30 Aug

rI pT Io n BS c Su THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF

40 PAGES

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2010

Interior ministry rejects Al-Arabiya visa reports

Thousands march in Hong Kong over hostage tragedy

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conspiracy theories

Ground Zero mosque!

By Badrya Darwish

ramadan kareem

NO: 14836

Pakistan cricket again embroiled in fixing scandal

7 US troops, politician killed in Afghan attacks

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Inflation up • Housing costs jump 1.3% KUWAIT: Kuwait posted a budget surplus of $22.4 billion in the past fiscal year on the back of strong oil revenues, an economic report said yesterday, citing official figures. It is the third largest windfall in the Gulf state’s history and its 11th consecutive year of budget surpluses, which have allowed Kuwait to accumulate 145 billion dollars in public revenues, according to AFP calculations based on official figures.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, Kuwait posted its largest-ever budget surplus of 32.3 billion dollars, while in the previous fiscal year it posted a surplus of around 24 billion dollars. The oil-rich State posted actual revenues of 61.5 billion dollars in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, up 119 percent on budget projections of 28.1 billion dollars, AlShall Economic Consultants said, citing finance ministry figures.

However, the figure is down on the record 2008-2009 income of 72.3 billion dollars due to a drop in oil prices and lower output because of OPEC quotas.

Actual spending after end-ofyear accounting adjustments hit 39.1 billion dollars, lower than budget projections of 42.1 billion dollars and spending in the previous year of 63.6 billion dollars.

Kuwait’s oil income last year — which formed almost 94 percent of public revenues — reached 57.6 billion dollars, compared to 68.1 billion dollars the previous year, and up from 24.1 billion dollars estimated in the 2009-2010 budget. Kuwait tends to forecast its public revenues based on conservative oil prices, and calculated its oil income last year on a

KUWAIT: Minister of Information and Oil Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah (left) vies for the ball with MP Marzouq Al-Ghanem (center) on Saturday. The Kuwaiti Cabinet team defeated the parliamentarian team 3-2 in the annual friendly match at a concluding ceremony match hosted by former MP Jassim AlKanderi marking the holy month of Ramadan. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh (See Page 3)

70,000 beggars in Kuwait?

By B Izzak KUWAIT: Islamist MP Faisal Al-Muslim yesterday inquired about the truth in a news report that as many as 70,000 beggars have entered Kuwait ahead of the holy month of

Ramadan, as the interior ministry denied the report. In a question to the interior minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, the lawmaker wanted to know if the report was true and if so what measures had been adopted by authori-

ties to deal with the issue.

The report was carried on Saturday by the Dubai-based Al-Arabia satellite channel without citing named sources.

The interior ministry however categorically denied the report saying that visas for

around 23,000 foreigners had been issued in the first 18 days of Ramadan and that just over 14,000 of them actually entered the country.

MP Hussein Al-Qallaf meanwhile described the false Continued on Page 14

The Last 10 Days

By Sheikh Hany Helmy

H

ere we are at one of the last stations, and it is time to work hard and strive. We are in the phases for “hurry” and “race” in order to make the best out of these special times. Do your best for the reward is magnificent and the frit deserves the hard work in order to obtain it.

This fruit is Laylat al-Qadr. Allah (SWT[1]) says what can be translated as, “And what will make you know what the night of AlQadr (Decree) is? The night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months (ie worshipping Allah in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months, (i.e. 83 years and 4 months).

Therein descend the angels and the Ruh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] by Allah’s Permission with all Decrees. Peace! (All that night, there is Peace and Goodness from Allah to His believing slaves) until the appearance of dawn.” Abu-Musa Al-Ash’ar (RA[2]) strived to a great extent before his death. He was told, “Why don’t you take it easy on yourself a little?” He replied, “When horses are near Continued on Page 14

Thousands still missing 20 years after Gulf War BAGHDAD: Tens of thousands of people are still missing in the Gulf from Iraq’s past 30 years of warfare, with families still living in hope of news, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. “The impact of wars is still being felt by people in the greater Gulf region years or even decades after the guns fell silent,” the ICRC said in a statement on the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared.

JERUSALEM: Leading Israeli theater artists have pledged not to perform in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, stirring a heated debate in Israel yesterday about the dozens of communities just as Israelis and Palestinians are to embark on a new round of peace talks.

The settlements, deemed illegal by the international community and built on occupied land the Palestinians want for

Saudis in rare protest 03:52 04:02 05:24 11:49 15:23 18:13 19:33

price of 35 dollars a barrel while the actual price for the year averaged around 70 dollars.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s inflation accelerated by 0.5 percent month-on-month in June, bringing the annual rate to 3.4 percent from May’s 2.9 percent, the state news agency KUNA reported.

Housing costs, which have the largest weight of 27 percent in the overall basket, jumped 1.3 percent month-on-month in June, after staying flat for two months in a row. Food price rise slowed to 0.1 percent in June, from 0.6 percent in May. Transport costs grew 0.4 percent, after a 0.3 percent decline in May, KUNA said.

Kuwait’s central bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz AlSabah said in April he saw the IMF’s 2010 inflation forecast of 4.8 percent as quite reasonable.

Also, consumer prices in Qatar fell again in July to show the biggest monthly drop in 10 months, while inflation in Kuwait in June climbed to its highest level since August 2009, data from the Gulf oil exporters showed yesterday. Inflation started to pick up again in the world’s top crude exporting region this year as economies recovered.

Saudi Arabia experienced the steepest price spike while Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were under less pressure.

Consumer prices in Qatar, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, fell 0.5 percent month-on-month in July, mainly on a drop in housing costs, putting the annual deflation at 2.9 percent, data from its statistics authority showed.

Continued on Page 14

“Thousands are still hoping to receive news of their relatives who went missing in connection with the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war or the 19901991 Gulf War (over Kuwait), or after armed conflict broke out in Iraq in 2003,” it said. The Iran-Iraq war is estimated to have cost one million lives on the two sides, while tens of thousands more Iraqis were killed in toppled dictator Saddam Hussein’s Continued on Page 14

Actors’ boycott stirs settlement debate

MAKKAH: Thousands of Muslims gather in the Grand Mosque, in Islam’s holiest city of Makkah and home to the Kaaba, as they take part in dawn (fajir) prayers yesterday. — AP

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

150 FILS

Kuwait posts $22.4 bn surplus

W

ill the plan for the Ground Zero mosque see the light? The dispute has been going on and on and every day it is becoming more complicated and at the same time it looks easier. The people who opposed the construction of the Islamic Cultural Community Centre have been pinning their disagreement that building a mosque on that spot will harm the feelings of the 9/11 World Trade Centre victims.

Will they back the project if it is shifted to another spot in New York besides Ground Zero? I do not think so because those groups are fighting the idea of building a Muslim mosque in any place in the US. It is not the first controversy over building a place of worship for Muslims outside of New York. Those who oppose building the Ground Zero mosque on that spot use the argument that Al-Qaeda, who allegedly are responsible for the attacks, are known to be extreme Muslim-terrorists.

According to the opponent’s belief, building a mosque in Ground Zero is a slap in the face of the families who lost their beloved ones in the attacks. The amazing part in this rhetoric is that many people rallied in support of building the mosque amongst them families of the 9/11 victims. These people believe in tolerance between religions and they do not pin the acts of a terrorist minority group on a whole religion.

Many supporters of the mosque project are relying on the American constitution which safeguards the rights of religious freedom, even for minorities. Muslims in America are considered a minority. The US constitution safeguards the rights of worship in any religion regardless if it is worshipped by a minority. The US President Obama said, “As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

Even the mayor of New York Bloomberg gave his blessing for the Ground Zero Community Centre. By the way, this mosque is not going to be a burden for the American tax-payers as it is funded by donation and contributions from Muslims across the world. So, what is the major concern about building a cultural centre for interfaith dialogue?

Maybe this will give a chance to people and those who are ignorant about Islam to learn about Islam and to stop branding the whole religion as “terrorist”. No religion supports terrorism, really. Unfortunately, there are terrorists from different religions, colors and faiths.

RAMADAN 20, 1431 AH

RIYADH: Some 200 unemployed Saudi university graduates staged a rare protest in the capital Riyadh demanding the Gulf Arab state give them jobs, Saudi media said yesterday. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is an absolute monarchy that has no elected parliament and usually

Graduates demand jobs does not tolerate public displays of dissent.

Unemployment hit 10.5 percent last year, according to official data, and creating jobs for a fast-growing native popu-

lation of more than 18 million is one of the biggest challenges facing the country’s ageing leadership.

Saudi newspapers carried pictures of graduates from

state universities gathering on Saturday in front of the education ministry to demand jobs as Arabic language teachers. “Enough injustice,” read one slogan carried by the protestors in front of the ministry building. With a population officially at 27.1 million, Saudi Continued on Page 14

their state, could derail talks shortly after they are launched Thursday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will walk out unless Israel extends a 10-month curb on settlement building that expires on Sept 26. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not committed to an extension.

Continued on Page 14

India’s ‘undignified’ democracy in action NEW DELHI: In his recent Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rebuked Indian MPs for their “undignified” behavior in parliament. Five days later the cabinet voted to triple their salaries. Indian pride in belonging to the world’s largest democracy has not always been best served by the country’s political representatives, whose main purpose often seems to be ensuring that parliament cannot function properly.

Proceedings in both the lower

and upper houses — all broadcast live on television — have grown increasingly raucous in the past decade, with legislators regularly engaging in high-decibel slanging matches, wrestling with each other and shouting down the speaker’s calls for order. The chaos, which normally leads to lengthy adjournments, tends to silence any meaningful debate and all too often delays or prevents serious scrutiny of important, complicated legislation.

Continued on Page 14

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Consumption levels remain high

Power outages hit Salmiya shoppers

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: In keeping with its corporate citizenship agenda to support various sectors of Kuwait, Burgan Bank amongst the leading and the most dynamic banks in the country, celebrated the traditional Girgian festival at the ongoing ‘Summer Zing’ festival at the Discovery Centre. Burgan Bank distributed Girgian boxes that consists of sweets and chocolates. This year, the Girgian box also included drawing books with color pencils for children. The ongoing Summer Zing festival at the Discovery Centre has a number of fun yet education based activities for children. Children visiting the Discovery Centre during the month of Ramadan can enjoy listening to different stories by a renowned story teller as well as enjoy musical bands.

local spotlight

A shameful case that must not be forgotten

By Muna Al-Fuzai

A

Sri Lankan lady, whose misfortune had led her to work abroad as a maid was rushed to a hospital 100 miles from her homeland’s capital, Colombo, with severe pain after returning home from Saudi Arabia where she took a job last March. It was subsequently discovered that the family she had worked for would regularly punish her by hammering nails and needles into her body.

Doctors at the hospital have done a great job, being able to remove 13 nails and five needles from the Sri Lankan woman’s body, principally from her legs and forehead. The nails ranged in length from one to two inches, while the needles were each around an inch long.

I believe that this lady is a unique example of a true survivor and I think she is really lucky to be alive at all, with doctors saying that she is still recovering from her ordeal.

What happened to her in Saudi Arabia must not be forgotten simply because she didn’t die. I strongly believe that the Sri Lankan government must act not only on behalf of this woman but of every Sri Lankan woman working abroad who could become a target for warped people like those employers. Maybe it’s time for stronger laws against single women travelling abroad for menial jobs without contracts or health insurance?

Now, since we have a story and a woman who was close to death we need to demand that the Asian governments stop sending any more of its citizens to work in menial jobs with no insurance, contracts or guarantees and the Asian nations’ embassies must show more interest in what is happening to their countries’ citizens once they reach the host country. While I was reading about this horrific and cold-blooded crime, I was trying to imagine how this woman felt, how much pain she was forced to endure and how she was forced to keep her mouth shut, all without anyone at all noticing her plight - nobody!

How can that be possible? And what should be done now?

I also believe that the Sri Lankan government should hire a lawyer on behalf of this woman to look into her case and bring it to court - nobody should let this subject drop for

20 How ma ny times in the Holy Qura n does Allah Almighty sw ear by His creations?

Seven Ten Sixteen

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any reason - and if this woman’s allegations against the family she worked for are proved to be true, then they must be punished.

Now I must say that I don’t think it’s fair to force this woman to pay a lawyer’s fees and thus her government must be the party to pay for her legal representation, not only to demonstrate how much it cares about this woman as a maid, but to show that they have their expatriate citizens’ best interests at heart and that they may consider sending no more women to work abroad until the matter is resolved. All this would show the Sri Lankan government’s seriousness in caring about such important issues and about its citizens’ lives. The labor attaché at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh said that the embassy has requested a meeting with Saudi officials and has informed authorities who it insists must take action against this woman’s former employers.

I don’t know how many more lives must be lost or abused until Asian governments take more action, save and protect their citizens’ lives. This Sri Lankan lady is lucky to have escaped and to be alive, but how many more like her will have that sort of luck...in such horrific abuse cases in any part of the world?

Email: muna@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: Pow er cuts hit Salem Al-Muba rak Street in Salmiya on Thursda y night, with most of the street being plunged into darkness w hen a blackout hit the busy area at a round 11PM. The Old Souk and surrounding ma lls were hit, with many shoppers stocking up for Eid returning home disappointed, w hile sales sta ff did their best to provide security so that shoplifters couldn’t ta ke a dvanta ge of the cha os.

With the hot, humid weather continuing to affect the country, power consumption levels across Kuwait have remained high; although the situation is better than it was in June and July, the higher-thanusual amounts of electricity being used mean that the power network is nearing capacity, with 10,081 of the full capacity of around 11,000 Megawatts being used.

Thursday night’s blackout also saw Block 7 near the Marina Mall hit, with the exhaust fumes from the heavy traffic throughout the Salmiya area only adding to the already

stifling heat.

Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) emergency maintenance teams had to carry out repairs on three substations in the area before electricity was fully restored on Saturday morning.

The maintenance work in the narrow street in the part of Salem Al-Mubarak Street that is thronged with cafés, coupled with the already-heavy traffic and the mass exodus on shoppers from darkened shops and malls leading to massive tailbacks.

The café customers, no longer able to enjoy their coffees with the cooling effects of

air conditioning, expressed exasperation at the power cuts, as well as voicing frustration at the hot, humid weather which was no longer restricted to outside the cafés during the blackout.

The MEW’s emergency maintenance department also received complaints of other power cuts at around noon yesterday, with teams immediately sent to assess and, if possible, immediately remedy the problems.

“In case certain areas had no electricity and we weren’t able to restore it fast, we supplied them with generators,”

said one engineer with the department who gave his name as Thomas. “It takes us about an hour to install and fix a generator.”

He warned of further possible blackouts, saying, “There is still the possibility that further power cuts will occur in the next few days, especially with the high humidity levels and hot weather. We still have a power overload in the Salmiya area, and it’s even worse [during Ramadan] as the shops and cafes are opened later than usual and people stay awake for longer time, so they use more electricity.”

Missing UAE banker found in Kuwait KUWAIT: Kuwaiti security authorities have apprehended a prominent UAE businessman who fled to Kuwait after disappearing during an Umrah pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia while he was apparently suffering a schizophrenic episode.

The man, an owner of a major bank in the UAE, reportedly disappeared shortly after reaching Makkah during the Umrah pilgrimage. He was apparently tracked to Kuwait by Emirati police who followed the record of his credit card use to gain an idea of his whereabouts.

Shortly after receiving a report about the incident from their counterparts in the UAE, Kuwaiti police began searching for the distressed man, who was apparently preparing to catch a flight at Kuwait International Airport. He was handed over to staff at the UAE’s Embassy in Kuwait. Reports suggest that the man is a high-functioning schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness characterized by a disintegration of the thought processes and of emotional responsiveness, which can generally be controlled with the appropriate medication, according to a medical insider with knowledge of the subject.

Razouqi, IOM official meet KUWAIT: Ambassador Dherar Razouqi, the State of Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, recently met with the head of Kuwait’s office of the International Organization for Migration, Iman Uraiqat, during her visit to the IOM’s headquarters in Geneva.

The two senior officials dis-

cussed a number of subjects of mutual concern, with the IOM official giving the ambassador a file detailing the IOM’s activities in Kuwait, which include the training of 85 Kuwaiti public sector employees in various fields, such as expatriate manpower management, combating human trafficking, and the principles of migration depart-

ments’ work.

During the meeting, Uraiqat acknowledged the support provided by the Kuwaiti government to the IOM, principally highlighting the exceptional support that Kuwait’s office receives from the ministries of interior, social affairs and labor, and foreign affairs.

nAtionAl

Monday, August 30, 2010

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Cooperative, brotherly atmosphere

Government avenges last year’s loss in annual football game

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: The government’s football team beat the Parliament’s team 3-2 in their annual match on Saturday for the final day of the Al-Kandery indoor football championship. This is the eighth consecutive year that ministers and MPs have set aside a day to compete in sport, not politics, dur-

KUWAIT: NA-Cabinet 1: A group photo of the two teams with the first deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah (center).

KUWAIT: MP Khaled Al-Tahoos (center) trying to maneuver around Minister of Electricity and Water Bader Al-Shuraian (front left), and faced by the Minister of Health Hilal Al-Sayer (third right). The goalkeeper MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae, Minister of Information Ahmad Al-Abdallah (center back) and MPs Salah AlMulla and Abdelrahman Al-Anjery are watching. The referee Waleed Al-Nisf is also seen in the picture (first right).

in my view

Unemployed expat problem

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah he problem of unemployed expatriate manpower in Kuwait has been addressed by several columnists on numerous occasions, including myself. They have focused on how their status has led to the practice of begging that seems to thrive during special occasions, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan and the Eid holidays. The presence of these unemployed expatriates is connected to the increased rate of drugs, rape, kidnapping, theft and even murder.

Kuwait is home to expatriates from around 150 different countries around the world. The fact that Kuwait has an increased rate of unemployed expatriate laborers proves that Kuwait has too many expat laborers. This indicates that not all of the expats in Kuwait came as a result of the country’s need for them.

The increasing numbers of beggars and unemployed expats in the country has become a source of concern for citizens. The govern-

T

ment is at fault for failing to gather precise data on expats, which has allowed many with criminal records to escape from their own countries and bring their criminal behavior with them to Kuwait.

The demographic statistics carried out since the 80’s indicates that the gap between the numbers of expat residents and citizens in the area are increasing in favor of expats at an alarming rate, to the point that expats have become more than 60% of the population. Meanwhile, UNESCO studies indicate that several social, political, economic and even security risks can take place in a society when the percentage of expats reach twelve percent.

It’s necessary to increase the effort being spent on adjusting the country’s demographic structure, especially considering that several recommendations have been made by the supreme council of planning. This subject should be on the political scene just as much as the development plan. —Al-Rai

Interior ministry rejects Al-Arabiya visa reports

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) responded quickly yesterday to reject reports on the Al-Arabiya website which stated that the ministry had issued a total of 22,973 visas, including social, commercial, dependent and tourism visas, during the Ramadan period to date.

Brigadier Mohammad AlSabr, the MoI’s official spokesperson, said that according to the latest figures from the ministry’s information center it had issued a total of 14,533 visas between August 11 and 28.

Brig. Al-Sabr insisted that media sources should ensure the veracity of their reports before publication.

His statement came after a report appeared on Al-Arabiya’s news site, claiming that 70,000 beggars of all nationalities had entered Kuwait. The news site also alleged that begging is widespread in Kuwait because of the inability of the Kuwaiti security authorities to control visa-trading. The Al-Arabiya article went on to claim that security officials are unable to control begging because they are involved directly in it, bringing marginal workers to Kuwait in exchange for money.

Others, meanwhile, blame the Zakat committee for the problems in the increase of beggars locally. Meanwhile others have asserted that beggars wait until Ramadan and conspire with family members in Kuwait to

MP Waleed Al-Tabtabae said that the game is a good place to compete against the government. “In the National Assembly we’ve raised the white flag, I hope we will win here,” said Al-Tabtabae.

The government’s team consisted of the Minister of Information and Minister of Oil Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah, Minister of Electricity and Water Bader Al-Shuraian, Minister of Health Hilal AlSayer, Minister of Municipality Affairs Fadhel Safar and Abdullatif AlRoudhan and Fawaz Al-Fadhel from the Cabinet ministry.

The Parliament’s team consisted of ex MP Muhammad Al-Sager and current MPs Ali Al-Umeir, Abdelrahman AlAnjery, Saleh Al-Mulla, Marzoug Al-Ghanem, Khaled Al-Tahoos, and Waleed AlTabtabae.

The game was refereed by Waleed Al-Nisf, Editor-InChief of Al-Qabas daily.

Ex-MP Jasem Al-Kandery, and organizer of the cup, joined the government team and scored within the first half.

The government continued to dominate the game and Fawaz Al-Fadhel, a Cabinet ministry official put in two more goals by the first-half. By the second-half, Marzouq Al-Ghanem, playing for the MPs, put in two goals, bringing the final score to 3-2 for the government.

Many saw the game as a revenge match for the government’s devastating 6-1 defeat last year.

After the game, Minister of Electricity Bader Al-Shuraian said that the score shows there is competition between the

ing the Holy Month of Ramadan. Before the game, the Minister of Information and the Minister of Oil, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah said that the game demonstrates the cooperative and brotherly atmosphere between ministers and MPs. “The atmosphere is friendly between our two authorities, the biggest proof of that is that the MPs passed the development plan,” he said.

KUWAIT: Ministers Ahmad Al-Abdallah and Bader Al-Shuraian receiving the match cup from Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. —Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh two teams. “[A 3-2 game] shows that there is an honest and friendly competition between the executive and legislative authorities,” AlShuraian said. The minister added that they strategically arranged their positions, which resulted in the formation of a good team. “Fadhel Safar is a very good goalkeeper and I played defense. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah played well as a center forward.”

MP Khaled Al-Tahoos said that the government won because they had help from ‘professionals.’ “There were professional players playing with the government.”

The MP went on to explain that the real success of the event is that it takes place in such a friendly atmosphere.

“This is part of the nature of Kuwaiti people, whether it is the friendly atmosphere of diwaniyas, during Ramadan as a

whole or these kinds of activities,” he said. The MP jokingly added, “we will meet them again in Abdallah Al-Salem hall in the National Assembly.”

The first deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah attended the game and handed the cup to the winning team as well as medals to participants. A number of government officials and representatives of diplomatic delega-

tions attended the game as well. This is the eighth time that the two teams have played each other in the final of this twelve years old championship.

The government has won five of those matches while the Parliament has only won two.

Their first match, in 2003, resulted in a 4-4 tie.

Meanwhile, the Bankers team beat the Fahad Al-Ahmad team 3-1 for the Al-Kandery Cup final.

MoH develops radiation accidents emergency plan KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that it has developed “an integrated plan” to counter any possible radioactive pollution accidents.

The plan, worked out in cooperation with the Interior Ministry’s Directorate General of Civil Defense, follows the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) criteria for countries close to nuclear reactors, said a senior health ministry official. It follows Iran’s launch of the Bushehr nuclear reactor across the Arabian Gulf from Kuwait.

Speaking at a press conference held to announce the plan, Engineer Samir

Al-Asfour, the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Public Service Affairs, said that it “includes draft emergency measures for each state department to follow in case of nuclear radiation accidents,” noting that the IAEA’s nuclear safeguards outline the levels of nuclear radiation.

“The Ministry of Health is ready to deal with any radioactive pollution accidents,” Eng. Al-Asfour affirmed.

“A network, consisting of 15 fixed and two mobile radiation detection stations, has been put in place nationwide to gauge the levels of radiation in the border areas as well as in the residen-

tial areas,” he explained.

“The data received from the stations show that the current level of radiation in Kuwait ranges between 84 and 266 nanosievert (nSv) per hour which means that the average is 130 nSv/h.

This level is in line with the normal basis point of Kuwait,” Al-Asfour revealed. Meanwhile, the country’s radiation testing labs have been updated and provided with the latest equipment to detect the levels of radiation in the air, water, soil and food samples, he revealed.

Al-Asfour further explained that a simulation program has been developed

to gauge the radioactive air particles which could result from a sudden radioactive pollution accident.

The measures aim to protect Kuwaiti citizens, foreign residents and emergency personnel in the event of any possible nuclear incident.

The MoH has already provided a strategic reserve of drugs for radiationrelated illnesses, including up to 60 million doses of non-radioactive iodine for various radioactive categories.

The ministry is also currently making efforts to provide 18,000 bottles of medicine in syrup form for infants aged under three, he added. —KUNA

in the news Negative radio remarks KUWAIT: The Minister of Information and Oil, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah is facing threats of interpellation for allegations of administrative violations and mismanagement, reported Al-Rai. The minister could find himself questioned in light of a new issue regarding a radio show whose host made negative comments about the rulers of the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) states.

While MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan confirmed that he will address this topic and add it to the list of issues that will be addressed during the interpellation, two other MPs expressed intentions to question the minister on the situation as well. The subject regards a radio show broadcast on the Holy Quran radio station and hosted

by Dr Mohammad Al-Nabilsi. The host said that when the rulers of Muslim countries refrain from following Sharia law the wealth of their countries will be squandered as a punishment from God. The Islamic activist who hosted the radio show while visiting the country further suggested that the destruction and losses suffered by the region’s countries during the Gulf Wars were a “punishment” because these countries’ rulers “failed to commit to true Sharia regulations.” These comments proved controversial after they were considered offensive and seemed to question the judgment of the rulers of the region.

4,000 sheep in ten days Brig Mohammad Al-Sabr obtain family visas or buy commercial visas, which allow them to come to the country during this period in order to make money begging. The site also alleged that beggars make an average of $200 daily and often return home with more than $6,000 saved, which is a vast amount in some nations.

Professor Dr. Tariq AlTarawi, a faculty member at Kuwait University’s Sharia college, blamed the residency visa traders for the surge in the number of beggars during Ramadan. Dr. Al-Tarawi also said that the inability of Zakat committees not to meet people’s needs also helps to increase the number of incidences of begging since they

are under intolerable pressures and are attempting to survive on very little.

On the solution to the problem, Dr. Al-Tarawi said that the country’s security services must help in fighting residency traders, cracking down on them and no longer allowing them to run businesses by closing their files with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL). The academic also stated that another way to help to reduce begging would be for the Zakat committee to extend its coverage to bedoon (stateless) residents and expatriate residents, and to help to pay their children’s fees, adding that this was well within the committee’s capabilities.

KUWAIT: A shipment of 4,000 live sheep that recently arrived in Kuwait has been successfully distributed to markets across Kuwait, said the Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait’s Livestock Transport and Trading Company (LTTC) Bader Al-Jarallah on Saturday. Al-Watan reported Al-Jarallah as saying that this shipment is expected to meet local demand for red meat for only the next ten days, adding that he indicated that another shipment carrying around 60,000 Australian sheep would be arriving in the country shortly.

Ukrainian cargo planes KUWAIT: The Ministry of Defense is considering the purchase of a number of Ukrainian-made cargo aircraft, due to their cheaper cost compared to similar planes built in other countries, as well as their high quality and the manufacturers’ commitment to delivering on schedule. A team of ministry officials and aviation experts, led by the Assistant Undersecretary for Administrative Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Mansour, is set to leave on a visit to the Ukraine shortly to assess the aircraft, reported Al-Rai. After the visit, the team, which also includes a number of pilots and technicians, will submit a report detailing their findings to the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. The Ukrainian cargo planes have already been successfully used by the United Arab Emirates for ten years.

KUWAIT: A 48-year-old Kuwaiti man died early yesterday morning in a car crash on the Sixth Ring Road, opposite the South Surra turn-off. The body was removed for autopsy. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Syrian, Egyptian TV dramas, a rage during Ramadan

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Soap operas are among the most discussed topics during the Holy Month of Ramadan. Men, women, and even children talk about different television dramas that are aired on Arabic satellite channels. Even those who do not watch TV frequently follow at least one soap opera during this period, and usually watch more than one drama.

In Kuwait, the most popular soap operas are the locally-produced ones. Also many expatriates watch other Arabic soap operas

like the Egyptian and Syrian ones. They then discuss the latest episode when they meet at gatherings. Also at cafĂŠs or other public place, television screens play popular soap operas.

Viewers believe that television dramas were shot and recorded before Ramadan.

However, many are still being filmed throughout the month. "We still have about seven episodes to shoot till the end (of the soap opera). I know it may be risky in some cases. For instance, if any of the actors face a health problem and we are not able to fin-

ish shooting," Ali, a cameraman with one of the local satellite channels told the Kuwait Times.

"We care about the audience's opinion.

We listen to comments from viewers. And if we receive many negative comments on a certain plot, such as the behavior of certain actor, the decor, we then change it in the forthcoming episodes," added Ali. Watching these dramas have become the primary preoccupation of many. "I work and still manage to watch seven soap operas. My mother records three of them for me which

are shown in the morning and I watch the others. This is how I compensate for not watching TV throughout the year," noted Noora, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti.

Opinions about different soap operas vary, and the Ministry of Information has censored some scenes or even banned entire shows. The practice is prevalent in other Arab countries as well.

An instance of this was a scene where a blue pill was being purchased from a pharmacy in the TV series 'Sugar Crisis.' It was censored by Egypt's television censorship

department. According to Arab online daily Ilaf, "While last year's dramas treated Egypt's foreign politics audaciously, this year's series were bolder to discuss internal Egyptian issues as well as their treatment to touchy subjects like spinsterhood and polygamy." An example of this issue is the depiction of the Muslim Brotherhood in the new soap opera 'Al Gama'a' (The Brotherhood). It drew flak from many quarters, especially scathing was Al-Banna's son Saif Al-Islam's criticism.

Some experts on Arab film and television

believe that the Syrian series are gradually gaining ground over Egyptian ones. In fact even in Kuwait, many Kuwaitis watch and discuss the historical drama 'Bab Al-Hara' (The Neighborhood Gate) which deals with French colonialism in Syria during the 1920s. Some Arab soap operas also depicted taboo issues like polyandry and homosexuality. One such controversial topic appears in a recent episode of the popular Saudi Arabian series 'Tash Ma Tash' (No Big Deal).

In the drama, a Saudi woman is shown to be married to four men.

Maintain Your Brain

By Hassan Taha

H

ow long is a good mind good for?

And what can we do to keep our minds and bodies active?

According to Dr. Gary Small, until about 25 years ago, most scientists believed that senility was an inevitable part of aging. It is now clear that that is not necessarily the case.

Nourishment of the mind: The mind can be nourished by certain foods just as much as the body can, particularly foods that are wholesome, nutritious and high in antioxidants. When brain cells burn oxygen for energy, molecules called "free radicals" are created to eliminate harmful toxins. When the levels of free radical in one's system rise too high, however, they can

begin damaging neurons. Antioxidants keep these levels down. Adding fish to your diet is also beneficial for your mind; the Omega 3 fatty acids that come from fish oil have been shown to improve memory in Alzheimer's patients and, like other antioxidants, they are believed to protect the brain from the ravages of oxidization.

This is one of the reasons as to why the first verses revealed in the Holy Quran urges Muslims to learn.

What else can you do to maintain and improve your brain?

1- Learn to calm yourself with breathing exercises, prayer, physical exercise, etc. Remind yourself of what the most important things in your life are.

2- Seek out people with whom you can

have lively and positive conversations.

Isolation can lead to depression, a primary cause of memory problems.

3- Get plenty of rest. During sleep, the brain has a welcome decrease in sensory input which allows it to sort through experiences and activities.

4- Learn something new every day.

Read, play games like Scrabble, do crossword puzzles, etc.

5- Avoid intoxicants, including drugs, which are very harmful to you and to the wider community. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: "Strive hard to do whatever is beneficial to you and never surrender."

Ramadan is an excellent training course to gradually learn to avoid such intoxicants. Courtesy, the AWARE Center

KUWAIT: The Dar Al-Shifa hospital recently held a ghabqa on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, featuring participation of staff members and their families.

The event took place at the SAS hotel and saw several activities and competitions in which people from all ages took part.

Sheikh Fahad Jaber Al-Ahmad (center), Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah (4th from right) and other dignitaries.

Kuwait Shooting Sports Club honors ISSF vice president

By Abdellatif S haraa KUWAIT: The Kuwait Shooting Sports Club (KSSC) recently held a reception in honor of the president of Kuwait and Asian Shooting Federation. Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah was elected as vice president of the International Shooting Sports Federation during the 50th National Assembly meeting in Munich, Germany. The Arab Shooting Federation President Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi was also elected as a member of the Administrative Council.

Sheikh Salman said that Kuwait's achievements would not have been fulfilled without the support of Kuwait's leadership headed by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-

Ahmad Al-Sabah. He said that the sport of shooting has made steady progress.

Shooters provide outstanding results in most, if not all events. Officials have proven their presence at all regional, Arab, Asian and international levels. Kuwait serves as the host of the Arab and Asian shooting federations, under Kuwaiti leadership. This has been proven by Kuwait's election to the ISSF boards.

Sheikh Salman said that the efforts would continue and that Kuwait will garner more achievements and do its best to maintain its position among the best in the world.

Commenting on Kuwait's sports issues, Sheikh Salman expressed confidence that authorities would find an effective solution

and allow Kuwaiti athletes to perform well.

He noted that Kuwait hosts the second largest sports organization in the world, the Olympic Council of Asia which is chaired by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.

Meanwhile, Aadi Faleh Al-Bqumi, congratulated Sheikh Salman on his election saying, "Sheikh Salman is the right man in the right place and he makes us proud as Gulf citizens, Arabs and Muslims."

He said that Kuwait has modernized its facilities, activities and improved athletes' abilities, and the new position at the ISSF serves as proof. Al-Bqumi expressed hope that other Arab countries would emulate Kuwait's example under the leadership of Sheikh Salman and his colleagues.

Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, Aadi Faleh Al-Bqumi and Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi.

Major General Mahmoud Al-Dousary, Jassim Yacoub (Deputy Director of PAYS), Sheikh Salman and other guests.

NATIONAL

Monday, August 30, 2010

Abdullah Adulmohsen Al-Sharhan, ACK’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Adnan Saad, Kuwait Times marketing director, Asharaf Rizk and Zeina Mukaddam PH7 managing partner.

ACK holds Ramadan ghabqa KUWAIT: On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) held its annual ghabqa on Wednesday evening at the Hilton Hotel in Mangaf, with guests including ACK employees and a number of local media representatives.

Among the guests of honor were the Chairman of the college’s Board of Trustees, Abdullah Abdulmohsen AlSharhan, and College President Professor Vishy Karri.

ACK is always keen to host such celebratory events as they are an integral element of its enthusiasm for embracing

Kuwait’s culture.

The ghabga also provided a great opportunity for the college’s staff members and associates to mingle in a warm and friendly environment outside the workplace.

In his address at the event, Al-Sharhan said, “ACK is enthusiastic about this annual Ramadan celebration and on its role in promoting a warm, friendly, and relaxed atmosphere for its staff members and acquaintances.”

The board chairman continued, “Ghabgas are a crucial element of the festive Ramadan customs and traditions in Kuwait and they provide a great opportunity

An ACK employee with her relative.

to develop the lines of communication and enhance mutual understanding between all parties involved in any business.

Al-Sharhan emphasized the college’s enthusiasm for encouraging and promoting communication with the local community: “ACK has a great interest in social networking and promoting its vision,” he stressed, adding that the college “will continue striving to achieve and implement its vision of enabling human potential within a culture of care and will work diligently to maintain it via strategic management, a well-defined education policy, and regular social activities.”

Abdullah Al-Sharhan, Chairman of the Board, Loise Whiteside, instructor, Kay Hassan, corporate training coordinator.

Some ACK employees with their friends and relatives.

Ali El-Sebai, marketing and PR coordinator with his wife.

Hani Nassar and his wife.

Reem Saeb Lama Murad, CCR officer and Mary Said, senior marketing officer.

5

A group of employees, Yaqob Al-Enizi, Nasser Al-Qallaf and Kawthar Hassan. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

6

NATIONAL

Monday, August 30, 2010

Lovers caught by sponsor’s wife

Soldier, two Arabs in custody for drug trade KUWAIT: A soldier a nd tw o Ara b expa ts w ere arrested while attempting to sell illegal pills. The General Director for Drug Control, Ma j Gen Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah, received informa tion regarding a man in the military involved in selling drugs.

A tea m w as formed to investigate the matter a nd arrest the suspect. He w as arrested a fter he unknowingly sold 40 illegal pills to a n undercover agent. When questioned, he confessed to selling the drugs w ith the help of two others.

Lovers ca ught An Egyptian expat visited his girlfriend, a maid, while her sponsor was away from the house for Friday prayers. The Egyptian, who works as a mandoub for a domestic help office, drew the attention of the sponsor’s wife because he was smoking in the maid’s bedroom. When she entered the room the two attempted to escape by fleeing in the mandoub’s car. The woman followed them and forced them to crash into a light post. Police responded to the emergency and arrested the two lovers.

They were referred to the Rumaithiya police station.

kuwait digest

Islamists versus opponents

By Mubarak Al -Duwai l ah

A

lcohol consumption, drug abuse, gambling and extra-marital sexual relationships are all practices that are prohibited by Islamic regulation.

However, they are not considered as such by opponents of the Islamic lifestyle.

The hijab (headscarf) is an obligatory requirement for Muslim women in accordance with Sharia regulations, while opponents consider it as being backward.

Performing charity work is encouraged the most by Islamic regulations, while detractors of Islamic regulations classify religiously-motivated charity work as being suspicious in funding ter-

rorism and should be restricted by placing controls to limit activity.

Islamic regulations stipulate that men and women be segregated in public places as a necessary approach to eliminate troubles that stem from immorality.

Detractors reject practices where male and female students are segregated at academic institutions.

According to the perspective of religious activists, the Parliament’s negative practices committee helps detect immoral practices that are prevalent in society and helps curb the spread of these practices. However, those who oppose an Islamic lifestyle believe that this committee calls for people to return to a medieval lifestyle, and impose restrictions on others’ freedom.The gen-

eral belief among Muslim activists is that whenever a writer, poet, or columnist clearly objects to a religious principle, their comment are classified as being offensive. However, such writers are well-acknowledged by detractors.

Muslim activists believe that secularism contradicts with Islamic ideology.

Also, Islamists encourage for religious lifestyle to be adopted in society by placing controls that enhance behavior.

Others believe that all people in society should be left free to do whatever they want. We as Muslim activists would be happy to see a child reciting the Holy Quran, a girl who puts on a hijab or a Buddhist that chooses to convert to Islam unlike detractors who are displeased at such incidents. — Al-Qa ba s

Al-Azmi receives the championship trophy from Sheikh Ali Al-Sabah.

Sexual assault A family’s driver sexually assaulted his sponsor’s 10 year old son. The victim’s father brought the driver to the Rabiya police station and filed a case against him.

Ca r a ccident An accident in Salmiya left a female citizen and a Syrian expat severely injured. The accident occurred when the

two were making an unpermitted U-turn at a traffic light.

Their car was struck by a citizen driving an SUV. The two who were injured in the accident were brought to Mubarak Hospital.

Body found The body of a 31-year-old Indian expat was found in a Kabd area animal farm pen. A case has been opened.

Officer injured A traffic policeman sustained fractures and other injuries when his patrol car crashed into a bus parked in the emergency lane on Fourth Ring Road, reported Al-Watan. He was brought to Jahra Hospital by paramedics. A case was opened to investigate the matter further.

Domestic dispute A female citizen filed a case against her son and daughterin-law in the Omariya police station. The elderly woman informed authorities that her son and his wife assaulted her.

He was summoned to the

police station but refused to report to authorities. iPa d thief A young man ran out of a store with an iPad after asking to take a look at it. The store’s owner filed a case with the Farwaniya police station.

Authorities are looking into the matter.

Husba nd robs w ife A man stole the KD 8,000 his wife had been saving to buy a new car. When she discovered that the money was missing from her cupboard she asked her husband if he knew what happened to the money. He told her that he used the money and refused to pay it back. The woman filed a complaint against her husband with authorities in Fahaheel and accused him of stealing her money.

Ha ra ssment Capital Governorate authorities arrested a man for chasing after a girl from Shuwaikh to Doha. The girl was offended by the man for blocking her way, making obscene gestures and

trying to give her his phone number. When she refused his advances he chased her all the way to Doha. After responding to the emergency call, authorities arrested the harasser.

Meanwhile, two men were arrested for sexually assaulting a woman in Maidan Hawally.

Smuggler ca ught An Arab expat was arrested for trying to smuggle 6,500 illegal pills of Tramadol into the country by hiding it in frozen chickens. Customs officials, suspicious of the number of chickens the man brought with him from his country, examined them and discovered they were stuffed with illegal pills.

Youths a rrested Police arrested two men for being in possession of imported liquor and drugs. They discovered the illegal substances after the car was pulled over by authorities for running a red light. A search of their vehicle revealed the illicit substances and the driver and his passenger were referred to the proper authorities.

Radio show host slams GCC rulers KUWAIT: In an incident that has raised questions about the Ministry of Information’s measures to monitor local media broadcasts during the holy month of Ramadan, the host of a radio show broadcast on the Holy Quran radio station reportedly made pejorative comments about the Gulf states’ rulers, saying that their “unguided management” was the reason for the “squandering wealth to the enemy’s benefit.”

During the show in question, which was broadcast on August 10, the host Dr. Mohammad Al-Nablisi reportedly said that when the rulers of Islamic nations fail to follow Sharia law, their nations’ wealth will be squandered as a punishment from God, reported Al-Rai. Dr. Al-Nablisi is reported to have said, “God punishes rulers who don’t follow Sharia teachings by assigning a fierce enemy to oppose them, which will cost

them great amounts of wealth.”

The incident has led to serious criticism within the information ministry, which has primarily focused on the lack of proper monitoring, especially of the Holy Quran radio station which has reportedly seen similar violations of the country’s broadcasting laws previously. The incident is seen as particularly troubling in the present sensitive political climate regionally.

Al-Matar receives the second place trophy

E-dama tournament concludes

Contestant Mohammad Jassem Abel receives a trophy for finishing first in his group.

Sheikh Ali Al-Sabah in a group photo with winners.

Houra Al-Blushi is awarded the women’s category trophy.

Sheikh Ali Al-Sabah receives a memorial plaque for his efforts to sponsor the tournament.

KUWAIT: Contestant Abdurrahman Al-Azmi was recently crowned the champion of the Sixth Annual Sheikh Yousuf Saud Al-Sabah E-Dama tournament, which concluded recently. Abdurahman Al-Matar and Yousuf Al-Skouny were placed second and third respectively.

The tournament, which was organized at the Yacht Club of the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) concluded recently. A closing ceremony was held with the patronage and attendance of Sheikh Ali Yousuf Al-Sabah, as well as the TEC’s Deputy Managing Director for Entertainment Affairs Adel Al-Fahad, CEO of the Babtain group Saud Abdulaziz Al-Babtain, Head of the TEC’s Beaches and Sea Clubs Department Ali Al-Qallaf, as well as the Head of the tournament’s organizing committee Dr Nouri Al-Wattar.

Sheikh Ali Al-Sabah awarded the champion with his trophy, as well as other contestants who secured top spots. Furthermore, Al-Sabah awarded contestant Houra Al-Blushi who won in the women’s category.

Dr Al-Wattar poses with the organizing committee.

InternAtIOnAL

Monday, August 30, 2010

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Jordan sees speed as key to success of Mideast peace AMMAN: Jordan's King Abdullah II, who met Israel's defiance minister yesterday, said success in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will depend on speedy progress before extremism returns to centre stage. "I don't think we should put a one-year target date," Abdullah said in an interview with Israel's TV1 late on Saturday ahead of the direct talks being relaunched in Washington this week.

"I believe words coming out of the United States is within one year (for a two-state settlement). Why wait for one year? The longer we wait, the more we give people a chance to

create violence," he said. After the opening in Washington on Wednesday, attended by Abdullah and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas are to launch direct talks the following day. "It is the willingness of the leaders on the second day to really solve this problem, which is really going to be the deciding factor of how the Middle East is going to shape itself over the next 10 years," said Abdullah.

A senior Jordanian official, meanwhile, said his country and Egypt, the only two

Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, are "cautiously optimistic, because historically such meetings have led to no success."

On Netanyahu, the official said the Israeli leader "does not want to commit to anything but he says he is in a hurry and would like to finalize it all in six months." Jordan's advice to Abbas was: "Try to be positive. Don't say 'no,' you can say 'yes, but'."

Yesterday, Abdullah told visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the negotiations "should be dealt with in a serious

way," the palace said. Middle East peace was "of strategic interest for the region and the world." The king, in the television interview, stressed that Israel's future in the region was at stake in the process being launched in the US capital after several past failures. "We have to have the strength of our convictions to take the tough steps over the next couple of weeks and hopefully that will lead into a process that is not just between Israelis and Palestinians," he said.

"The bigger picture for the Israeli people is, Israel's integration in the Arab-Islamic

world. That's the prize. But we need to start it in Washington." Abdullah warned the military dynamics in the Middle East had changed, with the Jewish state waging short wars on average every two years in the absence of a settlement with the Palestinians. "Today the dynamics have changed. Conflict with Israel today is not necessarily to win against Israel but to survive. Therefore that opens the dynamics to a completely different threat towards Israel," he said.

"Is it going to be fortress Israel ... or are

we going to have the courage to break down those walls and bring peoples together and eventually bring full security to the Israeli people?" he asked. "But if the Israelis and Palestinians are sitting at the table and solving their problems, then all of those elements that are trying to work for the destruction of Israel will have no longer a justification. "What's happening in Washington is not just about the Israelis and Palestinians. It's about Israel's future with the Arabs and Israel's future with the Muslim world." — AFP

Bashir using tactics to avoid arrest: ICC Bashir accused of abusing African hospitality

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi police officer stand guard at a checkpoint in Baghdad yesterday. — AP

US remains at forefront of Iraq's 'trigger line' GORGA CHAL: When the US army ends its Iraq combat mission this week, Captain TJ Tepley will stay on the frontline-keeping the peace at the centre of what commanders say is the country's biggest challenge. The 27-year-old leads a company made up not only of US troops, but also of Arab and Kurdish soldiers whose job is to patrol a disputed tract of land in oil-rich Kirkuk province in the north, trying to abate ethnic tensions.

While thousands of fellow Americans have packed their kit and headed home as part of plans to reduce the US military presence in Iraq to 50,000 troops, Tepley and his comrades will remain in the field on a separate mission. "Overall, big picture, sure-things have changed. We went from more than 100,000 soldiers to 50,000 in a few months," said Tepley, from Cleveland, Ohio.

"But on September 1, the CSF (Combined Security Force) is still going to be here," he said as his heavily armored MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicle rumbled towards the tiny village of Gorga Chal, north of Kirkuk city.

Tepley's company, and several others like it, are key to efforts to end a long-running dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the north's autonomous Kurdistan region, over the 650-kilometre (400-mile) strip of land.

Dubbed the "trigger line" because of fears that tensions could eventually spill over into armed conflict, the disputed area spreads across Iraq from Syria to Iran.

The tripartite security force which Tepley is part of was inaugurated in January after first being mooted by the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, a year ago. But in a nod to the withdrawal-all American troops must leave Iraq by the end of next year, under the terms of a BaghdadWashington security pact-US generals are aiming to reduce American involvement and re-configure the force. "What I would like to see happen is they go from tripartite to bilateral," US Major General Anthony Cucolo, referring to the patrols, told AFP

in Tikrit.

The plan could see Americans supervise the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters currently working alongside US soldiers, Cucolo said, but eventually the patrols would have to be by police or disbanded altogether. For now, though, US troops in Tepley's company remain firmly in the lead: in a meeting with Gorga Chal's village chief Ramadan Mohammed at the local school, only he and Lieutenant Daniel Spurrier, 23, spoke to the "mukhtar." Only after prompting from Tepley towards the end of the meeting did the lone Iraqi soldier present, Sergeant Arif Safa Hussein Abdul Ali, eventually speak to the mukhtar.

The territorial dispute stems largely from the so-called "Arabisation" policies of Saddam Hussein. Human Rights Watch estimates the dictator forcibly removed 120,000 Kurds from Kirkuk between 1991 and his ouster in 2003. After the US-led invasion seven years ago, Kurdish forces advanced south and west, staking a claim over what many in Kirkuk and the nearby provinces of Nineveh and Diyala say is Arab land. In the years since, both sides have traded allegations of attempting to deliberately increase their own ethnic populations, in a bid to secure the province's energy resources and resulting income.

The mistrust and consequent lack of cooperation between Arab and Kurdish forces has left what US commanders label a "seam" that has been exploited by criminal and insurgent networks.

Since the joint forces began operating checkpoints and conducting patrols in January, however, Gorga Chal chief Mohammed says he has seen security improve. "When the US leaves, I can only hope they will stay together and continue to provide security-together," the 40-year-old said. While senior American commanders insist relations are good on the ground between Arabs and Kurds, comments by Mohammed show that tensions remain and memories linger. — AFP

LONDON: The International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor has accused Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir of abusing African hospitality and threatening the West as he seeks to avoid arrest on genocide charges. Kenya chose not to arrest Bashir on the ICC charges when he visited the country on Friday for a ceremony marking the East African nation's new constitution. The ICC, to which Kenya is signed up, accuses Bashir of war crimes and genocide in Sudan's Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in a humanitarian crisis resulting from a counterinsurgency campaign.

Bashir denies the charges, saying they are part of a Western conspiracy. "President Bashir is fighting for his freedom using different tactics," ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in an interview on Saturday during a visit to London. Those tactics included "abusing African hospitality" by going to neighboring countries, "threatening Western countries with affecting the south (Sudan) and offering carrots to foreign business, to French, American and English companies," he said.

UN Security Council members should implement a strategy to counter Bashir's tactics, Moreno-Ocampo said. South Sudan is widely expected to choose to split from the north in a January referendum after a 2005 peace accord ended a twodecade-long civil war-separate from the Darfur violence. ICC judges reported Kenya to the UN Security Council for allowing Bashir's visit. The Haguebased ICC has no police force and relies on member states to enforce its arrest warrants. But last month, the African Union criticized the ICC's warrant for Bashir and called for its suspension.

CALL FOR SUDAN TO ACT Moreno-Ocampo said he hoped Bashir would travel further afield so the arrest warrant against him could be implemented "in the air"-presumably meaning a diversion of his plane. Sudan's UN ambassador called Moreno-Ocampo a "terrorist" in 2008 after an ICC spokeswoman said the court had planned to arrest a wanted Sudanese minister by diverting a plane he was travelling on to Saudi Arabia. The minister called off the trip.

But Moreno-Ocampo said the best solution would be for Sudanese authorities to arrest Bashir. That would be a clear sign Sudan was changing its behavior, the Argentine said. He said Bashir had kept his plan to visit Kenya secret. "As soon as the judges informed the Security Council, he left Kenya.

So he is a fugitive president ...," he said. Moreno-Ocampo said he stood by his promise to seek arrest warrants by the end of the year for up to six Kenyans from both sides of the election violence that killed 1,300 people in 2008. "I promised to present two cases this year and I will do it," he said. Each case would involve two or three people.

Moreno-Ocampo declined to confirm reports in the Kenyan media that several key witnesses in the Kenyan cases had been flown out of the country to ensure their safety.

"I have a duty to protect the witnesses and we are doing that," he said. Moreno-Ocampo also said prosecutors would be ready, probably next week, to disclose the identity of an intermediary used by the prosecutor's office to help find witnesses in a war crimes case against Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga.

Lubanga's trial was suspended last month after prosecutors refused to turn over the intermediary's identity to the defense. — Reuters

Yemen denies foreign troops fighting Al-Qaeda on its soil ADEN: Yemen denied yesterday that foreign forces are involved in its battle against Al-Qaeda, as Sanaa's security forces went on high alert after nine soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists. "We are surprised at groundless allegations in several media reports lately on the presence of British soldiers and on the arrival of US forces to aid in fighting terror in Yemen," the defense ministry's 26sep.net news website quoted a Yemeni official as saying.

The official said that Yemen's cooperation with the "United States or other countries" in fighting terrorism is "restricted to the exchange of information which facilitates its hunt (for) terrorist elements and handing them over to justice." Suspected Al-Qaeda militants have carried out several attacks in past weeks against Yemeni soldiers, the latest of which killed nine soldiers and a civilian in the town of Jaar in the southern Abyan province on Saturday, according to a security official.

The soldiers were breaking the Ramadan fast at sunset when four armed militants attacked them using rocket-propelled grenades. The militants chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and said they had come "from the town of Loder to avenge the death of our brothers there," the security official said, quoting a soldier who had escaped the attack. "The attack carries the fingerprints of AlQaeda," he added. Deadly clash-

SANAA: Nasser Ahmed Al-Bahri, former bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Sanaa, Yemen.

Nasser warned of an escalation in fighting between Al-Qaeda and Yemeni authorities and predicted the government would need outside intervention to stay in power. — AP es last week between alleged Al-Qaeda militants and the army in Loder, in northern Abyan, killed at least 33 people, including 19 militants, according to an AFP tally based on official and medical sources.

The interior ministry on Saturday called for tighter security at intelligence headquarters throughout the country and said it had put security units on alert.

The ministry, in a statement posted on its website, stressed "the importance of increasing

security vigilance and deploying patrols in the capital and the provinces, in addition to tightening security measures on vital facilities and buildings." An unnamed US counter-terrorism official had told AFP on Wednesday that the United States was increasingly concerned about the threat posed

by Al-Qaeda in Yemen and that it was moving to pile pressure on the militants.

He said Al-Qaeda affiliates had regrouped in Yemen and

emerged as a "virulent" danger.

The US official spoke following reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post citing US officials as saying that the new assessment of the threat raised the prospect of expanded US operations in Yemen, including CIA drone strikes. Yemen has intensified its military campaign against AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group's local franchise, since December, mainly after the Christmas Day

botched attempt to blow up a US airliner by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had spent time in Yemen.

Security forces on Friday arrested an alleged Al-Qaeda member who had fled from Loder following the deadly clashes there, 26sep.net reported. The US military conducted a secret air strike in May against a suspected group of Al-Qaeda militants in the remote desert of Marib province, the New York Times reported earlier this month, citing unnamed US officials. The US embassy in Sanaa, meanwhile, has suspended "all non-essential travel outside of Sanaa for embassy personnel... as a result of continuing threats from AQAP and its affiliates," it said in an online statement posted last week.

"American citizens travelling to or residing in Yemen should maintain a sense of heightened vigilance," the embassy added.

The embassy "also advised its personnel to avoid areas with significant crowds... where large numbers of foreigners gather, and large cultural or other events without a visible security presence." "Enhanced security awareness also includes varying routes and times of movements to and from work." South Yemen, especially Abyan province, is feared to have become a base for Al-Qaeda militants to regroup under AQAP. The country is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. — AFP

NAIROBI: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir gestures during the ceremony of promulgation of Kenya's New Constitution at the Uhuru Park grounds on August 27, 2010 in Nairobi. — AFP

PM Netanyahu spells out essentials for peace deal JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish homeland is chief among essential components for a peace deal, days ahead of renewed negotiations. Netanyahu restated his conditions for a settlement ahead of Thursday's summit in Washington with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for the first direct negotiations since talks collapsed in December 2008.

An agreement would have to be based "first of all on recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people, an end to the conflict and an end to further demands on Israel," Netanyahu said. The Palestinians, who broke off the talks nearly three years ago after Israel staged a bloody offensive into the Gaza Strip, object to endorsing Israel as essentially Jewish.

Such a move would imply they are dropping their claim that refugees who fled or were expelled when Israel was created in 1948, and their descendants, should be able to reclaim former homes now within Israel. Netanyahu told reporters that he would also seek "real security arrangements on the ground" to prevent a recurrence in the West Bank of events that took place in the Gaza Strip after Israel pulled out in 2005 and in south Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000. The Islamist Hamas seized control in Gaza and used the coastal strip as a launching pad for attacks into Israel. Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah fought a bloody war with the Jewish state in 2006.

Netanyahu will personally lead the talks and hopes to meet Abbas every two weeks, a senior Israeli official said on Friday. Key to the discussions will be the future of a partial Israeli moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, which expires September 26.

Netanyahu faces strong pressure at home not to renew the freeze on new construction permits, but the Palestinians say Israel must chose

between settlements or peace. "The choice of the Israeli government is settlement or peace, they cannot have both," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, echoing remarks by Abbas.

Settlements in the West Bank and Israeliannexed east Jerusalem are considered illegal by the international community. Meanwhile Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak held talks yesterday in Amman with King Abdullah II ahead of the Washington summit, to which the Jordanian king and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have been invited. Abdullah told Barak that the negotiations "should be dealt with in a serious way," and that Middle East peace was "of strategic interest for the region and the world," the palace said.

In an interview Saturday with Israeli public television, Abdullah called for steady progress in the negotiations, to prevent extremism from returning to centre stage. "I don't think we should put a one-year target date," Abdullah told Channel One TV. "Why wait for one year? The longer we wait, the more we give people a chance to create violence." A senior Jordanian official said his country and Egypt, the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel, are cautious regarding the outcome of the talks "because historically such meetings have led to no success."

Meanwhile the spiritual head of the ultraOrthodox Shas party in Israel's ruling coalition has damned Abbas and his people ahead of the Washington summit, stirring an angry reaction from the Palestinians. "May all the nasty people who hate Israel, like Abu Mazen (Abbas), vanish from our world," said Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in a sermon on Saturday. "May God strike them down with the plague along with all the nasty Palestinians who persecute Israel."

Erakat condemned the statement as "an incitement to genocide," and urged the Israeli government "to do more about peace and stop spreading hatred."— AFP

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monday, August 30, 2010

Life sentence for Madagascar ex-leader may prolong crisis ANTANANARIVO: The sentencing of Madagascar's former president Marc Ravalomanana to hard labour for life may prove to be one more obstacle in the island's attempts to emerge from political turmoil.

Ravalomanana, who lives in exile in South Africa, was sentenced in absentia Saturday by a court in Antananarivo for his part in what are known as the February 7, 2009 killings, the third sentence handed him since his ouster.

On that day, Ravalomanana's presidential guard fired without warning on supporters of the island's current strongman Andry Rajoelina making their way to the presidency, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 100. Madagascar has been mired in political turmoil since Rajoelina grabbed

power one month later, in March 2009.

"Obviously this development is quite important in as much as it's not very common for a former head of state to be convicted in this manner," Stephen Ellis, a historian at Leiden University told AFP. "The effect will be to make a political settlement that much more difficult and I would surmise that was the intention," he said noting that ever since Rajoelina seized power he has been in a rather weak position and under pressure to accept power-sharing deals. "This is not going to facilitate the resolution of the crisis," agreed a western diplomat in the capital who asked not to be quoted. "I am baffled by the way the trial, which deserved an in-depth investigation, coincided with the ongoing political meet-

ings on how to manage the transition," he said, noting that Ravalomanana's court hearing lasted just two days.

Calling it a "mock trial", Ravalomanana told AFP in South Africa its true purpose was to prevent him for running for president again and disrupt talks on resolving the Indian Ocean island's political crisis. "I reject this verdict because it's stupid, it's ridiculous," Ravalomanana said. Fetison Andrianirina, Ravalomanana's head of delegation in the crisis talks also told AFP in Madagascar that the ruling would "complicate any resolution to the crisis". "How do you expect us to stay at the negotiating table?" he said, calling the sentence a "criminal ruling to which we attach no particular importance".

Joseph Breham, a lawyer representing an association of victims of the February 7 killings, AV7, however said the trial was "fair" and "respected international standards". He told AFP the accused -- 14 of whom did not appear in court - and their counsel employed "empty-chair" procedural tactics in order to discredit the court ruling.

"Throughout the trial all the lawyers who were present were able to put their arguments across normally," Breham said.

This latest sentence in absentia is Ravalomanana's third since his ouster. He was handed four years' jail and a fine over a presidential jet purchase and five years' hard labour over a land purchase. The Feb 2009 killings were triggered when Andry Rajoelina, a former DJ who was then mayor

of Antananarivo but who proclaimed himself in charge of the country, named a "prime minister" who thousands of his supporters wanted to install at the presidency.

International efforts to end the political upheaval on the island have so far been fruitless and the country's already poor economic situation has worsened with a suspension of foreign aid. The deal aimed at breaking the deadlock, concluded between Rajoelina's camp and a slew of minor political players just two weeks before the latest court hearing, calls on its signatories to "work together and pool their efforts in the search for a solution to end the crisis".

It further calls for a constitutional referendum to be held on Nov 17, parliamentary elections in March next year and a first

round of presidential polls on May 4, 2011.

However, the agreement does not have the approval of key political players, including three ex-presidents, and the new sentence against Ravalomanana makes their signing up to the deal even more unlikely.

Ravalomanana on Saturday night accused Rajoelina of lacking the will to find a way out of the crisis. "It is clear now that the illegal regime led by Rajoelina has no political will to solve the problem," he said in South Africa. Commenting on the "whole succession of agreements, both local and internationally brokered" aimed at lifting Madagascar out of its political crisis, Stephen Ellis said: "there is no will on the part of Rajoelina or his supporters to implement those". — AFP

Rebels enter Kadyrov's home village

19 killed in shootout in Russia's Caucasus TSENTOROI, Russia: A shootout between the Chechen president's personal protection detail and suspected separatist insurgents left 19 people dead early yesterday, including five civilians, officials and media reports said. At least 12 suspected insurgents and two security officers were killed when the rebels

entered Tsentoroi, Ramzan Kadyrov's home village, his spokesman Alvi Karimov told AP. TV reports said five civilians were killed in the crossfire. Kadyrov, who is thought to regularly supervise security operations in the field, was in the village at the time and directed the counter-offensive, Karimov said.

TSENTOROI, Russia: A woman reacts while passing by a car damaged in a shootout between Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov’s personal security officers and the suspected separatist insurgents in Kadyrov’s home village yesterday. – AP

'Egalitarian' blues boost Stockholm rental market STOCKHOLM: A charming one-bedroom apartment in what may be Stockholm's trendiest neighbourhood for a mere 410 rent-controlled euros ($520) a month: sound too good to be true? It is. And the catch was steep. To lay his hands on the rental contract, Johannes, a 36-year-old engineer, had to pay a whopping 130,000 kronor ($17,000) under the table. "It's unfortunately the price to enter the system in Stockholm," says Johannes, asking that his last name not be given for fear his contract would be revoked if his black market dealings were revealed.

In the Swedish capital, an egalitarianminded rental system put in place more than half a century ago to help erase social differences by permitting rich and poor to live side-by-side in the centre of the city has a very large flip-side. The publicly regulated system has created a flourishing black market for aspiring tenants willing to dish out huge sums to skirt multi-year-long waiting lists for a rental contract. "I don't know anyone in my building who got his apartment through the queues," Johannes says, sitting in a large living room overlooking a wellkept courtyard in the heart of the fashionable Soedermalm district.

Virtually the entire Stockholm rental market falls within various queue systems regulated by the municipality. More than 300,000 people are currently waiting in line for a rental contract in the capital - a city of around two million inhabitants. Taking part in the system requires more than a small dose of patience. "The waiting times have been largely stable, around four years for an apartment in the suburbs and around 12 in the center," says Per Anders Hedkvist, who heads up Stockholm's Housing Service.

The public agency controls about 85 percent of all rentals in the Swedish capital. It and other queuing services aim to keep rents stabilised and ensure that apartments of the same size and standard cost the same, regardless of their location. Seniority on the waiting list, not wealth or social standing, is the only criterion determining who gets in.

While this may sound utopian in theory, critics claim that the system has given rise to acute housing shortages and an enormous underground market for such coveted "firsthand" contracts.

Once in, "first-hand" renters are entitled to hold onto their contracts at a fixed, low rate basically forever, to swap contracts - ie

STOCKHOLM: A file photo taken on May 2, 2010 shows boats moored in Stockholm. – AFP

apartments - with anyone they wish inside the system and to purchase the flat at a very advantageous rate if it is ever put up for sale. As a result, renters who finally land an apartment in a plush location are rarely willing to give them up and hand them over to the next in line, even when they decide to move.

Instead, many opt to sublet and make a bundle under the table - where they are not subject to controlled rents - or, as in Johannes's case, "sell" their contract to the highest bidder. The housing lists may be long, but proponents of the system point out that anyone over the age of 18 with a Swedish social security number can queue up. By thinking ahead, people can thus secure a long term, low-rent apartment when and where they need it with no threats of sudden rent-hikes or evictions.

For students and workers moving into the capital from elsewhere in Sweden, immigrants to the city and foreigners passing through for a few years, it is a different story however. Not able to wait for years to land a place even in the outskirts of town, some take up a mortgage to purchase a place outright, but most are relegated to the treacherous "second hand" market, bouncing from short-term sublet to sublet and handing over bundles of cash under the table.

Cecilia Bonde, a 27-year-old hotel receptionist, says she for years has been moving between sublets that rarely last longer than six months at a time, with short-to-no notice and rents up to double what the "first-hand" contract-holder is paying. "I have lived here, here. And here. Oh, and there... There, and there," she tells AFP, pointing to at least 15 different locations on a map of a single Stockholm metro line. Despite its egalitarian intentions, the system, critics say, contributes to a certain level of segregation: a recent study by the Swedish Property Federation showed that people living in the city centre have higher revenues than renters in the suburbs.

"Stockholm is a closed market," federation spokesman Henrik Tufvesson says, pointing out that while this might be beneficial for native residents, newcomers suffer.—AFP

"We let them into the village so they couldn't escape," Kadyrov told Channel One television, which showed him examining the bodies of the suspected militants strewn across a road. "We forced them into a place where they could be eliminated," he said. An AP reporter at the scene saw fireravaged and bullet-ridden homes, with body parts lying among the rubble.

Resident Vargan Edelgeriyeva, 48, said the gunbattle started at about 3 am at a construction site about 150 meters away from Kadyrov's residence.

Militants entered local homes but were quickly surrounded, Edelgeriyeva said. In one house an insurgent detonated explosives, perhaps a grenade, killing himself and a 30-year-old resident, she said.

While there were conflicting accounts of yesterday's assault and the resulting casualties, the fact that it happened at all challenges Kadyrov's pledge to the Kremlin to maintain tight security in Chechnya, said Grigory Shvedov, chief editor of internet news agency Caucasian Knot.

"This raid is a message to President Kadyrov, who thinks he is fully in control of the situation," he told Reuters. "The sabotage looks quite successful, and is a sign that we could expect a surge in similar activities further on."

An Islamist website, www.kavkazcenter.com, challenged the official data saying that at least 15 of Kadyrov's security officers were killed, while a total of 60 insurgents attacked the village. Five rebels were also killed, it said. The insurgents spent about an hour rampaging through the village, the website said, citing local residents, and torched 10 houses it described as belonging to "Kadyrov's confidants". It was not clear whether Kadyrov's own house was also set ablaze, it said.

Police in 2009 averted a possible assassination attempt on Kadyrov, shooting dead the driver of a car suspected of containing explosives before he could reach a construction site where Kadyrov was due to make an appearance. In a separate incident yesterday, security forces in nearby Dagestan province shot dead four suspected militants traveling in two cars when they refused to stop at a police checkpoint, according to police spokesman Magomed Tagirov.

He said weapons were later found in the cars.

Russia's volatile North Caucasus suffers daily attacks by insurgents seeking independence from Moscow, but this weekend's bloodshed has been especially fierce. On Saturday, nine suspected militants were killed in two separate shootouts with police in the Kabardino-Balkariya republic, while five suspected militants and two police officers were killed in another shootout in Dagestan.

Kadyrov previously fought on the side of the rebels but switched sides and was installed by the Kremlin as Chechen leader in 2007. Comparative peace has arrived in Chechnya and its capital, Grozny, since then, but rights activists say the price has been brutal. They allege Kadyrov has directed widespread human rights violations, including abductions and summary executions of suspected rebels and sympathizers. —AP

BERLIN: In this Oct 15, 2009 file photo, former Finance Senator of Berlin and now member of Germany's federal bank, Thilo Sarrazin, participates in a discussion. – AP

German lawmakers blast banker's remarks as racist BERLIN: German top government officials and immigrant leaders yesterday condemned remarks by a board member of Germany's federal bank as racist and anti-Semitic. Thilo Sarrazin of the German Bundesbank came under fire for telling the weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag that "all Jews share the same gene." He also said Muslim immigrants across Europe were not willing or capable of integrating into western societies.

Several lawmakers demanded that Sarrazin, 65, step down from his post as board member at Germany's federal bank and resign his party membership of the left-leaning Social Democrats — demands that Sarrazin rejected. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in an interview with weekly Bild am Sonntag that "remarks that feed racism or even anti-Semitism have no place in our political discourse." Defense Minister KarlTheodor zu Guttenberg said Sarrazin had "overstepped the borders of provocation." Leaders of Germany's Jewish and Muslim communities also condemned the banker's remarks.

Stephan Kramer of the Central Council of Jews in Germany told German news agency DAPD: "Whoever tries to identify Jews by their genetic makeup succumbs to racism." Last year, Sarrazin, who previously served as finance minister for Berlin, told a magazine that "I do not need to accept anyone who lives on handouts from a state that it rejects, is not adequately concerned about the education of their children and constantly produces new, little headscarf-clad girls." He later apologized for his remarks.

A leading member of the Turkish community in Germany, Kenan Kolat, called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to expel Sarrazin from his Bundesbank post. In his Welt interview yesterday, Sarrazin said that "Muslim immigrants don't integrate as well as other immigrant groups across Europe. The reasons for this are apparently not based on their ethnicity, but are rooted in

the culture of Islam." While most lawmakers have condemned his accusations as racist, some newspapers and TV stations have said an open debate about the country's integration of Muslim immigrants is greatly needed.

Maria Boehmer, the German government official responsible for immigrant affairs, said in a statement Sunday that while it was undisputed that mistakes had been made in the integration of immigrants for decades, that had also been lots of improvement, which Sarrazin always failed to mention. "Sarrazin paints a distorted picture of integration in Germany, which will not withstand any kind of scientific research," Boehmer said, adding that among other things, the education level of young immigrants had improved significantly during recent years. "We need to support this potential, not discriminate against them."

A government survey in 2009 found that the Muslim population in Germany likely is between 3.8 million and 4.3 million - meaning Muslims make up between 4.6 and 5.2 percent of the population. About 63 percent of those report Turkish heritage. The overall number of Germans with immigrant roots - including Muslim and nonMuslim immigrants - reached more than 16 million, or nearly 20 percent of the country's 82 million inhabitants in 2009. Sarrazin has a new book out on the topic that he will introduce next week in Berlin. In some of the excerpts that have already been published by German media, he writes that immigrants have profited much more from Germany's welfare system than they have contributed to it, and claims that immigrants are making German society "dumber" because they are less educated but have more children than ethnic Germans. The head of the Social Democrats, Sigmar Gabriel, called Sarrazin's comments "linguistically violent" and said last week "if you were to ask me why he still wants to be a member of our party - I don't know either." — AP

Nearly 15,000 war missing still haunting the Balkans BELGRADE: Verica Tomanovic holds up a flyer as she talks about her Serb husband who disappeared in Kosovo more than a decade ago. "This man went missing. If you know his whereabouts, please call KFOR or 92 (the police)." Andrija Tomanovic, the 62year-old chief of surgery in Pristina's hospital, disappeared in broad daylight on June 24, 1999, two weeks after the war ended and NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping forces controlled the area. He is one of some 14,650 people unaccounted for after the wars in Croatia, Bosnia Hercegovina and Kosovo, which tore apart the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Families throughout the western Balkans still hope to find out what has happened to their missing loved ones, if only to bury and grieve for them properly. "On that day he called (from the hospital)... and said he was going home and would call back in 10 minutes," Tomanovic's wife recalls. "We haven't heard from him since," she adds in a whisper. Immediately after he disappeared Verica, who was visiting her daughter in Belgrade at the time, spent frantic days and nights calling friends and colleagues in a desperate bid to locate her husband. "Eleven years have passed and I still do not know where he is," the tearful woman, dressed in black, tells AFP as she and scores of other families prepare to mark the International Day of the Disappeared today.

The problem of missing persons has remained a huge obstacle to reconciliation in the Balkans and has prevented the region moving on from its bloody past, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Paul-Henri Arni, the Belgrade-based head of ICRC's regional delegation, calculates that 15,000 missing people affects the lives of another 200,000 people who still search for their loved ones.

"Now you have a political problem, with 200,000 people. In some areas you don't have conditions for regional cooperation or reconciliation," Arni says.

To highlight the issue the ICRC has launched

"Missing Lives", a book and exhibition telling the stories of 15 people whose loved ones went missing in the Balkans wars. "We wanted to put faces on statistics to show that right now people are suffering a hell of a lot," Arni says. "It is a suffering different from others. It is the only suffering that gets worse with time." It took several years before Tonka Pezelj of Croatia found out what had happened to her husband Miljenko, a judge and president of a district court in the Croatian town of Petrinja. She said in the book that she begged him to leave the town before the rebel Serbs took control but he refused, saying it was his duty to stay in Petrinja. —AFP

BELGRADE: Verica Tomanovic holds on Aug 23, 2010 a picture of her husband who disappeared in Kosovo in 1999. – AFP

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Chile, divided by quake, unites around miners SAN JOSE MINE, Chile: Just six months ago, one of the largest earthquakes in a century tore Chile apart, physically ripping the ground, triggering a deadly tsunami and leaving in the wreckage a divided society and government trying to decide whom to blame.

Now, with Chile confronting a new disaster 33 men trapped in a mine below the Atacama Desert since Aug 5 - the nation is unified by the drama playing out in slow motion.

Sitting alone on a hill above the mine where his brother, Juan, is buried alive, Oscar Illanes, 51, quietly fidgets with pebbles in his right hand and contemplates how his personal tragedy has also become that of his countrymen. "This accident has crossed all borders. Everyone in Chile, rich or poor, a mining family or not, is sending a positive force that sustains us," he said. "The will to

survive started with the 33 miners alone under the ground. It soon became 150 as the families arrived here. Now it is an entire nation, all working with the same spirit to free the men."

This time, Chileans are less interested in the blame game and more concentrated on getting the men out of the ground alive, even adopting the one can-do symbol from the quake that killed 500. A tattered Chilean flag flies above Illanes' head on the hill overlooking the mine and the makeshift camp where the families of those trapped await their return. Once just a piece of cloth, it was transformed into a sacred symbol of Chilean resilience when a young man was photographed by AP pulling it from the wreckage of the Feb. 27 earthquake.

In the aftermath of the earthquake,

Chile's navy and emergency management office were criticized for failing to issue an alert that might have saved hundreds from the tsunami that caused the quake's largest death toll. Chileans were also angered by a massive wave of looting, as thousands of people from grandmothers to small children took everything from mattresses to refrigerators and flat-screen TVs. Then-President Michelle Bachelet said it reflected "the moral damage of the people" in a nation that considers itself by far the most advanced in Latin America.

Many see the united effort and support for the miners as a way to move past the darker episodes surrounding the quake and to demonstrate the better side of Chileans in the face of adversity. There has been some finger pointing in the days since the miners

were trapped - and it will certainly increase if they are not rescued.

The San Esteban mining company has taken the brunt of the criticism for lacking safety standards that could have prevented the event or allowed the miners to escape.

President Sebastian Pinera fired top regulators and created a commission to investigate the accident. Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said the government's mine regulatory agency - which has only 18 inspectors for several hundred mines - would be overhauled and receive more resources.

But a positive energy floods the town of Copiapo near the mine. "Those 33 men are the focus of every Chilean's attention. We cannot fail to bring them out, that would be unthinkable," said Luis Arancilia, 68, who sat in the main plaza reading the latest news of

the accident. "All efforts, all energy must be focused on bringing them up." On lightpoles around the plaza where Arancilia spoke, posters advertised a music festival to be held Saturday, with all proceeds going to the miners. At the San Jose mine, the city government constructed large white tents where the miners' families eat, sleep and seek respite from the questions and cameras of scores of journalists from around the world who have arrived at the remote spot - though others have their own tents and prefer to camp outside the protected area.

The federal and local governments are working together to even bring entertainment to the family members, who say they will wait at the camp during the rescue effort, which authorities warn could take four months. Each morning, a government work-

er organizes and supervises games for the children in the camp, giving weary parents a few hours of rest from caring for them.

There are concerts some nights, and television shows projected on the side of one of the tents. Clowns meander through the crowds, and policeman put on puppet shows.

Back on the hill overlooking the mine, Illanes said he hopes one day his only feeling about the horrible accident will be "what can be accomplished when we work together in a positive way". "When those of us in the camp have been cold at night, there has always been someone from the local government to hand out tents. When we were hungry, they have given us food," he said. "This has become a little model community, this camp, with all working together. I hope everyone can take a lesson from that." — AP

Wave of homecomings as Obama scales back US role

Joy, tears greet US pullout from Iraq WASHINGTON: Mothers cried and children squealed with delight as a company of US troops arrived back from Iraq yesterday, after a year-long tour marked by desert heat and monotony. A crowd of families roared as 124 soldiers from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, arrived marching in formation, part of a wave of homecomings as

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Massachusetts: US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha (left) board Marine One en route to Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Massachusetts yesterday after a family vacation. – AP

Full plate awaits Obama on return from vacation MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Massachusetts: The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the withdrawal from Iraq, Mideast peace talks, and a shaky economy two months before midterm elections: President Barack Obama returns from vacation to a full plate of problems. After ten days in Martha's Vineyard, playing golf and Scrabble and relaxing with his family, Obama steps back on the fast track Sunday, flying straight to New Orleans without even a stopover in Washington. Eighty percent submerged when Hurricane Katrina struck five years ago, the city still has not come back from the deluge that overwhelmed its dikes and left more than 1,500 people dead.

"It's recovering, but there's some more work to do," said White House spokesman Bill Burton of the city, whose population is only 80 percent what it was before the Category 5 storm. During his visit to mark the anniversary, Obama "will commemorate the lives lost and the shared sacrifice that the Gulf Coast experienced because of Katrina," the White House said. The president also will pledge to "recommit the nation" to a region that more recently has struggled with the worst accidental oil spill in the history of the oil industry.

After New Orleans, Obama will turn to another legacy of his predecessor George W Bush: Iraq.

After meeting with US troops at an army base in Texas, Obama will speak from the Oval Office tomorrow night to highlight the end of combat operations in Iraq, as promised. Seven years after the US-led invasion, the number of US troops in the country has dropped below 50,000 for the first time. But the United States is still tallying the costs of Iraq - 4,417 US dead and more than 700 billion dollars spent - and keeping its fingers

crossed that it can pull out its remaining troops on schedule by the end of next year.

The White House has given assurances that the Iraqis are capable of assuming responsibility for their own security, a point Obama was expected to re-emphasize in his televised remarks to the nation. But he risks being disproven by events: the country is regularly shaken by deadly attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda and Iraq's military chief has warned it would take nine more years before his forces are up to the job.

Without a doubt, though, the biggest challenge awaiting Obama comes Wednesday when he receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas as they embark on direct negotiations for a Middle East peace. The White House insists the talks, with their ambitious one-year timetable, can succeed. But the fact that it has taken 18 months just to get the deeply divided parties to the table, gives little ground for optimism.

Giving foreign policy such a high profile holds another risk for Obama: Americans might see him as uninterested in their problems at a time of high unemployment and new signs of weakness in the economy. With Democratic majorities at stake in both houses of Congress in the November elections, the president's opponents have attacked what the Republican leader in the House, John Boehner, calls Obama's "job-killing agenda".

Aware of the vulnerability, the White House revealed that Obama had taken part Wednesday in a teleconference from Martha's Vineyard with this economic team. Burton also said the president would speak soon to Americans about the economy. — AFP

West Virginia gov wins Dem primary for Senate CHARLESTON, West Virginia: Popular Gov Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face Republican primary winner and wealthy businessman John Raese in the race to fill the US Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C

CHARLESTON, West Virginia: West Virginia Gov Joe Manchin speaks during a news conference at his campaign headquarters on Saturday. – AP

Byrd. Raese defeated a crowded field of Republicans and becomes part of the Republican quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority as high unemployment and the slow economic recovery take a toll on their political prospects this fall.

In Louisiana, scandal-tainted Republican US Sen David Vitter easily beat two little-known challengers and will meet Democratic Rep Charlie Melancon, who won his party's primary, in November. Vitter survived a 2007 prostitution scandal after he admitted an unspecified "serious sin" after his phone number appeared in the records of a Washington prostitution ring.

He has also shrugged off fresh questions about his judgment in allowing an aide to remain on his staff for more than two years after a violent attack on a woman police identified as his ex-girlfriend. With little competition from his own party, he and Melancon have already engaged in a war of attack ads. The primary in West Virginia was hastily called after Byrd, a 92-year-old Democrat elected to a record ninth term in 2006, died June 28.

Manchin won his seventhstraight statewide campaign. He enjoys high approval ratings and was seen as a comforter-in-chief to victims' families following the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, which killed 29 workers in April, and the Sago mine disaster in 2006. "I'm running for the US Senate to represent all the people," said Manchin, 63. "It's going to be a sprint now and we're prepared." Manchin's support from coal and utility industries - which have provided more than a quarter of the $1.2 million he has raised since declaring his candidacy last month - may help him overcome national Republican attempts to paint him as a liberal who will side with President Barack Obama's administration.

Obama lost West Virginia in 2008, and his energy and environmental policies are deemed anti-coal in the nation's secondlargest coal producing state.

Democrats desperately need to hold the Senate seat in West Virginia, a state that Republican nominee John McCain won handily with 56 percent of the vote.—AP

"It has been a very long year," said a tearful Charlotte Thompson, whose 25-year-old son had volunteered for the Iraq assignment. The unit spent most of its time guarding a prison with about 300 Iraqi detainees in Taji, and carried out combat patrols as well, officers said.

The troops' work in Iraq was a long way from their customary job as part a regiment known as "the Old Guard" in the US capital, where they perform ceremonial duties at funerals, visits by foreign dignitaries and other official events.

Specialist Charles Thompson said he was braced for a culture shock as he would soon be marching in honor cordons at the Pentagon and the White House. "It's really a big change," he said. "I could do without the ceremonial stuff." The company returned without any casualties, in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 US troops and with roughly 50,000 forces still on the ground facing lethal threats.

Thompson said he got used to the intense heat in Iraq, but the work was "kind of boring at some points," with troops playing basketball or video games to ease the monotony. After spending the weekend with his family, Thompson will be returning to duty at Fort Myer, but said he was looking forward to a 30-day leave coming up soon. He said he would head back home to northeastern Kentucky and "go fishing." "I've been thinking about it for about 365 days," he said.

Unlike previous generations of warriors, these soldiers did not have to wait for letters from home but instead spoke directly via web video to their loved ones through laptops at their base in Iraq. Thompson's mother said she was able to sleep a little better after her weekly chats by Skype with her son. Jo Daniels, the mother of Sergeant John Rhoten, 28, watched her son come home Saturday from his third combat tour, and preferred not to "go into detail" about how she had worried during his deployment.

She said she avoids news reports about Iraq to keep her emotions in check while her son is away. But she said hearing criticism and questioning of the war upsets her. "They're there to help the world in a special way," she said of the US troops in Iraq.

"They need our support." In a short ceremony before families were reunited with the soldiers, a chaplain offered a prayer that alluded to the difficulties many troops in the all-volunteer force face trying to cope with life outside the warzone. He prayed that God "straighten their paths as they adjust to their new life at home."

Strolling arm-in-arm with their young wives who had dressed up for the big occasion, some of the smiling soldiers could have been mistaken for teenagers going to a school dance, except for their camouflage uniforms. Specialist Jeremy Ingraham, 22, and his wife Tiffany, 19, got married about half-way through the unit's deployment, during a two-week leave in December last year. Ingraham said they planned to take their long-delayed honeymoon, a cruise through the Caribbean, now that he is back. "Every minute that I was not on patrol or on mission, I was thinking about home." — AFP

President Barack Obama scales back the US role in Iraq. The welcoming ceremony at Fort Myer, outside Washington, was a joyous event for the soldiers and their loved ones after 12 months of separation, even if the legacy of the US invasion of Iraq remains a subject of bitter debate at home and abroad.

WASHINGTON: The crowd attending the “Restoring” Honor rally, organized by Glenn Beck, is seen from the base of the Washington Monument on Saturday. – AP

New hurricane Earl joins Danielle MIAMI: Tropical Storm Earl grew to hurricane strength on a track toward the islands in the eastern Caribbean yesterday while Hurricane Danielle weakened to a Category 1 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said. Earl reached hurricane status with winds of 120 kph at about 8:30 a.m./1230 GMT when it was about 585 km east of the Northern Leeward Islands and moving westward. Hurricane warnings went up on popular tourist islands including Antigua, St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla and St Maarten, the hurricane center said. Earl was moving westward at 30 kph.

Forecasts showed it turning west-northwest in the next 48 hours before accelerating northward off the US East Coast later in the week, far from the oil-producing Gulf Coast region. Earl threatened the eastern Caribbean islands with a storm surge, battering waves and heavy rains, the hurricane center said. Hurricane Danielle once had been a major Category 4 storm but weakened to Category 1 while about 708 km east of Bermuda. Its top sustained winds fell to 145 kph as it moved northeast past the British island territory of Bermuda and farther from the US East Coast.

Danielle was expected to weaken gradually in the next two days and lose its tropical characteristics by tonight. The hurricane center said it expected large waves and dangerous surf conditions to diminish near Bermuda yesterday and subside slowly along the US East Coast within the next two days. "It looks like we dodged a bullet," 31-year-old Bermuda bank employee Stuart Roberts said of Danielle. Danielle caused dangerous rip currents along the US East Coast Saturday, forcing the rescue of dozens of swimmers, according to media reports. — Reuters

Mexico launches probe of massacre MEXICO CITY: Federal authorities said Saturday they will take over the investigation into the massacre of 72 migrants at a ranch in northern Mexico because evidence suggests drug traffickers were responsible.

They also said an Ecuadorean migrant who was the lone survivor has refused Mexico's offer of a humanitarian visa and will return to his native country.

Government security spokesman Alejandro Poire said drug cartel involvement would make the killings a federal crime. The government "will continue its frontal assault against these organizations so that terrible events like those that occurred this week will not be repeated," Poire said.

One suspect, who claimed to be 16, was captured at the scene of the massacre and is in custody.

Three other suspects and a marine were killed during a raid on the ranch. Federal authorities said they will wait for survivor Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla to recover from a gunshot wound in the neck and then help him leave Mexico. Lala, who is under heavy guard, told investigators Monday that about 10 men who identified themselves as members of the Zetas drug gang traveling in five

vehicles intercepted the migrants on a highway in Tamaulipas, a Gulf coast state bordering Texas.

They tied up the migrants, took them to the ranch and demanded they work for the gang, Lala told investigators.

When most refused, they were blindfolded, ordered to lie down and shot.

Immigration Commissioner

begged her to arrange him to come to the United States, where she lives.

The AP is not using the woman's name or her location to avoid putting her in potential danger. The mother said she has been in contact with the Ecuadorean consulate, but officials there said they could only

MEXICO CITY: An unidentified migrant from Honduras waits for a northern bound train during his journey toward the US-Mexico border Saturday. – AP Cecilia Romero said Friday that Lala had been offered a humanitarian visa to stay in Mexico, but his mother said the 18-year-old

help him return to Ecuador.

Investigators have so far identified 34 of the dead: 16 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, five Guatemalans

and a Brazilian. Only some had ID on them; investigators were collecting DNA from the rest in hopes of being able to make positive identifications.

In Honduras, worried relatives visited the Foreign Ministry seeking news on relatives believed to be in Mexico. Maria Cruz was looking for word about her son, Denis Moreno, 34, who last contacted her from a city along the US-Mexico border. "I hope he is not on the list," she told a Honduran television station, sobbing. "I hope not."

Fabiana Carcamo told local media she had been notified that her 40year-old brother, Miguel Angel Carcamo, died in the massacre.

She said he left Honduras Aug 3 and after some difficulties made it to Mexico. His plan was to reach the United States.

Carcamo left behind four children between the ages of 4 and 15 in his hometown of El Guante, about 60 km north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

"I talked with Miguel Angel on Aug 3. He told me not to cry, that he would call me when he got there and that he would help me," said another sister, Ana Cristina. Migrants frequently send money to support relatives back home. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

10

Monday, August 30, 2010

Questions linger over victims of deadly Thai protests BANGKOK: Elisabetta Polenghi is still waiting for answers from the Thai authorities on her brother’s death more than 100 days after a bloody army crackdown that crushed anti-government protests in Bangkok. Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi was killed on May 19, the day of the final army crackdown, but despite repeated calls for information on the deaths of scores of people during two months of demonstrations, questions remain.

Elisabetta received the preliminary post mortem report on the day of her brother’s cremation on May 24, but since then she and families of other victims have heard nothing from the justice ministry’s powerful Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

“I’m waiting, as everyone, for some news,

but I have got nothing yet from the DSI,” she told AFP by email. “The only thing I can I say now is that I won’t give up.”

Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government and the DSI, which is heading the main inquiry, to come up with answers over those killed in clashes between security forces and “Red Shirt” protesters. “The conflicting accounts of virtually every incident during this period underscore the need for a thorough and impartial fact-finding commission to determine what happened,” think-tank International Crisis Group said in July.

The Red Shirts began a campaign in March aimed at bringing down the Abhisit government by occupying an area of old Bangkok. Weeks later, an initial military

operation on April 10 against the protesters ended with 25 people dead after the army failed to disperse them. The Reds, who represent Thailand’s underprivileged rural and urban masses, moved their protest to Bangkok’s commercial and tourist heart and fortified their position with bamboo barricades.

Talks failed, and after several days of street battles and numerous incidents, the country was left with a total of 91 people dead and nearly 2,000 injured over the twomonth period -and a deeper divide than ever between the Reds and the Bangkok elites connected with the palace, army and judiciary. In June, Abhisit appointed the 73-yearold Kanit Nanakorn to head a Truth and Reconciliation commission, a move

denounced as a “whitewash” by the opposition, who said the former attorney general was too close to the government.

At the same time, the DSI was put in charge of the main inquiry. But Police Colonel Naras Savestanan, DSI deputy director general, said last week he had no new details to announce. “We cannot complete an overall picture of the dead and who did it,” he said.

“The difficulty we’re facing is that most of the bodies were moved, transferred from the scene to hospitals. It’s very difficult to process information.”

No details have been released about the death on April 10 of Hiro Muramoto, a Japanese cameraman working for Reuters news agency, or that of freelancer Polenghi.

There is no information either on six unarmed civilians killed in a Buddhist temple, a protected area during the fighting, which Abhisit called “the most regrettable incident” of the protests during an interview with AFP in July. Some facts are known: on several occasions during the two months, live rounds were fired and elite gunmen, masked and dressed in black, were seen, though Red Shirts and the government have both distanced themselves from them.

Last week, the government ordered the DSI report to be prepared within 60 days, and Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister in charge of security, said clarity was vital. “I can say that results must be clear in every case, such as eye witnesses’ evi-

dence, and if there are not enough officers, the DSI can mobilise police to help,” Suthep said. But for now, the Thais must wait.

Sunai Phasuk, from Human Rights Watch, acknowledged the government’s assurances but said he wanted to see results, criticising the “secrecy and lack of transparency” from the DSI and the army. “If their position remains unchanged, public statements from Abhisit will be challenged, not by critics, but by agencies of his government,” he said.

“If there is nothing to be worried about, they need to give the results to the public.

By hiding it in the dark, it would raise further suspicions that there was something wrong in the handling of the dispersal of the Red Shirts.” — AFP

Thousands march in Hong Kong over hostage tragedy Anger over Philippine govt’s handling of siege HONG KONG: Tens of thousands of people rallied in Hong Kong yesterday to demand justice for victims of the Manila hostage bloodbath, as the city’s large Filipino community staged its own memorials for the dead. Demonstrators voiced their anger over the Philippine government’s handling of the siege in the heart of Manila last Monday which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead

amid widespread complaints of police bungling. “It’s too late for the governments to do anything, but Hong Kong people hope that, at the very least, the Philippine authorities could tell us the truth,” Daisy Kwong, a telecoms firm project manager, told AFP. “I cried for hours after watching the tragedy played out live on TV,” she said.

HONG KONG: Filipino domestic workers react during a candle vigil yesterday as they pray for the Hong Kong tourists who were killed in the Manila tourist bus hostage standoff. —AP

Filipinos in Hong Kong fearful HONG KONG: Joy Fajardo likes to spend her Sundays meeting friends from her home town in Chater Garden, a famous gathering spot for the Philippine community at the heart of Hong Kong’s financial centre. But this yesterday was an exception. The 30-year-old said she was warned to stay away from Chinese crowds for fear of retribution over the dramatic hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead in Manila Monday. “We are very worried to be living in a Chinese community now,” Fajardo told AFP. Anger and grief mounted this week after a busload of Hong Kong tourists was hijacked in Manila by a sacked policeman armed with an assault rifle in a bloody siege watched live around the world. Eight tourists were killed in the final stages of the 12-hour standoff, triggering widespread accusations about police bungling. In a sign that feelings are running high, the message “Stop hiring Filipino domes-

tic workers!!!” has sprung up on Facebook sites set up by Hong Kong people to mourn the hostage victims.

The hostage drama has whipped up a frenzy of fear and rumours in the 200,000-strong Philippine community in Hong Kong, where most are employed as domestic helpers. A series of unconfirmed reports of Hong Kong employers trying to vent their anger by sacking or attacking their helpers has been widely circulating among Filipinos. Fajardo said text messages had been exchanged saying that more than 30 Filipina maids have been sacked following the tragedy, including one whose contract was terminated allegedly because her family name was the same as the gunman’s.

She said she had heard that three maids had been killed, with one of them having acid splashed over her face, but a police spokesman said the rumour was unfounded and they had received no such reports. “We don’t know if

these cases are true. But we are very scared,” Fajardo said. Philippine vice consul Val Roque downplayed fears about possible reprisals, saying there had been no confirmed reports of harassment or physical abuse. “We trust our friends in Hong Kong would not do anything untoward against Filipinos here,” he told AFP. “But we understand the anger must be released. We hope as the days go by that anger will dissipate.”

Still, Filipina worker Julie said her 60-yearold employer, for whom she has worked for 14 years, did not speak to her after the hostage crisis. “She watched news on TV about the hijacking. She did not talk to me and did not give me dinner on Wednesday,” she said. “I was worried because she’s not happy and I didn’t understand what the Chinese news was about.” Many also complained about being berated on public transport in the aftermath of the siege. —AFP

Australian political South Korea PM stalemate continues in waiting quits

SYDNEY: Australia’s political deadlock could end within days, two key independent lawmakers said Sunday, a week after polls left both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and challenger Tony Abbott unable to claim power.

With the final votes still being counted, Gillard, the first woman to lead the nation of 22 million, and Abbott are attempting to woo independent lawmakers crucial to gaining enough seats in parliament to form a government.

Two of these “kingmaking” independents - rural member of parliament Tony Windsor and former intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie - said Sunday they hoped to make their decision on who they would prefer to govern within days. “We’re entering into a range of meetings this week. I would hope that by the end of the week we should be able to make a decision,” Windsor told Channel Ten. Australians voted in the country’s first hung parliament in 70 years at the August 21 polls Abbott’s delivering

Liberal/National coalition 73 seats and Gillard’s centre-left Labor 72, but giving neither the 76 seats needed to rule.

Whoever forms government will have to rely on the support of the non-aligned MPs -Wilkie, Windsor and fellow rural independents Robb Oakeshott and Bob Katter, and the Greens lawmaker Adam Bandt. Wilkie, a former army lieutenant colonel who publicly questioned the war on Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion and who met with Gillard on Saturday, said he would make his decision “very soon”. “I would hope to make my decision Tuesday or Wednesday - that’s what the people want,” he told Channel Nine, adding that it would be bad for Australia if the political impasse dragged on. “I’m well aware that stability is very important. There is already a restlessness in the community that it’s over a week since the election and we’re still to know who is going to govern Australia for the next three years.” — AFP

SEOUL: The man nominated to be South Korea’s next prime minister announced his withdrawal yesterday amid a mounting scandal over alleged misconduct while he was a provincial governor. Two others nominated for ministerial posts also offered their resignations, in a political blow to conservative President Lee Myung-Bak. Kim Tae-Ho, 47, was put forward for prime minister three weeks ago as part of a major cabinet reshuffle by Lee, who is midway through his five-year term. His appointment had to be approved by parliament.

“I am giving up the designation in order not to do more damage to the president’s political operations,” Kim told a press conference. “Even if I become prime minister, how could I do anything if I do not have people’s trust?”

Kim came under fire during a parliamentary confirmation hearing last week over charges that he under-reported income, illegally took bank loans for election

Kim Tae-ho campaigns and made local government employees do his household chores while he was governor of South Gyeongsang province in the southeast.

Lawmakers also criticised Kim’s wife for allegedly using provincial government employees and public vehicles for private purposes.

Kim was also accused of lying about links to a businessman jailed for offering bribes to politicians. — AFP

The sea of demonstrators observed three minutes’ silence as they gathered in a Hong Kong park, many wearing yellow ribbons and carrying white flowers, the traditional Chinese colour of mourning. The Hong Kong political parties organising the rally had said it could draw as many as 50,000 people. No official figures were released on the actual number. “I am furious,” 56-yearold Law Wai-hing said. “I don’t think we will ever be told the truth when the (Philippine) president (Benigno Aquino) is as appalling as he is. I hope the Chinese government and the United Nations can exert pressure on the Philippine government.”

Members of the city’s 200,000-strong Filipino community, the vast majority working as low-paid domestic helpers, have voiced fears of retribution.

Rally organisers asked demonstrators not to carry racially charged placards or chant discriminatory slogans, while several hundred Filipinos turned out to a candlelight vigil, one of several memorial services held yesterday. “Please don’t be upset. Don’t be scared. It’s not your fault. We share our anger towards the Philippine government, not towards you, not towards the entire nation,” Fermi Wong, founder of Unison Hong Kong, a social group helping ethnic minorities, told the crowd of mainly domestic helpers.

Philippine vice consul Val Roque said that a text message was sent to members of the community asking them to “set aside what they are doing” and attend memorial masses yesterday. “Being mostly Catholic, it was the best way for us to express our solidarity with the people of Hong Kong,” Roque told AFP. He downplayed fears about possible reprisals on Filipinos, saying there had been no confirmed reports of harassment or physical abuse. “We trust our friends in Hong Kong would not do anything untoward against Filipinos here... But we understand the anger must be released. We hope as the days go by that anger will dissipate.”

A Facebook site to remember the victims has attracted thousands of signatures and a flood of criticism directed at the Philippine government. Local radio RTHK reported that a senior government psychologist has asked media not to interview survivors of the tragedy, which has garnered blanket press coverage in Hong Kong.

Disgraced ex-policeman Rolando Mendoza, armed with an assault rifle, hijacked a busload of Hong Kong tourists on Monday in an apparent bid to win his old job back and be cleared of extortion charges.

Eight tourists and the gunman were killed in the final stages of the 12-hour ordeal, when ill-equipped police launched an assault on the bus in a drama that unfolded live on television screens around the world. Philippine police said yesterday they were certain that the Hong Kong tourists were killed by Mendoza, rather than by police bullets during the illfated rescue operation. Hong Kong undersecretary for security Lai Tung-kwok said on Saturday autopsies had been carried out on all eight victims, which may lead to an official inquiry. —AFP

KARO, Indonesia: A villager rides a buffalo cart with a backdrop of Mount Sinabung, in North Sumatra yesterday. — AP

Thousands flee as dormant Indonesia volcano erupts JAKARTA: A volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years yesterday, spewing a vast cloud of smoke and ash into the air and sending thousands of people fleeing from their homes. Indonesia issued a red alert after the Sinabung volcano erupted, blanketing the area in thick and acrid black smoke, disaster officials said, although no casualties have yet been reported. “It’s clearly dangerous so we’ve raised the warning to the highest level, or red level,” said Surono, head of the nation’s volcano disaster alert centre. “From the crater, it shot smoke and volcanic ash 1,500 metres into the sky,” he told AFP. The 2,460-m Sinabung in northern Sumatra has not erupted for more than 400 years but had shown “some volcanic activity” since Friday, Surono said, adding that they were monitoring the situation. Villagers said they saw lava emerge from the crater around midnight, about 15 minutes before the eruption. “I saw flames flickering, very red right at the top. Previously there was only smoke,” Terkilin Sembiring was quoted as saying by Detikcom news website. “At the time, we heard a sound like an aircraft flying past. We thought it was a government official’s plane but it turned out that the sound came from the volcano,” another villager Maslin Pandia was quoted as saying by Kompas.com news website.

Television footage showed black smoke shooting up into the sky and lava overflowing from the crater as residents fled the area in pickup trucks and cars. More than 18,000 people have been evacuated from several affected villages to towns

outside a six-kilometre “danger zone”, officials said. “The ash has spread to a distance of 30 km from the volcano. Many of the villagers evacuated were farmers and they said the ash had settled on their vegetable farms,” search and rescue team official Mohammad Agus Wibisono told AFP. There were however no flight disruptions, Wibisono said.

Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono told AFP that many residents in four affected villages at the foot of the volcano had fled immediately after the eruption. “Many had left their homes even before they were evacuated.

They said the volcano was spewing thick black smoke, small stones and sulphur. They were so scared they decided to leave their homes and go to the city,” Kardono said, adding that a rescue team had been sent to survey the area. “The area is blanketed with thick smoke and there’s a strong smell of sulphur,” he added.

Kardono said while there were no reports yet of any deaths or injuries, “many” had reported breathing difficulties. “We have anticipated that people may have respiratory problems from inhaling dust. So we’ve given them face masks and are preparing to send in medicines for respiratory infections,” he added. The red alert would likely remain for “at least a week” as vulcanologists monitor the situation, Kardono said. “There’s little data on Mount Sinabung. The eruption took the experts by surprise. We don’t know when it might erupt again so, it’s best for people to stay away until the experts can determine when it’s safe to go home,” he added. —AFP

CHANGCHUN, China: A man believed to be North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (center facing away from camera), is greeted at Changchun rail station Saturday.—AP

Kim tours Chinese cities CHANGCHUN, China: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il apparently toured several Chinese border cities yesterday while on a secretive trip reportedly aimed at drumming up support for a succession plan involving his youngest son. Reporters have followed a 35-vehicle motorcade - apparently used by the reclusive Kim - around several cities in northeast China. Kim is believed to have visited Yanbian, a Korean autonomous prefecture in the far northeastern Chinese province of Jilin bordering North Korea, and then Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday, citing an unidentified source in Beijing. It said Kim would likely depart from Harbin later yesterday or early today.

Kim, who is 68 and is believed to be ailing, rarely leaves North Korea and when he does he travels by special train. North Korea does not announce Kim’s trips until after he returns home, and China has refused to say if he is in the country, even though a

Japanese television station had a grainy picture of him. Kim was reportedly accompanied by his son, Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his 20s. Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers’ Party meeting early next month - the first such gathering in decades - as part of a succession process.

To pull off the event with sufficient fanfare, North Korea will need Chinese aid, particularly following the devastating floods that battered the country’s northwest this month, analysts said. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap news agency both reported that Kim is believed to have met Chinese President Hu Jintao in the city of Changchun on Friday.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said the two are thought to have discussed the North’s succession, the resumption of six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, and ways to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, August 30, 2010

11

Will US flood aid win Pakistan’s hearts and minds?

SUKKUR, Pakistan: US aid pouring into Pakistan’s flood-hit regions is helping reverse widespread anti-American sentiment but will not be enough to win hearts and minds in the long term, experts say.

The United States has been the biggest and the quickest single international floods donor, committing 200 million dollars to help its ally in the fight against Islamist extremism recover from its worst-ever natural disaster. The United States currently has 22 helicopters rescuing stranded villagers and ferrying relief supplies around the country, with four more on the way, said embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire. The superpower has been involved in every area of the relief effort,

spending its millions mostly through the United Nations, and international and local charity channels, to supply tonnes of food, water, shelter and medicine. Fifty million dollars has already been diverted from a $7.5-billion aid package approved by the US Congress last year in a bid to deepen ties with the South Asian nuclear power, a key partner in the fight against Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Victims are grateful for the help but many Pakistanis think it ironic that while the United States is sending tonnes of aid, it is also sending drones to bomb Islamist militant hideouts in the border areas with Afghanistan. And the gratitude may be short-lived, just as it was after a swell of

support from America following Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake that left 73,000 dead, said Pakistan analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai.

“There will be goodwill created, it’s already happening for America and it also happened in October 2005 during the earthquake... but that was for a short while and this is again the fear that it may not last long,” said Yusufzai. “(Aid) must happen on a long-term basis,” he said.

“There’s a changing perception about America but not on such a big scale right now because at the same time America’s helping out they are also bombing Pakistan territory.” During a visit to Pakistan’s devastated submerged regions last week, head of aid agency USAID Rajiv Shah sought to

assure officials that the United States would keep a commitment to help Pakistan in the long term. But touring the southern city of Sukkur, once a thriving semi-industrial trading post - now reduced to a city of tarpaulin tents providing thin respite from the heat for thousands of families, the scale of the challenge was clear. “This is going to be very, very difficult, this is a huge-scale disaster,” said Shah. “But we have to continue to be optimistic and look for those opportunities to help Pakistan to use this to build back better.”

The floods have already forced the United States to rethink its spending in Pakistan, after announcing in July a series of water, energy and healthcare projects to

improve the country’s dire infrastructure.

The floodwaters have wiped out part of Pakistan’s most fertile agricultural land, damaged roads, bridges, power stations, electricity facilities, hospitals, schools, homes and left millions hungry, setting back longer-term development goals.

Part of the five-year $7.5-billion nonmilitary program aimed at securing the strategic relationship between the United States and Pakistan has already been redirected as flood aid. “Priorities will necessarily have to shift so that there is more of a recovery and reconstruction approach than people were thinking just a few months ago,” Shah told reporters during his trip to Sukkur. But strategic relation-

ships are no concern for the rural poor who have seen their homes and farms submerged by the waters, and simply welcome food, water and medicine for their short-term survival, regardless of where it comes from.

“We just want aid. Most people don’t care who gives it to us,” said Jan Mohammad, 30, a teacher staying at a USfunded camp in southern Hyderabad with his wife and four children.

“We are grateful that they have come forward to help when our own government is doing little for us. I have no issue with the Americans, whether they are angels or devils. Right now we just need all the help we can get.” —AFP

7 US troops, politician killed in Afghan attacks Abducted campaign workers for female candidate slain KABUL: Seven US soldiers and a candidate for Afghanistan’s September polls have been killed in a wave of weekend attacks, officials said yesterday as police found the bodies of five campaign workers. Two soldiers were killed yesterday in separate attacks, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force

SULTAN KOT, Pakistan: Families carrying foodstuff cross a deep flooded area to reach their homes yesterday. —AP

Pak troops on ‘war footing’ to save city THATTA, Pakistan: Pakistani troops and workers were on a “war footing” yesterday as they battled to save the southern city of Thatta after most of the population of 300,000 fled advancing flood waters. Torrential monsoon rains have triggered massive floods that have moved steadily from north to south over the past month, engulfing a fifth of the volatile country and affecting 17 million of its 167 million people. Southern Sindh is the worst-affected province, with 19 of its 23 districts ravaged as flood waters swell the raging Indus river to 40 times its usual volume.

One million people have been displaced over the past few days and hundreds of thousands have already fled Thatta alone ahead of the approaching torrents as soldiers work frantically to repair breached levees on the river. “The water is still two kilometres (about a mile) away from Thatta where the armed forces and the local administrative workers are working on war footing to save the city,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro told AFP yesterday. “The army brought a maximum of resources to try to fill up the breach.

Almost all the people have left Thatta to safer places, all shops and schools are closed,” he said.

Water levels were still rising in the district, but Kalhoro said: “We are hopeful that we can save at least Thatta city in two days.”

An AFP reporter said the road linking Thatta with the town of Sujawal had been flooded and closed to all vehicular traffic, while Kalhoro said an electricity grid station near Sujawal had been flooded. The military said its engineers had repaired an important embankment in the south and were trying to protect the highway linking Thatta with the main southern city of Karachi.

The Pakistani government has been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster, the worst in the country’s history, with millions in need of tents and food and medical aid. But Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza said people were reluctant to go to relief camps because they feared there would not be enough supplies. “People are not going to relief camps because they’re afraid of the lack of food and medicine there,” he told

reporters Saturday. “In Karachi we’ve set up a camp for 40,000 people, but so far not a single (displaced person) has turned up there,” he said.

Aid agencies are worried about the growing danger of malnutrition and water-borne disease, with children especially vulnerable. Oxfam warned yesterday that reconstruction efforts must begin immediately to prevent the disaster from becoming a long-term catastrophe. The Britishbased international charity said billions of dollars would be needed to start rebuilding schools, roads, bridges and hospitals immediately, adding that the aid effort was struggling to respond.

At the massive Kotri barrage embankment which protects the southern city of Hyderabad, engineer Qadir Palijo said yesterday that water levels were falling. “The water is slowly receding in Kotri but still increasing down in the south (towards Thatta). The process of recession of the water is slow but we hope the pace will increase in a couple of days,” he told AFP. Pakistan’s worst humanitarian disaster has left eight million dependent on aid for their survival and has washed away huge swathes of the rich farmland on which the country’s struggling economy depends.

The government has confirmed 1,600 people dead and 2,366 injured, but officials warn that millions are at risk from food shortages and disease.

The United Nations has warned that 800,000 people in desperate need of aid had been cut off by the deluge across the country, and has appealed for more helicopters to deliver supplies to those reachable only by air. A fundraising campaign in the United Arab Emirates has raised more than $20 million for the flood victims, the official WAM news reported.

A senior US official said last week that countries worldwide had pledged a total of more than $700 million towards flood relief in Pakistan. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Islamabad said yesterday some people had been forced to move repeatedly as the floods advanced. “So many of the displaced have reportedly been displaced twice or more,” said spokesman Maurizio Giuliano. — AFP

Pakistan floods just one of its water woes KARACHI: Thousands of farmers have crowded this once-quiet Pakistani town. They live on the hospital’s lawn, they camp on overpasses. Their fields are destroyed, covered by billions of gallons of brown soupy floodwater. But ask those farmers about their water troubles and they’ll tell you flooding is just the most recent chapter. “There is not enough water.

We don’t have enough for the crops,” said Zubair Ahmed, a tenant farmer who came here after floods swept through his village and destroyed his fields.

“Except for this year,” he added, without any irony.

“This year it is different.” This country, with its network of rivers that flow into the mighty Indus, struggles daily with water issues - too little, too much, in the wrong place - and rain is important to more than just farmers. Around here, rainfall has long been reflected in economics, politics, diplomacy and social stability and even Pakistan admits it wasn’t as prepared as it could have been for the flooding.

“We are the victims of both extremes,” said Shams ul Mulk, the former head of Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and Power. “We are the victims of scarcity and we are the victims of surpluses.” A month into the worst floods in the country’s history, there was no respite Saturday.

The swollen Indus River smashed another break early Saturday in the levees that protect the southern city of Thatta and numerous nearby villages.

That sent thousands more people fleeing for high ground, crowding the roads and leaving the city of 175,000 nearly empty. Thousands of flood victims sought shelter on the high ground of a sprawling centuries-old cemetery outside Thatta. Many were furious at the shortage of help, and how aid came in the form of bags of food being tossed from trucks. “The people who come here to give us food treat us like

beggars. They just throw the food. It is humiliating,” said 80-year-old Karima, who uses only one name, and who was living in the graveyard with more than two dozen relatives.

Almost 17.2 million people have been significantly affected by the floods and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed or badly damaged, the UN has said. About 1,500 people have died. At one point, an area the size of Italy was believed to be underwater, much of it farmland. The scale of the crisis quickly overwhelmed authorities, with the government’s painfully slow response leading to fears of unrest.

While there has been no widespread violence, flood victims have repeatedly blocked roads through the flooded regions demanding more help.

The country’s finances, though, will take a major blow: Farming is a pillar of the Pakistani economy, making up some 23 percent of the gross domestic product and supporting millions of families. Officials expect the agricultural costs from the floods to reach into the billions of dollars. The floods’ effects also will go far beyond the time when the waters recede.

Even Islamabad acknowledges it needs massive repairs to its enormous water irrigation network, which stretches across thousands of miles. About 80 percent of the country’s farmers are dependent on irrigation to nourish their crops.

Experts say only about one-third of the water that flows through the country’s irrigation system actually reaches the crops. “It’s just dirt ditches most of the time,” said Dr Daanish Mustafa, a geographer at King’s College, London who has studied Pakistan’s water use and said simply lining the irrigation channels to decrease leakage could result in enormous water savings. “It doesn’t need billions of dollars, it doesn’t need armies of laborers,” said Mustafa.— AP

International troops have suffered escalating casualties as they step up the fight against a Taleban insurgency which has become increasingly deadly since the militants were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001. The number of foreign soldiers killed in the Afghan war so far this year has now reached 472, compared with 521 who died during all of 2009, according to an AFP tally based on a count by the independent www.icasualties.org website.

There are about 141,000 US and NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency and protect the USbacked government of President Hamid Karzai.

Afghanistan is due to hold its second post-Taleban parliamentary elections on Sept 18 amid fears that attacks by Taleban might disrupt the vote.

Candidate Abdul Manan, running for a seat in the western province of Herat, was shot dead Saturday in an attack blamed on the militants, an official said. The Taleban are accused of being responsible for the deaths of two other candidates since the launch of the election campaign in early July.

Police yesterday also found the bodies of five members of the campaign team of female candidate Fawzya Galani, days after 10 of them were abducted by the Taleban, officials said.

The Taleban had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in Herat province on Wednesday. “We have found five of the abducted members of Ms Galani’s campaign team.

They were dumped on the side of a mountain,” said Nisar Ahmad Popal, the chief of Adrskan district where the bodies were found. “We don’t know where the other five are,” he said.

In another Taleban-linked incident, police in the northern province of Faryab said four women working for a local group treating drug addicts were snatched by gunmen on Saturday. Provincial police chief Khalilullah Andarabi blamed the abduction on “armed opposition groups,” a term used for the Taleban and other militants.

ISAF said eight Afghan civilians were also killed in a wave of attacks on Saturday including a suicide bombing. Fifteen other civilians were wounded in six incidents, mostly in the south and east, the force said. NATO troops backed by Afghan security forces killed up to 15 insurgents in a battle in the eastern province of Paktia late on Saturday, ISAF said.

Separately, police yesterday shot dead two suicide bombers as they headed towards the office of the governor of Farah province in the southwest. No one else was hurt in the incident, provincial police chief Mohammad Faqir Askar said.

Violence has picked up in recent months as the Taleban insurgency has gathered pace in the face of a troop “surge” by international forces. The interior ministry, releasing monthly statistics, said 229 civilians, 124 police and 618 militants were killed between July 23 and Aug 22, coinciding with Afghanistan’s last solar-based month. — AFP

(ISAF) said in a statement. Five troops were killed in other militant violence in the violence-wracked south and east of the country which is hardest hit by the Taleban-led insurgency now reaching the end of its ninth and most deadly year.

A US military spokesman said all seven soldiers were US nationals.

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (right) listens to a briefing next to a scale model of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium while 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi (second left) looks on during Singh’s visit to the stadium premises yesterday. — AFP

Singh tours troubled Games venues NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday inspected venues in New Delhi where the Commonwealth Games will be held in October, urging organisers to overcome delays that threaten to ruin the event. Many sports facilities have yet to be completed 35 days before the Games begin, while new roads, flyovers and metro lines are also behind schedule amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Singh urged authorities “to redouble their efforts to quickly complete whatever works remained as the people were expecting a spectacular and flawless opening to the Commonwealth Games,” a statement from his office said. He visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where renovation work is still underway to prepare for the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics events.

An anti-corruption body earlier this month found a host of problems with construction projects, including the use of poor-quality materials, allegations of fake building safety certificates and financial kickbacks. New Delhi’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit admitted that confusion over who was responsible for preparation of the Games had caused many delays. “There is a terrible problem

of multiplicity of authority,” she said in comments broadcast by CNN-IBN television station yesterday.

She also said she had been stuck in traffic jams up to two-and-a-half hours long while trying to visit areas of the city undergoing hurried construction work. The government has been accused of distancing itself from the Games as hopes that the event would be a symbol of modern India’s recent economic development have turned into fears of a national embarrassment.

Games officials have been warning the city for more than a year that in-fighting and corruption had to stop if the venues, athletes’ village and transport network were going to be up to international standards.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Michael Fennell has had a stormy relationship with Indian organisers, pointing to the main stadium, the swimming pool complex and the weightlifting arena as key areas of concern.

Last year a damaging public row erupted when Suresh Kalmadi, head of the organising committee, unsuccessfully demanded CGF chief executive officer Mike Hooper be sacked. Security and health concerns have unnerved some of the

7,000 competitors expected in New Delhi, while the absence of big name attractions such as sprinter Usain Bolt have resulted in sluggish ticket sales.

Charities have also accused the government of relying on desperately poor, underpaid migrant workers to complete construction projects using inadequate safety equipment. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Singh was making a belated attempt to tackle the growing sense of desperation surrounding the event. “After all this time that he has been sleeping, we find the Indian prime minister suddenly waking up to become an inspector,” BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudi told AFP. The Commonwealth Games, the biggest multi-sport event to be staged in India since the Asian Games in 1982, will feature 71 nations and territories mainly from the former British empire. The 12-day Games, which open on Oct 3, are already the costliest in history, with an infrastructure and organising budget of two billion dollars. Frenzied last-minute preparations have been slowed by heavy monsoon downpours in Delhi, with the weather office predicting more rain in September. — AFP

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri women hold placards as they shout anti-Indian slogans during a protest yesterday. — AFP

opinion

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Iraq 'no pushover' in the regional struggle

By Alistair Lyon

T

he weakness and wealth of Iraq, now shorn of all but 50,000 US troops, tempt its anxious neighbors to vie for influence among Iraqi factions struggling to form a government nearly six months after an election.

Iraq's fledgling army remains ill-equipped to defend the national borders, but for now Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria are pursuing their goals mostly by non-military means.

None can count on getting the upper hand.

The 2003 US-led invasion empowered Shiite Islamist groups friendly to Iran, but intra-Shiite conflicts, assertive Shiite politicians and core Iraqi nationalism limit even Tehran's sway. Turkey, using its growing regional influence, diplomatic reach, economic power and new popularity in the Arab world to act as a softspoken counterweight to Iran, advocates bringing Sunnis and Kurds, as well as Shiites, into any new government in Baghdad.

Although the US combat mission ends this week without an agreed Iraqi government in place to check spurts of violence, adjacent countries seem less inclined to revive the widespread bloodletting that threatened to consume Iraq a few years ago. "In 2005, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia were all feeding the violence in Iraq; the United States was adrift without a strategy; and the Iraqi government and security forces were barely existent," said Eurasia Group analyst David Bender. Today, he argued, those neighbors preferred stability in Iraq, Iraqi security forces had improved and the viability of the Iraqi state was not being threatened as it was in 2005.

STARTING FROM ZERO Even patchy progress in state-building, almost from scratch after the United States removed Saddam Hussein, banned his Baath Party and disbanded the army, has helped cap outside meddling.

"The stronger the state in terms of capacity and legitimacy, the weaker the regional factors," said Beirut-based sociologist Faleh Abdul-Jabbar. "So we are in better shape than in 2004-8." He said foreign powers had to reckon with Iraqi leaders who had gained strength from their grip on the government, the state and its resources. They could not just dictate orders.

Abdul-Jabbar cited Iran's failure to persuade its closest Shiite allies to swing behind acting Prime Minister Nuri AlMaliki after the indecisive March vote narrowly gave former premier Iyad Allawi the biggest single bloc in parliament. "Moqtada Al-Sadr and Ammar Al-Hakim refused to endorse Maliki, and Maliki refused to join hands with them despite tremendous, unbelievable pressure from the Iranians," he said. Secular Turkey, ruled by a moderate Sunni Islamist party, looks askance at any line-up that would allow Shiite factions to exclude disenchanted minority Sunnis from power-a scenario

that dismays Saudi Arabia and many other Arab countries.

They see a share of power for Allawi, a secular Shiite who won many Sunni votes in the March election, as the best way to help reintegrate Sunnis into Iraqi politics to avoid any return to the Sunni insurgency that helped Al-Qaeda militants flourish. The Americans, who were impressed when Maliki defied Iranian wishes and attacked Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in 2008, also want an inclusive Baghdad government, perhaps one aligning Allawi's bloc with that of Maliki and a Kurdish alliance.

Personal ambitions as much as political differences have hindered the emergence of any such coalition. Iraq's neighbors also find it easier to block alliances than to forge them.

STRAINED ALLIANCES Even regional allies such as Iran and Syria are at odds over Iraq-it goes against the Arab nationalist grain of the secular Baathists who rule Syria, a Sunni-majority country, to see pro-Iranian Shiite Islamists monopolize power in Baghdad.

Turkey, while pursuing its own interests in Iraq, has avoided antagonizing Iran, a valued trading partner, and has sought ways to resolve Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West.

The United States, having upset the regional chessboard by invading Iraq, will see its power wane as its troops withdraw. "Iran has to a great degree already found its role in Iraq. The US combat withdrawal will allow Iran to entrench that position," said Gala Riani of IHS Global Insight.

Yet political dominance eludes Iran, which has also met resistance from the Shiite religious schools in the holy city of Najaf, where Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, a heavyweight cleric revered across the Shiite world, challenges the doctrines of clerical rule that underpin the Islamic Republic. "Iraq is theologically more important to Shiite Islam than Iran," said Paul Rogers, a professor at Britain's Bradford University, alluding to Iraq's great Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala. "This may tend to limit Iran's religious influence."

For now, Iraq's neighbors are jockeying for political influence rather than pursuing their goals by force.

That could change. If Iraq's post-election deadlock persists, the greater the risk of its security gains unraveling.

Political, ethnic and sectarian groups might eventually abandon the bargaining process and return to violence to secure their perceived interests. Any such breakdown, particularly if it led to a showdown between Arabs and Kurds in the north, could draw in Turkey, Iran or Syria, which each have their own restive Kurdish minorities. Abdul-Jabbar said military intervention by Iraq's neighbors could not be entirely discounted, even though it was an extreme scenario made less likely even by a reduced US troop presence. "But if this stalemate lingers on, if the Baathists decide to go violent again, if the army disintegrates, why not?" — Reuters

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A year after dream win, Japan's leaders face bleak realities

By Kyoko Hasegawa

A

year after sweeping to power in a landslide win Japan's centre-left governing party is unpopular, divided and hobbled by policy gridlock as it grapples with pressing economic problems. After a sobering first 12 months since its August 30 victory, and already led by their second prime minister, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) faces the prospect of yet another power change in coming weeks. A party that promised weary voters people power after more than five decades of almost unbroken conservative rule is now seen offering business as usual instead as factional infighting consumes the energies of the political class.

It has not been an auspicious period for a party that promised to revolutionize Japanese politics, most political observers agree. "What on earth are these people doing? Many voters must feel disgusted," thundered an Asahi Shimbun editorial last week, criticizing the ruling party's "highly inward-looking power struggle".

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, 63, just three months into office, faces a leadership challenge from a scandal-tainted power-broker, 68-year-old Ichiro Ozawa, at party leadership elections in mid-September. If Kan loses, Ozawa would become Japan's sixth premier in four years, exacerbating Japan's decades-old leadership merrygo-round that has helped erode the country's stature on the international stage. The internal squabbling comes at a time when Japan can ill afford it.

Economic growth slowed sharply to an annualized 0.4 percent in the second quarter, signaling that, as long expected, rising giant China has overtaken greying Japan as the world's number two economy.

With tepid domestic demand, deflation, a shrinking population and a mountain of public debt, Japan has a long list of problems to tackle, worsened now by a fast-rising yen that has made its exports less competitive.

The DPJ has already abandoned many of the big-spending promises that brought the party to office under expremier Yukio Hatoyama-ranging from child allowance to toll-free highways-and instead stressed fiscal austerity. But his straight talk on the need for higher taxes quickly backfired and led to heavy losses in July upper house elections that left the DPJ without a majority in that chamber, making it more difficult to pass laws.

"The DPJ dashed voter expectations by failing to keep its idealistic pledges," said Shujiro Kato, professor of politics at Toyo University. "With a hung parliament, you have to seek ways to cooperate with the opposition, otherwise you can't pass bills.

This is a novel challenge for Japanese politics, which has long had no serious change of governments." Most observers agree the rookie government has managed to squander much of the goodwill it had when it won office as Japan's usually risk-averse voters ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last year.

On the foreign policy front, too, Tokyo still has some way to go to fully mend ties with key ally Washington over a dispute that sealed the fate of the first premier, Hatoyama, after less than nine months in office. Hatoyama, promising "more equal" ties with the United States, vowed to move an unpopular US airbase off Okinawa island, then changed his mind-managing to alienate both Okinawans and the Obama administration in the process.

His flip-flopping drove his poll ratings below 20 percent and cost him his job, with Kan taking his place-but the problem has not gone away, with islanders still determined to reduce the US military presence.

Some analysts say Japan's government is still getting used to wielding power in what is now a real two-party system, and to having to adapt promises it made in opposition to the more complex realities of governing.

Mikitaka Masuyama, politics profes-

sor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said: "Under the two-party system, both the ruling and opposition parties have to face realpolitik.

"The DPJ is paying the price for saying things without considering whether they are feasible when they were in opposition." Hiroshi Hirano, politics professor at Gakushuin

University, said what many voters now believe: "The change of government revealed that the difference between the DPJ and the LDP is not all that great." — AFP

Myanmar chief ensures loyalty with landmark army reshuffle

By Rachel O'Brien

T

he scale of Myanmar's secretive military reshuffle, its largest in decades, reveals the junta chief's determination to maintain his superiority as a rare election approaches, analysts say. More than 70 senior military positions have changed, and top brass including the army number three have retired from their posts to stand in the November 7 poll-the country's first election in 20 yearsunnamed officials said.

But uncertainty remains over the future of reclusive leader Than Shwe himself, who has controlled the country since 1992. Initial reports on Friday said he had stepped down from the army-a move later denied by officials. A source close to the regime has since said the 77-year-old and his deputy Maung Aye are "likely to retire soon", but it is not known when they will shed their uniforms, or what roles they will then assume in the political sphere. "The country is awash with rumors," said Myanmar academic Aung Naing Oo, based in Thailand. "There are more questions than answers right now."

High on the list is whether Than Shwe will take on presidency of the country after the elections, which have been widely dismissed by activists and the West as a charade to legitimize military rule with a civilian guise. "Until the day when we have the next president in the not too distant future, only then will it be clear what he will do. He has a lot of different stuff up his sleeve," said Aung Naing Oo. "What he has created is a huge monster out of this system and he has to remain in some official position to control this monster." Whatever his next formal role, the feared septuagenarian is moving carefully to maintain strong support in both the army and the new parliament, according to Win Min, a US-based Myanmar analyst and pro-democracy activist. "In making this biggest reshuffle, General Than Shwe appears to believe that it is better that he hand-pick the new generation of military leaders whom he considers to be totally loyal to him before the elections," he said. Win Min said the paranoid ruler could be sidelining officials who are more loyal to number two Maung Aye. This would not be the first

time he has manipulated his political and military rivals to maintain a stranglehold on power: in 2004 he sacked and then jailed his own prime minister, the reformer Khin Nyunt.

"By retiring many senior officers to run in the elections, Than Shwe also appears to believe that he can control the electoral process and its outcome in a way to make sure many of these retired officers will win," Win Min added.

Myanmar's all-powerful army is assured a quarter of the seats in the new legislature, in addition to the military retirees who will contest the vote as civilians in the juntabacked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Prime Minister Thein Sein and other ministers stepped down from the military in April to contest the vote as the USDP, which does not face the financial and campaigning constraints that have hampered other parties.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but was never allowed to take power, has been in detention for much of the last two decades and is barred from standing this year because she is a serving prisoner. The Nobel peace laureate's National League for Democracy (NLD), which would have been the biggest threat to the junta, is boycotting the poll, saying the rules are unfair. The party was subsequently disbanded by the ruling generals. So far more than 40 political parties have been allowed to stand in the election, but some prodemocracy groups have expressed concerns, including over intimidation of their members.

Junta-backed candidates who leave the army for the campaign trail have a massive advantage-but there are still likely to be rising military stars who resent being forced to step across into politics with the recent reshuffle. "It's a peaceful purge if you will because some of these people don't want to leave," said Aung Naing Oo. Than Shwe's own retirement, therefore, could "ease some kind of discontentment within the military", where he has "overstayed his welcome" as chief, the academic suggested. "We've had one man and one man alone since he came to power in 1992. He will leave a lot of unhealthy legacies," he said. "But if he leaves we should see changes in a few years." — AFP

Obama's Iraq: Pledge kept, not 'Mission Accomplished'

By Patricia Zengerle

D

on't look for a "Mission Accomplished" moment when President Barack Obama makes a major address to the American public tomorrow about the end of 7-1/2 years of US combat in Iraq. Obama risks a misstep that could haunt him in the future if he comes across as too triumphant, especially with 50,000 US troops still in the country. But with the US jobless rate at 9.5 percent and contentious congressional elections just two months away, Iraq is not on most Americans' minds.

"It's just kind of fallen off the radar somehow," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and a public policy expert at Princeton University.

"Obviously, most Americans are concerned more about the economy." If they are paying attention to war, Americans are more likely focused on Obama's buildup in Afghanistan.

Things are not going well there after almost nine years of fighting, so it could help Obama to talk about the prospect of an end in Iraq.

"It's useful politically because things aren't going great in

Afghanistan," said defense and security expert Stephanie Sanok of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, who has worked at the US Embassy in Baghdad. "I understand the need to head into September with good news on your side ... forgetting the fact that it was the Bush administration that negotiated that ending with the Iraqis." Obama's Republican predecessor George W Bush was ridiculed after he stood on an aircraft carrier decked with a "Mission Accomplished" banner in May 2003 to declare major combat over in Iraq, only to have fighting continue for years.

Tomorrow's nationally televised speech will highlight what administration officials say is Obama's fulfillment of a campaign pledge to get out of Iraq but will steer clear of a declaration of victory or a clear end to the conflict.

"The idea of a kind of withdrawal, without full withdrawal right now, will also leave many Americans on the left, but also the center and right, a bit dubious about what the administration is claiming," Zelizer said. "He has to be very, very, very careful," said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow and security expert at the Center for

American Progress in Washington.

STILL UNSTABLE Iraq has a long way to go, given that its leaders cannot agree on a new coalition government six months after elections and it has seen a spate of coordinated violence like attacks on security forces that killed at least 62 people and wounded more than 250 across the country on Wednesday. "I think in the next couple of months, you'll see continued attacks ... and I think you'll see both terrorist groups and insurgent groups trying to test the government taking credit for them," Sanok said.

If Iraq were to collapse into violence and Baghdad asked for help, US willingness to return could be tested. "US mili-

tary folks would be very willing to go back and help the Iraqis in any way they could," Sanok said. "That said, I think politically there is little to n o appetite to, as some people would put it, sink more money into a venture if the Iraqis aren't willing to step back up." Obama will thank the troops tomorrow but has a more complicated message for many who voted for him in 2008 partly because of his promise to get out of Iraq and who he now hopes will back his fellow Democrats in the Nov 2 elections for Congress and state governorships.

"The dominant issue for most voters in November will be the Obama administra-

tion's handling of the economy, jobs and government spending," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. Many Americans, particularly on the left, are deeply skeptical about Afghanistan, the longest war in US history. "I don't think he's going to get a lot of credit ... because of the fact that for all the troops he's taken out of Iraq, he's added troops in Afghanistan," Korb said. "I think people did expect him to reduce the defense spending."

Administration officials say part of the speech will be about Afghanistan.

Obama also promised while campaigning to refocus US military resources on the country that harbored the AlQaeda militants behind the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. "The president is going to use (the Iraq speech) as an opportunity to commemorate the men and women who fought so bravely there and talk directly with the American people about what our mission is in Afghanistan and what he's doing around the world to help make sure we are safe and secure here at home," deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters in Martha's Vineyard, where Obama was on holiday last week. — Reuters

analysis

Monday, august 30, 2010

13

In Afghan vote, young aim to change face of parliament

By Lynne O'Donnell

A

s Afghanistan prepares for its next test as an infant democracy, a crop of bright young men and women is challenging the traditional Afghan belief that power lies in beards and turbans. The country's second parliamentary poll is scheduled for September 18, with about 2,500 candidates contesting the 249 seats in Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament.

Afghanistan's politics are infamously partisan, and the parliament is stacked with people with bloody or questionable pasts, seen as using their connections and positions to enhance personal power and wealth.

Almost a decade after the fall of the Taleban, a new activism is creeping into Afghan politics, with an up and coming generation of politicians ignoring Taleban threats in a bid to turn the tide of corruption and patronage. While the UNDP says 68 percent of a population estimated at 35 million is younger than 25 years, the view that only older men are qualified to lead has proved difficult to shift. But years of corrupt and ineffective government have attracted a wide range of younger candidates, many of whom believe they can do better than the bearded elders who have presided over 30 years of war and misery.

First-time candidates include television personalities, comedians, actresses and sports stars. Many are considered opportunists, and observers say some will be carried to victory

HERAT: An Afghan woman distributes election manifestoes to a group of women, in Herat, west of Kabul. Afghans will go to the polls for the Parliamentary elections in September. — AP on the recognition factor alone.

Many others are earnest in their desire to work for a better Afghanistan, keen to pay back the country for their education by working on its behalf. Janan Mossazai says a seat in parliament would help him give voice to Afghans disillusioned by democracy, having watched impotently as massive fraud marred last year's presidential poll, which returned Hamid Karzai for a second five-year

term. "I want to give every individual voter his or her due," said 30-year-old Mossazai, running in Kabul after returning recently from studies in Canada and Central Asia.

Giving every Afghan a voiceMossazai said he wanted to convince Afghans it was worthwhile to participate in the running of their country, and that by doing so they could have a say in what sort of society they left to their children. "Afghanistan is not an

easy place to give people a true voice because there are vested interests who see their survival in the continuation of the chaos here," he said. He said he aimed to use his campaign to "make connections with like-minded candidates across the country," in the hope of pulling together a group that could become the basis of party politics now missing from Afghanistan. "Sound political parties have to be the foundation of strong political

development," he said, adding that his focus would be bringing peace to Afghanistan with the cooperation of outside interests.

Many of Afghanistan's troubles with the Taleban are traceable to Pakistan, where the group's leadership is based and which is the source of fighters, funds and the fertilizer used to make ubiquitous roadside bombs. The United States and NATO have almost 150,000 troops in the country, trying to

quell an insurgency that is spreading, the momentum now widely seen as in the Taleban's favor. Campaigning for the poll, which got underway in late June, has already been tainted by assassinations and threats from the Taleban, who consider the election a manifestation of Afghanistan's occupation by Western forces.

In the past two months, one candidate was abducted and beheaded in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, one died in a suicide bomb attack at a mosque while campaigning in eastern Khost province, while a similar attack in Herat killed the brother of candidate Abdul Hadi Jamshidi. The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), an independent monitor, said electionrelated violence was escalating as the poll neared. Election authorities have said that 938 out of a total 6,835 polling centers will not open on Election Day because security cannot be guaranteed. "I'm aware of the risks and dangers that are out there that threaten every individual candidate," said Mossazai.

"I made my decision to run with that awareness. Afghans who want to make a better future for Afghanistan have to make sacrifices." Fear that rights will be sacrificed-Fear that Karzai, who wants to make a deal with the Taleban to end the war, will sacrifice hard-won constitutional rights to do so, is the motivation for 28-year-old Farkhunda Zahra Naderi. Like Mossazai, she is campaigning for one of Kabul's 33 seats, nine of which must be won by women. —AFP

Priest among missing 5 years after Katrina

By Cain Burdeau and Allen G Breed

T

he night sky heaved like a living thing as Fire Chief Joe Perez took another slow cruise in the rescue truck down the two-lane road snaking across this town in the last patch of marsh standing between New Orleans and an angry Gulf of Mexico. It was his final check before he, too, holed up in a safe haven just ahead of Hurricane Katrina. On his dashboard, the radio was silent. His firefighters had left after a frantic weekend of tying down skiffs, helping folks pack up before the gusts and water arrived, getting fire trucks and equipment out of harm's way.

Perez slowed and drove down the shell road to St Nicholas of Myra Church.

Sure enough, Father Arthur Ginart was still at his simple steel-frame and brick veneer church built against a backdrop of marsh. Katrina had developed into a Category 5 monster that nearly filled the Gulf on satellite images, and the hellish storm was due to make landfall within 12 hours. It was clear, though, that the 64year-old priest, limping on prosthetic knees, was digging in, not leaving. Perez got out and walked over.

"You know I may not be able to come back," he said, trying one last time to get the stubborn priest to flee. "This is crazy.

You've got to go. There's no telling what this storm's going to do." "Joe," Ginart said patiently, "I've already told you. No cher, I'm staying. If it's God's will, I'll get washed away. If it's God's will, I'll go down with the church." The chief nodded.

He knew "Father Red" - as the carrottopped clergyman had come to be known to his flock - well enough to accept defeat.

"I've got one of you all's radios, you know," the priest said reassuringly.

"Father Red, that radio is not going to do you any good." "I'll see you tomorrow."

Perez nodded and said goodbye. It has been five years since Katrina swept across Lake Catherine, and Father Red remains among the missing. For a society that craves closure and prides itself on leaving no one behind, the precise death toll from the August 2005 storm remains frustratingly elusive. There are big differences, in the hundreds, between estimates of how many people perished.

The confirmed toll stands at just over 1,800, mostly from Louisiana.

In Louisiana, 135 are, like Ginart, still officially categorized as missing (the Mississippi number stands at just three).

But who died where and when is still a mystery in many cases.

By contrast, nearly every victim is accounted for after the 2001 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center.

Workers sifted through tons of wreckage for traces of human tissue and bone against which DNA samples - extracted from toothbrushes, combs, clothing were compared. Some of those same techniques were used in Katrina's aftermath. But the two disasters were very different. While debris from the Twin Towers was largely confined to Lower Manhattan, Katrina's havoc was spread across three states and over more than 500 miles of coastline.

The story of the dead is told, in part, at the end of Canal Street, near New Orleans' famous "Cities of the Dead," where a mausoleum honors the remains of 80 Katrina victims. Half of them are people who were identified, but whose families either couldn't be found or didn't want to claim them; and the other half

NEW ORLEANS: In this picture, Michael Ginart (center) walks in a procession with a portrait of his uncle, Rev Arthur Ginart, after a memorial service in the Resurrection of Our Lord Church in New Orleans. —AP remain unknown. "New Orleans has been a city for decades where people try to get lost in for various reasons," says Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard.

And when Katrina hit, there were many lost people. Minyard's staff has done a remarkable job tracking them down. He maintains DNA profiles for all of the unknown dead, and anyone can come in and submit a cheek swab to be checked against the genetic files. None to date has produced a match, and Minyard says, "Nobody has come along in this past year." Father Red was not one of those trying to lose himself. If anything, he saw his job as finding the lost.

Sitting on an old land bridge between the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, the tiny town of Lake Catherine had long ago learned to make peace with the water. The original town - home to railroad workers, trappers, hunters and fishermen - was wiped out during a hurricane in 1915.

Thirty-five people died, but the town was rebuilt and became home to a number of hunting and fishing clubs. When Arthur Ginart (pronounced G'nart) arrived in town in 1976, the church of St Nicholas of Myra - the patron saint of sailors and travelers, as well as the model for Santa Claus - was just five years old.

Sitting on a concrete slab atop a big oyster shell mound, the sanctuary was built to keep up with the city's growing population and to meet the spiritual needs of the wild bunch out here.

Demographers might lump Lake Catherine into the New Orleans metropolitan area, and it does lie within the city limits. But with its bleary-eyed fishermen and toothless alligator hunters eating armadillo stew and sucking down beers at Crazy Al's bar on Sunday mornings, it's a world away.

Patrons still chuckle at the memory of Father Red storming in one Sunday while a porno film was playing on the TV over the bar. "Just turn it off during Mass," the bearded clergyman pleaded. The bar complied. Ginart wasn't exactly born a saint himself. Having grown up in New Orleans' blue-collar Bywater district,

Ginart boasted he once took a train for a little joyride when he was a boy. He smoked and cursed and flirted with alcoholism.

Perhaps all that explained his easy way with the fishermen, trappers and factory workers who made up his flock. He looked his parishioners right in the eye, and kept things short and simple - especially his sermons. "If I can't say what I want to say in five minutes, it's not worth it," he once said. "People stop listening after four minutes." Fisherman Pete Gerica remembers Ginart was fond of saying his drinking days taught forbearance: "Bear the cross. Ask the Lord for help, shake it."

And everybody remembered Father Red - whose eyebrows were really the only things still "red" about him besides his ruddy complexion - as a football fan, a die-hard for "dem New Orleans Saints."

Back before they were Super Bowl champs, some called the hapless team the "Aints" and in shame would pull paper bags over their heads. Ginart kept a bag with eyeholes under the altar and was known to slip it on during Mass when the occasion called. He christened the path down to his church "Saints Avenue" and an adjoining street "Who Dat Lane."

The evening of Saturday, Aug 27, 2005, Ginart stood at the church's front door greeting his parishioners. Water was already creeping in over the back yard of the church, just as it had nearly three weeks earlier when Hurricane Cindy came through. The church grounds got soggy just about every high tide, but everyone knew this was different. There was still some light in the sky, but the first of Katrina's wind bands loomed on the horizon. The hurricane was heading straight toward Lake Catherine, outside the levee system that protected most of New Orleans proper.

Inside St Nicholas, air conditioning units worked hard to keep the place cool.

Outside, the marsh was alive with the sounds of screeching insects. As usual, Father Red's sermon was brief and comforting. He spoke of the approaching storm, then blessed the 125 or so wor-

shippers and wished them the best.

Gerica and some others went across the lake to have dinner at Applebee's. Father Red headed for the modest 1950s-era mobile home adjoining the church where he received parishioners, slept and listened to his old-school jukebox. And Katrina, with roaring winds and surging seas, barreled across the Gulf toward Louisiana.

At first, Michael Ginart didn't know whether his uncle and godfather had stayed behind for the storm. When he arrived in Lake Catherine that Friday after Katrina and saw the wreckage, he could only hope. As he and two friends made their way to the church, heaps of marsh grass, boats, belongings and bits of homes blocked their path. Katrina's surge had reached about 20 feet here, flooding even fishing camps built atop sturdy pilings. After picking their way along swollen canals and through back bayous, they finally reached St. Nicholas. It looked as if a bomb had gone off inside.

Walls and doors were blown out.

Father Red's trailer was gone. When Ginart spotted the little orange-red Dodge Neon resting in the marsh, he knew his uncle hadn't left. He loved that car and never would have left it behind.

No one in the close-knit community believed the priest could have made it.

But his nephew couldn't just accept that the marsh had taken him. Ginart, a lawyer, called the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the US Department of Homeland Security. By June 2006, a forensic pathologist had been hired to spend days scouring the marshes, cypress stands, ponds and bayous near the church. He found a few personal effects - a couple of photos, a lighter Father Red had saved from his smoking days, one of the priest's numerous jumpsuits.

Others joined the search. In the grass, a searcher found one of Father Red's favorite coffee cups, which had sat behind the priest's desk in the trailer. Corpsesniffing dogs uncovered more personal items, but no bones. Minyard's office compared the DNA from family mem-

bers' hair follicles with his database of unclaimed victims. On more than one occasion, Michael Ginart was summoned - for example, to see if the serial numbers from Father Red's knee replacements matched items that had come in. Nothing.

Under Louisiana law, seven years must generally have passed before a judge can declare someone "dead in absentia."

However, Father Red was declared "presumed dead" on May 17, 2010, under a post-Katrina law that shortened the period to two years for those missing from the storm.

Since the storm, friends of Father Red haven't waited to accept that he is gone or to honor his memory. He was a volunteer firefighter in Terrytown and Fort Pike, a station up the road from St Nicholas, and was trained as an emergency medical technician. He served as the auxiliary chaplain for the New Orleans Fire Department, and it was common for fire departments to ask him to bless trucks, firefighters and stations.

About a month ago, Lake Catherine completed its rebuilt fire house, and it was dedicated to Father Red. Last week, hundreds of people and New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond gathered at a New Orleans church for a somber memorial service in the priest's honor.

His portrait was blessed with holy water and then hung on the wall inside the new suburban church in Katrina-scarred eastern New Orleans, where his old flock now prays.

St Nicholas remains closed. Sitting amid the thrushes and cracking mud flats, the empty shell is slowly succumbing to the natural forces set in motion by the storm. For months after Katrina, dragonflies buzzed through its open walls and animals nested in the church. The archdiocese eventually mothballed St Nicholas, erecting exterior corrugated walls. The grassy slope where Father Red's trailer once stood is strewn with debris - including a rusty electric piano, warped records from the priest's jukebox and the remains of his famously prodigious collection of Betamax videocassettes.

Inside the dark church, someone has arranged items - a miniature plastic Christmas tree with presents, a camel from a Nativity scene, a votive candle - on the floor as if waiting for the priest's return. When the archdiocese announced plans around 2000 to close St Nicholas as part of a restructuring, 250 people turned out to prove to the visiting archbishop that this was an active parish. The church hierarchy backed down, but the priest told his nephew to "keep a room for me" just in case. If the church were to close his parish, he said, he'd leave the priesthood.

There is talk of opening the church up someday as a camp for children. "Father Red would have liked that," his nephew says. After Katrina, his flock was at a loss for what to do without their shepherd.

His absence is still keenly felt. Alice Major went to St Nicholas every day to pray. If the septuagenarian wasn't on her knees, she was in the kitchen baking Easter pastries or helping the Altar Society with Christmas dinner. In the months after the storm, a Mass at a suburban and sterile church in New Orleans east only left her depressed. When she got home, she wept. "I cry because I miss him," says Major, who keeps two crucifixes Father Red blessed for her close to her heart. "I miss our church. There will never be another Father Red." —AP

focus

Mideast peace push: back to the future?

By Andrew Quinn and Arshad Mohammed

US

President Barack Obama's personal push to launch direct peace talks this week between Israel and the Palestinians carries a strong sense of deja vu: his predecessor George W Bush did much the same in Annapolis, Maryland in 2007, only to see early hopes collapse in acrimony. The goal for Thursday's meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the same as for the last round of US-brokered talks in Annapolis-a deal to establish a democratic Palestinian state living in peace beside Israel. But while the process appears familiar, several key factors are new, starting with Obama himself. Political analysts will be watching closely to see whether these changes will be enough to avoid a rerun of earlier US peacemaking failures.

WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR UNITED STATES? The biggest difference is Obama, who early in his presidency identified Middle East peace as a key foreign policy priority. While Republican George W Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton also made bids to get the Israelis and Palestinians together, both occurred toward the end of their second terms, when they faced little risk of a domestic political backlash.

Obama, on the other hand, risks a lot by taking the issue on ahead of US mid-term congressional elections in November and his own prospective campaign for re-election in 2012 against an energized Republican opposition with strong proIsrael ties.

"It is dangerous for Obama to be seen as putting pressure on Israel, so they will be careful," said Michelle Dunne, a Mideast expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Definitely I think the Republicans will be trying to play that argument over the next couple of years." Obama plans to meet separately with Netanyahu and Abbas at the White House on Wednesday, and diplomatic analysts expect him to keep the pressure on both to remain at the table in hopes of finding a victory that

has eluded so many previous US leaders.

WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR PALESTINIANS? Abbas represented the Palestinians at the 2007 Annapolis conference and is a familiar face at peace negotiations. But he arrives in Washington politically weaker than ever, which could complicate the dynamic. With his Palestinian Authority (PA) strapped for cash and his Fatah party struggling for influence against Hamas, the Islamist group which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, Abbas is in a tough spot that may preclude any quick concessions to Israel, particularly on the issue of Jewish settlements on occupied territory in the West Bank.

"Abbas is far less likely to think creatively or boldly, and at the beginning he is going to be very cautious," said Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to both Egypt and Israel who now teaches at Princeton University.

But with the West Bank now logging growth at around eight percent a year and the PA taking on more of the attributes of a real state, Abbas may sense it is time to make a deal, especially if big funders like the United States and key Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan say it needs to happen. "The United States and the Quartet (of Mideast peacemakers) have a role in this, and the role they play with aid and support is critical," said Anthony Cordesman, an expert at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS). "This is not just a game with two players."

WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR ISRAEL? In Annapolis, Israel was represented by then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a centrist who in subsequent negotiations with Abbas thrashed out possible deals on several sticking points. But Abbas quit the talks in 2008 after Olmert launched an offensive on Hamas-run Gaza, and Olmert himself was subsequently forced from office over corruption allegations. Netanyahu comes to the talks with a tough guy image as the head of a rightwing coalition that has backed Israel's right to expand Jewish settlements on West Bank land it occupied during the 1967 Middle East war. — Reuters

What's next after Australia's polls?

By James Grubel

A

week after Australians voted, politicians appear no closer to forming a government, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott scrambling to secure support from independent MPs. A party needs to control 76 seats to form a government. The latest results show the conservative opposition will end up with 73 seats, the ruling Labor Party 72, while one Green MP and four independents hold the balance of power.

Here are some questions and answers on the latest developments: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Serious talks start next week on whom the key independents will support to form a new government. But the process has been slowed by continuing vote counting in close seats. Officials cannot formally declare the winner in the remaining seats until after next Friday, the deadline for postal votes.

WILL EITHER SIDE FORM A GOVT? All sides appear now to want to avoid another election. The latest official seat count is probably unlikely to change, but the result in the closest seat of Brisbane could still swing from the conservatives to Labor on late postal votes. The opposition Liberal-National coalition and the ruling Labor Party both claim to have received the most votes. The conservatives secured more of the primary vote, but Labor is ahead on the two-party vote under Australia's system of preferences.

HOW WILL THE INDEPENDENTS VOTE? The sole Green MP in the lower house is highly likely to side with Labor, giving both par-

ties 73 seats. That would leave the remaining four independents to decide the election winner. The independents represent diverse views, and they could split and support different parties. But the common call from all four is for stable government and a commitment to a full three-year term before the next election. That could encourage the four to throw their support behind one leader.

But Tasmanian independent Andew Wilkie, a former Green member, is more likely to favor Labor. Queensland independent Bob Katter, a former National lawmaker, is more likely to favor Abbott. But Katter has no love for his old party, and has sniped at senior Nationals. The two other rural independents, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, are also former Nationals, but they are just as likely to side with Gillard.

WILL THE MINING TAX SURVIVE? A Gillard victory is likely to see the government's proposed 30 percent mining tax go ahead, although independents may seek refinements. If Abbott wins, the tax will be abandoned.

WILL A MINORITY GOVT OFFER STABILITY? A minority government could be workable. But whoever emerges as the winner will need to keep the independents on side and negotiate laws through a Senate where the Greens hold the balance of power after July 2011. For their part, the independents will be asked to guarantee to pass bills to ensure budgets for public services and to support the government in no-confidence motions. But the independents are likely to seek the right to vote as they choose on any particular piece of legislation, which could frustrate a new government's legislative agenda. — Reuters

NEWS

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Indian nurse dies in fatal accident Police car, minivan collide

By Sajeev Peter KUWAIT: An Indian male nurse died on the spot and six persons including a policeman sustained injuries yesterday when a police car collided with a minivan carrying nursing staff from Sabah Hospital. The accident occurred at a traffic signal on the Kuwait City-Jahra Road near the Military headquarters in Shuwaikh when the minivan belonging to Classic Transport Company was hit by the police vehicle, eye-witnesses said.

The nursing staff was travelling to Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh after completing their morning shift at Sabah Hospital. According to an eye-witness, Biju Abraham, 39, succumbed to his injuries at the accident spot. Abraham, who hailed from Kodenchery, Calicut district of Kerala, was working in the neurology department of Ibn Sina hospital. His body is kept at the Sabah Hospital mortuary. Other nurses and the policeman, who received fractures and minor injuries, are being treated at Sabah Hospital.

Man nabbed with fake $1 m bills ABU DHABI: Can you break a $1 million? Not a chance. But the story is rich in audacity. A man from the Ivory Coast is in police custody in Abu Dhabi after allegedly persuading a woman to try to exchange two phony $1 million bills at the UAE’s Central Bank. Police say the suspect promised the woman a 30 percent cut after the bills were traded - presumably for US bills or UAE dirham. The suspect was

identified in press reports yesterday only by the initials AB. The phony notes feature the $1 portrait of George Washington and are mostly black and white on the front.

The National newspaper quotes Col Rashid Mohammed Bursheed, the head of the organized crime unit, as saying the suspect claims he thought the bills were real. —AP

Kangaroo testicle? Chefs in Serbia say, ‘Yes!’ OZREM: In a remote Serbian mountain village, they’re cooking up delicacies to make your mouth water - or your stomach churn. At the seventh annual World Testicle Cooking Championship, visitors watch and sometimes taste - as teams of chefs cook up bull, boar, camel, ostrich and even kangaroo testicles. “This festival is all about fun, food and bravery,” said Ljubomir Erovic, the Serbian chef and testicles gourmand specialist who organizes the bizarre cooking festival and has published a testicle cookery book.

The food - politely called “white kidneys” in Serbian - is believed to be rich in testosterone. In the Balkans, it is considered to help men’s libido. “The bulls’ testicles are the best, goulash style,” said last year’s winner Zoltan Levai, stirring a metal pot heated by a wood fire

and filled with vegetables and large testicles that he said were provided from a state-run slaughter house.

The festival, which includes dishes like testicle pizza and testicles in bechamel sauce flavored with a variety of herbs found in the region. Visitors eat the dishes and cool themselves in a small mountain river that flows beside the makeshif t cooking stands blasting folk music. The stalls also sell roasted lamb, “as a side dish”.

“I came here last year, and decided to come back,” said Anna Wexler, an Israeli citizen originally from New York who’s now a member of the festival’s jury.

“It was delicious. There was testicle moussaka, goulash, stallion, boar, bull and many other things.” The festival also gives prizes to those who have made the news for being “ballsy”. — AP

Arabia offers its nationals social benefits but these are below those granted by other Gulf Arab oil producers such as Kuwait and Qatar, which have much smaller native populations.

Many Saudis are forced to work as taxi drivers, private security guards or other low-paid jobs to make ends meet. The kingdom does not publish regular jobless data, a sensitive issue for authorities since it highlights fissures in wealth distribution in one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Despite its vast oil resources, Saudi Arabia struggles to find jobs for

BAGHDAD: Iraq does not need more soldiers and police to wage war against insurgents as US combat operations end, a senior Iraqi security official said. Instead, it needs better intelligence gathering and a way to stop countries intent on torpedoing Iraq’s nascent democracy from supporting

Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda, or Shiite militia, said Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Al-Khafaji.

“Whether the US troops are here or not, these groups will continue their operations because they are the hired guns of regional states with agendas, which want to sabo-

Saudi nationals due to an outdated education system that focuses more on religion than on the job skills needed to diversify an oil-based economy weighed down by a bloated public sector.

Nayef Al-Tamimi, a spokesman for the protestors, said they had graduated from university but were unable to find work, according to the daily newspaper AlHayat. “I was surprised about the lack of opportunities despite the need for teachers but the ministry was not interested in this,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. In a statement carried by Al-Hayat, the ministry of education said it was not in charge of hiring but only defined the

demand for teachers based on positions allocated to it. Its spokesman could not be reached for comment.

King Abdullah has tried to overhaul the archaic education and legal system since taking office in 2005 but the religious elite which controls the bureaucracy has held back reforms. Officials who back Abdullah fear that without jobs young people will be drawn to militancy in the future. Al-Qaeda launched a campaign against the Saudi state in 2003, accusing the royal family of corruption and blaming it for its alliance with the United States. Most of those who carried out the Sept 11, 2001 attacks were Saudis. — Reuters

India’s ‘undignified’ democracy in action Continued from Page 1 Data collected by PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank, shows that of the scheduled 170 working hours of the monsoon session of parliament up to Saturday, 100 hours were lost70 due to adjournments and nearly 30 to protests and walkouts. The wastage is compounded by the fact that each minute of national parliament-whether productively spent or not-costs the exchequer 26,035 rupees ($554), excluding MPs salaries, PRS says. In his annual speech on August 15, Singh condemned an increase in the use of “harsh and unpleasant words” on the floor of the house.

“Criticism should not be undignified.

We should have the capacity to reconcile opposite points of view on important issues through debate and discussion,” he said. His remarks were echoed days later by Vice President Hamid Ansari, who lamented the rise of brute lung power over oratorical skills. “It creates momentary excitement, but is no substitute for persuasion. It detracts from the dignity of parliament and invites public

scorn,” he said. Legislators in regional state assemblies have proved more than capable of matching the disruptive muscle of their federal counterparts.

In July, more than 60 members of the Bihar state assembly were suspended after particularly ugly scenes which saw chairs and shoes being thrown, and ended with one enraged woman lawmaker launching a solo assault on flowerpots outside the chamber. “These are most shameless episodes,” Jayant Sen, a political science professor and author of various books on the Indian parliament said.

“Parliament and state assemblies are the temples of democracy but nobody cares to protect them,” he added.

The proposal by the cabinet to triple federal MPs’ salaries to 50,000 rupees ($1,000) per month, from 16,000 rupees previously, was greeted with a mixture of widespread scorn and incredulity. Sen said he was not against a salary raise, but argued that it should be linked to attendance and accompanied by strict rules on conduct in the house. “Why should citizens pay them if they do not behave themselves and refuse to operate in a

professional manner?” he said.

Critics are not restricted to those outside parliament. A number of MPs are also unhappy. Senior legislator Murli Manohar Joshi made his feelings clear when he picked up the Best Parliamentarian Award for the year 2009.

“Aimless shouting in the parliament clearly indicates that we are not doing our homework. We do not come prepared. “We are at a point where the senior members need to recognize the crisis and find a solution to make our debates constructive,” Joshi said.

A major area of concern is that key legislation is not receiving the scrutiny it merits. Because so much time is wasted, the final days-or sometimes the final hours-of any session are often spent voting through numerous bills without any genuine debate. In the 2010 budget session, the lower house cleared five bills in 15 minutes. “After all the political posturing by the ruling party, the opposition and regional parties, very little time is left to transact real business,” said C V Madhukar, the director of PRS Legislative Research. — AFP

make ghusl (complete ablution) during each of the lat ten nights. There are many who also used to wear cologne on nights which they hoped to be Laylat al-Qadr. For indeed one needs to be in their best state on the outside and the inside, when supplicating to the Lord of the worlds.

5Its night is like its morning, don’t forget that. Many scholars stress the fact that the benefits of the morning of that day are just as great as those of its night time. It is important to note the need to continue good deeds and worship during the day as well. The great scholar Imam as-Shafi’e said: “I prefer to strive during its day than its night. This necessitates doing the same through out the last ten days, striving equally during the day and at night.”

6Among the most honored acts of worship is to devote your self completely to Allah...Allah said in what can be translated as, “And remember the Name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with a complete devotion. (He Alone is) the Lord of the east and the west, La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). So take Him Alone as Wakil (Disposer of your affairs).” So dedicate your heart wholly to Allah (SWT) with no arguments, discussion, idle talk, unnecessary intermingling. Turn off your phone, let go of your worries and forget your concerns. Dedicate yourself completely to Allah and enjoy worshipping and praying to him.

7Sense your heart and watch your intention, for a person’s intention is better than his/her deeds. So make your intention and dedicate yourself to Allah.

8Remember that your status will be set according to how hard you strive.

Do not let a door for good deeds go closed.

Commit yourself to the different types of obedience to Allah in order to make sure you do not get tired or bored of any particular one.

9You must strive hard while being patient. It has been said that whoever wants to always be committee to the good deeds must wait for a long while.

10- Speak less. Count your words per day and at night. Whoever speaks little is more careful of their sayings and actions.

11- Remember that these are the time of races; so do not settle for coming last. Someone once said, “If a man hears of another who is more obedient, passing away out of grief is not too much.” Would you settle of being deprived of this?, Would you accept that other people win the forgiveness, pardon from the hell fire while their good deeds are multiplying?, Meanwhile, you are burdened by your sins. Do not accept this. Do not settle down for this, instead opt for racing towards Allah’s mercy and forgiveness.

12- Have faith in Allah. If you miss something, turn around and try to make up for it. If you have true faith in Allah, you will indeed love Him dearly. Oh Lord, we ask you to bless us with Your love and the love of those who love You. We ask you to bless us with deeds which bring us close to Your love.

13- Perform some of your acts of worship in secret, with not witness to is but Allah. This will bring you closer to true sincerity. The Prophet (SAWS) said, “The voluntary prayer of a man where people can not see him is equivalent to twenty give of public prayers” [Reported

by Ya’la and reviewed by al-Albany].

14- Combine the quantity and quality.... We want magnificent deeds the like of which you have never accomplished before in your life. This year, you will accomplish them... Yes, indeed you will.

This is the true sign of your sincerity in seeking the pleasure of Allah and His bountiful blessings. You will never settle for anything less than that. You must do the best you can.

The Last 10 Days Continued from Page 1 the end line, they give their best.”

Hence, this great companion worked really hard and gave it all he has.

The Prophet (SAWS) used to pray during the night, wake up his family and strive harder than ever before during the last ten days of Ramadan. [Agreed Upon] Ayesha (RA) said, “The Prophet (SAWS) worked harder during he last ten days than in any other time.” [Reported by Muslim] Advice for the ten days: 1No sleep in the last ten days: The Prophet (SAWS) used to stay awake on those nights through night prayer.

2Encourage your family to enjoin you in good deeds: In a hadith reported by Abi Dhir (RA), the Prophet (SAWS) lead them in prayer on the nights of the 23rd and 25th mentioned that he called his family and wives to the night of the twenty seventh especially. This proves that he made sure to wake them up to pray during a night suspected of being Laylat al-Qadr.

Sufian al-Thawry said: “The most favorite to me and closest to my heart when the last ten days are near is to pray at night and strive in it, to wake my family and children for prayer (if they are able to).”

3Increase supplication on this night: The Prophet (SAWS) asked the mother of the believers Ayesha (RA) to make supplication on those nights. Ayesha (RA) said to the Prophet (SAWS), “What do I say if it is indeed Laylat al-Qadr?” The Prophet (SAWS) said: “Say, ‘O Allah, You are oft-forgiving and love to forgive so forgive me”. Sufian al-Thawry said: “Supplication on such a night is more preferable to me than prayer. Increasing supplications is better than prayer in which one does not do excessive supplication. And if one reads then makes supplication, then that is fine too.”

4Purification of what is seen and what is hidden: Pious worshippers used to

OZREM: Testicles are cooked in a pot during the so-called 7th annual World Testicle Cooking Championship in the village of Ozrem, some 150 kilometers south of Belgrade, Serbia. — AP

Iraq needs intelligence, not troops

Saudis in rare protest Continued from Page 1

Monday, August 30, 2010

Neighbors ‘still financing violence’ tage democratic Iraq,” Khafaji said in an interview on Saturday. “They come from known dictatorships. They have a single message-to kill Iraqis and scorch the earth they live on.” The end to US combat operations tomorrow and a fall in troops to 50,000 ahead of a full pullout in 2011 is a milestone in the 7-1/2 year war launched by ex-President George W Bush.

President Barack Obama, whose Democratic party faces a war-weary public in Congressional elections in November, said on Saturday that scaling back the US military presence in Iraq meant he was fulfilling a promise to US voters to end the war. Iraq

would “chart its own course” now, Obama said. Iraq is less violent than it was in 2006/07 when the sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion peaked. But it is far from stable or secure. Suspected Al-Qaedalinked insurgents have launched a stream of attacks, in particular against Iraqi police.

Iraq’s political leaders have also failed to agree on a new government almost six months after an election that produced no outright winner, leaving Iraq adrift in a political vacuum.

Little will change on the ground when the six remaining US military brigades in Iraq formally turn their focus toward advising and assisting

their Iraqi counterparts on Sept 1. Iraqi police and soldiers have been taking the lead since a bilateral security pact came into force in 2009, and US troops pulled out of Iraqi urban centers more than a year ago.

“We have no shortage of security forces ... and we have no problem with weapons to fight terrorism,” said Khafaji.

Khafaji said Iraq had four different intelligence services but the information gathered was not always making its way down the pipeline to frontline troops. This was a shortcoming. “The next battle is an intelligence battle, which must be waged effectively,” he said.

The deputy minister, who is responsible for Iraq’s borders,

said another challenge was to improve relations with other countries and persuade them to stop supporting violence.

“The important point is that the terrorism operations depend on financial support from neighboring countries,” Khafaji said. “It must be a high priority of the government to prevent neighboring countries from interfering in Iraqi affairs by developing political and economic agreements with them.”

Incumbent Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki accuses unnamed Sunni Arab states of supporting insurgents opposed to the rise of Iraq’s Shiite majority to political power after the 2003 ouster of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. —Reuters

Thousands still missing 20 years after Gulf War Continued from Page 1 other two conflicts. “Tens of thousands of soldiers who took part in the Iran-Iraq war, including some former prisoners of war, remain unaccounted for today,” said the ICRC, which organizes exchanges of

remains and provides DNA facilities.

“The families on both sides have been hoping to find out what happened to their loved ones during all these years. They have never given up hope.” The international aid agency said it “renews its call upon governments in the region to pursue their

efforts to provide information on the fate of people who went missing. “It reminds the authorities on all sides of their commitment to fulfilling their obligations under international humanitarian law, clarifying the fate of all persons still unaccounted for and providing answers for the families.” — AFP

Actors’ boycott stirs settlement debate Continued from Page 1 Israelis are divided over the settlements, including how many should be dismantled, if any, to enable the creation of a Palestinian state. However, the artists’ refusal to perform in settlements seemed to draw more criticism than support, in large part because of great sensitivity to international boycott efforts against Israel.

Netanyahu complained yesterday that the artists are playing into the hands of what he said were international efforts to delegitimize Israel with economic, cultural and academic boycotts. “The last thing we need at this time, while under such an attack, is an attempt for boycotts from within,” he said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting. The issue came to the forefront because a $10 million performing arts center in the settlement of Ariel, one of the West Bank’s largest, is to open in November. Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman said the main Israeli theater companies, including Habima National Theater and Cameri, have agreed to put Ariel on their tour plan.

However, opposition arose in theater circles, and so far more than 60 artists, including some of the country’s bestknown stage actors, have signed a pledge not to perform in Ariel, said renowned playwright Joshua Sobol, author of the Holocaust play “The Ghetto.” Sobol said

he hoped the petition would shake up the Israeli public and prompt the theaters to reconsider their decision to perform in Ariel, a settlement of some 20,000 Israelis located in the heart of the West Bank.

“There was a lethargy in recent years,” Sobol said. “People somehow became indifferent to the many issues which are existential issues in Israel, and this may revive public debate.” Four theater companies - Habima, Cameri, Beit Lessin and Beersheba Theater - said they would stick to their decision to perform. “We respect the political views of our actors, but we’ll make sure that the best of Israeli theater will get to Ariel,” they said in a joint statement. Osnat Chen, a spokeswoman for Habima, said the theater would review the case of each artist who refuses to perform in Ariel.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. Since then, about 300,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and another 200,000 in east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the war. Israeli critics of settlements say the expanding enclaves could one day prevent partition of the land and destroy the vision of a democratic Jewish state.

In other developments, the spiritual leader of one of the parties in Netanyahu’s coalition caused a stir yesterday after saying in his weekly Sabbath sermon that the

Palestinians and Abbas should “perish from the world.” Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a founder of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, also described Palestinians as “evil, bitter enemies of Israel.” The 89-year-old is a respected religious scholar among Jews of Middle Eastern descent, but is also known for vitriolic comments about Arabs, secular Jews, liberals, women and gays, among others. Shas runs private schools that educate tens of thousands of Israeli children.

The Abbas government responded angrily, demanding in a statement that the Israeli government put a stop to what it described as a “culture of hatred in Israel toward Palestinians.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that “the spiritual leader of Shas is literally calling for a genocide against Palestinians and there seems to be no response from the Israeli government.”

“Is this how the Israeli government prepares its public for a peace agreement?”

Erekat said. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has accused the Palestinian government of incitement against the Jewish state, including by naming streets after Palestinian militants.

The Palestinian Authority has dismissed such allegations, though President Barack Obama told Abbas earlier this year he needs to do more to halt incitement against Israel. — AP

70,000 beggars in Kuwait?

Continued from Page 1 report as part of an attempt to dismiss the interior minister from his post despite having performed very well in his capacity as the interior minister. In another question to the minister of public works and municipalities Fadhel Safar, the lawmaker inquired about the truth in a newspaper report that a local company imported and distributed 65 tons of meat contaminated with salmonella and not fit for human consumption.

Muslim asked if the same company had also sold chicken not fit for human consumption and demanded necessary documents. The lawmaker also inquired if the municipality has detected the outlets to which the contaminated chicken had been

distributed. He also inquired if the owner of the company had been referred to the public prosecutor and demanded necessary documents. Muslim asked if the municipality has issued any citations against the same company since the month of January when the contaminated meat shipment was discovered.

In another development, MP Saleh Ashour warned Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah that he will not remain silent on a number of alleged violations committed by Kuwait Petroleum Corp and called on the minister to reform the oil sector. Commenting on answers he received to several questions to the minister, Ashour said that some of the answers included false replies, others were incomplete while other replies included confes-

sions of serious violations committed by senior officials at KPC which is the most important state company in the country.

Ashour said that in some violations, contractors began implementing contracts several months before they signed them.

In the meantime, MP Rola Dashti called for achieving justice and equality to Kuwaiti women through providing them with the housing welfare provided to Kuwaiti men. She said that over 68,000 Kuwaiti women do not benefit from the housing services although they are entitled to it under the law. Dashti said these women include 27,500 divorced Kuwaiti women, 21,200 widows, 11,000 Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaiti husbands and 8,600 unmarried Kuwaiti women who are 40 years and above.

Kuwait posts $22.4 bn surplus Continued from Page 1 “In the case of Qatar, I suspect it (decline in rents) has something to do with their methodology,” said Giyas Gokkent, head of research at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. “The recent IMF report on Qatar touched on this issue.”

The International Monetary Fund said in February that the extent of Qatari deflation might be overestimated as measurement of rents is skewed towards new contracts, which had witnessed

sharp falls in rents at the beginning of the year. Rents, fuel and energy, which have the biggest weighting in the basket at 32 percent, fell by 1.6 percent in July, which was the largest monthly drop since December 2009. “To me, this is just an anomaly. In the summer, it’s normal for things to slow down a little bit,” said Farah Ahmed Hersi, senior economist at Masraf Al Rayan in Doha.

“With double digit (economic) growth, investors will buy their way into the local economy and demand will gain traction,”

he said. Qatar’s central bank cited continued deflation as one of the reasons behind a 50 basis point cut in its deposit rate earlier this month, while analysts have said it would help boost non-oil sector growth as gas output expands. The OPEC member’s statistics office also surprised analysts by shifting the base year for the consumer price index to 2007 from 2006, saying it wanted to bring it in line with other Gulf States. Analysts polled by Reuters expected average inflation of 1.7 percent in 2010. — Agencies

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MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Saturday: Toronto 5, Detroit 4; Minnesota 1, Seattle 0; Philadelphia 3, San Diego 1; NY Yankees 12, Chicago White Sox 9; Washington 14, St Louis 5; Cleveland 4, Kansas City 3 (10 innings); Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2 (10 innings); Houston 4, NY Mets 1; Chicago Cubs 3, Cincinnati 2; Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 7 (11 innings); Atlanta 12, Florida 3; Oakland 5, Texas 0; Colorado 5, LA Dodgers 3; Baltimore 5, LA Angels 0; Arizona 11, San Francisco 3.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 79 50 .612 Tampa Bay 79 50 .612 Boston 74 56 .569 Toronto 68 61 .527 Baltimore 47 83 .362

GB 5.5 11 32.5

Central Division Minnesota 75 55 .577 Chicago W Sox 70 59 .543 Detroit 64 66 .492 Kansas City 54 75 .419 Cleveland 53 76 .411

4.5 11 20.5 21.5

Western Division 73 56 .566 64 64 .500 63 67 .485 50 79 .388

8.5 10.5 23

Nationa l Lea gue Eastern Division Atlanta 74 55 .574 Philadelphia 72 57 .558 Florida 65 63 .508 NY Mets 64 65 .496 Washington 55 75 .423

2 8.5 10 19.5

Central Division 74 55 .574 69 58 .543 61 68 .473 59 70 .457 55 75 .423 43 86 .333

4 13 15 19.5 31

Texas Oakland LA Angels Seattle

Cincinnati St Louis Milwaukee Houston Chicago Cubs Pittsburgh

Western Division San Diego 76 52 .594 San Francisco 71 59 .546 Colorado 67 61 .523 LA Dodgers 67 63 .515 Arizona 52 78 .400

6 9 10 25

WASHINGTON: Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond (right) picks off St. Louis Cardinals’ Felipe Lopez at second base during the fifth inning of their baseball game at Nationals Park. — AP

Phillies get past Padres, Cubs edge Reds SAN DIEGO: Shane Victorino had two of Philadelphia’s three hits, including a go-ahead triple off Jon Garland in the seventh inning as the Philadelphia Phillies won their second straight game against the National League West-leading San Diego Padres, 3-1 on Saturday.

The Phillies, 13-2 against NL West teams, protected their wild-card lead, which was a half-game over San Francisco entering the day. San Diego, which has lost three straight games for only the second time this season, led the Giants by six.

Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 23 chances. On Friday night, Lidge balked in the tying run with two outs in the ninth, but the Phillies won 3-2 in 12 innings.

Jayson Werth scored on both of Victorino’s hits.

Victorino, the center fielder, also threw out Nick Hundley at the plate to end the fifth.

It was Philadelphia’s 10th win in its last 11 games at Petco Park. The Phillies are 17-4 at the downtown ballpark since it opened in 2004.

Joe Blanton (6-6) held the Padres to one run and six hits in six innings. Blanton and three relievers retired the final 11 San Diego batters.

Cubs 3, Reds 2 At Cincinnati, Kosuke Fukudome hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Bronson Arroyo as Chicago finally ended years of futility against the right-hander by beating Cincinnati. Fukudome’s homer in the fifth inning sent Arroyo (14-8) to his first loss against the Cubs since 2007. Arroyo had won his last five decisions against Chicago, including his two starts this season.

Randy Wells (6-12) got a victory on his 28th birthday — his first win since July 23. Wells limited the NL’s top offense to five hits and a pair of runs in six innings, including Joey Votto’s solo homer.

Chicago’s bullpen allowed only one hit, with Carlos Marmol pitching the ninth for his 24th save in 29 tries.

Braves 12, Marlins 3 At Atlanta, Tim Hudson struck out a career-high 13 batters and Martin Prado equaled his career best with five RBIs as Atlanta trounced Florida.

Matt Diaz and Eric Hinske also homered for the Braves, who scored six runs in the second and snapped a four-game losing streak, their longest since April. They maintained a two-game lead in the

NL East over Philadelphia. Hudson (15-5), who has come back from major elbow surgery with perhaps the best season of his career, surpassed 1,500 strikeouts for his career.

Nationals 14, Cardinals 5 At Washington, Adam Dunn broke out of a prolonged slump with a homer and five RBIs to lead Washington to a victory over St. Louis.

Dunn was in an 8-for-66 skid over 20 games when he doubled home two runs for a 4-3 Nationals lead in a four-run third inning. With the score tied at 5 in the fifth, Dunn hit a three-run shot, his 32nd of the season and first since Aug. 11.

Livan Hernandez (9-9) allowed five runs in 6 1-3 innings to win for the first time in five starts. Roger Bernadina homered and Michael Morse had a careerhigh four hits for the Nationals, who had lost five of six. The 14 runs were the most scored at home by the Nationals since relocating to Washington from Montreal before the 2005 season.

Astros 4, Mets 1 At New York, Carlos Lee homered off Johan Santana and Brett Myers set a team record as

Houston won for the first time at Citi Field.

Lee also hit an RBI single in the first inning, when the Astros, who have won six of seven, got to Santana (10-9) for two quick runs. The New York Mets ace has an ERA of 8.04 in the first inning this season. Myers (10-7) gave up six hits and a walk in seven innings. He faced exactly four batters in every inning and never allowed a runner past second.

Myers has pitched at least six innings in all of his 27 starts this season. Larry Dierker had the previous Astros record of 26 in 1969-70.

Rockies 5, Dodgers 3 At Denver, Jhoulys Chacin pitched seven solid innings, and Todd Helton and Carlos Gonzalez homered as Colorado beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gonzalez also tripled and scored two runs for the Rockies, who kept pace with Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race. Colorado is four games back of the Phillies. Rod Barajas homered for the Dodgers, who had won the first four games of their six-game road trip. Chacin (7-9) allowed one run and four hits while winning his second consecutive start. He walked four and struck out seven.

Rays and Athletics roll ST. PETERSBURG: Dan Johnson stunned Boston again, hitting a leadoff homer in the 10th inning to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 32 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday.

Johnson sent a 2-2 pitch from Scott Atchison (2-2) into the right-field stands for his second clutch home run against the Red Sox in three years. Johnson is best known for a game-tying shot off closer Jonathan Papelbon on Sept. 9, 2008, that keyed an important comeback win en route to Tampa Bay’s only American League pennant.

Randy Choate (4-3) retired David Ortiz with a runner on first and two outs in the 10th.

Athletics 5, Rangers 0 At Arlington, Texas, Dallas Braden pitched a four-hitter for his second career shutout and Daric Barton homered as Oakland cut a game off Texas’ big lead in the AL West. Braden (9-9) had been 4-7 since his perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, but the left-hander was in command from the start of this one. He didn’t walk a batter and let only one runner reach third base.

The Rangers were shut out for only the third time this season and first at Rangers Ballpark. Oakland’s Kurt Suzuki matched a career high with four hits. Barton was 2 for 3, reached base four times and scored a career-high four runs.

Yankees 12, White Sox 9 At Chicago, CC Sabathia became the majors’ first 18-game winner and Marcus Thames hit two of New York’s four homers in a win over Chicago.

Eduardo Nunez hit his first career homer and drove in four runs for New York. Nick Swisher connected for a two-run drive and Robinson Cano had three hits. Sabathia (185) struck out nine in seven innings, but allowed five runs and nine hits.

The Yankees got off to a fast start against John Danks (12-9), belting two-run homers in each of the first three innings to build a 61 lead.

Indians 4, Royals 3 At Cleveland, Asdrubal Cabrera led off the 10th inning with a home run to give Cleveland a win over Kansas City. Cabrera hit a 2-1 pitch from right-hander Jesse

D’backs 11, Giants 3 At San Francisco, Miguel Montero hit a three-run double to highlight a six-run first inning as Arizona went on to beat Barry Zito and San Francisco.

Mark Reynolds added a three-run home run and Daniel Hudson pitched four-hit ball over seven innings as the Diamondbacks won their third straight. Adam LaRoche hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs.

Pablo Sandoval homered for the Giants, who have lost three straight to fall 1 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card chase. Zito (810) allowed a season-high nine runs on six hits over 3 2-3 innings. He walked five. — AP

American Spies on pole for Indianapolis MotoGP

Chavez (2-2) into the right-field seats. The Indians won their third straight and moved within a game of fourth-place Kansas City in the AL Central.

Chris Perez (2-2), the fifth Indians pitcher, worked a scoreless 10th for the win.

Wilson Betemit hit a two-run homer off Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez and tied it at 3 with an RBI double in the eighth against reliever Rafael Perez.

Twins 1, Mariners 0 At Seattle, Nick Blackburn and newly acquired reliever Brian Fuentes combined on a two-hitter for Minnesota. Denard Span hit an RBI single in the third inning for the AL Central leaders.

After a walk to Ryan Langerhans in the second, Blackburn (8-8) retired 21 in a row before he walked Chone Figgins with two outs in the ninth. Fuentes was brought in to make his Twins debut and struck out Russell Branyan for his 24th save.

Blackburn allowed two hits against the punchless Mariners, both in the first inning.

Blue Jays 5, Tigers 4 At Toronto, Jose Bautista hit a two-run triple and Brandon Morrow earned his 10th win as Toronto held off Detroit despite a shaky ninth inning.

One day after blowing a late lead, Kevin Gregg struck out Ramon Santiago with a runner on second for his 30th save. The major league leader in home runs with 42, Bautista went 2 for 3 with a double, a triple and a walk. He has 99 RBIs this season.

Morrow (10-6) allowed one run and four hits in six innings.

Orioles 5, Angels 0 At Anaheim, California, Kevin Millwood scattered six hits over eight gritty innings and Josh Bell hit a two-run homer in Baltimore’s win over Los Angeles.

Millwood (3-14) won for the first time since posting back-to-back interleague wins over San Diego and Florida on June 19 and June 24. Millwood struck out five and walked one.

Jim Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit in his first appearance since April 30. He had been sidelined because of inflammation in his right elbow. — AP

Brewers 8, Pirates 7 At Milwaukee, Lorenzo Cain hit a game-ending single in the 11th inning to lift Milwaukee over Pittsburgh. Ryan Braun led off the 11th with a single off Wil Ledezma (0-1) and advanced to second when second baseman Neil Walker bobbled Prince Fielder’s sharp grounder for an error.

Casey McGehee flied out to left before the Brewers rookie center fielder hit a line-drive single to left. Prince Fielder homered twice for Milwaukee.

CHICAGO: New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera finishes in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox during a baseball game. — AP

INDIANAPOLIS: American Ben Spies captured his first pole position after a brilliant performance in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Indianapolis MotoGP. The 26-year-old put his Yamaha on the front row of the grid after lapping the famous “brickyard” circuit in one minute 40.105 seconds.

“This is a great feeling for me to get my first MotoGP pole position and for it to come in front of the American crowd and here at Indianapolis with all the history makes it even more special,” said Spies.

Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Spain was second fastest in 1:40.325 while American Nicky Hayden finished third.

Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso, Spain’s Dani Pedrosa and Australia’s Casey Stoner will start on the second row of the grid. World champion Valentino Rossi qualified seventh despite falling twice. Spies is in his first full season in MotoGP and is seventh in the world standings.

“There was no way coming into this weekend that I thought this result was possible,” he said.

“But I’ve been able to do it and now I’m going to concentrate on getting a good start and giving it everything in the race.

Lorenzo was also pleased with his display as he closes in on his first MotoGP world title. He leads the championship with 235 points, 77 clear of second-placed Pedrosa.

“This was a really difficult session because it was so hot and the track was very slippery and bumpy, it was hard to know what to expect,” Lorenzo said. “Luckily we managed a good lap and I’m happy with second place, Ben’s lap was amazing so well done to him.”

Meanwhile, American MotoGP rider Nicky Hayden has signed a two-year deal to stay with Ducati and partner new signing Valentino Rossi.

The 29-year-old, who won the world title in 2006 with Honda, has raced for Ducati for two years and is sixth in this season’s standings.

“Next year I’ll be teamed with some guy named Rossi who knows a little something about bikes!

We are going to have a strong squad,” Hayden said in a statement from the Italian team.

Yamaha’s world champion Rossi will join Ducati for next season after Australia’s Casey Stoner announced he was leaving for Honda. — Reuters

SPORTS

16

Monday, August 30, 2010

Laird surges to three shot lead at Barclays

PARAMUS: Martin Laird of Scotland hits his tee shot on the 15th hole during the third round of The Barclays golf tournament. —AP

Langer stays ahead of Price SNOQUALMIE: Bernhard Langer fired a 9-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Nick Price after the second round of the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic on Saturday.

Price struggled to make birdies on the back nine, allowing Langer to overtake the opening round leader.

Langer made a 12-foot birdie on the 12th hole to pull within a shot of Price and move to 6under on the round.

With Price making pars, Langer continued his run to the top of the leaderboard.

Birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 gave him the outright lead and a birdie at 18 moved him to 15-

under par for the tournament.

Price (67) made four birdies on the front nine. He recorded his only bogey of the day at 17, but closed with an eagle at the par-5 18th to pull within a shot of Langer.

Hometown favorite Fred Couples had just come off consecutive birdies at Nos. 13 and 14 that moved him into a tie with Tom Pernice Jr. for third at 8-under par. But Couples bogeyed the par-5 15th hole for the second consecutive day after going in the hazard that lines the left side of the hole off the tee.

Then he came unglued at 16 finding the sand trap in

front of the green with his second shot. His first two attempts failed to clear the 8foot lip and rolled back to his feet. He finally got out on the third attempt and made double-bogey.

Another bogey at 17 added to Couples’ problems and he finished with a 72 to put him at 4 under for 36 holes. Pernice Jr. was three shots off the lead before consecutive bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12 dropped him back to 8-under par. Pernice Jr. bounced back with birdies at 15 and 16 to finish at 10under. Keith Fergus and Hal Sutton are tied for fourth at 6under par. —AP

PARAMUS: Briton Martin Laird fired a six-under 65 to surge into a three-shot lead after Saturday’s third round of the Barclays tournament, the opening event of the FedExCup playoff series.

The Scot reeled off four birdies in a row from the second hole on the way to a 12-underpar total of 201 at Ridgewood Country Club. “I’m playing really well,” the 27-year-old Glaswegian told reporters.

“The putter’s nice and hot.”

Overnight leader Jason Day (70) of Australia was in joint second place with long-hitting American Dustin Johnson (64), one stroke better than Australian Adam Scott (68) on 205. Johnson’s bogey-free round was helped by an eagle at the par-five 13th.

“I definitely put myself into the hunt,” said Johnson, who missed out on this month’s PGA Championship playoff when he was controversially hit with a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker.

Six players were one more shot away on 206, including Briton Justin Rose, who registered a 65.

Tiger Woods, who led after the first round before slipping four behind at the halfway mark, nearly shot himself out of the playoffs by posted a triplebogey seven at the first hole after launching his tee shot into a car park.

However, the world number one, who needs to finish 50th to guarantee his place in next week’s FedExCup event, rallied with three birdies on the back nine to shoot a 72 for 210.

“I’m pleased how I sucked it up and got it back the rest of the day when it easily could have gone the other way,” he said.

Laird, who clinched his US tour card with a victory last season in Las Vegas, said he really enjoyed playing the classic, tree-lined course where he tied for seventh the last time the Barclays was staged at Ridgewood in 2008.

“I love it,” the Scot said about the A.W. Tillinghast design just 30 minutes drive from midtown Manhattan. “I don’t think there’s a bad hole on this golf course.”

Day struggled off the tee, hitting four of 14 fairways. The biggest boost to his round came on a par-four in which he purposely avoided the fairway, flying his tee shot to the green on the 289-yard, uphill par-four fifth hole where he sank a 20foot putt for eagle.

“Hit more fairways, hit more fairways,” the 22-yearold Day, winner of the Byron Nelson Championship, said about his goal for late yesterday. —Reuters

WINNIPEG: Michelle Wie of the United States tees off on the 18th hole during the third round of the LPGA Canadian Women’s Open golf tournament. —AP

Wie, Shin tied at Canadian Open WINNIPEG: Overnight leader Michelle Wie shot an even-par 72 to share the lead with South Korea’s Jiyai Shin after Saturday’s third round of the Canadian Women’s Open.

Both players suffered plenty of mosquito bites after a rainy round that saw them finish tied at 10 under for the tournament at St. Charles Country Club. “Actually, they tried to kill me,” laughed Shin, who wiped out Wie’s three-stroke lead with a 3-under 69.

Wie, who recorded three birdies to go along with three bogeys in her round, agreed with her playing partner. The native of Hawaii said the winged nuisances affected her game.

“I have to say of everything, the mosquitoes were the hardest to concentrate,” Wie said. “They were pretty bad. But I found out they were a little better on the greens than on the fairways.

“They were very bad on the rough, so I’ll try to avoid that tomorrow.” Na Yeon Choi drained a 60-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that moved her into a tie for third with fellow South Korean Jee Young Lee and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen at 6 under.

“I used the (mosquito) spray, but I feel like they (got) worse,” said Choi, who posted a 71.”I think they like the smell.”

Pettersen, the defending champion ranked No. 3 on the World Rolex Rankings, shot a

72. “Today was just awful for me,” Pettersen said. “But I’m in reach of the top so it was a good day to play bad and hang in there.” Three Canadians are part of the 73player field looking for a share of the $2.25 million purse, with $337,500 going to the winner.

Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane was the low Canadian after posting a morning round of 4-under 68 that had her even for the tournament and tied for 26th.

Montreal’s Lisa Meldrum was 2 over and tied for 41st following a round of 71, while Adrienne White (75) of Red Deer was 4 over in a tie for 53rd. Kane was smiling after rebounding from a 75 on Thursday and a 73 on Friday.

The 15-year veteran’s third round featured spells of light rain and the ever-present mosquitoes. “Being from Prince Edward Island, we can get some pretty nasty ones, too,” Kane said with a laugh when asked if the bugs were the biggest she’d ever seen. But these, I gave quite a bit of blood today.”

No Canadian has won the event — the only LPGA Tour stop in Canada — since Jocelyne Bourassa in 1973. Wie, ranked No. 12 in the world, is seeking her first victory this season and second of her career.

The 20-year-old joined the tour last season and won last year’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

The Open is her 15th event of the season and her highest finish was third in May’s Tres Marias Championship.

No. 4-ranked Shin also joined the tour last year. The 22-year-old already has three victories, including last month’s Evian Masters. She’s also posted nine top-10 finishes this season. Shin and Wie will play together Sunday for the fourth straight round this week.

“Tomorrow should be a fun game because right now Michelle, she has (been playing great),” Shin said. “And then also I have a good feeling, too.” Rachel Hetherington of Australia had the lowest round of the day — and her season — with a 66. One player who wasn’t feeling great Saturday was No. 8-ranked Paula Creamer of the US, but mosquito bites weren’t to blame.

Aside from playing with a thumb injury, Creamer began suffering from what she believed was food poisoning in the morning.

She saw a doctor and had a shot before her round and another at the turn.

“This was the hardest thing I’ve had to do,” said Creamer, who still recorded a 70 and was tied for ninth at 4 under with fellow American Morgan Pressel.

“I’ve played through a lot of pain and I’ve played through being sick a bunch, but this was a hard one. The weather didn’t help much, either.” —AP

Rose raises his Ryder Cup hopes with birdie barrage

WASHINGTON: Bernhard Langer tries to guide an attempted birdie putt on the ninth hole during the second round of the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic golf tournament. —AP

PARAMUS: Justin Rose hopes his Saturday birdie binge at the Barclays came just in time to boost his bid for a berth on the European Ryder Cup team.

Rose registered six birdies in a bogey-free round for a 65 that moved him into contention at Ridgewood Country Club on seven-under 206 in the opening event of the FedExCup playoffs.

Rose is among several prominent players, including Padraig Harrington of Ireland and fellowBritons Paul Casey and Luke Donald, who failed to earn automatic berths on the team and await Colin Montgomerie’s three captain’s picks late yesterday.

“I think he makes his picks before we even see it up tomorrow, so today was the big day for me,” Rose, 30, told reporters. “I think I just had to make a little bit of noise.” The Europeans on the Ryder Cup bubble that are playing in New Jersey have all done well.

Three-times major winner Harrington (71) and Casey (70) were both on five-under-par 208, while Donald was three under par through three rounds after a 68 on Saturday.

“It can go any way,” Rose said about Montgomerie’s selections. “He’s got many combinations that will work for him. So it’s just been nice to make a little bit of noise and shoot a great round to show him my game is there.” “I think it’s a timely round of golf.” —Reuters

SEVILLA: British sprint sensation Mark Cavendish poses on the podium after he took the leader’s jersey on the first day of the Tour of Spain after taking his HTC Columbia team to victory in the team time trial. —AFP

Perfect start for Cavendish in Spain SEVILLE: Sprinter Mark Cavendish’s debut in the Tour of Spain got off to the perfect start on Saturday after his HTCColumbia team’s victory in the opening team trial netted the Briton the overall lead.

In a late night stage held in warm summer weather through the streets of Seville, HTC-Columbia were ten seconds quicker than Italian squad Liquigas-Doimo, with Saxo Bank of Denmark in third.

As first rider of the HTC-Columbia squad to cross the finish line, Cavendish earned the right to wear the race-leader’s red jersey.

Already a leader of the Tour of Italy in 2009 after HTC-Columbia won the opening team time-trial, Cavendish attributed his

second major stage race lead to “the whole squad”. “I feel a bit embarrassed that I’m wearing the red jersey because it belongs to all nine guys,” he told reporters.

“The first time we trained as a group on the course on Thursday it went so well that even after ten minutes practice I was convinced that we could win.” “I’m wearing this jersey on behalf of the whole team.”

One of the sport’s most prolific winners with 59 victories to his name, the 25-year-old from the Isle of Man said that the team time-trial was his “favourite discipline in cycling”.

“I get to stand on the podium quite a lot but that’s because of eight other guys hard work. Today we all got to stand on the podium and I’m incredibly proud of what

my team-mates did,” he added.

The winner of five sprint stages in July’s Tour de France, Cavendish calculated there would be at least as many opportunities for him to exploit his speed in Spain.

“We’ve reckoned there are six possible sprints here, starting tomorrow (Sunday).

It’s a difficult stage but it could happen.”

Cavendish insisted that he would try to complete the Tour of Spain, “because it’s a beautiful race to ride”. “I rode no criteriums after the Tour de France, I just took a one-week break and started training directly for this.” “I absolutely want to do the whole event and I’d like to get to Madrid.”

The Tour of Spain finishes in Madrid on Sept. 19. —Reuters

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Caroline, Stakhovsky win tune up to the US Open

ROME: Kenya’s David Rudisha competes during the men’s 800m competition. — AFP

Rudisha breaks 800m world record again ROME: Kenyan David Rudisha broke the 800m world record for the second time in a week, setting a new marker of 1min 41.01sec at a meeting in Rieti, Italy yesterday.

It was only last Sunday in Berlin that the 21-year-old had set a mark of 1:41.09 to beat Wilson Kipketer’s 13-year-old record by two hundreths of a second.

At Rieti last year the 2006 world junior champion set an African record as he exploded onto the scene in senior middle distance running.

Although he only reached the semi-finals at the 2009 World Championships, he continued to improve resulting in his eventually beating the record set by Kipketer. Having done so, Rudisha had said he could go faster as it was his first attempt to break the record.

He was taken through the bell by compatriot pace-setter Sammy Tangui in 48.20sec before streaking away to win by almost two seconds from another compatriot Boaz

Kiplagat Lalang in second.

American Nick Symmonds, third in 1:43.76, and Britain’s Michael Rimmer, fourth in 1:43.89, both ran personal bests.

Earlier Jamaican Nesta Carter equalled Tyson Gay’s world leading time of 9.78sec over 100m in a thrilling race that also saw two men set national records, five manage personal bests and two others setting season bests.

Carter’s run broke his own previous best of 9.85 and came from lane seven. American Ryan Bailey in second with 9.88 and Jamaican Mario Forsythe, third in 9.95, also ran personal bests.

France’s Christophe Lemaitre, the first white sprinter to run under 10sec, equalled his French record in the semi-final and then shaved one hundreth of a second off that in the final, finishing fourth in 9.97.

Norway’s Gambia-born sprinter Jaysuma Saidy Ndure also set a national record, finishing seventh in 10.00. —AFP

Jin lifts world badminton title PARIS: China’s Chen Jin went one better than last year to lift the men’s singles world badminton title yesterday, subduing Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat 21-13 21-15 in the final.

Chen had finished runner-up in 2009 when he lost to compatriot Lin Dan but Lin was beaten this time round in Friday’s quarter-finals, leaving centre stage for Chen.

The Chinese took his chance with both hands, often outplaying Hidayat, world champion in

2005 and Olympic gold medallist in 2004.

Chen raced into a 7-0 lead in the first set and though Hidayat fought back, two errors at the end handed the advantage to the Chinese.

Defending superbly when necessary, Chen led 6-2 in the second and generally called the shots. Hidayat bravely saved three match points from 20-12 but Chen was not to be denied.

“Mentally I was very strong today. I prepared very well and I

didn’t let Taufik play to his strengths, particularly around the net,” Chen told a media conference.

Hidayat said: “I tried my best today but made too many mistakes. I was able to get single points but not put a run together.”

Chen’s victory heralded a possible Chinese clean sweep of the five titles up for grabs on Sunday. China have not achieved the feat since 1987. — Reuters

PARIS: China’s Jin Chen poses with his gold medal after defeating Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia during the men’s singles final match at the World Badminton Championships. — AP

NEW HAVEN: US Open top seed Caroline Wozniacki won her third consecutive Pilot Pen tennis title Saturday, beating Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The victory capped a good week for the 20-year-old Danish star, who won in Montreal on Monday.

In the men’s draw, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky won his second tournament of the year, beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 3-6, 63, 6-4. Stakhovsky is unbeaten in four career ATP finals, including a win in Hertogenbosch this year.

Wozniacki heads to New York with four wins this season, the most of any woman on tour.

“I feel great,” Wozniacki said. “I have a Tuesday start.

So, you know, I’m on a roll.”

She took the early lead, getting the only break of the first set in the sixth game. She broke Petrova again to open the second set and seemed to be in control.

But holding serve was a problem for both players in the second set, and the Russian found her return game. She broke Wozniacki three times, and was able to hold up 5-3 to win the set.

Wozniacki said part of the problem was the sun. “It was really difficult to see the ball when you were throwing it up from one side,” she said.

“That made it a little bit more difficult.” Wozniacki went up 2-0 in the third, after Petrova appeared to pull something in her back and called for a trainer. She double faulted to go down 3-1, but fought back to 4-3.

Wozniacki broke her again and served out the match. “I was thinking, ‘OK, I have a great serve, I’m standing on the right side, I almost have new balls. So this one should be mine now,”‘ Wozniacki said. Petrova, who received a last-minute wild-card entry into the tournament, was playing her first final since 2008. She served 12 aces Saturday and said she likes where her game is heading into New York.

“If my back would have been OK in the beginning of the third set, maybe the set would have been closer and I’d have maybe a chance to really challenge her, maybe win the title,” Petrova said.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.” Stakhovsky found himself down early in the men’s final, when Istomin broke him in the second game of the first set. But that would be one of just three breaks in the match, and Stakhovsky got the other two, the final one coming in the fifth game of the final set.

“He’s serving very well,” Stakhovsky said. “It’s not his first serve. His second serve, he’s placing it very well. He’s moving the ball around. It’s not easy to guess. I’ve done a lot of mistakes from his second serve because he was placing the ball differently.”

But Istomin was just as baffled with Stakhovsky’s serve and had just three break points the entire match.

“He’s serving good, serve and volley,” he said. “(It was) tough because I was like returning and he finishes the point. I mean, he’s playing well today.” Stakhovsky became the first Ukrainian to win two tournaments in the same season since Andrei Medvedev in 1994.

“I’m really glad to win this title,” he said. “It pushed me to another level again.”

Wozniacki is 13-0 in New Haven and has now won the tournament more than any player except Venus Williams, who took four consecutive titles between 1999 and 2002. A crowd favorite, she said she hopes to defend the title next year. “I love this tournament,” Wozniacki said. “It’s been great preparation for me the last couple of years, so I would love to come back.”

Tournament organizers hope she can. They have until the end of September to let the United States Tennis Association know if they have the funding to replace Pilot Pen, which is ending its run as the tournament’s title sponsor. — AP

NEW HAVEN: Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark lifts her trophy after defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the women’s final of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament. — AP

Murray confident first grand slam title is close NEW YORK: Ever since he broke on to the senior tour more than four years ago, Andy Murray has been tipped as a future grand slam champion. Now he believes he is ready.

The Scot has reached two major finals, in Australia at the start of 2010 and in New York in 2008, losing to Roger Federer on both occasions.

But having beaten both Federer and world number one Rafael Nadal on his way to the title in Toronto earlier this month, the 23-year-old said he feels the breakthrough is close. “I think there are very small differences (required),” Murray told reporters at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.

“Nothing drastic has to change. I just need to play my best tennis for the whole two weeks and hopefully I can do that here.”

After reaching the Melbourne Park final in January, Murray’s form dipped but snapped back into life to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon before hitting top form in Toronto.

In winning his first title of 2010, Murray showed off a more attacking style of play than usual, but he said he would tailor his style at the U.S. Open according to his opponents. “I just need to play the game style that wins me the matches here,” he said. “If I have to play ultra defensive in any of my matches, I’ll play that way. If I have to play very aggressive, then I’ll do that.

“It’s just about winning.

You have to adapt during matches and different situations, different opponents.

I’ll play the way that I think is going to win me the match.” Seeded fourth, Murray could have to beat Nadal and Federer back-toback to win the title and he admitted that the Swiss could again be his biggest obstacle. “I think from a player’s point of view, he’s still obviously one of the best players in the world, for sure,” he said. “When the big tournaments come around, he’s always one of the big favourites to win.” — Reuters

Clijsters takes a stroll down memory lane NEW YORK: Returning to the scene of her greatest triumphs, Kim Clijsters looked like any ordinary working mom when she strolled into Flushing Meadows on Saturday.

It was kids’ day and the National Tennis Centre was packed to the rafters with young families keen to get an early look at the world’s best players practising before the last grand slam of the year starts today.

If it was not for the camera crews and autograph hunters that followed her every step, Clijsters might easily have been mistaken for any other New Yorker, soaking up the atmosphere and joining in the excitement on a perfect summer’s day.

But Clijsters is more than just another interested spectator. She is the defending women’s champion, she is on a 14match winning streak in New York and a source of inspiration to millions around the world.

The Belgian had won the title for the first time in 2005 but a wrist injury prevented her from defending her crown.

She missed the following two years after taking time out to start a family.

Clijsters finally came back to New York last year and defied incredible odds to win her second title. Her celebrations on the Arthur Ashe centre court with her toddler daughter Jada have become one of the enduring images of modern tennis.

But the events of last year have already become a blur to Clijsters. She remembers winning the final and getting her hands on the trophy but not much else.

While her main goal this year is, of course, to win another title, Clijsters is also using her trip to New York to rekindle some of those lost memories.

“Once you come back, you’re like ‘oh hey, that’s right, yeah, we did this’,” she told a news conference on Saturday.

“I remember when I did the ceremony or those things, they’re always there. But it’s

the little details that kind of freshen everything up a little bit.”

Clijsters’ ties with the US run deeper than her wins at Flushing Meadows. She is married to an American basketballer, Brian Lynch, who was born in New Jersey but played professionally in Belgium.

The pair own a house in New Jersey and she has endeared herself to the New York population, throwing the first pitch before the Mets’ Major League Baseball game against the Houston Astros on Friday.

She is again one of the favourites to win the US Open this year but says she is not feel-

ing any pressure at all and determined just to enjoy the experience. “My attitude is not any different compared to last year,” she said.

“Press is a sign why they’re putting you into the spot of maybe one of the favourites. So I’m excited to be back defending my title.” — Reuters

NEW YORK: Defending US Open women’s champion Kim Clijsters gestures during a US Open Media Day press conference. —AP

SPORTS

18

Monday, August 30, 2010

Despite good show, IndyCar might leave Chicagoland JOLIET: The IndyCar series put on another strong race at Chicagoland Speedway, with the leaders spending much of Saturday night zigzagging in traffic while inches apart at speeds of more than 200 mph.

But when Dario Franchitti crossed the finish line first, it might have marked the last time IndyCar runs at one of its most entertaining venues for the foreseeable future.

When the series’ 2011 schedule comes out, Chicagoland might not be on it.

“I think it would be a shame,” second-place finisher Dan Wheldon said.

“It always produces the racing that I think the fans like to see. I think for

the most part, this was a show, which is what’s important, but it’s also fun to drive. I think the series obviously has to be very diverse to attract and appease everybody, and this is always a good event.”

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said Saturday that he has had discussions with officials from Chicagoland and its parent company, International Speedway Corp., but wasn’t sure if they’re “all on the same page right now.” Chicagoland’s prestige in NASCAR is rising; next year, it will host the first race in the Chase. But its stock seems to be falling in IndyCar. An attendance figure wasn’t

immediately available for Saturday’s race, but there were large patches of open space in the grandstands.

Bernard hinted that some tracks currently on the IndyCar schedule aren’t doing enough to market their events.

“We want to talk to all the promoters, we want to get all of them here and say, ‘OK, which one of you want to do the best job for IndyCar, which ones are going to act on their marketing, which ones are going to make sure they try to bring as many fans as possible?”‘ Bernard said.

“We’re still in that process. We’re down to those final stages of really determining who those are, but that’s where we’re at.”

Bernard said he is talking to several potential promoters about bringing the series back to the Milwaukee Mile, which withdrew from hosting major racing events after past promoters ran into financial problems and a suitable replacement couldn’t be found.

It’s not clear whether a deal can be struck to bring IndyCar back to Milwaukee in time for next season, or what weekend the race might be held. But it is clear that IndyCar probably wouldn’t race in two markets so close to each other.

“Chicago has been a great place, great races,” Bernard said. “We have great fans here. (But) it would most

likely be Chicago or Milwaukee possibly. I mean, I don’t know if we need both.”

Having Milwaukee back on the schedule certainly would be a nod to tradition; the track ran its first auto racing event in 1903 and is best known for hosting an Indy-style race the weekend after the Indianapolis 500. But from a pure entertainment value perspective, trading Chicagoland for Milwaukee on the schedule would be a step backward.

Consider this: Franchitti beat Wheldon to the finish line by 0.0423 of a second on Saturday _ and it was only the sixth-closest IndyCar finish at the track. “I hope it was as enter-

taining for the fans as it was for the drivers,” Wheldon said. “It was pretty hairy at times.”

IndyCar drivers talk about Chicagoland in much the same way that NASCAR drivers talk about their series’ two restrictor-plate tracks, Daytona and Talladega: It’s a remarkable show for fans, if a little bit unsettling from where the drivers are sitting.

Franchitti acknowledged that Chicagoland wasn’t his favorite place to race, even though he has won there twice, on Saturday and in 2007.

“There’s nothing wrong with the track at all; great track, great fans,” Franchitti said. “But yeah, I much

prefer more if it’s in the driver’s hands.” The big packs of close-running cars might be thrilling to watch, but some drivers don’t like having their fates tied so closely to fellow drivers not making mistakes.

“That’s the trouble with this style of racing sometimes,” Franchitti said.

“Sometimes it’s either how brave or how stupid you want to be. And there were some very nice moves made out there, and there was some bloody stupid moves made out there, and there was also just some misunderstandings out there.” So if Chicagoland isn’t on the schedule next season, Franchitti might not miss it. —AP

Hamilton grabs title lead from Webber BELGIUM: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won a chaotic and thrilling Belgian Grand Prix to seize back the Formula One championship lead from Red Bull’s Mark Webber yesterday.

Belgian Grand Prix

BELGIUM: McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain gestures on the podium, after he won the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix in SpaFrancorchamps. —AP

England complete series win LONDON:- England completed a crushing innings and 225 run victory over Pakistan in the fourth and final test at Lord’s yesterday on a morning overshadowed by corruption allegations.

Police arrested a 35-year-old man on Saturday after a British newspaper said Pakistan players had been involved in spot fixing, the illegal practice of manipulating incidents within the course of the match.

In an innings in keeping with an unusual game, Umar Akmal smashed 79 not out from 68 balls including two sixes in a total of 147.

He shared a last-wicket partnership of 50 with Mohammad Asif, who contributed only one, but still could not prevent Pakistan tumbling to the biggest defeat in their test history.

England won the series 3-1 after dominating the first two tests before they were defeated by

four wickets in the third match at the Oval.

Pakistan, who played six tests in seven weeks, drew 1-1 with Australia earlier in the season.

Pakistan resumed at 41 for four in their second innings before a scattering of spectators on a dull, overcast day.

They left their north London hotel late yesterday morning and did not take part in the usual team warm-up before play began.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann, who took four for 12 in Pakistan’s first innings of 74, was again the destroyer with five for 62. Swann bowled Azhar Ali for 12 and Mohammad Amir for a duck as three wickets fell in the space of 11 balls.

Wahab Riaz was caught by Kevin Pietersen at mid-on off Swann without scoring before Umar Akmal flourished with a frenetic innings including a huge six over long-on in his first half-century of the series. —Reuters

LONDON: Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif (left) watches as England’s Matt Prior celebrates his wicket during the fourth day of the fourth cricket Test match at the Lord’s cricket ground. —AP

Scoreboard LONDON: Scoreboard at the end of the fourth and final test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s on yesterday.

England beat Pakistan by an innings and 225 runs Kamran Akmal c Prior b Anderson 1 to win the four-match series 3-1.

Mohammad Amir b Swann 0 England first innings 446 (J.Trott 184, S.Broad Wahab Riaz c Pietersen b Swann 0 169; Mohammad Amir 6-84) Saeed Ajmal run out 8 Pakistan first innings 74 Mohammad Asif c Collingwood b Swann 1 Pakistan second innings (41-4 overnight) Extras: (b-1, nb-1, w-3, 2-lb) 7 Imran Farhat c Cook b Broad 5 Total: (all out; 36.5 overs) 147 Yasir Hameed lbw b Anderson 3 Fall of wickets: 1-7 2-9 3-41 4-41 5-63 6-64 7-65 Salman Butt lbw b Swann 21 8-73 9-97 10-147 Mohammad Yousuf c Trott b Finn 10 Bowling: Anderson 13-4-35-2 (1w), Broad 6-1-24Azhar Ali b Swann 12 Umar Akmal not out 79 1 (2w), Finn 4-0-23-1 (1nb), Swann 13.5-1-62-5

Hamilton’s victory, despite a near-miss with the barriers in the challenging conditions ranging from dry to wet, lifted him three points clear of second-placed Webber at the top of the standings with six races remaining.

“It was a great weekend, and very tough racing,” said the Briton. The success, his third of the season, contrasted to team mate and reigning world champion Jenson Button’s misfortune on a sweet and sour day for the British team and their two world champions.

Button, running behind Hamilton in a McLaren onetwo at the fast and flowing circuit, was shunted out of the race by Webber’s young German team mate and title rival Sebastian Vettel on the 17th of the 44 laps.

Vettel was handed a drivethrough penalty for causing a collision and then plunged further back through the field after tangling with Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi and puncturing the left rear tyre.

The German ended up 15th and out of the points for the third time this year.

Webber, winner of four of the 13 races so far this season, had been on pole position but suffered a terrible start on an afternoon where the fickle Spa weather played its hand to full effect and the safety car was twice deployed.

“Lewis deserved the win, he did a good job,” the Australian said.

Poland’s Robert Kubica finished third for Renault, losing second with a pit stop error but still taking a morale-boosting result for a team who this time last year became embroiled in a major race-fixing scandal that led to a suspended permanent ban. Hamilton has 182 points to Webber’s 179 and Vettel’s 151. Button is on 147.

“I thought I was doing a good job of keeping my position and fairly. I don’t know what Sebastian was doing,” said Button of his incident.

“It’s a massive blow, I’m really disappointed. I felt that under the difficult conditions I found grip better than others.”

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, fifth in the standings, retired after an incident-filled afternoon. He collided with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello on the opening lap and dropped to 20th place.

The debris from that incident, apart from ending Barrichello’s 300th race without the Williams veteran completing a lap, brought out the safety car.

The Spaniard pitted for a new front wing and fought his way back to eighth but finally crashed out six laps from the end when he spun and hit the barriers between Les Combes and Rivage.

The Ferrari was stranded on the track, again bringing out the safety car. Brazilian Felipe Massa finished fourth for Ferrari, ahead of Germany’s Adrian Sutil in a Force India.

Seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher, who had started in 21st place after a 10place penalty for an incident with Barrichello at the previous race in Hungary, finished seventh at his favourite circuit. —Reuters

ISTANBUL: Iran’s Aren Davoudichegani (top) puts up a shot as Croatia’s Roko-Leni Ukic defends during the preliminary round of the World Basketball Championship. —AP

US, Serbia off to impressive starts KAYSERI: Spain, the defending champion, missed Pau Gasol and lost its opening game at the basketball World Championship, going down 72-66 to France. If it is any solace, the Spanish team lost its opening game of the football World Cup before going to win the title last month in South Africa.

France, which did not have its NBA star Tony Parker, got 16 points from Mickael Gelabale and made 10 of its last 12 free throws to seal the win.

Spain, which also won the European title last year, built a 12-point lead early in the second quarter, but France used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 25 and it was close the rest of the way.

Gasol, of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Parker, of the San Antonio Spurs, are only some of the NBA stars skipping for various reasons the 24-nation tournament that started Saturday in four Turkish cities, Spain’s 19-year-old point guard Ricky Rubio was unable to fill the void left by the injury of Jose Manuel Calderon, finishing with six points and three assists.

The United States arrived without Kobe Bryant and the entire Olympic cham-

pion side but still had an emphatic 106-78 victory over Croatia, getting 16 points from Eric Gordon.

In another impressive start, Aleksandar Rasic made six of seven 3-pointers to lead Serbia with 22 points in a 94-44 rout of Angola despite the absence of two key players.

Carlos Delfino and Luis Scola made four of six free throws down the stretch to secure Argentina’s 78-74 victory over a young Germany team without Dirk Nowitzki. Delfino finished with 27 points and Scola contributed 20 as Argentina overcame the absence of its other two NBA stars, Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni.

Delfino and Scola combined for 20 points in the third quarter as Argentina, ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA, opened an 11-point lead. But Germany kept chipping away at Argentina’s lead to make it a tied game with 1:30 minutes left, before the two South American stars made the difference.

“The first game is always complicated,” Scola said. “Germany is a very disciplined team and they played a very solid game.

ISTANBUL: USA’s Andre Iguodala (right) falls over Slovenia’s Bostjan Nachbar as he goes up for a basket during the preliminary round of the World Basketball Championship. —AP

They kept coming back.” Australia came from behind for a lucky 76-75 win over Jordan, but another team from the Middle East, Lebanon, did win when it upset Canada 81-71 behind 31 points from forward Fadi El Khatib.

Greece pulled away for a 89-81 victory over China, but not before China had gotten within two points late in the game.

Russia defeated Puerto Rico 75-66, Lithuania beat New Zealand 92-79 and Slovenia eased past Tunisia 80-56. Also, Brazil beat Iran 81-65 and host Turkey swept past Ivory Coast 86-74.

In Istanbul, the Americans turned a close game into a blowout by limiting the Croatians to six points in the second quarter. Chauncey Billups finished with 12 points.

The US team came to Turkey without any players who helped them win the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. Instead of those superstars, the Americans are left with a young, undersized team that features Kevin Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, as its centerpiece. He scored five straight points to kick off the decisive burst early in the second quarter and added eight rebounds to his 14 points in just 21 minutes.

“People aren’t expecting us to come out here and win, so we just wanted to make a statement and I think tonight we did,” Durant said.

But even without its biggest names, this team might be good enough to win the first world title for the US in 16 years if it plays the way it did in the second quarter.

“We like that type of adversity,” Gordon said. “People think we’re too young or too small, but I think we’re playing well as a team and we play much faster when we’re smaller, and we’re just an overall good team.”

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 17 points and Marko Popovic added 16 for Croatia, which once was among the world’s best teams but hadn’t played in the world championship since winning a bronze medal in 1994. In Kayseri, Angola was no match for Serbia, which shrugged off the absence of center Nenad Krstic and guard Milos Teodosic to blow past the African champion. Krstic has been suspended for three games and Teodosic for two for their roles in a brawl against Greece in a warmup tournament earlier this month in Athens.

“It was important to play well and win the first game,” Rasic said. “We got a lot of easy points.” “My young team had many easy points, we were playing at a different speed than Angola,” Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said.

Greece seemed to miss Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who were also suspended for two games for the brawl in Athens. Nikolaos Zisis and Ioannis Bourousis both scored 21 points to lead Greece.

China, playing without Houston Rockets center Yao Ming who is recovering from surgery on his left foot, got within two points late in the game before Greece retook control. Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards had 26 points for China. “I feel bad, it was so close,” said China guard Sun Yue, who scored 15 points. —AP

SPORTS

Monday, August 30, 2010

19

Torres helps sink Albion Liverpool 1

West Brom 0

LONDON: Bolton Wanderers’ Robbie Blake, No. 20, scores from a free kick against Birmingham City during the English Premier League soccer match at the Reebok Stadium. — AP

Bolton fight back to earn point lenged for the ball.

When he got up the Finland international completely overreacted as he slapped Johnson in the face, leaving referee Kevin Friend with no option but to show a red card.

Birmingham looked set to take advantage when Alex McLeish’s team increased their lead in the 50th minute. Jerome looked fractionally offside as McFadden crossed into the area but the flag stayed down as the striker headed back across the six-yard box for Gardner to prod home at the second attempt.

But Bolton kept plugging away and the turning point came when Johnson gave the hosts a lifeline in the 71st minute by climbing on Davies in the penalty area. Davies took the penalty himself and calmly stroked the spot-kick into the roof of the net. Suddenly Bolton had some momentum and Birmingham seemed unsure how to respond.

Blake made them pay in the 81st minute as, from a centre position 20 yards from goal, he curled a superb freekick into the top right-hand corner of the goal to snatch a late leveller. —AFP

that looked their weak link early on as Birmingham took the lead in the fourth minute with a flowing move.

Lee Bowyer ran onto James McFadden’s pass and pulled the ball back from the byline to Cameron Jerome, whose flick was met by Johnson with a sliding finish from close-range. It was Johnson’s first goal for the club since the defender’s move from Cardiff in July 2009.

While that was a moment for the purists to enjoy, Bolton took the route one approach as the hosts nearly fashioned a more rudimentary equaliser moments later.

Davies rose highest to flick on a long punt and Johan Elmander burst into the area, only to lose his composure at the crucial moment and blazed well over the bar.

Birmingham keeper Ben Foster made a good stop to keep out Stuart Holden’s free-kick before McFadden shot straight at Jaaskelainen when well placed.

The game exploded in the 37th minute when Jaaskelainen was dismissed after being knocked over as Johnson chal-

Bolton 2

Birmingham 2 BOLTON: Robbie Blake capped a superb fight back by 10-man Bolton as his late free-kick rescued a 2-2 draw against Birmingham yesterday.

Owen Coyle’s side looked in deep trouble as Roger Johnson and Craig Gardner scored for Birmingham either side of Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen’s red card for violent conduct.

But Johnson then gave away a penalty which Kevin Davies converted to reduce the deficit with 20 minutes to go, setting the stage for substitute Blake to curl home his first goal for the club.

The dramatic finish at the Reebok Stadium maintained Bolton’s unbeaten start to the season and left Birmingham rueing their failure to push home their numerical advantage. It was the Bolton defence

EPL results/standings LONDON: English Premier League results yesterday: Aston Villa 1 (L. Young 9); Everton 0, Bolton 2 (Davies 71-pen, Blake 81); Birmingham 2 (Johnson 4, Gardner 50); Liverpool 1, (Torres 65); West Brom 0, Sunderland 1 (Bent 90-pen); Man City 0.

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea Arsenal Man Utd Aston Villa Bolton Birmingham Whampton Newcastle

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1

0 1 1 0 2 2 2 1

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

14 9 8 4 5 6 4 7

0 2 2 6 3 5 3 4

9 7 7 6 5 5 5 4

Played Saturday Blackburn 1 (M.Diouf 27); Arsenal 2 (Walcott 20, Arshavin 51); Blackpool 2 (Pantsil 71-og, Varney 76); Fulham 2 (Zamora 35, Etuhu 87); Chelsea 2 (Malouda 32, Drogba 77-pen); Stoke 0,Man Utd 3 (Rooney 33-pen, Nani 50, Berbatov 69); West Ham 0, Tottenham 0, Wigan 1 (Rodallega 80); Wolverhampton 1 (Ebanks-Blake 43); Newcastle 1 (Carroll 62).

Man City Sunderland Tottenham Blackpool Liverpool Fulham Blackburn West Brom Wigan Everton Stoke West Ham

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 0 2 2 2 2 3 3

3 3 2 6 2 4 3 1 1 1 2 1

1 3 2 8 4 4 4 7 10 3 6 9

4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 1 0 0

LIVERPOOL: Fernando Torres scored his first competitive goal since April as Roy Hodgson secured a first Premier League victory as Liverpool manager with a 1-0 win over West Brom yesterday.

The Reds had impressed in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal but slipped to a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City and, although this win was far from comfortable, it should ease the tension around the club.

Torres made just his second start since the World Cup and passed up several chances before finally scoring midway through the second half.

It was his first for the club since the 4-1 Europa League win over Benfica in April, and his first in the Premier League since the 3-0 victory over Sunderland in March.

And West Brom’s misery was complete when James Morrison was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Torres in the final moments.

Having sold Javier Mascherano to Barcelona, Liverpool paraded new signing Portuguese midfielder Raul Meireles, who joined for 11.5 million pounds (14 million euros) from Porto, before kick-off at Anfield.

With Fulham left-back Paul Konchesky also watching from the stands, Roy Hodgson’s squad appears to be taking shape.

Liverpool were intent on continuing their fine record against West Brom and Torres swapped passes with Steven Gerrard and forced a save from Scott Carson with just a couple of minutes gone.

Morrison dragged a shot wide for the visitors and, after Peter Odemwingie was robbed in midfield, Torres had another effort blocked wide.

Gerrard’s free-kick caused panic in the Baggies area, with Gabriel Tamas glancing a header away to safety.

Marc-Antoine Fortune also had a low drive held by Pepe Reina from Jonas Olsson’s cross after Liverpool failed to clear Morrison’s corner.

From a quick free-kick, Lucas Leiva clipped over the top but Dirk Kuyt’s effort was bundled away. Morrison hit a long-range effort just wide before the interval as Albion continued to frustrate their hosts.

Graham Dorrans then curled narrowly wide from a

Bari stun Juventus in opener ROME: Massimo Donati scored the only goal of the game as Bari stunned Turin giants Juventus 1-0 in front of 60,000 fans in the San Nicola stadium.

The hosts fully deserved their victory as they dominated against a much-changed Juve side throughout. Coming off their worst ever season, Juve came into this game with a new coach, Luigi Delneri, and having spent big in the off-season on nine new players.

But with all those changes the visitors put in a disjointed performance in which they were always second best, with new signings Milos Krasic and Simone Pepe failing to shine and being hauled off at halftime.

And it does not bode well either for Italy, who begin their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign next week, as Juve fielded seven Italy internationals and nine Italians in their starting line-up.

It was an open start at the San Nicola with Bari’s Paulo Barreto blazing over from inside the box and Juve centreback Leonardo Bonucci heading a corner over at the other end against his former team-mates.

Juve forward Fabio Quagliarella then picked up a deflection but lashed a shot from 20 yards well wide with his weaker left foot.

The hosts had a great chance to take the lead on 22 minutes after they carved open the Juve defence. Algeria for-

ITALY: Catania’s Giuseppe Mascara (right) and Chievo’s Gennaro Sardo go for the ball during a Serie A soccer match at the Bentegodi stadium in Verona. —AP ward Abdelkader Ghezzal played a one-two with Barreto and cut in from the left to home in one-on-one with Marco Storari but the goalkeeper made himself big and smothered the chance at his near post. Juve then had a chance themselves as Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo burst through but his deflected shot trickled just wide.Bari earned a deserved lead two minutes before the break as Claudio Marchisio got the wrong side of Donati who turned him and had time and space to slam a left-footed shot from 20 yards in off the far post.

Bari were on the attack early in the second period as well as Donati curled a right footer from outside the area just wide.

And flying Honduras winger Edgar Alvarez wasted a glorious opportunity when clean through on Storari, failing to shoot first time and allowing defenders to get back and snuff out the danger.Barreto then latched onto a ball over the top and rounded Storari but his shot from a tight angle was cleared off the line by the backtracking Giorgio Chiellini.

Bari opened up Juve again

17 minutes from time as Ghezzal exchanged passes with Barreto, only to have his shot bundled away for a corner.

Juve had a half chance in the final minute as Quagliarella hit a volley from wide left beyond the far post and with the last touch of the match Chiellini header over from eight yards, but he was flagged offside anyway. On Saturday, Roma were held to a 0-0 home draw by newly promoted Cesena while Genoa won 1-0 at Udinese.

Champions Inter Milan play away to Bologna on Monday night. —AFP

LONDON: Liverpool’s Fernando Torres (center) fights for the ball against West Bromwich Albion’s Jonas Olsson (left) during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield Stadium. — AP Nicky Shorey pass as the visitors grew in confidence. Chris Brunt hacked away from Kuyt as Gerrard’s corner caused problems before Martin Skrtel lifted over from the edge of the area.

Olsson had defended well but almost knocked the ball into his own net when he

passed back to Carson without looking.

From Fortune’s cross, Gonzalo Jara claimed his shot was blocked by the arm of Daniel Agger and then forced a low save from Reina.

But Liverpool broke instantly, with Kuyt pulling back for Torres to volley in

from just outside the area in the 65th minute.

Torres was then denied a second by former Liverpool goalkeeper Carson as he prodded at goal from Gerrard’s left-wing cross.

Odemwingie had another effort held by Reina but Liverpool felt they should

have had a penalty when a shot from Torres seemed to hit Jara’s arm.

Somen Tchoyi gave Liverpool a late scare when he hit the side netting but Morrison ended West Brom’s chances when he was sent off late on for a wild lunge at Torres. —AFP

Promoted Sociedad off to a flier MADRID: Promoted Real Sociedad enjoyed a winning return to La Liga defeating Villarreal 1-0 yesterday at their Anoeta stadium.

Midfielder Xabi Prieto scored the decisive goal on 57 minutes as second division champions Sociedad, back in the top-flight after three seasons away, began with a vital three points.

Newcomers Levante and Hercules both lost on Saturday meaning Sociedad, champions in 1981 and 1982, are the only promoted side off the mark.

Joseba Llorente swapped Villarreal for Sociedad in a 2.5 million euro summer move and the forward made his league debut against his old club with a point to prove.

Llorente, 30, could not score himself but set up Prieto for the winning goal on 57 minutes. Villarreal, a disappointing seventh last season, could not find an equaliser with Brazilian substitute Nilmar going closest three minutes from time.

Getafe pipped Villarreal for sixth last season but a summer of departures has weakened their squad and the Madridbased club fell to a 3-1 defeat at Espanyol yesterday.

Getafe sold Pedro Leon to Real Madrid for 10 million euros and Roberto Soldado to Valencia for 10 million euros and the pair were sorely missed in Barcelona.

Goals were in short supply on Sunday with Deportivo La Coruna and Zaragoza drawing 0-0 while Osasuna and Almeria also ended scoreless.

Later yesterday Champions Barcelona begin their title defence at Racing Santander with coach Pep Guardiola looking forward to measuring himself against Real Madrid’s new coach Jose Mourinho.

“Mourinho’s arrival in Spain will make me a better coach,” said Guardiola.“He is one of the best coaches in the world and will make all the coaches improve.”

Mourinho takes charge of Real for the first time late yesterday when his new side travel to Real Mallorca. The Portuguese coach has been voicing his opinion in the media and now he will come under scrutiny as the Madrid fans look for success and style.

“Our team has great potential and can aspire to win everything, but we don’t have to rush things because we have a new coach and several new players,” said striker Gonzalo Higuain.

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid host Sporting Gijon on Monday and are full of confidence after defeating Champions League holders Inter Milan 2-0 in Friday’s European Super Cup final. —AFP

GERMANY: Moenchengladbach’s Christian Dorda (left) scores during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. — AP

‘Gladbach run riot in nine-goal thriller BERLIN: Cameroon striker Mohamadou Idrissou was both goal-scorer and provider for Moenchengladbach as they upset Leverkusen 6-3 yesterday in a nine-goal thriller on a weekend of shock results in the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen’s Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler had a day to forget as his defence capitulated leaving coach Jupp Heynckes furious. “‘Gladbach played very well,” admitted Heynckes.

“We made a mess of our defensive organisation. We invited them to the party and they punished us.”

After Bayern Munich were beaten at Kaiserslautern on Friday, Wolfsburg allowed a 3-0 lead to slip to a 4-3 defeat by Mainz on Saturday as Schalke went down at home to Hanover on a bad weekend for the German league’s top teams.

Leverkusen fielded Germany star midfielder Michael Ballack-who was booed off when he was replaced in the second-half-as well as Adler and striker Stefan Kiessling.

But they were out-played by ‘Gladbach as midfielder Patrick Herrmann netted twice for the guests which were both set up by Idrissou, who scored himself in the second-half. “This is an extraordinary day for us,” said coach Michael Frontzeck.

“We took everything possible from this game and everything worked out for us. But our objective will not change, we want to build on last season.”

Yesterday, Stuttgart’s poor start continued as they were well beaten 3-1 at home by Dortmund. The visitors raced into a 3-0 lead after just 37 minutes as Christian Gross-coached Stuttgart suffered their second consecutive defeat.

“We played an outstanding first half. That was great football,” enthused Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp. It started when defender Marcel Schmelzer fired in a cross which deflected off Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz and into the net after five minutes.

Striker Lucas Barrios and midfielder Mario Goetze then both netted before Germany striker Cacau pulled a consolation goal back on 69 minutes for Stuttgart, who are bottom of the table after two games.

“The way we played in the first-half, we had no spark at all,” said Cacau. “The goal and our fighting spirit came too late.” Hoffenheim are joint early leaders with Kaiserslautern after Ghana defender Isaac Vorsah headed a late goal on Saturday that gave them a 1-0 win at newcomers St Pauli.

Wolfsburg playmaker Diego marked his return to the Bundesliga with a goal, but was unable to prevent his new side’s shock 4-3 defeat by Mainz as the home side threw away a 3-0 lead.

Last season’s runners-up Schalke were shocked 2-1 at home to Hanover, with defender Konstantin Rausch and striker Mohammed Abdellaoue scoring either side of half-time as the Royal Blues suffered their second consecutive defeat.

Hamburg had to come from behind to win 3-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt as Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen scored a 61st-minute equaliser to spare his side’s blushes before Ruud van Nistelrooy claimed his third goal in two games. Peruvian Jose Paolo Guerrero netted in the 89th minute to seal the three points for Hamburg.

Bremen bounced back from their hammering on the opening day of the season against Hoffenheim when they beat Cologne 4-1, while Freiburg beat Nuremberg 2-1 after coming from behind thanks to two goals by Senegal striker Demba Cisse.

On Friday, champions Bayern Munich suffered a shock when they lost 2-0 at 10-man Kaiserslautern.

Bayern were beaten in only their second German league game of the season and were punished for a lethargic first-half performance, as Cologne claimed their second straight win. —AFP

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Sunderland stun City Sunderland 1

Man City 0

LONDON: Front page of Britain’s News of the World newspaper yesterday showing a covertly taken picture of the the man it alleges is behind the cricket match fixing scam involving at least seven members of the Pakistani national cricket team, counting the 150,000 pounds ($232,000). The paper’s undercover reporters, posing as front men for a Far East gambling cartel paid him in order to make sure no-balls are bowled at certain times during a match. —AP

Pakistan rocked by alleged fixing scam

LONDON: Pakistani cricket was plunged into crisis yesterday after newspaper allegations of fixing by several national team players broke on the penultimate day of the final test match against England, which ended with a humiliating defeat for the tourists.

Police questioned Pakistan players Saturday night after the News of the World newspaper alleged that bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during Thursday’s opening day of the fourth Test that England went on to win by an innings and 225-runs.

Team manager Yawar Saeed will meet with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt later yesterday to discuss the team’s next step,

Mohammad Asif but said he expects it to fulfill its remaining fixtures of two Twenty20 matches and five oneday internationals. “Obviously, we are not delighted,” Saeed said. “We are sad and it was very sober feelings in the dressing room.

Allegations are only one thing. They are all serious, whether they are small or big. Let us see what happens.”

With the first Twenty20 match a week away, thousands of tickets have been sold and the rest remained on sale yesterday through English county club websites. “I honestly think the best thing is to let the dust settle,” England captain Andrew Strauss said.

“It is easy to get emotional about these things at the moment. “There will be some very strong reasons for the series to go ahead.

But they are also going to have to think about what the right thing to do is going forward and that’s their decision.” Saeed said that Asif, Amir and captain Salman Butt had their mobile phones confiscated by police, who also searched hotel rooms as part of an investigation also involving the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.

Any player found guilty of involvement in

match fixing faces a life ban from the sport.

The News of the World says it secretly filmed its undercover reporters, posing as front men for a Far East gambling cartel, in discussion with a man it identifies as London-based businessman Mazhar Majeed, who appears to accept 150,000 British pounds ($232,000) in order to make sure no-balls are bowled at certain times during the match. The newspaper says it has passed all its evidence to the police.

State run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zaradari asked the PCB for a preliminary report into the allegations. Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani added: “It (the allegations) has hurt us. Our heads are bowed in shame and I have asked the sports minister to inquire about it.” Strauss said that players had again begun to hear rumors of corruption after almost a decade of apparently cleaner competition that followed the ICC’s creation of its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit in 2001.

The most prominent instance of corruption occurred in 2000, when South Africa captain Hanse Cronje was banned for life from coaching and playing after admitting to forecasting results and offering bribes to teammates in exchange for money from a London bookmaker.

Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin was exposed and banned for life when Cronje said it was he who had introduced him to bookmakers. Australia’s Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were fined in 1995 for taking money from a bookmaker in exchange for information on pitch and weather conditions.

That sort of corruption appeared to have been consigned to the past, but West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels was banned for two years in 2008 over allegations he passed team information to a bookmaker.

Two players with English county side Essex, Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield, were arrested this year in an investigation into betting irregularities.

“With these sorts of allegations, you start questioning things you shouldn’t be questioning,” Strauss said. “When you achieve something, you want it to be in the best possible circumstances.

“More recently there have been more whispers.” Former England captain Michael Vaughan said on Twitter that he anticipated action against the players involved. “I don’t see how they can get out of this one,” Vaughan said.

Police said it acted upon information from the newspaper to arrest a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

The man was later confirmed to be Mazhar Majeed by his brother and business partner Azhar Majeed. The News of the World quoted

Majeed as saying up to seven players in the Pakistan team could be “bought” for cash.

“I’ve been doing it (match fixing) with them for about 21/2 years and we’ve made masses of money,” Majeed said. Video of the meeting between an undercover reporter and Majeed appeared to shows the businessman accepting money and insisting that three no-balls “have been organized” with the Pakistan team.

The ICC said it was aware of the situation and, along with the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board, was working with police. Azhar Majeed told the AP he believed the allegations against his brother are “just rubbish.”

“I found it not laughable, because you don’t

Mohammad Amir laugh at things like that, but I thought it was just rubbish,” Azhar Majeed said. “I saw the video of Mazhar sitting there counting out money on the table. They are alleging it was for match fixing ... I have absolutely no idea about it whatsoever.”

Azhar Majeed, who says he and his brother are player agents, admitted he had been asked to leave Pakistan’s team hotel during the third test at The Oval, after the team’s security manager told him he was top of the list of people banned from entering players’ rooms.

“Security kept on hassling me, and I couldn’t understand what it was for, the reason I was top of the list,” Azhar Majeed said. “I couldn’t understand why. I found it a bit ludicrous for him to be chucking me out of hotel. Politely I went, but I have absolutely nothing to hide.”

Pakistan parliamentarian Iqbal Mohammad Ali, who also heads the lower house’s standing committee on sports, called for the players in question to be sacked from the team ahead of the upcoming limited-overs games against England. “Whosoever is involved should be banned for life,” he said. “All those who are suspected should be sent back home.” —AP

SUNDERLAND: Manchester City’s early-season momentum was halted at Sunderland yesterday as Darren Bent’s last-gasp penalty gave the hosts a shock 1-0 win.

Bent scored in stoppage-time after being fouled by City rightback Micah Richards as Sunderland sealed their first Premier League win of the season, and a first success over City for nearly 10 years.

City boss Roberto Mancini has spent 130 million pounds of owner Sheikh Mansour’s riches in his quest to upset the Premier League’s established order.

But Mancini cut an exasperated figure at times as captain Carlos Tevez missed a 16thminute sitter and further chances went begging before Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet pulled off a terrific save 11 minutes from the end to deny substitute Emmanuel Adebayor.

It was pure reaction and sheer brilliance as Belgian Under-21 international Mignolet, signed from SintTruiden in the close-season, turned away Adebayor’s flick inside the six-yard box.

City surrendered their unbeaten record this season in all competitions and conceded for the first time on a day Mancini will want to forget.

The visitors reverted to the side that started Monday’s comprehensive 3-0 home victory over Liverpool, while Sunderland made three changes in the wake of their 1-0 setback at newly-promoted West Bromwich eight days ago.

Nedum Onuoha, on loan from City, was ineligible to face his parent club, which meant Anton Ferdinand was handed a first League appearance this season at right-back.

Elsewhere for the home side, captain Lee Cattermole and Michael Turner returned from suspension in midfield and at centre-back at the expense of Cristian Riveros and Paulo Da Silva. It was safety first for Bruce as Bent began as a lone striker with Fraizer Campbell wide on the left.

On the opposite flank, Egypt’s Ahmed Elmohamady elected to try his luck in the swirling Wearside wind with a long-range effort that was posed no problem for goalkeeper Joe Hart as it dipped over.

City then hit Sunderland on the counter as Kieran Richardson’s shot was charged down by Yaya Toure. What followed beggared belief as former Barcelona midfielder Toure broke to evade Cattermole’s despairing challenge before squaring the ball for Tevez who, presented with an open goal, somehow managed to spoon his finish over the bar from around only ten yards.

It was an enormous let-off for Sunderland, but they were caught again near the half-hour mark.

Once more, it was left-back Richardson who lost possession, this time playing a suicidal ball across the face of defence straight to Tevez.

Titus Bramble was easily beaten, but Turner was able to deflect Tevez’s shot wide. Tevez continued to tease, exchanging passes with Yaya Toure, who was only denied by the bravery of Mignolet. The Sunderland keeper also rescued his side on the stroke of half-time when again he foiled Yaya Toure from point-blank range after James Milner’s left-wing free-kick was helped on to the Ivory Coast player at the far post.

Sunderland were forced into a double change at the interval, with Campbell and Turner suffering injuries and Danny Welbeck and Phil Bardsley coming on.

Hart finally found himself under pressure after the break, performing a desperate punch clear before clawing the ball out at his near post from Elmohamady’s wicked cross.

And as Sunderland grew in confidence, the stage was set for England striker Bent to steal the points in the closing moments. —AFP

LONDON: Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez (left) has a shot toward’s goal past Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole during their English Premier League soccer match at the Stadium of Light. —AP

Villa boost MacDonald’s job claims Aston Villa 1

Everton 0 BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa boosted caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald’s hopes of landing the job on a permanent basis as Luke Young’s goal secured a 1-0 win over Everton yesterday.

Villa have been without a full-time manager since Martin O’Neill quit just before the start of the season and MacDonald has been holding the fort with mixed results since then.

After an impressive opening day win over West Ham, Villa were thrashed 6-0 at Newcastle and then crashed out of the Europa League against Rapid Vienna in the play-off round on Thursday.

It remains uncertain whether Villa owner Randy Lerner regards former Liverpool midfielder MacDonald, who has worked for the club as a coach for 15 years, as a serious candidate for the job.

But Young’s early goal at Villa Park and the determined performance that followed at

least made his case. “The boys respect Kevin. He’s got great football knowledge and we all think he can do the job,” said match-winner Young.

“It’s up to Kevin whether he puts his name forward. We will have to see what happens in the coming week. “We were disappointed to lose by six goals against Newcastle when we let ourselves down a bit and then we went out in Europe in midweek.”

Wales international James Collins came in for young defender Ciaran Clark in the only change to the Villa side hammered at Newcastle in their last Premier League match.

Villa, who lost new signing Stephen Ireland to an injury in the warm-up, took the lead in the ninth minute when Ashley Young slipped a pass through to Luke Young and the defender rifled his shot past Tim Howard from the edge of the penalty area.

It was just Young’s second goal in three years at Villa. Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was tested for the first time when Richard Dunne was booked for a crude block on Jermaine Beckford 25 yards from goal.

Mikel Arteta curled the freekick over the Villa wall, but Friedel saved comfortably.

Steven Pienaar went much

closer for Everton when the South African took Leighton Baines’ pass and curled a superb effort from just inside the area which beat Friedel and crashed against the crossbar.

Villa appealed in vain for a penalty in first-half injury time after a challenge from behind on Marc Albrighton by Pienaar.

John Carew went close for the hosts with a glancing header from Ashley Young’s rightwing cross early in the second half. Everton substitute Louis Saha had a low deflected shot saved by Friedel as the game started to open up.

Howard made a fine double save to keep out Carew’s cross shot and the follow-up attempt from Ashley Young. Then at the other end Friedel pushed out Saha’s volley, while Jack Rodwell’s header flashed wide from a Arteta free-kick.

Albrighton squandered a golden chance to double Villa’s lead. Howard finger-tipped away a curling attempt from Ashley Young straight to Albrighton, who was unmarked only eight yards out, but he lifted his shot into the Holte End. Phil Jagielka headed over from Arteta’s corner as Villa and Saha forced a good save from Friedel as Everton just failed to snatch an equaliser in a tense finish.—AFP

LONDON: Aston Villa’s Luke Young (right) attempts to block a shot from Everton’s Marouane Fellaini during the English Premier League soccer match at Villa Park. —AP

Milan’s Ibrahimovic swoop sparks mixed reactions MILAN: AC Milan’s capture of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Barcelona could be the key deal which helps the club finally challenge again at the top of Serie A even if some pundits feel the move is an act of desperation.

Milan have not won the scudetto since 2004 and owner Silvio Berlusconi’s frugal approach to transfers during the global economic crisis meant there was little hope of the Rossoneri threatening perennial champions Inter Milan until now.

The Italian prime minister said in July that the prospect of a move for former Inter striker Ibrahimovic was unlikely because the Swede might not fit into the dressing room. A few lacklustre pre-season performances later under new coach Massimiliano Allegri and Milan have shifted their thinking on the eve of the new Serie A season to try to avoid another third-place finish in the league.

“With a man like that upfront, Milan can close the gap,” AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri, who led his side to a close second behind Inter last term, told reporters.

Ibrahimovic was the talisman for Inter’s 2007, 2008 and 2009 scudettos but his first season at Barcelona was mixed, allowing seven-times European champions Milan to pounce.

“All of us at Milan have to thank Silvio Berlusconi for the economic force he has put into the deal,” Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani told reporters on announcing the transfer.

Milan were losing 70 million euros a year before selling Kaka to Real Madrid in the last close season for 67 million.

Millionaire tycoon Berlusconi said such losses were unacceptable in times of austerity and at first allowed just a free transfer and low-key loans in this transfer window, including the bizarre recruitment of Kevin Prince Boateng.

Genoa bought the Ghana midfielder from Portsmouth and then immediately loaned him to Milan, who planned to buy him outright from their Serie A rivals once finances picked up. —Reuters

S&P assigns ‘A’ rating to Emirates NBD funds

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Lexus outpaces US industry in 2010

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Gaddafi in Italy, business in focus

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Monday, August 30, 2010

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Asia assesses prospects as recovery fizzles Analysts say global rebound running out of steam SEOUL: Talk of the global economic recovery fizzling doesn’t faze Cho Byung-cheol, president of a small South Korean technology company that has already set up a branch in China and plans one soon in the United States.

The company, which designs and makes semiconductor-based high-speed data storage and processing equipment, is planning to boost its South Korean workforce of nearly 60 by half, says Cho, who founded Seoul-based Taejin Infotech Co in 1996. Sales, which totaled only 8.4 billion won ($7 million) last year, could swell fourfold this year and reach 100 billion won next year, he predicts. Sitting in his spacious, well-ordered office, Cho’s confidence belies the grim mood that has settled over global stock markets in the past month as indicators from the US to Japan show the economic rebound is running out of juice.

Asia’s big corporate names from Toyota to Singapore Airlines to Samsung Electronics have ridden a wave of recovery from the world’s worst downturn in decades as emerging powerhouses China and India spruced demand with massive injections of government stimulus. Now, with interest rates rising, government spending programs winding down, the US recovery looking shaky and debt problems lingering over Europe, there are doubts whether Asia, still reliant on exports for growth, can sustain its momentum.

Maintaining the current torrid pace of growth appears unlikely. China’s economy grew 10.3 percent in the second quarter, albeit slowing from an even more blistering rate in the first. Singapore surged 19.3 percent, its best result since the country began releasing quarterly growth figures in 1975. And South Korea expanded 7.6 percent in the first half of this year, its best performance in 10 years.

Even Cho, counting on an explosion in demand for his company’s products driven by expanding use of smartphones and cloud computing, expects the global economy to hit rough waters over the next six months to a year. “But as a broad trend, I expect it, including my company, to grow,” he says.

Not many are predicting a setback for Asia as serious as last year’s recession. The Asian Development Bank estimated that the financial crisis added 60 million people in developing Asia to the ranks of those already trapped in extreme poverty. Those are in addition to 903 million Asians already living on $1.25 or less a day. Yet the optimism has plenty of caveats. They include how bad things get in the United States, to what extent China can continue to pick up the slack and whether governments can put in place safety net policies that will convince their people to save less and spend more to make up for weak demand from advanced economies. “I think clearly we’re going to move into a slower period here,” said Bill Belchere, global chief economist for Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong. A key factor will be “how deep and how intense is the global slowdown,” he said.

No region benefited more than Asia from the coordinated effort to revive the world economy after the global financial system went on life support following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008. Central banks worldwide slashed borrowing costs and governments crafted massive stimulus programs to breathe life back into finance and commerce. The moves are credited with shoring up the global economy and helped spur demand for Asian companies.

A glance at some big name earnings reports tells the story. In South Korea, second-quarter net profit at Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co rose to record highs for the second straight threemonth period. In Japan, electronics giants Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp returned to profitability after booking losses the year before and both raised full-year profit forecasts even amid a strengthening yen. Worries center on the United States, where growth in the world’s biggest economy slowed in the second quarter to a revised 1.6 percent annual pace — down from the initial 2.4 percent estimate -on an increase in imports and a smaller buildup in business inventories. Stubbornly high unemployment and a renewed slump in the housing sector suggest the worst may not be over. And while fears about a crisis over Europe’s sovereign debt woes have abated, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Ireland remain mired in debt that could take years to pare down. Asian companies, for their part, appear optimistic in the face of signs the US recovery is grinding to a near halt. South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor Inc, which supplies chips to Apple Inc for hit products including the iPhone, sees demand holding up.

“In spite of growing concerns about the global economy, we have not seen clear signs of downward adjustment to shipment forecasts from the customer side,” Kim Min-chul, the company’s chief financial officer, told analysts in July.

AirAsia X, a Malaysia-based long-haul budget airline, is expanding and announced in early August it will begin service to South Korea — its 11th destination — later this year. “It’s obviously not a bed of roses, but at the same time I think what we’ve learned coming out of 2009 is there’s definitely opportunities to create value in an uncertain environment,” said CEO Azran Osman-Rani. A key factor in assessing the fate of regional growth is China, which surpassed Japan as the world’s secondbiggest economy in the second quarter.

Premier Wen Jiabao said the slowdown in second-quarter growth from 11.9 percent over a year earlier in the first quarter was partly due to Beijing’s intervention to cool a credit boom and surging housing prices. —AP

Weekly Commodity Update

Risk on, risk off

By Alan Plaugmann

T

SINGAPORE: A tourist taking a photo of the Marina Bay Sands casino and hotels in Singapore. Singapore’s massive bet on two casino resorts is already paying off after the number of arrivals in a single month crossed the one million mark for the first time in July, analysts said. —AFP

Singapore counts winnings as casinos boost tourism SINGAPORE: Singapore’s massive bet on two casino resorts is already paying off af ter the number of arrivals in a single month crossed the one million mark for the first time in July, analysts said.

Six months after opening its first casino in February, followed by the second in April, Singapore is already counting its winnings despite lingering concern about gambling-linked social problems among the local population.

“Let there be no mistake about it, the legalization of casino gaming in Singapore was always intended to be a part of an enhanced tourism strate-

gy for the country,” said Jonathan Galaviz, a Las Vegas-based expert on Asian gaming.

“The development of multi-billion dollar integrated resorts in Singapore is clearly paying off for the country, and they will continue to do so for at least the next decade,” said the managing director of Galaviz & Company.

DBS Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, said the casino resorts are expected to contribute about $1.5 billion to the economy this year.

Church and civic groups had opposed the legalization of casinos but the government went ahead in 2005 and allowed US-based L as

Vegas Sands and Malaysia’s Genting group to build two complexes at a combined cost of $10 billion.

As a safeguard, the casinos were told to charge an entry fee equivalent to 74 dollars from Singaporean citizens and permanent residents, and a campaign against “problem gambling” was launched by the government.

Singapore’s tourism board said the city-state, which has a population of just five million, welcomed one million visitors in July, thanks in large part to the pull of its new man-made tourist attractions.

Tourism officials hope to see

between 11.5 million and 12.5 million visitors this year-a figure well above the numbers visiting neighboring countries blessed with white-sand beaches, towering mountains and other natural wonders.

As well as the casinos, Singapore’s euphemistically named “integrated resorts” also offer theme parks, high-end shopping, hotels and convention halls.

Analysts say Singapore understood the importance of casinos in a broader context-not just as a means to lure the high-rollers but as part of a strategy to stay competitive as a travel destination and a “global city”. —AFP

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS Putin hails China ties at oil pipeline completion Saudi gains on oil price and IMF comments

MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday opened a pipeline branch to carry Siberian oil to China and hailed Russia’s energy business in China as an important counterweight to its traditional European clients.

Putin was speaking in the town of Skovorodino, the end of the pipeline to the Pacific region, in honour of the completion of a branch that will carry Siberian oil to the Chinese town of Daqing from the end of the year. PetroChina is the importer.

“This is an important project for us because we are starting to diversify sales of our energy resources. To this day the main deliveries are to our European partners. They get around 120-130 million tons of our oil today,” Putin said on Russian radio.

Russia’s relationship with Europe is especially uneasy on the energy front since gas supplies were cut in the dead of winter during a spat with Ukraine, a key transit country, over gas non-payments.

European efforts to diversify energy supplies have been met by Russian declarations of independence from its traditional Western client base, and demand is soaring in China, Moscow’s traditional political counterweight to the West.

Putin said when physical deliveries begin, Russia will pump at a rate of 30 million tons per year. Further expansion will bring deliveries to 50 million tons, he said.

“This is already significant competition for the European route.” Russia inaugurated the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline in December, giving the world’s largest

AMUR: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opens a throttle during the opening ceremony for the Russian section of the Russia-China oil pipeline in the far eastern region of Amur yesterday.—AFP exporter a geographical and advantage over Asia’s key Middle Eastern suppliers on deliveries to China, Japan and South Korea.

The new outlet has even helped Russia to increase its deliveries to the United States. Shipments of the ESPO-blend crude move regularly to the US West coast.

ESPO barrels are currently unloaded onto rail cars at Skovorodino and shipped to the Pacific port of Kozmino. Last week, as the blend was selling at record high prices, China made its second known purchase of ESPO crude. —Reuters

DUBAI: Saudi stocks rose yesterday, boosted by higher oil prices and positive IMF comments on the kingdom’s economy, while Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties extended its gains.

Other Middle East markets were mixed but continued to trade range-bound, against a backdrop of rising global markets and higher oil prices.

Saudi Arabia’s outlook is positive as it confronted the global financial crisis in an adequate manner, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. It noted gross domestic product not related to oil would likely grow 4.5 percent this year.

The fund’s executive board also said the country’s banking system is fundamentally sound, and the credit outlook has recently improved. But the board, which had bilateral discussions with Saudi Arabia in July, said “vulnerabilities remain, especially from the volatility of oil prices”.

US oil prices rose a third straight session on Friday, with some sources pointing to short covering ahead of the weekend with three tropical storms brewing in the Atlantic Ocean.

“The IMF’s estimates and outlook are broadly in line with ours, with the domestic environment continuing to benefit from an expansionary fiscal stance and, to a lesser degree, a pickup in credit,” said Monica Malik at EFG Hermes in a research note. “Although we are likely to see some withdrawal of government mea-

sures, we forecast that government spending will remain strong into the medium term given the investment program,” she added.

Bellwether Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) gained 0.6 percent.

An affiliate of SABIC plans to start a 83,000 tons per year oleo-chemical plant by end-2013, the first in the Middle East to produce chemical products from renewable feedstock, SABIC said. Developer Aldar ended at 2.28 dirhams, taking its gains to 12.3 percent since slumping to an 18-month low on Aug. 12. Trading in the stock accounted for half of the shares changing hands in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Standard and Poors and Moody’s have both downgraded Aldar recently, citing a lack of implicit government backing. This has weighed on shares and bonds, but increasing market talk some sort of state support might be imminent helped the share gain.

Aldar’s gain helped Abu Dhabi’s benchmark rise 0.3 percent. Oman’s index edged 0.04 percent lower to 6,270 points.

“The market remains very quiet today, ignoring the positive global cues,” said Gunjan Gupta, head of research at Oman Arab Bank.

“It seems investors are waiting for any uptrend to sell. We believe current price levels of few stocks like National Bank of Oman and Al-Anwar Ceramic give a good buying opportunity,” she added. —Reuters

he main theme for this, and next week’s trade, centers around risk aversion, which by enlarge has spilled over into all market in some way or form.

Generally speaking, the main indicators for the measure of risk were lead through the Equity and Bond markets. Equities are under severe pressure and US and European government bonds are showing no signs of breaking the strong long term bull trend. Both these factors are pessimistic signs of economic growth, and the consequences of both are evident in the rebalancing of investor risk across all asset classes, with no quarter on commodities.

Crude Oil has come under pressure under the current conditions, but also because of the large builds in current stocks on either side of the Atlantic. US and Asian demand and growth estimates have kept the prices high, however are now hit by the less optimistic equity and bond markets. Even though there is very little changed, in especially future Asian demand growth prospects, general sentiment is the driver.

The high levels in storage also have an adverse effect on the freight markets.

A rather grim picture emerges for the VLCC’s (Very Large Crude Carriers) transporting oil primarily from Arabian Gulf to Japan (benchmark route TD3).

From the year low of 6.185 USD per day, which is around operating costs levels (but far below breakeven levels) on 9 august the spot rallied briefly but is now back to very low levels. Further pressure on prices could lead to cuts in production, which in turn will leave the freight markets in dire straits.

WTI Crude made a move towards the lower end of the longer term weekly trend channel. Although it did not quite reach the $70.00 level, the losses seen over the past three weeks are significant.

A break of the trend channel leaves WTI in real trouble of further losses that could amount up to as much as 10-15%.

That being said, we haven’t broken that level, which means that we have seen market tacticians entering at these levels for strategic longs, inside the longer term trend. The 50-day moving average still remains upwardly, and will be significant resistance on any rallies towards $76.80.

Grains have come under some pressure this week, too, although this is a fairly mixed picture across the products.

Whereas wheat prices appear to be under some pressure, corn appears to have shown that even in a risk-off scenario, it is showing strength. The key 414.25 level was tested in corn, but even in the face of much adversity, has clawed its way back above and is now trading at the very top of the weekly range dating back to levels only seen back in 2008. This is a sign of inherent strength in corn and more upside appears to be coming that way.

It is becoming quite apparent that the lower US corn yields are signaling to the market that the forecast deficit is widening even further than initially anticipated and that we should expect further tightening of balances, in the face of stronger demand. This is unlike the wheat and soybean demand, that appears to have peaked, with reasonable supply in a moderate growth scenario.

The risk-off scenario has lead to further gains in the metals, with the all-time in gold very much in sight. The main driver of this has been based on a flight to quality. The risk to this move is that it is a sentiment, pure speculative driven move that in a switch from risk-off to risk-on scenario, could be vulnerable.

For gold to move into vulnerable territory, a break of 1.196 is needed in order to threaten the longer weekly bull trend, dating back from 2008.

Realistically speaking, though, the main sentiment points to a move higher in gold, with the all-time highs coming under pressure. There does not appear to be any signs of investor risk appetite returning in the near future, which should fuel and drive gold prices into new territory. —Saxo Bank

BUSINESS

22

Monday, August 30, 2010

GLOBAL WEEKLY MENA REPORT

Kuwait resilient, Mena markets remain mixed KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) managed to end last week up, supported by the notable increases in the banking and investment sectors. Being the biggest gainer for the second week in a row, the banking sector is seen the highest performer.

Kuwait Stock Exchange crossed above the 200 psychological level for the first time since May 24 and ended the week up by 0.74 percent at 200.67 point as measured

by Global’s weighted General Index.

Bahrain Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE) stocks ended last week on a higher note on the back of the good performance witnessed by the Commercial Banks sector.

The sector added 3.23 percent to its value. Global Bahraini Index and BH All Share Index both ended the week increasing 1.59 percent and 1.71 percent to reach 116.22 points and 1,433.26 points respectively. United Gulf Bank and Ahli United Bank were the top gainers for the week with a weekly increase of 6.15 percent and 5.88 percent respectively to reach BD0.380 and $0.720 respectively.

Qatar QE stocks managed to end the week with a positive performance combined by increasing trading activity.

Global Qatari General Index ended the week with an increase of 0.80 percent to close at 563.72 points. The index was pushed up by increase three out of the four market sectors. On Year-toDate basis, the index gains reached 0.29 percent. The insurance companies topped the leaders list as Qatar Islamic Insurance was the top gainer for the week adding 8.09 percent, and AlKhaleej Insurance followed with a weekly increase of 7.34 percent Saudi Arabia Tadawul Index slumped 1.96 percent last week to reach 6,001.24 points, its lowest level in 6 weeks, as declines in oil prices and global markets spurred sell-

ing by local investors. The insurance companies topped the losers list for the week.

Al-Saqr Insurance share price was the biggest loser shedding 19.30 percent at SR25.50. The market heavy weight, SABIC, reported a weekly decline of 2.63 percent to reach SR83.25.

UAE UAE stock markets ended the week on a mixed note, with the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) being the top gainer out of both UAE stock markets. The market posted a gain of 0.36 percent to close at 1,497.47 points. The market was aided by gains witnessed in the Telecom Sector and the Real Estate Sector which ended the week up 1.96 percent and 1.02 per-

cent, respectively. In addition, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) ended in the red zone, down 0.23 percent and closed at 2,500.62 points.

The Consumer Sector was the top losers in the ADX for the week, posting a 4.55 percent decrease and therefore playing a role in the market’s decline. Furthermore pulling the market down was the Construction Sector, which ended the week down 1.08 percent.

Oman The Omani market ended last week on a lower note on the back of the bad performance witnessed by all the three sectors. Industry sector was the biggest loser with a decrease of 0.92 per-

cent. National Mineral Water was the biggest decliner in the sector shedding 8.65 percent at OR0.10.

Egypt Despite EGX 30 sharply dropped on Wednesday’s session, specifically on August 25, when it lost 1.57 percent from its value driven by heavy weight losses, it managed to end the week on a positive note adding 1.34 percent compared to last week closing. However, market trading activity was massively lower. Total market volume decreased by 50.53 percent, with total trading value shed 36.56 percent. On the prominent performer’s side, Orascom Telecom Holdings added 4.56 percent.

S&P Fund Services assigns ‘A’ rating to Emirates NBD funds DUBAI: Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, announced yesterday that Standard & Poor’s Fund Services has assigned an ‘A’ fund rating to Emirates NBD Asset Management’s three global, multiasset class funds, making them the first managed funds with such a diverse asset allocation to receive an S&P fund rating in the GCC. Emirates NBD Asset Management currently has approximately $1.6 billion of assets under management across a range of mandates.

Emirates NBD Asset Management’s multi-assets funds (Conservative Managed, Balanced Managed and Active Managed) were all deemed by S&P to demonstrate high standards of quality with regard to their investment process and management consistency. In addition, the Emirates MENA Top

Companies and Emirates MENA Opportunity funds were also assigned “A” fund ratings by S&P. S&P Fund Services lead analyst, Peter Brunt, said of the managed funds: “Overall, this is a young, but solid team whose size is sufficient given the approach.

The process is sound and although the track record is relatively short, it is encouraging. The team typically considers a wider range of asset classes, more than other asset allocation funds.”

“The Middle East is not only becoming a location for investors to allocate to, but the region’s asset managers are offering global products, managed from Dubai, to foreign investors. The three Emirates NBD Managed funds are a demonstration of global, multi-asset class funds that can compete with inter-

Deon Vernooy, Head of Emirates NBD Asset Management

national peers,” added Brunt.

Commenting on the MENA equity funds, Roberto Demartini, Lead Analyst, S&P Fund Services, said: “The clear approach, strong and reasonably stable resources and the good organizational framework surrounding the fund manager all point to the comfortable achievement of an S&P ‘A’ rating.”

Deon Vernooy, Head of Emirates NBD Asset Management Limited, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, went on to highlight: “The S&P fund rating will help investors recognise the quality of our funds, as S&P rates all funds to a common global standard. Our Jersey-domiciled funds are increasingly being utilised by international investors as we export our MiddleEast knowhow to investors in Asia and Europe.”

Burgan Bank introduces accounts and services for MOI employees KUWAIT: Burgan Bank amongst the leading and the most dynamic banks in the state of Kuwait introduced its array of banking services to the Ministry of Interior employees.

Burgan Bank team interacted with the employees at the ministry and highlighted the unique and different banking products available at the bank. The team showcased different accounts such as Thuraya account, savings account, current account and Yawmi accounts to the attending employees.

Benefits and features of different accounts were explained to the employees. Burgan Bank officials also introduced the daily winning account Yawmi to the employees at the ministry. Yawmi is the only account in the country which has a daily draw entitling customers who deposit KD500 for a period of 30

calendar days to be eligible to win KD5000.

“The visit to the Ministry of Interior is part of our ongoing commitment to visit different government institutions and showcase and introduce our products and services and create better communications within the different segments of the community,” said Chief Retail Banking Officer Ms Muneera Al Mukhaizeem.

Explaining further Al-Mukhaizeem stated that Burgan Bank strongly believes in its motto of ‘Driven by You’ and is eager to develop accounts and packages that best suit its customer needs.

Burgan Bank has been regularly visiting different government and private institutions and assist employees in offering the best banking solutions.

Saudi SABIC ventures into oleo-chemicals RIYADH: An affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) plans to start a 83,000 tons per year oleochemical plant by the end 2013, the first in the Middle East to produce chemical products from renewable feedstock.

German Lurgi Gmbh will supply the world’s biggest chemical firm by market value the technology and engineering needed for the plant, SABIC said in a statement.

“The feedstock ... is based on natural raw materials from renewable oils such as palm kernel oil and coconut oil,” SABIC said.

The plant will be located at Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co mega complex which is under construction. The expected production capacity of the oleo-chemicals plant will account for about 2 percent Kayan’s total production.

With this plant, SABIC

hopes to “meet the everincreasing demand for our products in the Middle Eastern consumer care industry. Furthermore, the natural alcohol plant allows for new investments in downstream industries in the region.” The unit’s production can be be used in household and laundry products, plasticisers, lube additives, plastic industries, cosmetics and personal care, it added. —Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

.283500 .441000 .3620000 .2770000 .2690000 .2520000 .0045000 .0020000 .0781670 .7615580 .4020000 .0750000 .7465750 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2877500 .4434150 .3641920 .2793920 .2713290 .0488950 .0384920 .2547300 .0369980 .2116120 .0034090 .0061610 .0025670 .0033750 .0041700 .0783820 .7636460 .4069560 .0767820 .7488440 .0063940 TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2898500 .4465460 .2813700 .0772720

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.430 6.164

.2935000 .450000 .3700000 .2850000 .2770000 .2600000 .0075000 .0035000 .0789530 .7692120 .4180000 .0790000 .7540780 .0072000 .0580000 .2898500 .4465460 .3667640 .2813700 .2732510 .0492410 .0387640 .2565290 .0372600 .2131100 .0034330 .0062050 .0025850 .0033990 .0041990 .0788820 .7685150 .4098380 .0772720 .7536190 .0064390

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.368 2.561 3.860 213.950 37.146 4.161 6.425 9.236 0.296 0.310 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 77.052 Qatari Riyal 79.393 Omani Riyal 750.700 Bahraini Dinar 767.450 UAE Dirham 78.685 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 53.400 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 50.656 Yemen Riyal 1.235 Tunisian Dinar 195.160 Jordanian Dinar 408.040 Lebanese Lira 193.800 Syrian Lier 6.171 Morocco Dirham 33.702 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 288.830 Euro 372.300 Sterling Pound 452.020 Canadian dollar 274.260 Turkish lire 190.480 Swiss Franc 285.120 Australian dollar 259.600 US Dollar Buying 287.695 GOLD 20 Gram 241.000 10 Gram 122.000 5 Gram 64.500

Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

SELL CASH 263.000 767.850 4.360 278.500 567.000 14.100 50.300 167.800 52.050 372.000

37.670 6.160 0.035

408.140 0.194 94.780 3.870 208.000

SELL DRAFT 261.500 767.850 4.158 277.000

214.700 50.670 370.500

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

288.850 281.996 452.335 372.290 279.022 707.989 764.553 78.622 79.319 76.995 407.606 50.764 6.201 3.377

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

2.569 4.171 6.413 3.380 9.088 6.301 3.873

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

749.860 3.380 6.405 79.430 77.090 214.740 41.930 2.560 450.500 282.500 6.300 9.410 78.690 288.700

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

37.820 6.370 0.035 0.273 0.252 3.480 409.580 0.195 93.780 46.100 4.520 209.500 1.967 46.900 750.040 3.510 6.600 79.860 77.090 214.740 41.930 2.749 452.500 40.000 284.000 6.300 9.540 198.263 78.790 289.100 1.310 GOLD 1,333.580 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 450.500 288.700

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

288.900 3.385 6.170 2.570 4.160 6.440 78.760 77.250 767.500 50.650 453.600 0.00003280 3.890 1.550 410.100 5.750 373.400 279.100

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer rate 288.600 368.000 446.000 273.350 3.450 6.160 50.720 2.563 4.153 6.372 3.375 768.000 78.600 77.000

business

Monday, August 30, 2010

2010 GX 460

23

2010 Lexus LS 460 L

2010 Lexus RX 50

Lexus, first among eight premium brands, outpaces industry in 2010 KUWAIT: Through July, the eight bestselling premium, or luxury, brands in the US auto market outperformed the industry’s year-to-date 14.7% improvement, based on J D Power sales research. All eight of the premium brands also had faster average retail turn rates* this year compared to last year, and the majority achieved higher average retail transaction prices** than a year ago, based on Power Information Network(r) (PIN) retail transaction data.

On a year-to-date basis, combined sales of the eight best-selling premium brands-Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Infiniti, Audi and Lincoln-climbed by 19.6%, to 683,269 unit sales vs. 571,513 unit sales in the same period a year ago. “The introduction of new models and the willingness of consumers to make more expensive purchases have begun to satisfy the pent-updemand of premium vehicles created during the recession,” suggests Patrick Mullen, forecasting analyst at J D Power and Associates.

Some trends for the eight best-selling

premium brands during the latest time period are included: 2011 Lexus RX Series ● Lexus regained the premium sales crown with 126,025 unit sales, an increase of 16.1% year to date from 2009.

Its two top-volume models-the RX Series Midsize Premium CUV and ES Series Compact Premium Conventional Car-continued to outpace most models in the Lexus lineup. Also, the redesigned GX Series, which ranks highest in initial

quality in the Midsize Premium CUV/SUV category, bolstered year-todate deliveries. Lexus also had the quickest retail turn rate among the top premium brands. ● The average length of time that a Lexus vehicle remained on a dealer lot before being sold was just 31 days vs. an average of 50 days in 2009. In addition, the average Lexus transaction price (less customer cash rebate) was nearly 5.5% higher than a year ago, based on PIN data.

Note: Sales data is based on total (retail and fleet) deliveries for the first seven months of 2010 vs. the same period in 2009. ● Retail Turn Rate is the average number of days that a vehicle remains on a dealer lot before being sold. If a unit is dealer-traded, the retail turn rate returns to zero.

Predicted Reliability Rating Initial Quality Rating: An overall rating taken from the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality StudySM (IQS), this rating is based on verified ownerreported problems in the first 90 days of

Samsung launches innovative 50 Series, 70 Series monitor KUWAIT: Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd, the worldwide leader of display products, announced yesterday the launch of its 50 Series and 70 Series establishing the standard for future-forward LED viewing. Setting a benchmark for imaging excellence, Samsung’s LED monitors will provide customers with the latest innovative eco-friendly products in the global LED monitor market.

The newly announced monitors feature the inclusion of Starlight Touch Controls that will see the On Screen Display buttons integrated directly into the support frame, making it feel as though you were manipulating touch controls. The monitors also incorporate a slim profile alongside Samsung’s Touch of Color (TOC) design as well as Eco-LED technology providing a new holistic approach to design and manufacture.

“Samsung’s 50 Series and 70 Series LED monitors reflect our commitment to providing top-ofthe-line, environmentally-friendly products whilst addressing consumers’ needs in the region,” said said Anupam Birla - Business Head - Visual Display Unit at Samsung Gulf Electronics.

“Through our continuous monitor innovations, we hope the 50 Series and 70 Series of LED monitors will enable us to strengthen our leadership in the global LED monitor market.”

By providing 100% coverage of the sRGB color space, the Samsung 70 Series LED monitor invites consumers to enter a world of professional picture quality and pure, natural color, matching the color output of digital peripheral devices such as cameras and printers. Additionally, users of the 70 Series can now good-bye to eye strain, as the Magic Lux feature adjusts screen brightness according to external illumination, providing a unique viewing experience that is natural and easy

on the eyes.

The monitors also provide faster, clearer images featuring a Mega DCR (Dynamic Contrast Ratio) and 2ms rapid response time, guaranteeing purity, precision and seamless speed. The monitors include four preset energy-saving options, and make use of the Magic Angle feature reducing eye strain and ensuring that images are naturally centered when viewed from any angle.

The incredible Full HD 1080p picture quality of Samsung Series 50 LED monitors is matched by their unique super-slim signature style and unrivalled HD connectivity. With 2HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) terminals, they are capable of transferring the highest quality images with seamless speed and perfect precision.

Setting a new standard, the 70 Series offer a sophisticated-looking LCD monitor with the performance capability of normal televisions. The 70 Series offer professional picture quality and premium viewing. Their luxurious eco-friendly exterior is matched by their range of eco-aware technologies; making them safer to users and to the planet.

Joyalukkas named ‘Retail Chain of the Year 2010’ On August 21, 2010, amid a glittering array of stars from the jewelry industry, Joyalukkas was named the Retail Chain of the Year at the Retail Jeweller India Awards.

The Retail Jeweller India award is the only business award in the country that recognizes the achievements of jewelry retailers in India. Each year the Indian International Jewellery Show (IIJS) celebrates the highest achievers in India’s dynamic jewelry industry with one single yardstick “the Retail Jeweller India Awards”. These achievers are chosen by an esteemed panel of veterans in the industry.

This year, the panel included the Chairman of FICCI, the head of the De Beers Group as well as noted personalities from the Indian film and fashion industries.

It was with great pride that the Chairman of the Joyalukkas Group accepted the award of Retail Chain of the Year. The

award is a true testament to the fact that the Group has consistently come up with successful initiatives in product design, marketing and retail concepts year after year.

From its inception as a single jewelry showroom to its current stature as a USD 700 million plus global conglomer-

ate, Joyalukkas has revolutionized the jewelry retail industry through innovative schemes as well as a unique business model. In the short span of 2 decades, Joyalukkas has transformed the way the world looks at jewelry and, in the process, become a household name.

new-vehicle ownership that have caused a complete breakdown or malfunction, or where controls or features may work as designed, but are difficult to use or understand.

Performance and Design Rating: An overall rating taken from the J D Power and Associates Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) StudySM, this rating is based on verified owner satisfaction with a vehicle’s performance, style, features and instrument panel, and comfort.

Predicted Reliability Rating: Derived from historical trending for a vehicle and/or manufacturer in our Initial Quality and Vehicle Dependability Studies, the Predicted Reliability rating is a forecast of how reliable a newer vehicle might be over time.

Base Price: The base price is the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the base trim level, excluding destination charges, dealer feeds, tax, and other costs. Used Car Value Range: Tradein and suggested retail values according to Kelley Blue Book.

2012 Lexus LFA

Lexus CT 200h

Kuwait price closes week at $70.35pb

OPEC basket price slips on rise in US strategic reserve KUWAIT: Oil prices slightly declined last week due to several factors including the increase of the US strategic reserve, geopolitical and weather calmness, and expectations of the return of the world economic crisis. Oil prices witnessed swinging during the week.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil basket registered $70.93 per barrel (pb) at the beginning of the week, and ended the week at $71.41pb.

Kuwait oil price, according to Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), registered $69.68 pb on August 23 and $70.35pb on Friday, which is the highest level it reached during the week.

Oil analyst Mohammad AlShatti told KUNA that the decrease of prices during the beginning of the week reflected the sufficiency of offer, the increase of commercial oil reserve in the United States for the 11th week in a row, the decline of gasoline price in the United States.

Among the factors that led to the decline and swinging of prices last week are concerns regarding the decrease of sales in the housing sector in the United States, the drop of demand in developing countries like China in July, and concerns regarding the decrease of demand in western economies, he added. The increase of prices at the end of the week was not satisfactory because profits were limited due to the increase of US reserves, he said, adding that the oil market gained from the decline of the US dollar and that the prices were also affected by the performance of the stock market.

On his part, economic expert Hajjaj Bu Khadoor told KUNA that the economic situation had the major impact on oil prices. He said it was expected that the world economic crisis would return due to the market’s situation. US President Barack Obama indicated that that was expected during his speech last Thursday, he pointed out. —KUNA

Abdullah Al-Nafisi receives the car key from NBK Group General Manager Private Banking Malek Khalife.

Abdullah Al-Nafisi wins Mercedes G-55L AMG with NBK cards KUWAIT: Abdulla Hamad AlNifisi won a G-55L AMG brand new Mercedes in the second draw of the National bank of Kuwait (NBK) summer cards campaign. NBK customers have the chance to win with this exciting summer cards promotion that runs until September 14. Customers using their cards overseas or in Kuwait will earn chances to win one of three luxurious Mercedes-Benz cars.

NBK Group General Manager Private Banking Malek Khalife said: “We are glad that one of our loyal customers who had extensively used NBK cards while travelling has won the car. There is one more car to be given away and all customers who have been using NBK cards in Kuwait and abroad are eligible for the last draw”.

“I am extremely happy for

winning this luxurious car within NBK’s credit cards promotion. NBK is unique in providing its customers with the best offers and the most rewarding promotions. As for the car, in fact I intend to give it to one of my sons and encourage him to join and participate in any of NBK’s marvelous promotions”, Al-Nifisi said.

If you are not an NBK account holder this is your

opportunity to transfer your salary and get chances into the draw. You can also get additional chances by applying for a credit card, renewing the credit card or by applying for Travel Safe.

Every KD20 spent on your credit card, including cash withdrawals in Kuwait gives you one chance into the draw, and using your credit or debit cards abroad gives you two chances.

‘Markaz’ internship program offers practical training to students KUWAIT: Kuwait Financial Centre S A K “Markaz”, one of the leading investment banking and asset management companies in the Middle East, trained a group of 16 interns and fresh graduates since the beginning of the year assigning them real world tasks under the supervision of “Markaz” staff from different departments.

Rasha A Al-Hamad, Human Resources Department at “Markaz” said “We believe that developing human resources in the

markets we operate in is part of our corporate social responsibility. We are extremely keen to offer students and fresh graduates internships in order to expose them to practical experience. We have been providing internship to fresh graduates for last six years; students come from various nationalities, majors and from different governmental, private, local, and international colleges and universities.”

Rasha Al-Hamad added “We encourage

learning at ‘Markaz’, our employees are continually kept at the cutting edge through the attendance of courses at reputable training institutes and in-house workshops in various subjects.

Additionally, a large number of ‘Markaz’ staff are certified practitioners by renowned organizations in fields such as financial analysis, risk management, accounting, anti-money laundering, and wealth management.”

24

BUSINESS

KSE stocks stage smart rally Global Daily Market Report KUWAIT: Kuwaiti equities staged a smart rally yesterday propelled by Mobile Telecommunication Co (ZAIN).

Furthermore, Burgan Bank ended yesterday's session up to record its highest level since June 24, 2009.

Global General Index (GGI) rose 1.06 points (0.53 percent) during yesterday's session to reach 201.72 points. The Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index posted gains of 20 points (0.30 percent), to close at 6,665.6 points. Market capitalization was up KD174.94mn yesterday to reach KD33.35bn.

Market breadth During yesterday's session, 98 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 27 equities retreated versus 36 that advanced. A total of 149 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday's trading session.

Trading activities ended on a negative note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 22.44 percent to reach 146.66mn shares, and value of shares traded decreased by 10.84 percent to stand at KD24.98mn.

The Real Estate Sector was the volume leader today, accounting for 29.53 percent of total shares and the Banking Sector was the value leader, with 48.99 percent of total traded value.

Gulf Finance House Company was the volume leader yesterday, with a total traded volume of 19.92mn shares. Kuwait International Bank was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD4.22mn.

In terms of top gainers, Mushrif Trading & Contracting Co was the prominent gainer

for the day, adding 7.81 percent to close at KD138. On the other hand, the Automated Systems Co was the biggest decliner for the day, dropping by 6.78 percent and closed at KD0.275.

Sector-wise Regarding Global's sectoral indices, 7 sectors reported daily gains, while 1 sector reported daily losses. Global Food index added 1.99 percent to its value reaching 389.19 points. Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) was sector's prominent gainer adding 2.60 percent closing at

KD1.580.

Global Services Index followed, adding 1.20 percent.

From the sector's components, Zain ended yesterday's session up by 1.69 percent, to close at KD1.200. National Mobile Telecommunications Co, rose by 2.30 percent closing at KD1.780.

On the other hand, Global Non Kuwaiti Sector Index was the only loser, shedding 0.60 percent of its value. The retreat is attributed to the 2.83 percent decline in Ahli United Bank. Global's special indices

closed in positive note Global High Yield Index ended the day up by 1.52 percent.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $71.41 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $70.00 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) announced that Kuwait Co for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (KCPC) has been awarded tender No WKM/65/2010/2009, according to the Central

Monday, August 30, 2010

South Africa's Zuma under pressure as strike widens JOHANNESBURG: A powerful South African labor leader threatened yesterday to withdraw support for President Jacob Zuma's African National Congress, ending a longstanding alliance strained by a nearly three-week-old strike.

Adding to the pressure, a union representing tire makers announced a strike for higher wages from Monday.

Thousands of armed forces unionized members are also thinking of striking.

This month's strike by about 1.3 million state workers has presented Zuma with one of his most serious challenges since taking office more than a year ago, with unions trying to link the labor action to Zuma's political future.

"We will not make a mistake again of voting into power our worst political butchers," COSATU Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi said at a rally.

COSATU helped Zuma win the presidency and its support is essential if he wants to seek re-election. Vavi last week said the alliance with the ANC forged in the struggle to end apartheid was on the verge of

Tenders Committee (CTC).

Under the KD8.395mn worth of contract, KCPC would supply, operate and maintain the advance payment system of electric meters provided by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW).

The company will inform the KSE management upon receiving the award letter from CTC. Syria will hold a special conference to promote Kuwait investments in the country next October, said a Syrian official here yesterday.

rupture. COSATU has already threatened to widen the state workers' strike later this week to all of its member unions who it says represent about 2 million workers.

A one-day strike set for Thursday will probably not do much economic damage but COSATU has said the action could turn into an indefinite strike, which would cause major damage in industries including mining, which alone is responsible for about 5 to 6 percent of GDP. Analysts expect Zuma and the ANC government, which has typically given in to labor's demands, to reach a deal soon, tilted in favor of the unions, and worry later about the damage to state spending.

Zuma also does not want to have the dispute hanging over him heading into an ANC policy-setting meeting in late September.

"It wouldn't surprise me if there was some sort of resolution by the end of the week," labor analyst Tony Healy told Talk Radio 702. Zuma on Saturday accused striking state workers of abandoning the sick at hospitals and said

he expected a deal to be reached soon to end the labor action.

An expanded strike would add to worries about prospects for growth after the economy slowed more than expected in the second quarter of 2010 as mining contracted and manufacturing expanded at a slower pace.

The government has said it cannot afford the state workers' demand of an 8.6 percent wage rise, more than double the inflation rate, and 1,000 rand ($135.8) a month as a housing allowance. It has offered 7 percent and 700 rand.

Any agreement to end the dispute is likely to swell state spending by about 1 to 2 percent, forcing the government to find new funds just as it tries to bring down a deficit totaling 6.7 percent of gross domestic product. Bond, stock and rand trading have mostly been unaffected by the strike but market players said that could change if there is no deal by the end of the week and if the strike widens to industries which could hurt local shares and dent sentiment. — Reuters

Egypt's Alcotexa plans to sell 312 ton cotton CAIRO: Egypt's Alexandria Cotton Exporters' Association (Alcotexa) committed to sell 312 tons of cotton in the week that ended on Aug 28, an Alcotexa official told Reuters yesterday.

The sales comprised 92.5 tons of Giza 88, 50 tons Giza 45, 2.5 tons Giza 80 and 167 tons of Giza 86, the official said.

The deal brings Alcotexa's export commit-

ments for the 2009/10 season, which began in September, to 81,862 tons of cotton worth $198.9 million, the official said.

Egypt expects to export 80,000 tons of cotton this season, the agriculture minister said in February. By this time last year, Alcotexa had sold 25,163 tons of cotton worth $63.35 million.—Reuters

BUSINESS

Monday, August 30, 2010

25

Oil futures rise as Fed reassures markets KUWAIT: US crude oil futures closed higher on Friday, August 27, ending the week on the plus side for the first time in three weeks, after markets were reassured by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank was prepared to act if needed to bolster slowing economic growth.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for October delivery settled up $1.81, or 2.47 percent, at $75.17 a barrel. For the week, front-month crude gained $1.71, or 2.33 percent. NYMEX September heating oil ended for the third day in a row and for the week was up 7.33 cents, or 3.72 percent, at $2.0543.

NYMEX September RBOB finished up for the third session in a row and for the week rose 2.28 cents, or 1.18 percent, $1.9585.

ICE Oct Brent crude ended up for the third straight day and for the week gained $2.39, or 3.22 percent.

Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah said that Kuwait and Iraq have reached an initial agreement on sharing border oilfields and to allow an international oil company to develop them. The pact will serve to avoid any future claims that one of these countries is

underutilizing the joint fields.

According to the pact, the two countries will assign a third party, most likely an outside consultancy, to determine the technical terms of the deal, such as the share of each country in the joint fields.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) said US crude stocks rose 4.1mn barrels to 358.3mn barrels in the week to August 20 as refineries cut their utilization rates. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 200,000-barrel build in crude stocks. Distillate stocks rose 1.76mn barrels to 176mn barrels, more than expectations for a 1.1mn barrel rise. Stocks of gasoline rose by 2.27mn barrels to 225.6mn barrels, against analyst expectations for a 400,000 barrel draw. Refinery utilization fell 2.3 percentage points to 87.7 percent of total capacity. US crude imports rose 320,000 barrels per day to 9.85mn bpd. US natural gas futures ended down sharply on Friday, August 27, as moderating summer heat, no Gulf Coast storm threats and concerns about growing supplies.

Thursday’s 40 billion cubic feet (bcf) weekly gas inventory build was above market expectations in the 38

GLOBAL’S INTERNATIONAL MARKETS REPORT bcf area, but some said it was supportive, noting it was well below the year-ago gain of 53 bcf and the fiveyear average increase of 59 bcf. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report showed total domestic gas inventories climbed last week to 3.052 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Early injection estimates for next week’s EIA report range from 43 bcf to 61 bcf, versus a 64-bcf build for the same week last year and a five-year average gain of 62 bcf.

The US Dollar fell for a second week against the Yen after reports showed the recovery in the world’s largest economy may be faltering, boosting the Japanese currency’s attraction as a refuge.

US The Chicago Fed national activity index increased to zero in July from a downwardly revised -0.70 in June, suggesting the national economy expanded at its historical trend rate of growth. The index’ 3-month moving average slipped to -0.17 in July, a

second consecutive monthly decline, from a downwardly revised -0.12 in the prior month, compared with July 2009’s -1.32.

US home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years, leading economists to warn that a likely double-dip in housing prices could further slow America’s recovery from its worst downturn in decades.

Existing home sales sank 27.2 percent in July, twice as much as analysts expected, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83mn units.

ABC News announced its weekly index of US consumer confidence; the index rose in the latest week, though it remains deeply negative.

The ABC Consumer Comfort Index rose to -44 points for the week ended Aug 22 from -45 points in the previous week. The index hit an alltime low of -54 in the week to Dec 1, 2008, and then again in the week to Jan. 25, 2009. The index has not been in positive territory since March 2007.

Initial unemployment claims dropped an encouraging -31,000 to

473,000 for the week ending August 21, 2010, more than reversing the previous week’s 16,000 rise to a 504,000 level (initially reported as 500,000). Confidence among US consumers rose less than forecast in August from an eight-month low, a sign that the biggest part of the economy will be slow to recover.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment climbed to 68.9 points from 67.8 points in July that was the lowest reading since November. The gauge was projected to rise to 69.6 points, unchanged from a preliminary reading issued earlier this month.

Euro pe Confidence among Euro zone consumers improved notably in August. In August, the consumer confidence indicator for the eurozone rose to minus 11.7 from minus 14 recorded in July, according to a flash estimate by Eurostat showed.

Economists were expecting the consumer sentiment to remain

unchanged from the July level. Euro zone industrial new order growth slowed less than expected in June.

New orders growth in the 16 nations that use the euro unexpectedly slowed to 22.6 percent compared with the previous year, following a 23 percent rise in May. Economists had forecast a 24 percent increase.

German Flash Manufacturing PMI dropped in August to 58.2, down from 61.2 in July, against market expectations of a mild decline to levels around 61.0. On the other hand, Services PMI rose to 58.5 in August, from 56.5 in Jul, beating expert’s expectations who expected services sector’s activity to remain broadly unchanged, around 56.5.

The Markit preliminary composite German purchasing managers index rose to 59.3 in August from a reading of 59.0 last month, its highest reading in four months.

The German gross domestic product expanded 2.2 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter, confirming its earlier estimate, showing growth well above its European peers and the fastest pace of expansion since East and West Germany were reunified in 1990.

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases by British

banks declined for the second month in July. BBA loans for house purchase in the United Kingdom slipped to 33698 in July compared with the prior 34813 which was revised to 34575 and median estimates of 34000. The British economy grew by more than previously thought in the second quarter of 2010, pushed upwards by a robust performance in the construction sector. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that GDP advanced by 1.2 percent in the quarter - the fastest rate of quarterly expansion since the first quarter of 2001 — upwardly revising its prior estimate of 1.1 percent growth.

Japa n Japan’s merchandise trade balance surplus widened to JPY804.2bn during July, compared with a previous reading JPY687bn in June, which was revised to JPY686.bn, while the actual reading came higher than analyst’s expectations that referred to JPY466.3bn. Japan’s jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent in July from 5.3 percent the previous month, dropping for the first time in six months, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications preliminary report.

Virgin Blue group reaches partnership with Etihad V Australia to operate from Sydney to Abu Dhabi 3 times a week KUWAIT: Virgin Blue Holdings Limited and Etihad Airways PJSC yesterday signed an agreement establishing a commercial partnership that will enable Virgin Blue’s international arm, V Australia, to launch direct services to Abu Dhabi in 2011 and the two airlines offer a joint network of more than 100 desti-

Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive launches 5X5 free warranty and maintenance offer Exclusive to all Land Rover cars purchased during Ramadan KUWAIT: Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive, the exclusive distributor for Land Rover in Kuwait, launched a 5X5 program for free warranty and maintenance on all Land Rover vehicles, on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. This initiative is part of the company’s commitment towards insuring a pleasant ownership experience for our Land Rover customers together with the highest service standards.

This program will provide Land Rover customers with free warranty and free maintenance from the date of purchasing any of the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport, Land Rover LR4 and Land Rover LR2, and for five years or for 120,000 km whichever comes first. The company will also provide free traffic registration with every car purchased during the holy month of Ramadan.

This initiative reflects Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive keenness to putting customers at the top of its priorities by providing aftersales

services and benefits aimed at improving and enriching their experience of owning a Land Rover vehicle.

Mohammed Alghanim, Group General Manager, Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive commented on the 5X5 program by saying: “This initiative is a direct result of our constant and sincere strives to offer our customers complete satisfaction from owning a Land Rover car.

We do not only offer cars of high quality, but also provide more valuable benefits to our customers in terms of service so that their decision to own one of our cars proves to be a rewarding experience.”

“Land Rover manufactures the best SUV cars in the world for all types of terrain, and the company is currently experiencing significant growth at the global and regional levels. Early next year we will see a completely new addition to the family of Range Rover, and which will be known as Range Rover Evoque,” added Alghanim.

Iraq says Kurd gas deal with Germany’s RWE illegal BAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil ministry said yesterday the agreement Germany’s RWE signed with the Kurdish Regional Government, which included possible future gas supply for the Nabucco pipeline project, is illegal.

“The export of crude oil, gas and their derivatives are exclusively under the authority of the Oil Ministry of the central government in Baghdad and State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO),” oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said, reading a statement from the ministry.

“Any contracts signed outside of that legal framework are considered void and illegal.”

On Friday, Germany’s RWE said it had signed a gas cooperation agreement with Iraq’s Kurdish regional government.

The deal envisaged RWE helping develop and design domestic and export gas transport infrastructure and create a route to market for Iraqi Kurdistan’s gas.

The RWE statement quoted Iraqi Kurdistan’s natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami as saying that

up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas a year could be fed into the Nabucco pipe to bring gas to Turkey and Europe. The Nabucco project aims to transport up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Caspian region to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia, which supplies Western Europe with about a quarter of its natural gas.

Iraq needs to develop its gas sector and open it to foreign investment. But unilateral oil and gas deals negotiated by the Kurdish authorities are opposed by the Arab-led government in Baghdad in a long-running row over energy resources and revenue sharing. Baghdad’s opposition to oil deals the semiautonomous Kurds have signed independently with foreign firms has halted oil exports from Kurdish oilfields. Exporting gas is also controversial in Iraq due to inadequate public electricity supplies 7-1/2 years after the US-led invasion.

The oil ministry has pledged that domestic gas needs will first have to be covered, in particular the future needs of gas turbine powered electricity plants, before any gas is exported. — Reuters

Golden Pyramids scraps S Valley takeover CAIRO: Shareholders in Golden Pyramids Plaza, owner of the City-Stars mega-mall in Cairo, have rejected a share swap with South Valley Cement, putting an end to their planned merger, Golden Pyramids said yesterday.

“Most shareholders have no desire to continue the procedures of the acquisition via a share swap,” a company statement to the stock exchange said.

South Valley approved a 15 billion Egyptian pound ($2.6 billion) capital increase in May to buy Golden Pyramids Plaza, in a bid to expand its focus and diversify its operations outside of cement.

The decision to call off the deal could push South Valley’s shares lower when they open today

as many investors had been drawn to the company because of the acquisition plan, traders said.

“South Valley’s shares will go down because the only thing that was giving the shares any value was the takeover,” said Amr El Feky, head of the technical analysis desk at Cairo Capital Securities.

Golden Pyramids, which has investments in real estate and tourism projects and has a fair value estimated at 15 billion pounds, did not say why its shareholders turned down the deal.

South Valley’s net profit fell 13 percent to 78.4 million pounds in the first half of 2010.

Its stock fell 1.9 percent to close at 5.30 pounds yesterday before the announcement, while the benchmark Egyptian share index edged down 0.1 percent. — Reuters

V Australia will operate three Sydney-Abu Dhabi services per week from February 2011 and three Brisbane-Abu Dhabi services per week by February 2012, using its new fleet of threeclass Boeing 777-300ER and becoming the first Australian carrier to operate to the Middle East since 1991.

From October, Virgin Blue Group customers can access Etihad’s network of 65 destinations across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. All Virgin Blue services will be available to Etihad customers, opening up 44 destinations in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and to Asia and Los Angeles.

The agreement integrates the Etihad Guest and Velocity frequent flyer programs, allowing members to earn status/tier points and frequent flyer points immediately along with reciprocal service benefits and lounge access for top tier members of both programs. The ability for members to burn miles on both carriers’ services comes into effect from October 1.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Virgin Blue Group of Airlines, John Borghetti, said the alliance with Etihad allowed it to redefine its long-haul operation and unlock a genuine global network that would be particularly attractive to Virgin Blue’s business and international leisure travellers.

“Everybody wins from this partnership. It increases competition, choice and convenience for the travelling public. Etihad will gain access to the valuable domestic feed in Australia and the Virgin Blue Group will gain east bound access to an extensive international network serving multiple destinations across the Middle East, the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia.

“This is a real game changer and positions us as a truly global player. Just as Virgin changed the game in domestic travel ten years ago and last year made huge impacts on the Pacific route, this agreement will bring real benefits for the travelling public.

“With the impending launch of our product enhancements across the group, Virgin Blue and Etihad are ideally suited as airline partners.”

Borghetti said: “We expect the strategic alliance to have significant revenue and profit upside for both carriers. Importantly, each business will immediately gain from reciprocal traffic flow.”

Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said the partnership would grow to become one of the Gulf carrier’s most significant. “We are excited to facilitate the entry of V Australia into Abu Dhabi as the first Australian airline to fly to the United Arab Emirates.

“Australia is a critically important market for Etihad and we are very pleased to be able to provide more capacity on our Australian routes through this partnership,” he said.

nations from October 1, 2010. Together, Etihad and V Australia will move towards a total of 27 weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Australia - including double-daily services between Abu Dhabi and Sydney, daily Melbourne-Abu Dhabi flights and six frequencies per week between Abu Dhabi and Brisbane.

Chief Executive Officer of the Virgin Blue Group of Airlines, John Borghetti and Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer James Hogan during the announcement of new partnership.

Egypt drops probe on TMG land deal, shares jump CAIRO: Egypt’s General Prosecutor dropped an investigation filed by 45 parliament members over a state land sale between a former housing minister and Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), the ex-minister’s lawyer said yesterday. The investigation started earlier this year after the former housing minister Ibrahim Suliman was accused of violations in a series of state land sales.

The members of parliament accused the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA), a body under the housing ministry, of wasting public money when it sold the flagship Madinaty project to TGM during Suliman’s tenure. “The investigation has proved the allegation is not

correct,” the lawyer Gameel Said said. “The deal has brought the government a value equal to 13 billion pounds ($2.28 billion).” The amount equals the sum booked by NUCA in relation to the Madinaty sale. TMG was the biggest gainer on Egypt’s benchmark share index yesterday, rising 3.2 percent. The index was up 0.1 percent.

“The General Prosecutor’s decision is a strong support for the Madinaty land deal and is a very important clue that the price of the deal was fair at the time it was conducted,” said Nader Khedr, an investment and capital market analyst. TMG is still waiting for an Egyptian court to rule on Sept. 14 on a separate appeal by an Egyptian cit-

izen who accused NUCA of breaking the law by selling the Madinaty land directly to TMG instead of opening it up to bidding. “The two cases are separate and ... we still cannot expect what the court ruling will be. We will have to wait and see,” said Khedr. He said that meant it was too early to firmly recommend buying or selling TMG stock. TMG is Egypt’s biggest listed developer and Madinaty is one of its main projects.

The site will include homes, schools, hotels and a golf course on 8,000 feddans (8,304 acres) of land on Cairo’s outskirts. Suliman is still under investigation by the General Prosecutor over several other land sales. —Reuters

BUSINESS

26

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wen urges Japan to raise wages of China workers BEIJING: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday urged Japanese companies operating in China to raise workers’ wages, after a series of strikes led to costly factory shutdowns, Japan’s foreign ministry said.

Wen made the comments in a meeting with numerous Japanese ministers, including Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, at a “strategic economic dialogue” in Beijing Saturday co-chaired

by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

“Labour disputes have been occurring at some foreign companies, but behind the scene lies the problem that wages are relatively low,” Wen was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Japanese ministry. “I hope you address this issue.”

During Saturday’s dialogue, Okada laid out a list of Japan’s trade grievances, including the labor disputes and Japan’s concerns over Chinese export controls on rare earth metals, which are used in hybrid and electric cars, mobile phones and other high-tech products.

China “will not stop exporting rare

earth metals,” Wen was quoted as saying, but he added that China has begun controlling exports of such products because of excessive development and smuggling.

Masayuki Naoshima, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry, told the meeting that Japan wants to continue talks on the issue, the statement said. China accounts for 97 percent of global rare earths production, according to Japanese ministry officials.

During Saturday’s talks, Japan became the latest of China’s trading partners to complain about the nation’s business environment.

Japanese firms have borne the brunt of the recurring labor disputes over pay and conditions at foreign-run factories in China this year. A Japanese media survey in July said that affiliates of Japanese firms were hardest hit because of a view that they are more likely to respond to demands for pay increases.

Officials said Okada pressed Beijing for more “transparent” labor policies.

“More and more Japanese companies are developing cooperation with the Chinese side,” a press release issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, quoted Okada as telling Wen. “They are not only using China as a production base, but are viewing China as an important market. The two sides are increasingly sharing the same fate.”

A Japanese government spokesman earlier said China attributed the labor unrest to a “natural” push for better wages. “Japan is not satisfied with this,” said the spokesman, Satoru Satoh.

China has heard a chorus of complaints by European and US businesses and officials over perceived unfair policies and market restrictions hurting foreign enterprises.

Wen however appeared to attribute such issues to the global economic downturn and urged Japan to work with China to overcome the difficulties.

“Sino-Japanese economic and trade ties have withstood the serious test brought on by the global financial crisis and a positive trend for development

has emerged,” Wen said, according to the Chinese news release. “Both sides must grasp the current and timely opportunity of the improvement in bilateral relations... to create a new phase in bilateral economic and trade cooperation.”

The two countries should further focus on the “green economy”, Wen said, including recycling and environmental protection.

China was increasing its imports from Japan, while Chinese investment into its neighbor was also growing, he added. “China and Japan have common interests in pushing forward regional cooperation, advancing the reform of the global economy and opposing trade protectionism,” Wen said.

“This is not only in the important interests of China and Japan, but will have a positive impact on Asia and the world.” China’s economy outpaced Japan in the second quarter in nominal terms. The two countries are numbers two and three in the world behind the United States. — AFP

Interest rates may remain locked at 1.0%

Markets to focus on ECB credit measures this week FRANKFURT: Fina ncial markets w ill be keen to hea r this week if the Europea n Centra l Bank plans cha nges to its exceptional mea sures to underpin lending amid mixed signa ls on the globa l economy. The ECB’s main interest rate w ill likely sta y locked in at a record low of 1.0 percent Thursday as the central bank relea ses its latest forecasts for grow th a nd inflation in the 16-nation bloc.

ROME: Libya’s leader Muammar Gadhafi (left) stands next to Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini upon his arrival in Italy yesterday at Ciampino airport south of Rome. — AFP

Libya’s Gaddafi arrives in Italy, business in focus ROME: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Rome yesterday for a two-day visit that has aroused a mixture of curiosity and controversy over Tripoli’s growing influence in the Italian economy.

Media reports have focused on the tent in which Gaddafi sleeps on foreign visits as well as the 30 horses he is bringing to take part in an equestrian show today, when he will meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

There has also been much speculation over whether he plans a repeat of an event on his last visit when 200 Italian women recruited by a hostess agency were invited to hear his thoughts on Libya and the role of women in Islam.

But there has also been criticism of Libya’s expanding interest in the Italian economy, with attention focused on the

stake of some 6.7 percent built up in UniCredit, one of the country’s biggest banking groups.

Politicians from the Northern League party, Berlusconi’s coalition allies who have frequently spoken out against foreign immigration, have criticized the investment and called on market regulator ConSob to investigate. Opposition politicians have also attacked Berlusconi for his close relationship with Gaddafi and for riding roughshod over human rights over a deal under which Libya has agreed to take back illegal immigrants trying to sail to Italy from its ports.

The Libyans’ record as investors has had support from business leaders including the chairman of Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Cesare Geronzi and the head of Banca Popolare di Milano, Massimo Ponzellini.

Yesterday’s visit to Italy is Gaddafi’s

fourth since a 2008 agreement under which Berlusconi agreed to pay $5 billion in reparations for damage inflicted during Italy’s colonial rule over Libya in the early part of the 20th century.

Economic ties between the two countries have developed strongly, and Italy, now Libya’s biggest trade partner, buys much of its oil and natural gas from the energy-rich North African state.

As well as its shareholding in UniCredit, Libya owns a stake in oil company Eni and has expressed interest in many more, including power company Enel. The visit, to celebrate the second anniversary of the 2008 Italian-Libyan friendship agreement, has been the subject of much uncertainty.

Gaddafi’s arrival date was changed twice and he arrived in Rome more than an hour later than expected. — Reuters

Afghanistan eyes wheat price amid import needs KABUL: Afghan authorities are keeping a close eye on world wheat prices as they seek to boost strategic stocks ahead of winter and ensure that demand is met as some traditional suppliers halt exports. Afghanistan is among the most vulnerable countries in the world for food supply, according to the Food Security Risk Index 2010, compiled with the UN’s World Food Program.

The country, one of the world’s poorest, faces a shortfall of 700,000 tons of wheat, the mainstay of the Afghan diet, the agriculture ministry said.

Afghanistan usually imports

most of its annual shortfall from Russia, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

Devastating natural disasters-floods in Pakistan, drought in Russia-meant Kabul would rely on Kazakhstan this year, said Majidullah Qarar, ministry spokesman. “This year’s output of wheat is predicted at 4.5 million tons while the need for wheat this year is 5.2 million tonnes, which means we need 700,000 tons of wheat to make up for the shortfall in production,” he told AFP. While the world has plenty of wheat this year, thanks to good harvests and high stock-

piles in major producers such as the United States and Australia, prices spiked on the back of Russia’s decision to ban exports.

Russia, the world’s thirdlargest wheat exporter, has banned grain exports until December due to drought and fires that have destroyed millions of hectares (acres).

Russia also slashed its 2010 grain harvest forecast to 70-75 million tons, compared with a harvest of 97 million tons in 2009.

Last year Russia exported 21.4 million tons of grain and observers had already warned

exports could be sharply lower this year.

The move stung world wheat markets, sending prices to two-year highs and sparking worries of a crisis in global food supplies. Wheat soared to $8.68 a bushel (about 25 kilograms) on August 6 but by Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat for delivery in December had fallen to $6.87 a bushel, from $7.12 the previous week.

Supplies from Pakistan have been hit by floods swamping large swathes of the country, turning need inwards but also destroying transportation routes to Afghanistan. —AFP

The bank “has absolutely no reason to raise interest rates,” Capital Economics senior European economist Jennifer McKeown said. Euro-zone inflation stood at 1.7 percent in July, comfortably below the ECB’s target of just under 2.0 percent, and should edge lower in August owing to cheaper energy costs compared with a year ago.

The ECB’s headline interest rate is identical to that of the Bank of Japan, while the Bank of England’s benchmark rate is 0.50 percent and the US Federal Reserve has kept its Fed funds rate at virtually zero.

Back in the euro-zone, although Germany saw record growth in the second quarter and the region as a whole did better than Japan or the United States, countries on the periphery seemed to be falling behind.

The Greek economy contracted further, Portuguese and Spanish recoveries remained timid and Ireland’s downgraded sovereign credit rating reminded investors the battle against deficit and debt was not over.

“Debt fears are back in European government bond markets,” Barclays Capital economist Thorsten Polleit said. The price that peripheral countries must pay to borrow money has widened again compared with benchmark German bonds and a controversial ECB program to buy sovereign debt slipped back into low gear last week after coming almost to a halt. Household credit conditions are improving however and consumer confidence is getting stronger as labor markets improve, but corporate lending remains tight and business activity lost a bit of momentum in August.

A euro-zone purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a survey of 4,500 companies compiled by the data and research group Markit, fell slightly from its level in July and economists say Europe will soon feel the effects of slowing economies elsewhere.

Against that uncertain backdrop, analysts expect the ECB to raise its current 2010 growth forecast of 1.0 percent but are divided with respect to what the bank’s outlook for next year will be. Attention will focus on exceptional measures taken by the ECB to underpin lending, and especially on whether president Jean-Claude Trichet speaks about extending unlimited longer-term loans to commercial banks into 2011.

German central bank chief Axel Weber, an influential ECB governing council member tipped as a possible successor to Trichet next year, has said the ECB would pursue relaxed monetary policies, and focus on changes early next year.

Coming from one of the council’s most orthodox members, Weber’s remarks were taken by financial markets to mean the ECB would make sure commercial banks had no trouble getting past a traditional crunch period at the end of the year. —AFP

BEJING: Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, left, meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, right, at the Zhongnanhai leaders’ compound in Beijing, yesterday. — AP

Essdar eyes distressed deals, bank books for growth DUBAI: UAE-based Essdar Capital, which recently bought the senior debt of Oman’s troubled $15 billion Blue City project in a distressed deal, is betting on its local expertise to tap more such opportunities, a top executive said.

Essdar, 35-percent owned by the ruler of Dubai’s investment company Dubai Holding, bought Blue City’s $655.5 million Class A debt via a tender offer earlier in June as part of investment in its Gulf-focused distressed debt fund. Investment remains the fund’s largest so far. “Transactions in the distressed and special situations space go through cycles in each country and as such volumes of such transactions may significantly rise in some parts of the world and may drop in other parts “ Suketu Sanghvi, senior managing director of structuring and investments at Essdar told Reuters. “...people who have good understanding of local and regional markets on legal and financial implications of enforcement, work outs, restructuring and refinancing can take some wise investment decisions in the space.”

Essdar, which has an asset management and corporate finance advisory business, was presented with a restructuring plan by Blue City’s borrower and the firm is in the process of reviewing the plan, Sanghvi said. “We are in discussions with the note holders what to do with it (restructuring plan). The plan provides for the sale of a significant part of the land,” he said.

An hour from Oman’s capital Muscat, Blue City was touted as Oman’s biggest real estate

project but it stalled amid dismal sales and clashes between shareholders.

Sanghvi thinks the Middle East offers more opportunities in the distressed space for investors but age-old legal regulations and the absence of a level-playing field keeps international distressed debt managers away from the region.

“This is a market material for local investors who understand which entities need to be picked and which have to be avoided,” he said.

Distressed debt investors normally buy debt of troubled companies at a discount and aim to make money by restructuring their operations and liquidating the debt at par.

Another area where the firm is betting heavily is bilateral loans guaranteed by Gulf-based banks which have turned into non-performing assets amid the financial crisis. Essdar is looking to buy these loans from the bank’s books and work with the borrower in recovering the outstanding amount.

“These loans do have a recovery value, that’s a play which is interesting because if we buy those loans at a particular price, then banks can book that assets sold as profits,” Sanghvi said. Sanghvi said the trick in doing such deals in the region was to be friendly rather than hostile to the borrower.

“In this market, the more friendly you are, the better it is for you. If you are an institution and you can handle such situations, then you are in safe hands,” he said. — Reuters

Outgoing Thai CB chief urges political reform BANGKOK: As Tarisa Watanagase prepares to take her hand off Thailand’s economic tiller she warns that violent splits in society mean the kingdom’s future relies on more than just financial stability.

The central banker, stepping down after nearly four years in the top job at the Bank of Thailand, said new political and social thinking is needed in a nation still reeling from bloody protests that rocked Bangkok in April and May. “If you look at the economic front, we have been through some major reforms and that is why right now we are resilient, but in terms of politics we haven’t yet seen major reforms,” she told AFP. “I think this is part of the growing-up process.” Tarisa, the first female governor in the Bank of Thailand’s history and one of just three in the position worldwide, is no stranger to forging her own path through Thailand’s often tumultuous political landscape.

Petite and glamorous, the governor has a ready smile that in no way hides the streak of steel with which she has helped to oversee the Thai economy in one way or another since 1975, when she joined the central bank. She counts one of her greatest achievements as securing independence for the central bank in the face of persistent resistance. After a near decadelong battle, she helped push through laws giving the institution freedom from political interference in the wake of the 2006 coup that overthrew former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

But Tarisa is clearly disappointed that the economic progress the country has made has not been replicated in a political system prone to accu-

sations of corruption, scandal and military interference.

“I would like to see that we can migrate from a developing country to a developed one and that does not require only economic progress,” she said.

The Bank was relieved that the fallout from the “Red Shirt” anti-government protests-in which 91 people died and nearly 1,900 were injured-was not more serious.

Tourists, initially daunted by images of violent clashes between the military and demonstrators in Bangkok, are slowly returning while foreign investment has also proved buoyant. But Tarisa warned against becoming complacent and said the country needs to work hard for political stability.

Not to do so, she said, would be

a “terrible waste”.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced a reconciliation plan in Thailand but the country remains deeply divided. The two main protest movements contrast as starkly in their choice of clothing colour-Red for one group, Yellow for the other — as they do in their political leanings.

Reds, many still loyal to Thaksin, are seen as representing the poor and working class, while Yellows, backed by the Bangkok-based elite, used their rallies to help unseat the former prime minister.

Tarisa said dialogue, a more socially minded attitude and moves to address inequality-a key Red Shirt demand-were crucial for the country’s progress. —AFP

Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase as she talks to an AFP reporter during an interview. — AFP

TECHNOLOGY

Monday, August 30, 2010

27

Zara takes the plunge into crowded online market MADRID: Europe’s largest clothing retailer, Spain’s Inditex, is taking its flagship Zara brand online, but it can expect stiff competition from other giants of high-street fashion already well-established in cyberspace.

Zara’s virtual boutique will be available on Thursday in selected European markets: Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Britain.

From 2011, it will be expanded to the United States, Japan and South Korea.

But it will enter an already crowded sector, where its main rivals in lowcost fashion have been operating for years.

US retailer Gap, which has been online in the US since 1997, expanded the service to 55 countries on August 16.

Sweden’s H&M, Europe’s secondlargest clothing retailer, has been selling online since 1998 in seven countries, including Germany, and plans to move into another major market,

Britain, on September 16.

Zara’s late entry to the market may be a surprise, but it may also have anticipated a boom in cyberspace clothes shopping.

Clothing sales represented just 2.5 percent of online commerce in Spain last year, and 5.6 percent in France, according to industry experts in these countries. Another high-street brand, Mango, has been online since 2009, but receives only about 1.0 percent of its revenues in this way.

Internet wiping out Oxford Dictionary LONDON: It’s been in print for over a century, but in future the Oxford English Dictionary — the authoritative guide to the English language — may only be available to peruse online.

Publisher Oxford University Press said yesterday that burgeoning demand for the dictionary’s online version has far outpaced demand for the printed versions. By the time the lexicographers behind the dictionary finished revising and updating the latest edition — a gargantuan task that will take many more years — publishers are doubtful there will still be a market for the printed form. The online Oxford English Dictionary now gets 2 million hits a month from subscribers. The current printed edition — a hefty 20-volume, 750 pound ($1,165) set published in 1989 — has sold about 30,000 sets in total. “At present we are experiencing increasing demand for the online product,” a statement from the publisher said. “However a print version will certainly be considered if there is sufficient demand at the time of publication.” Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told The Sunday Times in an interview he didn’t think the newest edition will be printed.

“The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year,” he said. Although the comments relate primarily to the full-length dictionary, the publisher says the convenience of the electronic

format is also affecting demand for its shorter dictionaries.

The first instalment of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1884, and it kept growing for decades until the complete text went out in 1928. It was the first comprehensive English dictionary since Samuel Johnson’s “A Dictionary of the English Language” published in 1755, and has since evolved to become the accepted authority on the meaning and history of words.

The version users now consult — the second edition — has 291,500 entries, plus 2.4 million quotations as sources. Unlike shorter printed versions such as the single-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, it doesn’t track current usage, it simply includes every single word. A team of 80 lexicographers are preparing the third edition of the dictionary, which is just under one-third complete. Oxford University Press hasn’t yet given a date for when the third edition will be ready. The Oxford English Dictionary first went online in 2000, offering paying subscribers a much faster way to look up words. It’s also helped the dictionary catch up with rapid semantic changes and the large numbers of new words: updates to the dictionary’s online version are added every three months.

In December, the online version will be relaunched to include a historical thesaurus to make cross-referencing easier. — AP

YouTube UK to launch free movie service NEW YORK: YouTube is to launch a free movie service after striking deals with US studios including Sony Pictures and UK service Blinkbox.

YouTube, which already delivers TV through deals with Channel 4 and Channel 5, will initially make more than 400 titles available for free and on-demand. The new section, www.youtube.com/movies, is offering films ranging from horror titles, such as Night of the Living Dead, to ‘classics’ such as The Clan of the Cave Bear and even Bollywood hits.

“This is one of many efforts to

ensure that people can find all the different kinds of video they want to see, from bedroom vlogs and citizen journalism reports to full-length films and TV shows,” said the YouTube head of video partnerships, Donagh O’Malley. “We hope film lovers enjoy the range of titles in this free library, whether catching up on a mainstream hit or delving into the vast archive of classic films from decades past.” The deal with Blinkbox, which charges from £1.99 for the rental of movies and TV shows, will see about 165 films made available for free. For Blinkbox, which will receive rev-

enue from advertising around the films, the move to make content available for free is about building the brand and reaching new audiences. Titles will include Hotel New Hampshire, with Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster, and The Dark Side of the Sun, starring Brad Pitt.

“The size and scope of YouTube’s audience is immense and this exciting tie-up allows us to reach film fans and potential users outside of our usual audience and helps us build on our already rapidly growing customer base,” said the Blinkbox chief executive, Michael Comish. —Guardian

Gap has performed better, pulling in 1.1 billion dollars in online sales last year, or 7.7 percent of its total.

But a recent poll by the Nielsen institute in 55 countries showed that clothes are now the second most popular products online, after airline tickets but before books. Mango’s aim of multiplying its online sales seven-fold in three years is one indication that the market may be about to take off.

Zara’s arrival “is eagerly awaited, as we are in the middle of boom in

Internet clothing sales,” said Nathalie Gennerat, a consultant at the French Fashion Institute.

She pointed to Britain, where almost 10 percent of clothing is purchased online.

Previously people were reluctant to buy clothes online because it is impossible to try them on first.

“There was also the question of shipping costs” and the problem of returns, said Jacqueline Anderson, an analyst with Forrester Research.

But companies now pay closer attention to some of these concerns, offering to pay a certain amount of the shipping charges or making exchanges easier, she said.

Zara said it wants to “reproduce the buying experience of its boutiques on the Internet,” with 100 percent of its products available at the same price of its high-street stores, and extend its website to the 77 countries where it is already present.

It has already prepared the ground.

Its Facebook page, launched last year, now has 4.4 million fans.

Its IPhone application has been downloaded some two million times.

And, even though you can’t yet shop there, its official website received 33.5 million visits last year.

Inditex, which owns seven other brands including Massimo Dutti and Bershka, sees the move as a “major strategic step” which will boost sales rather than eating into the earnings of the shops themselves. —AFP

Skype and telcos worry?

Google offers free calls to (US) Gmail users LONDON: Google has added free voice calls over the internet to its free email service Gmail in the US - although some UK users have found they can also use the service to make calls to the US for free.

The service, unveiled on Wednesday night, will let users make free calls at least to the end of this year within the US and Canada. That presently undercuts Skype, which charges per minute for calls to landline numbers. It also threatens existing VOIP providers, and the recently introduced MagicTalk service from VocalTec. But in using internet technology to carry the phone calls, Google is also positioning itself as a dangerous rival to US longdistance carriers, and telecoms companies carrying international voice traffic, which have seen their businesses being eaten into by calls carried over the internet. Many call centres, for instance, use voice-over-internet technology so that international calls can be handled more cheaply than with high-quality voice lines.

While computer-to-computer calling isn’t new, computerto-phone services have been much rarer, with Skype - which in August said it has 8.1m paying customers - being the only one that has managed to crack it convincingly. Vonage, a US company, offers a service in which customers have standard phones but make calls through VOIP - though they still need a

Google Voice phone calls: Coming to an email near you, if you live in the US landline for the basic telephone connection.

Google hopes to make money from the service by charging for international calls though those will vary widely, even within the same country.

It has a chart of rates. People also will be able to receive calls on their PC if they obtain a free phone number from Google, or already have one through its Google Voice service.

The new arrival poses a threat not just to telecoms companies: Skype is planning a $100m flotation, but is burdened with debt and is also

making significant capital investment. However, it dwarfs Google Voice for reach, having a total of 560m users, up 36% from last year, though the number of paying customers only rose 23% in the same time. In its SEC filing it noted that there could be competition from companies like Apple and BSkyB and Google.

But Skype does make an operating profit, with income of $13m on revenues of $406m in the first half of this year.

So far Google Voice - which was until about two months ago an invitation-only service as the

company absorbed its acquisition of GrandCentral, the VOIP provider that underlies this function - has more than 1.4m assigned phone numbers.

Those can then be used as the destination point for calls made to a home, office or mobile phone - like the 0700 “follow me” numbers used in the UK. Google is also going to promote the service by setting up red phone booths in US universities and airports, letting them make free calls inside North America, and cheaper ones outside it.

The company also wants to

make it possible to transfer existing home or mobile numbers to Google Voice to broaden its appeal.

At present only users of the Gmail system inside the US are being offered the service.

Business, military and government users of Google’s mail and calendar services are not yet being offered the service, but it may be broadened to them: “we’re working on making this available more broadly - stay tuned!” said Nick Foster, a Google Voice software engineer, in a blog post on Wednesday. —Guardian

India BlackBerry users hold breath on threatened ban NEW DELHI: India’s BlackBerry users are holding their breath as they wait to see if the government carries out a threat this week to ban encrypted messages sent on the phones due to fears of misuse by militants.

The government, worried that militants could use BlackBerry’s heavily encrypted services to plan attacks, warned earlier this month it would start blocking emails and instant messages sent on the smartphones unless the company comes up with a way for security agencies to decode the traffic by August 31.

There were indications late last week the deadline might be pushed back beyond Tuesday’s deadline as BlackBerry’s Canadian makers, Research in Motion (RIM), scrambled to satisfy the authorities.

Minister of state for communications Sachin Pilot said he was “hopeful” a plan could be worked out with RIM. The government-keen to project India as a fast-growing, investorfriendly economy-is “not in the business of shutting down services”, Pilot said, but stressed New Delhi was also not ready to sacrifice its security interests.

“These concerns have been addressed in other parts of the world. I see no reason why the government and (security) agencies should take any risk at all as far as technology (is concerned).”

Analysts have noted other security-conscious nations such as China and Russia appear to be satisfied over their intelligence agencies’ level of access to BlackBerry communications.

G.K. Pillai, the top bureaucrat in the home ministry, was due to hold a department meeting Monday to take a call on India’s next step.

Officials have suggested RIM might be given a one or two-month extension of the deadline.

BlackBerry users said they hoped a shutdown could be averted.

MUMBAI: Indian men chat sitting outside a BlackBerry phone store in Mumbai. India’s BlackBerry users are holding their breaths to see whether the government goes ahead this week with a threatened ban on encrypted messages sent on the smartphones due to security worries.

The government, fearful BlackBerry’s encrypted services could be used by militants to plan attacks, warned earlier this month it would start blocking emails and instant messages sent using the handsets unless the company comes up with a way for security agencies to intercept the traffic by August 31. —AFP “It’s as essential as food, water and shelter. A BlackBerry is a necessity for all the corporate guys, and the government can’t afford to do that (a ban), that’s for sure,” said marketing manager Amit Deshmukh.

But the government has already told cellular operators to be prepared to shut off BlackBerry’s corporate messaging services. Noncorporate emails are less heavily encrypted and can already be

accessed by Indian security agencies.

For RIM, whose shares closed at a 52-week low on Friday of 45.99 dollars in New York, striking a deal with India is crucial and would help ensure the company is not shut out of the world’s fastest-growing cellular market.

India, which has 1.1 million BlackBerry users, would be the first country to curb its services.

But RIM is also facing a threatened

ban by the United Arab Emirates and is negotiating with Saudi Arabia on security issues.

In a bid to head off a showdown, RIM offered Thursday to set up an “industry forum” to look at how to prevent misuse of the encrypted service while safeguarding corporate privacy.

RIM and analysts insist the company is unable to comply with demands to hand over codes allowing interception by security agen-

MUMBAI: In a picture taken on August 27, 2010, an Indian technician repairs BlackBerry phones inside a BlackBerry store in Mumbai. —AFP cies. RIM says it has no “master key” to unlock encryption codes of clients which are set at the user level and argues the issue is an industry-wide concern.

“The industry forum would work closely with the Indian government and focus on developing recommendations for policies and processes aimed at preventing the misuse of strong encryption technologies,” RIM said.

“Banning one solution, such as

the BlackBerry solution, would be ineffective” and also “severely limit the effectiveness and productivity of India’s corporations,” RIM added.

“They are essentially trying to educate the government so it can stay ahead of the technology-militants are not going to be going around using corporate emails, there are more sophisticated methods,” Kunal Bajaj, director India of telecom consulting firm Analysys

Mason, told AFP. “I honestly do not think India will shut BlackBerry services down, it’s just taking a bit of time to see what are the options and how to get what they’re looking for,” he added. Nareshchandra Singh, principal research analyst at Gartner global consultancy, said there “could be some extension, but ultimately if the government doesn’t get what it wants it could come to a ban.” —AFP

health & scIence

28

Monday, august 30, 2010

China coal drive will not end health risks: Report BEIJING: China’s drive to promote clean coal technology is unlikely to reduce significantly the health risks of extracting what remains the dirtiest of fossil fuels, environmental group Greenpeace said.

A report released by Greenpeace and the China Disease Control Centre said huge rates of coal consumption were a factor behind an increase in cancer and birth defects as well as non-specific and chronic nervous, immune and respiratory illnesses.

Coal-fired power plants contribute

three quarters of China’s total electricity needs, but also around 70 percent of energy sector air pollution.

The government has been studying how to reduce its toxic effects, but “clean coal” remains a misnomer, said the group’s China campaign manager, Yang Ailun. “There are many coal power plants saying they are now ‘clean’ but there are a lot of misunderstandings-coal creates pollution and clean coal is impossible,” she said. She said efforts to promote low-emission technology like highly efficient ultra-

supercritical (USC) boilers or CO2-stripping carbon capture and storage (CCS) would not address health and environmental issues that arise from burning coal.

The report, issued on Friday, said coal produces 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, the main cause of global warming. Yang said China has controlled sulphur dioxide and may impose restrictions on CO2, but has not addressed other pollutants.

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is revising atmospheric emission standards from

thermal power plants, and restrictions on nitrogen oxides and breathable particulate matter could be imposed by next year.

But the industry has been lobbying for more government backing. Many in the sector also urge the United Nations to allow technologies like CCS to receive support from the clean development mechanism (CDM).

The CDM, which enables industrialised countries to invest in clean projects in the developing world in exchange for carbon credits, already supports coal effi-

ciency projects. Yang said CDM financing should be restricted to projects like wind and solar.

China has made progress in commercialising USC boiler technology, but the feasibility of other technologies, like CCS, remains in question and they are not likely to get substantial backing in the 20112015 five-year plan.

Nor will the coal sector benefit from a 5 trillion yuan ($735 billion) investment package in new energy to increasing the share of non-fossil fuel energy in the over-

all energy mix to 20 percent by 2020, from 9 percent at present.

Fatih Birol, chief economist with the International Energy Agency, told Reuters last Friday that the aim of the programme was to reduce the share of coal. “Of course it will be very good if efforts continue and if there will be investment in the clean coal technologies but I think looking at the programme now it is more about diversifying China’s electricity generation mix and decarbonising.” — Reuters

Conflicting data on whether gene tests needed for Plavix

Gene testing war looms for AstraZeneca heart drug STOCKHOLM: Gene testing is sha ping up to be a marketing ba ttleground for new blood thinners like Astra Zeneca ’s Brilinta , underscoring the pow er and limita tions of genetics a s a tool to predict medica l outcomes. The arrival of generic copies of Sanofi-Aventis a nd Bristol-Myers Squibb’s top-seller Pla vix makes the issue a hot topic scientifica lly a nd commercia lly, new studies at the Europea n Society of Ca rdiology congress yesterday show ed.

THATTA: Pakistani flood survivors take care of newly born babies at a medical camp in Thatta yesterday. — AFP

Malaysia mulls landmark trial of GM anti-dengue mosquitoes KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is considering releasing genetically modified mosquitoes designed to combat dengue fever, in a landmark field trial that has come in for criticism from environmentalists.

In the first experiment of its kind in Asia, 2,000-3,000 male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes would be released in two Malaysian states in October or November.

The insects in the study have been engineered so that their offspring quickly die, curbing the growth of the population in a technique researchers hope could eventually eradicate the dengue mosquito altogether.

Females of the Aedes species are responsible for spreading dengue fever, a sometimes deadly illness that has killed 100 people so far this year in Malaysia alone.

The World Health Organization estimates worldwide infections at 50 million annually. Numbers have grown dramatically in recent decades, due to rapid urbanisation and enhanced mobility that has carried the virus further afield.

The proposal field trial follows a series of lab tests conducted in Malaysia since 2006, and the government is seeking public feedback before moving to the next step.

But environmentalists are not convinced, and are concerned the genetically modified (GM) mosquito could fail to prevent dengue and could also have unintended consequences. “Once you release these GM mosquitoes into the environment, you have no control and it can create more problems than solving them,” said Gurmit Singh, head of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development.

“There are a lot of risks involved,” he told AFP.

Singh said the larvae will only die if their environment is free of tetracycline, an antibiotic commonly used for medical and veterinary purposes.

“If the larvae come into contact with the tetracycline, the chances of the larvae surviving is higher than it dying off,” he said.

“We don’t know how the genetic flow will be affected.

The non-targeted species might be adversely affected and increase the risk of ecological harm.”

“We shouldn’t take the risk, it is better to play safe,” Singh said, adding that current measures to contain dengue outbreaks such as spraying insecticides are still effective if enforcement is beefed up.

The field trial for the GM anti-dengue mosquitoes-which was developed by a Britishbased insect bio-tech company, Oxitec-will be undertaken by the Malaysia’s Institute for Medical Research, an agency under the health ministry.

The two groups, through their media firm, declined comment on the trial or respond to the environmental concerns, saying it was inappropriate as their “application is now going through the final stages of regulatory scrutiny”.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said on its website that the field trial, if approved, would be conducted on two consecutive days and “in strict adherence to requirements” by the National

Biosafety Board. It said the GM mosquitoes proposed for release contain “a fluorescent molecular marker and a selflimiting construct”.

A ministry official confirmed the plan to AFP and said that anti-dengue GM mosquitoes had previously been released in a trial in Cayman Islands in the Caribbean.

Dengue infection leads to a sudden onset of fever with severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, and rashes.

The virus has historically been found in tropical regions, particularly in urban and semiurban areas, but has spread in recent years to colder and higher places and is now endemic in more than 100 countries. — AFP

NEW YORK: Douglas Quint serves ice cream to a customer from his Big Gay Ice Cream Truck in New York on August 19, 2010. The 39-year-old, who plays the bassoon professionally in Boston in the winter and sells ice cream in New York in the summer, is one of several street vendors serving highend fare which have appeared on New York streets in the last couple of years. — AFP

One study found AstraZeneca’s Brilinta, unlike Plavix, requires no genetic testing to check if it will work, while another showed Eli Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo’s Effient also worked irrespective of gene variations.

On the face of it, the results of the two company-sponsored trials give the firms valuable ammunition in a looming marketing war with cheap copies of Plavix, or clopidogrel.

“Physicians don’t like complications, so if there was an alternative to clopidogrel that worked the same way that did not have these variations then most people would jump on it,” said Alfred Bove of Philadelphia’s Temple University School of Medicine.

But the evidence is far from clear-cut. A third study, sponsored by Sanofi and Bristol, contradicted the idea that people with a certain genetic makeup don’t benefit from Plavix.

The stakes are high because Plavix is the world’s second biggest drug, with sales last year of more than $9.5 billion.

The drug is already off patent in parts of Europe and will lose U.S. patent protection in 2012.

AstraZeneca believes Brilinta is better than either Plavix or Effient, which has been linked to higher bleeding risk, and is hoping the new gene data will add another string to its bow.

Brilinta is expected to win a green light to go on sale in the United States as early as next month, after being endorsed by a US advisory panel last month.

An analysis of more than 10,000 patients in the PLATO study found Brilinta cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths more than Plavix, whether or not they had a genetic variability that has been previously shown to affect a patient’s response to clopidogrel.

The Effient study showed similar lack of impact from gene variations, based on a smaller analysis of data from the TRITON study. Both studies were published in The Lancet journal.

The link between Plavix response rates and genetics hit the headlines in March, when the US Food and Drug Administration warned that some patients have a poor response to the drug because they do not break it down well.

European regulators have not yet followed suit and Gilles Montalescot of Hospital PitieSalpetriere in Paris said more studies were needed before conclusions could be drawn about the value of widespread genetic profiling.

That uncertainty was underlined by the third study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing no difference between poor metabolisers of Plavix and others among 6,000 participants from two other trials, CURE and ACTIVE. The lead researcher of that study, Guillaume Pare, said it added “a further layer of complexity”, by showing that reported genetic variants had no effect in certain patient populations.

“The whole field is in flux,” said David Holmes of the US Mayo Clinic in Rochester, commenting on the three studies.

“Everybody would like to think that personalised medicine is going to be perfect. We just don’t have chapter and verse to make sure that’s the case.” —Reuters

CAN THO: In a picture taken on July 8, 2010 a woman walks past a methadone clinic in the southern city of Can Tho. The communist country has been a long time sceptic of using methadone to deal with heroin addiction, but due to the scale of the problem and better understanding of the treatments Vietnam is now following the example of other countries and stepping up methadone therapies across the country. Official sources say there are 150,000 drug addicts nationwide, 80 per cent of which inject heroin. — AFP

Bone marrow cells can help in heart failure STOCKHOLM: Patients with chronic heart failure given injections of their own bone marrow stem cells have better heart function and live longer, German researchers said yesterday.

The beneficial effects of the cell therapy were seen within three months and continued for five years, according to findings from one of the biggest studies to date on using stem cell therapy to treat heart conditions.

For years, doctors have tried to use various forms of stem cells to treat damaged hearts, with varying results.

The latest findings are still not conclusive but lead researcher Bodo-Eckehard Strauer of Duesseldorf’s Heinrich Heine University said

the long-term benefits were encouraging.

Previous studies have suggested that cell therapy can be effective in patients who have suffered a heart attack. The new research indicates it could also play a role in patients with chronic heart failure.

Bone marrow stem cells used in the study were taken from the top of the patient’s pelvis and sorted in the lab before being injected back into the heart area, where they improved ventricular function, or the heart’s ability to pump blood.

The study included 391 patients, of whom 191 agreed to have the bone marrow stem cell treatment and 200 did not. After five years, seven patients had

died in the treated group against 32 in the control arm-a significant difference.

“Our study suggests that, when administered as an alternative or in addition to conventional therapy, bone marrow cell therapy can improve quality of life, increase ventricular performance and increase survival,” Strauer said.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle loses its ability to pump blood through the body efficiently, often as a result of a heart attack.

Conventional drug-based treatments do not attempt to correct the underlying cause, which is usually the loss of functional heart tissue, and the prognosis for the treatment is poor. — Reuters

UN hopes science review eases climate scepticism OSLO: A review due today can help restore public faith in the UN panel of climate scientists and its finding that global warming is man-made despite errors in a 2007 report, the UN’s environment chief said.

Achim Steiner also told Reuters yesterday that extreme weather in 2010 such as floods in Pakistan or Russia’s heat wave were a “stark warning” of the need to act to slow global warming — as outlined by the UN panel.

He said he would be surprised if Monday’s review, spurred by mistakes in a 2007 report such as an exaggeration of the thaw of the Himalayas, called for any radical overhaul of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The InterAcademy Council, comprising science academies around the world, is due to hand its review and recommendations for the future of the IPCC to UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in New York.

Steiner, head of the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said the report follows others in 2010 that have backed the core findings by the IPCC that it is at least 90 percent certain that mankind is driving global warming.

“Hopefully the release tomorrow will be a moment where the public can reflect and say that ‘all these reviews have not pointed to any fundamental flaw in the work’,” he said in a telephone interview from Stockholm.

He said he had not seen the IAC report and would only get a copy 30 minutes before its release. He said those who were sceptical that global warming is man-made had seized on a few mistakes to challenge the entire IPCC.

“There is a climate of doubt and uncertainty that has been created,” Steiner said.

“This is not justified”. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with US climate campaigner Al Gore.

The controversy about the IPCC, following a UN summit in Copenhagen in December that fell short of agreeing a new UN climate treaty, “has slowed down momentum, It has created uncertainty in an area where that is not needed.”

“I suspect (the IAC) will make proposals for enhancing, strengthening, improving the process of working on climate reporting and the assessment,” he said.

“I’d be surprised-though I don’t know-if there are fundamental changes,” to the way the IPCC works, he said. The recommendations will be debated by governments at a meeting in South Korea in mid-October.

Possible reforms include making the IPCC quicker at coming up with reports, perhaps focusing more on regional effects.

The IPCC now focuses on assessments of the global climate every six or seven years.

He said he doubted the IAC would discuss leaders of the IPCC, led by chairman Rajendra Pachauri. “It was not the council’s mandate to evaluate individuals,” he said.

Steiner was in Sweden to receive a 500,000 Swedish crowns ($67,690) prize from the Tallberg Foundation. Steiner said he would give the money to the Sarhad Rural Support Programme helping flood victims in Pakistan. He said extreme weather such as in Pakistan was “a stark warning of what the world will have to deal with ... This is a generation that has choice it can still make if it wants to avoid disasters,” he said. — Reuters

Monday, August 30, 2010

heAlth & science

29

Omega-3 margarines fail to help in heart study Finding may reflect high level of drug care STOCKHOLM: Giving patients with a history of heart attacks a margarine enriched with omega-3 oils in addition to standard drugs appears to make no difference to their chances of having a repeat attack.

A 40-month study of more than 4,800 patients showed taking low doses of omega-3 fatty acids in margarine did not significantly reduce rates of serious heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, Dutch researchers said yesterday. The finding raised questions about the benefits of omega-3, which has been shown in previous studies to make for healthier hearts. The margarines used in the study were developed for the researchers by food and consumer goods giant Unilever.

Doctors, however, are unlikely to rush to change clinical practice. Many already prescribe omega-3 fish oil capsules, including GlaxoSmithKline's Lovaza, to reduce triglycerides, a type of blood fat linked to clogged arteries. "It will be viewed as a largely negative study and people who are enthusiasts for omega fatty acids will continue to be enthusiasts and people who are sceptics will continue to be sceptics," said Scott Wright of the Mayo

Clinic in the United States, who was not involved in the research. Daan Kromhout of Wageningen University, who led the study, told the European Society of Cardiology the lack of efficacy might reflect the good background drug treatment patients were receiving, with 85 percent on cholesterol-lowering statins, as well as blood pressure and blood-thinning tablets. "We found the cardiovascular mortality rate in the study population was only half that expected, probably because of their excellent treatment," he said. "This may also be why the rate of major cardiovascular events during follow-up was no lower in the fatty acid groups than in the placebo group."

All the men and women in the Dutch study were aged between 60 and 80 and had suffered a heart attack roughly four years previously.

They were randomly assigned use of one of four margarines on bread instead of their regular spread-one containing no extra omega-3 fatty acids; one with 400 milligrams a day of extra eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA); one with 2 grams of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA); and one with a combination of EPA-DHA and ALA.

Fish like salmon, herring and sardine are a common source of EPA-DHA, while ALA is found in vegetables including soybeans, flax seeds and walnuts.

Despite the overall negative results, researchers did find there was a reduction in repeat heart attacks and other cardiovascular events in women who took ALA margarine, although this was not statistically significant.

Diabetes patients also showed a possible benefit. Unilever, whose margarine brands that contain omega-3 include Flora and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, said the lack of benefit seen with EPA and DHA was surprising, considering the weight of evidence published to date. "The results indicate that more investigation is required into the efficacy of vegetable omega 3, but do not question the current authoritative dietary recommendations and advices for omega 3 intakes on which our products are based," the company said in a statement. The results of the study, which was supported by the Netherlands Heart Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and Unilever, were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine. — Reuters

Core business: Genome of the apple is laid bare PARIS: One of the world's most popular fruits, the apple, has been genetically sequenced, an exploit that could lead to crisper, juicier and more flavoursome harvests, scientists said yesteray.

The genome comprises 600 million base pairs, or "rungs" of DNA in the ladder of genetic code, they reported in the journal Nature Genetics.

The apple is a member of the Rosaceae family, which includes a third of all flowering plants, among them a broad variety of fruit species, such as the peach, raspberry, pear and strawberry.

Despite the differences between these fruit plants, they share strong similarities at the genetic level, for large stretches of the apple's DNA are found in the other species, the study said. However, the genetic material is ordered quite differently. The apple, like its close cousin the pear, has 17 chromosomes, but the others have only between seven and nine chromosomes. Put together, this picture suggests

that there was an "apple ancestor" before a divergence that occurred around 50 to 65 million years ago.

Intriguingly, this is in the same timeframe as the catastrophic event that wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous era. A commonly-aired theory pins the blame on a space rock that whacked into the Earth and ignited huge fires as it collided, kicking clouds of ash and dust that cooled the climate.

"By duplicating almost all of its genome, apples now have very different fruit characteristics to related plants such as peaches, raspberries and strawberries," said Sue Gardiner, a scientist at New Zealand Plant and Food Research, which took part in the study. "This suggests that a major environmental event forced certain species, including apple, to evolve for survival."

Thirteen institutions in five countries took part in the venture, which cracked open the genetic code of a "Golden Delicious."

Agricultural scientists are racing to sequence the genetic code of leading sources of food, as this could help pinpoint inherited traits for boosting yields, resilience, flavour and other characteristics. Once identified, the genes can be spliced into other strains, often by using traditional breeding methods rather than by genetic engineering.

New Zealand's Plant and Food are already using such data to produce new apple strains, including a red-flesh fruit that has higher levels of anthocyanins, an antioxidant.

Last week, British geneticists published a draft of a benchmark variety of wheat. The grain accounts for 30 percent of global grain production and 20 percent of daily food calories.

Supplies of the staple, though, are clouded by the world's surging population growth, water stress caused by climate change and the emergence of a strain of deadly fungus called stem rust. — AFP

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

30

Monday, August 30, 2010

Infinity Family Center holds festival The Infinity Family Center recently held a festival at the 360 mall, which included several activities and competitions for which various prizes have been allocated.

Birthday Greetings

H

appy birthday dear Teju. May God bless you and give you a whole world of happiness. Greetings come from, family and friends.

Winners of the World Gold Fiesta Mega Draw at Joyalukkas.

Attention Kids!

C H

appy birthday Manal Mohammed Reezan on her 1st Birthday today.

May Allah shower upon her the choicest of blessings on this day. Greetings from dada - Reezan, mama - Fathima, Dadimaa, and family members in Sri Lanka.

Special wishes from Farooq uncle.

Abdul Khader, General Manager Lulu Hypermarket, Al-Rai, giving away the mega prize to Neha Sunil and family, in the presence of Gipson George, Regional Manager Joyalukkas Kuwait.

EF VBS 10 starting from September 6th to 11. Six exciting days of singing, games & Bible stories for children of all ages. Pre-Teens (Class 1st to 7th) 6th to 10th September 2010 & Teens (Class 8th to 12th) 10th to 11th September 2010. Transport provided.

Gifts for all those register and participate. HURRY !!! . Limited Seats. For Registration please contact: 94401015, 94401016, 94401017 or Register online: www.cefkuwait.org

Monday, August 30, 2010

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

31 Embassy information

Announcements Sept 17 Onam Fest 2010: ‘Vanithavedi Kuwait’ a leading women’s association will be celebrating Onam on Friday, Sept 17, 2010, from 9 am - 6 pm at the Indian Community School, Khaitan Branch, the program named as ‘OnamFest 2010’ will have the public meeting followed by various cultural programs. The traditional Onasadya will be served. For the successful conduct of Onam Fest 2010, a program committee has been formed. Dr Vasanthy Nair (general convenor), Valsamma George, Dr Mary (Joint Convenors), Prasanna Ramabhadran (Arts convenor), Tolly Prakash (Food convenor), Shiny Ajith (Raffle convenor), Sumathy Babu (Souvenir convenor), Valsa Sam (Publicity convenor), Syamala Narayanan, (Reception convenor), Sharlette Albert (Volunteer captain). For more details, contact: 24342807, 66428433, 66596625, 24331598.

Theater & Music All level music classes: ‘Treasure of Talents’ (est in 1992) music education program invites all level music classes on piano, theory of music, vocal, flute.

Academic Level teachers help prepare for international exams, children concerts, yearly ‘Treasure of Talents’ Festival and music competitions. Contact Prof Cezary, Tel. 25320427, 66549009 of Ms Yasmeene Berlitz Institute Tel: 22542212. 22512533 or email: treasureoftalents@yahoo.com treasureoftalents@hotmail.com

EMbAssy OF Us

Ponnonam 2010

K

eralites at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kuwait, celebrated Onam, their cultural festival, on 23rd August 2010 under the title ‘Ponnonam 2010’. Being the Ramadan month, the celebrations commenced after Iftar. Hotel Manager Ahmed Serafi inaugurated the spectacular function by ceremonial lighting of the lamp. “The rich and unique cultural heritage of Kerala is beautifully reflected in the method of celebrations

of the harvest festival, Onam” said Sarafi in his inaugural speech.

Felicitation messages were delivered

by Crowne Plaza Human Resources Manager Ali Naseredin, Area Director of Engineering Shaji Abraham.

Engineering Coordinator Thomas Mathew chaired the function.

Adorned with conventional costumes and ornaments, one of the security staff alluringly epitomized ‘Maveli’ the legendary king of the bygone era,

whose imaginary annual visit to enquire the wellbeing of populace; the celebration is all about. ‘Pulikali’ a rudimentary skit on leopard hunt played in harmonious movements with the tempo of typical background music was the focus of attraction of the celebrations. Stage decoration depicting the visage of a snake-boat, and circular flower mat prepared with flower petals of different colours were other noteworthy features of the celebration.

Another unique experience of the celebration was the specially prepared Keralite cuisines served in traditional manner on banana leaves for 300 people. Boiled rice with Ratheshan and Nasar, Chefs of Crowne Plaza Hotel were on the wheel in preparing ‘Onasadya’ the traditional feast.

Undoubtedly, it was an occasion for the Keralite staff in Crowne Plaza Kuwait to cherish the profound memories of the festivity of their homeland.

✦✦✦ Call to classical music lovers: Are you a lover of music? Would you like to promote the traditional Indian classical music in Kuwait? If your answer is in the affirmative, please write ton more details to music_karnatic@yahoo.co. in (that is, music underscore karnatic) with your contact details or call 7978286.

SEPT 24 NSS Onam: Nair Service Society (NSS), Kuwait will celebrate Onam on Sept 24, at Cambridge School, Mangaf. South Indian film star and acclaimed dancer Lakshmi Gopalaswamy will perform during the function. Ajai Malhotra, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, will be the chief guest at the Onam celebration on September 24, which will be followed by a full day variety entertainment program depicting the rich heritage and art forms of Kerala. Muraleekrishnan P, President of Nair Service Society, Kuwait (NSS Kuwait) will preside over the function.The Ona-Sadhya (Onam Feast) will be served in the traditional Kerala style on banana leaf on September 24. Nair Service Society (NSS) Kuwait, is one of the largest Socio-Cultural Organization in Kuwait formed in year 2001 and now has more than 3000 Indians as members. For more information, contact Anish Nair, NSS Kuwait 9969-1431.

Oct 14 Tulukoota Kuwait announces its “Decennial Parba “on October 14th & 15th.

2010 at American International School Hawally. We invite all Tulukoota Kuwait members to join us for fun filled and exciting events planned to celebrate the milestones throughout Tulukoota Kuwait’s 10 years journey. 14th October Rasamanjari musical show by Star performer Anuradha Bhatt, Prakash Mahadevan Naveen Koppa & others, Vismaya Jadoo by Mega Magic Star Ganesh Kudroli & troupe. Dr. Mohan Alva Cultural Performances & King of Comedy Navin D Padil presents tulu drama “ Paniyerla aath Panande Budiyerla aath” This is a fun tilled evening for entire family!

Join us for a great time. For more information call : Swarna C Shetty - 99006934; Pascal Pinto - 9953 1557; Sathya Narayan 66585077: Suresh Salian - 99161228; Chandrahasa Shetty - 55941955.

OCT 21 Rendezvous 2010: The Kuwait Chapter of the St. Aloysius College Alumni Association (SACAA KUWAIT) have announced that “Rendezvous” their hallmark event will be conducted on 21st October at Asia Asia Restaurant, Souk Al Watiya, Kuwait City from 8 pm onwards. This year, SACAA Kuwait celebrates five years of its existence in Kuwait. SACAA-Kuwait has been synonymous with various fund raising initiatives through which they consistently supported various needs of their Alma Mater and its students back in Mangalore, India.

Through Rendezvous-2010, SACAA-Kuwait intends to help generate funds for the Poor Students Fund of St. Aloysius institutions where numerous needy students look forward to assistance to subsidize their costs.

SACAA Kuwait calls upon all Aloysians, their families and also like minded people to join this noble cause and help make life a little better for those needy students back home. For entry passes and further information, kindly contact - 66731828, 66746425, 66181041, 94093275, 66699857, 66091962.

OCT 29 Onathanima tug of war: Thanima is conducting its annual Onam celebrations along with its celebrated tug of war competitions on October 29 at Central School compound, Abbasiya. Cultural procession, concert and other attractive cultural items will add glitter to the evening function in which many prominent personalities are expected to be present. Those teams wishing to participate in the tug of war competition, please contact 99865499 / 97253653 / 66071276 / 99703872.

Nov 17 Trend setter Udupi Restaurant, Kuwait proudly presents “ Gandharva Ganam” a live carnatic classical concert by living legend & maestro Padmabooshan Dr. K.J.Yesudas with his troupe on 17th Nov. 2010 at American International School, Kuwait. Sri. Nagai Murali on violin, Sri. Bakthavalsalam on Mridangam and Sri. Thripunithura Radhakrishnan on Ghatam.

For more details, please contact 66752462 or 66784867.

The United States Department of State announces the increase in various visa fees to ensure sufficient resources to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas (NIVs). US law requires the Department to recover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas through the collection of the application fees. The increased fees are to take effect June 4, 2010. Under the new rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petitionbased visas will pay an application fee of $150, as each of the below categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists.

These categories include: H visa for temporary workers and trainees L visa for intra-company transferees O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors R visa for religious occupations The application fee for K visas for fiance(e)s of US citizens will be $350. The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors will be $390.

EMBASSY OF INDIA

Rich tributes paid for Urdu poet Najam

L

ocal Urdu and Punjabi poets and writers paid rich tributes to famous Urdu poet Najam Akasi, who passed away in Sialkot, Pakistan at the age of 62. Najam lived in Kuwait for thirty years and left for Pakistan two years ago. He is the author of two poetry books.

An emergency condolence meeting was called under the banner of “Taraqi Passand Forum Kuwait” at the residence of Javaid Ahmad President of Kuwait Asian Journalists Association (KAJA).

The purpose of the meeting was to pay tributes to Najam Akashi. Local Urdu poet Essa Baloch conducted the proceeding; he also read the selected poetry of the late writer. He said Najam Akashi was his teacher in poetry and they had been living together for five years in a single room.

His unpublished poetry will be brought from Pakistan for Printing in Kuwait. The Indian Poet J Singh Guru Baksh Singh Dogra, another prominent member of the Indian Community also paid tributes to Najam Akashi and said he was not only a good poet but also was a great man.

He had been translating Gurmukhi into Urdu so beautifully that translation look better than the original said Dogra.

Safdar Ali Safdar a famous Poet of the Pakistani Community said that the persons like Najam Akashi never die, he was an original poet, he will live in hearts for his good natured talks.

Sunil Sonosi, Shabie Ahmad prominent members of the Indian Community said that the people like Najam know the art of ruling hearts. Server Jan a famous Pakistani poet said that Najam maintained the balance between original verses and translation.

Riaz Ahmad, a prominent Pakistani Community member said that he is very distressed as he felt a part of his body has been severed. Amjad Amin and Mohd Arsheed another prominent members of Pakistani Community said that the death of Najam has created a space in the literary Community which can never be fulfilled.

Munir Faraz writer and columnist of the Pakistani Community also said that he is very sad. A poet can be recognized by his single verse, may his soul rest in peace.

Yasir Butt a prominent member of Pakistani Community said he always remained in touch with pen and paper... like other people he will not die after 40 days. Mohammad Tariq Jadoon, Mohammad Arshad and Mohammad Omer also paid tributes to the late poet and prayed for his soul.

Javaid Ahmad President Kuwait Asian Journalists Association (KAJA) was the last to speak. There was a minute silence before his speech. He said Najam was an original creator who never stole a single verse. He was converted into a writer after passing through different stages. We should decide, we are with the true creators or with counterfeits.

He further made people aware of the implications of stealing any writings which is a crime and could lead to legal action. He announced that the unprinted verses of Najam Akashi will be published under the banner of Taraqi Passand Forums Kuwait.

Ahmad Al-Qadairi held a ghabqa recently at his diwaniya in Mishref to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, which was attended by several ambassadors of Asian countries in Kuwait, as well as the Australian ambassador, who expressed will wishes for the holy occasion.

Babu Chakkola as the Asura king Mahabali with his family enacting as the once a year visiting king’s family during Syro Malabar Cultural Association’s Onam celebrations in Mangaf, last Friday.

Kuwait’s first expat priestly ordination

D

n. Prince Varghese Madathileth, born in Kuwait, March 21, 1982, now a deacon, awaiting priestly ordination on September 3, 2010 at the N.E.C.K Kuwait, is the first expat priest to be ordained in Kuwait. Studied in the Indian School, Abbasiya before invasion and then studied till the 12th grade on the United Indian School, Abbasiya, Dn. Prince went to the prestigious Madras Christian College to pursue Bachelors of Arts in English Literature. While doing Masters in Mass Communication, he got selected to do his Bachelors in Divinity in the Marthoma Seminary.

Influenced greatly by the diaspora Marthoma community in Kuwait, Dn. Prince won sev-

eral Literary and Debating competitions, including the Pelican award for Debating in M.C.C. Also plays basketball. He did his B.D Thesis in the field of Islamic Studies. ( A theological understanding on the concept of Jehad in Islam and its modern day implications) He is married to Candy Sarah George, also raised in Kuwait, now working with the Al Essa Bio Medical Equipments Company. His parents are Raju Varghese (working with the Al Kout Petro Chemical Industries) and Aleyamma Raju ( Staff Nurse at the Infectious Diseases Hospital).

The priestly ordination function is to be held at NECK, Kuwait City, at 4pm, on this Friday.

Toastmasters Club announcement

D

o you want to overcome your fear of speaking in public? Do you want to sharpen your presentation skills? Do you want to develop leadership skills? Do you wish to attend job interviews with confidence? All of these can be achieved for a nominal fee with unlimited opportunities to practice and develop at the new Toastmasters Club

(affiliated to Toastmasters International USA), being chartered in Salmiya. If you want to be part of your own chartered club, join us at Bayan Restaurant, Salmiya (next to Red Tag) at 7:45 pm on Friday, September 3, 2010. For free registration contact Vishwanath at 67735024 visragmal@yahoo.com or Xavier at 99850173 Xaviermuthu@hotmail.com

The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week. Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays.

Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

The Embassy of India will remain closed on August 23 and September 2, 2010 on account of ‘Onam’ and ‘Janmashtami’ respectively.

EMbAssy OF bANGLADEsH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow the following office hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday: 09:00 - 3:00 pm. Friday and Saturday: Weekly holidays.

EMBASSY OF turkEY The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey announces that Turkish language course will restart at the Embassy’s Tourism, Culture and Information Office 4 October 2010. The lessons will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. For further details and registration please contact. * The Embassy at Tel: 22531785 (only from 9 am to 3 pm) * Or fill the application form on http://kuweyt.befscnet.net and send it to the e-mail: Turkish_embassy_Kuwait@hotmail.com EMbAssy OF THAiLAND All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulate General worldwide, including eligible foreigners who apply for Visa on arrival at designated checkpoints, will be exempted from tourist visa fees until 31 March 2011. Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa only.

TV PROGRAMS

32

Monday, August 30, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

00:00 Mercy 01:00 Damages 02:00 Emmy Awards pre-show 03:00 Emmy Awards live 05:00 My Own Worst Enemy 06:00 The Closer 07:00 Mercy 08:00 Dawson’s Creek 09:00 Criminal Minds 10:00 Flash Forward 11:00 My Own Worst Enemy 12:00 The Closer 13:00 Criminal Minds 14:00 Flash Forward 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Damages 17:00 Cold Case 18:00 Mercy 19:00 The Closer 20:00 Emmy Awards (rpt) preshow and awards ceremony live 23:00 Grey’s Anatomy

00:45 Weird Creatures with Nick Baker 01:40 Ultimate Air Jaws 02:35 Shark Bait Beach 03:30 Untamed & Uncut 04:25 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 RSPCA: On the Frontline 06:35 Vet on the Loose 07:00 Animal Crackers 07:25 Meerkat Manor 07:50 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:45 Groomer Has It 09:40 Animal Battlegrounds 10:05 Shark After Dark 10:55 Monkey Life 11:20 Night 11:50 Animal Precinct 12:45 Vet on the Loose 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Philadelphia 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Sharkman 16:25 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Dogs 101 18:15 After the Attack 19:10 Uakari ‚Äì Secrets of the English Monkey 20:10 Animal Cops Houston 21:05 Shark Therapy 22:00 Human Prey 22:55 Animal Cops Philadelphia 23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:20 Last Rights 01:10 Hotel Babylon 02:00 Home Again 03:00 Gigglebiz 03:15 Tellytales 03:45 Tikkabilla 04:15 Gigglebiz 04:30 Tellytales 05:00 Tikkabilla 05:30 Coast 06:30 Mastermind 2006 07:00 Gigglebiz 07:35 Tellytales 07:45 Tikkabilla 08:15 Gigglebiz 08:30 Tweenies 09:00 Tikkabilla 09:30 Mastermind 2006 10:00 Coast 11:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 12:00 The Weakest Link 12:45 Only Fools And Horses 13:15 Doctors 13:45 Mastermind 2006 14:15 Coast 15:15 Last Of The Summer Wine 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Only Fools And Horses 18:00 Mine All Mine 19:00 Waterloo Road 19:50 Doctor Who Confidential 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 Terry Jones’ Barbarians 22:35 Doctor Who Confidential 22:45 Holby City

00:10 Saturday Kitchen 00:40 Living In The Sun 01:30 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 02:15 The Home Show

03:05 Cash In The Attic 03:50 Cash In The Attic 04:35 Indian Food Made Easy 05:05 Rhodes Across China 05:50 James Martin’s Champagne 06:15 Coastal Kitchen 07:00 The Restaurant UK 08:00 Living In The Sun 08:55 Bargain Hunt 09:45 Hidden Potential 10:15 Cash In The Attic USA 10:30 Rhodes Across China 11:20 Living In The Sun 12:15 10 Years Younger 13:00 Come Dine With Me 13:45 Cash In The Attic 14:40 Living In The Sun 15:30 Bargain Hunt 16:15 Rhodes Across China 17:10 Living In The Sun 17:50 10 Years Younger 18:45 Come Dine With Me 19:40 Boys’ Weekend 20:10 Saturday Kitchen 21:10 Cash In The Attic 22:40 Come Dine With Me 23:30 The Restaurant UK

01:15 Rosemary’s Baby-PG15 03:30 Wall Street-18 05:30 W-PG15 07:40 Dragon Hunters-PG 09:00 What Rats Won’t Do-PG15 10:45 Gorillas In The Mist-PG15 13:00 Centre Stage 2: Turn It Up-PG15 14:45 We Are Marshall-PG15 17:00 Frozen River-PG15 19:00 It Might Get Loud-PG15 21:00 La Personne Aux Deux PersonnesPG15 23:00 Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead-18

00:40 Destroyed in Seconds 01:35 Ultimate Car Build-Off 02:30 Extreme Rides 03:25 Construction Intervention 04:20 How Machines Work 04:50 How It’s Made 05:15 Destroyed in Seconds 06:05 Extreme Engineering 07:00 Mean Machines: Transatlantic Challenge 07:25 Mega Machines 4 08:15 Street Customs 2008 09:10 Mythbusters 10:05 Ultimate Survival 11:00 Overhaulin’ 11:55 Border Security 12:25 How It’s Made 12:50 How Machines Work 13:20 Mythbusters 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Ultimate Survival 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 Overhaulin’ 17:55 Mythbusters 18:50 Cake Boss 19:15 Border Security 19:40 The Gadget Show 20:05 How Does it Work?

20:35 How Machines Work 21:00 Ultimate Survival 21:55 Deadliest Catch 22:50 Black Gold 23:45 MacIntyre: World’s Toughest

00:30 Sci-Fi Science 01:20 The Colony 02:10 The Gadget Show 03:00 Catch It Keep It 03:50 Under New York 04:45 Nextworld 05:40 How Does That Work?

06:10 Engineered 07:00 Thunder Races 08:00 Ten Ways 09:00 Sci-Fi Science 14:30 Alien Storms 15:25 Mission Critical: Hubble 16:20 How Stuff’s Made 16:50 Junkyard Mega-Wars 17:45 Brainiac 18:40 Da Vinci’s Machines 19:30 Mega World 20:20 How It’s Made 21:10 Mighty Ships 22:00 Da Vinci’s Machines 22:50 Mega World 23:40 Kings of Construction

00:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 00:50 Suite Life On Deck

Transporter 3 on Show Movies

01:15 Suite Life On Deck 01:40 Sonny With A Chance 02:05 Jonas 02:30 Hannah Montana 03:20 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 04:10 Brandy And Mr Whiskers 04:35 Fairly Odd Parents 05:00 A Kind Of Magic 05:20 I Got A Rocket 05:45 Wizards Of Waverly Place 06:10 Phineas And Ferb 06:35 Suite Life On Deck 07:00 Replacements 07:01 Hannah Montana 07:50 Kim Possible 08:15 Famous Five 08:35 Fairly Odd Parents 09:00 Jungle Junction 09:10 Special Agent Oso 09:35 Handy Manny 10:00 Imagination Movers 10:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:45 Jungle Junction 11:00 Fairly Odd Parents 11:25 Phineas And Ferb 11:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:15 Sonny With A Chance 12:40 Hannah Montana 13:00 Read It And Weep 14:35 Fairly Odd Parents 15:00 Phineas And Ferb 15:25 Replacements 15:50 Suite Life On Deck 16:15 Hannah Montana 16:40 Kim Possible 17:05 A Kind Of Magic 17:30 Fairly Odd Parents 17:55 Replacements 18:15 Stitch 18:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 19:00 Hannah Montana 19:25 Sonny With A Chance 19:45 Fairly Odd Parents 20:10 Phineas And Ferb 20:35 Suite Life On Deck 21:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:25 Hannah Montana 21:45 Jonas 22:10 Suite Life On Deck 22:35 Sonny With A Chance 23:00 Hannah Montana 23:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:40 Bank Of Hollywood 01:30 Too Young To Kill 03:15 Extreme Hollywood 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets Of Hollywood 06:00 Ths 06:55 Ths 07:45 Behind The Scenes 08:35 E! News 09:25 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 Ths 11:05 Ths 12:00 E! News 12:50 Behind The Scenes 13:15 Pretty Wild 13:40 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:05 Kendra 14:30 Dr 90210 15:25 Ths 16:15 Behind The Scenes 17:10 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 18:00 E! News 18:50 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 19:15 Pretty Wild 19:40 Extreme Close-up 20:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:20 Giuliana And Bill 22:10 E! News 23:00 The Soup 23:25 Wildest Tv Show Moments 23:50 Pretty Wild

00:00 Legend Of Spiderman 1 01:00 Centre Of The Universe 02:00 Tread Bmx 05:00 Harvest 1 06:00 I-Ex 08:00 Quattro Int Events: Midnight Sun Festival Wakeboard 09 08:30 Quattro Int Events: Swatch Profile: Mat Rebeaud 09:00 Quattro Int Events: Rb Cliffdiving Series: Dubrovnik 09:30 Quattro Int Events: Red Bull Romaniacs 10:00 Quattro Int Events 2009 37: Free4style Estavyer Le 10:30 Quattro Int Events: Kayaking Freestyle World Championship Thun 11:00 Fim World Motocross Mx1 = Mx2 12:00 Man’s Work 12:30 Man’s Work 13:00 FIA European Drag Racing Championships 13:30 FIA European Drag Racing

Championships 14:00 Gumball 3000:2008 15:00 Fim World Motocross Mx1 = Mx2 16:00 Man’s Work 17:00 Quattro Int Events: Midnight Sun Festival Wakeboard 09 17:30 Quattro Int Events: Swatch Profile: Mat Rebeaud 18:00 Quattro Int Events: Rb Cliffdiving Series: Dubrovnik 18:30 Quattro Int Events: Red Bull Romaniacs 19:00 Quattro Int Events 2009 37: Free4style Estavyer Le 19:30 Quattro Int Events: Kayaking Freestyle World Championship Thun 20:00 Man’s Work 21:00 Fim World Motocross Mx1 = Mx2 22:00 Fight Girls Series 2 23:00 Bmx Megatour

00:00 Chopped 01:00 30 Minute Meals 01:30 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 02:00 Guys Big Bite 03:00 Barefoot Contessa 03:30 Everyday Italian 04:00 30 Minute Meals 05:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 05:30 Guys Big Bite 06:00 Barefoot Contessa 07:00 Everyday Italian 07:25 Food Network Challenge 07:50 30 Minute Meals 08:15 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 08:40 Guys Big Bite 09:05 Barefoot Contessa 09:30 Everyday Italian 10:00 30 Minute Meals 10:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 11:00 Iron Chef America 11:30 Barefoot Contessa 12:30 Everyday Italian 13:00 30 Minute Meals 13:30 Guys Big Bite 14:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 14:30 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 15:00 Food Network Challenge 15:30 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Everyday Italian 17:00 Iron Chef America 17:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 18:00 Guys Big Bite

00:30 Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases 01:20 True Crime Scene 02:10 Disappeared 03:05 Solved 04:00 I Escaped Death 04:55 Crime Scene Psychics 05:20 FBI Files 06:10 Real Emergency Calls 06:35 Real Emergency Calls 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Undercover 09:30 Solved 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Real Emergency Calls 12:25 Real Emergency Calls 12:50 The Prosecutors 13:40 Disappeared 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Undercover 17:00 Solved 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Real Emergency Calls 19:55 Real Emergency Calls 20:20 The Prosecutors 21:10 Disappeared 22:00 FBI Case Files 22:50 Forensic Justice 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:30 Bondi Rescue 01:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 01:30 Bondi Rescue 02:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 02:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:30 4Real 05:00 Pressure Cook 05:30 City Chase: Argentina 06:30 Bondi Rescue 07:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 07:30 Bondi Rescue 08:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 08:30 Banged Up Abroad 10:30 4Real 11:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 11:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 12:30 Word Travels 13:00 Bondi Rescue 13:30 Departures 14:30 Long Way Down 15:30 Destination Extreme 16:00 Banged Up Abroad 17:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 17:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 18:30 Word Travels 19:00 Bondi Rescue 19:30 Departures 20:30 Long Way Down

00:05 The Hardy Boys 00:25 Inspector Gadget 01:00 Rescue Heroes Marathon 06:00 Max and Ruby 06:25 Rupert 06:45 Rolie Polie Olie 07:15 Corduroy 07:35 Boo and Me 07:40 Babar 08:05 Babar 08:30 Ned’s Newt 08:55 Ned’s Newt 09:20 New Adventures of Madeline 09:45 Heathcliff 10:05 George Shrinks 10:35 Fat Dog Mendoza 11:00 Sonic Underground 11:20 Sonic Underground 11:45 Beverly Hills Teen Club 12:10 Sabrina The Animated Series 12:35 New Adventures of Ocean Girl 13:00 Jim Henson’s Jack and the Beanstalk...

14:30 Dennis The Menace 14:40 Birdz 15:05 Heathcliff 15:30 Fat Dog Mendoza 15:50 Boo and Me 15:55 Birdz 16:20 Sabrina The Animated Series 16:45 New Adventures of Ocean Girl 17:10 The Future is Wild 17:35 Rescue Heroes 18:00 Dino Squad 18:20 Boo and Me 18:25 Ace Lightning 19:00 The Future is Wild 19:20 New Adventures of Ocean Girl 19:50 Sabrina The Animated Series 20:15 Rescue Heroes 20:35 Ace Lightning 21:00 The Future is Wild 21:25 New Adventures of Ocean Girl 21:50 Dino Squad 22:15 Rescue Heroes 22:40 Ace Lightning 23:05 Tales from the Cryptkeeper 23:25 Sabrina The Animated Series

00:00 Better Off Ted 00:30 Will & Grace 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (repeat) 01:30 The Colbert Report (repeat) 02:00 Entourage 02:30 How to make it in America 03:00 Saturday Night Live 04:30 Family Biz 05:00 Just Shoot me!

05:30 Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Eight Simple Rules 07:30 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Just Shoot me!

09:00 Family Biz 09:30 The Drew Carey show 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Will & Grace 11:00 Frasier 11:30 New Adventures of old Christine 12:00 Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 The Drew Carey show 13:30 Just Shoot me!

14:00 Malcolm in the Middle 14:30 Scrubs 15:00 Brothers 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (repeat) 16:00 The Colbert Report (repeat) 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Seinfeld 18:30 Will & Grace 19:00 Brothers 19:30 Scrubs 20:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Global Edition) 21:30 Colbert Report Global

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 Downsize Me 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 05:00 GMA Weekend (Repeat) 06:00 Parenting 06:30 Popcorn 07:00 Ahead of The Curve 07:30 Moms Get Real / Now you know 08:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 09:00 Never Trust a Skinny Cook 09:30 Huey’s cooking adventures 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 The View (repeat) 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 Chef’s table 16:30 Nature’s Edge 17:00 Never Trust a Skinny Cook 17:30 Huey’s cooking adventures 18:00 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View (repeat) 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 23:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified

07:00 Lazytown 07:25 Imagination Movers 07:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:15 Handy Manny 08:40 Jungle Junction 08:50 Special Agent OSO 09:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:25 Handy Manny 09:50 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 10:15 Little Einsteins 10:40 Special Agent OSO 11:05 Imagination Movers 11:30 Lazytown 11:55 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 12:20 Handy Manny 12:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:10 Little Einsteins 13:35 Jo Jo’s Circus 14:00 Higglytown Heroes 14:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:50 Special Agent OSO 15:05 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 15:30 Imagination Movers 15:55 Little Einsteins 16:20 Handy Manny 16:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 17:10 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 17:35 Special Agent OSO 17:45 Imagination Movers 18:10 Handy Manny 18:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:00 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 19:25 Handy Manny 19:35 Special Agent OSO 19:50 Jungle Junction

00:30 Transporter 3-18 02:15 The Understudy-PG15 04:00 Three Investigators-PG15 06:00 Mostly Ghostly-PG 08:00 Cutting Edge 3-PG15 10:00 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 12:00 Hotel For Dogs-FAM 14:00 The Tale Of Despereaux-PG 16:00 Cutting Edge 3-PG15 18:00 Confessions Of A Shopaholic-PG 20:00 He’s Just Not That Into You-PG15 22:15 The Bank Job-PG15

01:00 Changing Lanes-18 03:00 Felon-18 05:00 Ice Twisters-PG15 07:00 Fracture-PG15 09:00 Twin Daggers-PG15 11:00 Iron Man-PG15 13:00 Prisoner-PG 15:00 Twin Daggers-PG15 17:00 Capers-PG15 19:00 Speed Racer-PG 21:10 The Truth About Charlie-PG15 23:00 Heist-PG15

00:00 The Pink Panther 2-PG15 02:00 Sabrina-PG 04:00 Get Smart-PG15 06:00 The Jerk Theory-PG15 08:00 Baby’s Day Out-PG 10:00 High School Musical 3: Senior YearPG 12:00 Lock And Roll Forever-PG 14:00 Parenthood-PG15 16:00 The Pink Panther 2-PG15 18:00 Short Track-PG 20:00 Real Time-PG15 22:00 In And Out-PG15

Rails And Ties on Super Movies 22:30 UFC All Access 23:00 UFC Unleashed 00:00 Basket Fever-FAM 02:00 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-PG 04:20 Genghis Khan-PG 06:00 Jimmy Neutron : Boy Genius-FAM 08:00 Moomin And Midsummer MadnessFAM 10:00 Genghis Khan-PG 12:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM 14:00 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-PG 16:20 Aussie And Ted’s Great AdventurePG 18:00 Rugrats Go Wild-FAM 20:00 The Nameless Warrior-FAM 22:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM

00:00 The Deep End 01:00 Law & Order 02:00 Private Practice 03:00 Ghost Whisperer 04:00 8 Simple rules 04:30 Rita Rocks 05:00 Without a trace 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Private Practice 08:00 8 Simple rules 08:30 Rita Rocks 09:00 Ghost Whisperer 10:00 Without a trace 11:00 Private Practice 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 8 Simple rules 13:30 Rita Rocks 14:00 The Deep End 15:00 Law & Order 16:00 Without a trace 17:00 Ghost Whisperer 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 The Deep End 20:00 Drop Dead Diva 21:00 Private Practice 22:00 Without a trace 23:00 Ghost Whisperer

00:00 Cricket Test Match 07:00 PGA European Tour 11:30 World Pool Masters 12:30 ICC Cricket World 13:00 Live Cricket Test Match 20:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 21:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 21:30 NRL Premiership 23:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights

01:30 Cricket Highlights 07:00 World Pool Masters 08:00 Cricket Highlights 10:00 NRL Premiership 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 World Sport 14:30 Scottish Premier League 16:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 17:00 NRL Premiership 19:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 20:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 21:00 World Sport 21:30 SPL Highlights 22:00 Cricket Highlights

00:30 UFC All Access 01:00 UFC 118 Edgar vs Penn 03:00 UFC Unleashed 04:00 WWE SmackDown 06:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 07:00 WWE Bottom Line 08:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 09:30 Planet Power Boats 10:00 UAE National Race Day 10:30 UFC All Access 11:00 V8 Supercars Championship 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 14:30 UAE National Race Day 15:00 WWE Smackdown 17:00 WWE Vintage Collection 18:00 UFC 118 Edgar vs Penn 21:00 FIA GT1 World Championship

01:00 Jindabyne-18 03:15 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl-PG 05:00 Witness To Waco-PG15 07:00 Forever Strong-PG 09:00 Rails And Ties-PG15 10:45 It’s A Free World-PG15 12:30 The Loss Of A Teardrop DiamondPG15 14:15 Australia-PG 17:15 Rails And Ties-PG15 19:00 Living Out Loud-PG15 21:00 State Of Play-PG15 23:15 Ice Age: Dawn Of The DinosaursFAM

01:10 The Screening Room 01:35 The Dirty Dozen 04:00 California Split 05:50 The Screening Room 06:25 The Screening Room 07:00 The Honeymoon Machine 08:25 Ride The High Country 10:00 Masquerade 11:40 Grand Prix 14:25 Kidnapped 16:10 The Champ 18:15 The Wonderful World Of The Brothers...

20:20 Forbidden Planet 22:00 10 Rillington Place 23:50 Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice

00:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 01:20 Deep Sea Detectives 02:10 How the Earth Was Made 2 03:00 Tales of the Gun 03:55 The Korean War in Colour 04:50 Pawn Stars 06:05 Human Weapon 06:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 07:20 Deep Sea Detectives 08:10 How the Earth Was Made 2 09:00 Tales of the Gun 09:55 The Korean War in Colour 10:50 Pawn Stars 12:05 Human Weapon 12:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 13:20 Deep Sea Detectives 14:10 How the Earth Was Made 2 15:00 Tales of the Gun 15:55 The Korean War in Colour 16:50 Pawn Stars 17:40 Pawn Stars 18:05 Human Weapon 18:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 19:20 Deep Sea Detectives 20:10 Tales of the Gun 21:00 The Universe 21:55 AX Men 22:50 Engineering Disasters 23:40 Ice Road Truckers 2

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Adrenalini Brothers 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 02:35 Class Of 3000 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 04:30 Ben 10 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Samurai Jack 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 07:25 Chowder 07:50 Best Ed 08:15 Chop Socky Chooks 08:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 09:05 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 09:30 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest

Heroes 09:55 Eliot Kid 10:20 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 10:30 Squirrel Boy 10:55 Robotboy 11:20 Camp Lazlo 11:45 The Powerpuff Girls 12:10 Class Of 3000 12:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 13:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 13:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 13:50 Ben 10 14:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey

00:00 Peter Perfect 01:00 My Celebrity Home 02:00 How Do I Look?

03:00 Split Ends 04:00 Dr 90210 05:00 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star 07:30 Dress My Nest 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Style Her Famous 10:00 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

11:00 Peter Perfect 12:00 Ruby 12:30 Giuliana And Bill 13:00 Glamour’s 25 Biggest Do’s And Don’ts 14:00 My Celebrity Wedding With The Knot 15:00 Glamour’s 20 Wedding Do’s And Don’ts 16:00 My Destination Wedding With The Knot 17:00 Stylemaker: Andre Leon Talley 17:30 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 19:00 Style Specials 20:00 Clean House: Search For The Messiest...

21:00 Peter Perfect 22:00 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 23:00 Peter Perfect

01:00 Code 01:04 Africa 10 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:00 Code 05:04 Playlist 08:00 Code 08:04 Sound System 10 08:45 Playlist 13:00 Code 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 16:00 Code 16:04 Latina 10 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:00 Code 20:04 Hit Us 21:00 Playlist

00:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 01:00 Culinary Asia 02:00 Word Travels 02:30 Culture Shock 03:00 Travel Notebook 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 06:00 Planet Food 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 $100 Taxi Ride 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Culture Shock 09:30 Croissants In The Jungle 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 PhotoXplorers 11:30 Essential 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Chef Abroad 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 14:30 Distant Shores 15:00 Culture Shock 15:30 Croissants In The Jungle 16:00 Globe Trekker

Monday, August 30, 2010

33 ACCOMMODATION Single room available for an Indian family or a bachelor at Salmiya, Amman street, opp. Al-Rashid hospital. Contact: 66332653. (C 2621) Sharing accommodation available for a decent working lady in Abbassiya with Keralite family. Cont: 66013882. (C 2625) Furnished sharing room available with all facilities in a D / B, Window A/C, apartment near Garden Circle (Salmiya). Rent KD 80 only.

Interested please contact: 99787621. (C 2623) Sharing accommodation available for single decent bachelor, non smoking, to

share with family. Opposite to Al-Rashid hospital, Shara Amman, Salmiya. Tel: 25651678. Mob: 66232356 / 65717906. (C 2626) 29-8-2010 Sharing accommodation available in a C-A/C flat for decent family or working ladies in Jabriya, area-10, near Jabriya Indian School.

Please call Mob: 99300513.

(C 2616) Sharing accommodation available with Keralite family for Keralite couples or bachelors. C-A/C flat, near Indian Community School Salmiya.

Contact: 66884620.

(C 2619) 27-8-2010 A furnished room available†for rent at in Hawal-

ly. Please call 55360091 or 22634857.

Sharing accommodation available for a couple or working ladies in a C-A/C building in new Riggae. Contact: 99874350.

(C 2610) Furnished sharing accommodation available for a nonsmoking Keralite bachelor in Abbassiya. Rent KD 40. Contact: 66577233.

(C 2611) 25-8-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya only for Keralite couples or single ladies, C-A/C flat. Contact: 97134824. (C 2605) Sharing accommodation available for Keralite bachelor with Kerala bachelors in 2-

room flat behind U.A.E Exchange Centre in Abbassiya.

Contact 97221409 or 97238732.

Sharing room rent KD 35 only. (C 2606) Room for rent near Jleeb Indian School, family or working lady Indian / Filipino, a/c, fridge, landline, satellite, all facilities available. Please contact: 97267254. (C 2607) Sharing accommodation available for couple or bachelor Filipino only, near Gulfmart, Farwaniya from 25th of August. Contact 94418396.

24-8-2010 Sharing accommodation available in two bedroom, two bathroom flat for bachelors/family (only Indians) near Garanada Cinema in Khaitan. Call: 66502405.

(C 2598)

Flight Schedule

Sharing accommodation available in Mangaf with Keralite bachelor. Phone: 66513151 after 5 pm.

(C 2596) BABySITTING Baby sitting available at Salmiya, Amman street, opposite Al-Rashid hospital.

Tel: 65515717. (C 2622) 29-8-2010 SITUATION WANTED

Arrival Flights on Monday 30/08/2010

Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Middle East Bangladesh Wataniya Airways Gulf Air Turkish Ethiopian Jazeera Air Arabia Egypt Egypt Air Jazeera DHL Emirates Etihad Qatari Falcon Jazeera Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera British Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Fly Dubai Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Emirates Arabia Qatari Etihad Jazeera Gulf Air Wataniya Airways Middle East Wataniya Airways Jazeera Jazeera Iran Aseman Jazeera Egypt Air Oman Air Jordanian United Wataniya Airways Fly Dubai Jazeera Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Saudia Kuwait Nas Air Qatari Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Bahrain Air Etihad Emirates Gulf Air Wataniya Airways Saudia Jazeera Arabia Jazeera Jazeera SriLankan Kuwait Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Indian Fly Dubai Middle East Rovos Jet A/W KLM Wataniya Airways Wataniya Airways DHL Gulf Air Jazeera Emirates Qatari United Jazeera Jazeera Jazeera Egypt Air Tunis Air Lufthansa Pakistan Wataniya Airways

322 Sharm El Sheikh 188 Bahrain 306 Cairo 406 Beirut 045 Dhaka/Bahrain 408 Beirut 211 Bahrain 772 Istanbul 620 Addis Ababa/Bahrain 435 Mashad 551 Alexandria 614 Cairo 267 Beirut 370 Bahrain 853 Dubai 305 Abu Dhabi 138 Doha 201 Dubai 637 Aleppo 503 Luxor 412 Manila/Bangkok 527 Alexandria 157 London 529 Assiut 204 Lahore 382 Delhi 302 Mumbai 053 Dubai 676 Dubai 352 Cochin 284 Dhaka 344 Chennai 362 Colombo 855 Dubai 121 Sharjah 132 Doha 301 Abu Dhabi 425 Bahrain 213 Bahrain 182 Bahrain 404 Beirut 102 Dubai 165 Dubai 447 Doha 6521 Lamerd 171 Dubai 610 Cairo 645 Muscat 800 Amman 982 Washington DC Dulles 432 Damascus 057 Dubai 257 Beirut 332 Alexandria 422 Amman 500 Jeddah 552 Damascus 745 Jeddah 134 Doha 548 Luxor 546 Alexandria 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi 118 New York 344 Bahrain 303 Abu Dhabi 857 Dubai 215 Bahrain 402 Beirut 510 Riyadh 493 Jeddah 125 Sharjah 239 Amman 367 Deirezzor 227 Colombo/Dubai 104 London 304 Cairo 106 Dubai 542 Cairo 502 Beirut 786 Jeddah 618 Doha 177 Dubai 744 Dammam 674 Dubai 614 Bahrain 774 Riyadh 575 Chennai/Goa 061 Dubai 402 Beirut 081 Baghdad 572 Mumbai 0445 Amsterdam 404 Beirut 632 Rome 372 Bahrain 217 Bahrain 459 Damascus 859 Dubai 136 Doha 981 Bahrain 429 Bahrain 449 Doha 185 Dubai 612 Cairo 327 Tunis 636 Frankfurt 239 Sialkot 108 Dubai

00:10 00:30 00:50 00:40 01:05 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:45 01:45 02:00 02:05 02:10 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 05:25 05:45 05:50 06:15 06:20 06:30 06:40 07:10 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:25 10:25 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:15 11:20 11:45 12:40 12:55 13:15 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:50 14:05 14:05 14:10 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:30 15:35 16:15 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:40 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:35 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:05 19:15 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:40 20:50 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:35 21:55 22:15 22:30 22:40 22:55 23:35 23:45 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Monday 30/08/2010 Jazeera 528 Assiut 00:05 Middle East 409 Beirut 00:05 India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode 00:25 KLM 0447 Amsterdam 00:30 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 00:50 Safi 216 Kabul 01:00 Indian 982 Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai01:05 Pakistan 206 Peshawar/Lahore 01:10 Middle East 407 Beirut 01:40 Turkish 773 Istanbul 02:15 Bangladesh 046 Dhaka 02:15 Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa 04:15 Air Arabia Egypt 552 Alexandria 02:40 Egypt Air 615 Cairo 03:05 DHL 371 Bahrain 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:45 Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi 04:00 Qatari 139 Doha 05:00 Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai 06:50 Jazeera 164 Dubai 07:05 Wataniya Airways 331 Alexandria 07:30 Jazeera 422 Bahrain 07:30 Jazeera 446 Doha 07:40 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain 07:50 Jazeera 256 Beirut 08:05 Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus 08:10 British 156 London 08:25 Jazeera 170 Dubai 08:30 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:35 Fly Dubai 054 Dubai 08:40 Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat 08:45 Wataniya Airways 421 Amman 09:10 Kuwait 551 Damascus 09:10 Arabia 122 Sharjah 09:20 Kuwait 547 Luxor 09:20 Wataniya Airways 631 Rome 09:30 Emirates 856 Dubai 09:40 Qatari 133 Doha 10:00 Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10 Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut 11:35 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:35 Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo 11:50 Middle East 405 Beirut 11:50 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 238 Amman 12:10 Jazeera 492 Jeddah 12:15 Jazeera 366 Deirezzor 12:15 Kuwait 103 London 12:30 Iran Aseman 6522 Lamerd 12:45 Kuwait 501 Beirut 13:00 Kuwait 785 Jeddah 13:30 Egypt Air 611 Cairo 13:55 Oman Air 646 Muscat 14:15 Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai 14:30 Jordanian 801 Amman 14:30 Fly Dubai 058 Dubai 14:35 United 982 Bahrain 14:50 Jazeera 176 Dubai 14:55 Kuwait 673 Dubai 15:10 Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut 15:10 Kuwait 617 Doha 15:35 Saudia 501 Jeddah 15:45 Nas Air 746 Jeddah 15:45 Jazeera 458 Damascus 15:50 Kuwait 773 Riyadh 16:05 Qatari 135 Doha 16:20 Kuwait 613 Bahrain 16:20 Kuwait 743 Dammam 16:25 Rovos 082 Baghdad 17:00 Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain 17:25 Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi 17:35 Gulf Air 216 Bahrain 18:05 Emirates 858 Dubai 18:05 Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo 18:05 Kuwait 543 Cairo 18:10 Arabia 126 Sharjah 18:20 Jazeera 184 Dubai 18:30 Saudia 511 Riyadh 18:35 Jazeera 448 Doha 18:50 SriLankan 228 Dubai/Colombo 19:10 Jazeera 428 Bahrain 19:20 Wataniya Airways 407 Beirut 19:25 Wataniya Airways 433 Damascus 19:30 Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai 19:40 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 20:00 Jazeera 266 Beirut 20:10 Fly Dubai 062 Dubai 20:50 Kuwait 331 Trivandrum 21:00 Middle East 403 Beirut 21:20 Jet A/W 571 Mumbai 21:30 Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain 21:35 KLM 0445 Bahrain/Amsterdam 21:40 Gulf Air 218 Bahrain 21:55 DHL 373 Bahrain 22:00 Kuwait 675 Dubai 22:10 Emirates 860 Dubai 22:25 Falcon 102 Bahrain 22:30 Kuwait 381 Delhi 22:30 Qatari 137 Doha 22:35 Kuwait 301 Mumbai 22:45 Kuwait 205 Islamabad 22:55 Jazeera 526 Alexandria 23:20 United 981 Washington DC Dulles 23:40 Jazeera 502 Luxor 23:40 Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 Egypt Air 613 Cairo 23:55

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

I need job as part time accountant, 4 years experience in Kuwait, B.com + MBA, good financial reporting skills, valid driving license also. Please call: 55355954. (C 2624) 29-8-2010 A postgraduate Indian female, worked as PA/Admin Coordinator and Exec Secretary, more than 30 yrs of experience in Kuwait, interested in oneshift job or part-time job instantly. Also, capable of setting up office and handling projects for fresh businessmen.

Contact 94470318 or ambilivarma@rocketmail.com 24-8-2010

FOR SALE 2006 Toyota Corolla 1.8 color white, done 65,000 km, excellent condition, price KD 2,450. Cont: 94973026.

(C 2628) 30-8-2010

All items in a well furnished unit A/C, flat in Farwaniya for sale with, 4 bedrooms, big hall, 2 bathrooms, kitchen. Please contact: 66047733. (C 2617) Household furniture for sale, fridge, cooking range, pressure cooker-cutlery items, big cupboard, single

beds, dressing table, side tables, TV with stand, sofa set, VCR, computer with table + printer etc. all items 2yrs old sparingly used.

Contact Tel: 66764062.

(C 2615) 27-8-2010 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan dark green van for sale, run 221000 km, very good condition. Call: 99162920.

(C 2612) 2009 Toyota Corolla 1.8 color sky blue, C.D, ELE. folding mirror, wood dÈcor and sensor, excellent condition, 44000 km, Price KD 3850. Contact: 66211779. (C 2613) 26-8-2010 Household furniture etc, plus 2003 Kia Sportage car, Salmiya, Block 7, Al-Dumna Street, Bldg. 26, near Marina Mall, behind gold souk. Mob: 97207112. (C 2608) Toshiba Laptop Satellite A200-16, Core2Due T7500, 1024MB + 1024 memory, 667MHZ/256 RAM, 300 GB Hard disk drive (4200RPM) SATA, 15 WXGA Turbrite TFT screen, HD DVD-ROM Drive, 56 Modem/LAN, W-LAN (802.11A/G/N), 1.3 Megapixel web camera, Bluetooth, Microsoft Vista Home Premium 32bit, Price: KD 150 (nonnegotiable) Tel: 94426326.

25-8-2010 Mercedes Benz E250 cope model 2010, metallic grey color, tan leather inside panorama sun-roof + ventilation luxury seats + cd.ch + I pot + more other options special order from Al-Wisher.

Millage 2,600 km, under warranty original price is KD 20,500 selling price KD 17,500. Tel: 90000162.

(C 2601) Range Rover Sport (super charge), (limited edition), model 2006 special order from Ali Al-Ganim co. Fully specifications + two TV in the back seats + stormer alloy wheels, dark blue color + offwhite leather inside, millage is only 18,000 km, excellent condition (like new), original price is KD 33,000, selling

price is KD 14,700. Tel: 90000162.

(C 2602) Bently GT (speed) year/2008, rose gold color, beige + brown leather inside special order from Al-Zayyani.

Only done 13,300 km (like new), (special car for special persons) last price KD 55,000. Brand new price is KD 87,000. Please serious buyers only call: 99712771.

(C 2603)

MISCELLANEOUS Wanted used car Mitsubishi - Honda - Toyata Chevrolet GMC. From 2000 - 2009.

Call: 55522942. (C 2600) 23-8-2010

SITUATION VACANT

Required driver, cook and maid to work in Kuwaiti home. Tel: 22450617 / 22450618. (C 2627) 30-8-2010

Required a driver for a house. Tel: 99627325.

(C 2614) 26-8-2010

CHANGE OF NAME I, Abbas Hajji Ali Shahab Shahida, daughter of Mohamed Ghouse Shahab, born 02-09-1966, in Chennai district, TN, residing at No: 3/64, North Avenue Road, Muthamizh Nagar, Kodungaiyur, Chennai - 600118, Passport F8462504, change my name to “Mohamed Ghouse Shahab Shahida”.

(C 2620) 29-8-2010 I Jaswinder Singh, s/o Lal Singh (India), passport No: H2612727, have changed my name as Jaswinder Singh Boparai. (C 2618)

MATRIMONIAL Seeks alliance for Pakistani Muslim family daughter, fair, slim, tall, 23-1/2 MSc. Chemistry final year, from equal status boy, through parents. Cont. email: abdullah9549@gmail.com / P.O. Box: 1329, Khaitan, code: 83001, Kuwait.

(C 2609) 25-8-2010

34

SPECTRUM

Monday, August 30, 2010

Calvin

CROSSWORD 67

Aries (March 21-April 19) You will feel yourself working easily with the flow of work today. This is a good time to get many things accomplished. Good eye-hand coordination and a sustained effort make almost any task run well. Circumstances can throw you into positions where you must deal with communications, service or enclosed hidden interests when you least expect it. You make your way through ideas, concepts and your ability to communicate and express the ideas to others. This may be a good time to consider a continuing education class or tutoring. Everyone may be away for the evening, allowing you many opportunities to relax. This evening is a wonderful time to catch up on phone calls or perhaps some personal paper work that needs to be completed.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Today is a problem-solving day. At times you may feel as though you are in a stuck situation without really understanding why.

When you sense you are right in your insights and understanding, you can move in a most positive direction for your own development. This may leave an impression that you are mostly right but for very strange reasons.

Read as many techniques for meditation styles as you can--find and stay with one method. Use this often to gain a focus to problem-solving. This is almost like an exercise program, wherein each person requires his or her own method to gain his or her preferred end result. You may be solving problems through psychic insight. It will help to write out your path to reach your goals.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

5. Fallow deer.

9. The capital and largest city of Norway.

13. The arch of bone beneath the eye that forms the prominence of the cheek.

14. Lacking sufficient water or rainfall.

15. The habitation of wild animals.

16. A strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

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

18. A French abbot.

19. Functioning correctly and ready for action.

20. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

22. The capital and chief port of Qatar.

24. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

25. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

26. A landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa.

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

32. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

34. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

35. A family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in southeastern Asia.

39. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds.

40. A unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns.

42. Wild sheep of northern Africa.

45. An angular shape characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions.

47. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses.

48. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

51. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body.

53. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

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

61. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

62. A bachelor's degree in theology.

63. A white or colorless vitreous insoluble solid (SiO2).

64. A fluorocarbon with chlorine.

65. Grass mowed and cured for use as fodder.

66. A community of people smaller than a village.

67. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

DOWN 1. Air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog.

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

3. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

4. Obvious and dull.

5. An informal term for a father.

6. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

7. Submersible vessel for one or two persons.

8. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

9. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

10. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

11. A small faint zodiacal constellation in the southern hemisphere.

12. (Greek mythology) One of the mountain nymphs.

21. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

23. A member of an Indian people formerly living along the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.

27. A inexpensive showy collectibles.

29. A man who is the lover of a girl or young woman.

30. In bed.

31. A sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow).

33. Affect with wonder.

36. A loud harsh or strident noise.

37. Black tropical American cuckoo.

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

41. At a great distance in time or space or degree.

43. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

44. An analgesic for mild pain.

45. An informal term for a father.

46. Type genus of the Gavidae.

47. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

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

50. Being or befitting or characteristic of an infant.

51. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

52. Not agitated.

54. The state of needing something that is absent or unavailable.

55. A small restaurant where drinks and snacks are sold.

56. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

58. The residue that remains when something is burned.

59. (informal) Of the highest quality.

60. Not reflecting light.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) New and unusual ways of appreciating and loving may be possible now. You may discover something new about love or may adopt a different and unconventional value system for a time.

This is an easy day that runs along quite smoothly.

There is a greater appreciation for people and possessions. This is certainly a time when material things have a great deal of importance for you. You may cease to waste time and money acquiring that which is worthless and may develop an eye for that which is lasting and worthwhile. A new love is not only on the horizon, but could be right next to you. A spontaneous and unexpected meeting is in the works. This time would also be positive time to heal an old relationship.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) A friend or co-worker may come to you for your advice and counsel regarding some very personal and emotional issues. You will be able to be understanding and helpful when needed. You are able to cut through all the red tape and find the real truth to a matter. There are good practical job-related thoughts and ideas today--you will successfully communicate what you see to your superiors.

Your ambition is intensified and you may find big rewards for your hard work. You could feel great support from those around you at this time. You feel healthy and natural and able to cope with anything that comes your way. Your timing should be perfect and those around you should find you enthusiastic and flexible.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Short cuts are out . . . there could be many corrections as well as some technical changes that are needed before your present job can be completed. You will want to be sure that you do not miss an important piece of information. You are feeling good today and your energy level is high and ready for any challenges you may meet. Give yourself a cheer of confidence. Other people around you will feel more energized as well. Your attention centers on achievement, distinction and promotion. At your best you are enchanting, able to point to the unity that binds all things together. You have a natural sense for communicating with others, especially those younger than you. A new understanding about past events will be comforting.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Deal with abstract matters while remaining practical. Some will feel there is conflict, but you will understand that complexities actually aid achievement and inspiration. Answers are not simple, but they are available. You work to stay upto-date with the most updated equipment and you look for good ways to recycle. You are very much aware of the beauty that surrounds you. A short travel to the store may bring some creative ideas for your attention in the near future.

This afternoon is the perfect time for light-hearted get-togethers with friends or a trip to the countryside, perhaps a nearby lake and a catfish dinner. You have a clear vision into your own inner sense of values, how you appreciate and love.

Libra (September 23-October 22) New inventions, new reading material and an ever changing list of friends, keep you updated and continually transforming.

This could mean you are a writer or reporter for the news or in a public relations sort of job. Whatever the case, you will have plenty of conversational material today. This is a time of positive thinking, mental stability, good feelings, relaxation and opportunity. This is also a good time to make long-range plans, take advantage of further education, take a long-distance trip or take up philosophy or religious studies. It is a pleasant time for you all around. There is a potential to clear the air on some past events where family is concerned. There is a willingness to listen that did not exist before. A misunderstanding is healed.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This time is marked by realizing some unknown potential. If you take the initiative, a goal that seemed beyond your reach recently may now be obtainable. This afternoon there is time to complete unfinished tasks. The cause of some conflict may be discovered and worked through quickly. You have what it takes to overcome any difficulties that may appear. You are happy to put disputes behind you. This could be in the workplace or at home. Creative ways of making and spending money are considered for some future income. You enjoy friends and family. Companionship with others is most rewarding and you should take every opportunity to be with loved ones. You can be helping them as much as their presence helps you.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You assume a leadership role and expect the best from the people that are around you. You set examples of a most positive attitude that others could not help but use to enhance their life as well. Your high energy and this positive attitude will get you where you want to go in any type of business. Remember, when the results are not what you think they should be after a great deal of effort, it may be time to move forward to better opportunities. You display much personal warmth and charm--regardless of circumstances. High energies abound in talk, city travel and the usual daily activities. You are positive and motivating today. Avoid high-pressure tactics when it comes to young people. You will soon resolve problems regarding home, family or real estate.

Yesterday?s Solution

Yester

Yesterday?s Solution

To

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202

Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich

00203 009611 0096311 0096321 0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411

Word Sleuth Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Travel and other contacts with faraway people and places will play a big role for you now. You will find that you can really think things through as you use some new information in making clear choices. Career decisions are straightforward and easy to make. You are able to successfully present your ideas and concepts to others. Higher education or philosophical/religious contacts could have a part in making good things happen. There is a greater appreciation for things of value and that creates a desire to purchase investments. This could be a period of great material gain; a product review is recommended before a purchase. If you are game to antique items, taking a class in the subject would be a smart move.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Gathering and exchanging information is part and parcel of the problemsolving process you will be experiencing. You could be most persuasive with others and now may be a good time to deal with any difficulties that you might have with people that serve you, including the medical field. Facts to show regarding any corrections you might want to make would be a good move. There could be challenges but this only helps to fine-tune the details of a particular project today. Your ambition is intensified as the day progresses. Easy does it . . . take your breaks and allow others to contribute toward the outcome of the day. This afternoon you may find yourself being put to good use by your friends--it could be that someone is moving.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) There is an emotional seriousness to becoming better focused and you work quickly. With your practical awareness of the nature of time, you could make a very good leader or teacher. There could be a tendency to be too strict with yourself. Your ambition is intensified. Study and research could enter into your work at this time. Real estate and/or home and family planning also take on a greater importance now. You may not feel that time is slipping away, but you do have that strong urge to build your support group and have roots.

This is a very nice day, perhaps filled with some appreciation for all that is beautiful. Tonight favors writing, reading, messages, etc. If you do not have a computer in the home, now would be a good time to consider one.

INFORMATION

Monday, August 30, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada’a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons:

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290 Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines

22433377 24379900 177 22477631 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/2433141 22456700 22412284/5 22453820/1

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK)

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345 00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044

Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Holland (Netherlands) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Ibiza (Spain) Iceland India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia

00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689 00241 00220 00995 0049 00233 00350 0030 00299 001473 00590 001671 00502 00224 00592 00509 0031 00504 00852 0036 0034 00354 0091 00873 0062 0098 00964 00353 0039 00225 001876 0081 00962 007 00254 00686 00965 00996 00856 00371 00961 00231 00218 00370 00352 00853 00389

Phil Collins’

music ruined his

love life

T

he former Genesis star - who has been married three times, to Andrea Bertorelli, Jill Taverman and Orianne Cevey - admits he would have given up his career

had he known his determination to be a success would “cost him so dearly”. He said: “In the 70s, Genesis did three American tours a year, three European ones and a trip to Japan. My first wife, Andrea, told me if I toured like that, the marriage wouldn’t last. When I got back, she’d left me. If I’d known touring would cost me so dearly, I wouldn’t have done it.” The 59-year-old star is now trying to live a quieter life, and spends his days in Switzerland so he can see his sons Nicholas and Matthew - from his marriage to Orianne, which ended in 2007. He said: “I’m happy being at home. I’ve said yes to things all my life. Now I’m

learning to say no. I stay in Switzerland, as Orianne is there, and we share the care of the two boys. “I’m not totally happy being on my own, though. I’d rather still be married and I think Orianne feels the same. She’s re-married, but we have a fantastic relationship. “I get on well with all my exwives. They also get along with each other and my girlfriend. It’s a picture I never thought I’d see, but it works well.” Phil is currently dating US newsreader Dana Tyler, but admits he is fearful of getting wed for a fourth time. He explained in an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper: “Will we get married? I don’t think so. I have a commitment, but I don’t see the point. I don’t like being away from Switzerland and the boys for too long.”

Lady Gaga used to be ‘smart and studious’

SPECTRUM

36

T

he ‘Alejandro’ hitmaker - who attended New York’s Convent of the Sacred Heart high school along with heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton - rarely saw the two socialites during their time at the educational institute because they mixed in such different social circles. She told Q magazine: “I don’t see Paris as an artist. People

Monday, August 30, 2010

assume that all the girls who went to my school were like Paris and Nicky and the truth is that I went to a very, very religious school. Some girls were very artistic, some did drugs.

It was like any other high school. Except we had nuns. “I was the smart, studious theatre and music student. I didn’t hang out with all the popular blonde girls. I wasn’t blonde really until I was 20 years old.” The eccentric singer’s comments must come as a blow to Paris, who recently revealed she is in awe of the outrageous stage outfits Lady Gaga manages to pull off. She tweeted: “Dancing to Lady Gaga. Her outfits are so amazing! She is such a style icon! No one can pull it off like she can! (sic)”

Kate Moss set to launch own range of jam

T

he supermodel is hoping to set up a business selling homemade preserves after perfecting her own recipes at her country estate in the Cotswolds. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Kate bought a load of expensive equipment because she’s always been keen on the idea of making jam. “She has so much fruit on her land she wanted to put it to good use. “It started as a hobby, but she’s taking it a lot more seriously after glowing feedback from friends and family. She’s hoping her plum conserve will be a hit with the public.” Kate - who has been helped by her seven-year-old daughter Lila Grace to make the jam got hooked on the process of making preserves after finding hoards of damsons in her garden. After positive feedback from family and friends, the 36-year-old catwalk beauty has sent samples of the product, called Kate’s Damson Jam, to some of her celebrity pals including Simon Cowell. She has also called her friend, billionaire retailer Sir Philip Green, to get advice on how to get the jams stocked in supermarkets.

Kelly Osbourne prefers hanging out with guys

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he 25-year-old star who split from fiance Luke Worrall last month amid rumors he had cheated on her - thinks she can have more fun with her male pals, instead of chatting to her female friends and dwelling on her heartbreak. She said: “Since Luke and I broke up, I’m not really hanging out with girls. It’s because guys are simpler: I’m not ready to be with anyone new and I don’t want to talk about it, so we just have fun. “I’m grateful I have great men in my life who recognize this, like Louis Vito, Braydon Szafranski and Josh Hansen. Thanks guys!”

The presenter also blasted “rumors about her love life, insisting she is no longer romantically involved with anyone. She wrote in her column for Closer magazine: “It’s starting to get annoying that whenever I hang out with my mates, someone always says I’m hooking up with a new man. It’s so boring. A US magazine also published an article saying I was considering getting back with Luke, which is rubbish. I just wish it would stop, because all it does is make everything harder for both of us.”

Dev Patel’s girlfriend inspires him

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he 20-year-old actor - who is in a relationship with his ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ co-star Freida Pinto - loves the fact he can relax with the actress and be himself in ways he can’t be when dealing with other people. He said: “Love makes you feel safe but excited at the same time. “Freida makes me happy and inspires me. I am a mushy guy. “You get to show a different side of yourself that you’re not very comfortable showing other people. It’s great to have someone to come back to who you can be real with, because you’re playing characters all day long.” Dev who shot to fame in British TV drama ‘Skins’ - also admitted he finds his success both a blessing and a curse. He said: “Being famous feels like a blessing and a curse. I’m privileged to be in this position because there are trillions of amazing actors, even my co-stars in ‘Skins’ who haven’t had the exposure I’ve had. “But it’s also a curse.

Christina Applegate can’t stop eating T he 38-year-old actress - who is due to give birth to her first child with fiance Martyn Lenoble later this year - hasn’t been craving anything in particular, but can’t resist tucking into her favorite treats, whatever the time of day. She joked: “Just keep going with it in my mouth.”

Christina has been studying her friends and looking to her mother for guidance on how to raise her child and is confident she will be able to adopt both a hands-on and hands-off approach to parenting. She explained to People magazine: “I’ll probably be a little bit hippy and a little bit Type A. I’ll take from what my mother did, which was way hippy and like ‘Do what you wanna do,’ and bring some things that I know from watching my friends raise their kids. An amalgamation of sorts.” The ‘Samantha Who?’ star decided against finding out the sex of her unborn tot, which has meant decorating the baby’s room has proved a tougher challenge than she anticipated. She said: “It’s gender neutral because we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl. I’m trying. It’s becoming a bigger project than it was supposed to be, unfortunately.”

Justin Bieber is working on his memoir T

he 16-year-old singer who shot to fame after posting a series of videos on YouTube - will release the book ‘Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story’, in October. The illustrated autobiography will tell the behind-the-scenes story of his rapid rise to superstardom, which was aided by R&B star Usher, and will include never-beforeseen photos of the teen heartthrob. Speaking about the book in a statement, the Canadian pop sensation - who was raised by his single mother Pattie Mallette - said: “Every day I wake up and count my blessings. My fans have played such a large part in all of this and they help me live my dreams every day. I’m excited to share just a little bit

more of my world with them through this book. “Between the behind-the-scenes pictures and the story I think this is going to be something they can all enjoy. This is just another way for me to say thank you to my fans.” The book published by Harper Collins is set for an October 2010 release, and will sell for $21.99 in the hardcover edition. Susan Katz, President and Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books, said: “Justin’s adoring and devoted fan base that started on YouTube now follows him to packed concert halls around the world. He is a force in the music industry and we are incredibly excited to be publishing this photographic memoir of his amazing journey.” — Bangshowbiz

SPECTRUM

Monday, August 30, 2010

37

In this photo, family members clean silkworm cocoons in Kokand, Uzbekistan.

— AP

Silk’s dark side:

By Mansur Mirovalev

F

or one month a year, from morning to night, Dilorom Nishanova grows silkworms, a painstaking and exhausting job. She has been doing it since she was 8.

Uzbekistan’s authoritarian government insists child labor is banned, but Nishanova, now 15, hasn’t heard about it. She and her siblings, aged 9 to 17, think it’s perfectly natural to be helping their father grow silkworms, as well as cotton and wheat.

“We just help our parents,” she said, her braided dark hair covered with a traditional Muslim scarf. “That’s what children have to do, right?” Not so, say Uzbek rights groups. They say kids shouldn’t be laborers, especially in May, the breeding season, which happens to fall during

school exams. The silkworm business dates back centuries to the Silk Road that ran through this Central Asian country. Kokand, the name of the town in the fertile Ferghana Valley where Dilorom’s family farms, is the same as the Uzbek word for “cocoon.” Kokand was the destination of the first westbound Chinese caravan carrying silk in 121 BC that started the fabled trade route.

But its modern-day incarnation as a state monopoly has a dark side. Farmers say they are threatened with fines or loss of their land leases for missing quotas, and that these are so high that they have no choice but to draft their children into the work.

The use of child labor in Uzbek cotton-picking has been widely documented, and Walmart and several other US chain stores won’t stock it. But the silk indus-

Uzbek kids made to grow cocoons try has largely escaped international scrutiny.

Its annual revenues are tiny compared with the $1 billion cotton industry, but the government clearly prizes silk as a link - and tourist draw - to the glory days of the Silk Road. It also considers silk an export item that has to be state-controlled - like the exports of cotton, gold, peregrine falcons and the pelts of newborn lambs.

Uzbekistan’s production accounts for less than 5 percent of the world total, and is dwarfed by China’s. But it’s proportionately the world’s highest - almost a kilogram (two pounds) per head of the population of 27 million.

Kakhhor Yavkashtiyev, head of the silk growing department at the Agriculture Ministry, says 90 percent of Uzbekistan’s 2 million farmers are involved in the annual harvest.

“Children are not involved, only adults are,” he said in an interview. Umurzak Kayumov, a 51-year-old farmer from the village of Naiman near the eastern city of Namangan, says his children as well as grandchildren help during cocoon season, when “We suffer for 25 days, from 4 am until midnight.” In Kokand, the highintensity job of raising silkworms becomes evident from talking to Dilorom and her family. Her father, Adkham, a bony 42yearold, farms four hectares (10 acres) of loamy land. In early May, he said, an officials from a stateowned nursery handed him two 30-gram (one-ounce) boxes of silkworm eggs to be nurtured into some 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of cocoons. Within four weeks of hatching, silkworms grow to 10,000 times their original, poppy-seed size. Their

creamy stomachs turn greenish from their exclusive diet of mulberry leaves, and they need constant attention. “They’re as helpless as newborn babies,” Dilorom said. They feed seven times a day and die if their meal is an hour late. Dead ones must be removed promptly lest they infect the others swarming among the fresh mulberry twigs that Dilorom has risen at dawn to gather. Sensitive to light, noise and breeze, the silkworms grow up in a humid barn next to the family’s dilapidated adobe house.

Their munching sounds like the patter of raindrops. Speaking of this year’s season, Dilorom recalled: “We worked hard, had to miss some classes. Just like many other kids in school.” And “In some schools, they raise silkworms as part of their home economics class,” said Khaitboy

Yakubov of Najot, a rights group in the western city of Urgench.

For the farmers and their children, “silk farming opens an annual cycle of forced labor and abuse by authorities,” said Ganikhon Mamatkhonov, a rights activist who investigated numerous cases of abuse of Uzbek farmers. The risks these advocates run are considerable. Months after Mamatkhonov spoke to the AP in May, 2009, he was jailed for five years on bribery charges -one of dozens of government critics imprisoned in recent years.

(Mamatkhonov’s colleagues say he was framed.) Underage labor is not limited to Uzbekistan’s silk industry; it has been exposed in India’s silk industry too. But this former Soviet republic seems unique in the lengths to which it goes to keep the silk spinning.

Yavkashtiyev of the Agriculture

Ministry acknowledges that local authorities prescribe quotas based on farm size. A farmer with 50 to 60 hectares (120 to 150 acres) “must harvest two or three tons of raw cocoons,” he said.

Artificial substitutes such as viscose and nylon have greatly diminished demand for real silk, but it remains a material associated with luxury and style, and has medicinal and military uses such as parachutes. The most recent available figures, from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, put Uzbekistan’s silk earnings at $57 million in 2005 from 17,000 tons of raw cocoons. This month, Uzbek media put the harvest at 25,200 metric tons. Silk-growing nations such as South Korea and Japan have switched to less labor-intensive mulberry bushes and mechanized leaf harvest.

Studios sue to stop ads on pirate web sites

Nik Wallenda, a seventh-generation high-wire daredevil, pedals a bicycle across the Bridge Suite of the Paradise Island Atlantis resort in Nassau, Bahamas, Saturday, Aug 28, 2010. — AP

By Eriq Gardner

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Becky (left) and Paul Daily (right) play with their son Titus, 2, in their home in Frisco, Texas. — MCT

Families with special-needs children face financial issues

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or a typical 2-year-old boy, a favorite toy might cost less than $1. For 2-year-old Titus Daily, his newest toy cost about $275. That’s because he is a special-needs child and the toy is specially designed for kids with low motor skills. Titus has a variety of health issues, including blindness, deafness, a cleft palate and poor lungs. His situation represents what many families with special-needs children experience.

For these families, the cost of care adds up quickly and makes planning for the future especially critical. In these cases, the parents become responsible for providing extra financial security for a child who may never be able to live on his or her own. “The reason all the financial demographics are different is because if you’re a typical parent, you’re responsible to raise your child through the age of 18,” said Thomas P Kroehle, principal at Life Planning for Families of Special Needs in Addison, Texas.

At that point the children usually attend college or get vocational training, and they live on their own. “But in a special-needs family, in most instances, the child will never be able to live 100 percent on their own,” Kroehle said. While a firm foundation in financial planning is crucial for all families, it’s all the more critical to a family with a special-needs child, said Gail Turner, principal at ArcherCare in Houston, which helps families create a care plan for special-need members. “To put it simply, people with traditional

families must simply plan for their kids’ educations, their retirement, etc,” she said. But in a family with a child with ongoing medical needs, financial planning “requires a separate timeline for the disabled person, in essence requiring the parents/ sponsors to plan for two retirements (theirs and their dependent’s),” she said. Titus’ parents, Paul and Becky Daily of Frisco, Texas, understand the challenges.

They get benefits from Medicaid, which they say helps them tremendously. Medicaid picks up the costs after they’ve reached the coverage limits of their private health insurance, but it also pays for things such as nursing care that their private policy doesn’t cover. “Medicaid picks up a lot of our expenses,” said Paul Daily, a human resources director who, along with his wife, is raising four other children.

Medicaid pays for Titus’ oxygen and any other home medical necessities, such as feeding tubes, oxygen cords and swabs. Medicaid also picks up the tab for Titus’ special formula and his therapy after the family reaches the coverage limit of their private insurance. “If we were to pay for all of that, honestly, we couldn’t,” Daily said. “We would have to do without nursing care and most of the therapy.”

Despite Medicaid benefits, the Dailys still are blown away at the expenditures. “The cost of everything has totally caught us off guard, even with the Medicaid budget that we get,” Daily said. —MCT

arner Bros and the Walt Disney Co. have teamed up in a new legal effort to choke off the air supply of various web sites that post and index links to pirated movies. he two studios are suing Triton Media, alleged to have provided advertising consulting and referrals for nine websites identified as “onestop-shops” for infringing works. Warners and Disney claim that Triton committed contributory copyright infringement and induced copyright infringement via their advertising assistance.

The lawsuit indicates that Hollywood may be on the verge of expanding its hit-list of targets in the ongoing war against piracy.

The complaint was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in California and is rather thin on specific details of Triton’s services to these web sites. Instead, it largely focuses on the misdeeds of the sites. The two studios identify www.freetv-video-online.info, supernovatube.com, donogo.com, watch-movies.net, watch-moviesonline.tv, watch-movies-links.net, havenvideo.com and piratecity.org as providing users access to content that has been unlawfully reproduced. The web sites are said to either host infringing content themselves or link to other third-party web sites that have infringing content.

All of these sites could themselves be liable for a contributory infringement claim, but the studios have instead decided to reach out even further by taking action against a larger business in Triton. Triton allegedly enables these web sites to operate and has actual knowledge that the sites are participating in copyright infringement. The two studios aren’t the first to attempt to crack down on piracy by targeting socalled facilitators. Adult entertainment publisher Perfect 10 sued Mastercard and Visa in 2004, alleging the two credit card companies provided “crucial transactional support services” to pirate websites. A district court dismissed the case, and later the Ninth Circuit upheld it, determining that Perfect 10 had failed to support any theory of liability against the defendants.

Some legal observers have argued that Perfect 10 wasn’t the “perfect plaintiff” to bring the case. It appears that Warner’s and Disney want to take a shot at being the very plaintiff that might expand the definition of contributory copyright infringement. The studios are seeking unspecified monetary damages as well as an injunction that would prevent Triton from doing business with these web sites. — Reuters

But Uzbek authorities prefer to “follow the old school where big mulberry trees are utilized for feeding silkworms,” says Hisham Greiss, a Chicago-based independent expert on silk farming.

And they are relentless.

Sukhrobjon Ismoilov of the Expert Working Group, an independent think tank based in the capital, Tashkent, says local officials threaten to annul land leases, delay payments through government-affiliated banks, and even resort to physical abuse.

Although Soviet-era collective farms were disbanded after Uzbekistan became independent in 1991, their land was never privatized, which leaves farmers in constant fear of sanctions and even court convictions for not meeting quotas for cotton, grain and silk cocoons, rights groups say. —AP

High-wire artist bikes over water in Bahamas

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seventh-generation high-wire daredevil pedaled a bicycle across a precarious line strung between two hotel towers Saturday in an attempt to break his own world record. Nik Wallenda, of the famous Flying Wallendas circus family, cycled safely more than 100 feet (31 meters) along the wire at the Bahamas’ Paradise Island Atlantis resort some 260 feet (79 meters) above the turquoise ocean without a safety net.

Wallenda holds the current Guinness World Records for longest distance and greatest height traveled by bicycle on a high wire, set in 2008 in Newark, New Jersey, when he traveled 235 feet (72 meters) at a height of 135 feet (41 meters).

Hundreds of tourists and resort workers gawked from pools and sidewalks, snapping pictures and shooting video. “It shows you the agility, balance and intestinal forti-

tude that these people have,” said Randy Stein, 54, of Princeton, New Jersey. “It’s phenomenal, incredible, a gift of balance.” Guinness will have to verify the new height record, the one he was trying to break Saturday.

Wallenda later performed a second high-wire stunt on foot, walking about 2,000 feet (610 meters) at a height of 250 feet (76 meters) over the resort’s open-air marine habitat, which teems with sharks, barracudas and piranhas. It was the longest distance he has traveled by foot on a wire, according to spokesman Winston Simone. Before the second stunt, Wallenda’s father, who usually rigs the wire and walks along with him on the ground, passed out with heat stroke and was carried off in an ambulance. The father is said to be in good condition, and Wallenda’s mother and wife strung the line instead. Wallenda never stumbled during either performance, despite

winds measured at 28 knots (32 mph; 51 kph) and scattered thunderstorms.

“Against all odds I walked on that wire today,” he said. “There was lightning in the area, high winds, and it was the first walk without my father. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life. and the hardest walk I have ever done.

“But my family history and my family tradition is that the show must go on,” he added. A native and resident of Sarasota, Florida, Wallenda is the great-grandson of circus legend Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death during a wire walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1978.

Wallenda, 31, said he hopes to keep performing on the high wires until he is no longer physically able. “I want to be the first person in the world to walk across the Grand Canyon,” he said, “and I have the permit to do it. —AP

TV host dubbed Spanish Oprah pulls plug on show

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he television talk show host known as the Spanish Oprah is calling it quits, just like her namesake.

The Univision network said Thursday “El Show de Cristina” will end af ter 20 years in November.

The Cristina Saralegui show

has featured the Latino community’s biggest stars and does topical programs. That’s much like Oprah Winfrey’s show, which is ending next year after 25 seasons.

“Cristina” had been a daily program but recently became a weekly show on Univision,

America’s top-rated Spanishlanguage network.

Univision says Saralegui will host specials for it in the future.

Saralegui calls it a “bittersweet moment” in ending her show.

But she says she’s looking forward to the next phase of her career. — AP

SPECTRUM

38

Monday, August 30, 2010

Katy Perry plots next album

By Hilary Fox

“A

Singer Katy Perry performs on NBC’s “Today” in New York’s Rockefeller Center. — AP

Money, horses, death and owls pack fall film slate

By David Germain

H

ollywood aims to help you escape from all that lousy economic news in the real world this fall, with a lineup heavy on fun and fantasy. But Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas won’t let audiences completely off the hook.

They’re putting Gordon Gekko, poster boy for greed a generation ago, back into theaters to remind fans about the sharks that got us into this mess. Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” - a followup to the 1987 hit that won Douglas the bestactor Academy Award - picks up with ex-con Gekko broke, barred from the stock market, alienated from his family and trying to find a place for himself in 2008 as the global economy races toward chaos.

“You’re in the joint for eight years, coming back without your fortune and the ability to trade. He’s estranged from his daughter, he’s lost a son while he’s in prison,” Douglas said.

“Initially, Gordon’s more vulnerable.” The key word is initially.

Gekko still has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. The “Wall Street” sequel is among September and October releases arriving as a prelude to the big holiday season, whose heavyhitters include the latest in the “Harry Potter,” “Chronicles of Narnia” and “Meet the Parents” franchises. Here’s a look at highlights among films debuting in early fall: Family stuff Zack Snyder (“300”) directs the animated adventure “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole,” based on Kathryn Lasky’s children’s books about owls on a mythic quest against evil. The animated comedy “Alpha and Omega” features the voices of Justin Long and Hayden Panettiere in a tale of two wolves on a journey home after park rangers move them halfway across country. “Secretariat” gives wholesome treatment to the story of the 1973 Triple Crown winner, with Diane L ane as the housewife who takes over her ailing father’s stables and guides the horse to triumph. Lane was 8 years old at the time and traveling outside the United States with a theater company, yet she recalls the story of Secretariat gripping people around the world.

“The export of Secretariat to the rest of the world, coming from the American news wire, was really something. It was a great sigh of relief compared to all the other offerings we brought to the global news at that time,” Lane said. “I had such a crush on Secretariat as a little girl.

He was like Pegasus to me at the time. I’ve always had a crush on that species. There’s something about horses and girls.”

Funny stuff Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver star in “You Again,” a comedy about a woman and her mother coping with their old high school rivals at a family wedding. Other comic tales include: “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” about a stressed teen (Keir Gilchrist) who finds a mentor (Zach Galifianakis) at a mental clinic; Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel as a reluctant pair forced to care for their orphaned goddaughter in the romance “Life as We Know It;” “Easy A,” a comic twist on “The Scarlet Letter,” with Emma Stone as a teen turning a rumor about losing her virginity to her own advantage; and Stephen Frears’ “Tamara Drewe,” about a former ugly ducking (Gemma Arterton) who returns to her British hometown a striking beauty.

Serious stuff The sober British drama “Never Let Me Go” reunites Keira Knightley with close pal Carey Mulligan, who got her start with a small part in Knightley’s “Pride & Prejudice.” “My first job was with Keira when I was 18, and she was the star of the movie. It’s really amazing that I get to play alongside her now in a kind of more level way,” said Mulligan, who also costars in the “Wall Street” sequel. “Never Let Me Go” features Mulligan, Knightley and Andrew Garfield (recently cast in the title role of the next “Spider-Man” movie) as three boarding school friends raised for a stark destiny in an alternate-reality Britain. Among other dramatic offerings: David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake in a drama about the founders of Facebook; Hilary Swank in “Conviction,” the story of a woman who embarks on an 18-year crusade to clear her brother (Sam Rockwell) of murder; and Woody Allen’s latest mix of comedy and drama, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” with Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto as Londoners struggling with old and new relationships. Matt Damon and director Clint Eastwood, who collaborated on last year’s “Invictus,” reunite for “Hereafter,” a drama about a Frenchwoman, a British boy and an American man with unusual connections to death whose lives gradually intersect. —AP

merican Idol” contestants should be thankful that they have caring, sharing Ellen DeGeneres on the panel now and not Katy Perry. The singer was a guest judge for auditions to be featured on next season’s show, and she did not pull any punches with the hopeless hopefuls. “We all have friends or people that we’ve known that maybe they wanted to be a rock star, or be this or that, and no one ever told them that they can’t,” she says. “Like, ‘It’s just like you weren’t born with pitch, so it’s not going to happen and someone needs to tell you that because 15 years later you’ve wasted all this time and when you could have been a doctor.”‘ They should probably take Perry’s advice; the Grammy-nominee knows what it takes to be a success. Her 2008 album “One of the Boys,” went platinum and featured international smash hits like “I Kissed a Girl” and

“Hot N Cold.” And now she is proud to be following in the footsteps of Nirvana and Lauryn Hill by recording her own “MTV Unplugged” session.

The CD/DVD is being released Tuesday. Perry spoke to The Associated Press about stripping her songs bare, writing scandalous lyrics and how her next album will make people dance.

The Associated Press: What was the appeal for you in doing “MTV Unplugged”?

Katy Perry: Well the “MTV Unplugged” session was really important, it was kind of like the swan song of the whole “One of the Boys” record. It was the last real look I wanted to give on the record and show off some of the songs at their most simple, kind of at their most stripped down, at the skeleton, at the core of what some of them were written or how they were written.

AP: Were you nervous at taking those songs that you’ve performed in big festivals and then sitting down in

front of an intimate audience?

Perry: No, I actually thrive in that kind of environment probably better; not better, it’s just a different me.

The first time I started singing was in church, but then when I started playing guitar I would go into the newspaper and I would find open-mic sessions and coffee shops that would let anybody sign up to play. And I would go there and I would just pull out my guitar and play these little rough drafts of songs and get people’s feedback and really see if it was connecting if people really related to it or if they would even listen.

AP: But I’ve read that the next stuff you’re going to be doing will be more pop and dance-oriented. Is that right?

Perry: I’m hoping it’s going to be a bit more pop. Going on the road, that’s what I saw that I lacked in concert, was a little bit more movement.

And that doesn’t mean that I have to sacrifice the story for it.

AP: I know “One of the Boys” had

a lot of personal things that happened to you when you were growing up.

Now you’re much more high-profile, much more successful, are you still going to have that personal aspect in your stories?

Perry: Yeah, I think even more so.

I guess in my personal life and in interviews and when I sit down to talk about things, sometimes I don’t give as much detail as I used to, but I think I am saving it for the songs, and the songs I’m just gushing. From the few songs that I’ve written so far, they are very honest, if not more honest than the last ones. But they are a little bit more mature ... I know how to handle boys now. Actually I don’t even mess with boys any more, I mess with men, you know. It’s different because “One of The Boys” (I) was like 17 to 23 and some of those songs, like half the record, I wrote when I was like 19 and that’s such a different place than you are when you’re 25.

AP: Your life must be completely different now. It’s a whirlwind.

Perry: Yeah I’m definitely getting used to it, or trying; it’s difficult. I don’t feel completely different than when I started. I feel like I have a lot to prove still and I still have that ambition and that drive that I had when I didn’t have any money, or when I didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, if I was going to make it or anything.

AP: With the last album, there was a lot of hype about “I Kissed a Girl”.

Do you feel like you’re going to have to have some kind of scandalous angle on a track on the new album?

Perry: I think the “I Kissed a Girl” was never, “oh, let’s see how I can stir up a pot of scandalous,” you know.

It was actually just me telling my story, and that is how I see the world you know, and that’s the kind of funny, messed-up way I live my life, I guess.

With a dark undertone, a sarcastic dark undertone, just everything is kind of that way for me, and so I’m sure that’ll be a thread in my next record. — AP

Balloons are reflected in the memorial for the late Michael Jackson outside his boyhood home during a birthday celebration for Michael Jackson’s 52nd birthday Saturday, Aug 28, 2010, in Gary, Ind. The city of Gary hosted festivities around the birthday of the late Michael Jackson who was born and raised at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary. — AP

20 questions to

Review

singer-songwriter Marc Cohn G

rammy Award winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn tells PopMatters 20 Questions how Ray Charles (channeled through his producer, Jerry Wexler) taught him almost everything he needed to know about singing. It’s a (not so simple) trick involving a full cup of coffee. You can hear the effect that advice has had on Cohn on his latest, “Listening Booth: 1970.”

Collaborating with longtime producer-arranger-multi-instrumentalist and fellow Grammy Award winner John Leventhal, Cohn transforms songs from such artists as Cat Stevens, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Smokey Robinson, Creedence Clearwater Revival and even Bread into tracks that are warm, soulful, and full of easy-going charm.

1. The la test book or m ov ie that made you cry?

“WALL-E.” I went to see it with my then 5-year-old son Zachary, and at some point he looked over and saw that I was crying. It was a poignant moment, because I immediately realized that I wasn’t worried about him seeing my tears, my vulnerability. Someone told me a long time ago that your kids aren’t really listening to you, they’re watching you. Best thing anyone ever said to me about being a parent. If I’m being honest though, its pop songs and commercials that make me cry.

That spot that Folgers runs every Christmas where the college kid comes home and surprises his mom for the holidays is a killer.

Gets me every time.

2. Th e f i c t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r most like you?

Any of those Philip Roth characters obsessed with death.

3. The greatest a lbum, ever?

Really? You expect me to answer that one? There is no such thing as the best album ever ... especially since we’ll never get to hear what Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, or John Lennon would have recorded in their 50s or 60s.

But in a pinch ...”The Birth of Soul” by Ray Charles. Or Al

Green’s “Greatest Hits.” Or “Moondance” by Van Morrison.

Or “Night Beat” by Sam Cooke.

Or “Paradise and Lunch” by Ry Cooder. Or “Sticky Fingers,” “Pet Sounds,” “Harvest,” “Born to Run,” “The Band,” “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,” “Revolver,” “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” “Court and Spark,” “JT,” “I Never Loved A Man,” “Sail Away,” and “Fulfillingness’ First Finale.” All of them are the best album, ever.

4. “ S t a r Tr e k ” o r “ S t a r Wars”?

“Star Star” by the Rolling Stones.

Although ... I’d love to hear William Shatner sing it. “That” would be amazing. Check out his version of “Lucy In the Sky With

funny, talented and tuned-in children. Because growing up in New York City, they could have all become entitled A-holes.

7. Yo u w a n t t o b e r e m e m bered for?

See No 6. And for trying to put a little beauty and soul in the world.

8. O f t h o s e w h o’ v e c o m e before, the most inspirational are?

The Holy Trinity; Brother Ray, Reverend Al, and Sister Mavis.

Oh, and Mel Brooks.

9. The crea tive m a sterpiece you w ish bore your signa ture?

“Moon River” by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini or “Wichita Lineman” by Jimmy Webb. While I’m at it I’ll take “Porgy and

Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn Diamonds.” It’s on iTunes. Then listen to the Stones tune. I’m onto something, here.

5. Your ideal brain food?

Books. James Salter, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, W S Merwin, Alice Miller ... they’ve all given me ideas for lyrics. It might be a line or a word, but reading something that is beautifully written makes me want to write. Hearing a great song “used” to make me want to write ... now it just makes me want to become a pharmacist.

6. You’re proud of this a ccomplishment, but w hy?

I’m proudest of helping to raise four relatively compassionate,

Bess,” “East of Eden” and the Lennon-McCartney songbook.

10. Your hidden talents ...?

Making the bed. I’m world class.

Really. Tuna melts. Ask my kids.

Roger Federer wishes he had my forehand. My imitation of King Julian from “Madagascar” is second to none.

11. Th e b est p i ec e of a d v ic e you actually follo wed?

I met Jerry Wexler - the man who produced Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and too many more icons to mention - at a party when I first came to New York City in the early ‘80s. He was sitting in the corner of the room all

by himself, unrecognized by everyone except me. We started talking and he generously offered to listen to an early demo tape of my songs. He got back to me a few weeks later and basically broke my heart. He said my songs weren’t there yet and my singing was soulful but “overwrought.” I was shattered. Then he told me something Ray Charles had told him about his own approach to singing. Ray said that when he sang, he pictured a full cup of coffee without one drop ever going over the edge. That taught me almost everything I ever needed to know about singing.

12. Th e b es t th i n g y o u e v er bought, stole, or borrow ed?

My wife. I stole her from a long line of suitors in the greater New York metropolitan area. Sorry dudes.

13. You feel best in Armani or Levis or?

Don’t really love either of those choices. Hey John Varvatos, give me my discount back!

14. You r d in ner guest a t t he Ritz w ould be?

Helen Mirren and Monica Belluci ... but only if they understand in advance that we’re not going up to my room after dinner.

15. Time tra vel: w here, w hen and w hy?

Cleveland, Ohio, 1962, to say a proper goodbye to my mother.

16. S t r es s m a n a g em e n t : h i t ma n, spa vacation or Prozac?

Talisker on the rocks.

17. E ssen t i a l t o li f e: c of f ee , cigarettes, chocolate, or ...?

My wife, my children, music, books, dark chocolate with almonds, and Talisker on the rocks.

18. Environ of choice: city or c o u n t r y, a n d w h e r e o n t h e ma p?

My home for the last 25 years: New York City.

19. What do you want to say to the leader of your country?

This too shall pass.

20. L a s t b u t c e r t a i n l y n o t lea st, w ha t a re you w ork ing on, now ?

I’ve been hard at work on my upcoming holiday CD. — MCT

Little Big Town stronger on new effort

By Michael Mccall ith “The Reason Why,” Nashville vocal group Little Big Town recaptures its mojo. Their one-of-a-kind sound moves forward with stronger lead vocals, while the four-part harmonies still slide effortlessly from charming to ominous. The songs are not as ambitious as on 2007’s “A Place To Land,” but they are more commercial without sound-

lacked a significant hit.

Working again with coproducer Wayne Kirkpatrick, the band has earned a better reception with the leadoff single, “Little White Church,” a hand-clapping rabble-rouser in which a woman delivers a spirited ultimatum to her double-talking man. Other highlights include Fairchild’s showcase on “Shut Up Train” and the aching “Kiss Goodbye,” which augments

ing compromised.

That is all good, for “The Reason Why” arrives with Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Philip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook at a turning point. Af ter the breakthrough 2005 album “The Road to Here” - which included the hits “Boondocks” and “Bring It On Home,” momentum stalled with the collapse of their previous record label, the independent Equity Music Group. A move to Capitol did not salvage “A Place To L and,” which

Westbrook’s lead vocal with duo and quartet harmonies that add emotion and drama.

Altogether, the 12 songs, nine of them co-written by group members, offer plenty of reasons why four artists of Little Big Town should regain their swagger as one of country music’s most distinctive acts.

CH E C K O U T TH I S TR A CK : “All The Way Down” celebrates the uplifting sound of all four members singing in unison as they inject glee into a popcountry confection. — AP

W

SPECTRUM

Monday, August 30, 2010

Countdown:

By Derrik J Lang

R

ehearsals are in full swing in downtown Los Angeles in preparation for yesterday evening’s 62nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards, going live to all US time zones, while a few lavish opportunities for celebrities to fetch freebies before the show are occurring farther away in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Here’s the latest happenings: F u n n y b u sin e ss : It was all laughs Saturday afternoon at the Nokia Theatre during rehearsals for yesterday’s show. A smiley Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted the Emmys last year, greeted executive producer Don Mischer in the makeshif t control room erected in the audience by yelling “Cut to commercial! Cut to commercial!” Harris later practiced his outstanding lead actress in a comedy series introduction, which features Harris poking fun at new host Jimmy Fallon. Jim Parsons

39

Presenters practice Emmy moments Puck’s Spectra inside the Pacific Design Center. Emmy nominees Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Fred Willard, along with Nolan Gould, who plays Burrell’s son on the ABC comedy, mingled at the posh cocktail party.

from “The Big Bang Theory” and Sofia Vergara from “Modern Family” giggled their way through their bit, cracking up when she pronounced “Big Bang” in her thick Colombian accent. Keri Russell also joked around with Will Arnett, who mockingly booed when stand-ins for “American Idol” producers practiced accepting the competitive reality series Emmy.

Office party: Oscar Nunez and Kate Flannery from “The Office” spent Saturday morning loading up bags at the DPA pre-Emmy gifting suite at the Sunset Tower Hotel.

Scented candles, patterned bikinis, organic food from chef James Barry and other goodies were up for grabs. “The Office” co-workers took home personalized ornaments painted by artist Timree Gold.

Boys’ night out: The men of “Modern Family” reunited Friday night at the Emmys’ performers nominee reception at Wolfgang

Anna Paquin (right) and Stephen Moyer arrive at the Entertainment Weekly and Women in Film Pre-Emmy Party in West Hollywood, California. — AP

“I’m trying to maintain as much normalcy on the day as possible,” supporting comedy actor nominee Ferguson said on the red carpet of his Emmy day plans. “And then, like, someone’s coming over to my

house to do my hair. Like what is it that needs to be done? A little gel?

Apparently, someone wants to put the gel in my hair for me, so there you go.” On the other side of the party, “Dexter” actor James Remar and other attendees filled their plates with Chinese chicken salad, Shangri La lobster and misoglazed salmon. Partygoers also feasted outside on the balcony on short ribs and sweet plantains while listening to a jazz band perform such tunes as “I Kissed a Girl” and the theme song from “Frasier.” Nominees in attendance, including “Mad Men” actress Elisabeth Moss and “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston, were presented with certificates by Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chairman John Shaffner, who recalled accidentally stepping on Glenn Close’s gown at a Screen Actors Guild event before he handed the “Damages” star her accolade. “One time, somebody stepped on my train, and my front

Horror filmmaker talks exorcism in new movie

By Zorianna Kit

S

ince coming on to the horror film scene fifteen years ago with “Cabin Fever,” filmmaker Eli Roth made a name for himself in the genre with the “Hostel” franchise.

An occasional actor, he got a chance to shine last year in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” Roth sat down with Reuters to discuss his latest producing effort, “The Last Exorcism,” which opened in US movie theaters on Friday. The film is about a minister who lets a documentary crew film his last exorcism. A non-believer who has swindled plenty believers in the past, he is unprepared for what he encounters.

Q: What kind of childhood did you have that would make you grow up and create such scary and gory movies?

A: “I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, in the safest neighborhood, in a very wonderful, loving household. My father (Dr Sheldon Roth) was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and my mother’s a fantastic painter.

I was the neighborhood babysitter and never got in to trouble.”

Q: Where there signs of blood and guts in your future back then?

A: “I’d say, ‘I want to film someone being chopped in half with a chainsaw’ and my parents would say, ‘That’s wonderful honey.

Here’s a saw, be careful.’ They never saw it as real violence; they always saw it as creative expression.”

Q: With parents like that, you must have your own psychological theories when it comes to horror films.

A: “Horror movies are the last place in society where it’s socially acceptable to be scared.

We can’t be scared at home, we can’t be scared at our jobs. But when you’re scared at a movie, there’s no shame. You’re not a coward. We all have feelings we bundle up our whole lives and when we watch a scary movie, we are able to release them.”

Q: Your latest film, “The Last Exorcism,” is about a young woman possessed by the devil.

Can that really happen?

A: “Having been raised by a psychiatrist, I was told anything psychological was a mental illness. Then I saw (the 1973 feature) “The Exorcist” and it changed everything. It really freaked me out. I told my dad, ‘What’s this whole possession thing you’ve never told me about?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about that. We don’t believe in that.’”

Q: Did that quiet your fears?

A: “No! I was certain it was going to happen to me. I thought I was going to be the test case

for the Devil. He’d be like, ‘See? I got you too!’”

Q: And today, what do you believe?

A: “Exorcism and possession is the kind of thing I’m almost scared to believe in. On the set of “The Last Exorcism,” the brother of one our drivers was an exorcist. He’d talk about it like it was no big deal, like he went to the store and bought milk.”

Q: You’ve done cameo roles in movies here and there, but “Inglourious Basterds” was your biggest role yet. Do you consider yourself an actor?

A: “I think of myself as a writer-director first and foremost. Even when I was acting in ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ I still shot the filmwithin-the-film, ‘Nation’s Pride.’ I couldn’t quite let go of my director’s hat. I might actually write a part for myself one day and then I’ll be able to combine all three.” — Reuters

Five most gripping films about possession

By Christy Lemire

ing films, based on the Stephen King novel (although King himself was famously unhappy with it). The sense of isolation out there at that big, rambling Overlook Hotel, in the snow, in the dead of winter, is enough to make you feel uneasy, but the idea that supernatural spirits in the place could take over a man’s body and prompt him to try to kill his wife and young son is just terrifying. There is nowhere to run. Kubrick was a master at freaking you out with camera angles, lighting and pacing, but the film’s surreal imagery, the look on Jack Nicholson’s face alone, remains haunting three decades later.

• “A ll of M e ” ( 1 9 8 4 ) : A great showcase for Steve Martin’s extreme gift of physical comedy and Lily Tomlin’s brainy zaniness. Martin

“T

he Last Exorcism” follows the increasingly disturbing behavior of a teenage girl living on a remote Louisiana farm who may or may not be possessed by some sort of demon. Strange things have been happening, prompting her deeply religious father to call upon a famous preacher to rid her body of what he assumes must be an evil spirit. It is some of the most startling stuff you will see in scary movies. But there are various kinds of possession, lots of examples in film of people’s bodies being taken over, often in the name of laughs instead of thrills. Here are five movies about possession, demonic and otherwise, that will take hold of you: • “ Th e E x o r c i st ” ( 1 9 7 3 ) : Of course, we have to go with this one first. The imagery is iconic: the spinning head and the projectile pea soup, the rumbling bed and those profane words coming out of sweet little Linda Blair’s mouth. William Friedkin’s film received 10 Oscar nominations and won two (for William Peter Blatty’s screenplay and for sound), and it was

vying for control over it. What he does here is crazed and precise all at once.

This absurd premise is played as if it makes total sense, and that is why it works. But for all the struggles between these two disparate characters, and all the delightfully madcap humor, carefully controlled by Carl Reiner in one of his better offerings as a director, an unexpected tenderness eventually develops.

the first horror film to be nominated for best picture. Even today, when horror movies feature much more graphic violence, “The Exorcist” chills to the bone, mainly because the mere idea of a 12-year-old girl being possessed by the devil is so disturbing. This is still one of the scariest movies ever made,

went down,” Close revealed.

Gleeful trio: “Glee” is the contender to beat at tomorrow night’s Emmy awards. Last month, the hit freshman musical-dramedy scored 19 nominations, the most of any series this year. Just days after getting that news, the show’s executive producer Ryan Murphy was at a Paley Center writers tribute with Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, his “Glee” co-creators - a trio without a nickname. “We should get (one),” Murphy noted, “like ‘Brangelina.’

What could we be?” “‘R-ia-ad,”‘ Falchuk added, laughing. Brennan, who looks a bit like the shaggy Shaggy from the “Scooby-Doo” cartoons, said he will take the longest to prep for the Emmys red carpet. “This is eight hours of prep,” he joked. “I have a whole team of people.” Murphy, a 2004 nominee for directing “Nip/Tuck,” has done the Emmy-carpet thing before. His advice to Falchuk and Brennan? “Go expecting nothing,” Murphy replied. — AP

Newcomers ‘Glee,’ ‘Modern Family’ seek Emmy’s love

By Lynn Elber

“G

lee” is about to learn if the Emmys care to sing its praises. The hit musical-comedy show about a high school glee club was a leading nominee at yesterday’s Emmy Awards, including bids for best comedy series and cast members Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. “Modern Family” was another freshman comedy front-runner, while “30 Rock” was trying for its fourth consecutive best comedy series Emmy and “Mad Men” competed for its third drama series trophy. Others defending their title included Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” and Glenn Close of “Damages,” who claimed drama series acting honors last year, and, on the comedy side, Toni Collette of “The United States of Tara” and Alec Baldwin of “30 Rock.”

Jimmy Fallon was hosting the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards on NBC, airing live nationwide after three decades of tape-delay broadcasts for the West Coast. The public had a hand in writing some of Fallon’s material. He planned to bring many celebrity presenters onstage with introductions submitted through Twitter. Other Emmy contenders included Conan O’Brien’s short-lived “Tonight,” which was nominated as best variety, music or comedy series while the show with Jay Leno back in charge was snubbed.

David Letterman’s “Late Show” also missed out on a nod, but 2009 winner “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” was nominated.

The final season of “Lost” competed for best drama series and for acting honors for star Matthew Fox and supporting cast members Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson, chosen as best supporting drama actor last year.

HBO came into the ceremony as the kingpin after claiming 17 awards at the Aug 21 creative arts Emmys, followed by ABC with 15 and Fox with nine. CBS, NBC and PBS each claimed seven. “The Pacific,” the World War II miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, was the top nominee and captured a leading seven creative arts awards, which recognize technical and other achievements. Ratings for the awards have increased importance: The TV academy’s contract is up for renewal with the four major networks that had been airing the show in rotation for eight years, and the academy hopes last year’s 8 percent audience increase is a trend after an all-time low in 2008. The show’s live nationwide broadcast and scheduling could be factors. The Emmys typically have aired immediately before TV’s mid-September kickoff, but NBC pushed up the awards telecast to avoid a conflict with last night’s National Football League games that begin Sept 12.

But fewer people tend to watch summertime TV, and the 5 pm PDT pre-primetime slot for the Emmys on the West Coast also tends to draw a smaller audience. — AP

Censored episode of ‘Family Guy’ for sale

By Frazier Moore

if not THE scariest. But it has tough competition from ...

• “The Shining” (1980): One of Stanley Kubrick’s most visually strik-

makes you believe he is truly split in two: that the soul of Tomlin’s character, a dead millionaire, has accidentally entered his body and that both are

• “Ghostbusters” (1984): A comic classic, obviously - let’s just get that out of the way and move on. The phrase “Are you the Keymaster?” spoken by a possessed Sigourney Weaver in a slinky red dress and wild hair and makeup, is instantly recognizable all these years later. But as Bill Murray learns in the kind of sly, confident performance that is emblematic of his work in the ‘80s, there is no Dana, only Zuul. Dana’s been taken over by a demonic beast living in her Manhattan high-rise, causing her to roll her eyes, roar and float above her bed. Director Ivan Reitman takes all this traditional demonic-possession imagery and uses it to amuse us rather than make us scream.

• “ H ea ven Ca n Wa it” (1 9 78 ): Warren Beatty showed off his charm and smarts in this screwball-comedy throwback, a remake of 1941’s “Here Comes Mr Jordan.” It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and won one for its art direction. Beatty, as co-director with Buck Henry and co-writer with Elaine May, is of course the star as a Los Angeles Rams quarterback who’s killed in an accident but finds himself sent back to Earth in the body of an eccentric billionaire. But Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin do great, showy supporting work, and Julie Christie could not be lovelier. Satire, sweetness and strong visuals blend seamlessly here. — AP

“F

amily Guy” forbidden fruit will soon be available for plucking - at least, for fans prepared to pay for a peek. “Partial Terms of Endearment,” a never-seen episode of the racy animated series, will be available for sale on DVD for $14.98 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Sept 28. (Fox said it had not yet finalized plans for digital download.) That’s more than a year after the Fox network deemed it outrageous even by “Family Guy” standards and pulled it from last season’s slate of episodes.

Since then, the episode has gained notoriety. Further upping the ante is its subject matter. Bumbling, moronic Peter Griffin and his patient but libertine wife, Lois, throw themselves into the abortion debate. The episode’s narrative has never been a secret. In fact, it was performed live last summer by the cast (including Seth MacFarlane, the series’ creator, who serves as executive producer, writer and the voice of numerous characters) for members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as well as members of the press. Still, here’s a spoiler alert for those who don’t want to know what happens.

Most of the episode dwells on Lois (voiced by Alex Borstein) agreeing to become a surrogate mother for a friend who can’t have a child. But after her friend and her husband are killed in a car crash, the Griffins are left with the difficult decision of whether to proceed with the pregnancy or not. What, in other hands, could have been a serious, even heart-wrenching story is on “Family Guy” a devilish burlesque - not to mention a wickedly astute examination of the current abortion clash.

It’s not as if the episode trivializes the debate. Oh, it’s a big decision, Peter readily acknowledges. “But life is FULL of big decisions - like deciding whether or not to have Indian food.” —AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

An Emirati buys dates at a market place in Dubai yesterday on the 19th days of the holy month of Ramadan.

Many Muslims across the world break their fast with dates - a tradition dating back to the 7th century.

During the month of Ramadan Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and other pleasures from sunrise to sunset. — AFP

NY street food goes gourmet

By Paola Messana

C

arrot buns, lemon macaroons, golden cutlets and tamarind ice cream spiked with balsamic vinegar are taking New York by storm, as street carts trade working-class fare for delicacies. Websites, online social networks and especially micro-blogging website Twitter keep alive the trend, first launched on the West Coast. The tweets point gastronomes to where street carts serve up the best fare of the day.

“Remember guys, we’ll b @ 52nd b/w 6th & 7th today @ 11:30-2. The sun is out. the mood is good, and the schnitz is fresh:) so come getcha sum,” tweeted Oleg Voss, a 28-year-old culinary school graduate and one-time investment banker. Voss, who says the brutal economic recession pushed him to make a career change and open a street cart in Manhattan, counts some 5,400 followers on Twitter.

Dozens of them come each day to

grab a bite of schnitzel-breaded meat or fish cutlets-from “Schnitzel & Things,” a brown and white cart Voss started with his 35-year-old brother, Gene. “I had just been hired as an investment banker in Vienna when the recession began: last hired, I was the first fired,” recalled Voss, who also graduated from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

The Ukrainian-born entrepreneur decided to sell schnitzel after becoming a fan of the cutlets in Vienna. He serves them hand-pounded, lightly breaded and “fried to golden perfection” with mashed potatoes or french fries. “Here the veal is too expensive, so I buy chicken or beef,” he told AFP while writing down orders from his clientele mainly consisting of young lawyers and bankers working in the neighborhood.

“But everything is top quality, the bread crumbs are put at the last minute, the frying oil is organic and renewed every day.” In addition to Voss’s brother, two cooks work up the stoves in the

Cakes and pastries are displayed in the Street Sweets truck in New York. Street Sweets is one of several street vendors serving high-end fare which have appeared on New York streets in the last couple of years. — AFP

back of the cart. They serve about 200 meals per day, each sold for about 10 dollars. A little over a dozen “gourmet” carts work up New York’s streets, accounting for less than 10 percent of the Big Apple’s street food industry.

Many restaurateurs struggle to enter the market, only succeeding if they manage to prevail over an arduous process to obtain permits from the city.

Grant Di Mille, who runs his “Street Sweets” cart with his wife Samira Mahboubian had to jostle with the icecream men “mafia” to keep his buns, croissants and cupcakes business open.

“Three Mister Softee guys came and threatened to burn our truck,” said Di Mille, referring to the half-century old franchisor of trucks serving up soft ice cream. He and his wife worked in marketing for two decades before launching their street cart nearly two years ago.

“We wanted to have our own business,” said Iranian-born Mahboubian, who was inspired by her mother’s confections. The couple finally got their

permit, then made some friends in the New York police force. Their business is now thriving. They prepare sweets for events organized by companies and sports clubs, and also rent out a second truck to clients.

Douglas Quint opted to open his “Big Gay Ice Cream Truck” in the summers to supplement his income as a bassoonist in Boston in winter. At the major downtown intersection of Union Square, he sells an array of surprising flavors: olive oil and sea salt, the “Salty Pimp” (vanilla ice cream, caramel, sea salt and chocolate dip), toasted curried coconut, pumpkin butter, cardamom and elderflower syrup.

“People love ice creams but all the others serve the same thing. I use a better ice cream, add a lot of layers. I convince people to try it and they love it! It’s like running an open kitchen,” said Quint, 39. “The trend is growing,” he concluded as he prepared to travel to San Francisco for a conference on street food. — AFP

Trail of smoke gave The best blues for your body Paris Hilton away F

By Ken Ritter

S

moke wafting from a Cadillac Escalade on the Las Vegas Strip set off Paris Hilton’s latest legal troubles when a motorcycle officer who suspected the smell was marijuana stopped the vehicle and

In this photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Paris Hilton poses for a police booking photo in Las Vegas. — AP police say a bag of cocaine later fell out of the 29-year-old socialite’s purse. It’s the second time this year Hilton has been arrested on drug possession allegations, although authorities in South Africa dropped marijuana charges earlier this summer. In 2007, Hilton pleaded no contest to alcohol-

related reckless driving and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

This time, the hotel heiress was with her boyfriend, Las Vegas nightclub mogul Cy Waits, who manages a club inside the Wynn Las Vegas and was driving the black SUV that the officer stopped nearby at 11:22 pm Friday. The officer “followed the vapor trail and the odor of marijuana to the Escalade,” police Sgt John Sheahan said. As other police arrived and a crowd gathered on the busy neon-lit Strip, Hilton asked to go into the Wynn resort for privacy, Sheahan said.

“Miss Hilton pulled out a tube of lip balm,” Sheahan said. “At the same time ... a bundle of cocaine in a plastic bag came out of her purse” in plain view of police in the room. Police Officer Marcus Martin characterized the cocaine as a “small amount,” or a package of the size usually associated with personal use. Police would not specify the weight of the cocaine or whether any marijuana was confiscated.

Hilton was arrested on suspicion of felony cocaine possession. If convicted of the low-grade felony, she would get probation, but any violation of that probation would be punishable by up to one to four years in Nevada state prison. Waits, 34, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Misdemeanors are punishable by up to a year in county jail.

Police said he owned the 2009 Cadillac.

Hilton and Waits were booked into the Clark County jail, where Sheahan said Hilton was kept handcuffed on a booking room bench, fingerprinted, photographed and released without bail about 2:45 am Saturday. Waits’ lawyer, Richard Schonfeld, said Waits posted $2,000 bail Saturday. —AP

inding jeans that fit correctly, hide flaws and don’t put your underwear on parade with every move remains one of life’s great challenges. Women are constantly on the search for denim that slims, trims, lengthens and makes them look like they simply slipped the jeans on with ease, rather than getting greased up and stuffed in.

If you’re wearing jeans that are a size or four too small, that’s an easy fix.

Please wear your size - not your daughter’s or little sister’s. But when it comes to nailing the fit so your jeans are as flattering as possible, it’s the finer details of the pants - such as pocket placement, waistband, leg width and wash - that make a difference. We asked two denim designers and fit experts to weigh in. Paige AdamsGeller, founder and designer of Paige Denim, and Bradley Bayou, who designs a denim-focused line called Bradley for QVC, share what to look for and what to avoid when searching for the most flattering jeans.

Slimming the waist The last thing any woman wants from her jeans (or any pants, for that matter) is a muffin top or belly overhang. First make sure you’re not wearing low-rise jeans. Most classic rises hit 8 inches from the top of the waist to the start of the inseam. And while many women think that encasing their tummy and torso under denim is the best way to compress the waist and flatten the stomach, wearing jeans that hit your waist is actually unflattering.

“The waist of the jean should hit about 1 to 2 inches below the belly button,” Bayou says. “The sides of the waist should swoop up higher and continue

how your thighs look in a pair of jeans, opting for a solid indigo or black denim will be your best bet. But if you find yourself shopping for jeans with a tad more character and personality (think lighter washes, distressing or abrasions), go for something that’s lighter on the front of the thigh and gradually gets darker on the sides and inner thigh. “This contours the leg and gives it a thinner look,” Bayou says. “The attention is drawn to the lighter part

Denim designer and fit expert Paige Adams-Geller founder and designer of Paige Denim, weighs in on what to look for and what to avoid when searching for the most flattering fitting jeans. —MCT around the back so you get that ballerina waist. This cut slims and elongates.”

He adds that it’s the slight drop at the center of the waist below the belly button that controls gapping in the back as well. Adams-Geller agrees, saying that wearing jeans right at your waist can give you the look of (or accentuate) a tummy pooch. “You might feel better because you’re covering yourself up,” she says. “But it’s really unattractive.”

Having a two-button closure (one sitting above the other) will also help the stomach area look flatter and hold down that flap of denim that tends to stick out after a heavy lunch or too many bagels in the office.

Color and contour It’s no secret: Dark colors are more slimming. So if you’re worried about

Finding jeans that fit correctly, hide flaws remains one of life’s great challenges. — MCT

and gives the illusion that the leg is longer and thinner.” Adams-Geller compares the effect to highlighting and contouring the face with makeup to add angles and thin certain features.

“There should be some light handsanding in the center of the thigh,” she says. “It’s like putting makeup on the face, highlighting and low lighting, so light in the center of the leg against the darker outer thigh draws attention to the center, which makes legs looks skinnier.”

Wear a style that suits your body One of the most uncomfortable things to look at is someone who is struggling to find comfort in skinny jeans. Just because skinny jeans and their even-less-forgiving cousin, the jegging, are massive denim trends doesn’t mean everybody needs to wear them. Adams-Geller says the body type that works best in a skinny jean or jegging is what she calls “emerald-cut diamond,” a straight body shape that could use the curves a skinny jean creates by hugging the body.

But she adds that any body type can wear slim-cut jeggings. The key is in what you wear with them. “Heels and a longer tunic show off the prettiest part of the leg - the lower thigh to ankle,” she says. In this kind of outfit, hips are hidden and the leg looks long and thin.

“You just have to balance it out.”

The straight-leg silhouette is also a popular style for fall and can be more forgiving and sophisticated than a skinny. “The straight-leg jean is a classic,” Bayou says. “It’s wonderful for girls who have hips, because the leg of the jean drops straight from the hip and follows the line down. This is a little more of an older, conservative look.” —MCT