exhibition yesterday. More than 200 pieces of art work from nine countries will take part in this four-day exhibition.

A woman walks past a painting named “2,450 Pounds” by artist Yang Xu.— AFP photos

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

In this image, Eminem (right) and Rihanna are shown during the filming of their music video, “Love the Way You Lie” which is nominated in the new category Best Video with a Message at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards tomorrow. — AP

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, brand ambassador of Metro Shoes, poses on the set of a photo shoot in Mumbai. — AFP

Hurricane Irene is

T

biggest monster at box office

he monster at this weekend’s box office has nothing to do with the movies. It’s Hurricane Irene, and it’s threatening to shave several percentage points off what already was expected to be a feeble box office take. The storm, which the Weather Channel is calling “an extraordinary threat” and “potentially devastating,” could affect more than 50 million Americans from North Carolina to New England. A state of emergency has been declared in New Jersey, North Carolina and New York, and New York City mass transit is shutting down this weekend.

As one studio executive noted drolly, “That’s not exactly movie weather.” A hurricane is a whole lot scarier than the massive snowstorm that kept “Avatar” from breaking box-office opening weekend records in December 2009. And a few percentage points can make the difference on a weekend that’s traditionally weak-and one in which the No 1 movie at the box office almost certainly will be “The Help,” the DreamWorks hit now in its third week. Even in good years, the last few

weekends of August tend to be box-office bummers, but Irene and a trio of new releases that offer low expectations may be the perfect storm. Even before Irene threatened to keep the eastern seaboard away from the movies, no new picture was expected to take in even $15 million this weekend. The three new films, the Weinstein Co’s R-rated comedy “Our Idiot Brother,” FilmDistrict’s R-rated horror “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” and Sony’s PG-13 thriller “Colombiana,” are all battling for second place, with no one expecting anything huge. Or even big.

The Weinstein Co. is betting that the lowcost “Idiot” will nonetheless pay off handsomely. And there’s reason to believe it will.

R-rated comedies have been hot this summer-”The Hangover Part II,” “Bridesmaids,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Bad Teacher” all were legitimate hits, and “Friends With Benefits” was a modest success. The more recent “The Change-Up” and “30 Minutes or Less” flopped. Trailers have been in theaters since April, and tracking shows the movie doing

Salman Khan to have surgery L

eading Bollywood actor Salman Khan is to have surgery in the United States to correct a facial nerve disorder that leaves him in excruciating pain, he said in an article published yesterday.

The 45-year-old star of blockbuster films like “Dabangg” (Fearless) wrote in the Hindustan Times newspaper that he had been prescribed strong medication to alleviate the symptoms, which first began four years ago. But the drugs were ineffective and he has been in constant agony for the last year, leaving him unable to eat or drink anything cold. “The pain is a bit too much now. So I’m going to the US to get it fixed,” he wrote in the English-language daily.

“Now, we’re getting down to something we should have done a long time ago taking care of it.”

Doctors diagnosed Khan with trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder caused by pressure on the nerve carrying sensations from the brain to the face, leading to stabbing or electric shock-like pain.

Khan said that tests, including an MRI scan, also identified an aneurysm, which caused a swelling of the blood vessels in the brain.

“That has a chance of bleeding and could be fatal. But they’re just scaring me,” he added. Trigeminal neuralgia is thought to be associated with ageing. —AFP

well among both men and women, particularly those younger than 25.

Then there’s the cost. Weinstein acquired the movie at Sundance for around $6 million, but has been spending heavily-by Weinstein standards-on marketing. Weinstein, which hasn’t had a big hit since “The King’s Speech,” will cheer for any take in the double digits for “Our Idiot Brother,” which opens in 2,555 locations. The movie, directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Paul Rudd, is aptly titled. It’s about an idealist who barges into his three sisters’ lives. Outside projections have it taking in anywhere from $9 million to $12.5 million.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is a remake of the 1973 TV movie. Troy Nixey’s R-rated horror, which FilmDistrict acquired and is releasing, has a fancy pedigree: Guillermo del Toro wrote the film, which had a budget estimated at around $28 million. Katie Holmes stars.

Horror comes with a solid fan base, and there has been strong internet awareness and search engine tracking. It’s particularly strong

Egyptian actor Asser Yassin smiles to the camera as he poses in front of the poster of his new film “Bibo & Bashir, by Egypt’s young director Mariam Abu Aouf, during a press conference to announce the launch of the action movie on the occasion of the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the fasting holy month of Ramadan, in Cairo late on August 25, 2011. In the poster, Egyptian actress Menna Shalabi sits next to Yassin. — AFP

among women younger than 25, with African-Americans and Latinos.

The movie, which opens at 2,716 locations, is projected to bring in anywhere between $10 million and $13 million. It’s about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend, only to discover terrifying creatures in her new home. But while this has been a good summer for R-rated comedy, it’s been a frightening summer for horror. “Final Destination 5” underperformed in its Aug. 12 opening weekend, grossing a weak $18 million-good enough to be No. 3 at the box office. The next weekend, “Fright Night” opened with an unimpressive $7.7 million-No. 6 at the box office. Finally, there’s “Colombiana,” a PG-13 movie about a girl who witnesses her parents’ murder and grows up to be an assassin. The movie, directed by Olivier Megaton, had a budget estimated at $40 million and opens at 2,614 locations. Projections range between $7 million and $8 million on the low side to $14 million. — Reuters

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Star-studded Venice fest gets mojo back

T

he Venice film festival has rediscovered its movie mojo this year, putting high costs and growing competition from Toronto aside to provide a lineup full of hotly anticipated titles and big Hollywood stars. George Clooney, a regular favorite on the Lido island where the world’s oldest film festival is held, kicks off the glamorous 11-day event on Wednesday with “The Ides of March,” a political drama which he also directed. His cast includes Ryan Gosling and Philip Seymour Hoffman, part of a roll-call of Alisters that includes Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and pop superstar Madonna.

“I don’t recall a time when so many people have been so excited by a line-up and that is across the board,” said Jay Weissberg, film critic for Hollywood trade publication Variety who is a Venice festival regular. “There’s a nice Hollywood contingent which is composed of directors and stars like Clooney who appeal to a very broad range of both festival insiders and the general public,” he said. “But it is more

than just Hollywood.”

Film makers from around the world will descend on the canal city from Aug. 31 to Sept. 10 to showcase their movies, and attend a whirlwind of photocalls, press conferences, interviews and parties.

Blockbusters rarely feature, but a slot in Venice is coveted by lower-budget US productions for the exposure it brings and because it acts as the unofficial launch of the annual awards season ending with the Oscars. Venice overlaps with the Toronto film festival, regarded by Hollywood as a cheaper alternative and featuring many of the same movies, but Venice director Marco Mueller has put together a program that should eclipse 2010’s worryingly lowkey edition.

Spies, royalty, poverty, disease Among the most eagerly awaited titles is “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” an adaption of John Le Carre’s spy novel starring recent Oscar winner Colin Firth as well as Gary Oldman and John Hurt. The film, directed by Sweden’s Tomas Alfredson, is one of 22 in the main Venice competition, and has already won the blessing of the

British author whose “The Constant Gardener” also made it to the big screen.

“It’s not the film of the book,” Le Carre said in remarks carried on his website.

“It’s the film of the film, and to my eye a work of art in its own right. I’m very proud to have provided Alfredson with the material, but what he made of it is wonderfully his own.” Other standout titles in competition include Briton Andrea Arnold’s take on the Emily Bronte novel “Wuthering Heights,” US director Ami Canaan Mann’s “Texas Killing Fields” and William Friedkin’s “Killer Joe.” In “A Dangerous Method,” Canadian David Cronenberg explores the rivalry between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud as a young woman (Knightley) comes between them. Roman Polanski worked on the screenplay for his latest movie “Carnage,” featuring Winslet, Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz, while under house arrest in Switzerland last year. The 78-yearold was eventually freed after the Swiss authorities decided not to extradite him to the United States, where he is still wanted for sentencing for having sex with a 13-

year-old girl in 1977 in Los Angeles.

Acclaimed Russian director Alexander Sokurov brings “Faust” and Hong Kong’s Johnnie To presents “Life Without Principle,” a story touching on the economic crisis and its effect on ordinary people. Outside the main lineup, Madonna makes her second foray into feature films with “W.E.,” a drama loosely based on divorcee Wallis Simpson whose relationship with King Edward VIII led to his abdication in 1936.

Egyptian documentary “Tahrir 2011” covers the revolution and overthrow of the old regime, Philippe Faucon explores radical Islam in “La Desintegration” and Al Pacino plays himself and King Herod in “Wilde Salome.” Steven Soderbergh promises an all-star cast including Damon, Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Law and Paltrow in “Contagion,” about a lethal airborne virus that spreads panic. — Reuters

LMFAO

prove they’re more than a novelty act “I

’m in Miami Trick” may have been a novelty hit, but LMFAO have proven that they are no novelty act. The familial duo of Redfoo (Stefan Kendal Gordy) and Sky Blue (Skyler Austin Gordy), known for crazy outfits, wild hair and even wilder music, have proven their staying power three years after their initial hit, and have provided the song of the summer with “Party Rock Anthem.”

Redfoo said he never had an y doubt it would be a No 1 smash. “It had so many components. It had the feeling, the vibe. It had the epic. It had the classic dance break. It is like, ‘Everyone stop what you are doing - you have to move, right here.’” LMFAO are further burnishing their club credentials with a tour with dance queen Ke$ha. But the pair - who come from music royalty - insist there is more to them than party music.

AP: W hat do you say to people who thought you would be a one-hit wonder?

Redfoo: It is a big deal just to keep on your path. That is the biggest thing. Luckily, we are dreamers and we believe that whatever we are thinking, we are going to bring about in our life, kind of like “The Secret.” It has been really easy to stay focused. The haters want to hate. They want to talk about this and talk about that. We don’t even acknowledge it.

AP: Do you feel like the reason your music is popular is because you tapped into something that wasn’t being widely represented?

Redfoo: It was happening in the DJ world. DJ AM, the late, great (DJ).... was like, “I am starting a night, and I am going to play what I want to play. ...

You stand in line. You get in. You can’t pay the DJ to play. We are going to play what we want to play.

Eighties, a little rock, house music.” A lot of the DJs, including us, wanted to play that stuff. That is what we wanted to play. We were bored of the slowertempo stuff. We wanted some fun stuff. ... (We) were like, “Let’s do more of this, that electro thing.”

We could sing. We could rap, dance. You can do anything you want to do. See, when you are doing

In this file photo, Redfoo (left) and SkyBlu, from the music group LMFAO, pose for a portrait in Los Angeles. — AP something new, there (are) no rules. We said, “Let’s create a new thing, “ then boom - party rock.

AP: So you promote this party lifestyle, but do yoga daily?

Sky Blu: I feel like we are professional athletes and our whole life, we have trained as athletes and had the dream to become professional in an athletic situation. So, martial arts and all that stuff, I have been doing since I was 3 years old. Now that we party all of the time and are doing all of this stuff, I felt like I had to take it back to the roots of the body and get the stretch on, so I do yoga and

martial arts. I do my best to eat raw food as much as I can and then drink and do what I do because it balances it out.

AP: Your style of dress attracts a lot of attention. Do you feel that kind of attention stops people from taking you seriously as artists?

Sky Blu: I think how we dress represents the music and the nature of us. We are happy people and we are on this earth to make people happy.

We dress accordingly to that. We dress fly, flashy, fun. AP: You are both related to Motown Records founder Berry Gordy (Red Foo is his son, Sky Blu is

his nephew). Has he been instrumental in guiding your careers?

Redfoo: Definitely. He has been where we are now with all his artists, with Dian a (Ross), Smokey, (Robinson), Marvin (Gaye), The Jackson 5. He is saying, “OK. You need this or you need to get on these shows.”

Then will.i.am has been here, and he says, “You need to do ‘Good Morning America.’ You need to do this and that.” They are from two different times and they are both saying these things, and so we have the best of both worlds. —AP

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Laurie Fox, author of “The Lost Girls,” is shown in Berkely, California. — MCT

Fondness for ‘Peter Pan’ sets stage for ‘Lost Girls’ O

ur fascination with eternal youth dies hard.

Take, for instance, that most famous champion of it, JM Barrie’s fabled Peter Pan. The charming flyboy has been popping up everywhere these days, no doubt due to the fact that this year marks the children’s story’s 100th anniversary.

In present-day Berkeley, Fox herself is sitting at a round oak table in front of a tall bay window at Le Bateau Ivre. Despite its location square at the start of Telegraph Avenue’s funky shopping district, the cottagelike coffee house, concealed by shrubbery and trees, transports its visitors to the gloomy warmth of an English pub, with its rich wood floors and a welcoming fireplace. It’s the perfect setting to discuss fairies, flying boys and Neverland. As we shake hands, Fox apologizes for her frigid hands. Never mind that it’s a frigid day, without so much as a hint of sun.

“My husband tells me I apologize too much. But why not,” she asks, half-jokingly, her fairy print bandana holding back long, bouncy locks of curly red hair. “Last night at a book reading I apologized because my English accent slips into something cockney.” It’s only fitting that this Berkeley literary-agentby-day is the creative mind behind a contemporary take on Barrie’s children’s tale. Her petite frame and ivory complexion are offset by a heathered red coat and a certain youthful glimmer in her 51-year-old eyes.

“My husband and I walk down the street laughing and giggling,” she says. “And that’s, I think, the dirty little secret about growing up, that you know you’re just as much a goofball as when you were young. But you have the look of being an elder statesperson. We almost feel apologetic, like we shouldn’t be having such a good time.”

Pop psychology points to Peter Pan to describe a condition that afflicts many grown men, namely the large-child syndrome. And certainly that is a major issue at the heart of Fox’s book. All the generations of Darling women have had the misfortune of falling for Peter Pan-like men in their real lives. The novel’s main protagonist, Wendy, a children’s author living in Berkeley, is saddled with a fancy-free father who is a jet pilot and fancies himself a dashing man of adven-

ture, sporting an eye patch. Her husband, Freeman, is equally as charmingly infantile, absorbed in recording the world’s hums and beeps. Only a young man who thinks he can hear the earth’s rotation would eventually work as a “noise boy” at Skywalker Ranch.

“I really don’t have any anger toward men,” Fox says. “A journalist from another country interviewed me, and she really wanted me to say aren’t men horrible, they’re all babies. And I said, ‘You know, it’s not that I haven’t known my share of irresponsible men and women, but I think the men in my life who are Peter Pan-like really make my life better. They enrich it because they’re playful.’”

“The Lost Girls” is also a poignant and fresh look at issues of mental illness and the life-saving virtues of the imagination. In their early teens, each of the four Darling women experiences a rite of passage, when Pan appears in the night to whisk them off to Neverland for exciting exploits, storytelling and housekeeping duties.

Great Nana Wendy is in a mental hospital because she insists on trying to relive the dream by launching off balconies. Freeman vacillates between waving off younger Wendy’s mention of her Neverland adventures as an occupational hazard of a children’s book author and helping her seek counseling. Wendy’s cheeky feminist mother, Margaret, reconciles her adventures by bedding many lovers and writing selfhelp books. And then there’s the last generation of Darling women, Wendy’s daughter, Berry, the eternal realist who has a mental breakdown after her own adventures with a Doc Marten-clad Pan. Fox says she took her cues from Barrie’s epilogue, in which he sets up a chain of succession, explaining that each generation of daughters was going to go off and have the same first boyfriend. “I thought, how twisted is that? To share the same first love as my mother and grandmother,” Fox says. “That would definitely create a huge impact on a family. And also, all the daughters who have to contend with the fact that no one would believe their story.” Fox says the female characters in “The Lost Girls” aren’t necessarily created in her own likeness, but she admits that in a way she was able to live vicariously through her charac-

ters’ active imaginations, which she does share.

“The truth is, you always invest yourself in your characters, and both my contemporary Wendy and also the character who played me in my first novel, both have more pluck and moxie than I do in real life.

They have more of a mouth on them.” And they do have quite a mouth on them. The quick, charming banter between characters is what makes the book such a joy to read. The dialogue flows so seamlessly that one confuses dialogue with voices in one’s head.

Fox’s ear for conversation can be traced partially to her theater background. The author graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a double major in theater and creative writing and went on to write and perform her own monologues and poetry. She says she reads much of her dialogue aloud.

Still, Fox has been a natural storyteller from an early age. She’s been fascinated by Peter Pan’s story since she was a kid, when she first saw the Broadway production on TV. At nights, she says, she would pick up where the adventures left off and create new escapades to lull her to sleep. The Los Angeles native has had two previous books out and published poetry in various literary journals. Her debut novel, the autobiographical “My Sister from the Black Lagoon” detailed Fox’s experience growing up in a family with severe mental illness. Her sister was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

“My sister came into the world almost like a wild child, uncontrollable,” she recalls. “My first book was dedicated to showing the upbeat side to mental illness; the creativity, the humor, the surrealism.” “The Lost Girls” was another opportunity for Fox to explore those more whimsical aspects of imagination and creativity, as well as its darker sides, she says. But the novel retains optimistic faith in the imagination.

“Both books have that in common the belief that your imagination will get you through, your imagination saves you, over and over again,” she says. “I know I’m lucky, and I know that I have a really unusual relationship (with her husband), but then I had such a sad childhood that I was ready to laugh finally when I grew up. It wasn’t time to laugh when I was younger.” — MCT

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Vintage is hot:

They only look old, really A

lthough the hunt for vintage clothing may be enticing to some people, others would rather bypass digging for buried treasure that, even when found, may consist of garments that are tattered or in a size best suited for the bird-boned women of the 1940s. But the retro aesthetic is still a desirable one, particularly for the thriving rockabilly subculture of Southern California that favors 1940s- and 1950sinspired dresses. Not to be excluded are the plus-sized women who love the look of vintage garments but are hard-pressed to find pieces that fit, especially since the average American woman is an inch taller and 24 pounds heavier than her counterpart in 1960, according to figures compiled by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Enter several local designers and retailers who are creating and selling new

lection, which comes in sizes 0 to 18, with anything larger custom-made. “We sell a lot of cocktail dresses,” she says.

“Everybody has special events to go to, and we tend to sell them year-round.”

For the full-service vintage-inspired experience, retailers such as Unique Vintage in Burbank and My Baby Jo in West LA carry new clothing, accessories, undergarments and beauty products that all fall in line with the retro aesthetic.

Unique Vintage started as a Web store a decade ago, with a bricks-and-mortar location going up in Burbank three years ago. Owner Katie Echeverry carries a wide array of vintage-inspired clothing for men and women in a variety of prices.

Her wares include Stop Staring styles, Esther Williams swimsuits and rockabilly shirts that are a bestseller with male shoppers.

But the store is best known to some in the prom-going crowd, who flock to Unique Vintage every spring to look for dresses that will make them stand out in a crowd of girls dressed largely in styles offered at the local mall.

At My Baby Jo, there’s makeup, foundation garments, shoes and clothes that,

accessible for people.” She attributes her customers’ strong attraction to looks inspired by the past to a retro culture spawned by the swing dance craze of the 1990s and, more recently, to the popularity of “Mad Men.” “There seems to be a desire to reach back to a time and period where everything seemed a little more simple,” she says. “There’s a safety and comfort to the past that people reach back to and embrace the beautiful bits of.” Von Firley houses a ready-to-wear line of dresses, separates and accessories in her 12th floor studio and store and also works often with made-to-measure garments, primarily for brides who want that antique appeal on their wedding day.

Prices range from $85 for a halter top to $3,000 for a wedding gown.

The designer is also something of a full-service time machine, offering all

Tory Varney tries on her 1930’s wedding dress at the vintage store the Way we Wore in Los Angeles, California. — MCT photos

Kitty’s Secret Shop at the home of Kitty Jensen (left) in Los Angeles, California, as Euie Bowman, (right) browses through the racks of vintage clothes. clothing crafted to look steeped in the past. Their wares include cocktail dresses and bathing suits reminiscent of a Vargas girl, and they sell to customers who seem to be taking cues from modern-day vintage vixens, such as burlesque star Dita Von Teese and singer Katy Perry. The vintage-inspired and reproduction pieces tend to appeal to people who are consistent in their love of vintage and wear the look year-round regardless of whether it’s a current runway trend.

“No one’s throwing out last season’s ‘30s clothes to get ready for this season’s ‘30s clothes,” says Annamarie von Firley, co-founder of Revamp Vintage in downtown Los Angeles. Von Firley’s designs focus on men’s and women’s clothing from 1910 to 1957, which she makes in new fabrics from vintage patterns. “These are period pieces, but they have a timeless quality to them. Also, the clothing of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s celebrates the body and are styles that are hugely

things associated with vintage style, including hair ornaments and monthly makeup classes for clients who want a face to match the retro clothes. Clothing lines such as Stop Staring and Queen of Heartz have created their businesses around the allure of vintage-inspired clothing. Stop Staring founder-designer Alicia Estrada started her line 14 years ago, infusing a love of ‘30s and ‘40s film noir into a collection of dresses done in stretch fabrics.

“There was nobody out there doing this when I started,” Estrada says. “I would go shop at vintage stores that were selling the real deal, looking for a ‘50s dress or ‘40s pencil skirt. But being a plus-sized girl, you’re not finding those styles in your size.”

Estrada designs her own patterns but consistently incorporates vintage elements such as cap sleeves and box pleats, and she works a ‘40s-inspired panel of stretchy fabric into the midsection of

dresses to allow the wearer to move and breathe comfortably while the tummy area stays sleek. She sells her clothing at boutiques all over the country and has a line for plus-size retailer Torrid. “I want to celebrate a woman’s figure and show off her curves in a sexy but classy way,” says Estrada, whose clothes run from size 4 to 26. Dresses range from $115 to $180.

Queen of Heartz creator and designer Letty Tennant began her vintageinspired clothing business making custom dresses for her girlfriends who were a part of the Orange County rockabilly scene. The demand for her creations grew as many of her friends had trouble finding vintage pieces that fit, and Tennant expanded her line to include a ready-to-wear collection that is still popular with the rockabilly community as well as with prom-goers and brides-tobe. “I focus on the ‘40s and ‘50s,” Tennant says. “I get inspired by my personal vintage collection, but we’re not a reproduction company. I make all the patterns myself.”

She adds that she tends to design with her own body type (she’s a size 14) in mind and creates clothing to flatter curvier figures. “I think about what cuts are more flattering and might use wider straps rather than spaghetti straps or implement a waistband that’s more forgiving,” she says. Dresses, priced $130 to $260, are the big draw in Tennant’s col-

Vintage shoes at a boutique run by Erin Weinger and Renee Shaab in an apartment in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. displayed together, make you feel as if you’ve been transported right back to the ‘50s. Owner Darla Montoya started the business online 10 years ago and moved into her West L.A retail space eight years ago while she was in the swing-dancing scene and wore the ‘40sstyle clothes that went along with the lifestyle.

“People of all ages are drawn to” the look of vintage, Montoya says. “The ladies’ clothes are very feminine, sexy and alluring without being revealing, and the men’s styles have a traditionally masculine look.” Montoya also creates a line for the store based on a mix of vintage and new patterns but always maintains the vintage details. The line is made up primarily of dresses for women and vintage car-club jackets for the men. Undergarments include garters and bullet bra pads for anyone who wants to go that far to get a retro shape under their clothes. “No matter what size someone is, the foundation garments make everything hang better,” Monoya says. “Plus, we like to have everything someone might need to complete the look.” — MCT

Miss Albania 2011, Xhesika

Miss Sri Lanka 2011, Stephanie

Miss Thailand 2011, Chanyasorn

Miss Puerto Rico 2011, Viviana Ortiz

And the

Miss Universe 2011 is...

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Miss Jamaica 2011, Shakira Martin, and Miss Argentina 2011, Natalia

Miss Ukraine 2011, Olesia Stefanko

Miss Egypt 2011, Sara El Khouly

CHI stylist, Emilie Guillermin, helps Miss Panama 2011, Sheldry Saez, prepare for registration and fittings upon arriving in Sao Paulo, Brazil on August 25, 2011 at Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi. She will spend the next 3 weeks appearing at events and preparing to compete in the 2011 Miss Universe Competition on September 12 at 9 pm. — AFP photos

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

technology SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Hulu’s potential buyers have concerns LOS ANGELES: Yahoo, Google, Amazon and Dish have bid or are about to bid on the video streaming site, Hulu, according to an individual with knowledge of the auction. Other companies including DirectTV are also expected to submit non-binding bids by the deadline of this weekend, which will allow them greater access to Hulu’s financials. A handful of mainly new media companies have expressed formal interest in buying the site, which has been put up for sale by co-owners Comcast, News Corp, Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity.

But even those companies circling the streaming service have significant questions about its value.

Bidders say that documents released thus far show that Hulu is not yet profitable, despite its rising revenues of $500 million in 2011. And the con-

tent deals in place with media providers such as CBS, NBC and the like expire in one year in some instances and do not extend longer than five years in any case. That makes it hard for Hulu to justify its asking price of $2 billion. “The challenge with all this over-the-top stuff is - what is the sustainable business model?” an executive at one of the bidders told TheWrap. “Are you confident that you can generate a profit?” Hulu may be a household name, with over 1 million subscribers to its premium service and a sleek interface, but the technology isn’t revolutionary enough to justify its lofty price, media executives say-at least not without longterm content deals.

“The company’s not worth that much, because it’s easy to duplicate.

But the content is very valuable,” a media executive told TheWrap.

That’s where things get tricky. Hulu’s owners want to unload the site in large part because they believe they will be able to better leverage streaming rights to their movies and shows to an outside buyer.

That’s become more appealing because the price for digital content has risen dramatically since Hulu launched in 2007. The new price point has more or less been set by Netflix, which shelled out a reported $1 billion over five years for rights to programming from the cable channel Epix. With online video growing rapidly, it stands to reason that the price for streaming rights will continue to rise. That’s why Hulu’s owners need to be careful that they don’t lock themselves into overly long content deals with any buyer in an effort to make the site more attractive.

Give away too much and they run

RIM launches BlackBerry Messenger music-share Users to access songs via instant messenger MONTREAL: Research in Motion launched a collaboration Thursday with major record labels to allow BlackBerry users to access and exchange music via instant messenger.

BlackBerry Messenger Music will let the world’s 45 million Blackberry Messenger users compile a personal library of up to 50 songs that they can listen to and share with friends, a company statement said.

The idea is that once you add friends to your “BBM Music Community” you can share as many tracks as you want with them, building up the size of your shared music library in the process. “We are thrilled to be extending the experience into a uniquely social and interactive music service,” said RIM president and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis.

The Canadian-based company has signed an agreement with music industry giants such as Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI to build a catalogue of millions of songs. The service was launched within Canada, the United States and Britain on Thursday and will be available by the end of the year to all worldwide users of BlackBerry Messenger at a price of $4.99 per month.

The price includes 50 songs, 25 of which the user can switch out for new songs each month. The BlackBerry, for a longtime known as the businessman’s phone of choice, has became more popular among a younger clientele, though notably that demographic still prefers Apple’s iPhone or Google’s Android. RIM has recently launched new products to make up for lost ground in the hypercompetitive smartphone and digital tablet market. Earlier this week, it announced new versions of its BlackBerry Curve smartphone. — AFP

China and US smash child porn websites SHANGHAI: China and the United States have closed down a network of Chinese child pornography sites, in a rare instance of cooperation between the two nations on cyber crime, Beijing said. The network comprised at least 48 pornographic sites, 18 of which contained graphic images of children, China’s public security ministry said in a statement released Thursday. The ministry said the operation to close down the sites, which were aimed at a

Chinese audience, was “the first successful joint law enforcement campaign by the two nations on online crimes”.

“We will continue to strengthen joint judicial cooperation with other nations to tackle international cyber crimes such as online pornography, fraud, gambling and hacking,” it added. Chinese police arrested several people suspected of money-laundering and maintaining the sites in China,

the ministry said. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said earlier this week that Chinese-born Wang Yong, a permanent US resident, had been charged over the sites and faced a minimum sentence of 15 years if found guilty. “The charges against Mr Wang stem from a nine-month undercover FBI operation dedicated to protecting the most innocent members of our society: children,” FBI official Janice Fedarcky said in the statement. — AFP

the risk of dulling any benefits they would reap from off-loading Hulu.

Right now the consensus seems to be that deep-pocketed Google and Amazon are the most likely to win Hulu’s hand, but it’s not clear that all of the partners are in agreement about the need to divest themselves from Hulu. Disney chief Bob Iger has bluntly said that the joint venture is “committed to selling” Hulu, but other partners of the ownership group have been more circumspect.

In an earnings call earlier this month, News Corp COO Chase Carey was less definitive, noting, “I think for us, it’s still a decision to see ... what it looks like at the end. Does it make sense to pursue that path or does it make sense for us to stay in an ownership position and continue to have it driven by content owners.”

—TheWrap.com

British minister in social media talks after riots LONDON: Britain’s interior minister and police were meeting social media companies Thursday in the wake of riots this month to discuss how to block access for people using them to plot violence. Home Secretary Theresa May was to chair a discussion with companies including BlackBerry, whose encrypted instant chat service took much of the blame for allowing rioters to coordinate the four nights of unrest in England, officials said.

Social networking sites Facebook and Twitter would also be represented at the central London meeting, said a statement from the Home Office.

“Amongst the issues to be discussed is whether and how we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality,” added a spokesman. The talks would help the government “determine how law enforcement and the networks can work better together,” he continued.

However he stressed that social networks were “not a cause of the recent disturbances but a means of enabling criminals to communicate. “We are working with the police to see what action can be taken to prevent access to those services by customers identified as perpetrators of disorder or other criminal action.” Facebook said in a statement ahead of the talks it would be explaining “measures we have been taking to ensure that Facebook is a safe and positive platform for people in the UK at this challenging time.”

There were calls to temporarily suspend BlackBerry’s messenger service during the riots that first erupted in the London district of Tottenham on August 6 and spread to other cities in England, leaving five people dead and shops and flats looted and burned. David Lammy, an opposition lawmaker from Tottenham, urged a shutdown, saying criminals were using the service to outwit police. The messenger service remained up and running throughout the unrest, however.

There was no suggestion from the Home Office, the interior ministry, that the total shutdown of networks during future unrest was on the agenda at Thursday’s talks. The idea of a total shutdown was floated by Prime Minister David Cameron in the wake of the riots.— AFP

technology SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Jobs’ new job at Apple could be ‘chief visionary’ Steve Jobs to tends to fragile health SAN FRANCISCO: The end of Steve Jobs’ reign as Apple Inc. CEO doesn’t mean he is bowing out as the maestro of personal technology.

True to its tight-lipped style, Apple isn’t spelling out how actively involved Jobs will be as the company’s new chairman while he tends to his own fragile health after surviving pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant during the past seven years.

But longtime Apple watchers have no doubt that Jobs will weigh in on all key decisions and help sculpt the company’s future product lineup. “I know enough about Steve Jobs to know that as long as he has a breath in him, he will be giving direction at Apple,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies and the dean of Apple analysts. “He is going to remain Apple’s chief visionary.” In his Wednesday resignation letter as CEO, Jobs, 56, wrote that he planned to be “watching and contributing” to Apple’s success as chairman, a position that had long been vacant.

In a sign of his commitment, Jobs put in a full day at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters during his last full day as CEO, even though he was technically still on medical leave, said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe. Bajarin and other people in close contact with Apple said Jobs remained intimately involved there even as he spent 14 of the past 32 months on medical leaves of absence. During that stretch, Apple kept pumping out smash hits and became more successful than ever, with its market value swelling from $80 billion to nearly $350 billion today.

Even so, the mere specter of Apple operating without Jobs conjures unwelcome memories. After cofounding Apple in 1976 and establishing it as a technology trailblazer, Jobs was forced out in 1985. When he finally returned in 1997, the company was in danger in going bankrupt and even needed financial help from longtime nemesis Microsoft Corp. to survive. The ongoing prosperity during Jobs’ recent illnesses is a testament to the management team he assembled and schooled, and to his own ability to remain engaged and inspired even as he convalesces.

The Steve Jobs way is so deeply ingrained in Apple’s DNA that analysts are convinced that new CEO Tim Cook and his key subordinates no longer need to hear from Jobs every day to know what he wants. In a Thursday letter to Apple employees, Cook stressed he won’t mess with the formula that worked so well during Jobs’ 14-year tenure as CEO. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change,” Cook wrote. “I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to

ment,” said Howe said. Nearly all the key Apple executives have been at the company for years, many of them joining the company around the time of Jobs’ 1997 return. The biggest area of concern is Ron Johnson, the man in charge of the Apple stores that have become the main showcase for the company’s sleek devices. Johnson is leaving Apple in November to become J C Penney Co’s CEO, but Howe thinks Apple won’t have much problem finding another savvy merchant to replace him.

Jobs has done such a masterful job plotting Apple’s progression from the

SAN FRANCISCO: In this March 2, 2011 file photo, Apple Inc Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs waves to his audience at an Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. Apple Inc on Wednesday said Jobs is resigning as CEO, effective immediately. —AP that.” Cook also noted that he is “looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration.” Cook, who has run Apple during all three of Jobs’ medical absences since 2004, will have ample help beyond his former boss. The other key players include marketing guru Phil Schiller, design chief Jonathan Ive, software mastermind Scott Forstall and the head of finance, Peter Oppenheimer.

“If you were trying to describe this group of people, it would be the dream team of executive manage-

iPod to the iPhone to the iPad that the next few years of new products are probably already in the pipeline. With an operating system already in place for use on a multitude of devices, it’s likely that Jobs already has laid the groundwork to place Apple’s technology on other gadgets with screens, including in-car navigation systems and televisions, Bajarin said.

Investors appear to be betting that Apple won’t miss a beat. Apple’s stock dipped $2.46, or less than 1 percent, Thursday to close at $373.72. — AP

GM, LG partner on electric vehicles CHICAGO: General Motors and LG Group will jointly design and engineer electric vehicles, the companies said Thursday. LG is already the battery supplier for GM’s plugin electric hybrids the Chevy Volt and Opel Amepera. The companies said the new partnership will help the top US automaker expand the number and types of electric vehicles it produces and will allow the Korean conglomerate to expand its portfolio.

The announcement comes days after Ford and Toyota unveiled plans to jointly develop a new hybrid system for light trucks and sport utility vehicles. Automakers are ramping up their development of alternative technologies

ahead of stringent new emissions and fuel economy standards being imposed around the world. Electric and hybrid vehicles are expected to play a major role in helping them reach recently announced US standards of 54.5 mpg (23.2km/l) by 2025.

“Many solutions for tomorrow’s transportation needs may be available more quickly by building on our partnership strategy,” GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said in a statement. “Consumers benefit by getting the latest fuelsaving technology faster if we work with the best suppliers and we save time and money in the development process.” —AFP

New Apple chief an operational mastermind SAN FRANCISCO: Tim Cook, the successor to legendary Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, is an operational mastermind relentless in his work ethic who played a leading role in the gadget company’s turnaround. Cook, who turns 51 years old in November, is going to have his work cut out for him as he takes over the Apple throne from a Silicon Valley technology visionary who is arguably irreplaceable.

But the soft-spoken and unassuming Cook, Jobs’s hand-picked successor, is no “Johnny-come-lately” to Apple, independent analyst Carmi Levy told AFP. “He’s been with Apple since 1998 and is widely credited with revamping the company’s manufacturing processes and returning the once-struggling outfit to profitability,” Levy said.

“If Jobs was the flamboyant, cultish, headlinegrabbing pitchman who generated so much buzz that electrified consumers would often clamor to buy new products sight unseen, then Cook was the quiet, operationally focused guy who executed on the vision and kept the machine turning smoothly in the background,” Levy said.

“There’s relatively little glory in what Mr Cook has done for much of his tenure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not critically important to the present and future of the company,” the analyst continued. “It absolutely is.” Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer until his elevation to CEO, grew up in the US state of Alabama with a shipyard worker father and a mother who tended to their home. He earned an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University before going on to earn a master’s in business administration at Duke University.

Cook’s resume includes a 12-year stint in the personal computer division of technology stalwart IBM. He spent about a half year working at computer company Compaq before Jobs hired him as a worldwide operations executive at Apple in 1998. Cook’s hiring came shortly after Jobs return to the helm of what was then a floundering company. While Jobs gets the glory for guiding Apple from the brink of ignominy to its current place among the world’s most valuable firms, analysts say Cook’s operational brilliance was key to the recovery.

Cook worked behind the scenes outsourcing manufacturing and coordinating distribution to beef up how much money Apple makes from iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers by ensuring products don’t grow stale in warehouses.

He is also credited with shrewdly negotiating deals for components that kept down Apple costs and fattened profit margins. Cook is also seen as the architect of Apple’s retail strategy, including the launch and wildly successful growth of the company’s real-world stores.

“We credit Cook with spear-heading Apple’s successful efforts to streamline its supply chain after the tech bubble,” Barclay’s Capital Equity Research said in a note to investors. “We believe Cook shares Jobs’ taste for simplicity and style-and will try to maintain the culture Jobs has instilled,” the note continued.

In a message to Apple employees on Thursday, Cook promised to do just that. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change,” the new CEO said. “Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that-it is in our DNA.” Cook is described as an intensely private man with a love for exercise. He is said to begin work before dawn and continue long after dusk. Cook has run Apple previously when Jobs needed to take medical leave in his battle with cancer. He has been handling day-to-day operations since January. —AFP

TV listings

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

00:45 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 01:40 Untamed And Uncut 02:35 Last Chance Highway 03:30 Whale Wars 04:25 Maneaters 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Must Love Cats 07:00 Lemur Street 07:25 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 08:15 The Really Wild Show 08:40 Natural Born Hunters 09:10New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin 10:05 Bad Dog 11:00 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 11:55 Crocodile Hunter 12:50 Cats Of Claw Hill 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Panda Adventures With Nigel Marven 19:15 Earthquake: Panda Rescue 20:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 21:05 Crocodile Feeding Frenzy 22:00 Killer Crocs Of Costa Rica 22:55 I’m Alive

00:00 2 Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps 00:30 The Weakest Link 01:15 Paradox 02:10 Robin Hood 02:55 Gavin & Stacey 03:25 Doctors 03:55 My Family 04:30 Tweenies 04:50 The Roly Mo Show 05:05 Me Too 05:25 Forget Me Not Farm 05:40 The Adventures Of Spot 05:50 Tweenies 06:10 The Roly Mo Show 06:25 Me Too 06:45 Forget Me Not Farm 07:00 Tweenies 07:20 The Roly Mo Show 07:35 Me Too 07:55 Forget Me Not Farm 08:10 The Adventures Of Spot 08:20 Tweenies 08:40 The Roly Mo Show 08:55 Me Too 09:15 Forget Me Not Farm 09:30 The Adventures Of Spot 09:45 My Family 10:45 Royally Mad 11:35 Robin Hood 12:20 Eastenders 14:20 After You’ve Gone 14:55 The Weakest Link 15:40 Royally Mad 16:30 Robin Hood 17:15 The Weakest Link 18:00 After You’ve Gone 18:30 Holby City 20:10 Robin Hood 20:55 As Time Goes By

00:15 The Naked Chef 00:40 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 01:10 What Not To Wear 02:00 Masterchef Australia 02:50 The Naked Chef 03:45 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 04:10 Daily Cooks Challenge 05:40 Masterchef Australia 06:30 The Naked Chef 07:00 Saturday Kitchen 11:00 Daily Cooks Challenge 15:20 Antiques Roadshow 20:30 What Not To Wear 23:50 Holmes On Homes

00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 03:55 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:45

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 Street Customs 2008 Wheeler Dealers On The Road Fifth Gear Powering The Future

00:40 X Games 15 2009 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Eddie Jordan’s Bad Boy Racers 03:10 M1 Selection 2010 04:00 Summer Dew Tour 2010 05:40 World Combat League 06:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2007 07:00 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2008 08:00 X Games Heroes 09:40 Tread BMX 11:20 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 12:10 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 13:00 BMX Megatour 13:50 Mantracker 14:40 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2009 16:20 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 17:10 Dawn To Dusk: The Uk’s Top Motorcycle...

18:00 Mantracker 18:50 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 19:40 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 20:30 BMX Megatour 21:20 Dawn To Dusk: The Uk’s Top Motorcycle...

THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER ON OSN ACTION HD 09:40 10:30 11:25 12:20 12:45 14:35 Junior 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 20:05 21:00

Science Of The Movies Weird Or What?

Mythbusters Auction Hunters Auction Kings American Chopper: Senior vs

00:05 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:25 04:15 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 07:58 08:25 08:55 09:45 10:35 13:05 14:45 14:48 15:15 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40

Smash Lab Extreme Engineering The Tech Show Powering The Future Da Vinci’s Machines How Stuff’s Made Extreme Engineering One Step Beyond The Future Of...

Inside The Space Shuttle Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Brainiac Prototype This Bad Universe Stephen Hawking’s Universe Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Bang Goes The Theory The Gadget Show Prototype This Brainiac Smash Lab

Wheeler Dealers Powering The Future Mythbusters River Monsters Man, Woman, Wild Walking The Amazon Extreme Fishing

19:30 20:20 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40

Da Vinci’s Machines The Gadget Show Sci-Fi Science The Tech Show Smash Lab Catch It Keep It Bang Goes The Theory

00:15 Sonny With A Chance 00:35 Good Luck Charlie 01:00 Shake It Up 01:25The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 01:50 Sonny With A Chance 02:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 02:35 Jonas 03:00 Kim Possible 03:25 Fairly Odd Parents 04:15 Stitch 05:00 Replacements 05:50 Emperor’s New School 06:35 Stitch 07:25 Replacements 08:15 Fairly Odd Parents 09:00 Jungle Junction 09:25 Handy Manny 09:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:10 Jake & The Neverland Pirates Splits 10:30 Fish Hooks 11:00 Suite Life On Deck 11:25 Phineas And Ferb 11:50 Good Luck Charlie 12:15 Shake It Up 12:40 Fish Hooks 13:05 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:30 Minute Men 15:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 15:25 Shake It Up 15:50 Phineas And Ferb 16:15 Good Luck Charlie

16:40 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:35 19:20 19:45

Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Behind The Scenes 01:25 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences 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 09:45 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 10:15 Khloe And Lamar 10:40 Khloe And Lamar 11:10 The Dance Scene 11:35 The Dance Scene 12:05 E! News 13:05 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 15:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 16:55 Extreme Close-Up 17:25 Fashion Police 17:55 E! News 18:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 19:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 20:55 The Soup 21:25 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 The Soup

00:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 00:30 Good Eats - Special 00:55 Lidia’s Italy 01:45 Chopped 02:35 Good Eats - Special 03:25 Food Network Challenge 04:15 Good Eats - Special 04:40 Unwrapped 05:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 05:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 05:50 Paula’s Party 06:35 Barefoot Contessa 07:00 Chopped 07:50 Guy’s Big Bite 08:15 Everyday Italian 08:40 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 09:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Barefoot Contessa 10:20 Aarti Party 10:45 Boy Meets Grill 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Paula’s Party 12:25 Everyday Italian 12:50 Paula’s Best Dishes 13:15 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 13:40 World Cafe Asia 14:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 14:30 Good Eats - Special 14:55 Unwrapped 15:20 Boy Meets Grill 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Guy’s Big Bite 17:00 Barefoot Contessa 17:25 Paula’s Best Dishes 17:50 Aarti Party 18:15 World Cafe Asia 18:40 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 19:05 Good Eats - Special 19:30 Food Network Challenge 20:20 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia 20:45 Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia 21:10 Food Network Challenge 22:00 Chopped 22:50 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 23:40 World Cafe Asia

00:00 Shark Men 01:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 01:55 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 02:50 Python Hunters 03:45 Predator CSI 04:40 Animals Of Brazil 05:35 Bug Attack 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 Monster Jellyfish 08:20 World’s Deadliest Snakes 09:15 Wild Russia 10:10 Bavaria’s Alpine Kingdom 11:05 World’s Deadliest 12:00 Sea Strikers 13:00 World’s Weirdest 14:00 World’s Worst Venom 15:00 Deep Jungle

16:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 17:00 Python Hunters 18:00 Predator CSI 19:00 World’s Worst Venom 20:00 Deep Jungle 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 Python Hunters 23:00 Predator CSI

00:00 Shark Men 01:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 01:55 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 02:50 Python Hunters 03:45 Predator CSI 04:40 Animals Of Brazil 05:05 Animals Of Brazil 05:35 Bug Attack 06:30 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 07:25 Monster Jellyfish 08:20 World’s Deadliest Snakes 09:15 Wild Russia 10:10 Bavaria’s Alpine Kingdom 11:05 World’s Deadliest 12:00 Sea Strikers 13:00 World’s Weirdest 14:00 World’s Worst Venom 15:00 Deep Jungle 16:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 17:00 Python Hunters 18:00 Predator CSI 19:00 World’s Worst Venom 20:00 Deep Jungle 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr

00:00 Departures 01:00 Graham’s World 02:00 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 02:30 Graham’s World 03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:00 The Frankincense Trail 05:00 Somewhere In China 06:00 Departures 07:00 Graham’s World 08:00 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 08:30 Graham’s World 09:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 10:00 The Frankincense Trail 11:00 Somewhere In China 12:00 Departures 13:00 Food Lover’s Guide to The Planet 13:30 Pressure Cook 14:00 A World Apart 15:00 Ultimate Traveller 16:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 17:00 Endurance Traveller 18:00 By Any Means 19:00 Food Lover’s Guide to The Planet 19:30 Pressure Cook 20:00 A World Apart 21:00 Ultimate Traveller 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Wilderness-PG15 Blood And Bone-18 The General’s Daughter-18 The Alphabet Killer-PG15 The Marine 2-PG15 Star Runners-PG15 Hollywood Homicide-PG15 The Marine 2-PG15 Shinjuku Incident-PG15 Hollywood Homicide-PG15 Ballistica-PG15 Alive - To Be Deleted-PG15

01:15 Paper Man-PG15 03:15 Emotional Arithmetic-PG15 05:00 The Karate Kid-PG 07:30 MacHEADS-PG15 09:00 Emotional Arithmetic-PG15 11:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG 13:00 Skellig-PG15 15:00 Don’t Fade Away-PG15

TV listings SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Remember Me-PG15 How To Train Your Dragon-PG Nine-PG15 Brothers-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 02:00 Family Guy 02:30 Rita Rocks 03:00 Mad Love 03:30 The Office 04:00 Two And A Half Men 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Will And Grace 06:00 Coach 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Two And A Half Men 08:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 09:00 Will And Grace 09:30 Modern Family 10:00 Mad Love 10:30 Coach 11:00 The Drew Carey Show 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Two And A Half Men 13:00 The Office 13:30 Will And Grace 14:00 Coach 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 Mad Love 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 Melissa And Joey 18:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 19:00 Rita Rocks 19:30 How I Met Your Mother 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report

00:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

American Idol What’s Good For You Burn Notice American Idol Strong Medicine Good Morning America Psych One Tree Hill Burn Notice What’s Good For You The View American Idol What’s Good For You What’s Good For You Live Good Morning America Boston Public The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. C.S.I. New York Justified Desperate Housewives Psych

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 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

The Cape Burn Notice The Gates American Idol Look-A-Like American Idol The Gates The Cape Hot In Cleveland Look-A-Like Burn Notice American Idol Persons Unknown Hot In Cleveland Look-A-Like The Ellen DeGeneres Show Persons Unknown The Cape Happy Endings Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Persons Unknown C.S.I. C.S.I. New York Justified

21:00 Strength And Honour-PG15 23:00 My Best Friend’s Girl-18 01:00 Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time-PG15 03:00 The Final-18 05:00 Wilderness-PG15 07:00 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 09:00 I, Robot-PG15 11:00 The Fast And The Furious 13:00 2012-PG15 15:45 I, Robot-PG15 17:45 8 Mile-18 19:45 Freight-PG15 21:15 Alive-PG15 23:15 Fast Lane-PG15

00:00 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past 02:00 The Prince And Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon-PG15 04:00 Old Dogs-PG 06:00 Garfield-PG 08:00 The Cable Guy-PG15 10:00 Cats & Dogs-PG 12:00 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 14:00 The Addams Family-PG 16:00 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past 18:00 A Film With Me In It-PG15 20:00 Road Trip: Beer Pong-18

01:00 03:00 05:15 06:45 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00

The Other Guys-PG15 The Fighting Temptations-PG15 Chasing Papi-PG Valentine’s Day-PG15 The Sunset Limited-PG15 Stone Of Destiny-PG15 Hope Springs-PG15 Aliens In The Attic-FAM The Sunset Limited-PG15 Couples Retreat-18

01:00 The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle-FAM 03:00 Barbie: A Fairy Secret-FAM 05:00 Queen Of The Swallows-PG15 07:00 Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Friends Forever-PG 09:00 Little Match Girl-PG 11:00 Delgo-FAM 13:00 The Princess And The Frog 15:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel-FAM 17:00 Delgo-FAM 19:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG

00:00 02:30 04:30 05:00 05:30 07:30 08:00 10:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 18:30 22:30

AFL Premiership Currie Cup Rugby Union ICC Cricket World Total Rugby Live ITM Cup Rugby Union Rugby World Cup Classics NRL Premiership Currie Cup Rugby Union Total Rugby Rugby World Cup Classics Live Tri Nations Futbol Mundial ICC Cricket World Total Rugby Live International Rugby Union Live European PGA Tour Scottish Premier League

03:30 Rugby World Cup Classics 04:00 Trans World Sports 05:00 NRL Premiership

07:00 10:00 10:30 14:30 15:00 16:00 20:00 22:00

AFL Premiership NRL Full Time Live NRL Premiership ICC Cricket World Trans World Sports Live Currie Cup Rugby Union Tri Nations International Rugby Union

01:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:30 14:00 16:00 16:30 Cup 18:30 20:30 21:30 23:30

WWE SmackDown!

WWE NXT WWE Bottomline UFC 134 Countdown UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown!

WWE Bottomline WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Extra V8 Supercars Championship SPL Highlights Live Scottish Premier League V8 Supercars Extra Live Rugby League Challenge

00:00 01:00 01:30 01:55 02:25 03:20 05:10 05:35 06:05

Jerseylicious Fashion Avenue Fashion Avenue Big Boutique How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Homes With Style Area Clean House

Live Scottish Premier League UFC 134 Countdown WWE SmackDown!

WWE Bottomline

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

07:00 Big Boutique 08:00 Clean House 09:00 Giuliana & Bill 12:50 Clean House 13:45 Clean House Comes Clean 14:45 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

15:40 Bridalplasty 16:35 Jerseylicious 17:30 Ruby 18:25 How Do I Look?

19:25 Clean House 20:20 My Celebrity Wedding With The Knot 21:15 Clean House Comes Clean 22:10 Jerseylicious 23:05 Top 10

01:35 Young Cassidy-PG 03:25 Penelope-FAM 05:00 Son Of A Gunfighter-FAM 06:30 TCM Presents Under The Influence-U 07:00 The Day They Robbed The Bank Of England-FAM 08:25 The Unfinished Dance-FAM 10:05 They Were Expendable-PG 12:15 Quo Vadis-PG 15:00 The Time Machine-FAM 16:40 The Liquidator-PG 18:20 Hot Millions-FAM 20:05 The Year Of Living

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 Watch 22:00

Life After People Ice Road Truckers How The Earth Was Made Egypt: Land Of The Gods Ancient Wonders Battles B.C. Life After People Ice Road Truckers How The Earth Was Made Egypt: Land Of The Gods Ancient Wonders Battles B.C. Life After People Ice Road Truckers How The Earth Was Made Egypt: Land Of The Gods Ancient Wonders Battles B.C. Life After People Ice Road Truckers How The Earth Was Made South Korea: A Nation To

00:00 00:30 00:40 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:10 03:30 04:30 05:00 06:30 07:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:10 10:30 11:10 11:30 12:00 13:10 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:10 15:30 16:00 16:15 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:30 20:00 21:15 21:30 22:00 23:10

BBC World News Sport Today Weekend World BBC World News America Our World BBC World News Peschardt’s Business People BBC World News Weekend World BBC World News My Country BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Middle East Business Report BBC World News Click BBC World News Weekend World BBC World News World Features My Country BBC World News The Health Show Newsnight BBC World News Our World BBC World News Weekend World Talking Movies BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News Final Score BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News The Health Show

The Korean War

06:00 Kid Vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:45 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 07:10 Iron Man: Armoured Adventures 07:35 Phineas & Ferb 08:25 Suite Life On Deck S3 08:50 Pair Of Kings 09:15 Pokemon Movie: Zoroark Master Of Illusions (Cema) 10:55 I’m In The Band 11:20 The Super Hero Squad Show 11:45 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 12:10 Kid Vs Kat 12:35 American Dragon 13:00 Aaron Stone 13:25 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 14:10 The Super Hero Squad Show 14:35 Pokemon Movie: Zoroark Master Of Illusions (Cema) 16:15 Rekkit Rabbit 16:40 Zeke & Luther 17:05 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 17:30 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 17:55 Suite Life On Deck S3 18:45 Phineas & Ferb 19:10 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 20:00 New Spiderman 20:25 Zeke & Luther 20:50 I’m In The Band

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:45 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

The Haunted Psychic Witness Nightmare Next Door Disappeared Dr G: Medical Examiner Black Museum The Haunted Mystery ER Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol Disappeared FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn CSU Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift FBI Files Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls On The Case With Paula Zahn CSU Ghost Lab The Haunted A Haunting

00:00 Trabant Trek 00:30 Word Travels 01:00 Essential 01:30 Ice 02:00 Ice 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Trabant Trek 05:30 Word Travels 06:00 Dream Destinations 06:30 Dream Destinations 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Flavours Of Peru 08:30 Flavours Of Peru 09:00 Flavours Of Peru 11:00 Planet Food 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides 15:00 The Blue Continent 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Cruise Today 17:30 Journey Into Wine...

18:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Going South 20:30 Travel Today 21:00 People Of The Sea 22:00 Essential Specials 23:00 Globe Trekker

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF PAKISTAN On the auspicious occasion of Eid-Al-Fitr, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will remain closed from 30 August 2011 to 03 September 2011. The Embassy will reopen with its routine office timings from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday September 4, 2011.

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN

Marriott Hotel hosts Ramadan Football Tournament

T

he JW Marriott Kuwait Hotel and Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait Hotel announced that it has recently hosted a Ramadan soccer tournament for its associates. The matches of this tournament were held in the playground of the stadium of Al-Arabi Sport Club. The games were attended by the board and executive committee of Al-Arabi Club in addition to managers at the hotel who handed over the medals to the winners. Dr Yaqoub Al-Shatti said that they will work on organizing this tournament which has been ongoing for the past seven years and will be organized next year due to the success that this event achieved.

The Marriott Hotel’s ‘Spirit to serve’ theme conveys the significance of its people as its most impor-

tant asset as it strongly invests in associate growth and personal development. Focusing on the workforce and reputation is one of the

Marriott’s ultimate priorities in creating a friendly atmosphere, giving ever growing pride to the Marriott record of success.

Announcements 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 Alva23726164, Suma Bhatt- 97834578 Salmiya & Hawally: Swarna Shetty- 99006934, Kripa Gatty- 66044194 Kuwait City, Jahra, Sharq : Rekha Sachu65044521,97862115 Farwaniya, Abbassiya, Shuwaikh & Khaitan: Sathyanarayana- 66585077 Sanath Shetty- 67712409.

Pathanamthitta Onam The executive committee of Pathanamthitta District Association has decided to hold 2011 Onam Festival celebrations on Friday October 28, 2011 with a grand public function attended by Member of Parliament from Pathanamthitta Loksabha Constituency, Anto Antony and other prominent dignitaries from Kerala and Kuwait. All residents of Pathanamthitta District and persons of Pathanamthitta District origin are hereby invited to attend this function and friends and families.

Art salon Bouhshari Art Gallery Exhibition runs through 15 September. Daily working hours: 10am - 1pm and 5 - 9pm, except on Friday and on Thursday evening.

Onam program

T

he Onam program celebration of Nafo is scheduled for September 30, 2011 at the Indian Community School (Senior for Girls) auditorium Salmiya. Cultural activities such as dance/skit/nadan pattukal, vallapattukal etc. followed by the traditional onasadhya will be the main events. All NAFO members are requested to make this program a grand success by participating in various activities. Please register your name at Contacts@nafoglobal.com.said the convener of the program Rajasekaran Nair. Prior to the Onam program, there is a competition for all members of NAFO, in the field of art/literature/songs/dance etc on September 24, 2011 ,in the same venue, from 9 am to 4 pm .For details please contact Nandakumar 99559416, Udayakumar 66464577 or Rajasekharan Nair 97824780.

The British Embassy will be closed on the following days: If Eid-Al-Fitr occurs on Tuesday August 30, then the Embassy will be closed from Tuesday, August 30, Wednesday, August 31 and Thursday, September 1. However, if Eid-Al-Fitr occurs on Wednesday, August 31, then the Embassy will be closed on Wednesday, August 31 and Thursday, September 1. The consular section will also be closed on the same dates above.

Visa Services The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on Monday 29, Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 August but will re-open on Thursday 1 September (09:30 - 16:30); the VAC will also be open this Saturday 27 August (09:30 - 14:30) and Sunday 28 August (09:30 14:30) as well as 3 September (12:00 - 16:00).

Application forms remain available online from the UKBA’s 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.

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.

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Ramadan Squash Tournament concludes

T

he third Ramadan Stars Squash Tournament came to an end yesterday, after its launch on August 15 at the Kazma Sporting Club in Adaylieh, where Jassem Thiab was announced the first place champion on behalf of the hobbyists category and Mohammad Hussein on behalf of the professional’s category.

Whereas Khaled Al-Ayan was announced the second place winner, and third place winner was Mohammad Al-Sawaha on behalf of the Hobbyists category. As for the Professionals category, Fayez Khan was announced second place winner, and Mohammad Al-Tawaree was announced the third place winner. This third Ramadan Squash Tournament witnessed great

acceptance by squash lovers, where 54 professional and nonprofessional players competed over a period of 7 days in the midst of an exciting and entertaining atmosphere.

Abdulrahim Al-Awadi, the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee commented saying, “The Ramadan Squash Tournament witnesses great success every year, hence, its consistency. And its distinctiveness is proven by the audiences we receive and the large number of participants whether professionals or hobbyists.” He added, “I would like to thank those who contributed in supporting and sponsoring this tournament, specifically Hussein Abu Skandar, (Secretary General) and Jamal Masqati, Squash Sports Manager at Kazma

Sports Club”.

Al-Awadi clarified that the four strongest players from each group qualified to the knockout round after playing a league, where after one star shined amongst 16 non professionals players playing best of 3 matches, whereas the 16 professional players started at the knockout round 16.

In conclusion, Al-Awadi expressed his thanks and gratitude to Go Sports, Comtel, Right Guard, TRACCS Public Relations and United Colors who sponsored this tournament and offered their full support to this sport initiative, which reflects positively on Kuwait’s youth.

KIB staff visits diwaniyas during Ramadan

A

informal atmosphere. We have enjoyed these visits where we listened to diwaniya visitors’ feedback and suggestions regarding the diversified banking services. This step comes within KIB’s efforts to meet customer’s needs, and to reach different society segments through direct and close contact with people at the places where they gather in line with the bank’s “Up-date your Ramadan” theme. “We would like to thank the owners and visitors of the diwaniyas for welcoming KIB’s staff and for giving us the chance to meet with them during the holy month of Ramadan. KIB wishes everybody an enjoyable and happy Eid,” concluded Nair.

s part of the ongoing Ramadan activities of engaging with different community segments throughout the holy month, a group of Kuwait International Bank’s (KIB) staff visited a number of diwaniyas in Kuwait.

Commenting on those visits, NGR Nair, Senior Manager-RBD, said: “Part of KIB’s senior management and staff visited a number of diwaniyas located in various districts across Kuwait where they had a good opportunity to meet with the bank’s customers.

“We are keen on communicating with diwaniyas’ owners and visitors during the holy month where open and free discussions take place and also ideas and initiatives are raised in an

Venmony Pravasi Association meeting

V

enmony Pravasi Association annual get-together will be held on Monday, August 29, 2011, at Hi-Din Auditorium, Abbassiya at 7.00 pm.

Election for new office bearers 2011-2012 will be held on the same day. All Venmony Pravasi members are requested to attend.

KATA competition

S

horin-Ryu International Seibukan Karate Do - Kuwait announces their annual seminar and Inter-Dojo Kata competition will be held in the month of

September 2011. All SISK students and sempai’s please contact Tel: 97802799 / 99832769 / 55509789.

HEALTH SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Obesity bomb ticking in US, Britain Epidemic to weigh heavily on healthcare costs everywhere HONG KONG: Obesity is most widespread in Britain and the United States among the world’s leading economies and if present trends continue, about half of both men and women in the United States will be obese by 2030, health experts warned yesterday.

Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single, most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the United States by 2030.

Some 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women are now obese in the United States, according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York. They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet.

In Britain, obesity rates will balloon to between 41-48 percent for men and 35-43 percent for women by 2030 from what is now 26 percent for both sexes, they warned. “An extra 668,000 cases of diabetes, 461,000 of heart disease and 130,000 cancer cases would result ,” they wrote. Due to overeating and insufficient exercise, obesity is now a growing prob-

lem everywhere and experts are warning about its ripple effects on health and healthcare spending. Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various cancers, hypertension, high cholesterol, among others. Because of obesity, the United States can expect to spend an extra 2.6 percent on its overall healthcare bill, or $66 billion per year, while Britain’s bill grow by 2 percent, or £2 billion per year, Wang and colleagues warned. In Japan and China, 1 in 20 women is obese, compared with 1 in 10 in the Netherlands, 1 in 4 in Australia and 7 in 10 in Tonga, according to another paper led by Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries.

“Increased supply of cheap, tasty, energy-dense food, improved food distribution and marketing, and the strong economic forces driving consumption and growth are the key drivers of the obesity epidemic,” Swinburn and Sacks wrote.

According to health experts, Obesity is most widespread in Britain and the United States among the world’s leading economies and if present trends continue, about half of both men and women in the United States will be obese by 2030.

The health experts urged governments to lead the fight in reversing the obesity epidemic. “These include taxes on unhealthy food and drink (such as sugar sweetened beverages) and restrictions on food and

beverage TV advertising to children,” wrote a team led by Steven Gortmaker at the Harvard School of Public Health, which published the fourth paper in the series. — Reuters

Many seniors leave hospital without their medicines

This NASA image obtained yesterday shows ancient white dwarf stars, as seen by Hubble, 12-13 billion years old.

Because earlier Hubble observations show that the first stars formed less than 1 billion years after the universe’s birth in the big bang, finding the oldest stars puts astronomers well within arm’s reach of calculating the absolute age of the universe. A glitter in the sky caught their eye, and astronomers have documented what they believe is the first tiny planet made of diamond some 4,000 light years away, according to a study published on August 25, 2011.The discovery of the small, fast-spinning gem world that has more mass than the gas giant Jupiter was made by an international team of researchers who published their findings in the journal Science. The diamond planet was once a huge star that is now a white dwarf after it lost most of its matter to its companion pulsar, a small spinning star about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. A white dwarf is what remains after a star like the Sun exhausts most of its energy, while a pulsar is a neutron star with an intense magnetic field that sends off pulses of high radiation that appear almost like blinking lights.— AFP

NEW YORK: Senior citizens with chronic medical issues often leave the hospital without prescriptions for the medicines they were getting for their illness-a move that may raise their risk of landing in the emergency room or even dying, a study said.

Chaim Bell, of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues used medical records for nearly 400,000 elderly people in Ontario to see how often those people left the hospital after a stay there without renewing prescriptions for five long-term medications. The drugs included cholesterol-lowering statins, blood thinners, and asthma inhalers. “These are people that have been identified to have a disease and have been appropriately treated with evidence-based treatment for that disease. So these are success stories,” Bell said. “After hospitalizations they are no longer on these medications, and that’s a shame.” In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers then compared those who’d been admitted to a hospital with those who hadn’t over the period from 1997 to 2009.

For the blood thinners, which include aspirin, as many as 19 percent of the seniors who had been hospitalized failed to get a renewed prescription within three months.

By contrast, that number was less than 12 percent for people who hadn’t been admitted to the hospital. For the other medications, the difference was less pronounced but still there, especially for those patients who landed in the intensive care unit.

While the study can’t prove that hospital stays caused patients to drop their medications, Bell said he had taken measures to ensure that in most cases the discontinuation was unintentional.

The researchers also found that patients who discontinued statins and blood thinners, both of which are often used to treat heart disease, had a slightly higher risk of dying or landing in the emergency room over the next year. Many seniors are on multiple drugs and simply may not notice that a prescription hasn’t been renewed after they leave the hospital, Bell said.

“There needs to be better communications” at the hospital, he said, adding that use of electronic patient records would be a big help. Other medical professionals note that landing in the hospital can be a good chance to adjust people’s drugs and help them change their lifestyle.

“However, transitions of care are also a threat, especially for

patients with chronic diseases and complex treatment regimens,” wrote Jeremy Kahn and Derek Angus of the University of Pittsburgh in an editorial in the journal.

“Either because of miscommunication or simple error, patients may experience unwarranted changes in treatment with potentially deleterious effects on their health.” — Reuters

HK study finds molecule that offers fertility hope HONG KONG: Hong Kong scientists said yesterday they have discovered a molecule that binds human sperm to an egg, in a breakthrough which offers new hope for infertile couples. The study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) found a key molecule on the coating of the human egg, called sialyl-LewisX (SLeX), which acts as a binding agent to help the sperm and egg stick together. “This research provides an enlightening answer to a basic important question and human fertilization-how does a sperm bind to an egg?” William Yeung, one of the researchers, told AFP. “But this is only a first step that will lead to more discoveries,” said Yeung, who is also a professor at HKU’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology.

The identification of SLeX will help to pinpoint patients whose infertility results from a lack of the substance. Armed with this information, they will then be able to choose a fertility treatment known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which directly injects a single sperm into the egg, said the researcher.

The study, which began in 2009, found SLeX on 70 percent of all the 195 unfertilised eggs tested. The eggs were donated by patients. Researchers expect the discovery to be put into clinical use in two years. The study was conducted jointly with research groups from Imperial College in Britain, Academia Sinica in Taiwan and University of Missouri in the United States. The study said that infertility affects about 15 percent of couples of reproductive age, citing figures from the World Health Organization. — AFP

A Word of Solutions

Al S f Hospital A Al-Seef H i l N Neurology Dept.

Al Seef Hospital is proud to announce the opening of Neurology Dept. unde Al under er the super supervision vision of D eurolog & Multiple Sclerosis Dr.r. Raed Alroughani / Consultant in Ne Neurolog C anadian Board Certified in Neurologyy / Canadian & American Fellowship in Multiple Sclerosis Canadian Â&#x2DC; 7 Â&#x2DC; 7Yfh]Z]YX GdYW]U`]gh ]b Ai`h]d`Y GW`Yfcg]g 7Yfh]Z]YX GdYW]U`]gh ]b Ai`h]d`Y GW`Yfcg]g Â&#x2DC; 7cadfY\Ybg]jY bYifc`c[]WU` aUbU[YaYbh h\fci[\ dUh]Ybh!WYbhYfYX cihWcaY Â&#x2DC; 7 7cadfY\Ybg]jY bYifc`c[]WU` aUbU[YaYbhh h\fci[\ dUh]Ybh!WYbhYfYX cihWcaY Â&#x2DC; 5 5 Ai`h]!X]gW]d`]bUfm 5ddfcUW\ h\fci[\ Ub YZZYWh]jY dUh]Ybh!d\mg]W]Ub Wcaaib]WUh]cbb UbX fY`Uh]cbg\]d Â&#x2DC; 5 Ai`h]!X]gW]d`]bUfm 5ddfcUW\ h\fci[\ Ub YZZYWh]jY dUh]Ybh!d\mg]W]Ub Wcaaib]WUh]cb UbX fY`Uh]cbg\]d Offfering the following Diagnosis and treat Offering treatment tment of major neurological disorders: Â&#x2DC; <YUXUW\Yg Â&#x2DC; 8]nn]bYgg Â&#x2DC; BYW_ UbX VUW_ dU]b Â&#x2DC; GY]nifYg 9d]`Ydgm Â&#x2DC; Ai`h]d`Y GW`Yfcg]g Â&#x2DC; < <YUXUW\Yg Â&#x2DC; 8]nn]bYgg Â&#x2DC; BYW_ UbX VUW__ dU]b Â&#x2DC; GY]nifYg 9d]`Ydgm Â&#x2DC; Ai`h]d`Y G GW`Yfcg]g Â&#x2DC; AcjYaYbh X]gcfXYfg Y"[ hfYacf DUf_]bgcb g X]gYUgY Â&#x2DC; AigW`Y X]gYUgYg Â&#x2DC; 8YaYbh]U X]gYUgY Â&#x2DC; A AcjYaYbh X]gcfXYfg Y"[ hfYacf DUf_]bgc cb g X]gYUgY Â&#x2DC; AigW`Y X]gYUgYg Â&#x2DC; 8Ya aYbh]U X]gYUgY - Procedures: Â&#x2DC; 99; Â&#x2DC; BYfjY 7cbXiWh]cb GhiXm UbX 9A; Â&#x2DC; 9 99; Â&#x2DC; BYfjY 7cbXiWh]cb GhiXm UbX 9A; Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2DC; J]giU` 9jc_YX DchYbh]U`g J J]giU` 9jc_YX DchYbh]U`g

For Reser vattion and Further inquires: Reservation

25764145 2576 4145 - 60012078

To adv advertise vertise on this page please co contact ontact us:

248 33 199 ads@kuwaittimes.net ads@kuw waittimes.net

Dermatology & Cosmetology Cosmetology t Dermatology t General Medicine t Internal Internal Medicine t Ent t Ophthalmology Ophthalmology t Peadiatric Peadiatric t Ob & Gynecology Gynecology

t Orthopedic Orthopedic t X-ray X-ray & Ultrasonograph Ultrasonography g p y t General Physician Physician t Dental t Laboratory Laboratory t Pharmacy Pharmacy

Cosmetology C osmetology Clinic.

Clinic.

Non N on SSurgical urggical FFacelift, acelift, Anti Annti Ageing Aggeingg W Wrinkle rinkle Frown Li / Pigmentation D b Chin Frown Lines Pigmenta g ation Double Chin Correction Skin Botox Correction i SSk kiin RRejuvenation ejuv j enation Bot ox / FFillers illers Painless Laser Laser Hair Removal Dermaroller, Dermarollerr, Painless H i Removal Skin Skin Whitening Whitening & Brighting Brightiing Vail Vaail Treatment Treatment

Wee Accept W Accept All All Major Maj ajo j r IInsuramce nsuramce C Cards ards FARWANIYA FA ARWANIYYA - OPP. OPP P. POLICE PO OLICE STATION ST TATION T Behind B ehind Magadheer Magadheer Commercial Com mmercial Complex Complex

s - 65561619 TEL: 24734000

shifakuwait@gmail.com shifak uwait@g gmail.com www.shifakuwait.com www.shifakuwait.com Working i Hours: 8.00 a Working am tto o 12:00am

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

What’s the best way to get straight A’s?

Use a ruler!

— “MORE DUMB JOKES F O R S M A RT K I D S ”

“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

Why does my teacher wear sunglasses?

Because I am so bright!

— Benjamin Franklin

ACCOMMODATION

SITUATION WANTED

BY CRISTINA BOLLING

J O H N D. S I M M O N S / C H A R L OT T E O B S E RV E R / M C T

McClatchy Newspapers

Overloaded backpacks are a health and safety issue for students who have to carry them, experts say, because they tax the spine and create a balance problem that could lead to a fall. It’s a good idea to check how a backpack fits if you will be carrying a lot of heavy books, musical instruments or heavy tech gear such as laptops. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers these tips: I Pack light. A backpack should never weigh more than 10 percent to 15 percent of the student’s body weight. Only carry items you need on that day.

Picking the right school backpack means more than just finding a bag to haul your gear. It also can be a great way to make a style statement. And as manufacturers have gotten wise to the real-life cargo of 10-pound tomes and sweaty gym clothes, it’s possible to find book bags that are both stylish and strong.

Backpacks can be used as accessories — proudly proclaiming school colors or glamming up jeans with a girliegirl print — or to identify with a certain social group. Tech gadgets may not be allowed on campus, but some kids are still selecting bags loaded with pockets for their gear.

Erin Hampson, This fall, shoppers are seeing 14, from Charlotte, the return of the traditional douN.C., personalized ble-strap book bag, as opposed to her backpack with the single-strap messenger bag her initials and that’s been popular in recent ribbons in her years, says Sheena Smith, senior schoolʼs colors. associate accessories editor at Teen Vogue.

“The backpack was seen on the fall/winter runways in a variety of materials — leather, denim, sequins and color block I Organize the book bag to canvas,” Smith says. “Whatever use all the compartments. Pack your personality, there’s a style heavier items closer for you.” to the center of the And you should choose back. Position the wisely. “Things such as brand backpack evenly name, color, cost, size and funcin the middle of tionality are factors to consider the back, near the when buying a backpack at the wearer’s center of beginning of the school year,” gravity. Don’t extend Smith says. “Students should deit below the lower cide what they are looking for, back. how much they are willing to I Adjust the spend, and then shop around for shoulder straps so the brands and retailers that carry backpack can be taken on similar backpacks.” and off without diffiShe advises shopping for a culty, but make sure the backpack in person, rather than straps aren’t too loose. simply online, to gauge the I Choose a pack with strength of the bag, how it sits on wide, padded shoulder the shoulders, and whether imstraps and a padded portant components such as zipback. Always use both pers and straps seem solid and straps to distribute the easy to use. weight and promote a wellIt’s not necessary to spend a aligned, symmetrical posture. fortune on a quality bag, but the Slinging a backpack over one cheapest options might not hold shoulder could increase curvaup all year. It’s probably worth ture of the spine. spending a little extra to ensure quality craftsmanship for that kind of durability.

Peter McGuire is often called the “father” of Labor Day. He came up with the idea for the holiday in 1882.

Understanding Labor Day Americans set aside a day to honor nation’s workers To many Americans, Labor Day marks the end of the summer, a day off from work and school, and one last chance to relax. But Labor Day is much more than just a day off. It represents a very important victory for laborers everywhere. The holiday is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.

FIGHTING FOR CHANGE More than a century ago, workers were forced to deal with harsh conditions. They were paid very little, and they often worked 10- to 12-hour days. Men, women and even small children were forced to work even when they were sick.

Tired of long hours and dangerous conditions, workers began organizing themselves into labor unions. On top of fighting for higher pay and shorter workdays, they also fought for the rights of children. The workers wanted employers to place limits on the age of their workers so that small children were not overworked or hurt in factories.

A HOLIDAY FOR WORKERS A New York City carpenter named Peter McGuire is credited for coming up with the idea for Labor Day. In 1872, after working many long hours under poor conditions, McGuire rallied 100,000 workers to go on strike. The workers marched through the streets of New York City, demanding a better work environment.

McGuire spent a decade fighting for workers’ rights. In 1882, he proposed the idea to create a special holiday for workers. On Tuesday, Sept.

5, 1882, more than 10,000 workers hit the streets of New York City for the first ever Labor Day parade. Two years later the celebration was moved to the first Monday in September. And in 1894, Congress passed a law making Labor Day a national holiday.

A RELAXING CELEBRATION Americans celebrated the first Labor Day holiday with a parade, picnics and fireworks. Today, many people hit the road to enjoy the last of their summer vacation. Others enjoy the long weekend with picnics, backyard barbecues or just rest and relaxation.

However you spend Labor Day, remember the holiday is a time to pay tribute to the workers who have made America what it is today. © 2011 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TIME FOR KIDS and Timeforkids.com are registered trademarks of Time Inc.

DEAR AMERICAN GIRL: I can’t swim!

I’m embarrassed because everybody I know can swim. What should I do?

— Sinking feeling I Ask your parents if you can sign up for a swim class or lessons. Chances are you won’t be the only one your age in the class, either. But even if you are, the important thing is that you’re there to learn. You also could ask a parent to help you start swimming — you should never try swimming without supervision. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be splashing with your friends.

Visit “Fun for Girls” at americangirlmagazine.com to get or give advice. © 2011 American Girl, LLC. All rights reserved.

M A RT Y W E S T M A N / M C T

Bothered by bees

DEAR AMERICAN GIRL: I’m very, very afraid of bees. I once cried when one was chasing me. I get really shaken up about this.

What should I do?

— Embarrassed I To discourage bees from bugging you, don’t use scented shampoo or lotion if you’re going to be outside. And stay away from open cans of soda or juice. Bees and wasps love these sweet treats! If a bee does come near, stay calm, keep still and don’t try to shoo it away. You say that’s impossible when a bee is nuzzling your nose? Then get up v-e-r-y slowly, and quietly walk away. Eventually that bothersome bee will just buzz off!

One room available in two bedroom flat in Farwaniya behind Crowne Plaza in front of Dar AlQuran.

Please call: 50129393.

(C 3589) 25-8-2011 Accommodation available in 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom, C-A/C apartment for a decent couple, executive bachelor or working lady in Mahboula close to Gulf Road.

Contact: 66216713.

23-8-2011 Sharing accommodation available near Salmiya garden for 2 spinsters / 2 bachelors or family without children. Rent KD 100.

New building with separate bath & C-A/C. Please call on 97202795 / 25654182.

(C 3588) 23-8-2011 Sharing accommodation available from September 1, Abbassiya, near Neethi Store building, full furnished 2 bedroom flat, share with keralite family.

Looking for executive single bachelor or couples only for South Indians. Contact: 66788568 or afternoon 66944127. (C 3586) 22-8-2011 One big room attach bath available for decent bachelor or couple, 2 BR C/AC flat in Fintas, near London hospital and close to Fahaheel Highway.

Contact 60020168.

(C 3580) 21-8-2011 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.

Engineer with 4 years experience as Data Analyst / operation support (Telecom / Retail). Good working knowledge in Oracle, Unix and MS Office. Contact: 65794224. (C 3583) MBA (Finance) with bachelor’s degree in Engineering and 2 years experience in Kuwait looking for further experience in Finance.

Contact: 67731590. (C 3584) 22-8-2011

SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family looks to hire a driver, 35 years older, Christian, good behavior.

Contact: 99199020.

(C 3590) 25-8-2011

CHANGE OF NAME I, Thiru V. Muthu Kumar (Hindu) son of P. Veeraperumal born on 2nd May 1984 residing at No: 8/59, Madhavan Street, Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram - 623707, has converted to Islam with the name of V. Muthu Mohamed. (C 3587) 23-8-2011

MATRIMONIAL Proposals are invited for a born again girl, 5.3”, 29 yrs, working as an Admin Professional with a reputed company in Kuwait. Email: lyndakuruvilla@gmail.com (C 3585) 22-8-2011

FOR SALE Toyota Camry model 2001, 4-cylinder, very good condition. Tel: 60035758.

(C 3581) 21-8-2011

information SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA PIA THY ETH PIA UAE DHX ETD MSR FDB GFA QTR JZR THY JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FCX JZR KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA IRA QTR MHK JZR IRC RBG MSR JZR IRM KAC MSR KNE UAL RJA MSR FDB KAC JZR SWT QTR KAC SVA KAC KNE JZR QTR CLX JZR IRC AFR KAC ETD UAE SYR KAC KAC GFA SVA JZR

Arrival Flights on Saturday 27/8/2011 Flt Route 642 AMMAN 215 KARACHI 772 ISTANBUL 620 ADDIS ABABA 239 SIALKOT 853 DUBAI 370 BAHRAIN 305 ABU DHABI 614 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 211 BAHRAIN 138 DOHA 529 ASSIUT 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA / BANGKOK 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA / KUALA LUMPUR 201 BAHRAIN 1541 CAIRO 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 53 DUBAI 284 DHAKA 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 132 DOHA 125 SHARJAH 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 3407 MASHAD 6130 DOHA 711 BAGHDAD / NAJAF 165 DUBAI 6807 SHIRAZ 3551 ALEXANDRIA 623 SOHAG 201 DAMASCUS 5066 MASHAD 672 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 703 MEDINAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 640 AMMAN 621 ASSIUT 57 DUBAI 786 JEDDAH 357 MASHAD 93 DUBAI / KANDAHAR 140 DOHA 562 AMMAN 500 JEDDAH 552 DAMASCUS 745 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 134 DOHA 792 LUXEMBOURG 535 CAIRO 6791 MASHAD 6706 PARIS 118 NEW YORK 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 154 ISTANBUL 178 GENEVA / FRANKFURT 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 777 JEDDAH

Time 0:05 0:15 1:15 1:45 2:05 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:05 3:10 3:15 3:20 3:35 4:10 5:15 6:10 6:15 6:30 6:35 7:00 7:10 7:15 7:20 7:50 7:55 8:10 8:20 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:35 10:20 10:25 11:00 11:10 11:35 11:45 12:10 12:45 12:50 13:15 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:10 14:15 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 15:10 15:15 15:15 15:50 16:00 16:15 16:15 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:00 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:25

JZR ABY KAC FDB ALK JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC SIA JAI AIC KAC FDB OMA JZR MEA KNE KAC MSR DHX KLM UAE GFA QTR UAL KAC JZR MSR JZR MSR DLH AXB JZR

239 127 550 63 227 177 104 502 542 618 774 458 572 975 790 61 647 179 402 789 788 618 372 445 859 217 136 981 614 135 606 185 612 636 393 539

AMMAN SHARJAH SOHAG / SHARM EL SHEIKH DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI DUBAI LONDON BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA RIYADH SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI MUMBAI CHENNAI / GOA MEDINAH DUBAI MUSCAT DUBAI BEIRUT JEDDAH JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN LUXOR DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT KOZHIKODE / COCHIN CAIRO

Airlines JZR DLH AIC KLM PIA THY ETH PIA UAE FDB DHX ETD MSR QTR THY JZR RJA GFA JZR KAC JZR BAW FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC UAE ABY KAC KAC QTR KAC

Departure Flights on Saturday 27/8/2011 Flt Route 1540 CAIRO 637 FRANKFURT 976 GOA / CHENNAI 447 AMSTERDAM 216 KARACHI 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 240 SIALKOT / ISLAMABAD 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 615 CAIRO 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 164 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 785 JEDDAH 356 MASHAD 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 534 CAIRO 153 ISTANBUL 671 DUBAI 551 DAMASCUS 256 BEIRUT 561 AMMAN 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 549 SOHAG / SHARM EL SHEIKH 133 DOHA 107 GENEVA / LONDON

17:35 17:40 17:50 17:55 18:00 18:00 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:10 19:35 19:35 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:25 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:25 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:15 23:30

Time 0:20 0:40 0:50 0:55 1:05 2:15 2:30 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:05 5:00 5:10 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:15 8:15 8:20 8:25 8:40 8:50 8:55 9:00 9:10 9:10 9:15 9:40 9:50 9:55 9:55 10:00 10:10

ETD GFA IRA KAC QTR KAC JZR JZR MHK RBG IRC KAC MSR JZR KNE IRM MSR RJA FDB MSR UAL KAC KAC KNE KAC KAC SVA JZR QTR JZR CLX IRC VOS ETD QTR AFR SYR UAE GFA ABY JZR JZR SVA FDB KAC ALK JZR KAC JAI FDB JZR KAC OMA KNE MEA SIA MSR KAC DHX KLM UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR MSR JZR KAC UAL MSR

302 214 3406 165 6131 541 776 238 712 3552 6808 501 624 176 702 5065 611 641 58 622 982 787 789 746 617 773 505 178 141 538 792 6792 82 304 135 6706 342 858 216 128 184 266 511 64 613 228 134 283 571 62 268 351 648 790 403 457 619 543 373 445 860 218 381 102 137 301 331 554 607 502 411 981 613

ABU DHABI BAHRAIN MASHAD ROME / PARIS DOHA CAIRO JEDDAH AMMAN NAJAF / BAGHDAD ALEXANDRIA SHIRAZ BEIRUT SOHAG DUBAI RIYADH MASHAD CAIRO AMMAN DUBAI ASSIUT BAHRAIN JEDDAH MEDINAH JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA CAIRO HONG KONG MASHAD BAGHDAD ABU DHABI DOHA DUBAI / HONG KONG DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI / COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA MUMBAI DUBAI BEIRUT COCHIN MUSCAT JEDDAH BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM ALEXANDRIA LUXOR LUXOR BANGKOK / MANILA WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:15 10:20 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:20 12:25 12:35 13:00 13:10 13:40 14:10 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:05 15:30 15:30 15:35 15:50 16:00 16:00 16:15 16:40 16:45 17:00 17:00 17:35 17:45 18:00 18:00 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:40 19:00 19:10 19:10 19:30 20:35 20:40 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:10 21:15 21:20 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:10 23:15 23:25 23:40 23:40 23:50

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Solution

C R O S S W O R D

4 2 2

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

ACROSS 1. An enclosed space.

4. (plate tectonic theory) A hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.

10. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

13. One of the most common of the five major classes of immunoglobulins.

14. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number).

15. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

16. A large fleet.

18. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934).

20. The Oceanic language spoken by the Maori people in New Zealand.

21. United States playwright (1906-1963).

23. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

24. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

26. A member of an extinct North American Indian people who lived in the Pit river valley in northern California.

27. Located within the hull or nearest the midline of a vessel or aircraft.

31. A state in the Rocky Mountains.

35. A conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures.

37. Designer drug designed to have the effects of amphetamines (it floods the brain with serotonin) but to avoid the drug laws.

41. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

42. English economist noted for his studies of international trade and finance (born in 1907).

45. The commonest type of solidified lava.

48. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

54. A dry scab formed on the skin following a burn or cauterization of the skin.

55. A person who is rejected (from society or home).

56. The starting place for each hole on a golf course.

57. Infections of the skin or nails caused by fungi and appearing as itching circular patches.

60. Used as a Hindi courtesy title.

61. Imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy.

62. Romanian violinist and composer (1881-1955).

64. The month following February and preceding April.

65. Either extremity of something that has length.

66. Make more intense, stronger, or more marked.

67. A self-funded retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.

DOWN 1. Country of southeastern Asia that extends southward along the isthmus of Kra to the Malay peninsula.

2. A city in northern India.

3. Fabric dyed with splotches of green and brown and black and tan.

4. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

5. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

6. A soft gray ductile metallic element used in alloys.

7. Having or causing a whirling sensation.

8. Half the width of an em.

9. Kauri pine.

10. A room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter.

11. Highly excited.

12. (Irish) Mother of the Tuatha De Danann.

17. Formerly a large constellation in the southern hemisphere between Canis Major and the Southern Cross.

19. A line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on

the stage.

22. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

25. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

28. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.

29. (music) The pace of music measured by the number of beats occurring in 60 seconds.

30. A notable achievement.

32. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955.

33. The quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength.

34. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

36. A monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles.

38. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

39. A public toilet in a military area.

40. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

43. Exultantly proud and joyful.

44. Acid gritty-textured fruit.

46. An association of nations dedicated to economic and political cooperation in southeastern Asia.

47. Rise or heave upward under the influence of a natural force, as on a wave.

49. With rapid movements.

50. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

51. A member of the extinct Algonquian people formerly living in northern Indiana and southern Michigan.

52. An imaginary elephant that appears in a series of French books for children.

53. (Zoroastrianism) Title for benevolent deities.

58. (meaning literally `born') Used to indicate the maiden or family name of a married woman.

59. Apparent power to perceive things that are not present to the senses.

63. In operation or operational.

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

McCann powers Braves past Cubs CHICAGO: Atlanta catcher Brian McCann homered twice to power the Braves to an 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs in the National League on Thursday. McCann hit a three-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the seventh for only his eighth career multihomer game. Michael Bourn had a career high-tying four hits, scored two runs, and drove in a run. The Braves also benefitted from four Chicago errors. Atlanta starter Brandon Beachy (7-2) won his fourth straight decision, recovering from a shaky start to pitch six innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out

eight. Cubs starter Matt Garza (6-10) allowed six runs over five innings.

Diamondbacks 8, Nationals 1 In Washington, Wade Miley threw six scoreless innings to get his first major league victory, guiding Arizona past Washington. Miley (1-1) repeatedly worked out of trouble allowing two men to reach base in four of the first five innings but he mixed his fastball with a generous dose of offspeed pitches to keep the Nationals in check. Chris Young and Paul Goldschmidt homered for

Arizona, which moved three games ahead of sliding San Francisco in the NL West. John Lannan (8-10) allowed two runs to become Washington’s latest hard-luck loser. He had one major mistake - a sixth-inning fastball that Young deposited into the left field bleachers to open the scoring.

Cardinals 8, Pirates 4 In St Louis, Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer to give St. Louis a much-needed win over Pittsburgh. David Freese had a two-run single to put the hosts ahead to stay, and the Cardinals

ended a three-game losing streak, moving within 9-1/2 games of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. St Louis starter Edwin Jackson (10-9) allowed one earned run in six innings, reaching double figures in wins for the fourth straight season.

Pirates starter Charlie Morton (97) gave up five runs in 4 1-3 innings.

Astros 3, Giants 1 In San Francisco, Jordan Schafer homered and scored three times as Houston won its first game in five, beating San Francisco. JD Martinez doubled

twice and had two RBIs for the Astros, who stole a season-high four bases and turned three double plays on defense.

Houston starter Henry Sosa (1-2) took his first career win. He pitched with runners on base every inning but limited the damage. The rookie began the season with the Giants before being shipped to Houston last month. San Francisco had the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth with no outs, but Pablo Sandoval hit into a double play and Aubrey Huff flied out.

Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong (10-4) went 7 1-3 innings.— AP

Red Sox win series, stay top in the East Tigers maul Rays 2-0 ARLINGTON: The Boston Red Sox kept their noses in front in the American League East race and dealt a further blow to Texas’ playoff ambitions by beating the Rangers 6-0 on Thursday.

Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez homered twice to give him five in four games, hitting a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run drive in the third off Alexi Ogando (12-6). That gave him three homers in as many swings, having also gone long in his final at-bat on Wednesday. Red Sox starter Andrew Miller (6-1) pitched 6 1-3 scoreless innings and struck out six as the visitors won the series between the divisional leaders three games to one.

Boston remained one game ahead of New York in the AL East, but the Rangers have lost five of six and seen their lead over the Angels in the AL West cut to just two games, having been seven as recently as Aug 17.

Texas and Los Angeles face each other in a three-game series starting Friday.

Tigers 2, Rays 0 In St. Petersburg, Detroit completed a 3-1 series win over Tampa Bay, boosting its AL Central lead to 6-1/2 games. Tigers starter Doug Fister (6-13) went seven scoreless innings, striking out five. He is 3-1 in five starts with Detroit since being traded from Seattle. Austin Jackson hit a leadoff homer in the first and made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson (11-9) gave up six hits in seven innings.

Yankees 22, Athletics 7 In New York, the hosts became the first team in major league history to hit three grand slams in a game, and romped to victory over Oakland.

Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all went long with bases loaded to emphatically turn

around game in which the Yankees had trailed 7-1 after three innings. Cano began the barrage with his slam in the fifth, and Martin connected in the sixth off Fautino De Los Santos (2-1) for a 107 lead. Granderson took his turn in eighth, launching a two-out drive.

Martin homered twice and doubled, setting career highs with five hits and six RBIs. Cano drove in five runs as the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep.

New York came to bat a startling 17 times with the bases loaded - Derek Jeter alone got four tries. He grounded out twice, struck out and walked in those spots. Jeter did get three hits and briefly boosted his average to .300.

Boone Logan (4-2) got the win.

Royals 9, Blue Jays 6 In Toronto, Jeff Francis got a belated win, steering Kansas City past Toronto.

Francis (5-14) came in 0-3 with an 8.27 ERA in his past four outings but the native Canadian was solid in his first career start in his home country. He gave up two runs in six-plus innings.

Melky Cabrera homered and Billy Butler went 4 for 5 with two RBIs as the Royals took their first series victory at Toronto since 2002. Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil (4-7) lost his third straight decision, allowing five runs in 6 1-3 innings.

Orioles 6, Twins 1 In Minneapolis, Mark Reynolds hit a three-run homer in Baltimore’s win over Minnesota. Vladimir Guerrero had two hits and Craig Tatum had a two-run double for the Orioles, who swept the Twins at home in a four-game series for the first time. Baltimore starter Jo Jo Reyes (7-10) went six strong innings, allowing one run. Twins reliever Anthony Swarzak (3-4) gave up five runs in 3 1-3 innings after starter Francisco Liriano left with a strained shoulder after two innings.— AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Houston Astros’ Jordan Schafer (1) celebrates with teammates after a 3-1 win over the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game on Thursday. — AP

SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Genia gets all-clear for Tri decider BRISBANE: Influential scrum-half Will Genia has been cleared to play for the Wallabies in the Tri-Nations’ decider against New Zealand in Brisbane today. Genia, who organizes the Wallaby attack alongside Queensland Reds flyhalf and teammate Quade Cooper, received two heavy head blows during training this week, but said yesterday he has been passed by team medical staff. “It’s not something too serious. I got a head knock (on Tuesday) and I felt a little bit foggy at training yesterday,” Genia told reporters. “I pulled out towards the end because I felt a bit off. I got another knock but it was just a shock really. All the signs (now) look good.” Genia said the Wallabies, so often second-best to the All Blacks, were in a unique position this weekend.

“We really want to win this tournament. We haven’t won it in 10 years. We’re in a very unique position in whoever wins this game wins the tournament,” he said. New skipper James Horwill said the Wallabies’ focus was solely on winning their first Tri-Nations tournament since 2001 and not on next month’s World Cup. It is the last Test match for the two rivals before the World Cup, and victory will provide a big psychological edge for the battles ahead in New Zealand.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing against, the focus hasn’t really been on the World Cup at all this week,” said Horwill, a lock forward, who replaced Rocky Elsom last week as Wallabies’ captain. “There’s been nothing sort of mentioned on it. It’s about the Tri-Nations. “This is a massive tournament and it’s probably the biggest tournament in the world, bar what is happening in a World Cup year, so it’s a big tournament for us.” Form suggests New Zealand will maintain their dominance over the Wallabies and enhance their status as World Cup favorites. Richie McCaw’s All Blacks have won 11 of their last 12 encounters with Australia and are shooting for their 11th crown in 16 seasons of the southern hemisphere championship. New Zealand have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003 and have not lost in Australia for over three years. And the Wallabies appear to struggle in Brisbane, where they have not conquered the All Blacks for 19 years.Graham Henry, who enjoys a stunning 85 percent success rate in his 95 Tests and seven years in charge of the All Blacks, is taking no chances and has rolled out their heavy artillery with 11 first-choice stars returning for the decider.

Henry almost lost his job after the All Blacks’ shock quarterfinal exit at the 2007 World Cup to France. But he has the upper hand over his New Zealand compatriot and rival Robbie Deans, who became Australia coach after the last World Cup in France. All looked promising for Deans when the Wallabies beat the All Blacks in their first Bledisloe Cup Test under him in 2008, but they lost their next 10 meetings before a last-minute 26-24 win in Hong Kong on October 30 last year. The Wallabies have been extensively rebuilt under Deans since their demoralizing quarter-final exit to England at the 2007 World Cup in Marseille.

But there have been distractions to team preparation’s this week amid player disciplinary problems. Winger James O’Connor is ineligible to play after receiving a one-game ban for missing last week’s Wallaby World Cup squad announcement and a 10-month-old tour incident between O’Connor, Cooper and Kurtley Beale was also under scrutiny. The Australian Rugby Union said it found no grounds to take action against the three young backs, who were reportedly involved in a fight in the days before the side scored a record 59-16 win over France in Paris last November. — AFP

Injury hit Ireland, England seeking World Cup boost

GOLD COAST: Canada’s Tyler Hotson jumps in the lineout during their rugby union match against the Australian Barbarians on the Gold Coast, Australia yesterday. — AP

Baptism of fire for Wallabies captain BRISBANE: Any hope James Horwill had for a honeymoon period as the new Wallabies captain were rudely dashed by a snoozing team mate who could not raise himself after a night on the town. Utility back James O’Connor’s no-show for a team photo and function for the naming of the Wallabies World Cup squad last week not only stole the thunder from Horwill’s appointment but also robbed him of one of his most potent attacking players for today’s Tri-Nations decider against the All Blacks.

Horwill has since had to deal with the fallout from media reports about O’Connor engaging in a Paris punch-up with fellow backline youngsters Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper during last year’s end of season tour, whilst training with snarling flanker and

deposed captain Rocky Elsom breathing down his neck. The towering 26-year-old lock has coped with bigger hurdles in his career-a serious knee injury that wiped out his 2010 season chief among them-but might have hoped for a few controversy-free days before his baptism of fire against the All Blacks.

“It’s kept me on my toes,” Horwill told reporters yesterday, in his only reference to the week’s dramas. Horwill will march out onto Lang Park today for his first competitive match since the Super rugby final, where he hoisted the trophy after leading the Queensland Reds side to their first title over the All Black-laden Crusaders.

Already missing O’Connor, banned for his indiscipline, Horwill nearly lost midfield general Will Genia after the scrumhalf suffered

two dizzying head-knocks from team mates at training in the space of three days. At least relations with his former captain Elsom have been cordial. “We’ve spoken most days about different things, we’re still good mates,” said Horwill.

EALES ADVICE Horwill has been seeking advice from all quarters, and has hit up 1999 World Cup-winning skipper John Eales for inspiration. “I’ve spoken to him a fair bit this year, and over the last week or so ... I respect his opinion greatly.

“Being a second-rower watching John Eales as I was growing up, he was clearly a great of the game and in that era when his team was very successful. “So he’s a guy I look up to as a player and also as a leader now.” —Reuters

BAGSHOT: Ireland and England meet in one last World Cup warm-up match at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road today with both sides eager for victory and quietly keen to come through the clash unscathed. This will be the final competitive match for the old rivals before they head to New Zealand for the World Cup and they each have enough injury issues already without adding to their respective casualty lists. Yet England manager Martin Johnson remains adamant this is an ideal fixture for his side, giving the Six Nations champions a chance to atone for a 24-8 Dublin defeat that cost them a Grand Slam five months ago against an Ireland side that has since lost its first three World Cup warm-up matches.

“They will be desperate for a win but that is good,” said Johnson, England’s 2003 World Cup winning captain. “We don’t want them easing into it,” added Johnson, bidding to lead England to a third successive World Cup final following their loss in the climax of the last edition to South Africa in Paris four years ago. “We want to play as intense as we can play, against as good an opposition as we can get. “They (Ireland) have probably been the best team in Europe consistently in the last four or five years.

That is why we chose the game.”

England go into the game without squad captain Lewis Moody and firstchoice scrum-half Ben Youngs, both ruled out with knee injuries. Johnson has gone ‘back to the future’ by selecting Jonny Wilkinson, the man whose dropgoal secured victory in the final against Australia eight years ago, as his firstchoice fly-half in place of Toby Flood.

Finding a midfield playmaker has been a thorny issue for England ever since the retirement of World Cup-winning centre Will Greenwood and Johnson will field his 13th different centre combination in 35 Tests in charge this weekend when he pairs veteran Mike Tindall with Leicester dynamo Manu Tuilagi.

“I don’t see it as something new,” said Johnson. “It is going to be exciting. This is a good chance to get Manu on the field. We think he deserves a chance to start another Test match.” Johnson has made six changes in all from the team beaten 19-9 last time out by Wales, a match where England dominated possession yet couldn’t score a try, including the return of powerhouse prop Andrew Sheridan, sidelined for much of the English season with a shoulder problem.

Ireland come into his match on the back of a loss to Scotland and away and home defeats by France.

They will be without star centre and captain Brian O’Driscoll (shoulder) and talented back-row Sean O’Brien (knee), who both suffered injuries in last weekend’s 26-22 reverse against the French.

“Brian’s had injuries like this before,” said Ireland coach Declan Kidney, who has chosen Keith Earls at outside centre.

“There’s a World Cup coming after this and it’s more important that he’s ready for that than this game.” —AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

sports SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

The Barclays in cliff-hanger about its finish EDISON: Suspense at The Barclays golf tournament went beyond who would post the lowest score as players and officials were left wondering exactly when the opening event of the FedExCup playoffs would finish.

A long delay due to lightning backed up Thursday’s first round, and forecasts of heavy rains and high winds with this weekend’s approach of Hurricane Irene raised various scenarios at Plainfield Country Club.

Hurricane-fueled storms are expected to hit the area later today and further saturate a course that is already soggy from more than a foot of rain last week and another

drenching Thursday. “If we get five or seven inches (15-20cms) of rain here, we are probably dead in the water,” tournament director Slugger White told reporters. Forecasts expect as much as a foot (30cms) of rain. White ruled out trying to squeeze in 36 holes of golf on Saturday even if the select field could get through the first 36 holes by the end of play on Friday and be cut to 70. “We are not going to do that,” White said. “We don’t have enough daylight. We can’t get it in.

Plus, we have not got a very good forecast Saturday afternoon.”

The tournament director said they

would be better prepared to make a determination on Friday, with shortening the event to 54 holes a possibility. Early first-round leader Harrison Frazar said the storm weighed on the minds of many players. “We are all sensitive to what the people on the (US) East Coast are going to go through,” said the Texan. “A lot of the guys here are from Florida, they are from North Carolina, South Carolina. They even got homes that they are worried about. “So you know we are all concerned about it, but it doesn’t do us any good. It’s not in our power to do anything about it or to worry about

it.” Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who shot three-under 68 to trail Frazar by four strokes, called it a wait-and-see situation. “I guess we’ll deal with it when it gets here,” he said. “We don’t know if we are going to finish Saturday or Tuesday or Friday next week.” White suggested the event had been jinxed with the hurricane threat following a rare earthquake that struck the area on Tuesday. “They haven’t had an earthquake here in a hundred years and they haven’t had a hurricane here in 90 years, and they are having both in the same week, so that’s pretty special,” White said. “Welcome to New Jersey.”— Reuters

Couples gives Woods green light for the Presidents Cup LOS ANGELES: United States captain Fred Couples ended speculation over whether Tiger Woods might be selected for the Presidents Cup in November by saying on Thursday the former world number one would be a wildcard pick.

Woods had been eager to take part in the Ryder Cup-style competition against the Internationals in Australia but had no chance of gaining automatic selection after struggling for form and fitness this season.

The leading 10 players in the US Presidents Cup standings after the Sept 15-18 BMW Championship qualify for the 12-man team, with Couples adding two captain’s picks on Sept 26. Woods lies 28th in the standings. “I’ve told him he’s going to be on the team,” Couples said during a news conference while preparing for Friday’s opening round of the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in Snoqualmie, Washington. “There is no reason for me to wait till Sept 26 to pick Tiger. He’s the best player in the world forever.”

Woods has played on every US Presidents Cup team since 1998 but he has been a shadow of his former dominant self since the end of 2009 while trying to rebuild his golf swing and private life following the breakup of his marriage. His world ranking has slipped to 36th and he failed to qualify for the PGA Tour’s elite FedExCup playoffs after missing the cut at this month’s PGA Championship.

His next scheduled event is the Nov. 10-13 Australian Open. Before last week’s Senior Players Championship, Couples made his own intentions clear as to what he expected from the rusty Woods.

SHOWING UP “He can’t just show up the week before in Australia,” Couples said. “I have made it clear that whoever I picked will be playing the Australian tournament the week before.

But I need him to play more than just there.” Asked on Thursday about the extra event he had urged Woods to play, Couples replied: “He has responded to that. I’m pretty sure you’ll see him one more time. That’s enough for me.

“The last thing he wants to do is embarrass himself. I think he’ll be ready to play. Does that mean he’s going to go out and win every point? No, I don’t expect that. But I expect him to be sharp and ready to play. I’d be shocked if he’s not.”

Woods’s biggest problems this year have been injury and lack of practice. He was sidelined for three months while recovering from the left knee ligaments and Achilles tendon he hurt during the Masters in April, when he tied for fourth. “Is he playing well right now? No,” said Couples. “(But) he almost won (the Masters) four months ago and you don’t do that by playing poor golf. “When you’re the best player in the world for 12 straight years and you’re not on a team, there’s something wrong.”— Reuters

EDISON: Harrison Frazar chips out of a bunker and onto the fifth green during the first round of The Barclays golf tournament on Thursday.— AP

Frazar shoots 64 Weather keeps 51 players from finishing round EDISON: Harrison Frazar fired a 64 and fellow-Americans Matt Kuchar and William McGirt matched him at sevenunder to lead Thursday’s weather-hit first round of The Barclays, the opening tournament of the FedExCup playoffs.

Frazar had four birdies on the front and three on the back in a bogey-free round, while McGirt (through 11) birdied seven of eight holes and last year’s winner Kuchar (16) birdied six of seven before darkness forced 51 players from the course.

Kuchar won The Barclays last year when it was played at Ridgewood, and McGirt was the last player to qualify for the FedExCup at number 125 on the points list. Afternoon starters began their rounds at Plainfield Country Club late due to a three-hour, 15-minute suspension due to lightning. Officials worried about further delays from storms forecast this weekend with the approach of Hurricane Irene. Trailing the co-leaders by one stroke at 65 were Vijay Singh of Fiji and American Jonathan Byrd. Joining them at six

under par was Chris Stroud, through 13 holes.

Thursday’s rain added to more than a foot that fell on the Plainfield Country Club course last week and softened up the sloping greens. Players in the elite field for the first of the four-event season-ending series that pays a bonus of $10 million to the overall points winner, took advantage with 37 of the 60 morning starters breaking par under liftclean-place provisions. “The course is very soft,” said Frazar, 40, who notched his first PGA Tour win earlier this year at the St Jude’s Classic. “The fairways are plugging. There was mud on the balls.

The shots into the greens are just hitting and just stopping where they are.”

Singh, the 2008 FedExCup champion, overcame a double-bogey at the par-three third hole by posting eight birdies, while Byrd eagled the par-five fifth to offset a pair of bogeys. “It wasn’t easy out there, swirling wind and the rain delay,” said 48-year-old Singh. In the clubhouse two strokes off the pace were Australian Adam Scott and

Americans Ryan Palmer and Charley Hoffman at five-under 66. Twelve players posted 67, including FedExCup points leader Nick Watney, fellowAmerican Bo Van Pelt and Australian Jason Day. Scott surged up the leaderboard with a first nine of 31 that featured just one par along with five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys after starting on the 10th hole. “It’s a shame if we get some bad weather, because it would have been nice to see this golf course play firm,” said Scott, who played at even-par after returning from the weather delay. With plans being put in place for possible evacuations along the New Jersey and New York coastlines, tournament director Slugger White said various scenarios were being discussed. White said shortening the tournament to 54 holes could be considered along with extending the tournament to Monday or Tuesday, depending on the severity of the storms. “If we get another five or seven inches of rain here, we’re probably dead in the water,” he said. — Reuters

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Roddick breezes into Carolina semi finals WINSTON-SALEM: Andy Roddick rifled his ninth ace to set up a match point and finished it off with a 6-1, 64 win over Juan Monaco as the American continued to lift his game at the Winston-Salem Open. Top seed Roddick is making up for a lost summer, the majority of which he sat out with a post-Wimbledon abdominal muscle strain. “I wanted to get off in two sets, I didn’t feel the heat to be honest,” said Roddick of Thursday’s quarter-final match. “I’ve been anxious and ready to play, that set the tone for the match. He has one bad service game and the thing was over.”

The former number one and 2003 US Open champion will play to reach his first final since February when he

faces compatriot John Isner on Friday.”There won’t be a lot of surprises in the match,” said Roddick.

“He’ll take a lot of risks. I’ll go in with the second-best serve and that’s not usually the case.” Fourth seed Isner moved into the semi-finals for the fourth time in his last six events with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, the player he’ll meet in the US Open first round next week. The bottom half of the draw will pit Frenchman Julien Benneteau against Dutch tenth seed Robin Haase. Benneteau staged a fightback to upset ninth seed and 2010 winner Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 7-6 (11/9), 6-2. Haas deposed third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-4.

Roddick has won three of four

matches with Isner. “It’s tough to execute against him, He can hit four aces in a game and suddenly you’re serving again. “I’ll have to take care of serve and hope that something good happens.” The North Carolina event, which is likely to avoid the full force of Hurricane Irene, was the setting for wild card and 21st-ranked Roddick to show off the tennis which made him a regular in the top 10 for a decade, until his slide in 2010. So solid has the revitalized Roddick been all week that he has yet to face a break point in three matches. Isner, who lost early at the recent Montreal and Cincinnati Masters, continued to shore up his confidence with Monday’s start of the US Open fast approaching.

The North Carolinian fired a dozen aces and made a huge recovery after dropping the opening set in 22 minutes to Baghdatis, a former Australian Open finalist. Isner has taken his ace tally for the week to 39 and is pleased with how his big game is working. “I don’t give guys a lot of rhythm, that’s for sure,” said Isner. “I play first-strike tennis and try to keep it on my terms. I want to keep the points short and mix things up a bit.” Isner admitted he still has things to work on. “I didn’t hit the slice so well today from either side, But this is the second time I’ve played him this summer and I’ve had good success,” said the American, who beat Baghdatis in Montreal a fortnight ago. — AFP

China’s Li, top seed Wozniacki advance NEW HAVEN: Top ranked Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the next round and China’s Li Na had to endure a rain delay before booking her spot in the semi-finals of the New Haven Open on Thursday.

Wozniacki remained undefeated advancing with a 7-5, 6-3 win over American teenager Christina McHale. Three-time defending champ Wozniacki has a perfect 15-0 career record at the annual final tournament before the US Open, which begins in four days. Wozniacki broke McHale’s serve in the eighth game of the second set of the one hour, 42 minute centre court match.

China’s Li endured several hours of rain delays before advancing with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 quarter-final victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Li will play Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska who beat fourth-seed Marion Bartoli 7-5, 7-5. Wozniacki will face PARIS: Anett Meszaros of Hungary (blue jersey) fights with Rasa Sraka of Slovenia, during their women’s under 70 kg category third place match at the World Judo Championships yesterday. — AP

Favorites stay on course at Judo World Championship PARIS: Favorites Ilias Iliadis of Greece and Japan’s Takashi Ono remained on course for a dream final at the Judo World Championships at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy yesterday. Reigning champion Iliadis started slowly in the defense of his under90kg title before squeezing past Poland’s Robert Krawczyk by a penalty. He picked things up in the next round against Algeria’s Lyes Bouyakoub whom he pinned for victory.

And that was when he really started to find his rhythm as he threw Moldova’s Ivan Remarenco with a stunning standing shoulder throw (ippon-seoi-nage) and then dumped Brazil’s Hugo Pessanha with a counter-sweep (kosoto-gake). In the afternoon’s semi-finals he will meet Russian Kiril Denisov who shocked 2009 world champion Lee Kyu-Won of South Korea in the quarter-finals. Lee appeared to be dominating until Denisov caught him with kosoto-gake and put him flat on his back.

Incredulous, Lee took an age to get back onto his feet, seemingly running over in his

mind how he’d thrown away the bout.

Masters champion in 2010 and world number two Ono was also slow off the mark as he needed a sudden death period of golden score to get past France’s Yves Matthieu Dafreville, also by a penalty. He then threw Sweden’s Marcus Nyman for a half point waza-ari with an inner leg reap (ouchi-gari) and saw off Slovakia’s Milan Randl with another inner reap (kouchi-gari), also by a waza-ari score.

In the quarter-final he took advantage of Ukrainian Valentyn Grekov’s desperation when chasing the fight to whip underneath him and flip him over with a shoulder throw (seoi-nage). World number three Daiki Nishiyama of Japan was far from impressive against Georgia’s Varlam Liparteliani before finding progress against Lithuania’s Karolis Bauza somewhat easier.

He then flattened Olympic finalist Amar Benikhlef of Algeria with a brilliant ouchigari before narrowly ousting Cuba’s Asley Gonzalez on a penalty to set up an allJapan semi-final. — AFP

third-seeded Francesca Schiavone, who advanced without hitting a shot after Anabel Medina Garrigues withdrew due to a knee injury. Medina Garrigues, who was seeking a third title of 2011, fell to the ground and grabbed her knee after failing to convert a third match point in the second set of her 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) victory on Wednesday.

With the start of the US Open looming on Monday, Medina Garrigues said she didn’t want to take a chance on making her knee worse. She is the 30th seed for the final Grand Slam of the season and due to take on a qualifier in the opening round.

Even as they battled to get through the day’s matches, officials of the Open tuneup moved up the start of the championship match today in hopes of beating Hurricane Irene. — AFP

IOC studies Qatar as ‘possible’ 2020 host DAEGU: The IOC met in South Korea yesterday to examine Qatar’s possible candidacy for the 2020 Olympics, which is reliant on a request to push the Games back because of hot summer weather.

Already chosen as hosts of the football World Cup in 2022, the Gulf state has requested to host the Olympics at the end of October and start of November instead of in the traditional window between July 15 and August 31.

Four cities have already submitted bids to host the 2020 Games: Rome, Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said in a meeting with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that any decision concerning Qatar’s bid would not be made public in South Korea. “I will listen to my colleagues and find a consensual opinion,” Rogge said.

“But we’re not making a news release immediately, because we want to discuss with Qatar the decision that we make,” he said a day before the world championships get under way in Daegu. The

deadline for submitting bids is September 1 and the IOC will decide in September 2013 in Buenos Aires who will host the 2020 Games, which will follow the 2012 and 2016 editions in London and Rio de Janiero. Qatar was snubbed by the IOC in its bid for the 2016 Games despite tying with Chicago for third place and ranking ahead of Rio in grading by the IOC’s evaluation commission because of its insistence that the Games move to October.

The Qatari government had then proposed that the Games be hosted between October 15-30 to reduce the problem posed by high temperatures in the desert state that regularly top 40 degrees Celsius.

Other major sports competitions including European football leagues have opened their seasons by that time. Despite concerns over summer temperatures, Qatar launched a successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. FIFA’s decision was met with derision in some camps and was followed by calls to move the tournament away from its traditional June/July slot to January to avoid the scorching heat and humidity. — AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

sports SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

‘Blade Runner’ must run relay first leg for S Africa DAEGU: Double amputee Oscar Pistorius must run the first leg for South Africa if he is to take part in the 4x400m relay at the world championships, athletics governing body said yesterday. “This person is a particular case,” IAAF head Lamine Diack said of the athlete who runs with carbon fibre prosthetic blades in place of his lower legs, which were amputated before he was a year old due to a congenital condition.

“The only thing we said to the South African federation is that if he wants to run in the relay, he must run the first leg to avoid danger to other athletes.” The 24-year-old, who will become the first double amputee athlete to compete at the world championships, said he would be proud just to be picked for the relay team and would run whichever leg team management told him to. “We haven’t confirmed the positions of the relay, or if I’m even in the relay yet,” Pistorius told reporters, adding that he knew which positions made the “best sense”.

“If I get any opportunity to run in the relay I’ll be proud just to do that. I’ve run in many relays in different legs and I’ve never had a problem or an incident so I’ll just listen to what they say and give it my best.” Pistorius first competed against ablebodied athletes in 2007 but the IAAF then amended its rules to ban the use of “any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device”.

In the following year the world governing body said scientific research had shown Pistorious enjoyed an advantage over able-bodied athletes and banned him from competitions held under their rules. However, the decision was over-ruled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, making Pistorius eligible for the 2008 Beijing Olympics although he was unable to qualify for the South African team, winning gold medals instead in the Paralympic 100, 200 and 400.

The South African accepted that there would always be a certain degree of controversy on the issue. He said he had “great respect” for Diack and the IAAF and that all he could do was to follow the rules, train hard and do his best on the track.

Michael Johnson, who won the world 400 title four times and still holds the world record of 43.18, said he supported Pistorius competing in Daegu. “I’ve been clear about my position from the very beginning. I’m supportive of Oscar because the rules state that he can compete,” said the American. “My position on the rule is that probably more work should be done. Now that there’s this controversy again I think people are unsure.” — Reuters

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa

Bolt, Felix open up worlds DAEGU: Usain Bolt, global sport’s most marketable star, will make his bow at the 2011 world championships in heats for the men’s 100m on the opening day of action today. The Jamaican defending Olympic and world champion kicks off his campaign to snag another sprint double when he takes to Daegu’s blue track at 1245 GMT in round one of the blue riband event. Missing from the heats, however, will be his three main rivals, compatriots Asafa Powell (groin injury) and Steve Mullings (doping), and American Tyson Gay (hip injury). Also in action on the opening day in South Korea is three-time defending world 200m champion Allyson Felix, who goes in heats of the 400m in her bid for a memorable double.

Felix has reigning world champion and fellow American Sanya Richards-Ross in her sights, although the latter put months of strife aside in storming to victory at the London Diamond League earlier this month in an impressive 49.66sec. Jamaican trio Rosemarie Whyte, Novlene WilliamsMills and 2009 Berlin worlds silver medallist Shericka Williams will also be in the running along with Botswana’s Amantle Montsho. The semi-finals of the women’s 400m are run on Sunday, with the final scheduled for 1205 GMT a day later. Kenyan world record holder David Rudisha will open his

campaign in the heats of the men’s 800m, looking for an easy ride through to Sunday’s semi-final before the final on Tuesday. There are just two medal events on the first day of competition at the nine-day worlds, in the women’s 10,000m and marathon. The latter event will be raced around a multi-lap (2x15km, 1x12.195km), largely flat street circuit. In the absence of defending champion Xue Bai of China, compatriots Zhou Chunxiu and Zhu Xiaolin, Asian Games champion and silver medallist respectively, will lead the way. Yoshimo Ozaki and Aselefech Mergia, defending world silver and bronze medallists, head up the Japan and Ethiopia teams, while Kenya will be led by London marathon third place-getter Edna Kiplagat, whose 2:20:46 makes her the fastest entrant in the field. In the 10,000m, Ethiopian Meseret Defar will compete in her bid for a 5000-10,000m double, and will have Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot, defending world champion at 5000m, in direct competition in the two events. Another Kenyan, Linet Masai, the defending 10,000m champion, is also in the running. The opening day also sees the first half of the decathlon, with the United States’ high hopes of a strong podium showing falling on the shoulders of world leader Ashton Eaton and defending world champion Trey Hardee.—AFP

Irishman’s magic touch inspires Kenyan success NAIROBI: Colm O’Connell may not look like your everyday professional athletics coach but his simple style has produced over 25 World and Olympic champions for Kenya, nearly half of the country’s legendary running success.

The Irish lay priest has become synonymous with Kenyan middle and distance running, and he continues to churn out new names.

The 61-year-old Cork-born former school teacher, who did not have any formal athletics training when he arrived in Kenya nearly 40 years ago, believes he learnt the tricks from the athletes early during his first years.

“I become very sensitive to their needs, to their personalities, to their motivation and to their characters. I still retain that quality up to today,” he said coyly. “In spite of all the knowledge and all the experience I have gathered over the years, I still keep that basic approach that I learned from the beginning.” 0’Connell’s almost holistic approach to the training of the youth stemmed from his early years he spent as a teacher at the Saint Patricks high school in Kenya’s Iten region, which is noted for its a strong academic and sporting credentials.

Here he was able to nurture the talents of some of Kenya’s great athletes such as the Seoul Olympic 1500m champion Peter Rono, former 800m world record holder Wilson Kipketer, and three Olympic 3000m steeplechase champions, Matthew Birir, Reuben Kosgei and Brimin Kipruto. O’Connell faults some of the current coaches for rushing junior athletes to reach maturity quickly, without allowing them to grow and appreciate their talents. “The youngsters must be handled with care,” he said. “When you are training young people, a lot has got to do with your approach and your attitude, in contrast with when you are training the more senior or elite athletes.

“When you are training in the junior and youth level, you are interested more in getting them to enjoy what they do, motivating, organizing and introducing them so slowly into what is known as formal training.

“Remember they are just young, they are just beginning the sport out of enthusiasm, and out of interest and running for fun. You want to try and retain that motivation and channel it slowly into a more formal form of training.”

His current charges include the reigning world 800m record holder, David Rudisha, who did not attend Saint Patrick’s school, but requested to join the priest’s training camp in 200 5.

O’Connell is protective of his talented young protege, who only began to improve on his performance four years after his arrival, culminating in his breaking the world record twice in Berlin and Rieti last summer. Rudisha is one of the four elite athletes at the camp and the coach seeks to keep the number small so as to maintain his direct focus on them. “I want each of my athletes to stand up individually, to be known and be respected in their own right. I don’t just want a production line where everybody is coming out with the same tag, in the same colour and in the same shape.

“That is part of my wholesome holistic approach to the sport and the person that they be themselves - to be identified as a distinctive person. “David Rudisha is not just another 800m runner. He is a distinctive person and h e’s a personality in the sport,” O’Connell said. Apart from the elite athletes, O’Connell continues to maintain his youth training camp, which he started in 1989 to groom the future stars, and there are currently 40 runners - 20 boys and 20 girls - who converge at the camp every school holidays for three weeks of intensive training.— AFP

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

City can win title, says new recruit Nasri

SION: FC Sion’s midfielder Giovanni Sio celebrates the 3rd goal during the UEFA Europa League qualifying round second leg soccer match between Switzerland’s FC Sion and Scottish’s Celtic Glasgow at the Tourbillon stadium in Sion on Thursday. — AP

Celtic, Rangers crash out in Scots Euro low PARIS: Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday as Scottish football suffered a humiliating continental wipeout. With Hearts also exiting the tournament, Scotland was left without a single representative in either the Champions League or Europa League group stages for the first time. Rangers drew 1-1 with Slovenia’s Maribor at Ibrox to lose 3-2 on aggregate, Celtic went 3-1 down at Sion in Switzerland while Hearts’ 0-0 draw at Tottenham was at least an improvement on the 5-0 mauling they suffered in the first leg in Edinburgh.

American international Carlos Bocanegra grabbed his first goal for Rangers since his move from St Etienne to cancel out Dalibor Volas’ opener, but they drew a blank in front of goal for the rest of the evening. Celtic went to Switzerland having been held 0-0 by Sion in the first leg, but they were undone in the first minute when Daniel Majstorovic was red-carded for a foul on Guilherme Afonso and Pascal Feindouno scored from the spot. Feindouno added a second before Charlie Mulgrew pulled one back for Neil Lennon’s team.

But a late strike from Giovanni Sio secured the win for Sion leaving Celtic to mull a depressing record of having won just one of their last 30 games away matches in Europe. Hearts toiled manfully at White Hart Lane to salvage a degree of pride as Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp introduced a crop of youngsters into his team on a night when he also sealed a loan move for Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City.

Unlike Scotland, England will have four representatives in Friday’s group stage draw. Joining Tottenham will be fellow Premier League sides Stoke and Fulham as well as second-tier Birmingham City. Fulham, the 2010 runners-up, lost 1-0 at Dnipro Dniepropetrovsk in Ukraine but went through courtesy of their 3-0 first leg win at Craven Cottage last week. Evgeny Shakhov headed in a first-half corner from Serhiy Kravchenko to give Dnipro a glimmer of hope but Martin Jol’s Fulham held firm.

Stoke cruised into the group stages as Kenwyne Jones scored twice in a 4-1 win over Swiss side FC Thun for a 5-1 aggregate victory. Matthew Upson and Glenn Whelan were also on target for Tony Pulis’s side. Birmingham, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, celebrated the return of European football to St Andrew’s for the first time in 50 years with a 3-0 win over Nacional of Portugal. Teenage winger Nathan Redmond, David Murphy and Chris Wood scored the goals for the Blues.

There were mixed fortunes for Italian sides with Roma, watched by new American multi-millionaire owner Thomas DiBenedetto, drawing 1-1 at home to Slovan Bratislava to go out 2-1 on aggregate. City rivals Lazio, however, enjoyed a 3-1 win at Rabotnicki in Macedonia for a 9-1 aggregate.

Unheralded Dublin side Shamrock Rovers reached the group stages for the first time thanks to an extra-time penalty winner over Partizan Belgrade. — AFP

Fergie defends old foe Wenger MANCHESTER: Alex Ferguson once called Arsene Wenger “the worst loser in football” but the Manchester United manager spoke out in defense of his old adversary yesterday, suggesting a lack of patience from supporters was to blame for the growing pressure on his Arsenal counterpart. Wenger has faced unprecedented criticism from some Arsenal fans during a summer that has brought the departures of key midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, with criticism focused on the Frenchman’s perceived failure to address his team’s weaknesses in the transfer market.

Arsenal visit Old Trafford on Sunday with only one point from their first two Premier League outings, a goalless draw with Newcastle and a 2-0 home loss to Liverpool. However, they did lift some of the gloom by beating Udinese to qualify

for the Champions League group stage on Wednesday.

Defending Wenger, Ferguson described him as “the best” manager in his club’s history. He told reporters: “I’d like to know who’s going to replace him-the work he has done for the 15 years he has been at the club is the best in Arsenal’s history.”

Ferguson argued that supporter culture in England had changed, with fans less willing to tolerate lean spells than in the past. “Who understands fairness and unfairness today? It is quite a cynical world and supporters are far less easy to please than 20 years ago,” he said. “It is disappointing but they answered everyone back on Wednesday, his team played well, had a great result. A lot of people thought they would be out I didn’t think so, I thought they’d win it.” —Reuters

MANCHESTER: Samir Nasri said Manchester City will be the main challengers for Manchester United’s Premier League title this season - and prove he made the right decision to join them. The Frenchman dismissed suggestions a more lucrative contract was the reason behind his £24 million move from Arsenal to City. Nasri was also linked with United as he entered the final year of his contract, but said: “I can let people think what they want. Me, I know my choice and my choice is about football.

“We will see at the end of the season when we will lift a trophy, we will talk about my choice again and we will show that everyone who was thinking about money that they were wrong. “I think City can win the title. It is the biggest challenge to Manchester United. “When you see the investment of the last three seasons you see they bring some muscle and real quality players. World-class players are not scared to come to Man City and you can see that with Sergio Aguero. I am confident.

“I trained with big players and was happy to train with them and saw real quality. I know I made the right choice in coming here. I’m confident we can win a trophy because I saw the quality on the pitch. I said it was a club of the future and I am still convinced of that.” While looking forward to a new challenge at the Etihad Stadium, he was also eager to set the record straight when talking about his former club. Arsenal followers were infuriated at critical comments from Nasri that they were not “passionate”.

But he said: “You’ve got that wrong. I never said Arsenal fans were not good. I just said I saw real passion when I signed here and when I signed for Arsenal it was a little bit different.

Cesc (Fabregas) said as well, the difference between Highbury and Emirates is the atmosphere, but don’t get me wrong, I never said Arsenal fans have a lack of passion.” Nasri will make an immediate return to North London as City visit Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow and manager Roberto Mancini looks to find a way of accommodating him into a side that has an abundance of attacking riches.

The Italian welcomed the problem as he was an admirer of the midfielder when he coached Inter Milan. “I’m happy because he’s here. He’s a fantastic player, a young player and he’s very important for the squad and the club,” said Mancini.

“He knows the Premier League very well and I wanted him when I was at Inter and it was a little difficult. “I think now he’s better, he was very young five years ago and I think he can improve.” — AFP Matches on TV (Local Timings) Aston Villa v Wolves ....................................... 14:05 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Wigan v QPR .................................................... 14:30 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 4 Swansea v Sunderland ................................... 17:00 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 6 Chelsea FC v Norwich City .............................. 17:00 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Blackburn v Everton ........................................ 17:00 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 4 Liverpool v Bolton ............................................ 19:30 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3

Spanish League Sporting v Real Sociedad ................................ 19:00 Aljazeera Sport +2 Valencia v Real Racing ..................................... 21:00 Aljazeera Sport +2 Granada v Real Betis ........................................ 23:00 Aljazeera Sport +2

y

A

e niv rsar n

Years

SPORTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Guardiola eyes more success at Barcelona BARCELONA: The protracted signing of Cesc Fabregas was the final piece in the jigsaw for Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, who is now brimming with confidence ahead of the new season. A homegrown idol on the pitch during the 1990s, Guardiola has had a remarkable start to his coaching career at the Camp Nou and his achievements in the dug-out look likely to out-shine those as a player.

Rarely do great players go on to achieve similar success as managers but Guardiola’s assiduous and thoughtful mentality always made him a candidate to buck the trend. He is now looking for his fourth straight championship to equal the success of Johan Cruyff’s famous Dream Team of the early 1990s, of which he was an integral part. Guardiola is too humble to make comparisons and says that Cruyff’s team achieved more than his ever could.

In his mind, the Dream Team were the innovators of open, attacking football, but in terms of success he already has two Champions League crowns, compared to Cruyff’s single European Cup won in 1992. “After the three years that we have just had and what these players have done it would be impossible not to be optimistic. If we are not confident now, I don’t know when we would be,” Guardiola says. In contrast to the general strategy of the club, Barca have chosen to bring in established players in Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez rather than promoting from the reserves, and youth products Jeffren Suarez and Bojan Krkic have both been shown the door. For Fabregas, though, it is a return home, after he was born and raised in Catalonia and spent time at the Barca academy before joining Arsenal aged 16. Meanwhile, Sanchez possesses the pace and skill to fit in perfectly in attack. They boost a squad that appeared thin at times last season and Fabregas could slot into their three-man midfield alongside Sergio Busquets and Xavi, with Andres Iniesta pushed into attack. Guardiola has surprisingly not moved to strengthen the back line despite Carles Puyol’s injury problems, and that could give an opening to Javier Mascherano in defence.

The Argentine partnered Gerard Pique in central defence in several games at the end of last season, including the 3-1 humbling of Manchester United in the Champions League final. Barca started this season as they finished the last, by getting one over their eternal rivals Real with a 5-4 aggregate victory in a stormy Spanish Super Cup. Real were already gunning for revenge after finishing as league runners-up and losing to the Catalan side in the Champions League semi-finals, although they did beat them in the final of the King’s Cup. “They have had an excellent pre-season and won all their games, while we have concentrated more on resting,” said Guardiola. “If we had wanted to arrive at this point with more training sessions then we could have done but it wasn’t our plan. —AFP

MONACO: A picture shows a giant screen with the names of the football teams during the draw for the 2011/2012 Europa League group stage yesterday. — AFP

UEFA draws 48 teams in Europa group stage Atletico drawn with Udinese, Rennes, Sion MONACO: Atletico Madrid, the 2010 Europa League winner, was placed into this season’s toughest group yesterday although the identity of the fourth team is not yet clear.

Atletico was drawn with Italy’s Udinese, France’s Rennes and, for now, Switzerland’s FC Sion which faces disqualification for apparently fielding ineligible players in its playoff victory against Celtic.

“It’s very important for us to know what is the situation in this case. At the moment it’s a legal situation,” Atletico director Clemente Villaverde told The Associated Press. Elsewhere in the 48-team draw, Tottenham will face Shamrock Rovers, the first Irish club to reach the group stage of a UEFA competition. Their group includes Rubin Kazan of Russia and PAOK of Greece.

Paris Saint-Germain, under big-spending Qatari ownership, was drawn with Spain’s Athletic Bilbao, Austria’s Salzburg and Slovakia’s Slovan Bratislava. Hours before the draw, UEFA

President Michel Platini indicated Sion faced exclusion for selecting players which it signed this offseason despite a oneyear transfer ban imposed by FIFA which took effect in January. “It signed players and then played these players in clear violation of the ban,” Platini said. Sion’s three-year legal battle with FIFA has seen the club lose verdicts at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Supreme Court.

However, the case was complicated this month when the six newly signed players won a local civil court’s provisional ruling that forced Swiss football authorities to register them.

“I think the civil court will look at it again but our competition must go on,” UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said before Sion went into the draw with an asterisk beside its name. Infantino said UEFA’s disciplinary panel is set to consider Celtic’s official protest - the first step toward possible reinstatement - before the Europa League begins on Sept. 15.

UEFA decisions can also be appealed at CAS. —AP

Barcelona opens title defense vs Villarreal BARCELONA: With the players’ strike over, Barcelona finally begins its campaign for a fourth straight Spanish league title on Monday against the potent attack of Villarreal. The Catalan giant will have to recover quickly from the European Super Cup against FC Porto and overcome injuries to central midfielders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says he’s not concerned about defending the title and that if his pair of defenders are not ready, “we’ll make do with what we have, and, if need be, use our youth players.”

Defender Eric Abidal and midfielder Javier Mascherano filled in as centerbacks last season and will likely do so again for World Cup winners Puyol and Pique. Spain’s opening week also features the visit of Real Madrid to

Zaragoza on Sunday then the Andalucian derby between Sevilla and a revamped Malaga. All teams will have to quickly regain their focus after Spain’s first work stoppage in 27 years delayed the first round.

While the European champions’ defensive line may be in tatters, twotime defending Ballon D’Or Lionel Messi has begun the campaign in fine form scoring three goals in Barcelona’s embittered two-leg Spanish Supercup win over Real Madrid. Messi, who was just named UEFA’s Best Player in Europe, scored twice in Villarreal’s visit last season, that was more evenly contested than its 3-1 result. The Argentine star will likely have the chance to further get to know newcomers Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez, who could be back from a leg injury in time

to make his Camp Nou debut.

Villarreal’s flowing attack took it to a fourth-place finish last season. And despite losing playmaker Santi Cazorla to big-spending Malaga over the summer, the “Yellow Submarine” still has enough talent to maintain its offensive verve. Most importantly, Villarreal held on to striker Giuseppe Rossi, who was linked to various major clubs - including Barcelona - during the offseason after scoring a team-high 31 goals in all competitions last season.

“Despite the rumors this summer I am (still) with Villarreal and I want to have a great season,” the Italy international said after scoring a double to classify Villarreal for the Champions League group phase in a 3-0 win over Danish side Odense this week. Madrid, meanwhile, needs to turn its attention

to the pitch after a tumultuous week following coach Jose Mourinho’s abrasive antics in its Supercup defeat to its archrival. A depleted Zaragoza side that has lost key players from last season’s difficult season appears to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

“In football you can’t dwell on the past,” said Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. “Now we have a season ahead of us and that’s what we have to think about.”

Malaga owner Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani spent? 60 million ($85 million) to completely overhaul his squad and make the Costa del Sol club into a continental competitor. The road to Europe, however, will very likely pass through Sevilla, for years the most dominant team in southern Spain and a perennial European side. —AP

A

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

y

e niv rsar n

Sports Years

Atletico face Sion in Europa League

47

MONACO: Barcelona’s players celebrate with the trophy at the end of the UEFA Super Cup football match FC Barcelona vs FC Porto yesterday. — AFP

Barca blank Porto, grab Super Cup Messi, Fabregas leads Barca to victory MONTE CARLO: Lionel Messi scored one goal and created another as Champions League winners Barcelona lifted their fourth European Super Cup trophy yesterday after a 2-0 victory over Porto who finished with nine men. An awful back pass by Colombia midfielder Fredy Guarin was intercepted by Messi and the Argentine slotted the ball in after sidestepping keeper Helton on 39 minutes. Europa League winners Porto fell further behind when Messi chipped a pass and substitute Cesc Fabregas controlled the ball with his chest before firing in with two minutes left.

Rolando was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 86th minute and Porto team mate Guarin received a straight red card four min-

utes later for lunging at Javier Mascherano.

Barcelona, who will make a delayed start to their domestic league season when they meet Villarreal on Monday, have now collected two major trophies in 10 days following their Spanish Super Cup triumph over arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Messi, named on Thursday as the inaugural winner of UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award, continued where he left off last season. Barca, though, proved again they are not a one-man team and even without injured centre backs Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol they looked strong all over the pitch. They needed to be at their best too, especially early on when Hulk twice went close for Porto in the opening 12 minutes. —Reuters

Golf, tennis, football hit by Irene WASHINGTON: Sports officials postponed and rescheduled events along the Northeast coast of the United States yesterday as Hurricane Irene threatened to bring devastating winds and heavy rain to the region. The US PGA Tour reduced its first season-ending playoff event, The Barclays in New Jersey near New York City, from 72 to 54 holes, fearing the course at Plainfield Country Club would be unplayable for days after the storm hit.

The third round was moved to today morning and if it cannot be completed, scores would revert to 36 holes to decide a winner. Results will determine the 100 players who reach next week’s second playoff round at Boston. US Open officials, set to begin the year’s last Grand Slam tennis tournament on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York, called off today’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, an annual charity event, because of the storm’s potential fury. World No 1 Novak Djokovic of

Serbia and defending US Open champion Rafael Nadal of Spain were among the celebrities planning to take part in the event. Instead, the US Tennis Association announced the facility would be closed tomorrow with plans to reopen on Monday ahead of the scheduled morning start of matches.

Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that Portland’s game at DC United, which had been moved to today’s afternoon from today’s night, would instead be postponed indefinitely. A make-up date was set to be announced next week. MLS had already rescheduled the much-awaited Los Angeles Galaxy at New York Red Bulls match, featuring English star David Beckham for the Galaxy and French star Thierry Henry for New York, from tomorrow to October 4. New England’s planned tomorrow match at the Philadelphia Union was rescheduled to September 7. — AFP