2nd Jun

RI PT IO N BS C SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010

Qaeda says top leader Yazid killed with family

JAMADA ALTHANI 19, 1431 AH

NO: 14747

Iran women splurge on makeup despite restrictions

Saudis to probe MTV film that angered conservatives

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from the editor’s desk

Barbaric behavior

By Abd Al-R ahman Alyan Editor-in-Chief

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SINGAPORE: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah speaks to reporters during the ASEAN-GCC ministerial meeting’s joint press conference yesterday. — AFP

issues.

Israeli commandos on Monday boarded an aid ship bound for Gaza in a pre-dawn raid that left at least nine passengers dead and sparked global outrage. Hundreds of proPalestinian activists were also arrested. “We are holding Israel accountable to its actions in accordance to international law,” said Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem AlSabah, who is also foreign minister. “This is a very, very strong statement which reflects the belief that both the GCC and ASEAN believe in the sanctity of international law and the need to resolve conflicts in peaceful rather than violent ways,” he told a joint news conference. “So we are very grateful for this statement of support that we have got from ASEAN.” ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, L aos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In their statement, the ministers also expressed their condolences to the “victims of the raid and solidarity with the people and government of Turkey and other countries” whose nationals were among the casualties.

They urged the “immediate release” of those who are still being held by the Israeli authorities and called for the removal of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“The ministers agreed on the need for international cooperation to ensure that Israel is held accountable for its action in accordance with international law,” said the statement, which also urged the UN to conduct an investigation. — AFP

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Assembly slams Israel’s ‘black piracy’ KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday passed a recommendation calling on the government to pull out of the Arab peace initiative launched by at an Arab summit in 2002 in protest against Israel’s raid on an aid flotilla to Gaza. The recommendation was passed by 32 votes against six following an emergency session called to debate the deadly Israeli attack in which MPs blasted Israel as a “criminal state” that committed “black piracy” against unarmed aid activists.

The Assembly unanimously passed a host of other recommendations. It called on the government to continue its efforts to secure the safe return of 18 Kuwaiti activists held by Israeli authorities including Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and six women. They urged the government to press for the formation of an international investigation committee

to probe the Israeli attack and to press for filing a request to the International Court of Justice to lift the illegal siege of Gaza Strip.

The Assembly also approved a recommendation urging Arab and Muslim countries who have diplomatic ties with Israel to sever those ties. MPs passed a recommendation urging the government to file a lawsuit at the international criminal tribunal against the Zionist entity for illegally detaining the 18 Kuwaiti civilians.

Following the session, communications minister and government spokesman Mohammad Al-Busairi told reporters that the government will “deal positively with the recommendations” without specifically referring to any of them.

Also, the Assembly decided to debate next Tuesday a draft law that bans any dealings with Israel before it withdraws from all occupied Arab land and the establishment of an Continued on Page 10

KUWAIT : MP Faisal Al-Mislem speaks next to a picture of his colleague Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who is one of 18 Kuwaitis held in Israel, during a special Assembly session yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Turkey: Punish Israel Erdogan slams ‘massacre’ • Security Council condemns deaths • More aid ships to set sail JERUSALEM/ANKARA: Turkey called yesterday for Israel to be punished for storming a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza in an attack that left nine dead and Israel increasingly isolated in the face of international outrage.

Israel ordered the deportation of 682 activists from more than 35 countries captured aboard a flotilla of ships seized en route to the Palestinian enclave which has been under

See Pages 10, 11 & 13 Israeli blockade since 2006.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged the immediate lifting of “the inhumane embargo on Gaza”, and Cairo announced the opening of its border with the territory, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt’s main opposition. The United Nations called for an impartial investigation of the deaths of the nine people, four of them Turks, in the takeover by naval commandos who met violent resistance.

Continued on Page 10

GCC, ASEAN FMs condemn Israel raid SINGAPORE: Gulf and Southeast Asian foreign ministers who met in Singapore yesterday “strongly deplored and condemned” a deadly raid by Israeli commandos on a flotilla carrying aid bound for Gaza.

“The ministers strongly deplored and condemned this Israeli raid and act of violence in international waters,” the ministers from the Gulf countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said in a joint statement. The states belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The ministers were in Singapore for their regular consultative meeting normally focused on trade

Federer crashes to Soderling at French Open

MPs urge withdrawal from Arab peace plan

By B Izzak

hroughout the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the Israelis have always been good at using the media to win the sympathy of the world, while Arabs have not been able to compete on that front. However, it seems that these days Israel has failed to market its military actions against Palestinians in a convincing manner.

The recent Israeli military actions against the Gaza-bound aid flotilla are a shameful example of how Israel has failed to prove that it is a nation that wants peace.

Of course, Israel will try and make an excuse for its criminal attack and it will find allies who will say “Israel has a right to defend itself” even against an aid flotilla. So why has Israel failed to cover up its crimes from the eyes of the media and international scrutiny? Perhaps it’s the fact that technology is now far more advanced that governments cannot control it, or perhaps the Israelis miscalculated their actions thinking that they could use George W Bush’s war on terror as an excuse to wage war on any Muslim.

No, personally I think Israel is not that stupid and their calculations are at most times spot on. However, I think Israel now finds itself in a position where it doesn’t need to explain its actions to anyone. Because they have violated borders, UN resolutions, international treaties and have committed crimes against humanity and confiscated land from Palestinians without any sort of retaliation from anyone other than a few kids with stones scattered here and there. The world will condemn the actions of Israel today but by the end of the year they will be praised for being the most democratic state in the region or it would be invited to join an elite group of peace loving countries as if nothing ever happened.

That is why yesterday’s speech of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who vocalized his outrage at the Israeli atrocities and attack on the Freedom Flotilla the first such instance of thunderous disapproval directed towards Israel - could be seen as a sign of optimism that the international community might soon come out of its comatose state when it comes to the Palestine question.

Erdogan’s speech put the United Nations’ evasive reaction over the attack to shame for their carefully-chosen blame game words, dearth of “impartial” and “transparent” investigation into the incident and no-pressure-for-Israel approach. Calling the assault a “massacre” and “a blow to world peace and against international law”, Erdogan said, “Now Israel has shown to all the world how well it knows how to kill.”

Also, the opening of the Rafah crossing in Egypt yesterday that came as a result of the international outcry does not merely put a symbolic end to the three-year embargo but could be seen as a possible light at the end of the tunnel, albeit a faint one. The real question here is this: How long will the Rafah crossing remain open and what would be the world’s action against Israel’s “barbaric behavior” to borrow the words of Erdogan - remains to be seen.

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ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers at the parliament yesterday. — AP

Freed activists recount bullets, electroshocks AMMAN: A Jordanian woman takes part in a demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy yesterday after Monday’s deadly Israeli commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. — AP

Gazans flee as Egypt opens Rafah border Israeli fire kills 5 Palestinians CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday ordered the opening of the Rafah border crossing to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the official MENA agency reported.

The order came a day after a deadly raid by Israeli commandos on an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007. “Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has given orders to open the Rafah border crossing to allow humanitarian and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, as well as to receive medical cases which require access to Egyptian

territory,” MENA said. “This comes as part of Egypt’s moves to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

According to Egyptian security sources in Rafah, the border opened yesterday at 1.30 pm (1030 GMT). No date has been set for it to close again. The governor of Egyptian’s northern Sinai district, Murad Muwafi, said it was a humanitarian gesture meant to “alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers after the Israeli attack”.

Continued on Page 10

BERLIN: Pro-Palestinian activists returning to Europe said Israeli commandos used stun guns on passengers and beat them during the deadly raid on an aid flotilla that was trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. One woman said her aid ship “turned into a lake of blood”. Five Germans, six Greeks and several others among them a Turkish woman and her 1-year-old baby - were released yesterday, but Israel barred access to hundreds of other activists seized during the raid Monday that killed at least nine people and wounded dozens. Israel sent commandos onto six ships carrying nearly 700 activists, and there have been conflicting accounts of what happened during the assault.

Both sides claim to have been attacked by the other and so far it is not possible to reconcile those claims. Most of those killed were aboard the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara. Norman Paech, a former member of Germany’s Left Party who was aboard the Marmara, said the ship was surrounded by small Israeli

assault boats about 4:30 am Monday morning. “Moments later, we heard detonations and then soldiers from helicopters above us dropped down on board,” Paech said. “The soldiers were all masked, carrying big guns and were extremely brutal.”

The Israeli government says its soldiers were defending themselves, and has

released video showing soldiers in riot gear being struck by activists with sticks - and one soldier appears to have been shoved into the water.

Israel says the activists were armed with metal rods, knives, slingshots and two pistols snatched from the troops.

When asked about the Israeli video, Paech said he only saw Continued on Page 10

ISTANBUL: Nilufer Cetin holds her son Turker Kaan Cetin as she makes statements to the media after their arrival from Israel to Istanbul airport yesterday. — AP

NATIONAL

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

‘Brutal, inhumane and barbaric’

Kuwait public enraged at Freedom Flotilla attack

By Rawan Khalid and Hussain Al-Qatari

KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah speaks to Kuwaiti MP Saad Al-Khanfour (left) during a special session at the parliament in Kuwait City yesterday.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

FM praises ASEAN’s response SINGAPORE: Kuwait’s Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah on Monday praised the response of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the Israeli attack earlier in the day on the Freedom Flotilla that was heading to Gaza.

Al-Sabah said that the second GCCASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting had featured discussion of several issues, including the response to the Israeli attack.

The attack on a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid in international waters is a crime against humanity and a violation of international law, as well as being an act of piracy, he stressed.

During the meetings, things were called

by their real names, he said, noting that the flotilla passengers who are still being held incommunicado by Israeli authorities were called “hostages” by both the ASEAN and GCC states.

Participants in the meeting demanded an immediate end to the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza and the implementation of Resolution 1860 on the siege, he said.

They said that Israel was fully responsible for the attack on the flotilla and demanded an investigation, the minister added.

The delegates agreed on issuing a joint ASEAN-GCC press release that expressed their nations’ anger and called on the international community and the United Nations to take responsibility and condemn the Israeli crime, as well as demanding the

immediate release of the hostages, he noted.

Al-Sabah said that the meeting was successful on all levels, adding that meetings between the two sides will henceforth be held annually instead of every two years, with the next meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi.

Responding to a question, the Kuwaiti Deputy Premier said that signing a free trade agreement requires time, adding that the two sides had agreed on cooperation in the fields of economy, investment, education, training, culture, and arts.

He further revealed that a proposal had been tabled to establish a body to manage cultural cooperation between ASEAN and GCC states. — KUNA

Vital to maintain peace as objective in assessing tragedy: US ambassador KUWAIT: It is important that as all sides assess the tragic incident involving the ‘Freedom Flotilla’, nobody loses sight of the important objective of setting up Palestinian and Israeli states living side-by-side in peace, said US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones yesterday.

“We believe that the proximity talks that are currently underway are the only positive direction to go. So we hope that as we assess this tragedy, and we all take stock, that we not lose sight of the objective which is two states sides - Palestinian and Israeli living side-by-side in peace,” the ambassador said.

She said that the United States had expressed its “deep regret for this tragic loss of life,” saying that it was “a tragedy in many respects because of the true potential it has to set back the efforts being made, especially now, to set up proximity talks.” She noted that US President Barack Obama had spoken on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerning the incident, saying, “Our government has called for a credible and transparent investigation. We’re still awaiting the results and we’ve called on our friends, the Israelis, to provide that transparency and to do a full investigation of the incident.”

Ambassador Jones described the situation in Gaza as being “an untenable situation; it’s not a sustainable situation,” adding that, as a primary provider of support to

the Palestinians through UN Organizations and otherwise, the US has “long called on Israel to address the humanitarian issue there.”

However, she said, at the same time the US believes that any permanent, durable, long-lasting and viable solution to the situation would be in a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine that “establishes an independent and contiguous and viable Palestinian state living sideby-side in peace and security with Israel.”

It is for this reason that President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Mideast Peace Envoy Senator Mitchell had worked very hard to launch the negotiations between the two parties again, she said.

Asked about Monday night’s meeting between Kuwait’s State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan AlRoudhan and the ambassadors of the five permanent UN Security Council members (P5) in the country, Ambassador Jones said, “Obviously, we don’t get into our diplomatic exchanges but I think it’s clear from looking at who was invited - the ambassadors of the P5 members of the Security Council...I think there is a genuine concern on several levels.”

The US Ambassador said that one concern was that “there be a unified and strong statement coming out of the Security Council to address this overall issue, again the tragedy, but not only the tragedy but also the larger and

important issue about where we go now.”

She added, “Obviously we take note and we realize that Kuwait has a particular interest not only in the Palestinian issue and the humanitarian aspects of that, but also in fact that you have 16 Kuwaitis who are involved in that flotilla. But the concern is that, as great powers, and as representatives of the P5, we have a special obligation with respect to this issue.”

Responding to a question about whether the US government could confirm the conditions of the Kuwaitis who were on board the ‘Freedom Flotilla’, she said, “I have already conveyed to your government this morning my understanding of the current situation, which is that of individuals that the Israelis have detained, and that they are preparing to release individuals...we expect to have consular access to our people within the next 24 hours.”

Ambassador Jones added, “I suspect, and my understanding is that following an initial interview and processing they will be released, but I really can’t say much more on that right now. But we are monitoring that situation closely.” — KUNA

Kuwaitis bash flotilla attack online KUWAIT: Citizens across the country voiced their rejection of the recent Israeli attack against the Freedom Flotilla of humanitarian aid to Gaza, reported AlQabas. Citizens signed into blogs and social networking websites to express their protest and call for sit-ins.

Shortly after news of the attack, several citizens changed their Facebook user images to pictures that demonstrate their support of the flotilla. They posted updates that condemned the attacks and a special page was launched to call for a sit-in at demonstration square.

Several citizens also updated their twitter accounts with feeds that express their protest of the attack. However, tweets were less busy than Facebook updates due to the lack of news reports and sources that could be re-tweeted at the time.

Online blogs featured more activity than social networking sites as bloggers raced to voice their condemnation of the attacks and call for demonstrations. Blogs experienced increased visiting rates during the early hours following the attack at a time when people were looking for updates. It wasn’t long before they discovered that the Israeli authorities stopped all news from reaching news agencies.

kuwait digest

KUWAIT: The Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy to Gaza on Monday has generated angry reactions across Kuwait. The Kuwaiti government and Natile Esam, a Palestinian living and and that is why we are weak.”

Salman Al-Ayoub, a 20-year-old student working in Kuwait, told the Kuwait Times, “I didn’t see exactly what happened, but this believes, however, that the international is not new for Israel; this is not the first time community will take serious steps this time and it won’t be the last, but still it’s sick to to ensure that justice prevails.

“This proved that Israel is not attacking attack people with no notice and while people mean no harm to anyone and they were only Palestinians, but rather anyone who only working, helping people who just want supports people in need; they want the to eat...it make me sick that every time world to watch them die,” he said. Salman something like this happens, we can’t do believes that students and the young generanything about it and we keep on smiling ation in general should push for the Kuwaiti and laughing, we keep moving in our lives government to take action. “I’m not saying like there is nothing going on in our coun- we should fight a war, but at least build camps for the people living in Gaza; they die try.”

She continued, “We can’t just sit like this every day and they can have a better chance and do nothing and that what make me sad- of life if we try to help them,” he said.

Eighteen-year-old Shujoon Al-Rashid dest, that there is nothing we can do about it; even if we talk they lock us in jail, if we said that this incident should make the pubwrite they kill us, if we moved they will lic aware of the other atrocities and abuses destroy us. And who is doing that? The that are being inflicted on people across the Arab, the Muslim! We kill each other, we do world.

“Countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, this to ourselves, and why? To see who has more power to use for his own benefits - African states and even in our own country that’s why Israel thinks that she is stronger there are many people who are mistreated and more powerful and able to show off. and some even living in poverty. It is sad Because we do not fight together under the that this had to happen to men and women name of God, we fight against each other, who went to help others, but perhaps we

t’s not a story about piracy anymore. The crime’s story is not only written with Israeli bullets and martyrs blood. The enemy is no longer solely responsible for the massacre.

Tyranny is no longer a whip in the hands of the occupants alone.

Rights and freedoms are no longer violated by just the enemy state.

We are all accomplices. We groaned about the oppression, misery and sadness and have done nothing but issue statements of condemnation. We are besieged by our own helplessness. We contributed to the blockade by exporting and conveying our helplessness to them. The story is not about Israel alone. We are right at the heart of it as well. The whip is no longer in the hands of the occupants alone, our silence has become our whip. — Al-Rai

I

should remember that charity begins at home,” said Shujoon.

Dalia Mohammad, a Lebanese graduate student, said, “The most disappointing thing is the international community’s reactions all talk, no action. This UN meeting that happened yesterday was actually embarrassing for those countries.”

“Secondly, I think it’s a bad move from the Israelis; they make it so hard to sympathize with them. Their cause is turning into purposeful unjustifiable violence. Whoever supports Israel...they’re making it harder for them to stay that way,” Dalia concluded.

Another of those interviewed by the Kuwait Times, Omar Ahmad, said “I think for us in the Middle East it is not a new thing to witness crimes like these being carried out by the terrorists in the so-called state of Israel; we have been seeing this for over 60 years now. The only new thing is that the world is starting to pay attention to these practices, and I hope people in the US and Europe will better understand the situation in the Middle East, and put pressure on their government to be more fair in dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

My daughter is in danger: KU professor KUWAIT: Kuwait University Psychology Professor Dr. Adnan Al-Shatti, the father of the Kuwaiti activist Haya AlShatti, who is currently being held incommunicado by Israeli authorities, along with other activists who were aboard the Freedom Flotilla, for her part in the humanitarian mission, has expressed concern for her safety, describing the Israeli assault as a criminal act and an act of piracy, reported Annahar.

Dr. Al-Shatti added that he had contacted the US embassy in Kuwait reminding them of a similar incident with the Italian ship Achille Lauro in 1985 and stressed that the embassy staff had shown more concern about the incident than the Kuwaiti government.

He added that, after contacting the US state department, the embassy also promised to work on releasing his daughter and all the Kuwaiti detainees.

Al-Shatti described the Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan’s meeting with the ambassadors of the five Security Council Member states stationed in Kuwait as a good step, but remarked that Kuwait TV was not up to the incident’s challenge and had shown nothing about the incident despite its great local and international significance.

He also urged the UN to force Israel to respect the humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Thirty-year-old Haya AlShatti, who works for a Kuwaiti real estate firm, has been involved with voluntary humanitarian activities since adolescence, said her father, adding that she first visited Palestinian refugee camps when she was 15 years old.

KUWAIT: Relatives of 16 Kuwaitis on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla attend a special session at the parliament in Kuwait City yesterday to discuss Israel’s deadly raid on the convoy.

KUWAIT: A sign with the writing in Arabic that reads “Freedom to Mona Shashter”, who is a correspondent of Kuwait News Agency and one of 16 Kuwaitis on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, is placed over the Kuwaiti flag during a special session at the parliament in Kuwait City yesterday to discuss Israel’s deadly raid on the convoy. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

connect the dots

Silence is our whip!

By Jassim Boodai

National Assembly both strongly condemned the attacks, and a number of NGOs and activists held a protest in Irada Square opposite the parliament building, with protesters describing the attacks as brutal, inhumane and barbaric.

10 hugs...and 6 kind smiles

By Meshary Alruwaih don’t remember the last time I wrote an article with the word Kuwait or Kuwaiti in it. I guess I have been disinterested by Kuwaiti affairs, or more frankly, disappointed.

Today, however, because of sixteen brave men and women, I’m honored and proud to write about my fellow Kuwaitis.

The sixteen Kuwaitis who joined the freedom flotilla to Gaza should not only make us proud but should also open our hearts and minds to the possibility of a higher collective purpose. One that goes beyond the usual cycle of producing oil, selling it to the west, distributing the income to Kuwaiti citizens and then wasting it in at shopping malls, vacations, and Starbucks!

I

Those sixteen Kuwaitis should be seen as role models for those who want to break through this cycle and connect to a wider Islamic context without having to give up their national identity. Being Kuwaiti is necessarily a multilayered identity where the Kuwaiti and the Islamic should always be connected.

In other words, I don’t know what being Kuwaiti means apart from being Muslim. Sadly, however, many of us have long forgotten this link. Some for security reasons, others for economic purposes while some simply dislike the word Islamic.

You can see it in the sarcastic tone of a number of Kuwaiti columnists. While Arabs and Muslims and many others praise our sixteen heroes, Fouad AlHashim and the likes are making them a target with their sarcastic and cheap comments.

What those one-dimensional Kuwaitis, like Fouad Al-Hashim, want is to keep the cycle of oil, American bases and Starbucks

continuing by shaming those who try to break through. Thanks to Walid and his friends this is no longer possible.

Only outside this cycle can a higher purpose and a meaningful existence be found. We want this trend to continue. We want more Kuwaitis to break through, to escape this isolation and join their fellow Muslims while remaining proud Kuwaitis.

I say put down your mug of mocha, throw away your sushi sticks and leave the narrow alleys of Salhiya, escape the concrete Avenues, and desert Share’ AlHob (love street). Take a serious look at your region, your world, learn about your brothers’ struggles, feel their pain and think about how you can help them.

Only then will we have 16,000 Kuwaiti heroes that we can be proud of.

Concluding this article I would like to have offered sixteen hugs to the Kuwaitis on the freedom flotilla but knowing that six of them are women I can only offer ten hugs and six kind smiles. meshary@kuwaittimes.net

NATIONAL

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Ministry trying to solve the problem

Civilians complicit in police abuse of power: MoI officer

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: A family outing turned into a quarrel with an angry cop for 19-yearold Jamal, a student of medicine at Kuwait University. The incident that took place left Jamal alarmed that doing something so ordinary could turn into a problem. He now feels as if he is constantly walking on eggshells, he said.

KUWAIT: The Minister of Embassy of Japan Yukihiro Nikaido visited Kuwait Times and discussed matters of mutual concern with Editor-in-Chief Abd AlRahman Alyan. — Photo by Joseph Shagra

Tensions at Municipal Council KUWAIT: The Municipal Council's latest session featured a heated discussion between members of the council, reported Al-Watan. Instead of accusing the Minister of Public Works and Municipality Affairs as usual, council members began directing accusations against each other.

Tensions started when Jassar Al-Jassar, a member of the council, claimed to be in possession of a document in which the Cabinet accuses the Municipal Council of being "unable to make achievements."

Member Manea Al-Ajmi responded to the claim by asking Al-Jassar to provide proof of his allegation or apologize to the Council for his claims. Al-Jassar left the session in protest of Al-Ajmi's demands.

Shortly after, member Ahmad Al-Bughali crit-

icized colleague Abdulkareem Saleem for his "blind support of [the minster Dr Fadhel] Safar."

After his comment, an altercation took place between the two which almost escalated into a fight but was defused as members of the council intervened. Head of the Council, Zaid Al-Azmy, was forced to suspend the session briefly to calm the situation down.

Aside from the meeting's tensions, the recent session also featured an unprecedented event as member Muna Burisli became the first female member to lead a Municipal Council session. She was then asked to handle the remaining part of the session when its head had to leave for an appointment and his deputy was not in attendance.

in the news Al-Falah's reinstatement KUWAIT: The cabinet has reportedly submitted a memorandum from Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Afasi concerning the court ruling overturning the compulsory retirement of Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS) chairman Fouad Al-Falah to the Council of Ministers' legal committee. The committee is expected to examine the issue, particularly in regard to the contradiction between Al-Falah's advanced age and his position heading a youth-related organization. Al-Afasi has complied with the court's ruling, issuing an order restoring AlFalah to the PAYS position on Monday, reported Al-Jarida. The Palace of Justice's implementation department, however, has refused to comply with the implementation of the ruling in AlFalah's favor after the interim PAYS chairman Major General (Retd.) Faisal Al-Jazzaf filing a legal case contesting the decision, which will be heard on June 17. While waiting to receive the keys to the PAYS office from Al-Jazzaf, Al-Falah thanked the judiciary for what he said was a historic ruling, adding, "Here I am again, serving my country."

Bedoon policewomen KUWAIT: The parliamentary interior and defense committee has approved a number of parliamentary motions, including one to recruit female bedoon (stateless) residents as police officers.

Committee chairman MP Askar Al-Enezi told Annahar that another of the motions approved by the committee will see control of the Criminal Investigation Directorate shift from the Ministry of Justice to the Public Prosecutor.

Female fraudster caught KUWAIT: Immigration Department investigators have arrested a Kuwaiti woman who forged the signature and stamp of the department head, Lieutenant Kamil Al-Awadhi. An investigation was launched after officials at the Hawally immigration department branch reported three suspicious transactions to recruit workers which had been issued to a company owned by a Kuwaiti woman.

Investigators discovered that those behind the transactions had forged signatures and stamps using hi-tech equipment, including a scanner, reported Al-Watan. At this point, the female company owner was summoned for questioning, eventually admitting to forging the documents. The woman has been referred to the Public Prosecution Service for further action.

No BlackBerry phone taps, says CID head KUWAIT: The director of Kuwait's Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) has rejected rumors that Kuwaiti authorities plan to ban the use of BlackBerry smartphones, although he conceded that there are plans to 'filter' calls.

"We are mainly concerned with the rightful use of these items and preventing their use in smuggling or accessing pornography websites and promoting them among the young," said Major General Sheikh Ali Al-Yousef.

Speaking out in a bid to quash the rumors circulating about the country's security services banning the BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) service, Maj. Gen. AlYousef flatly denied MPs' allegations that the authorities would be tapping citizens' mobile phones and spying on them.

"We are fully committed to the constitution and all security measures will only be taken through the right channels and after obtaining permission from the Public Prosecutor," said the senior official, adding that the CID is liaising closely with representatives from the Ministry of Communications and Kuwait's three main telecommunications service providers in an effort to upgrade their networks and to filter the available service and track any of the smartphones being used illegally.

The angry officer claimed that Jamal was taking pictures and videos of his sisters and family, which he said is against the law. "He said that it is defamation or something weird like that, and he threatened to take me to the police station. He said that he would make one single phone call and have me taken to the police station in a patrol car," Jamal explained.

Attempts to reason with the official were all to no avail; he hardly agreed even to let Jamal take his SIM card, and insisted on taking his phone.

"He wouldn't just delete the video and go, no. He accused me of doing something I wasn't doing, how on earth is he supposed to be protecting people?" asked Jamal.

Serving Such stories are not very uncommon nowadays. Police officers, whether on or off duty, have been abusing their power, sometimes for personal gain according to media reports.

Amal, a 31-year-old Egyptian expat working for a telecommunication company, said that she was once stopped by a police officer, also off-duty, without any justification, and humiliated and treated as if she has committed a felony. Amal recalls that she was driving her car along Gulf Road while talking on the phone to her daughter. Next to her, a Germanmade car driven by a young man started to honk repeatedly. Amal was then stopped by the driver of the car; the man in the passenger seat stepped out and asked her to hand him her driving license: "He spoke to me rather angrily, as if what I did was something really wrong and offensive," she told the Kuwait Times. "He said that he was a police officer and that I had no right to drive that way while talking on the phone, and that I almost caused an accident. He was screaming at me; I was in shock. He said that he would get my driving license revoked, and when I tried to argue with

This is what happened, as told to the Kuwait Times by Jamal: He and his family were out together one day at a local theme park when he decided to film himself and his sister on one of the rides there. "Not even a minute after I got off the ride, as soon as I was trying to regain my balance from the rollercoaster, I was approached by this big bulky guy who said that he was a police officer and asked me to give him my phone and delete the video," said Jamal. him he got really mad and said that he would deport me."

After arguing with her, he told her that if she needs her driving license she could pick it up from the police station.

She followed him immediately and waited for hours at the station until she was finally given her driving license back. "He didn't even ask me to sign a single paper; he was just showing off. I was infuriated but I couldn't say anything," Amal said.

Her story is not uncommon these days, with stories about members of the police force abusing their position being reported regularly in the news.

Police speak out The Kuwait Times spoke to a police officer at the Ministry of Interior, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. He said that the ministry is trying to solve the problem of abuses of power as there have been many complaints regarding this issue.

"The ministry has a full department

designated for complaints about the behavior of police personnel. All complaints should go to that department," he said. He urged all citizens and expats living in Kuwait not to hesitate about claiming their right by filing complaints against abusive police personnel: "If you don't report such issues then you are complicit in their spread in the country; people learn from their mistakes, and when an officer makes a mistake and is not punished, he will keep repeating the same mistake again and again. This is how it becomes widespread," he asserted.

The problem, he said, lies in the fact that there are not enough training courses to give officers in how to behave in certain situations with citizens and individuals.

"This problem is actually much bigger than this, and the cooperation of individuals is important," he said, adding, "If they let incidents like this go, they will continue to happen and recur."

Campaign helps Kuwait lose 1.7 tons of excess fat

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: Gethealthykuwait.com announced that Kuwait lost 1.7 tons of excess fat as a direct result of campaign participant's efforts to combat obesity.

They also announced that they provided 4,323 people with free on-the-spot tests and consultations during 34 weekly community outreach visits to schools, private businesses, government sectors and public centers since their launch in June 2009. The 'Get Healthy Kuwait' campaign issued their statements yesterday at a press conference at the Meridian Hotel.

Organizers at Gethealthykuwait.com, Kuwait's largest obesity-combating initiative, also announced the campaign's third cycle winner, Sleiman Al-Nasser, who won a trip to an island resort in Bali.

Al-Nasser reported a weight loss percentage of 9.9%, the highest recorded since the campaign's launch. Al-Nasser weighed 96 kilograms before following gethealthykuwait.com's health program and in 28 days he managed to lose 9.5 kilograms.

Al-Nasser said, "I spent the last seven years of my life dieting on my own. I tried many methods but found myself losing one or two kilograms within the first couple of weeks and then plateauing. At times I even gained more weight than I lost. With Gethealthykuwait.com I was able to lose four kilograms in the first week with an approximate total of 10 kilograms in 28-days. In addition to weight-loss I managed to bring my cholesterol down to a normal level and with the help of my Gethealthykuwait.com nutritionist, Farah Al Rifai, my knowledge about health and nutrition has expanded. I learned to eat the foods that I love without jeopardizing my weightloss results."

Gethealthykuwait.com is a national

KUWAIT: GHK Chief Nutritionist and Diet Care Operations Manager Sami Al-Bader (3rd from right) with the winner and the team of the GHK.— Photo by Joseph Shagra health initiative by Diet Care and Taiba Hospital that helps fight obesity in the community by providing individuals with the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle. The initiative reaches out to the community through weekly community visits from expert nutritionists from Diet Care and Taiba Hospital. They provide free on-the-spot cholesterol and glucose tests, weight analysis and consultations.

GHK Chief Nutritionist and Diet Care Operations Manager, Sami Al-Bader said, "the results Kuwait experienced with gethealthykuwait.com's efforts have never been seen before. This proves that

all that is needed for Kuwait to get healthy again is a concentrated effort and focused message. To date, we've helped the country lose 1.7 tons of fat in just nine months and we continue to see positive health results day after day. We are empowering individuals on a weekly basis to combat obesity by taking the first steps toward healthy living and making positive changes that will last for an entire lifetime."

Kuwait ranks fifth worldwide for the highest percentage of overweight population with an 80 percent overweight population, Al-Bader added. "During

Gethealthykuwait.com's community outreach visits to schools, our experts discovered another dangerous reality in young and pre-teen women," he continued. "Forty-five percent of school children under the age of fifteen are overweight or obese and susceptible to developing other diseases like cholesterol and diabetes. This proves that the issue facing Kuwait is a lifestyle issue. As a country we need to adopt a healthier lifestyle and we at Gethealthykuwait.com are here to provide every individual with the first steps needed to achieve a healthier and more positive lifestyle."

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Water treatment facility inaugurated

A temporary resolution for industrial waste problem

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and the head of the Environmental Higher Council Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah afternoon inaugurated a new industrial water waste treatment facility in Wafra, 80 kilometers south of Kuwait City. The facility is meant to

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and the head of the Environment Higher Council Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah cutting the ribbon.

KUWAIT: The ministers listening for explanation about the facility’s functionality from engineers. — Photos by Ahmad Saeid

kuwait digest

Intervention of the MPs

By Ahmad Mohammad Al-Fahad very business knows that in order to be successful a comprehensive study needs to be made. For example, café owners looking to open their own business in a commercial center needs to know that they have to service at least 600 customers in order to cover the expense of high rent and the cost of materials.

All in all, for a business to succeed it’s important that it be run by a person with good business experience. That said, I believe our problem with MPs stem from the fact that they address all issues as if they are experts in all

E

fields. This is the main problem that the Cabinet faces with MPs, not the interpellation threats. MPs try to convince their constituents that they have all the answers, despite the fact that experts failed to solve the problem!

Most recently, MPs demanded that the capital for the Kuwait Investment Fund be increased and that it be allowed to fund companies taking on projects in the development plan without the supervision of the Central Bank.

Regardless of the reasons behind these proposals, it’s important to note that MPs’ intervention in the economy, especially in the banking sector, will significantly hurt the country’s finances. — Al-Watan

KUWAIT: Authorities from the General Department for Drug Control arrested a citizen recently released from prison after he was found in possession of six marijuana seedlings in his Mubarak Al-Kabeer house. A security source said they also found him in possession of one and a half kilograms of hashish. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Residency violators held KUWAIT: A female citizen reported to Sulaibikhat police that when she went to the citizen service center in Doha to process a transaction, she discovered an Asian worker under her sponsorship that she did not

employ. When the file was sent to immigration detectives an Asian was arrested as well as the laborer who was registered under the citizen.

When questioned, the laborer explained that he gave the

Asian KD 700 for an illegal residency permit. It was also discovered that the Asian was helped by an employee who works in Doha. A case of forgery was filed against the two lawbreakers.

“I want to deliver a warning to everyone; do not violate the environmental regulations in the country,” the minister said in a press statement. “Those who do will subject themselves to the closure of their factories and risk having their licenses suspended.”

According to the chairman of the landfills rehabilitation committee, Muhammad Al-Bader, the facility was built as a temporary solution until other measures could be taken in each industrial location. “This facility was built as an emergency solution for the country’s industrial waste problem until treatment stations can be built for each industrial facility according to the recommendations of the Cabinet,” Al-Bader said in his speech at the inaugural ceremony.

The head of the committee, which is formed by the Cabinet, the Environmental Higher Council and the Kuwait Municipality, said that the committee dealt with the challenges of industrial waste very carefully. “We coordinated with all the involved government authorities on this regard. We delegated specialists from various ministries to countries advanced in this field to end up with this treatment facility,” he explained.

The implementation and operation of the facility was carried out by TIA technologies, a German company specialized in waste water treatment. The managing director of the company, Norbert Mueller-Blanke said that the facility resolves an

process the chemical and industrial waste water from the country’s factories. The inaugural ceremony was attended by a number of government ministers and environmental activists.”It is a historical day for the environment in Kuwait,” said Al-Sabah, who expressed the government’s determination to follow through with their environmental strategies.

KUWAIT: A file photo of the industrial waste water dumping location. — Photo courtesy: Environment Public Authority “extraordinary and interesting challenge.”

“TIA won the bidding process and started the plant in August 2009, just one month ago we completed the plant,” Mueller-Blanke said. “When I came to Kuwait in January 2009, there were many different kinds

of wastewater to be treated.

Over 300 tankers per day, containing green, yellow, brown or black liquids were emptied without any treatment. The problem has now been solved,” he noted.

The German engineer pointed out that this facility provides

more than just an environmental solution. “Kuwaiti engineers have the opportunity to earn a lot of experience with this plant.

This will give Kuwait’s industries the security to be able to deal with their wastewater in the future,” he pointed out.

During the inaugural cere-

mony, guests watched a documentary film demonstrating the stages and phases that industrial waste water is treated. The ministers toured the facilities, and listened to detailed explanations on the different functions of the facility’s equipment and components.

Factories breaking rules to be strictly punished

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: First Deputy Premier, Defense Minister and Chairman of the Higher Environment Council (HEC) Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak said that any risk at all to citizens’ health is a red line which cannot be crossed, adding that he will not hesitate to apply the strictest punishments on violating factories.

Speaking to journalists after a tour which took in an ‘eco-friendly’ Shuaiba factory, pollution monitoring station in Um Al-Hayman area, and the opening of a treatment station for liquid industrial waste in the Wafra area, the minister said that the government cannot accept any damage to citizens’ health, no matter who perpetrates it.

On the new factory, he said, “This is a historic day for the environmental sector; the building of such a factory and our interest in our environment are indications of our advanced civilization, and an aware society is one which takes an interest in the environment.”

The defense minister was accompanied on his tour by Minister of Oil and of Information Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, Minister of Public Works and Municipality Affairs Dr. Fadhil Safar and Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad Al-Haroun, as well as several MPs and other prominent figures.

Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak said that the government is extremely interested in environmental issues, which is why half the cabinet are members of the HEC. He also praised the positive attitude of the owners of the facilities he had visited towards environmental issues, saying, “I found a great response from the factory owners towards the cabinet’s decisions [on environmental matters].”

The minister asserted that factory owners must keep themselves informed of everything taking place at their facilities in order to not endanger fellow citizens.

Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak warned that anybody violating Kuwait’s environmental regulations would be harshly penalized, adding that further

deterrent measures are being introduced to deal severely with anybody who was lax in implementing environmental protection laws.

Kuwait already has environmental legislation, he said, and the country depends on factories observing the industrial regulations which ban them from damaging the environment. The HEC head said that the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has been empowered to close down any factories which it inspects that fail to comply with the environmental legislation, pointing out that of the 12 factories which had been closed down as a punishment for contravening these laws, seven had subsequently brought their equipment and practices up to the required environmental level after reopening, while the remaining five had not and had been closed once again before promising to have the required work done to meet the terms of the environmental laws.

On further proposed environmental protection legislation, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak said that this is on the National Assembly agenda, with many MPs expressing an interest in the issue.

On the grilling motion presented against His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed AlSabah, the defense minister said that interpellation is the absolute constitutional right of all MPs, but added that most MPs are convinced that the government is doing its job properly and plans to implement all the existing laws without hesitation.

Asked about the arrest of Kuwaiti activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla sailing to Gaza, which was recently boarded by Israeli soldiers who killed at least eight of those on board one of the vessels, Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak said that the government is in constant contact with all official authorities and is exerting every effort to ensure all the Kuwaiti citizens being held are freed.

“Our MPs have also taken many actions in this regard and a session was held yesterday about the issue,” he added.

KUWAIT: Mubarak Sadoun Al-Mutawaa, a Kuwaiti who was on board the aid flotilla attacked by Israel, is seen in this undated photo with his extended family. Al-Mutawaa holds a Bachelor of Law from Kuwait University and has been practicing since 1977. He is a consultant at the National Assembly of Kuwait. Furthermore, he is the General Secretary of International Islamic Committee of Human Rights. His accomplishments include being VicePresident of the International Association of Private Organization of Islamic World, member of the International Islamic Council in Cairo and member of the presidency authority as well. He is the owner of two schools: Arab American Bilingual Academy and Al Tawheed School. He is a published writer and has dedicated his life to human rights. Ahlam Khatab, his wife, also holds a degree in law. Due to her love of education, she has dedicated her life to educating Kuwait’s youth. She is currently the director of the Arab American Bilingual Academy School.

Egyptian opinions vary on re-opening of Rafah

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUWAIT: In a step that could have several political implications, Egypt announced the reopening of the Rafah gateway on the Egyptian borders with Gaza.

The decision was made by Egyptian authorities yesterday, following the Turkish Prime Minister, Rajab Tayeb Ardugan’s speech to the Turkish Parliament.

Egypt’s move could imply that Turkey’s speech was firm enough that Egypt felt comfortable easing the border if it seemed as though Turkey was taking the lead in condemning Israel’s actions.

Egypt’s response to the speech could also be interpreted as a move to show that not only Turkey is taking Israel’s actions seriously.

The Egyptian regime’s response could be read as an attempt to respond to the general mood of most Arab countries public opinion and rush aid to the people of Gaza as soon as possible. It could be a humanitarian gesture, meant to grab the attention of

the media before the next Arab League meeting.

Whatever the reason behind Egypt’s move, it is a serious one and will help the civilians of Gaza. The Kuwait times took the opinions of several Egyptian expats’ response to the opening of the Rafah gateway.

Wael, an Egyptian expat in Kuwait, expressed his happiness for the re-opening of the Rafah gateway. “This should have been done a long time ago,” he said. Wael added that his country was not playing a positive role in the siege of Gaza. In his opinion it is shameful for a country like Egypt not to help because they should support the Palestinian cause and the struggle of the Palestinian people.

On the other hand, Hassan contradicts Wael’s opinion. He thinks that this issue is just a big misunderstanding and that the media has spoiled Egypt’s image. He said the gateway was never closed but has remained open under certain conditions to prevent the smuggling of weapons to the

Hamas movement. Hassan denied the fact that basic needs and medicines are not entering Gaza through Egypt. He said that many of the people of Gaza live better than many Egyptians.

Ahmad said that this issue is beyond the abilities of Egypt or any other Arab region. “No one can stop Israel, not even Turkey,” he said. He added that re-opening the gateway will not do much to change the equation and that Israel will not stop its violent actions just because Egypt opened the gateway. On the contrary, Israel, in his opinion, will continue to imprison the people Gaza more brutally then before.

No one knows whether the Rafah Gateway will remain opened or if it will be closed again by tomorrow. Some Arab states like Kuwait went further to condemn Israel’s attack on the aid convoy. As a response, the Kuwaiti government agreed with the general assembly’s request to withdraw from the Arab peace initiative.

NATIONAL

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

5 Woman files complaint against janitor

Expat teen 'spy' forced into marriage by dad KUWAIT: A 17-year-old female expatriate arrested in Kuwait on charges of spying for the benefit of a neighboring country has categorically denied being involved in any espionage-related activities. The young woman, a citizen of another GCC country, who is being held for questioning by the Public Prosecution Service, Suicide attempt A young woman who attempted suicide by consuming cleaning bleach at her family's home in Waha was subsequently beaten by her brothers for unknown reasons. The woman was later rushed to Jahra Hospital by another family member after being found unconscious in her room, reported Al-Watan. A police investigation has been launched.

in my view

The next 50 years of Kuwait

By Fouad Al-Obaid

T

his region of ours is one that has seen a fundamental and rather drastic change in the past 50 years. We have literally gone from mud houses to skyscrapers; from water being brought to us by donkeys and by boat to a world-class desalination operation that has allowed this dear country of ours to firmly place itself on the global map.

We have - and rather uniquely - positioned Kuwait as a beacon of freedom with a functioning parliament, a tolerant culture, a free press and a philanthropic nature that has spread the seeds of wealth to countries the world over. We have managed to develop a country with the help of foreigners while sustaining our very own culture; one of hospitality and generosity. We in our country - and proudly so - have maintained our cultural heritage and our national dress.

As a corridor between the East and West, we have managed to forge a foreign

policy that has smooth relations with most countries. Time tested our resolve and for seven long, horrible months our will was put to the test. Yet victoriously we emerged from a crisis that destroyed much of what we achieved prior to it.

Nevertheless, determined to continue our march towards a brighter future, the Kuwait we see today is a reflection of a vision brought to us by our forefathers.

The question we ought to ask ourselves today is what do we want to leave our children? What do we want the next 50 years to look like? What are the values we want to pass down and what are the improvements we want to make to our thriving society? All is not rosy, and yes just like every other country we are faced with challenges. However, if there is one thing I know for a fact it is that we are approaching our nation's Golden Jubilee post-protectorate era. Kuwait and its inhabitants are proud of the achievements accomplished thus far and are dreaming of those yet to come.

Today, we need to start working towards achieving HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah's vision. The

people of Kuwait have to further develop the country so that within the next 50 years we can rival all other major countries in fields as diverse as higher education, innovation and technological development.

I am certain that we will remain at the core of our nation’s values and beliefs. We will continue to cautiously develop and learn from the mistakes of others. Most certainly, and solidly ingrained in our culture, is a value that most of us believe in; we will continue to help other countries develop. Our seat at international gatherings and conferences would be for nothing if we didn't aspire to help the world develop and become a better place for every single citizen of the world!

Though we have our shortcomings, no one can challenge the fact that Kuwait, since its modern inception, has strived to help others and has dedicated a large budget to that cause.

May God be pleased with us, and May He continue to bless the years to come.

May we prosper under the wise leadership of our father figure, HH the Amir. fouad@kuwaittimes.net

Saad Al-Abdullah 'unsuitable for human habitation'

By A. Saleh

KUWAIT: Al-Anjari receives an honorary plaque.

KUWAIT: The pollution problems that have dogged Um AlHayman for some years could be repeated in the Saad AlAbdullah area, according to a government statement, which indicates that high pollution levels have been registered there.

Like Um Al-Hayman, the Saad Al-Abdullah residential area was constructed in a location unsuitable for human habitation, the statement indicated, explaining that high levels of hydrogen sulfide have been registered in the area, which are believed to emanate not just from the nearby Jahra sewage plant only 100 meters away, but from the Doha water desalination and power generating facilities.

"Environmental statistics indicate that the pollution levels [in Saad Al-Abdullah] have exceeded acceptable levels," said the statement, adding that these levels are rapidly increasing.

The statement also noted that a team of Environmental Public Authority (EPA) experts discovered on a recent visit to the area that previous recommendations they had made on reducing pollution there had not been followed.

A government source also revealed that the EPA is working with the Ministry of Public Works to establish a sewage treatment facility in the area.

Cabinet faces rushed grilling KUWAIT: Al-Anjari, Al-Rashidi and Al-Kandari pose with participants.

KU hosts labor seminar KUWAIT: Kuwait University's College for Women recently held a seminar for its students to discuss the working environment and provide an introduction on women's experience in management posts and the obstacles that they face. The seminar, which was held under the patronage of Professor Dr. Hayfa'a Al-Yousef, featured participation from several female political and social activists including Nabila Al-

Anjari, Thekra A-Rashidi and Fatima AlKandari.

During the seminar, Al-Anjari talked about her experience in the private and public sectors, while Al-Rashidi discussed the labor law and her experience in the political and scientific sectors. On her part, Al-Kandari talked about her professional journey until she reached the post of Dean of the Nursing College.

KUWAIT: The Cabinet has decided to face the grilling filed

by MP Khalid Al-Tahous against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, reported Al-Watan. The grilling will take place next Tuesday without delay. Their rushed decision stems from their confidence in the level of Parliamentary support they currently have.

The interpellation motion was sent to the Cabinet's legal committee to study from a constitutional and legal perspective.

Sex pest janitor An Asian woman has filed a complaint with Hawally police against a janitor of a building in the area, accusing him of sexually harassing her while she was outside playing with her young children.

The woman told police that she had to throw stones at her assailant to drive him away, but he had persisted, reported Al-Rai. An investigation was opened and police are searching for the suspect.

Cops get a mouthful A young bedoon woman was taken in custody by two police patrol officers after allegedly verbally assaulting them when they pulled her over for breaking the speed limit on a street in Bnaid AlGar. According to the officers, the

explained that her father had forced her to marry a Kuwaiti man against her wishes through a civil marriage contract. Her father had then taken her to her nation's embassy in another country to obtain official endorsement for the contract, which was when the 'spying' charges arose, she said.

woman began swearing at them when they asked her for her driving license and car registration documents, further threatening them that pulling her over would cost them their jobs, reported Annahar. The woman was taken to Da'iya police station for questioning.

Painful accident A 57-year-old Indian man sustained second degree burns all over his body in an accident at his workplace in Sabhan.

The man was rushed to Farwaniya Hospital by paramedics, reported AlSeyassah.

Drunks arrested Ahmadi police arrested two bedoon (stateless) men for public intoxication and possessing alcohol and drugs. The arrest occurred after the men's vehicle was forced to stop at a checkpoint where they were found to be intoxicated and in possession of a bottle of homemade alcohol, along with other drugs, reported Al-Watan. They were referred to the relevant authorities. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Ahmadi an Asian man working as a cook at a local stable was arrested after he was found in posses-

sion of 16 bottles of homemade liquor which he intended to sell, reported AlWatan. Police took the man into custody and he is being questioned in an attempt to find out the details of his supplier and customers.

Caught in the act Police arrested an Indonesian woman and a Bangladeshi man after catching them having an illegal sexual relationship inside a car parked in the maternity hospital's parking lot, reported AlAnba. Investigations revealed that the woman works as a maid for a Kuwaiti family, while the man works as a driver for another Kuwaiti family.

Outlaw caught Ahmadi police have arrested an Asian man who was involved in several illegal activities in Fahaheel, including alcohol trading, as well as making illegal international calls. Following a tip-off about his activities, a team of officers raided his apartment, finding 18 bottles of homemade alcohol, as well as several telephone and computer devices used to make the phone calls, reported Annahar.

The man has been taken into custody.

kuwait digest

Housing care: Double standards and moods

By Fahad Al-Hendal

I

used to make fun of how long one had to wait before receiving a house from the governmental housing care program. I used to say that I'd get the house when my kids were as tall as I am.

The housing authority has tried its best to solve this problem, despite the land and financial assets needed and the lack of a clear, long-term vision. Clearly the reason behind the long wait is not because of the growing population. It's because housing

officials are not serious when following up on various construction contracts. They are not making sure that housing units are finished on schedule and handed over to those who deserve them.

I blame the government for the housing problem. Its poor performance over the past three decades has contributed to burdening the housing authority with excuses of not enough land.

Meanwhile, private companies have enjoyed and occupied vast stretches of land leaving the housing authority with the

option of building new residential cities in remote suburban areas.

This land monopoly has to come to an end. Both the government and the Cabinet must work hand in hand to stop the soaring price of land. Also, citizens have swapped and sold houses for a profit while others wait decades to get one.

I am very optimistic with the presence of Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and am sure that he will make the right decision to ensure a decent life for citizens.— Al-Rai

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Delegation in town

MoE, WB to upgrade education process KUWAIT: A meeting took place yesterday between Dr. Moudhi Al-Humoud, Minister of Education and Higher Education, and a delegation of World Bank (WB) officials. The meeting was chaired by Steen Jorgensen, the World Bank's Director of Human Development and Radwan Shaban, the manager of the World Bank's Kuwait office, with the purpose of launching an agreement for the development of Kuwait's educational system.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receiving the National Assembly (parliament) Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi at Bayan Palace yesterday.

Kuwait thankful for American sacrifices WASHINGTON: Kuwait participated along with the US in observing here yesterday the Memorial Day, remembering all those who have died for the service of the nation. Thousands of spectators gathered along Constitution Avenue to celebrate the 2010 National Memorial Day Parade despite the very warm weather and closed roads. Kuwait, for the fourth consecutive year, took part in the parade, where Kuwaiti children and students carried the Kuwaiti and American flags and others were on a float known as the Gulf War Tribute Float to express on this day that Kuwait Remembers.

Kuwait's participation in the procession comes to tell America that "on this day, the people of the state of Kuwait remember with deep gratitude and pride those fallen heroes of the Gulf War, and the sacrifices they made on behalf of a noble and important cause."

Kuwait's Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber AlSabah represented Kuwait in the parade.

The Ambassador said that Kuwait's participation in the parade is "important" in order to "express Kuwait's gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices the Americans paid about 19 years ago to liberate Kuwait."

He affirmed that it is very appropriate for Kuwait to participate in this day and to also participate every year as "our country was liberated by the sacrifices of the Americans," where this is a day that commemorates the fallen Americans "therefore we have to participate and be present on this day."

"I believe our participation this year and next year is very important, and that Kuwait should be present on this day every year," the ambassador remarked.

The National Memorial Day Parade, which is presented by the American Veterans Center, was attended by Gen James Amos, US Marine Corps (USMC) Assistant Commandment of the Marine Corps, in addition to several US officials and dignitaries.

About 30 different marching bands,

floats, equestrian units, military vehicles, military and veterans groups, distinguished veterans and honorary celebrity marshals from all the 50 states took part in the parade which lasted for over two hours.

The parade remembers all those who served in uniform from the American Revolution to the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

US President Barack Obama said in remarks marking Memorial Day at Andrews Air Force Base that "at its core, the nobility and the majesty of Memorial Day can be found in the story of ordinary Americans who become extraordinary for the most simple of reasons: They loved their country so deeply, so profoundly, that they were willing to give their lives to keep it safe and free."

"In this time of war, we pay special tribute to the thousands of Americans who have given their lives during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and who have earned their place among the greatest of generations," Obama remarked. —KUNA

Speaking after the meeting, Dr. Al-Humoud said, "The Ministry of Education does not spare any effort in upgrading the educational process," adding, "launching this agreement with the World Bank will allow Kuwait to benefit from the knowledge and experience of this premier international institution and from its global expertise in the education field."

Dr. Al-Humoud thanked the World Bank for its support for Kuwait as the country strives to develop education, and pledged full and close coordination with the World Bank teams as a top priority in attaining this objective. The minister explained, "This agreement provides support to the Ministry of Education in the area of formulation and the implementation of reforms programs in key areas in direct alignment with the Ministry's own priorities on

the Government's Work Program of 2010-2013."

Dr. Al-Humoud continued, "The program of cooperation with the Ministry of Education will prioritize the performance elements of education in

Kuwait to keep pace with global developments and will specifically focus on improving the output of the education system, diversifying secondary education (Grades 10-12) and enhancing an education system for

KUWAIT: Dr Moudhi Al-Humoud with the World Bank delegation.

special needs and gifted students".

Also speaking after the meeting, Jorgensen revealed that the agreement will be implemented over a three-year period.

He highlighted Kuwait's status as a leader in the Human Development Index in the Arab World, saying, "The planned program of cooperation will enhance this role by focusing on improving the quality of education."

Shaban, meanwhile, said, "Such an agreement is an expression of the fruitful cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the World Bank."

He also commended the Kuwaiti education ministry's efforts to develop quality education in the country, particularly praising the ministry's staff under the leadership of Dr. AlHumoud for their open and continuous collaboration with World Bank teams.

Ambassadors slam flotilla attack KUWAIT: The recent Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla has been heavily criticized by Arab and foreign ambassadors to Kuwait, who agreed that the incident forms a clear challenge to the international community, and called for the essential and prompt end to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian in Gaza.

The Syrian Ambassador to Kuwait, Basam Al-Majeed said that this "unacceptable" attack further proves Israel's lack of respect for the basic values of humanity and civilization. The Jordanian envoy Jum'ah Al-Abadi, meanwhile, indicated that his country's government has classified the attack as a violation of internation-

al regulations, holding Israel at the same time fully responsible for the safety of all the participants in the fleet.

Egyptian Ambassador Taher Farahat conveyed his government's stance by calling for the blockade imposed on Gaza to be lifted promptly, while the Lebanese Ambassador Bassim Al-Nu'mani described the attack on a humanitarian convoy as "an act of piracy."

On his part, the French ambassador to Kuwait Jean-RenĂŠ Gehan said that his country has demanded that a full investigation be carried out immediately into the incident, while the British Ambassador Frank Baker expressed regret at the loss

of lives that took place, while reiterating the British government's previous warnings regarding the risks of approaching Gaza in the manner carried out by the fleet. He also indicated, however, that this incident "reiterates the persistent need for the Gaza blockade to be lifted," reported Al-Watan The Turkish Ambassador to Kuwait, Helmi Dada Oglu, said that the "excessive use of power" against convoys carrying humanitarian aid conveys the violent policy adopted by the Israeli regime, describing the act of attacking ships in international waters located 69 miles away from Israeli territorial waters as "unacceptable."

Teen smoking rates rising sharply: MoH KUWAIT: Rates of smoking among eighth, ninth and tenth grade school pupils have increased by an average of 17 percent in recent years, according to a senior Kuwaiti Ministry of Health (MoH) official.

Speaking on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, which fell on May 31, the MoH Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs Dr. Yousef Al-Nisf, who is also the head of Kuwait's National Anti-Smoking Program, indicated that cigarette smoking among male pupils aged between 13 and 15 has increased by a quarter in

recent years, while increasing by 11 percent among their female peers.

Dr. Al-Nisf also revealed that a recent survey showed that four out of ten school pupils suffer from the effects of passive smoking due to living in homes with one or more family members who are smokers.

On the steps being taken by the MoH to counter smoking, the senior health ministry official explained that clinics to help those wishing to quit smoking have been established in each of Kuwait's health zones.

in the news TEC raffle drawing KUWAIT: The Touristic Enterprises Company set June 3 as the date to hold their drawing for the discount offer they provided during their participation at the travel exhibition, reported AlWatan. The announcement was made by the head of the marketing department, Fahad Al-Masoud.

The drawing will take place at 6:30 pm at the information center building located on Gulf Road near the Sultan Center restaurant. Top prize for the drawing is an automobile.

Nurses evicted from hostel KUWAIT: Over 500 female expatriate nurses and technicians working for the Ministry of Health (MoH) have protested against the ministry's decision to evict them from its staff hostel, despite the fact that many are single women and a number are ill. The health ministry originally gave the women notice to quit the property by May 31, reported AlQabas, though this was later extended to August 25. Some of the nurses alleged that the MoH had refused them the catering coupons which give them discounts on food purchases in order to force them to sign documents accepting the eviction process.

KPRA meeting sheds light on PR's significant role KUWAIT: The Kuwait Public Relations Association (KPRA) held a meeting on Sunday for its members, as well as for non-affiliated PR officials from the public and private sectors.

Among those attending the event

were the association's chairman Badr AlMudaires, along with several other distinguished figures, including Kuwait University Public Relations professors Dr. Samir Husain and Dr. Ahmad AlSharif, who talked about the role that PR

plays in society, acknowledging the association's efforts on that regard.

Al-Mudaires began the event with an opening speech in which he expressed disappointment at the lack of local attention to PR's influence on society and the

importance of this field in connecting between parties, despite the crucial role played by PR practitioners in this regard.

Al-Mudaires also reiterated the efforts endorsed by the association to support the work of PR practitioners, and

shed light on their significant role in society, as well as supporting their demands concerning the financial benefits they are entitled to as per these efforts.

The event concluded with a banquet held at the Sheraton Hotel.

Saudi surgery conference RIYADH: Kuwaiti doctor Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Kandiri participated in the newly concluded fourth annual Saudi conference on brain and nerve surgery. Dr. Al-Kandiri, who works at Saudi Arabia's King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, said yesterday that at the conference he had given a presentation on a specialist operation in which he and his colleagues removed a large brain tumor. The tumor, which measured 4 by 6 centimeters, was removed from the left side of the brain of a 19-year-old Saudi, he explained, adding that the operation was complicated by the tumor's proximity to the speech nerves. The senior specialist praised the efforts of Saudi Arabia's Dr. Ahmad Al-Khani, who helped him in the operation that was approved by fellow specialists in the United States. The conference was attended by doctors from Saudi Arabia and other countries.

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Secular alliance declares biggest winner

Iraq’s Supreme Court ratifies election results CAIRO: Mohammed Badie, leader of Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest opposition group, looks on between the group flags during a press conference Sunday. —AP

Egyptians vote, opposition says supporters blocked CAIRO: Many Egyptians were blocked by security forces and ruling party backers from voting in an election yesterday, particularly where the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was running, rights groups and the opposition said. The vote for 88 of the 264 seats in the upper house, or Shura Council, is regarded as a litmus test for how much space the authorities will give opposition voices in a parliament vote this year and presidential election in 2011.

The official election body said voting for the council, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, was smooth and complaints were being dealt with swiftly. “They are preventing voters from going in to cast their vote, and only those backing the National Democratic Party have access,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a Brotherhood backer in Helwan Cairo, where the near Brotherhood’s Ali Fath el Bab was running.

A Reuters witness in Helwan saw about six uniformed police stopping voters, who said they backed the Brotherhood, from entering a polling station. An election official said the incident had been reported and voters were let in later. “They have forged it once

again,” chanted a gathering of about Brotherhood supporters nearby. Plainclothes agents chased some Brotherhood and others away from the polling station.

The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, citing its monitors, said voters were barred from entering polling stations in districts of Giza, Sohag, Daqhiliya and Helwan even though their names were listed on the election roll. Maat For Peace, Development and Human Rights said opposition supporters in Sixth of October, Minya and Cairo were barred.

Some were stopped by police and others by ruling party backers.

Similar complaints were raised in previous elections, including the 2005 vote for the lower house when the officially banned Brotherhood won an unprecedented fifth of the seats.

The Brotherhood, which is fielding 13 candidates running as independents to skirt the ban, has no seats in the Shura Council. This was the first Shura vote overseen by the Supreme Electoral Committee, which is appointed by the president. Previously judges oversaw voting and some judges have said their absence from polling stations would allow more abuses.

The committee said it had received 14 complaints by 1 p.m., saying six had no basis and others were being investigated.

“There are no obstacles standing in the way of the voting process and any isolated incidents are dealt with promptly,” committee member Ahmed Shawqi told Reuters. The Brotherhood said one man waiting to vote was shot and injured in the leg by a police officer in Beheira, north of Cairo. The committee said a shot was fired without saying by whom, and that the case was under criminal investigation.

Several rights groups complained on the eve of the vote that they had not been given permission to monitor, a charge officials dismissed. Yesterday, some groups with permission complained they were prevented from monitoring. “They pushed me out of the committee (voting area) by force,” said Gomaa Mahmoud, from a civil society group, speaking by telephone from Giza, where he said only 6 voters had been allowed to enter by noon. Polls close at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Another representative of the group, who had entered one polling station, said he saw ruling party members guiding voters into the station and helping them fill out ballot papers. —Reuters

France FM urges rapid adoption of Iran sanctions PARIS: A report by a UN watchdog saying Iran is stepping up uranium enrichment measures leaves world powers no alternative but to push for new sanctions, France’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday. “In light of the report, the Six (five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany) have no choice but to seek the rapid adoption of a new sanctions resolution,” ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters at a regular news briefing.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report on Monday that Iran was preparing extra equipment to enrich uranium to higher levels and continues to stockpile nuclear material. The findings follow a deal brokered by

Brazil and Turkey earlier this month under which Iran agreed to ship 1.2 tons of its low-enriched uranium stockpile abroad in return for fuel for a medical research reactor.

The deal, which resurrected an earlier IAEA proposal brokered by France, Russia and the United States and rejected by Tehran, was designed to allay fears that Iran is developing nuclear weapons capabilities. Iran denies it is trying to build an atom bomb. The new IAEA report showed Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile had grown to 2.4 tons, so that even if the 1.2 tons were shipped now it would still leave Iran with enough material for a nuclear weapon if enriched to higher levels. —Reuters

Hamas hails Turkey, takes swipe at Arabs GAZA CITY: Hamas yesterday hailed Turkey’s harsh response to Israel’s capture of an activist aid fleet while taking Westernbacked Arab states to task for not following suit. “The Turkish speech was powerful and historic, and captured the ambitions of the Palestinian people,” the Islamist movement’s spokesman, Fawzi Barhum, said of an angry tirade delivered by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan had said Israel should be punished for the “bloody massacre” committed when it seized six aid ships loaded with pro-Palestinian activists, killing nine demonstrators in violent clashes aboard one of the boats. He went on to urge international sanctions against Israel’s “lawlessness” a day after Ankara recalled its ambassador and scrapped war games with Israel, plunging already deteriorating bilateral ties into deep crisis.

Barhum said the speech had “embarrassed many countries in the region which provide cover for the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation,” in a veiled dig at Egypt and Jordan, both of which have signed peace treaties with

Israel. “The Arab countries should follow Turkey’s example in dealing with the occupation and assist in the justice of the Palestinian cause,” he said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday ordered the opening of the Rafah crossing with Gaza-the territory’s only border terminal not controlled by Israel-to allow humanitarian aid to enter.

But both Egypt and Israel have allowed in humanitarian aid since the tightening of a blockade on the territory after Hamas’s takeover in June 2007, and the Islamist group greeted the announcement with skepticism.

“Egypt should open Rafah completely and permanently, and this should come as part of lifting the blockade on Gaza and not as a reaction or as a temporary opening,” Barhum said. “In the coming days we will see how long Egypt answers the international and Arab and Palestinian appeals for it to permanently open the crossing.”

The Hamas-run interior ministry said meanwhile the Gaza side of the crossing would remain closed yesterday because of a general strike to protest the seizure of the aid convoy. —AFP

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Supreme Court yesterday took the first major step lawmakers choose new leaders. Announcing the certification, Chief Judge toward resolving the nation’s election crisis, ratifying the results and Midhat Al-Mahmoud described as “reliable” election results that gave 91 declaring a secular alliance the biggest winner in the March 7 parliamen- seats to the Iraqiya political alliance led by Ayad Allawi, a former prime tary vote. Despite the official court approval of the results, the government minister and secular Shiite. The alliance is heavily backed by Iraq’s onceimpasse remains far from over as it could take weeks if not months before dominant Sunni Arab minority.

Based on those results, “we decided to ratify the final results of the general parliament elections for 2010,” AlMahmoud told a news conference at the Supreme Court.

Iraqiya won two more seats than its top rival, the State of Law coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. But none of Iraq’s major political coalitions captured an outright majority in the 325-seat legislature, leaving the country in a political vacuum.

Iraq’s next government will be tasked with overseeing a massive US military withdrawal from the war-battered nation and its fledgling democracy, with the number of American troops to shrink to 50,000 by the end of August. A security agreement requires all US troops to leave by the end of 2011.

Iraqi, US and U.N. officials alike fear the political void BAGHDAD: Midhat Al-Mahmoud, center, Iraq’s Supreme Court top judge speaks to the media in Baghdad, could lead to widespread vioIraq yesterday. —AP lence as insurgents and extremists seek to take advantage of the chaos as the ers could vote to elect a American troops leave. speaker and a new president In a statement, the US of the republic.

Embassy in Baghdad called The new president will yesterday’s court ruling “an have another 15 days to name important step in the right the largest bloc, based on the direction as Iraq undertakes number of seats it holds. The what will be a historic and new bloc will in turn name the SULAIMANIYAH: Iranian troops were operating frontier. Last month, Iranian troops clashed with peaceful transition of power next prime minister and piece three kilometres (two miles) inside Iraqi territory Iraqi border guards after mistaking them for rebel from one elected government together a new government. amid clashes with Kurdish rebels in the fighters. An Iraqi guard officer was captured but yesterday to another.” Frustrated with It also will be able to reward Qandil mountains near the border, a security offi- later released. its second-place finish, State allies with Cabinet seats and The PJAK is closely allied with the Kurdistan cial said. The Iranian force crossed the border late of Law has demanded ballot top government jobs in a on Monday after a series of clashes in recent days Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been fighting recounts, charges of fraud and process that could take with rebels of Party of Free Life of Kurdistan for self-rule in eastern Turkey since 1984 and is court challenges in an unsucmonths. However, in a March (PJAK), the Iraqi official added, requesting blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European cessful bid to pick up more 25 legal opinion, the Supreme Union and the United States. The PKK also operanonymity. seats and knock Iraqiya out of Court left open the question In recent weeks, Iran has repeatedly shelled ates rear-bases in the Qandil mountains and the lead. Hussein al-Shaalan, a of whether the biggest bloc suspected PJAK rear-bases in the border area. It Turkey too has carried out cross-border military senior Shiite politician from would be that which won the has also carried out helicopter assaults across the operations.—AFP Iraqiya, said yesterday’s rulmost seats in the March vote, ing should ensure that “we Allawi’s alliance in this case, will stay the biggest bloc” or if it could be one formed once parliament meets. “This after the balloting. is the will of the Iraqi people In May, al-Maliki’s State of who voted for us,” al-Shaalan Law bloc agreed to join forces said. with the religious Iraqi Al-Maliki did not mention National Alliance to form a sothe court’s ruling when he called “super-Shiite” coalition spoke yesterday at the with a combined 159 seats, Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah only four shy of a simple in northern Iraq. However, majority. It’s expected that his visit to Kurdistan, his first Iraqiya and the super-Shiite since the March election, was coalition will now battle over significant because he will which should be legally conneed Kurdish support to cobsidered the largest bloc in ble the majority needed to parliament. form a government.

Al-Mahmoud said the In an interview with The largest bloc will be officially Associated Press, Iraqi Oil declared after parliament Minister and senior State of meets. Either way, the court Law member Hussain Alapproval of the results is final Shahristani said the alliance and cannot be appealed. The would respect the ruling results certified yesterday even if it remains convinced did not include decisions on it was robbed of seats. Under two candidates, one from Iraq’s constitution, President Iraqiya and another from Jalal Talabani now has 15 INA, whose eligibility is days to call parliament to its being challenged.

—AP first session, where lawmak-

Iran troops fighting Kurdish rebels inside Iraq: Official

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Move comes ahead of major Kabul conference

US flies Afghan troops to recapture district KABUL: US helicopters flew Afghan troops into a remote district overrun by the Taleban and recaptured the main town yesterday without firing a shot, military officials said. The move comes ahead of a major conference in Kabul starting today where Afghan President Hamid Karzai will try to build consensus for peace overtures to the insurgents. The Taleban yesterday dis-

missed the conference as serving the interests of “foreign invaders.” A unit of about 200 elite Afghan troops landed in Barg-e-Matal district of Nuristan province before dawn in an assault backed by US helicopters and a handful of American advisers, US officers familiar with the operation told The Associated Press.

KABUL: Afghan police patrol near the check point of the Peace Jirga tent on the eve of the three-day conference in Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. —AP

Pakistan declares victory over Taleban in stronghold ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani army declared victory yesterday over the Taleban in one of their strongholds in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, saying the military operation in that region is finished. The offensive in the Orakzai region came on the heels of a similar operation against the Pakistani Taleban militant network in the South Waziristan tribal area. Many of the militants in South

Waziristan were believed to have fled to Orakzai, which lies farther north.

The army said civilians who have fled Orakzai could expect to return home soon.

More than 200,000 people are believed to have poured out of the area since the end of last year, while officials have put the death toll of militants in the hundreds.

The announcement was part of a military

statement describing a visit to Orakzai and neighboring Kurram tribal regions by the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. “(Kayani’s) visit to Orakzai Agency marks the successful conclusion of operations in the agency,” the statement said, adding, “He appreciated the professional conduct of the operation which has cleared the agency of terrorists.”— AP

SEOUL: Seoul mayor from the ruling Grand National Party running for re-election, cheers up during an election campaign yesterday. —AP

S Koreans vote amid North Korea tensions SEOUL: The South Korean president’s conservative party could get a boost in local elections today that are serving as a progress report on how the pro-American leader is handling a crisis with North Korea, blamed for sinking a warship.

Outrage over the ship incident, which killed 46 sailors, was bolstering support for the ruling Grand National Party in the vote that will fill about 3,990 positions , including key mayoral jobs that often serve as springboards for future national leaders, polls and analysts said. Before the ship sank two months ago, President Lee Myung-bak was struggling with growing opposition to massive infrastructure projects. Fierce infighting threatened to split his party

into two.

But the March 26 downing of the warship has dominated headlines for weeks and has overshadowed other hot-button issues. Security jitters about North Korea deepened after a multinational investigation concluded that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine tore apart and sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan warship.

“The Cheonan helped the GNP. Its sinking mustered conservative votes,” said Chung Jin-young, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in South Korea. “In fact, the GNP hadn’t been in a good shape.” Analyst Park Kie-duk agreed. “Above all, we still have the bitter memories of the Korean War,” said Park, of the private Sejong Institute near Seoul. The main opposi-

tion Democratic Party has accused the government of exploiting the sinking for the elections, arguing that Lee should have announced the investigation results after the polls.

North Korea, which has repeatedly denied attacking the ship, has accused the South Korean leader of staging the sinking for election purposes. Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency yesterday urged voters to oppose ruling party candidates and “deal sledgehammer blows” to the president. Lee’s party was forecast to win about half of the 16 races for mayoral and gubernatorial positions, recent opinion polls have said.

Opposition parties were focusing on mayoral races for Seoul and nearby Incheon

along with the governor post for Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul. A survey released by the mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo last Friday said the ruling party would win nine of the 16 races. The telephone survey of 8,600 adults conducted by the Seoul-based Korea Research Center has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points for Seoul and Gyeonggi. The margin of error for the other 14 races was 4.4 percentage points. In the Seoul race, the ruling party incumbent, Oh Se-hoon, a potential presidential aspirant, was pitted against the Democratic Party’s Han Myung-sook, the nation’s first female prime minister under the government of former President Roh Moo-hyun. —AP

They recaptured the main town in the region without shooting and no one was harmed, NATO said in a statement, though the operation was expected to continue for a few days. Taleban fighters were believed to have left the town and may have taken positions elsewhere in the valley.

Nuristan police chief Gen. Mohammad Qasim said Afghan forces had rebased themselves in police and government buildings in Barg-e-Matal, and were preparing for a possible counterstrike by militants. “We were able to recapture Barg-eMatal completely. Right now, there is no sign of militants, no sign of activity. We are ready, and we have the support of (NATO) air forces,” he said at around nightfall yesterday. He said 54 militants were killed or wounded in fighting and airstrikes before yesterday’s operation began, and two police died.

Government forces pulled out of the rugged, mountainous region last weekend after hundreds of Taleban fighters swept into the area from nearby Pakistan and fought for almost a week with Afghan troops and local residents, who have a reputation for fierce resistance to outsiders. US troops had established an outpost in Nuristan but abandoned it last October after eight American soldiers were killed in a fierce Taleban attack. Insurgent strength has grown in the region since, prompting fears that Taleban who have come under pressure from US missile strikes and military operations in nearby Pakistan could be looking for a new haven.

The US officers said Taleban fighters, mostly Afghans but also Pakistanis and a few Arabs, are thought to number about 500, spread out over an area of about 15 miles (25 kilometers) in a forested mountain valley.

Villagers reported that a senior Pakistani Taleban commander, Maluana Fazlullah, had been killed in fighting with Afghan troops in Nuristan last week, but officials have not been able to confirm it.

Nuristan is very isolated and far removed from the main battlefields in Afghanistan’s south, with a small, scattered population and limited strategic value.

But taking back Barg-e-Matal would be an important symbolic victory for the Afghan military, which is often criticized as ineffective. Washington also badly wants to hand more control of security to Afghan troops.

“This successful operation by Afghan forces will return governance to Barg-e-Matal,” Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said in a statement yesterday. “This operation shows the improved planning and operational capabilities of our joint forces in response to serious incidents even in the most remote locations of Afghanistan.” NATO airstrikes pounded the area Monday ahead of the operation, targeting a cave complex Taleban leaders were believed to use as a command center, said the US officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was sensitive. The airlifted Afghan troops were to join up with 400 Afghan security forces that withdrew from Barg-e-Matal but were still in the region.

Up to 1,500 civilians living in and around the main town had fled or been evacuated before the operation started. Fighting also raged in other parts of the country. About 180 Taleban attacked a police post Monday in the Purchaman district in southwestern Farah province, triggering hours of fighting that killed 15 insurgents, one police official and six villagers who joined the fight on the government side, said provincial police chief Mohammad Faqir Askar.

A NATO service member was killed Monday by a makeshift bomb in southern Afghanistan.

No further details were being released, but the service member was not American, NATO said. —AP

MANILA: Philippine Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile looks at the tally board at the resumption of the official canvassing for President and Vice-president by the joint Senate and Congress sitting as National Board of Canvassers yesterday at the House of Representatives at Manila’s Quezon city. —AP

Aquino takes a break from waiting game MANILA: Benigno Aquino III said yesterday he is taking a holiday to refresh himself before taking on the job of Philippine president, as he waits for the Congress to complete the official tally of votes to confirm his victory.

Aquino said he would not take calls and visitors while on vacation, bringing only briefing papers, books, film and music DVDs and CDs under the close watch of personal bodyguards.

“This is in preparation for all the pressures I have to face and had gotten myself into,” Aquino told reporters, asking to be left alone while resting “somewhere” in the country.

On his return, Aquino said he would start organising his government, reviewing the country’s fiscal position and planning his

agenda for when he takes over on June 30. Aquino has an insurmountable lead of more than 5 million votes over his nearest rival, former president Joseph Estrada, in an unofficial tally by the election commission.

Lawmakers have been totalling vote tallies from 278 provinces and cities, as well as embassies and consulates across the world, and have said they hope to complete the task by June 15.

Yesterday afternoon, nearly 170 tallies had been canvassed.

They showed Aquino ahead by a margin of more than 2 million votes. Congress found 13 provinces and cities had failed to transit electronically results in the country’s first automated poll, and senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, an ally of outgoing

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said provincial and city election officials had been summoned to explain the failure.

Aquino said his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, would brief reporters on a daily basis until he returned on Sunday, and said he would then hold a news conferences twice a week until his inauguration on June 30.

Aquino said he has not had a relaxing vacation since before the death last August of his mother, Cory Aquino, the country’s revered democracy icon. It was the wave of public emotion after her death that sparked the push for Aquino to run for president.

He did not say whether his girlfriend, Shalani Soledad, an elected city councillor, would join him on his vacation. —Reuters

Philippines tests sex education in schools MANILA: Philippine elementary and high schools will start teaching basic sex education as a pilot program in the conservative Roman Catholic nation, officials said yesterday, brushing aside concerns by church leaders that it may encourage promiscuity among the youth. The classes, however, won’t include information about contraceptives, another controversial topic in this heavily Catholic nation.

Starting this year, sex education will be integrated in regular subjects including science, health, English and physical education, said Assistant Education Secretary Teresita Inciong, who is heading the project funded by the U.N. Population Fund. “It will be better if the schools teach sex education rather than children just picking this up from just anywhere like the Internet,” said Education Secretary Mona Valisno. The Adolescent Reproductive Health program will be initially tested in 80 public elementary and 79 high schools, starting with grade five pupils aged 11-12, Inciong said.

The initiative, which Inciong said will mainly focus on explaining bodily changes and relationship with the other gender, has run into opposition from the dominant and influential Catholic Church, which earlier this year also objected to the free government distribution of condoms for fear of encouraging promiscuity.

Monsignor Pedor Qitorio, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the church believes sex education should be the primary responsibility of parents. If it is taught to students, it should not start in grade school but in college, he said. He said the church is opposed to the government style of teaching that is “too focused on the reproductive faculties because parents feel this will lead to promiscuity among the youth, encourage what we are avoiding _ early practice of sexuality outside of marriage.” Inciong said the use of condoms and other contraceptives will not be part of the curriculum, citing opposition from parents. —AP

Thai leader defends self at censure debate BANGKOK: Thailand’s prime minister defended himself against a censure motion in Parliament yesterday and said there would be an independent investigation into whether the army used undue force to clear anti-government protesters from Bangkok’s streets. The opposition Puea Thai Party says the army’s use of live ammunition and armored personnel carriers to break up the two-month-long protest was excessive and resulted civilian casualties. The thousands of Red Shirts had been calling for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve Parliament immediately and call new elections.

Because the government holds a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, Abhisit and five of his Cabinet ministers are almost certain to win a no-confidence vote scheduled for today after two days of debate. Over the duration of the protest, 89 people , mostly civilians, died from street clashes, grenade attacks and sniper

fire, and some 1,800 people were wounded. As the military moved in to clear the protest on May 19, rioters set fires at the country’s biggest shopping mall, the stock exchange and more than two dozen other places. No side could claim victory when faced with such losses, Abhisit said yesterday.

“In the end, for reconciliation’s sake, Parliament has to investigate the matter further,” he said. His government has accused a small minority of the protesters as being responsible for the violence and labeled them “terrorists.” “Please be assured that I will definitely not influence nor interfere with the investigation,” Abhisit was quoted as saying by the state Thai News Agency. Speaking after midnight during the first day of the debate, Jatuporn Prompan, a Red Shirt leader and lawmaker for the opposition Puea Thai Party, accused the government of framing members of his movement. “If the government said that (Red Shirts) are behind the arson

attacks, then why hasn’t it arrested and charged anyone yet?” asked Jatuporn.

He reminded Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban that up until now the government still hasn’t been able to catch arsonists who set fire to buses in April last year during another Red Shirt protest that erupted into a riot. The Red Shirts consist mainly of rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed the military coup that ousted him in 2006. They believe Abhisit’s government is illegitimate because it came to power as a result of military pressure and back-room deals after controversial court rulings ousted two elected proThaksin governments. In a separate development related to the crackdown, a university lecturer held without charge under provisions of a state of emergency statute was released from the military base where he had been detained. —AP

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Four jailed for life over torture death of inmate ISTANBUL: A Turkish court yesterday jailed a prison administrator and three guards for life over the death of a leftist activist who died in 2008 after being tortured, Anatolia news agency reported. The highprofile case was watched closely as

a test for Ankara’s commitment to stamp out torture and maltreatment in its bid to join the European Union. Engin Ceber, 29, was detained during a demonstration against police violence in Istanbul on September 28, 2008, kept for a

night in a police station and then put in prison pending trial on charges of resisting police. He died on October 10 after being hospitalized in coma. An official medical report said he sustained “severe blows” which caused a fatal brain

hemorrhage.

Fellow inmates and a prison guard testified in earlier hearings that Ceber was beaten and denied timely medical aid despite losing consciousness. He was punched and kicked and his head was repeat-

edly hit against a wall, they said.

The accused guards had denied responsibility, claiming Ceber appeared to be sick, refused to stand for the roll call and hit his head against a wall when they tried to raise him.

EU officials and Turkish rights campaigners charge that cases of torture and maltreatment have begun to rise again in Turkey after a notable decline in the early 2000s. Critics say that despite the government’s policy of “zero toler-

ance to torture,” accused officers are not properly investigated and often enjoy impunity. In an unprecedented gesture, then justice minister Mehmet Ali Sahin apologised to Ceber’s family following his death. —AFP

Undersea robots to begin operation

BP lays out new, riskier move to cut oil flow HOUSTON: After abandoning its latest bid to plug its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP Plc started a new and risky attempt yesterday to place a cap over the leak to funnel oil to the surface. BP abandoned its “top kill” attempt

BOGOTA: Social National Unity Party presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bogota, Monday. —AP

Colombia frontrunner seeks to build better Chavez ties BOGOTA: The former defense minister who emerged from weekend voting as the front-runner in next month’s presidential runoff election said Monday he hopes to restore good relations with Venezuela and Ecuador if he wins. Juan Manuel Santos, who directed the military under President Alvaro Uribe before making his first run for elected office, said he would seek “in every possible way” to repair ties with the leftist leaders of the two neighboring nations.

“I hope that if I win I can have good relations with the president of Venezuela, with the president of Ecuador,” Santos told The Associated Press at his campaign headquarters. Colombia’s relations with Ecuador were tattered in March 2008 after the Colombian military attacked a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in Ecuador’s territory, close to the border.

Venezuela’s leader, Hugo Chavez, was angered when Uribe’s government signed an accord with

Washington last year allowing the U.S. military greater access to bases in Colombia. Uribe, meanwhile, accuses Venezuela of aiding the FARC guerrillas.

Santos, 58, surprised many people Sunday when he finished with 46.5 percent of ballots cast among the nine candidates for president. That was just under the 50 percent threshold that would have given Santos an outright victory. Opinion polls going into the vote had indicated he was in a tight race with the Green Party candidate, former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus. But Mockus finished far back, with just 21.4 percent of the votes. Mockus, also 58, told Caracol radio Monday he was surprised by the results, but said he was pleased to be in the June 20 run-off election. “Five or six months ago, the great goal, the great success, was to move to the second round and we have done that,” Mockus said. But he added that it would not be easy to catch Santos now.

“It is unlikely, but possible,” he said. —AP

Terror suspect’s extradition to US to be appealed: Lawyer THE HAGUE: A Somali terror suspect’s lawyer said yesterday he will appeal a Dutch court’s ruling that his client can be extradited to the US Rotterdam District Court ruled that Mohamud Said Omar can be sent to Minneapolis, where he is wanted for allegedly providing money to the Somali group alShabab that was used to buy weapons. Omar’s lawyer Bart Stapert told The Associated Press in an e-mail that Omar was disappointed by Monday’s decision and he plans to appeal the extradition to the Dutch Supreme Court, a process likely to take months. The 44-

year-old Somali has been held in a high-security Dutch prison since his November arrest at Washington’s request. His lawyers say he never intended to help terrorists.

The US State Department considers al-Shabab a terror group with links to al-Qaida.

A total of 14 people have been charged in an ongoing US federal investigation into the travels of up to 20 young men who went to Somalia to fight starting in 2007. They face a variety of accusations, from recruiting and raising funds for the trips, to engaging in terrorist acts in

Somalia and perjury.

Stapert argued in court that at the time Omar is accused of links to the group, al-Shabab was fighting a “legitimate struggle against Ethiopians” who were brought in by Somalia’s weak U.N.-backed government in late 2006 to oust an Islamic group that had controlled southern Somalia and the capital for six months.

The Ethiopians pulled out of the country in early 2009.

Omar has residency in the US but had been living in a center for would-be asylum seekers in the Netherlands since December 2008, apparently before he was a suspect. —AP

The top kill strategy was BP’s best short-term shot at plugging the seabed well. BP’s remaining short-term options offer untried ways to contain the spewing oil but few ways to stop it completely.

Yesterday, undersea robots will use a diamond-coated saw to cut through the riser pipe atop a giant stack of pipes called the lower marine riser package, or LMRP. Workers will lower a containment dome and place it atop the LMRP to funnel oil to a tanker on the surface.

The move could temporarily increase the amount of oil gushing into the sea by about 20 percent, US officials said.

“Later on this morning we should see ... robots putting giant shears and cutting parts of that pipe about 35 feet (11 meters) away from the wellhead followed by a robot making a clean diamond saw cut across the top of it,” BP managing director Bob Dudley said on CBS’s Early Edition show.

“That will allow us to put this dome down.”

“I think you will see that these containment domes will work,” he said. The cap is expected to be deployed later this week, BP said. White House advisor Carol Browner said the possibility that the flow will temporarily increase is “deeply, deeply troubling.”

Analysts are skeptical that BP’s new plan will succeed.

“Given the fact that the previous plans (which had higher chances of success) have failed, this new prospect does not give us any real confidence that it will succeed,” analysts from UK firm Arbuthnot Research said in a note to clients. “Systems such as the LMRP containment cap have never before been deployed at these depths and conditions and their efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured,” BP said in a news statement yesterday.

US government scientists estimated that cutting the riser pipe coming out of the blowout preventer to prepare for the next containment option could result in a temporary oil flow increase of up to 20 percent. Dudley acknowledged more oil will be released. “There will be a little bit more oil, somewhere between 0 and 20 percent more,” he told CBS. The company is also drilling two relief wells that are expected to ultimately plug the ruptured well but will not be completed until August.

The first relief well, which began on May 2, has reached a depth of 12,090 feet (3,687 meters). The second well, started on May, 16 has reached a depth of 8,576 (2,616 meters) before drilling was halted. Operations on that well resumed May 30, BP said. —Reuters

to plug the well on Saturday after several attempts to pump thousands of barrels of mud down the well failed to stop the flow of oil, which US scientists peg at up to 19,000 barrels per day.

This image made from video released by British Petroleum (BP), equipment is seen on the live feed from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig yesterday. —AP

Africa seeks voice in Security Council, G20 NICE: More than 50 African countries and France called yesterday for an urgent reform of the U.N. Security Council and other institutions so the continent can better be represented in global governance.

At the close of the 25th Africa-France summit, France announced plans to ensure African nations are better represented at the G-20 when France takes its turn at the helm of the group.

France and the 39 heads of state and government and 12 other national delegations which met for two days in the Riviera city of Nice called for African states to be fully integrated into the global economy.

The summit reviewed issues from peace and security to climate change but added a new dimension by inviting more than 200 business leaders to encourage development through free enterprise. A charter for good business was adopted to encourage transparency among French businesses operating in Africa and, it is hoped, serve as a model for companies from elsewhere.

France agreed to support the African Union in strengthening security on the continent, including the African Standby Force, and pledged §300 million for 2010-

2012 and agreed to train 12,000 African troops for peacekeeping by the African Union and United Nations.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that France, once a colonial ruler on the African continent, wants to strengthen its role on all parts of the continent where countries that are traditional outsiders, notably China, are profiting from multibillion dollar projects. “France doesn’t just want to be friends with francophone (French-speaking) countries ... What we want is for France to talk to all of Africa,” Sarkozy said at the closing session. The French president did away with the traditional “dinner among friends” featured at Africa-France summits in which only leaders of former colonies are invited.

He held a dinner for all attendees Monday night. “You are all friends, all of you, and we can build together.” France has been pressing for a greater voice for Africa in critical international forums, such as the G-20 and the Security Council, where there are five permanent members with veto rights _ and where Africa, which makes up some 25 percent of U.N. members, wants a voice.

South African President Jacob Zuma called the summit

“very useful.” “We believe strongly that times have changed,” he said. Climate change was a major issue at the summit, and the leaders linked it to development.

They agreed to support creation of a renewable energy plan for a sustainable electricity system “based on concrete projects and innovative financing.” Among such projects would be use of solar power.

France announced creation of the African Agriculture Fund, an investors’ fund, for food distribution and other projects, to initially raise $120 million and that could reach $300 million, according to a final statement. The next summit is to be held in 2013 in Egypt, which was initially to have held the just-ended meeting. Because of concern that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Darfur, would be invited, France persuaded Cairo to allow the gathering to convene in Nice.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, facing EU sanctions travel restrictions, also was not invited. The nation of Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island where a 2009 coup toppled an elected president, was excluded from the summit. —AP

Russia intrigued after Putin’s clash with rocker MOSCOW: Russia is a country ruled by a privileged class of “dukes”, whose press freedom amounts to “one-and-a-half newspapers” and where demonstrations are broken up by “repressive” security services.

Not the tirade of an angry liberal blogger but a statement made by one of Russia’s best known rock musicians in a face-to-face encounter with the Russian number one, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The heated exchange at the weekend between singer Yury Shevchuk and Putin shattered Russia’s often monotone public discourse and left observers intrigued as to why it was allowed to take place and then heavily publicized. Not only did Shevchuk boldly attack the state that has resulted from Putin’s rule as president and then

prime minister over the last decade but the Russian strongman replied with equally startling comments of his own.

Rather than keeping the whole affair under wraps, state television broadcasted snippets of the meeting in Saint Petersburg.

The government has now posted the entire transcript and video recording on its website. “The discussion between Yury Shevchuk and Vladimir Putin was the sharpest and most open of all his time in power,” said the mass-circulation daily Moskovsky Komsomolets.

Shevchuk, lead singer of the popular rock band DDT, openly asked Putin if he really wanted to create a regime where nongovernmental organizations are not “strangled and people stop being afraid of police-

men on the street”. He described Russia as being ruled by “dukes and princes with sirens on their cars”. Russian state television just shows “marches and anthems” while miners are sent to work like “to the slaughter”, he said.

But Putin’s reply was also surprising for a man whom activists accuse of clamping down on civil society. “Above all, I want to say that without a normal democratic development this country will have no future,” he said. “This is an obvious fact. A person can only develop himself in a free society.”

Putin admitted problems of abuses in the security forces, saying “we have such a culture in our country-as soon as anyone gets a rank and a truncheon he waves it about and tried to earn money with it”. —AFP

NICE: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, speaks with South Africa President Jacob Zuma during the closing session of the 25th Africa-France summit in Nice, southern France yesterday. —AP

10

massacre at sea

World leaders demand probe into Israeli raid

Israel in dock at UN rights body GENEVA: Israel, in the dock at the top United Nations human rights body over its bloody raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla, accused the activists yesterday of being a "lynch mob" with ties to Islamist Hamas. But the Jewish state appeared isolated at the UN Human Rights Council, where even its closest ally the United States said it expected a credible, transparent investigation into Monday's attack in which nine activists died. The 47-member forum held a special threehour debate at the request of Arab and Islamic states. It was expected to vote today on their joint resolution condemning the attack and calling for an independent inquiry.

"These murderous attacks are characteristic tools used by Israel to derail every peaceful effort and silence every voice of moderation and reason," Pakistani ambassador Zamir Akram told the council on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Describing the assault as a "heinous attack," Turkey's envoy stressed that "treating humanitarian aid delivery as a hostile act and aid workers as combatants is totally unacceptable."

"The attack on the Israeli soldiers was beyond all doubt premeditated. The weapons used had been prepared in advance," Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar told the Geneva meeting.

"They were not on a humanitarian mission but one of provocation and incitement. They used knives and clubs and shot two Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces had no choice but to defend themselves," he said.

Yaar said the Turkish-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), an Islamic charity that organised the convoy, "has publicly professed connections to Egypt's Islamic Brotherhood and the Hamas, and has been a central actor of fund raising and financing terror for Hamas around the world".

A 2006 report by the Danish Institute for International Studies written by counter-terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann described the IHH as a front for funding terrorist organisations and sending fighters to countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. The IHH denied the accusations at the time.

Yaar added that Israel was justified under international law in acting against the flotilla. He accused Gaza's ruling Hamas of "smuggling arms and military supplies into Gaza by land and sea, in order to for-

Aharon Leshno Yaar tify its positions and continue its attacks (on Israel)". He asserted that international law permitted capturing a vessel attempting to breach a naval blockade, even in international waters, as was the case on Monday.

Earlier yesterday, the UN Security Council issued a statement condemning the acts that caused deaths of civilians during the Israeli operation against the flotilla, and called for an impartial investigation. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned Israel's apparent "highly excessive" use of force and backed a swift, credible and independent investigation. Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, called for Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, saying it deprived its 1.5 million civilians of their basic rights to food, water and shelter.

The Palestinians' ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, denounced Israel's raid, underlining that it would not help the Middle East peace process. "We should strongly condemn this criminal act which has once again demonstrated what we have been saying all along, namely that Israel believes it is above the law," he said.

Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu called the attack, in which four Turkish nationals were killed, "unjustified and a grave breach of international law".

The Human Rights Council has long been accused of singling out Israel while going easy on other rights abusers, eroding the influence of its past resolutions which have condemned Israel's actions in occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories. — Agencies

General view shows an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo yesterday. – AP

Freed activists recount bullets, electroshocks Continued from Page 1 three activists resisting. “They had no knives, no axes, only sticks that they used to defend themselves,” Paech said at a news conference in Berlin after he and four other Germans returned yesterday from Tel Aviv.

“Personally I saw two and a half wooden batons that were used ... There was really nothing else. We never saw any knives,” he told reporters. “The Israeli government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case,” said Paech, wrapped in a blue blanket and visibly shaken by the bloody outcome to the mission. “This was not an act of self-defence.” Still, he said, he could “not rule out” that others used weapons somewhere else on the boat.

Paech, a former MP from the far-left Die Linke party, said he took photographic evidence but that his camera had been confiscated. He denied Israel’s suggestion that passengers had been lying in ambush. “We had not prepared in any way to fight. We didn’t even consider it,” he added. “No violence, no resistance - because we knew very well that we would have absolutely no chance against soldiers like this. This was an attack in international waters on a peaceful mission... This was a clear act of piracy,” he added.

The former MP’s comments were backed up by two others on board the convoy, MPs Inge Hoeger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56. “We felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped,” Hoeger said.

“Nobody had a weapon.” Hoeger condemned the raid as a “war crime”. “We felt like we were in the middle of a war, like we’d been kidnapped,” said Hoeger. “What the Israelis did is a violation of international law.” Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told parliament an Australian man on board the main ship had undergone surgery after being shot in the leg.

Matthias Jochheim, a German doctor on board the

Several thousand Gazans made a furious rush to the Egyptian border, hoping to take advantage of a rare chance to escape the blockaded territory. Cars with suitcases piled on their roofs streamed to the border, while many others lugged overstuffed bags on foot. Dozens of Hamas police with automatic weapons are patrolling the area to maintain order. “We are working to help residents take advantage of this opportunity,” said Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Ghussein. “We hope it will be open all the time, not just as a response to yesterday’s events.”

The Rafah border is Gaza’s only crossing that bypasses Israel. Egypt has kept it largely closed, opening it for humanitarian cases on two days a week. A 2005 agreement brokered by the United States, put the Palestinian Authority and Israel in charge of the border, with observation from the European Union. A Hamas official told AFP the Islamist movement “reiterates its demand that the Arab League work for an immediate and complete end to the siege on Gaza”. Arab foreign ministers are to hold crisis talks in Cairo today to come up with a unified response to the Israeli raid.

Egypt has come under harsh regional criticism for keeping the border closed and for building an underground wall in a bid to curb smuggling, which it views as a security risk. According to MENA, extra work teams have been put in place at the Rafah border to speed up the implementation of Mubarak’s decision. The opening of the border “will allow those coming from abroad and the sick who have finished their treatment and students studying abroad to return to the Gaza Strip.”

“Those stranded in Gaza who have residency abroad or foreign passports, students studying abroad and sick who need treatment abroad will be allowed to leave the Strip via Egypt,” MENA said. It said any medication or medical goods will be allowed into Gaza and that humanitarian aid and food will also be let in but in coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent.

“Hard materials” - apparently including concrete and steel which Gazans want to repair damage from an Israeli offensive last year - would have to go via Israel, an Egyptian source said.

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in 2006 further tightening it the following year after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. In Dec 2008, Israel launched a massive offensive in a bid to halt rocket and mortar fire by Gaza-based militants. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the 22-day conflict.

Since 2007, Gaza’s 1.5 million people have relied on a web of tunnels beneath the Rafah border for most of their needs.

The World Bank estimates that 80 percent of Gaza’s imports are brought in through the tunnels. Most of the tunnels are used to bring in basic goods such as food, household appliances, building materials and livestock, but Hamas and other armed groups use their own more secret tunnels to smuggle in weapons and money. The move to open the border came after Israeli commandos stormed an aid flotilla bound for Gaza on Monday, killing at least nine pro-Palestinian activists and sparking an international outcry. The six ships were carrying some

Continued from Page 1 10,000 tonnes of supplies.

Separately, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza yesterday as militants launched rockets and a rare cross-border raid. Three of the five were killed by an Israeli strike in the north of the Hamas-run territory, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services. The military said it had launched an air strike against a “terrorist squad preparing to fire rockets into Israel” and that there had been secondary blasts indicating the presence of explosives. The military said that, in an unrelated incident, two rockets launched from the territory landed in Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Israeli troops had earlier shot dead two Palestinian gunmen who had snuck across the border in the southern part of Gaza, according to a military spokeswoman.

“There was an exchange of fire in which they were killed,” she said, adding that no Israelis were wounded. Witnesses on the Gaza side of the border said the exchange of fire was followed by Israeli shelling, and an AFP photographer saw an Israeli helicopter firing missiles. There was no immediate report of casualties from the Palestinian side as ambulances were not able to enter the area.

The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after a similar raid less than two weeks ago in which two teenagers were shot dead after breaching the border fence in the same area. Gaza’s Hamas rulers have tried to preserve calm since the end of Israel’s devastating assault on the strip in Jan 2009, but smaller militant groups still occasionally fire rockets and trade fire with Israeli troops. — Agencies

MPs urge withdrawal from Arab peace plan Continued from Page 1 independent Palestinian state. A number of MPs proposed to debate the draft law in yesterday’s session but Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said that the bill cannot be debated in an emergency session and has to be discussed in a regular session.

The draft law proposes stiff penalties, including jail terms, for any Kuwaiti official or civilian, for any form of dealing with Israel. Head of the legal and legislative committee MP Hussein Al-Huraiti said that a law passed in 1964 stipulates a jail term of up to 10 years for any Kuwaiti for dealing with Israel and the panel is prepared to make the necessary amendments to the law.

The debate kicked off with a statement by the government read by state minister of cabinet affairs and acting foreign minister Roudhan Al-Roudhan who strongly

lashed out at Israel for committing a “heinous crime”. Roudhan also described the attack as “organised state terrorism” and outlined the efforts exerted by the Kuwaiti Cabinet to secure the safety return of the Kuwaiti prisoners.

A large number of relatives of the Kuwaiti activists attended the session, wearing yellow ribbons and were warmly welcomed and greeted by a majority of MPs who proudly praised the heroic act of their detained relatives. MPs also put a large portrait of MP Tabtabaei on his seat and tied a Kuwaiti flag to it. Journalists placed a placard reading “freedom to Muna Sheshter” at her seat in the Assembly. Sheshter, a KUNA reporter, is among the detained activists.

MPs strongly condemned Israel for the aggression on the flotilla. “This is the state of the Zionist gangs, a state of deception and betrayal,” said Islamist MP

Marmara, said he saw four dead activists who had been killed by gunshots. “There were at least another 50 injured and an Egyptian doctor told me that he saw a fifth dead activist,” said Jochheim, who helped attend to the wounded. Turkey said four Turkish citizens were confirmed dead and another five dead were also believed to be Turks, although Israeli authorities were still trying to confirm their nationalities. Jochheim said most victims, including the injured, seemed to be Turkish activists who had hired the Marmara and were on deck when Israeli soldiers boarded.

Turkish activist Nilufer Cetin told reporters in Istanbul that she and her baby son were hiding in her cabin’s bathroom on the Marmara when Israeli soldiers rappelled onto the ship. “There was a massacre on board,” Cetin said.

“The ship turned into a lake of blood.” Her husband - the ship’s engineer - was still being held but she returned home after Israeli officials warned her that jail would be too harsh for her baby. She told reporters the Israelis “confiscated everything, our telephones, laptops are all gone”.

She also defended her decision to bring a baby into such a volatile situation. “We were aware of the possible danger” in joining the trip, Cetin said. “But there are thousands of babies in Gaza. If we had reached Gaza, we would have played with them and taken them food.”

Some 400 Turkish activists were on the six-ship flotilla, along with more than 30 Greeks and people from some 20 other nations including Germany, the US, France, Sweden and Russia. “They came up and used plastic bullets, we had beatings, we had electric shocks, any method we can think of, they used,” said Greek activist Dimitris Gielalis, who had been aboard the ship Sfendoni. Gielalis, who also returned home yesterday, said the boat’s captain was beaten for refusing to leave the wheel and a cameraman filming the raid was hit with a rifle butt in the eye by Israeli soldiers. “Of course we weren’t prepared for a situation of war,” he told reporters. — Agencies

BRUSSELS: World leaders demanded yesterday an investigation into Israel's deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla and the swift release of their seized citizens. A day after the pre-dawn assault in international waters which left at least nine proPalestinian activists dead, nations across the world condemned Israel for what Turkey's prime minister branded "a bloody massacre". In New York, an emergency session of the UN Security Council called for "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" that would satisfy international standards.

The world body and NATO demanded the immediate release of all six vessels and the hundreds of Palestinian supporters who were on board. Turkey said that at least four of its citizens were among the dead and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel should be "punished". "The insolent, irresponsible and impudent attack

by Israel, which went against law and trampled human honour underfoot, must definitely be punished," he told lawmakers from his ruling party. Turkey, once Israel's main partner in the region, has scrapped joint war games and recalled its ambassador.

Britain, France, Russia and China - four of the five vetowielding Security Council members - urged Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Even the United States, traditionally Israel's strongest ally, hinted that the blockade - in place since 2007, when the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory - should at least be eased. The outrage that greeted the raid prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off a visit to Washington and talks with US President Barack Obama. The White House voiced "deep regret" at the loss of life and said it was waiting for the full facts to emerge, but also made it clear that it trusted Israel to carry out a full and credible investigation.

Nations including France and Ireland called for the immediate release of their citizens who were seized in international

waters, taken back to Israel and in some cases held incommunicado and denied consular access.

"Israel needs to listen to and act in accordance with the united voice of the international community on this issue," said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin. Delegates from the European Union and NATO gathered in Brussels for talks, after EU ambassadors criticised Israel's use of force and demanded an immediate and impartial inquiry. Russia, hosting a summit in Rostov-on-Don with the European Union, backed the call for a probe, with President Dmitry Medvedev slamming the loss of life as "absolutely unjustified." NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen demanded the "immediate" release of civilians and boats held by Israel after the deadly operation. EU president Herman Van Rompuy said the deaths were "inexplicable," while the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton vowed to intensify European efforts to get Israel to lift its Gaza blockade.

China said it was "shocked"

by Israel's actions and was prepared to back a quick response from the UN Security Council.

In Geneva, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council was due to hold a special session to consider setting up an international fact-finding mission. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" by the naval assault and called for Israel to "urgently" explain itself. "Had Israelis heeded to my call and to the call of the international community by lifting the blockade of Gaza, this tragic incident would not have happened," the UN secretary general said.

Across the world, tens of thousands of people protested on the streets and many countries summoned Israel's ambassadors. Israel had warned that it would intercept the ships, but Monday's assault turned into a fiasco. Footage from one vessel showed black-clad commandos clashing with activists and several wounded people lying on the deck. The Israeli military has blamed activists on the ship for creating the confrontation by attacking its soldiers as they boarded. — AFP

Turkey: Punish Israel

Gazans flee as Egypt opens Rafah border Continued from Page 1

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Faisal Al-Mislem, who called for filing a lawsuit at the international criminal tribunal against Israel. Islamist MP Khaled AlSultan described Israelis as “war criminals” and called on Egypt to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv and to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip.

Islamist MP Adnan Abdulsamad said the aggression on the vessels reflects the real nature of Israel over the past 60 years.

Liberal MP Marzouk Al-Ghanem said one of the women activists, Senan Al-Ahmad, raised $1.38 million in donations and bought a vessel in Turkey to take part in the aid journey to Gaza.

Most MPs praised Turkey for its position and they said that Ankara’s powerful participation will bear great fruits for Arab and Muslim nations. “We salute the position of the Turkish government, which has helped expose the criminal actions of Israel,” said MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak.

“Israel’s behaviour should definitely, definitely be punished,” a visibly angry Erdogan told a meeting of his parliamentary deputies, adding: “The time has come for the international community to say ‘enough’.” Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel, told lawmakers the Israeli raid was an attack “on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace”. “This bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse,” he said. “Nothing will be the same again,” Erdogan said, gesturing angrily, his voice shaking at times. Erdogan’s Islamist views and outreach to Iran and Israeli enemies are blamed by many in Israel for souring ties between the Jewish state and Turkey, once its closest Muslim ally.

The bloodshed also put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tense ties with US President Barack Obama under further strain. Netanyahu cancelled talks with Obama to fly home from Canada to deal with the crisis. The Israeli military said the nine were killed when commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, the cruise ship on which most of the violence occurred, from helicopters and dinghies and opened fire in what Netanyahu said was self-defence.

A formal statement agreed by the UN Security Council drew a sharp response from Israel, which said its foreign minister complained in a telephone call with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it was condemned unfairly for “defensive actions”. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had visited some of the activists held by Israel. “We have been granted access to dozens of activists from the convoy of ships now being held by the Israeli authorities and we are re-establishing contact with their families,” Pierre Wettach, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, said in a statement issued in Geneva. The ICRC strongly deplored the deaths and injuries resulting from Israel’s operation. “The high number of casualties raises serious questions concerning the methods and means used by the Israel Defence Forces to prevent the flotilla from proceeding to Gaza,” it said.

While Israel grappled with world criticism, its navy said it was ready to intercept another aid vessel that organisers of the flotilla planned to send to the Gaza Strip next week. But organisers insisted they would push ahead with a fresh bid to break the blockade in the coming days. “We knew what the risk would be and we will continue to run these flotillas,” said Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement.

“The Rachel Corrie will probably be there within the week,” she said, referring to an aid-laden cargo ship which is currently just to the east of Italy. Berlin said organisers were working on plans for a new flotilla which would leave for Gaza in July. But Israel was adamant it would not let any ships through.”We will not let any ships reach Gaza and supply what has become a terrorist base threatening the heart of Israel,” deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai told public radio.

Netanyahu told his security cabinet Israel had to pursue its naval blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons from being smuggled to Iranianbacked Islamist rulers of the coastal territory. “The opening of a sea route to Gaza would pose a tremendous risk to the security of our citizens. Therefore we continue a policy of a naval blockade,” Netanyahu told ministers.

Big questions were unanswered: how far Israel could continue to blockade 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after condemnation from allies, and how it misjudged the situation and dropped marines onto a Turkish ship where they felt they had to open fire to save their lives. As pictures emerged of a handful of Israeli marines being beaten and clubbed by dozens of activists, it was clear there would be anger in Israel over the mishandled raid.

Activists’ accounts began to emerge after some were deported.

“We did not resist at all, we couldn’t even if we had wanted to. What could we have done against the commandos who climbed aboard?” said Mihalis Grigoropoulos, who was aboard a vessel behind the Mavi Marmara. “The only thing some people tried was to delay them from getting to the bridge, forming a human shield. They were fired upon with plastic bullets and were stunned with electric devices,” Grigoropoulos told NET TV at Athens airport.

Government sources said Israeli ministers would consider

whether to allow detained Turkish activists to return home on two planes that Turkey sent to Israel. Obama, who has revived IsraeliPalestinian peace negotiations through US-mediated indirect talks, said he wanted the full facts soon and regretted the loss of life.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Israel “did not have the right” to raid the fleet in international waters, Cuba denounced the “criminal attack,” and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez condemned the “brutal massacre”. The White House declined to specifically condemn Israel, instead saying it showed Middle East peace moves were now needed “more than ever”. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said later that the situation in Gaza was “unsustainable and unacceptable”. “Israel’s legitimate security needs must be met just as the Palestinians’ legitimate needs for sustained humanitarian assistance and regular access for reconstruction materials must also be ensured,” Clinton said. She added that Washington backed an Israeli probe of the raid but stressed it must be “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent.”

Erdogan said the Israeli raid proved “how good they are at killing people”. “Israel in no way can legitimize this murder, it cannot wash its hands of this blood,” he said. Erdogan said Turkey would continue to support the Palestinian people. “We will not turn our back on Palestine, Palestinians and Gaza,” Erdogan said. “No one should test Turkey’s patience,” he added. “Turkey’s hostility is as strong as its friendship is valuable.” He urged Israelis to question the actions of their government. “It is damaging your country’s image by conducting banditry and piracy,” Erdogan said. “It is damaging interests of Israel and your peace and safety. It is the Israeli people who must stop the Israeli government in the first place.” He said Israel cannot face the international community without expressing “regret”. “Israel cannot ensure its security by drawing the hatred of the entire world,” the prime minister declared.

After more than 10 hours of closed-door talks on the operation, the UN Security Council called for “a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards”. It also condemned “those acts which resulted in the loss of ... civilians and many wounded”. The use of the word “acts” instead of “act” the term preferred by Turkey - suggested that activists who attacked the Israeli boarding party also bore some responsibility.

Marine commandos involved in the attack pointed to a failure of intelligence. “We did not expect such resistance from the group’s activists as we were talking about a humanitarian aid group,” the boarding party commander, an unnamed naval lieutenant with permission to be interviewed, told Army Radio. “The outcome was different to what we thought, but I must say that this was mainly because of the inappropriate behaviour of the adversary we encountered.”

Some 700 activists were processed in and around Israel’s port of Ashdod, among them many Turks and nationals of Arab countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. They included Israelis and Palestinians, Americans, Asians and many Europeans among them politicians - and a Swedish author. The Interior Ministry said it issued deportation orders against 682 activists, 45 of whom were taken to Ben-Gurion Airport for immediate repatriation, while hundreds of others were jailed as they contested the order. About 30 activists were in hospitals with injuries.

Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said police were gathering evidence to prosecute activists who had set upon the marines with fists, batons, knives and gunfire. “All those who lifted a hand against a soldier will be punished to the full extent of the law,” he told Israel Radio. The European Union, a main aid donor to the Palestinians, and Russia demanded an inquiry and an end to the embargo. Netanyahu voiced regret at the deaths but vowed to maintain the blockade to stop arms smuggling by Iranianbacked Hamas.

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Turkey would launch legal action in a Turkish court against Israel over the deadly raid. Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told AP that he will not order the recall of the Israeli ambassador to Turkey, saying “I have no intention of worsening relations.” Lieberman said Israel would seek common ground with Turkey to preserve stability. — Agencies

massacre at sea

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Yemenis in Sanaa demonstrate yesterday against the deadly Israel raid on a flotilla of boats carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

A peace activist holds a “Free Palestinians” slogan during a rally in front of Israeli Embassy in Tokyo yesterday. – AP/AFP photos

A group of protestors from various workers’ organisations protest outside the building where the Israeli consulate is housed in Hong Kong yesterday.

Paintballs to pistols, Israel admits errors People protest in front of Israel’s embassy in Vienna yesterday.

A woman shouts slogans during a rally raid in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, yesterday.

JERUSALEM: Wrong intelligence, wrong guns, wrong tactics. Israel's military acknowledged big mistakes yesterday during the bungled boarding of a Gaza-bound aid ship in which elite troops killed nine international activists. Though Israelis rallied to their conscripts in the face of foreign fury, the domestic recrimination - with "Foul-up" and "Fiasco" dominating newspaper headlines - betrayed an erosion of confidence recalling the setbacks of the 2006 Lebanon war.

One commentator demanded that Defence Minister Ehud Barak step down.

Cabinet members vowed to investigate, but their insistence that the pro-Palestinian activists had provoked the bloodshed found a ready ear among an irate Israeli public. The secretive Flotilla 13 marine commando unit was brought out of the shadows to try to explain the operation's failings. "We did not expect such resistance from the group's activists as we were talking about a humanitarian aid group," one unnamed naval lieutenant told Israel's Army Radio. "The outcome was different to what we thought, but I must say that this was mainly because of the inappropriate behaviour of the adversary we encountered."

Israel's police quarantine of activists from the Mavi Marmara prevented airing of dissenting testimony. The navy also jammed communications while storming the converted cruise ship. That did not stop passengers broadcasting a globally viewed video clip that, ironically, helped Israel's case by showing a clutch of activists clubbing and

stabbing two marines. Israel released its own night-vision mission footage of a halfdozen commandos grappling with as many as 30 activists.

The images stirred undercurrents of disbelief and disgrace in Israel. Fabled for their silent exploits at sea, the fighters who rappelled onto the Mavi Marmara looked unfit for the melee - outnumbered, almost overpowered, though far from outgunned. Jason Alderwick, a maritime warfare expert at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, faulted the marines for not commandeering the vessel more efficiently.

"Success begins with planning and with decent intelligence, and they have boarded such ships before," he said. "This time they didn't go in hard enough, fast enough and in sufficient numbers to establish overwhelming control."

Some of the troops wielded paintball rifles - non-lethal weapons designed to bruise, beat back and mark suspects for later arrest, but which apparently proved of limited use against activists who had the protection of life-jackets and gas masks. "It's clear that the equipment for crowd-dispersal with which they were issued was insufficient," Israel's armed forces chief, LieutenantGeneral Gabi Ashkenazi, told reporters.

There was little question of calling off the raid once the first Israelis were in the fight and vulnerable, though the navy said some commandos opted to escape by jumping overboard. Israel said seven marines were injured, one after activists pitched him over a railing and two with gunshot wounds, pos-

sibly from backup pistols that were wrested away from them. "A number of the fighters who understood the situation, the threat posed to their lives, reoriented themselves and simply worked with live (ammunition) weapons as soon as they came down," the marines lieutenant said.

Some experts questioned whether a police anti-riot unit might have tackled the resistance with less bloodshed. But an Israeli defence official said only marines were capable of the takeover 120 km in the choppy Mediterranean, timed for darkness to surprise the activists and deprive attendant journalists of spectacular pictures.

Barak's deputy, Matan Vilnai, brushed off the call in the best-selling Yedioth Ahronoth daily for the defence minister's resignation.

He hinted Israel had exhausted covert means of stalling the Mavi Marmara and five other vessels in a flotilla that sailed for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli campaign to isolate the Hamas Islamists who rule the Palestinian territory. "Everything was considered. I don't want to elaborate beyond that, because the fact is there were not up to 10, or however many ships were (originally) planned," Vilnai told Israel Radio, alluding to rumours that some of the vessels had been sabotaged. Alon Ben-David, defence analyst for Israel's Channel 10 television, noted that video footage appears to show marines thwarted an attempt by activists to tie one of the rappelling ropes to the deck, a major threat to the hovering helicopter. "The outcome could have been much worse," BenDavid said. — Reuters

Protesters hold a banner during a protest outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

A Palestinian militant from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine waves a Turkish flag in front of burning tyres at the entrance of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein El-Hilweh near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon yesterday.

Demonstrators take part in a protest to denounce Israel’s raid outside the Israeli embassy in London yesterday.

A baby wearing a headband that reads in Arabic “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet” drinks from a bottle of milk as his parents take part in a demonstration in front the United Nations headquarters in Beirut yesterday.

Libyan and foreign students hold up placards in Arabic and English, one of them bearing the slogan “Death to Israel”, during a protest in Tripoli yesterday. Arabic slogans on placards read: “Anger alone is not enough anymore” (left) and “Collective killing in Gaza and the West Bank amounts for genocide against the Palestinian people” (right).

Pakistani Islamists shout slogans during a demonstration against Israel in Lahore yesterday.

A pro-Palestinian protester slashes himself with a cutter knife during a protest against Israel’s naval commando raid outside the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Orthodox Jews demonstrate against Israel’s attacks during a rally in Ottawa, Canada, Monday.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters shout at a handful of pro-Israeli protesters across Market Street during a noisy demonstration Monday in downtown San Francisco.

Palestinians carry a mock ship during a protest in downtown Ramallah yesterday.

Egyptian activists carry pictures of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and chant anti-Israeli slogans, demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in Cairo yesterday.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shout anti-Israel slogans during a protest in the Bulgarian capital Sofia yesterday.

Protesters hold Turkish and Palestinian flags during a protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah yesterday.

Sudanese men shout slogans and wave Turkish flags as they take part in a demonstration in Khartoum yesterday.

Pro-Palestine and Gaza supporters protest outside the Israeli embassy in Moscow yesterday.

opinion

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Afghan neighbors stir witches' brew

By Sanjeev Miglani

W

hen Afghan elders gather under a giant tent in Kabul for a peace jirga this week, they will have to be protected not just from militants trying to bomb the meeting from the hills above, but also insulated from a half dozen neighbours all battling for influence. With the US endgame in sight, Afghanistan's direct and near neighbours have stepped up efforts to undercut each other, advance strategic interests and exert influence on a negotiated settlement of the nineyear conflict, says Ahmed Rashid, journalist and author of "Taleban", the widely acclaimed bestseller.

There are two parallel and dangerous rivalries unfolding in Afghanistan: a proxy war between India and Pakistan that is now every bit as deadly as their 60-year duel over Kashmir, and another between Iran and the United States tied to their geopolitical tussle over a range of issues.

On top of this are the Chinese and the Russians exerting a pull on Afghanistan. China's interest is largely commercial, eyeing the country's vast untapped mineral deposits.

Russia on the other hand, while shedding few tears at America's predicament, is concerned in the longer term over instability spilling into central Asia.

Of all the neighbours, Pakistan holds the highest cards in any possible deal with the Afghan Taleban to bring an end to the conflict, says Kamran Bokhari, Middle East and South Asia director at global intelligence consultancy. Its long-running ties to the group and the cross-border linkages to its own Pasthuns make it a central player.

Indeed the Pakistanis don't even want Afghanistan to conduct separate negotiations with the Taleban. "For Pakistan all roads to Kabul must go through Islamabad," says Bokhari.

Pakistan has been especially concerned about expanding Indian involvement in Afghanistan seeing it as an encircling gesture and will do everything possible to checkmate New Delhi. At same time though, Bokhari said, a lowered Indian presence doesn't necessarily mean Pakistan's stock goes up proportionally. This is not the 1990s when Pakistan had close ties with the Taleban and everyone else was locked out of Afghanistan. Indeed it's unclear what kind of grip Pakistan has over the Afghan Taleban following the US invasion in 2001 forcing Pakistan to switch sides and scale back ties to the group.

Besides Pakistan itself is now caught in the flames of extremist fire. Bokhari says it's a misconception to think that Pakistan wants a Talebanised Afghanistan. "It's every bit a worry for Pakistani

generals, they are fighting these forces on their side of the Durand Line."

India, on the other hand, was seriously rattled when the US and NATO agreed at the Jan 28 London conference on Afghanistan to begin reintegrating Taleban fighters, says Rashid. Karzai went further by demanding reconciliation with the Taleban led by Mullah Mohammed Omar. It is since trying to regain ground, reactiving links with Iran, Russia and the central Asian republics all of whom had backed the Northern Alliance against the Taleban in the 1990s. "India sees the Afghan and Pakistani Taleban and Al Qaeda working closely with anti-Indian groups based in Pakistani Punjab, such as Laskar-e-Taiba who have begun to re-infiltrate into Indian Kashmir to restart the guerrilla war which has been dormant since 2004," said Rashid.

If the competition between India and Pakistan is a stumbling block in Afghanistan, the tussle between Iran and the United States is just as complicated. The Iranians, according to Bokhari, are in the middle of a high-stakes game with the United States on a range of issues and Afghanistan is tied to it.

"They are looking at Afghanistan and saying this is part of the bigger package.

They are telling the Americans in back channel negotiations that if you want to leave Afghanistan you have to recognise we have a stake here just as in Iraq."

At the same time, in the shorter term, Iran's intelligence services and members of the Revolutionary Guard have been backing elements of the Taleban even though there is no love lost between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Taleban. The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, told reporters over the weekend that the US had evidence the insurgents were being trained inside Iran and that weapons found in Afghanistan had come from Iran.

Finally the Chinese have extended themselves into Afghanistan, eyeing its untapped mineral resources to feed its surging demand.

China's involvement in Afghanistan is primarily economic and stability is key to its interests. "Unlike the West pushing for democracy, the Chinese would rather have the Afghans choose a type of government based on local culture, customs and domestic conditions," Shanthie Mariet D'Souza, a visiting scholar at Singapore's Institute for South Asian Studies, said in a piece for Eurasia Review.

Beijing is also content to let all weather ally Pakistan lead the policy to Afghanistan, and has in the past not been overly critical of approaches to the Taleban. — Reuters

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

Colombia win boon for Wall St and Chavez?

C

By Frank Jack Daniel

onservative Juan Manuel Santos is well placed to win Colombia's presidency after a first electoral round victory that pleased investors but which may also help a foe, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Santos, a Harvard and LSE-trained economist was only around three percentage points short of the majority needed to win the election outright on Sunday, and his 25 point lead will make it very difficult for his rival Antanas Mockus to catch up.

The two face off in a June 20 runoff.

Sunday's result is a ratification of the tough security and pro-business policies of staunch US ally President Alvaro Uribe in Latin America's third most populous country and was received well by investors. A victory in June for the wealthy scion of Bogota's political elites will likely inflame already high tensions with neighboring Venezuela - possibly benefiting Chavez who is beset by economic woes and often thrives on external conflict. "I doubt Chavez is unhappy with this result. Mockus would have thrown him off balance," said Michael Shifter, an analyst with Washington think-tank InterAmerican Dialogue.

Former Defense Minister Santos has for years verbally sparred with the socialist leader, who is beefing up his armed forces. Officials have said Colombia's military needs to prepare itself for an "external threat". A Santos presidency would do nothing to reduce fears of a border clash - although war in the region is unlikely. After the vote, Santos said he had no political enemies. "I don't recognize enemies in national politics or in foreign governments," he told supporters.

A seasoned warrior of Colombia's internal conflict, Santos, 58, is the anointed heir to Uribe, who cleared much of the country of leftist rebels and multiplied investment five-fold

with security and low taxes in eight years in office. The peso currency and benchmark TES bonds firmed on Monday, while the country's risk rating on JPMorgan's EMBI Plus index fell 8 points to 231 points. "Now there is much more certainty about what might happen and what lies in store for the country. As well economic matters, the teams are well regarded.

That generates stability and confidence recovers," said Alexander Cardenas, director of economic research at Colombian brokerage Acciones and Valores.

Mockus, an eccentric two-time former Bogota mayor, is also seen as a steady economic hand but is a relative unknown and has little sway in Congress since his Green Party has few seats - raising governability questions. The son of one of the country's most influential families who for years owned top newspaper El Tiempo, Santos proved his steel in the fight against FARC guerrillas, overseeing the dramatic rescue of hostages and a 2008 bombing raid that killed the insurgents' No. 2 commander.

That raid, on a rebel camp in neighbor Ecuador, briefly raised the specter of war in the Andean region. Relations with Venezuela never fully recovered and Chavez repeatedly called Santos a danger to Latin America during the election campaign. Santos says he and Chavez are like "oil and water," and although both men say they are willing to talk, Chavez also says he would struggle to have normal ties with Santos. Venezuela's leader is highly unpopular in Colombia and his remarks were always likely to increase support for Santos, although some analysts attributed a surge in Mockus' ratings in April to hopes for less conflict. "In the end the reverse happened, it strengthened Santos," former Colombian Vice President Humberto de La Calle said on TV station RCN. Some Chavez allies have said in

private they would prefer Santos to become president because Mockus is relatively unknown.

The conservative Santos offers a clear target for Chavez, who often attacks what he terms as venal elites

in his own country. Chavez rose to international prominence with fierce criticism of former US President George W Bush. Since Bush left office, Chavez has focused his wrath on Uribe, whom he accuses of conspiring

with Washington to topple him. "With Santos, Chavez can continue to play his favorite game," Shifter said.

"Chavez lost Bush and will soon lose Uribe, but at least he'll have Santos as a foil." — Reuters

Web has hidden benefits

By Clare Allan

I

n the space of 20 years the Internet has transformed communication to such an extent it can be hard to remember how we ever got by before. To me, 20 years seems a very short time indeed. In cyber terms it's close to eternity. The gulf between these two perspectives is truly dizzying. The World Wide Web was launched in 1991.

Broadband arrived in 2000. The BBC news website was launched in 1997. On July 7, 2005, the day of the London bombings, it received in the region of 1 billion hits.

Facebook was founded in 2004. By the autumn of 2007, a million new users were signing up every week. And in 2008, Google, a search engine, announced that we had 1 trillion unique web pages on the Web at once, a number said to be growing at a rate of billions a day. Indeed, according to Google's blog: "Strictly speaking, the number of pages out there is infinite - for example, web calendars may have a "next day" link, and we could follow that link forever ..."

How do I know all this? Because I researched it on the web. You may well be reading this on the web. Written by me, at home, in pyjamas, words flying through the air from my wireless keyboard to appear on the screen in front of me before flying off again across the flat and into a modem and on to the Guardian, all in the blink of an eye. Our world has changed. Exponentially. But how has it changed us?

According to a new report, the Lonely Society, published by the Mental Health Foundation, we are feeling increasingly lonely. Its research shows that more than one in 10 people feel lonely "often" and that half of those questioned think people are getting lonelier in general.

The report suggests that the way we live is impacting on our ability to connect with others. Undoubtedly, there are many factors contributing to this but it is ironic that at a time when people are communicating so vastly - much more than they ever have done before - they are also feeling increasingly isolated. Perhaps an explanation lies in the fact that while the Web facilitates communication it also makes it easier to avoid immediate contact. I can hardly be alone in

often preferring to communicate by email, precisely because I find it less intrusive than speaking on the phone. It is a way of making contact, but also a way of holding oneself at a distance.

And in the age of blogging, Facebook and Twitter, of teleworking and Internet shopping, of Second Life, chatrooms and so on, it's not hard to see how our practical need for face-to-face contact has declined dramatically. But what about our emotional and physical needs?

Research has shown that contact with others stimulates the production of the hormone neuropeptide oxytocin.

While loneliness increases the perception of stress, oxytocin has the opposite effect. Oxytocin, which has been called the "affiliation" hormone, is believed to underpin the link between social contact and healthy hearts. Because technology does not provide physical, face-to-face contact it does not produce this physical effect.

But the Internet can also be used to reduce social isolation. Many people with mental health problems find the web helpful for finding information and making contact with others. In times of crisis, dealing with people face-to-face can feel overwhelming. The distance provided by the internet, the knowledge that one cannot be seen, the fact you can log off at any time, are what make the communication feel possible. And the Internet can facilitate physical interactions.

According to Sally Russell, director of parenting website Netmums.com, which offers help to people with postnatal depression, 10,000 people meet face-to-face each month as a result of the website. It's a fine example of the Internet's potential to counter isolation by linking people together.

The links are not always positive ones. We know about child pornography, suicide chatrooms, pro-anorexia websites.

Perhaps it is that same combination of connection and distance that enables people to detach themselves from the impact of their behaviour. The Web is a tool for communication. Nothing more, nothing less. How we use it is up to us.

NOTE: Clare Allan is an author and writes on mental health issues — Guardian

Is Merkel's Germany a headless chicken?

By Helen Maguire

C

hancellor Angela Merkel's surprise at President Horst Koehler's resignation cast into sharp relief her loose grip on the problems within her unpopular and unruly government coalition, which faces huge economic challenges at home and abroad. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the junior Free Democrats (FDP) must agree in coming days how to slash public expenditure in the face of record debt, whilst coming under international pressure to stimulate demand, in the midst of euro currency's most serious threat to date.

"Things cannot continue like this forever," Merkel admitted to public ARD/ZDF broadcasters yesterday, adding however that her coalition was due to make key decisions at a meeting scheduled next week. When Koehler announced his resignation from the largely ceremonial role on Monday, he blamed the fierce criticism he was exposed to, after addressing what many consider to be an unspoken reality, that German economic interests can affect military decisions. "This criticism lacks any justification. It lacks the necessary respect for my office," Koehler said during a short, but bitter resignation speech.

Newspapers reacted by describing Koehler as a coward, who easily took

offence and couldn't stomach criticism, and whose decision plunged Germany further into crisis. Not so, says Nils Diederich, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University. He commended the former International Monetary Fund chief for retaining his integrity and refusing to bow to a political game that he was never meant to play. Instead, Diederich pointed out that Koehler had been the CDU-FDP candidate of choice, and squarely blamed Merkel for not backing the

president she had anointed. "It was a confession of failure, the way the chancellor said goodbye to a president who she installed in the first place," Diederich said.

Merkel had already suffered a blow last week when the premier of Hesse state, Roland Koch, announced his resignation. A vocal critic of Merkel, Koch had represented the CDU's important conservative wing, on whose support she relies. Merkel's "dream coalition" of CDU and FDP never truly gelled, and

German President Horst Koehler enters his car to leave the president’s residence Bellevue Palace after he announced his resignation on Monday. – AP

has consistently fallen in the polls since coming into office last year, dipping to 37 per cent in the most recent survey by pollsters Forsa, published yesterday. "We have to work every day for the future of the coalition," Merkel admitted late Monday. She stressed however that the ruling parties agreed on the need to cut debt in order to stabilise the euro currency.

The tax cut pledges on which Merkel's centre-right coalition was elected into office have fallen by the wayside, straining the alliance as the FDP belatedly gave in to the reality of state balance sheets. The chancellor was weakened when a regional CDUFDP government was ousted in a key election earlier this month, costing her automatic majority in the upper house of parliament, which has the final say on new legislation.

Merkel has also come under fierce attack within Germany and abroad, for dragging her heels over a bailout for debt-stricken Greece. A subsequent, far larger eurozone bailout package, arguably brought on in part by Germany's hesitation, was whisked through parliament, sweetened by a tougher government stance on financial market regulation - which in turn ruffled feathers internationally.

In the space of a week, Merkel's coalition adopted opposition demands for an international financial transaction

tax, and placed a sudden ban on certain types of financial market trading known as naked short selling. Governments abroad largely disregarded the former, while markets reacted with alarm at the latter decision. All this, commentators say, is a sign that Merkel no longer has a grip on her own coalition. In a recent survey by ZDF, 54 per cent said Merkel did not demonstrate enough leadership.

More than a third of those who shared this opinion were CDU voters, according to the May 21 poll.

It was hard to see the current string of unfortunate events as a coincidence, Diederich said. "When so many setbacks are added up, and the general perception is that these things are never properly solved, then people ask themselves whether it is not down to the person," he told dpa. The political scientist thinks many of Merkel's problems are in fact rooted in her centreright coalition, which has far more divergent interests than the previous "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. In the old coalition, Merkel was praised as a "moderator," learning when to sit out problems and when to seek consensual solutions. However, Diederich believes this policy is backfiring spectacularly with a junior coalition partner that has its own political agenda. — dpa The coalition's next test will be the

analysis

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Raid puts Obama in diplomatic hot seat

By Steven R Hurst

I

srael's deadly commando raid on aid ships bound for Gaza confronts President Barack Obama with another major test by the Israeli leadership and another blow to Washington's goal of brokering peace with the Palestinians and improving the US image in the Arab world. Depending on how the White House finally reacts, the bloody incident also could further confound once rocksolid relations between the United States and Turkey, where most of the nine dead were apparently from.

So far, Obama has only voiced "deep regret" over the Israeli raid, and the White House said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed by phone to reschedule Tuesday's White House talks "at the first opportunity." Netanyahu was rushing home from Canada. The White House statement said the president "expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances" surrounding the incident. There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis opened fire without provocation and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense. The specifics, however, of exactly what happened once the commandos boarded the aid ships will remain in dispute for days or even weeks to come. The perceptions of the event are already fixed in much of the world, especially in Muslim countries. Those perceptions are what count. They include: • The fact that Israel confronted the six-ship flotilla in international waters; • The convoy was intent on breaking Israel's three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed after the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized control of the

US President Barack Obama takes the stage in a driving rain storm to encourage the crowd to go to their cars for safety during Memorial Day ceremonies at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois Monday. – AP tiny Mediterranean territory in 2007.

• The blockade - along with Israel's fierce offensive against Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009 to stop Hamas rocket fire on Israeli villages - already had fueled anti-Israeli sentiment around the Arab world and in some quarters in Europe.

Compounding all that, the violence centered on the lead boat, the Turkishflagged Mavi Marmara ferry. Reaction was swift. There was a massive protest in Turkey, Israel's longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of "state terrorism," and the government recalled its ambassador

and called off military exercises with the Jewish state. The UN Security Council went into emergency session and called for an impartial investigation of the deadly Israeli commando raid. The Arab League met yesterday in Cairo.

Obama took office declaring IsraeliPalestinian peace a top agenda item, demanding Israel stop construction of West Bank settlements and end expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, lands the Palestinians envision as a state of their own as part of a peace treaty. Netanyahu said no and poured salt in that wound when his government later announced a major east

Jerusalem project as Vice President Joe Biden was visiting to reassure Israel of US support. After a deep chill, Obama said he recognized that neither side was ready for peace talks.

Even so, Netanyahu and the Palestinians subsequently agreed to open indirect negotiations with US special envoy George Mitchell. The fate of that small move forward was uncertain.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the ship raid as a "sinful massacre," but signaled he would keep going with the indirect talks. Abbas told senior officials of his Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization that there is no need to quit since the Palestinians are talking to the US and not to Israel, according to his adviser Mohammed Ishtayeh.

Difficult US-Turkish relations are bound to be seriously set back if Obama does not condemn the Israeli ship raid.

That carries the possibility for major problems inside NATO, where Turkey is the only Muslim member. And it will further complicate US efforts against the Iranian nuclear program. Turkey had just reached an agreement to take Iranian enriched uranium in return for a smaller, more pure batch of nuclear fuel for Iran's research reactor that produces medical isotopes. The US, Russia and France had proposed the deal late last year, with Russia to serve as receiver of the Iranian fuel and France to provide the material for the research reactor. Iran said no to that proposal.

The day after the Iranian deal with Turkey, the US announced it was moving ahead with harsher sanctions in the UN Washington was at pains to thank Turkey for its efforts, but declared them insufficient. Turkey is deeply opposed to sanc-

tions on its eastern neighbor. During the Cold War, Turkey served as an unquestioning NATO bastion on the Soviet Union's southern flank. But with the end of the superpower standoff, Turkey slowly began charting a more independent course - most visibly with its refusal to allow the US to use its territory in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

That, among many other difficulties, including American support for the Kurds in northern Iraq, has put US-Turkish relations on shaky ground. The Turks have been fighting a Kurdish insurgency and independence movement on their own territory for decades. Thus, Turkey, by sanctioning the aid flotilla and putting one of its flagged vessels in the lead, and Israel, by launching the bloody confrontation with the convoy, are testing American diplomacy to the utmost.

Washington has stood beside the Israelis throughout their history, vetoing many anti-Israel UN Security Council resolutions. At the same time, the US has been at pains to keep the Turks in place as a valued NATO member and democratic buffer against Iran and Arab dictatorships like Syria.

Now it would seem that Obama has to choose. And he's going to have to make that wrenching decision even as he faces the worst US environmental catastrophe - the so-far unstoppable spewing of millions of liters of crude into the Gulf of Mexico from a blowout BP well. He's already under heavy criticism for being late to take charge of the damaging sixweek oil accident as he intently battles opposition Republicans over his ambitious domestic agenda. Now he must hit the diplomatic sweet spot over the Israeli attack, and that could prove an impossible task. — AP

High-seas raid deepens Israeli isolation

By Karin Laub and Matthew Lee

I

srael's bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts, deepening Israel's international isolation and threatening to destroy the Jewish state's ties with key regional ally Turkey. And while Israel had hoped to defend its tight blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza with Monday's high-seas raid, it instead appeared to be hastening the embargo's demise, judging by initial international condemnation.

The pre-dawn commando operation, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists, was also sure to strengthen Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers at the expense of US allies in the region, key among them Hamas' main rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Egypt and Jordan. "The attack on a humanitarian mission ... will only further alienate the international community and isolate Israel while granting added legitimacy to Hamas' claim to represent the plight of the Palestinian people," said Scott Atran, an analyst at the University of Michigan.

The Mediterranean bloodshed dealt another blow to the Obama administration's efforts to get peace talks back on track. It raised new questions about one of the pillars of US policy - that Hamas can be left unattended as Washington tries to broker a peace deal between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The raid tested US-Israeli ties that have not yet fully recovered from their most serious dispute in decades, triggered by Israeli construction plans in disputed east Jerusalem. In the most immediate fallout, the interception of the six-boat flotilla carrying 10,000 tons of supplies for Gaza trained the global spotlight on the blockade of the territory. Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza's borders after Hamas overran the territory in 2007, wresting control from Abbas-loyal forces.

The blockade, under which Israel

allows in only essential humanitarian supplies, was intended to squeeze the militants. Instead, it has failed to dislodge Hamas, driven ordinary Gazans deeper into poverty and emerged as a constant source of friction and instability. In trying to shake off the blockade, Hamas intensified rocket fire on Israeli border towns, provoking Israel's three-week military offensive against Gaza 16 months ago.

After the war, the international community remained reluctant to push hard for an end to the blockade, for fear it could prolong the rule of Hamas, branded a terrorist organization by the West.

But after Monday's deadly clash, Israel may find itself under growing pressure to at least ease the blockade significantly. European diplomats on Monday demanded a swift end to the border closure, while U.S. officials said statements would call for greater assistance to the people of Gaza. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

The fate of US-led indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians was uncertain. Netanyahu canceled a scheduled Tuesday meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, and the status of a planned visit to Washington

by Abbas next week was not immediately clear. Abbas temporarily walked away from the negotiations in March, after Israel announced more housing for Jews in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem.

But while the Palestinian leader denounced Monday's ship raid as a "sinful massacre," he signaled he would keep going with the indirect talks. Abbas told senior officials of his Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization that there is no need to quit since the Palestinians are talking to the US and not to Israel, according to his adviser Mohammed Ishtayeh. Relations between Abbas and Hamas have become increasingly vitriolic, and extending Hamas rule by lifting the blockade would run counter to Abbas' objectives.

Abbas must now make a credible

effort to open Gaza's borders, said Palestinian analyst Hani Al-Masri.

"Otherwise, he will be viewed as weak or part of the siege and lose the support of his people," Al-Masri said. Israel dismissed the condemnation, saying its forces came under attack when they tried to board one of the Turkish-flagged aid vessels. However, its point of view

seemed to fall on deaf ears. "Militarily, we can feel quite safe, but not regarding our political international standing," said Alon Liel, a former Israeli diplomat posted in Turkey. Israel also appears close to destroying its relationship with key strategic ally Turkey.

Turkey decided to scrap three military drills involving Israel and withdraw-

al of its ambassador. Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim member, established close military relations with Israel in 1996 under US pressure. Today, the Islamicrooted government's sensitivities about the plight of Muslims anywhere and aspirations to have a say in the Middle East and Europe are reshaping Turkish foreign policy. — AP

Israel in diplomatic hot water

By Dan Williams

I

srael could pay a heavy price - including damage to peace efforts with the Palestinians - over the killing of 10 international activists on a Turkish ship trying to break a blockade of Gaza. Foreign anger at the boarding of the proPalestinian flotilla was loud even among Israel's allies and may drown out its argument that such action was needed to keep Gaza's Hamas rulers isolated and peacemaking efforts afloat.

Islamist Hamas's rival for Palestinian loyalties, secular president Mahmoud Abbas, was quick to condemn the naval attack as a "massacre" - an ill omen for the US-mediated negotiations with Israel on which he embarked three weeks ago.

And while Washington has yet to join in the censure from Europe and across the Middle East, President Barack Obama will have to balance relations with Turkey and other Muslim allies of the United States against Washington's ties with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to Canada when the Israeli raid took place, cancelled a planned White House meeting with Obama yesterday and left Monday for home, Israeli officials said.

The relationship between the two leaders has already been strained by Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank where Palestinians also seek statehood - and Obama has urged Netanyahu to ease access to Gaza's 1.5 million residents. Netanyahu's White House invitation was widely seen in Israel as an attempt by Obama to mend fences - and shore up US Jewish support for Democratic candidates in a November mid-term election - after a frosty Oval office meeting in March.

But Oussama Safa of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies predicted Obama might "ante up the pressure against the Israelis" to accommodate Palestinian demands - though the Netanyahu government has said the Gaza blockade will remain. Another delay in negotiations that have been stopstart for almost two decades would hold little real impact.

Abbas, with his truncated West Bank mandate, is too beholden to Israel and the United States to close the door on rapprochement. But the possibility of a fallout with Turkey, whose flag was flown on the flotilla and which recalled its Tel Aviv envoy in protest at the naval raid, could deepen Israel's own isolation even as it tries to present Iran as the main regional threat.

Turkey, a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, said it would seek a resolution against Israel - a poke in the eye for Israel and the United States, which would prefer to see the Council sanction Iran for its nuclear program.

Rising Iranian power has stirred concern among many Arabs, to Israel's advantage. But the Palestinian crisis makes such sympathies fickle, as Israeli Trade Minister Binyamin BenEliezer discovered while on a official visit to Qatar. "I see all the looks that I'm getting," Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio by telephone.

Hamas, which has largely fallen from world headlines since its war with Israel some 18 months ago, welcomed what it described as a win-win situation from the violence at sea.

Hamas government head Ismail Haniyeh said of the activists: "You were heroes, whether you reached (Gaza) or not." Israel insisted its commandos opened fire when they were attacked by gun- and knife-wielding activists aboard one of the flotilla's six vessels. At least seven marines were wounded. But, as with its crackdowns against a Palestinian uprising in the early years of the past decade, Israel will face tough questions abroad about the wisdom of using military force for what are essentially policing missions - especially when the nationalities of the dead are made public. Nahman Shai, a former Israeli military spokesman turned opposition lawmaker, likened the confrontation to the police killing of a dozen Arab citizens of Israel who demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinians in late 2000. "The difference is that this time foreigners are involved, which means a much wider impact," Shai told Israel Radio. — Reuters

Israeli 'bloodbath' on flotilla angers Turkey T

By Carsten Hoffmann

urkey's prime minister cursed Israel, its foreign minister accused it of piracy and President Abdullah Gul spoke of a severe breach of international law. The response

by Turkey's political leadership could not have been stronger, following Israel's storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which included one Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara. The raid left at least 10 activists, mainly Turks, dead, according to as yet unconfirmed numbers.

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators staged angry protests outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. The country's largest daily published a special edition for the first time since the fatal 1999 earthquake in the country, splashing the headline: "Israel has attacked - 16 dead Mavi Marmara raided". Turkey's anger at Israel reached new levels on Monday, after first marking a turning point when Israel invaded Gaza in the winter of 2008/2009 - a move which ended years of strong bilateral ties and cooperation, even between the secret services and defence

Protesters take part in a demonstration at Taksim square in Istanbul Monday. – AP industry. In a nutshell, Turkey is no longer willing to grant Israel special rights and instead insists on a game of equal rules for everybody, analysts say.

Turkish calls got louder that there had to be a debate on the

nuclear arms which Israel was keeping out of sight of the international community. Soon afterwards, the Israeli government humiliated the Turkish ambassador on camera in a meeting, showing him placed in a low

position, with Israeli officials throning over him in higher chairs.

Ankara, in turn, cancelled training flights by Israeli pilots in Turkish airspace, according to reports that were not officially

confirmed. Despite the steady decline of ties, however, Monday's events came as a shock, as live television footage showed Israeli soldiers abseiling onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara. For months, the Turkish Islamic aid organization IHH had been collecting donations to finance aid supplies for Gaza, which has been under an Israeli embargo since 2006.

According to the aid organization, the flotilla included three cargo vessels, carrying building material, wheelchairs and water filters, as well as three passenger ships.

Of course, the move by the pro-Palestinian activists was not merely humanitarian: The aid convoy was as much a political gesture as it was intended to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and emphasize the plight of Palestinian civilians in the Strip controlled by the radical Hamas movement. When the Mavi Marmara, carrying about 500 people, was about 130 km off the Israeli coast, its captain cabled that his ship had been captured and that the attackers were using weapons. It was obvious that the Israeli soldiers

were trying to stop the convoy.

"I had expected that they (the Israeli) would intervene," a Turkish member of parliament commented. "But I did not expect a bloodbath", he said.

Turkey says that the Mavi Marmara - with crew and passengers on their own ship in international waters - could not have been regarded as an attack on Israel, and that they only reacted to violence. In response to the fatal incident, Ankara has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel, Oguz Celikkol, and cancelled three military agreements with Israel.

"We will use all the possibilities available under international law to make Israel answerable," said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc in Ankara, comparing Israel's behaviour to that of pirates. Israel had attacked innocent civilians, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement, adding: "They have shown once again that they do not care about human lives and peaceful initiatives." Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned the damage for the relations between the two countries may be irreversible. — dpa

focus

Israel expects US to deflect outcry

By Alistair Lyon

I

srael can probably live with the diplomatic cost of its bloody storming of Turkishbacked aid ships bound for Gaza - unless its US ally fails to shield it. Israel's high-seas interception of the flotilla, in which nine people were killed, has provoked a firestorm of criticism around the world and shredded the Jewish state's already tattered relationship with Turkey, once its only Muslim ally.

Demands will intensify for Israel to end its siege of Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians, decried as "inhumane" by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. The European Union and Russia urged Israel to open crossings for aid, goods and people.

Another casualty, at least for now, is US President Barack Obama's effort to get indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks moving. Monday's drama will further test the credibility of Obama's broad drive to regain the trust of Arabs and Muslims.

So far Obama has only voiced regret at the casualties and called for clarification of what happened in the raid. The UN Security Council condemned the "acts" that led to casualties and urged an investigation "conforming to international standards". Israel has weathered world outrage over its policies towards Palestinians and its Arab neighbours often in the past, largely because it could rely on Washington to veto hostile resolutions at the UN Security Council and protect it from any punishment. "Despite the protests against us, we've been through more difficult situations," Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel's Army Radio, dismissing talk of sanctions. The flotilla assault may further harm Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rocky relationship with Obama, but the US leader is likely to think twice before joining global censure of Israel ahead of mid-term Congressional elections in November. Unless, that is, he senses a new mood among Americans coming to view Israel as a liability, rather than a trusted ally.

"The Obama administration, already irritated by the Israelis, might now see a shift in US public opinion that will open the way to a new US-Israeli relationship disadvantageous to Israel," wrote George Friedman, chief executive officer at Stratfor, a geopolitical analysis publication. Even if this scenario fails to materialise, the fiasco at sea may force the United States to pay more attention to the plight of Gaza and the rift between its Hamas Islamist rulers and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in the West Bank. "For years, many in the international community have been complicit in a policy that aimed at isolating Gaza in the hope of weakening Hamas," said the International Crisis Group.

It noted that the United States, European Union and their UN and Russian "Quartet" partners had urged an easing of the siege. "That is welcome, but opening the humanitarian tap is not an appropriate answer to a policy whose fundamental premise is morally callous and politically counter-productive," it said. Israel, which launched a full-scale assault on the densely populated coastal strip 18 months ago, says its blockade aims to weaken Hamas militants who have fired rockets at Israeli towns.

The Gaza war halted indirect Israeli-Syrian talks mediated by Turkey and drew fierce criticism from Erdogan, who has since emphasised ties with antiIsrael neighbours like Iran and Syria. Israel's once close relations with Turkey now lie in ruins. "The Israelis killed Turks on the high seas," Paul Salem, Beirut director of the Carnegie Endowment's Middle East Program, told Reuters.

"This will really change the mood in Turkey and push things in a more militant hardline direction. The government will probably have to follow suit to some degree."Israeli leaders have already discounted the cost of losing Turkey, a moderate, secular Muslim state, as a potential mediator, saying it was no longer impartial, but trade, energy, tourism and military links may also suffer. — Reuters

Israelis shocked by bloody raid 'fiasco'

By Joseph Krauss

W

ith Israel's reputation in tatters and its diplomatic standing under attack following a bloody naval raid on a fleet of aid ships heading to Gaza, many yesterday wondered what on earth went wrong. The graphic footage of elite naval commandos being beaten and thrown overboard by demonstrators armed with sticks and knives has shocked a country that once prided itself on daring and secretive attack and rescue missions. "Endless questions are being asked. What happened to Israel's vaunted creativity? Why was the worst of all possible options chosen? Where was the army chief of staff? Where were the intelligence services?" columnist Ari Shavit wrote in the centre-left Haaretz newspaper. "Why didn't we see that instead of tightening the siege on Gaza, we were about to tighten the siege on ourselves?"

Nine demonstrators were shot dead and scores wounded, including several soldiers whom the military said had been beaten with sticks and stabbed as soon as they landed on the deck.

Organisers of the so-called "Freedom Flotilla" denied the military's account, saying the soldiers had started firing as soon as they landed. The government has blamed the incident on a small group of activists on one of the six ships that it says waited in ambush.

"In five other cases, simultaneously, there were similar interceptions, no one was killed and no one was seriously wounded," spokesman Mark Regev said. "Why did it only happen on this one boat?

Because the people on this boat wanted violence." He added that Israel was carrying out its own internal investigation.

"Obviously from Israel's perspective the fact that there were fatalities is a tragedy, it shouldn't have happened... We prepared for a peaceful, police-

type operation."

But many wondered how the defence establishment could have so misjudged the situation that the troops failed to even use tear-gas or smoke grenades to clear the deck of the Mavi Marmara before rappelling down without guns in hand.

"The troops that went on board didn't know what to expect," Ephraim Kam, of Israel's Institute for International Security Studies, told AFP. "The police are better trained than this but the police are not allowed to take part in an operation outside of Israel," he added.

Yossi Melman, Haaretz's military affairs correspondent, believes it was a mistake to board the boats in the first place instead of sabotaging them.

"Why storm the boat, when you can simply sabotage the engine with a simple rope? Every seaman would tell you that, and then they would have been stuck in the sea and towed to port," he said. Ben Caspit, a columnist for the Maariv daily, blamed the political leadership for the naval operation, which he said was "complete stupidity". "Above the (military) there is a political echelon. It is the one that has to make the decision. To be cautious. To take into account unexpected entanglements and scenarios. This echelon failed abysmally yesterday." The raid against boats carrying hundreds of proPalestinian activists seeking to deliver some 10,000 tonnes of building and other supplies to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has sparked a chorus of international condemnation.

It has also deeply strained relations with Turkey, once Israel's sole Muslim ally, which has warned of "irreparable consequences" to bilateral relations. Some commentators have compared the incident to the British navy's 1947 storming of the Exodus, a boat loaded with thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Europe for the Palestine Mandate. — AFP

NEWS

14

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Saudis to probe MTV film that angered conservatives Documentary shows youths challenging curbs RIYADH: An MTV documentary on young people challenging Saudi Arabia’s ultra-strict Islamic social code has sparked an uproar among conservatives and court and government investigations, officials said yesterday. Traditionalists have filed a legal complaint

This image released by the Site Intelligence Group made from undated video shows Sheikh Said Al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Al-Yazid. — AP

Top Qaeda leader killed with family KABUL: Al-Qaeda said its number three leader and Osama bin Laden’s one-time treasurer Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid has been killed along with close relatives, in what would be a major blow to the global terror network. US monitoring groups said the death of Yazid, who was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and its liaison with the Taleban for three years, was announced by the group in a message to jihadist websites on Monday. “We have strong reason to believe that’s true, and that (Yazid) was killed recently in Pakistan’s tribal areas,” a US official said. “In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory.”

Yazid, one of a number of Egyptians in the higher echelons of Al-Qaeda, was a founding member of the network and once top money man to bin Laden who was accused of channelling money to some of the Sept 11 hijackers. Yazid, also known as Sheikh Said AlMasri, would be one of the highest profile AlQaeda leaders killed since US President Barack Obama took office. “Al-Masri was the group’s chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning,” the US official said. “He was also the organisation’s prime conduit to bin Laden and (Al-Qaeda number two Ayman) Zawahiri,” he said. “He was key to Al-Qaeda’s command and control.”

The Al-Qaeda message carried by the SITE group that monitors Islamist websites did not say where or when Yazid was killed other than to speak of his “martyrdom”. But it said his wife, three of his daughters, his granddaughter, and other men, women and children were killed along with him. “His death will only be a severe curse by his life upon the infidels. The response is near,” according to the message translated by SITE. One Pakistani security official told AFP

there was “reason to believe” Yazid was dead based on electronic intercepts, telephone intercepts and human intelligence, but that without a body there was no 100 percent confirmation. He was probably killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan in late May, the security official said. The United States has been waging a covert drone war against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the Afghan border, which Washington has declared a headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

Waheed Omar, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said the death of any “terrorist involved in terrorism activities in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, or on the borders, is a development (that) advances the cause”. Rahimullah Yusufzai, a prominent Pakistani expert on militant groups, said AlQaeda’s announcement showed that there was no longer a safe haven for the terror network in the tribal belt and that US intelligence was improving. “It has become difficult for them (Al-Qaeda) to operate independently, they cannot link up with the central leadership and they are not in a position to launch big operations,” he told AFP. Analysts said several of Yazid’s predecessors as Al-Qaeda number three had been killed or captured, while there were rumours in 2008 that he himself had been killed. Yazid, 54, was among those whose assets were frozen by the US Treasury in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. According to the FBI, it was Yazid who transferred funds via Dubai for Mohammed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi and Wal Al-Shehri, three of the hijackers who flew aircraft into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Yazid, wearing thick glasses and a white turban, appeared in a number of videos released by Al-Qaeda. —Agencies

Al and Tipper, married for 40 years, to separate NASHVILLE, Tennessee: Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage that included a White House run when their sunny relationship offered a counterpoint to President Bill Clinton’s philandering.

According to an email circulated among the couple’s associates yesterday, the Gores said it was “a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration”.

Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the statement came from the Gores, but declined to comment further. The Gores were telling friends they “grew apart” after 40 years of marriage and there was no affair involved, according to two longtime close associates and family friends, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was a personal matter. The associates said the Gores, over time, had carved out separate lives, with the former vice president on the

LOS ANGELES: In this Sept 16, 2007 file photo, former Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper Gore arrive for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. – AP

road frequently. One of the associates said: “Their lives had gotten more and more separated.”

Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W Bush. He has since campaigned worldwide to draw attention to climate change, which in 2007 led to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”. The Gores, who were married on May 19, 1970, at the National Cathedral in Washington, crafted an image as a happily married couple during his eight-year stint as vice president in the 1990s and a presidential candidate in 2000. The couple famously exchanged a long kiss during the 2000 Democratic presidential convention.

The image of their warm relationship stood in sharp contrast to the Clinton marriage rocked by Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that hung over Gore’s own presidential campaign. Al Gore at the time said his wife was “someone I’ve loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom”. In a speech to the 2004 Democratic convention, Gore said he wanted to thank “with all my heart my children and grandchildren, and especially my beloved partner in life, Tipper”.

Tipper said in a 2000 campaign interview with AP that Al once gave her a Weedeater for her birthday but had learned to be more sensitive over the years and cared about what she wanted.

“He’s very much a gentleman you know, with me around the house,” Tipper said. “I know he’s dog tired and he could be sitting down and doing something and I need something across the room, he’ll get up and get it.” —AP

Meanwhile, information ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Al-Hazzaa said the ministry was looking into the film after a number of complaints were made. “We are just beginning to investigate it,” Hazzaa told AFP. The one-hour film depicts young Jeddah residents pursuing ostensibly normal endeavours against the harsh restrictions on public life of Saudi Arabia’s version of Islam.

Political activist Ahmed wants to push the all-male city council to allow women to take part. Aziz, 24, dreams of meeting in person a woman he has been flirting with online, in violation of rules against mixing by unrelated men and women. A 20-yearold woman, Fatima, is shown trying to sell a line of coloured abayas against traditional rules requiring women to wear only black versions of the shroud-like garment. And an underground heavy metal band, “Breeze of the Dying”, struggles to find a venue to perform against beliefs that their music is Satanist and un-Islamic.

The filmakers, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, of New York-based Loki Films, follow the subjects around as they speak frankly about the restrictions posed by Saudi society and Islam. “I want justice, equality,” Ahmad, 22, says as he shows his library of banned books and complains of Web censorship.

“You are not going to get those rights, by somebody who gives them to you as a gift. You have to take those rights.” As she sneaks a bike ride on public streets by donning male clothing, Fatima says: “A woman should do everything that a man does.”

She also rejects the omnipresent black abayas that Saudi women wear.

“That’s the practice of Islam in our culture. But that’s not Islam at all.”

Such comments sparked an uproar among religious conservatives. A Facebook page started by Islamist activist Ali Al-Qarni has amassed nearly 2,500 supporters for bringing legal charges against those behind the program and those who took part in it. “We will not allow the values of Saudi society to be broken, and we call for the trial of Aziz and the MTV channel,” they said.

They accused the heavy metal band members of following Satanism and Christianity crimes under Saudi Islam and pointed to a Motorhead tshirt one wears which shows the hilt of a sword, which they say is a Christian cross symbol. Aziz has come under particular attack. On camera, he shows how he communicates with his “girlfriend” on line, and then tries to sneak into a mall during family-only hours to meet her for the first time. Critics say he is guilty of the Islamic sin of mujahara, doing something bad and then talking publicly about it.

“Resist the Power! Saudi Arabia” has only been shown in the United States, and not on MTV Arabia, the US broadcaster’s regional operation. But many Saudis have watched it on the MTV website.

Director Ewing defended it as simply a picture of what some young Saudis are doing with their lives. “I am a bit surprised about the controversy but feel that it will settle down as people realise our intentions and those of the participants were positive,” she told AFP by email. “We do not pretend to have captured all the nuances of this complex place but a small look into the hearts and minds of a few people,” she said.

Khalid Al-Dahlawi, a Jeddah-based freelance producer who worked on the film, rejected accusations that they filmed in secret, and said they had the necessary official Saudi permissions to make the film. “This is the first time such a documentary comes out talking frankly with youth and covering such issues,” Dahlawi said. —AFP

against the one-hour documentary entitled “Resist the Power!

Saudi Arabia” broadcast on MTV in the United States last week, Jeddah court sources said, adding that the complaint was being reviewed.

TEHRAN: Iranian women test the fragrances of perfumes at a store on May 13, 2010. — AFP

Iran women splurge on makeup TEHRAN: Banned after the 1979 Islamic revolution, cosmetics like lipstick and nail polish have flooded Iran so much in recent years that it is now the Middle East’s second largest beauty products market. Following the revolution, the morality police patrolled the streets, fining or even arresting women who flaunted the strict rules until they were eased after the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. And most women were quick to catch on after a decision to allow imports in the mid1990s with many taking to the streets all dolled-up, especially chic young urbanites.

Iranians spend about two billion dollars a year on cosmetics and the country of 74 million accounts for 29 percent of the Middle East market, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia, according to a recent survey. Most beauty products are now imported or smuggled into Iran, as the country produces little of its own makeup but has a vast, porous coastline just across the water from modern Gulf city states like Dubai.

Almost all popular international brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Guerlain, L’Oreal and Bourjois are available at trendy uptown malls and stores in cities and large towns. “Most specialists estimate that about 700 to 750 million dollars

worth of products are imported to Iran illegally,” said Abbas Najafi, the head of Iran’s counter-trafficking bureau. Vista Bavar, who promotes the recently launched European brand Caprice in Iran, was of the same opinion, stressing that “many products are smuggled into Iran”.

“The health ministry is very precise about its criteria, which is very good as consumers can be sure about the quality when there is an official seal of approval,” Bavar said. “But 50-percent duty fees and red tape work against legal imports,” the entrepreneur added.

People involved in the beauty business admit that smuggled goods tend to be of poor quality. “Over the past years the market has been flooded with lowquality Chinese products which do not meet the required standards,” said a major importer of cosmetics who asked not to be named. But “Chinese products account for about 30 percent of illegal imports and they have their own market in provincial areas and among people with lower income,” he added.

According to a survey conducted by TMBA, a private economic research institute, about 14 million urban Iranian women aged between 15 and 45 spend seven dollars on average per month on cosmetics. With the minimum wage in

Iran set at $300 and the average monthly income between $600 and $700, that is a fair amount. TMBA said Iranians splurge on cosmetics probably because most of the population is young and urban: half the population is below 30 years old, and 65 percent is urban.

Since 1979, women have had to observe the Islamic dress code, mandating that hair and body be modestly covered in public. To abide by the code, outside the home most urban women wear a headscarf, and a loose coat over their regular clothes. Women have also constantly challenged the dress code by sporting shorter, tighter Islamic overcoats and flashing locks of dyed hair under loosely-worn scarves, drawing condemnation and occasional crackdowns by the hardliners in power.

Women in government jobs still cannot wear makeup at work.

“Because of the veil (dress code), young Iranians pay a lot of attention to their faces,” which together with hands are the only body parts visible in public, said Mina, who sells cosmetics in the Iranian capital. “Some girls spend over an hour in front of a mirror to get ready.

If the fashion in Europe is to appear natural, in Iran the youth prefer to wear makeup,” she said. — AFP

GUATEMALA CITY: In this photo released by Guatemala’s Presidency on Monday, a sinkhole covers a street intersection in downtown Guatemala City Monday. A day earlier authorities blamed the heavy rains caused by tropical storm Agatha as the cause of the crater that swallowed a three-storey building but now say they will be conducting further studies to determine the cause. Last April 2007, another giant sinkhole in the same area killed 3 people. — AP

SPORTS

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

15

Yankees pound Indians NEW YORK: Alex Rodriguez hit his second grand slam of the season and Andy Pettitte was nearly unhittable, helping the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 11-2 on Monday.

Pettitte pitched seven innings, allowing three singles and Jhonny Peralta’s 100th career homer, while striking out five without a walk. He retired his last 14 batters.

Both of Rodriguez’ slams this season came after Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked ahead of him, and ARod is 5 for 5 overall when teams intentionally pitch around Teixeira. Rodriguez’s seventh homer of the season leaves him 10 shy of 600 for his career. The Indians trailed 2-1 in the seventh before shaky relief pitching did them in again.

Angels 7, Royals 1 At Kansas City, Ervin Santana pitched seven strong innings as the visiting Angels roughed up Luke Hochevar early on the way to a win over the Royals.

Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer, Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis each had solo shots off Hochevar (5-3), and Howie Kendrick had two RBIs to help Los Angeles kick off a season-long 14-game road trip with its fifth win in six games.

That was more than enough for Santana (5-3). The right-hander scattered seven hits, allowing a run-scoring double by Jason Kendall in the fifth inning and little else to win his fourth straight start.

He struck out six and has allowed six earned runs the past 29 innings after a shaky start to the season.

Athletics 4, Tigers 1 At Detroit, Rajai Davis scored twice and Trevor Cahill continued to pitch well as the Athletics beat the Tigers.

The win was Oakland’s third of the fourgame series and fifth out of seven during their ongoing 10-game trip. Detroit has lost five of six.

The start of the game was delayed by 2 hours and 42 minutes due to threatening weather, although no rain fell until more than an hour after the scheduled start. It started to rain again with Detroit batting in the bottom of the eighth, leaving the stadium almost empty by the end of the game.

Cahill (4-2) won his third straight start, allowing one run on five hits in 6 1-3 innings. Andrew Bailey got the final four outs for his 11th save.

Blue Jays 3, Rays 2 At Toronto, Brandon Morrow pitched seven strong innings, and Toronto threw out the potential leveling run at the plate in the ninth inning.

Evan Longoria tripled off Kevin Gregg with one out in the ninth, but he was thrown out trying to score on John Jaso’s grounder to shortstop for the second out. Gabe Kapler ended it by grounding into a fielder’s choice, giving Gregg his 14th save in 16 chances.

Adam Lind hit a two-run home run for Toronto.

Morrow (4-4) gave up one run and three hits, walked two and struck out one. Matt Garza (54), winless in five starts, allowed three runs and a season-high 10 hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Twins 5, Mariners 4 At Seattle, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel homered on consecutive pitches, and Delmon Young hit a two-run shot as Minnesota beat Seattle to equal its season-high with a fifth consecutive victory.

Jon Rauch allowed a leadoff double by Jose Lopez and RBI single by Josh Wilson to begin the ninth. Pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr. grounded into a fielder’s choice. Pinch-hitter Casey Kotchman hit into a double play and Rauch had his 13th save in 15 chances, and third in four days. Francisco Liriano (4-3) allowed eight hits and three runs in six innings. He struck out seven to end his threegame losing streak. —AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Colorado Rockies’ Clint Barmes runs to first after hitting a two-run single off San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum during the second inning of a baseball game. —AP

Braves thrash Phillies ATLANTA: Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus homered to back a strong start

by Tommy Hanson and help the Braves move into first place in the National League East with a 9-3 victory Monday over the slumping Philadelphia Phillies.

The Braves, winners of six straight, are one-half game ahead of Philadelphia, which has dropped two straight and nine of 13.

Improving to 16-4 since May 10, the Braves have made up 71/2 games in the NL East since May 17, when they were in last place. Atlanta hasn’t held first place in the division this late in a season since 2005.

Philadelphia, which was shut out in five of its previous eight games, had just three hits off Hanson (5-3) before the right-hander left with two outs in the seventh. Joe Blanton (1-4) lost his second straight start.

Rockies 4, Giants 0 At San Francisco, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a four-hitter to become the

majors’ first 10-game winner this year, outpitching Tim Lincecum to lead Colorado past the Giants.

Clint Barmes hit a two-run single in the second inning that held up for Jimenez (10-1), who struck out nine, lowered his big league-best ERA to 0.78 and extended his career-best scoreless innings streak to 26.

Lincecum (5-2), making his 100th start and matched up with Jimenez for the fourth time, walked five for the fourth straight start and the Giants had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Padres 18, Mets 6 At San Diego, Jerry Hairston Jr. hit a grand slam in the second inning and Chase Headley had a homer among his four hits as San Diego set the scoring record for Petco Park in a victory over the New York Mets.

The previous scoring mark was set by the Padres in a 17-2 win over Atlanta in their home opener on April 12. Petco Park opened in 2004.

Headley scored four runs while Chris Denorfia and Adrian Gonzalez scored three apiece. San Diego roughed up left-hander Hisanori Takahashi (4-2) and the Mets’ bullpen for 19 hits, matching the season-high set on April 12.

Marlins 13, Brewers 5 At Miami, Cody Ross hit a threerun homer to spark Florida’s biggest inning this year, Cameron Maybin hit an inside-the-park home run to help turn the game into a runaway as the Marlins erased an early four-run deficit in beating Milwaukee.

Chris Coghlan singled and then hit a two-run triple in what became a seven-run sixth for the Marlins, who scored four more in the seventh _ the last two coming on Maybin’s line drive to center that he beat without even sliding at the plate, crossing with both arms raised. Corey Hart hit his 13th homer and finished with two RBIs for Milwaukee, which led 4-0 after 5 1/2 innings.

Pirates 2, Cubs 1 At Pittsburgh, pinch-hitter Bobby Crosby singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Garrett Jones homered as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a five-game losing streak. The Pirates were coming off a 1-6 road trip and had lost nine of 11, only to beat the Cubs for the eighth time in nine meetings.

Jones’ ninth homer of the season tied it at 1 in the sixth, and he doubled leading off the eighth against reliever Sean Marshall (5-2). After Lastings Milledge grounded out and Ryan Doumit was intentionally walked, Crosby lined a 3-2 pitch by Marshall into center field to score Jones.

Nationals 14, Astros 4 At Houston, Carlos Maldonado and Ryan Zimmerman hit three-run homers off Chris Sampson, long after Roy Oswalt was ejected, as Washington put together the highest scoring inning in Nationals’ history.

Zimmerman and Adam Dunn drove

in four runs apiece and both chipped in during a nine-run seventh, the team’s biggest inning since relocating from Montreal before the 2005 season.

Rookie Luis Atilano (5-1) allowed three earned runs on six hits in 6 2-3 innings, his longest outing of the season. Dunn broke a 1-1 tie with a threerun double off Oswalt in the third.

Oswalt (3-7) gave up more than three earned runs in a start for the first time this year. Oswalt was ejected soon after in the third.

Cardinals 12, Reds 4 At St. Louis, Albert Pujols continued his torrid hitting and rookie Jaime Garcia overcame a shaky start for St. Louis, which moved into a share of first-place in the NL Central with Cincinnati.

Pujols extended his streak of reaching base to nine straight plate appearances with two intentional walks and a single his first three times up. He hit into a double play in the fifth inning.

Pujols added an RBI single in a five-run

sixth, one day after hitting three homers at Chicago.

Jonny Gomes’ two-run single in the first ended a run of 19 scoreless innings at home to start the season by Garcia (5-2), who allowed seven hits and two earned runs over six innings.

Dodgers 5, D’backs 4 At Los Angeles, A balk by Esmerling Vasquez in the bottom of the ninth allowed Los Angeles’ Casey Blake to score the winning run over Arizona.

The inning began with a walk to James Loney and a broken-bat single

by Blake. Loney made a break for third base with Augie Ojeda charging in for a possible bunt, but was tagged out in a rundown after Ojeda retreated back toward the base. Blake went to third on a ground out. With Blake DeWitt batting, second base umpire Tim Tschida signaled balk after some frantic gyrations by Blake and Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa. Blake removed his helmet and jogged home. —AP

Blackhawks lead Flyers

Al-Muqaiseed receives the singles trophy.

Al-Qadhi receives the runner-up award for the singles competition

KBC Squash Tourney concludes KUWAIT: The eighth annual squash tournament organized by the Kuwait Banks Club recently concluded in an event held under the patronage of the KBC CEO Hesham Al-Buaijan, and in attendance of deputy CEO Mahmoud Bastaki, and other KBC officials.

The tournament featured participation from 46 players, among which Abdullah Al-Muqaiseed from the National Bank of Kuwait was crowned as the singles champion, after finishing in the first place by defeating Husam Al-Qadhi from the Gulf Bank. In doubles competition, Ayman Al-Farra and Jassem Thyab won defeating Fuad Dashty and Yousuf Asad.

KBC officials pose with the winning teams.

CHICAGO: Marian Hossa and Ben Eager scored 28 seconds apart late in the second period and Antti Niemi had 33 saves as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Monday night for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals.

After a wild scoring display when Chicago won the opener 6-5, Game 2 featured tightened-up defenses with goalies Niemi and Michael Leighton of the Flyers stepping up. “It’s unbelievable feeling how the people react,” Niemi said as the crowd cheered him and chanted his name after the game. “Defense was the key.”

For the second straight game, the Blackhawks got no points from their two young stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Flyers, who are in the finals because of their ability to come from behind as they did in erasing a 3-0 deficit against Boston, got right back in the game when Simon Gagne scored as a power play was about to elapse at 5:20 of the final period.

But Niemi fought off a late flurry — 15 of his saves came in the final period when Philadelphia had a 16-4 shots advantage.

“I thought their goaltender played extremely well in the third period. We had more than enough looks to tie up that game,” Philadelphia coach Peter Laviolette said. Games 3 and 4 will be played in Philadelphia on Wednesday and Friday.

Patrick Sharp fired a shot from the left circle, and after Leighton stopped it and with Chicago’s Troy Brouwer battling for the puck, Hossa poked it in from the left side with 2:51 left in the second period.

Hossa, in his third straight Stanley Cup finals with a different team, got his third goal of the playoffs and first since May 5 against Vancouver in the conference semifinals. Just 28 seconds later with the crowd still abuzz, Dustin Byfuglien made a steal and passed the puck to fourth-line forward Eager.

Eager skated to the right circle and unleashed a shot that beat Leighton high on the glove side to make it 2-0. It was the first goal of the playoffs for the former Flyers forward.

Leighton, who was drafted by the Blackhawks and played parts of two seasons for them, got the nod despite being pulled in Game 1 after yielding five goals on 20 shots. He made 24 saves Monday. —AP

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

of France believe in destiny despite gloom Last chance to win fans’ hearts

Raymond Domenech

PARIS: The man French soccer fans love to hate, Raymond Domenech, has a point to make at the World Cup after which he will bow out and lead a quieter life.

Booed at every match and repeatedly reminded he has never won anything as a coach, Domenech has been left in charge until the June 11-July 11 finals in South Africa, but will be replaced in their aftermath.

Former World Cup winner Laurent Blanc was widely expected to be his successor, after telling his club Girondins Bordeaux that the French soccer federation had approached him.

The stubborn, 58-year-old Domenech upset the odds to guide the team to the final of the last World Cup in Germany but his team have under-performed ever since, notably at Euro 2008 when they suffered an embarrassing first-round exit.

For a man who has revelled in controversy, having qualified for a World Cup courtesy of a blatant handball is not a problem.

Domenech’s first comments after captain Thierry Henry handled the ball in the build-up to the late goal that sent France to South Africa at the expense of Ireland was that he had not seen it properly.

Later, he offered no apologies, although he did compliment Ireland for a spirited performance in their 2-1 aggregate playoff defeat by the former world and European champions.

“To go to university, you need A-levels but you don’t need to have passed them with honours,” Domenech said of France.

“You have your A-levels, so you can go. That’s where we

stand.”

Such statements came as no surprise to the France fans who had heard the same man ask his partner, television journalist Estelle Denis, to marry him immediately after France lost to Italy and failed to survive the group stage at Euro 2008.

An uncompromising defender with a thick moustache in his playing days, Domenech, who won eight caps, has never made an effort to be loved.

When he played for Olympique Lyon on visits to archrivals St Etienne, he was famous for banging the ball against the advertising boards below the section packed with the most fervent St Etienne fans during the warm-up, just to annoy them.

As a coach, Domenech has been criticised for his cautious tactics, despite having plenty of fine creative players with a taste for attacking football in his squad. He succeeded Jacques Santini after France’s disappointing exit from Euro 2004.

With the talent they have, France are capable of going a long way in South Africa, even if they did little to suggest that when they were outplayed 2-0 by Spain in March.

“I’m convinced this team have a date with destiny in 2010,” said Domenech, a theatre lover with a passion for astrology, and described as clever and charming by those who know him well. — Reuters

Ribery could electrify France PARIS: France have seemed to be running on flat batteries lately but a boost from their troubled dynamo Franck Ribery could provide a new lease of life on the pitches of South Africa.

France’s most popular player since the great Zinedine Zidane, Ribery is certainly skilful but what sets him apart is his ability to cover every area of the pitch for 90 minutes.

“His muscle fibres allow him to run faster and longer than anyone else I’ve seen,” Georges Gacon, who was his fitness trainer at Olympique Marseille, once said. “He’s like a living dynamo but he also works very hard.”

Ribery was once kicked out of the Lille academy because his school results were not good enough but he has matured to become, at 27, one of Europe’s top players.

Born in the northern port city of Boulogne, like former European Footballer of the Year Jean-Pierre Papin, Ribery burst into the limelight during his spell at Marseille from 2005 to 2007, and kept improving after joining Bayern Munich that year.

Ribery, who has a long scar running down his right cheek from a car accident when he was two, has been slowed for the past two years by a string of injuries.

His most embarrassing moment, however, came last month when he was heard as a witness by police investigating a prostitution network. Although he was not charged, French media suggested he had been a customer of a night club in Paris’s posh Champs-Elysees district that allegedly featured escort girls.

Ribery, who converted to Islam and has two children with his wife, Wahiba, who is of Algerian descent, was questioned only because he knew someone close to a person targeted in a PARIS: procuring inquiry, his France's lawyer said.

Ribery missed the Franck Ribery chance to play for during his Bayern in the World Cup Champions League 2010 Group 7 final against Inter qualifying socMilan next weekcer match end after being against sent off, and later Romania. suspended, for a —AP bad tackle in the semi-finals.

— Reuters

Factbox Colors: Blue shirts, white shorts, red socks Nickname: Les Bleus (The Blues) Previous World Cup appearances: 12: 1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006 Best World Cup performance: Winners 1998 Coach: Raymond Domenech Most capped player: Lilian Thuram 142 Top goalscorer: Thierry Henry 51 Talking points Fans wonder whether Franck Ribery’s form will be affected by the lurid headlines after he was heard as a witness by police investigating a prostitution network.

Domenech would love to see playmaker Yoann Gourcuff live up to his reputation as the next Zinedine Zidane after below-par performances in recent months. More generally, Domenech needs the handful of gifted players in his squad to prove their worth, and form a team at last.

Another concern is William Gallas, France’s most reliable central defender, who is hampered by a pulled calf muscle and faces a struggle to be fit for the finals.

Players to watch Ribery and Gourcuff, obviously, but also Thierry Henry, the France captain and their most prolific scorer, who has suffered since the handball incident that helped France to win their qualifying playoff against Ireland, and lost his place in the starting line-up at Barcelona.

—Reuters

DUBLIN: Captain Thierry Henry of France runs with the ball during their World Cup qualifying playoff first leg soccer match against Republic of Ireland at Croke Park, Saturday Nov. 14, 2009.—AFP

Henry happy with joker role PARIS: Thierry Henry may be France’s alltime top scorer and leader of his country’s attack for over a decade yet he is set to fill an unaccustomed role as ‘super sub’ at the World Cup in South Africa.

Henry reportedly agreed to be deployed as what L’Equipe described as a ‘joker de luxe’ when national manager Raymond

Domenech paid him a visit in Barcelona this month.

And sure enough Henry, who has scored 51 inter national goals, has started on the bench in both of France’s war m-up matches in the past dew days.

He came on for Nicolas Anelka at the start of the second half in the 2-1 win against Costa Rica in Lens last Wednesday, and entered the fray at the same juncture, again replacing Anelka, in the 1-1 draw with Tunisia in Rades on Sunday.

Domenech was his usual guarded self when tackled on his reported tete-a-tete with the for mer Arsenal striker in Barcelona before he unveiled his provisional World Cup squad on May 11.

“I am at Tunisia-France, other people’s gossip is just gossip...” he said in Rades af ter Sunday’s game. Henry himself appeared relaxed with his newfound role.

“I had a chat with the coach,

he told me that I wouldn’t be starting the game. As I’ve often said, the most important thing is the team. I try to come on and to give something when I’m called on to be of service to the team,” he told French television.

Henr y, who has only produced two goals for Barcelona since January, added: “We’re not here to know who will play and who won’t play. No one is above the team, we’re all in this to go as far as we can together.”

The 2006 World Cup finalists fell behind to an early goal in R ades before William Gallas headed home a second half leveller, the Arsenal central defender’s performance one of the few positives from this latest warm-up.

France have one remaining friendly scheduled against China in Reunion on Friday.

T h e y o p e n t h e i r Wo r l d C u p campaign against Uruguay on June 11. — AFP

PARIS: If sky-high confidence and squad tranquility is needed for a successful World Cup, France should probably prepare to leave the finals in South Africa early.

The former champions have under-performed since reaching the final of the 2006 World Cup and needed a goal marred by that infamous Thierry Henry handball to qualify for this one.

Coach Raymond Domenech, who was left in charge despite the early exit from Euro 2008, is extremely unpopular, booed at every match and will quit after the tournament, whatever the outcome.

The replacement for magician Zinedine Zidane, who signed off with a head butt and defeat by Italy on penalties in the 2006 final, is nowhere to be seen, and it does not stop there.

The news that Franck Ribery, the closest thing to a Zidane that France have these days, was heard as a witness by police investigating a prostitution network added to the gloom surrounding the team’s prospects.

The ever-surprising Domenech nevertheless believes the light will shine through in South Africa. “I’m convinced this team have a date with destiny in 2010,” said the France coach, who has a passion for astrology.

The chances of France making an impact at the World Cup looked small when they were outclassed 2-0 by European champions Spain in their last outing in March. They looked like sluggish middle-aged men struggling against energetic boys.

They have plenty of talent, however, and could go a long way if the likes of playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, not to mention Ribery, rise to the occasion.

They also have a world-class goalkeeper in Hugo Lloris, a manageable group featuring South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay to deal with and, last but not least, wounded pride to heal.

The France players will need, however, to deflate their oversized egos, work as a team for a change and fight like lions.

“They must be clever and forget their ego to realise that the only thing that matters is the team, not them,” Domenech said.

“If they don’t understand that, I will need a gun.”

Meanwhile, France need Thierry Henry to recapture his best form after a series of setbacks if they are to shine at the World Cup. His country’s most prolific scorer with 51 goals in 118 internationals, Henry is one of the most gifted strikers of his generation but has been pushed to the fringes at Barcelona.

At 32, the France captain is in the twilight of his career and has been sparingly used by coach Pep Guardiola at the Nou Camp where Lionel Messi and newcomers such as Pedro have stolen the limelight.

What Henry needs to forget ahead of the June 11-July 11 finals in South Africa, however, is not so much his frustrating season at Barca but what happened in a controversial playoff against Ireland in November.

Henry, until that day never considered a cheat, handled the ball in the build-up to the decisive goal that sent France through to the finals, sparking one of the biggest outcries in the competition’s history.

Henry was backed into a corner over the controversy but was supported by France coach Raymond Domenech who remembered how often his captain had lifted the side out of tight spots.

“I’ve always trusted great players and Titi (Thierry) is a great player,” Domenech told reporters. A member of France’s 1998 World Cupwinning squad and of the side that won the European Championship two years later, Henry grew up in a Paris suburb.

After learning his trade at Monaco under the guidance of his mentor, Arsene Wenger, he matured with Wenger at Arsenal whom he joined in 1999 and left in 2007 for Barcelona. He scored 226 goals during that eight-year spell.

A great admirer of Messi, Henry, a clinical finisher in his prime and still a useful scorer, realises the Argentine magician is in a different class.

“If I tried to do half the things he does, I’d fall over,” says Henry, whose parents were born in the French West Indies. — Reuters

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

of Factbox Colors: Light blue shirts, black shorts, black socks.

Nickname: La Celeste (the light blue) Previous World Cup appearances - 10: 1930, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1990, 2002.

Best World Cup performance: winners 1930, 1950 Coach: Oscar Washington Tabarez Most capped player: Rodolfo Rodriguez 78 Top goalscorer: Hector Scarone 31 Talking points: Uruguay have a more settled squad than they have had for a long time, due largely to the unprecedented continuity in modern times that coach Tabarez has had in the job throughout this World Cup cycle of four years. This means his selection policy has strong foundations and his tactics have been well rehearsed, making the Uruguayans a more dangerous prospect than they have been since they reached the 1970 semi-finals.

Players to watch: Rugged defender and captain Diego Lugano for leadership, young midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro for creative moves and strike pair Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez for speed and goals. — Reuters

Criticism grows on World Cup ball SESTRIERE: Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon joined the chorus of players criticizing the World Cup ball. “Usually you get used to it, but in this case every touch comes with the unknown,” Buffon said yesterday at the Azzurri’s training camp in the Italian Alps. “The trajectory is really unpredictable.”

Buffon knows a thing or two about ball trajectories. He allowed only two goals over seven games when Italy won the World Cup in Germany four years ago _ an own goal from Cristian Zaccardo against the United States and a penalty kick by Zinedine Zidane in the final against France. The upcoming tournament in South Africa will be his fourth World Cup. Buffon said he realized there was a problem with the Adidas “Jabulani” ball the first day he encountered it, adding that all players — not only goalkeepers — will be affected.

Buffon suggested that when midfielder Andrea Pirlo makes a bad pass, he’s usually off by 10 centimeters (4 inches), “but with this ball he risks missing by three meters (yards).” Buffon’s counterparts, Spain’s Iker Casillas and Brazil’s Julio Cesar, have also criticized the Jabulani, comparing it to balls on sale at a supermarket.

Adidas spokesman Thomas van Schaik told The Associated Press on Monday that balls had been distributed to all the qualified teams ahead of time and that the teams “had not taken advantage of that if we are only hearing this criticism now.” Buffon suggested the ball design should be considered with more attention in the future.

“There’s a VENEZUELA: lot of talk Uruguay's Luis about stadiSuarez celeums, infrabrates after scorstructure and ing against TV and that’s nice and all, Venezuela during but first we’ve a World Cup 2010 got to worry qualifying soccer about balls, match. spikes and jerseys,” —AP Buffon added.

— AP

Uruguay hope to recapture former glory MONTEVIDEO: With a mixture of outstanding strikers, young talent and their traditional grit, Uruguay hope they can take a step in South Africa towards restoring some of their former soccer glory.

If the prospect of lifting the World Cup again, as they did in 1930 and 1950, might be a dream too far, the players still have the ability to be a surprise in the tournament.

The task will not be easy. La Celeste’s Group A opponents are 2006 runners-up France, hosts South Africa, and Mexico.

“We must go to the World Cup with expectations because we have players who are in the important leagues along with other players from the elite teams,” coach Oscar Tabarez said in a recent interview with Reuters.

“I have the hope that we could be a surprise, although at no time are we going to be believe that we are the favorites or think we are champions.”

Among Uruguay’s leading players is Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid who has topped La Liga’s scorers’ chart twice and won Europe’s Golden Boot twice.

There is also Luis Suarez of Ajax, top scorer in the Dutch top flight this season with 35 goals.

Another attacking option is Sebastian Abreu of Brazil’s Botafogo, who is the top scorer among active Uruguay players with 24 goals in 55 internationals.

Captain Diego Lugano of Turkish side Fenerbahce is a natural leader with a temperament that epitomises the gritty spirit of Uruguay’s football. In the same mould is midfielder Diego Perez, of Monaco, who fights for every ball.

With more temperament than technique, the little country that slew mighty Brazil in Rio de Janeiro in

1950, won the Copa America 14 times and still inspires respect in opponents, must overcome the notion that they are a team of the past.

“We play strongly and we have done for many years. The team have players who know how to play good football and we hope to do so at the World Cup,” Forlan said.

In recent decades La Celeste have appeared in only the 1990 and 2002 World Cups and they reached South Africa after an erratic qualifying road. Getting to the second round will be an important achievement.

The last time they reached the last eight was in 1990, when Tabarez was also coach, and they have not made the semi-finals since Mexico in 1970.

Meanwhile, defender Diego Lugano’s physical presence and commitment to the team make him a natural to wear the captain’s armband for Uruguay.

“We have an impressive history of captains who have been great sportsmen and

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay's Diego Forlan controls the ball during a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer game against Colombia in Montevideo. —AP

Striker with pedigree MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay striker Diego Forlan will write a new chapter in his family’s World Cup story when he plays at the finals in South Africa.

The 30-year-old, going through one of the better periods of his career after twice winning the European Golden Boot award, is the grandson of Uruguay’s 1962 World Cup coach Juan Carlos Corazo and the son of Pablo Forlan, who played in defence for “La Celeste” in the 1966 and 1974 tournaments.

As a youngster, he was a keen tennis player but his father pushed him towards soccer.

“Since I was a young lad, my father always took me to the yard and made me practise with my left foot. I kept at it and today I can score with my left or right,” he said in a recent interview.

After playing in local youth football, Forlan made his professional debut with Independiente of

Argentina in 1998.

He moved to England’s Manchester United in 2002 but his goal-scoring form was patchy. He endeared himself to the Old Trafford crowd, however, with his habit of whipping off his shirt and baring his torso when he scored.

He has flourished since his move to Spanish football in 2004. At Villarreal, he topped the league goalscorers’ list and won the Golden Boot in 20042005, as well as helping the team to a Champions League spot. He joined Atletico Madrid in 2007, replacing the Liverpool-bound Fernando Torres. He won the Golden Boot again in 2008-2009.

South Africa will be his second World Cup, following his appearance in 2002 when his volleyed goal against Senegal did not prevent Uruguay going out in the group stage.

On Uruguay’s erratic qualification road to South Africa, he scored seven goals-including a hat-trick against Perualthough critics still complained he was not hitting the net as often as he did with Atletico Madrid. He has scored 23 goals in 61 appearances for Uruguay.

He heads for South Africa on good form, having scored both of Atletico’s goals in their 2-1 extra-time win over Fulham in the Europa League final. — Reuters

Tabarez is the Master of Uruguay’s new dreams

gentlemen as well as just good players.

So to be captain of Uruguay is a great honour and a great responsibility,” Lugano told Reuters.

Winners of the World Cup in 1930 and 1950, Uruguay’s heady days are in the past and Lugano has the task of leading a team known more for their tenacity and fiery temperament than for their refined technique back to the upper ranks of world soccer.

“Lugano is in the great tradition of Uruguayan leaders,” said sports columnist Alfredo Etchandy. “Someone who will carry the flag in the most difficult moments.”

In South Africa, Uruguay take on the hosts, France and Mexico and Lugano believes they could reach the semi-finals if their strikers hit form.

The 29-year-old Lugano’s career began at a small local club and he was still playing as an amateur in regional leagues when many of his contemporaries were already enjoying the big time.

“At 18, I wasn’t dreaming of being professional, I was playing amateur football, studying and working,” he said.

After moving from Plaza Colonia to Montevideo giants Nacional, he was snapped up by the mighty Sao Paulo of Brazil in 2002 and led the side to the Copa Libertadores and the world club title in 2005.

The Brazilian fans idolised the Uruguayan import but in 2006 he left for Turkish club Fenerbahce. Lugano has played 41 times for Uruguay, scoring four goals. — Reuters

MONTEVIDEO: Twenty years after steering Uruguay into the second round in Italy, coach Oscar Washington Tabarez is going to his second World Cup finals.

With that experience under his belt, and a promising team, the former schoolteacher and avid student of the game who has earned the nickname “Maestro” hopes to take Uruguay further in South Africa.

The reserved 63year-old returned to the helm of the national team four years ago after a roller-coaster career as a club coach in Uruguay, Colombia, Italy, Spain and Argentina.

It will be no easy task for Tabarez to give the country that won the 1930 and 1950 World Cups back the prestige they enjoyed many decades ago.

After an erratic qualifying campaign in which Uruguay slipped in by the back door with a playoff win against Costa Rica, the team face hosts South Africa, France and Mexico in Group A which Tabarez sees as the most even of the finals.

He dreams of going far, as he did when he began a coaching course in Uruguay looking for extra income. “One day in 1979 I said: ‘I’m not playing football any more’ and my wife asked me: ‘What are we going to live on?’,” Tabarez recounted last year on a television programme.

“So I did the coaching course with the aim of getting a second salary...In 1980 I didn’t have money to go the stadium (to watch matches).”

His unremarkable playing career as a defender having ended, he was making ends meet as a teacher, a parallel career for 15 years until 1985.

After several years at the helm of small club sides and the Uruguay under-20 team, Tabarez tasted glory steering Montevideo giants Penarol to victory in the South American Libertadores Cup in 1987. His first Uruguay side, including brilliant midfielder Enzo Francescoli, reached the World Cup second round in 1990 but were eliminated by hosts Italy. —Reuters

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay's soccer coach Oscar Tabarez gestures during a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer game against Colombia in Montevideo.

—AP

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

of South Africa is ready

Alberto Parreira

FOREIGN NUMBERS The drop in likely foreign visitors has deflated a long-running cause of concern-lack of accommodation capacity — but there are still worries that fans will not find enough transport to get between matches, particularly by road.

If the tournament is likely to be a big boost for South Africa, it is unlikely to do the same favour for FIFA’s image in this country, damaged by what are seen as heavy-handed actions to enforce strict rights protection for its commercial partners and mistakes on ticketing.

FIFA has acknowledged its error in long ignoring advice

that the internet sales system for tickets was unsuitable for Africa, where many fans do not have access to computers.

Over-the-counter sales were belatedly introduced a month ago, causing both a rush for seats and the longhoped-for jump in excitement among fans. Some 200,000 of the 2.7 million tickets remained unsold at the last count and there are likely to be far fewer fans from other parts of Africa than once hoped.

Perhaps the biggest question over the World Cup will have to be answered after the final on July 11 — was it worth spending more than $5 billion to stage it in a country which still has an army of poor and some of the biggest wealth disparities in the world?

Many domestic critics say no, including township dwellers involved in a series of violent protests recently against the delay in spreading the benefits of black rule more widely.

However, World Cup supporters say the tournament will not only boost foreign investment but leave a lasting legacy of roads and major infrastructure, while Jordaan passionately argues that Africa must not be deprived of its favorite sport.

“Football is a giver of hope and life and we must never argue

that we must deny Africans the fundamental pleasure and joy that football generates...football is the one expression where Africans can compete equally with anyone in the world.”

— Reuters

Ste ven Pie naa r

JOHANNESBURG: After years of doubt, soul searching and says that after years of dire predictions that Africa would fail, criticism, South Africa stands on the threshold of a unique the world will be “spellbound” on June 11.

The tournament would be a defining moment comparaWorld Cup that looks likely to confound the pessimists.

This country has had to endure acres of negative foreign ble to the end of apartheid. It would mark “the pinnacle of news reports and plenty of self doubt in the six years since it the strides we have made over the last 16 years and will chart a new course in our country’s history,” he told Reuters. won the right to host Africa’s first World Cup. President Jacob Zuma said the World Cup “is the single With less than a month to kick-off, most of those reports are discredited and although there are still plenty of areas of greatest opportunity we have ever had to showcase our concern to test the nerves of organisers, ranging from vio- diversity and potential to the world. We must rise and tell the story of a continent which is alive with lent crime to transport, the omens look possibilities.” good. For years media reported that None of this means success is a FIFA had a “Plan B” to move the tourforegone conclusion, and a big failure nament if South Africa failed to be ready under the international spotlight could in time. Instead, Africa’s biggest econodo deep damage to future tourism and my has done better than many nations investment. preparing for either the World Cup or One of the biggest worries has been Olympics.

South Africa’s notorious crime-it has 50 The 10 stadiums were ready early murders a day-which has undoubtedly and six of them-five built from scratch deterred some European fans, although and one extensively expanded and the cost of this long-haul tournament rebuilt- are magnificent arenas standing during a world recession has probacomparison with any in the world. bly put off more. Estimates of forFrom Johannesburg’s 90,000-capacieign visitor numbers have recently ty Soccer City, Africa’s biggest stadium, dropped from 450,000 to 370,000 or to Durban’s arch-spanned arena and fewer.

Cape Town’s bath-shaped bowl-both The murder of white supremacist fronting the ocean-the soccer fields are Eugene Terre’blanche by two black more than sports venues. farm workers fuelled more alarmist The grandiose projects affirm the reporting topped by the British tabloid confidence and ability of an often trouDaily Star’s bizarre assertion that bled country 16 years after the end of Siboniso Gaxa machete-wielding gangs were roaming apartheid. This event, more than in the streets. almost any other country, has huge symOfficials from Zuma and Jordaan down have recited a bolic importance for a nation torn by racial conflict for centuries which hopes the World Cup will unite still wary blacks well-rehearsed mantra that South Africa has a long history of successfully hosting almost 150 international events and will and whites in patriotic fervour.

Hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event also create a cocoon for the fans with a $174-million security plan has the potential to give an enormous boost to South Africa’s including 41,000 specially deployed police.

Most experts believe this is likely to work, unless fans image and its ability to attract investment and millions of stray from well-guarded areas into some of the frighteningly extra tourists to a country blessed with myriad attractions. dangerous quarters of Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria.

They also believe terrorism is unlikely, although it cannot “NEW COURSE” Danny Jordaan, boss of the local organising committee, entirely be discounted.

Pienaar carries S African hopes JOHANNESBURG: As the subject of speculation over a possible off-season move away from Everton to Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur, Steven Pienaar has a much higher profile than his South African team mates.

Since the diminutive, sinewy midfielder became a fan favorite at Premier League Everton, Pienaar has aroused expectations back home and will carry the bulk of the hosts’ hopes in the World Cup finals.

It is a task the 28year-old is quite capable of handling but his reserved nature holds him back from publicly claiming a place as talisman of the home team.

Born in the tough, mixed-race Johannesburg neighborhood of Westbury, Pienaar’s singular focus on football allowed him to resist the temptations of drugs and gang warfare that dominated the streets around his boyhood home.

He was sent away as 13-yearold to the South African Football Association’s academy and ear-

marked as a prodigy. But after a multitude of matches for the country’s junior teams, he was suddenly deemed too small and physically ineffective to make the professional ranks, and was ignored by most of the country’s top sides.

His tireless running, smart positional play and unquestionable appetite for the ball found a home at Ajax Cape Town, where it soon became apparent that the others clubs had made an error of judgement.

From Cape Town he moved in 2001 to Ajax Amsterdam, where he played regularly and successfully in the Dutch league, and earned a transfer to Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

South Africa took him to the 2002 World Cup but as a junior squad member he got no playing time and little of a positive experience.

Pienaar found Germany tough, too, and his team mates cold, he has said in interviews. The style of football also passed over his head and left him often sidelined.

His career revived quickly at Everton, first on loan and then as an outright two-million-pound ($3.09million) purchase by manager David Moyes.

Two full seasons since then have seen Pienaar become an invaluable team member at Goodison Park, despite a longs t a n d i n g a n k l e p ro b l e m t h a t occasionally leaves him sidelined. — Reuters

Profile of host nation

‘Coach make us proud’ JOHANNESBURG: South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira can proudly boast of being the most experienced World Cup campaigner ever.

Parreira, who will be making his sixth visit to the World Cup as a coach, started four decades ago as a 27-year-old when he was the physical trainer for his native Brazil at the 1970 finals in Mexico.

He went on to win the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and reach the quarter-finals with the side in Germany four years ago.

He was at the helm of Kuwait in 1982 and was coach of the United Arab Emirates in 1990, and of Saudi Arabia, who fired him after two matches of the 1998 tournament.

South Africa is the fifth country he has led to the finals, which means he equals the record held by Serbian Bora Milutinovic.

Parreira, now 67, has said that South Africa is the last job in a nomadic career that began in Africa 42 years ago. His first job, in 1968, was in Ghana where he was sent to teach Brazilian football philosophy and quickly found himself acting as coach to the country’s national team and top club in leading African competitions.

He has since worked across the Middle East, Spain, Turkey, the United States and at top Brazilian clubs such as Flamengo, Fluminense and Corinthians.

Parreira was first signed by South Africa in 2006 but quit after 18 months when his wife fell ill. He returned last November after the man he had recommended to succeed him, Joel Santana, was fired following a run of poor results.

The chance to coach the home team at another World Cup was ample motivation to return, said Parreira, who has taken his team on training camps in Brazil and Germany this year.

“Every time I walk the street, or I go to the shops, or even out for dinner, people are saying to me: ‘Coach make us proud’. This is very strong for me; this is very meaningful,” he said in a recent interview.— Reuters

GEOGRAPHY ■ South Africa is situated at the southern tip of Africa, with almost 2,800 kilometres of coastline from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. At 1.22 million square kilometres it is roughly the size of France, Italy and Spain combined.

■ It is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east by Mozambique and Swaziland and encircles the kingdom of Lesotho.

■ The country is divided into nine provinces, with Gauteng, which includes industrial and financial centre Johannesburg and capital Pretoria, being the smallest by land size but the richest and most populated. It is also home to three of the 10 stadiums for the World Cup. ■ Johannesburg with 9 million people, is the largest city.

■ Cape Town, in the southwest, is the biggest tourist draw and will host a semi-final within sight of famous Table Mountain.

PEOPLE ■ 49.32 million people, largely housed in the northern and western parts of the country.

South Africa also hosts millions of immigrants and refugees from other African countries, lured by its relative wealth and open-door policy.

■ South Africa has 11 official languages and while English is the main one for business, it is only the fifth most commonly spoken. The others are Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda and Southern Ndebele.

■ Just under 80 percent of the population is black, with whites and mixed-race “coloureds” making up about nine percent each and Asian about 2.6 percent. Wealth is still skewed in the hands of the white population 16 years after apartheid ended.

■ Nearly a third of the population is under the age of 15 and almost 70 percent under 35.

■

■ ■

■

ECONOMY Nominal GDP was 2.4 trillion rand at the end of 2009, about $320 million, making it Africa’s biggest economy.

Annual GDP per capita is about $6,300.

South Africa’s economy emerged from its first recession in 17 years in the third quarter of 2009, after averaging around five percent growth a year for the previous five years. The economy contracted 1.8 percent last year.

Economists say the World Cup will add between 0.3 and 0.7 percentage points to economic growth this year. Forecasts of growth for 2010 are between 2.3 and 3.0 percent.

■ Accounting group Grant Thornton estimates an expected 373,000 foreigners-about 100,000 from other African countries — should inject 13 billion rand into the economy during the month-long tournament.

■ National and regional government and city councils have spent about 40 billion rand to prepare for the event.

■ The government and its utilities are to spend 846 billion rand over the next three years to boost infrastructure, including a huge upgrade of roads and highways around major cities and a fast rail system linking Johannesburg’s airport, financial centre Sandton and Pretoria.

However, only one section of the “Gautrain” will be finished in time for the tournament, linking the airport to Sandton, an affluent suburb.

■ South Africa is mineral-rich, producing about 75 percent of the world’s platinum, and remains a major producer of gold despite out-

put falling sharply over the past two decades.

■ Unemployment is a major problem, with the official jobless rate climbing to 25.2 percent at the end of March. The high jobless rate is seen as a catalyst for high levels of crime.

■ Tourism is an important source of income, with more than 10 million foreigners visiting in 2009, an increase of 3.8 percent on the previous year despite a weak global economy.

■ Officials hope a successful World Cup will attract millions more visitors over the next five years, lured by sprawling game parks and white, sandy beaches.

POLITICS ■ Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress, which led the country out of apartheid in 1994, has dominated power ever since, although it has internal divisions. President Jacob Zuma, the fourth head of state in democratic South Africa, has courted controversy

Factbox Factbox on World Cup hosts South Africa who are competing in Group A at the finals: Colors: Yellow shirts and socks, green shorts Nickname: Bafana Bafana (the young lads) Previous World Cup appearances: 2: 1998, 2002 Best World Cup performance: Failed to get past the first round in previous appearances Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira Most capped player: Aaron Mokoena 97 Top goalscorer: Benni McCarthy 31

Talking points: Injury means the promising Morgan Gould misses out just when he looked to have gained a regular berth in defence alongside captain Aaron Mokoena. It is not clear who will be the first choice to replace him, with Parreira leaving out the best candidate, Spanish-based Nasief Morris who had a disciplinary issue last year.

Another possible candidate was not even considered: Mbulelo Mabizela, a former captain of the national side and arguably one of South Africa’s top defenders, has a long history of getting into trouble, even being sacked by English club

Tottenham, and Parreira would have nothing to do with him because of his poor disciplinary record.

Players to watch: Everton’s Steven Pienaar was ranked among the best players in the English Premier League this season but has yet to reproduce his club form at national team. He carries a large burden of expectation. Alongside him in midfield Teko Modise has plenty of potential but seems weighed down in recent times by all the attention he has received.

— Reuters

because of his polygamous marriages and extra-marital affairs.

MAIN ISSUES AIDS: South Africa, with more than five million people estimated to be infected with HIV, has the world’s largest AIDS caseload.

POVERTY: Life expectancy at birth is 53.5 years for males and 57.2 years for females. The latest UN Human Development Report ranks South Africa at 129 of 182 countries.

CRIME: South Africa has some of the highest rates of murder and rape in the world. There were 18,143 murders in 2008/9, more than 35,000 reported rapes and around 15,000 carjackings.

ENERGY: A chronic energy shortfall affected the country in 2008, cutting production in the key mining sector and regularly plunged millions of homes into darkness last year. Ageing infrastructure and cable theft often leave swathes of Johannesburg in the dark.

■ Utility Eskom and the World Cup’s local organising committee have vowed, though, that there will not be disruptions during the tournament, with huge diesel generators at all stadiums.

WEATHER ■ South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, meaning this will be the first winter World Cup since Argentina in 1978.

■ Temperatures and rainfall vary between the highveld region of Johannesburg and Pretoria, where-at nearly 2,000 metres above sea levelwinters are cold and dry, tropical Durban which is warmer and more humid and windy Cape Town with its grey and wet winters.

SPORT ■ South Africans are sports-mad, with soccer the most popular, especially among blacks, and cricket and rugby also followed passionately, predominantly by whites.

■ The country’s Springboks rugby team are the world champions and have won that prize twice in the last four tournaments, while its Proteas cricket team are one of the world’s top-ranked, although they have never won a World Cup. ■ The national soccer team, affectionately known as Bafana Bafana (The Boys), have not fared as well. They are ranked 90th in the world but have set themselves the target of making it through the first round of the tournament, to avoid being the first host nation to fail to do so. — Reuters

19

SPORTS

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

of Mexico aim to defy past failings MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s goal in South Africa will be to get past the first knockout round, their stumbling block at the last four World Cups.

To defy the past and reach the longed-for fifth match, Mexico will field a blend of under-17 World Cup winners and veterans with great experience.

Despite the confidence of coach Javier Aguirre and his squad, given the past failings and Mexico’s group in South Africa, success is by no means certain. Awaiting the ‘Tricolor’ in Group A are hosts South Africa and past winners France and Uruguay, but Aguirre is not worried.

“Although we have two World Cup champions in our group, I don’t believe in the weight of history when the time comes to take to the pitch,” Aguirre said in December after the groups were drawn.

Mexico’s best outing in 13 World Cups came at the 1986 edition when, as hosts, they reached the quarter-finals only to lose to West Germany. They also reached the last eight as hosts in 1970 when the quarter-finals were the first knockout round.

This time Aguirre has called up veterans such as goalkeeper Oscar Perez, defender Rafael Marquez, midfielder Gerardo Torrado and forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco, all of whom will play their third World Cup if they make the final squad to be named on June 1.

This experience should help to guide the talented youngsters in the squad, several of whom were in the side that won the 2005 under-17 World Cup in Peru by beating Brazil in the final.

Aguirre will employ a 4-4-2 formation in South Africa, where Marquez is the defensive leader, Torrado is ball-winning, hard-tackling midfielder and Blanco the skilful forward who saunters around the pitch, capable of changing the game in an instant.

Also of note are the roles of wingers Andres Guardado, on the right, and Giovani Dos Santos, who are the supply line for Manchester-United bound forward Javier Hernandez.

On June 11 Mexico open the tournament against the hosts, playing six days later against France and their final group game with Uruguay is on June 22.

Meanwhile, Rafael Marquez, the first Mexican signed by Barcelona thanks to distinguished performances for the national team and AS Monaco, will bow out of international soccer at the World Cup. “The moment has come to give way to young Mexicans so I’ll be giving my all in South Africa,” Marquez told a news conference in March.

The 31-year-old is one of the European-based players certain to appear in coach Javier Aguirre’s squad to contest the tournament opener against hosts South Africa on June 11, and the remaining Group A games against Uruguay and France.

Marquez, who started out at Mexican club Atlas aged 17, made his bow for the “Tricolor” in February 1997 when Serbian coach Bora Milutinovich chose him for a friendly against Ecuador.

Marquez got into the squad by chance when Milutinovich, who had called up another Atlas player, Cesar Marquez, saw Rafael train and asked him to stay.

Since that debut, Marquez has been a key element in the national team, playing 95 times and wearing the captain’s armband at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

Luck was also a factor for his move to Europe in 1999 to play at AS Monaco, where he won the French Ligue 1 title in 2000.

At the 1999 Copa America in Paraguay, a Monaco scout went to the game between Mexico and Chile to give a contract to a Chilean player but Marquez’s performance convinced him to choose the Mexican.

After eye-catching performances at Monaco and then with Mexico at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, he moved to Barcelona where his star continued to rise and he became one of the best central defenders in the world.

With Barcelona, Marquez has won three La Liga titles, three Spanish Super Cups, two Champions Leagues and the Spanish King’s Cup. Despite his achievements, the defender does not feel widely acknowledged at home.

“Unfortunately, in Mexico I am not recognised for what I have achieved and what I am doing for the country but this doesn’t worry me. I always try to be the same person,” Marquez said in an interview with Televisa. — Reuters

Blanco is Mexico’s field marshal MEXICO CITY: Cuauhtemoc Blanco is temperamental, older and a bit heavier but he still possesses the exquisite touch that can turn him into Mexico’s leader at the World Cup in South Africa.

Dropped for the 2006 finals in Germany due to Argentine coach Ricardo La Volpe’s tactics and animosity between the two men, then announcing his retirement in September 2008, Blanco returned to the team last year under Javier Aguirre.

“I really hope to play another World Cup. I’ll rip out my soul in order to get a place,” the 37-year-old said. If Aguirre includes Blanco in his final squad on June 1 as expected, the attacking mid-

fielder would be playing in his third World Cup after France 1998 and South Korea/Japan in 2002.

“Mexico has to fulfil its dream and think of the title. We all have legs, arms and eyes to compete with anyone. There are some impressive teams but they shouldn’t intimidate us,” Blanco said.

The skilful player came close to the end of his career in 2000 when he hurt his right knee in a World Cup qualifier which sidelined him for eight months.

“Few people knew that I cried because of the risk I might never play again. The rehabilitation was painful but thanks to my character I was able to come back and continue enjoying what I most love...football,” Blanco said in an interview.

As a youngster Blanco shone in the rough streets of Mexico City where a talent scout at America discovered him in an amateur tournament.

The start of his fruitful career came in 1991, when America’s Argentine coach Miguel Angel “Zurdo” Lopez brought him on in the second half in a match against Leon.

Blanco first represented his country in 1995 and has played for Mexican clubs America, Necaxa, Santos Laguna and Veracruz, Spanish outfit Real Valladolid and Major League Soccer (MLS) club Chicago Fire. — Reuters

No ban on noisy trumpets

MEXICO CITY : Mexico's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, celebrates after scoring a penalty kick against Honduras during a 2010 World Cup qualifying match.

—AP

JOHANNESBURG: There will be no curbing of South Africa’s raucous vuvuzela fan trumpets during the World Cup despite earlier concerns their din could drown out emergency announcements, organisers said yesterday. Chief Local Organiser Danny Jordaan said last week that officials would test noise levels at the refurbished 90,000 seat Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg when it was almost full for the first time during a friendly between South Africa and Colombia.

He had said there were concerns the trumpets, which sound like a herd of charging elephants, could drown out emergency announcements or be disrespectful during the playing of national anthems.

Asked about the tests on Tuesday at a news conference, Jordaan said: “Now the vuvuzela is in this World Cup. It is part of this World Cup.” FIFA President Sepp Blatter has also defended the trumpets, saying they are as much a part of soccer in South Africa as bongo drums or chanting in other nations.

Jordaan said fans would be asked not to blow the plastic trumpets during the national anthems but there would be no bans.

During last year’s Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for this month’s soccer spectacular, foreign players and managers complained about the din.

Thailand manager Bryan Robson said during a friendly against South Africa last month that he was unable to communicate with his players because of the trumpets, which he said could give South Africa an advantage during the World Cup. Meanwhile, inmates in one of South Africa’s maximum security prisons will get to watch the World Cup after big screen televisions were donated to a Johannesburg jail this week. “If you offended the first time (it) doesn’t mean that you are completely consigned to... being bad,” said Magnus Mchunguzi, a managing director at Ericsson South Africa, a unit of Swedish firm Ericsson.

The company donated televisions, projectors and home theater equipment to prison authorities at Leeuwkop Correctional Center Monday, so inmates will be able to watch the month-long tournament that starts on June 11.

“Sports helps to teach people to observe the rules of the game and in life there are rules and boundaries and norms so we are trying to say to (the prisoners) you use what you learn in sports to transfer to your real life,” said Hlengiwe Mkhize, South Africa’s deputy minister of correctional services.

The Department of Correctional Services plans to hold mini soccer tournaments at all of its prisons, with prisons adopting one of the 32 countries participating in the World Cup. For the inmates, it means getting to watch their home team as soccer fever takes over South Africa. One of those watching will be 21 year-old Tebogo Moloi, who is serving a 10-year sentence for robbery.

Now the leading player in the prison’s youth team, Moloi is looking forward to watching his team go all the way. “I think it is obvious that South Africa is going to win the World Cup,” he said. — Reuters

Factbox Colors: Green shirts, white shorts, red socks Nickname: La Tri or Tricolor Previous World Cup appearances - 13: 1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 Best World Cup performance: quarter-finals 1970, 1986 Coach: Javier Aguirre Most capped player: Claudio Suarez 178 Top goalscorer: Jared Borgetti 46

Talking point: Aguirre has a dilemma deciding who will be the first-choice goalkeeper between his old favourite Oscar Perez, Guillermo Ochoa whose form has dipped recently, and Luis Michel, who has been outstanding lately. He planned to rotate them during the warm-up friendlies.

Players to watch Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who at the age of 37 can still produce sublime moments of skill, plus the young Dos Santos brothers, Giovani and Jonathan, Carlos Vela and Javier Hernandez who are the pick of the new guard in the Mexican side and could help their country to go far.

— Reuters

Javier Aguirre

Aguirre itching to lead challenge

MEXICO CITY: Javier Aguirre, twice Mexico’s savior during qualifying campaigns, is itching to lead the ‘Tricolor’ in his second World Cup as their coach.

Aguirre arrived in the nick of time in April 2009 to resuscitate Mexico’s stumbling campaign after Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson had left the team’s participation in South Africa at risk following their loss to Honduras.

Now the 51-year-old, nicknamed ‘The Basque’, wants to take Mexico to the quarterfinals for only the second time since 1986.

“At the last four World Cups we’ve been on the cusp of the quarter-finals and reaching the last eight has now become more of an obsession than a goal,” Aguirre told a Spanish magazine recently.

“I have the best ever young generation of footballers, they won the under-17 World Cup. Add that to our experienced players and I feel this team is ready to make history,” he added at a news conference.

Mexico have appeared at 13 World Cups and they will open the first to be played on African soil on June 11 against hosts South Africa in Group A, which also includes Uruguay and France.

Aguirre, a charismatic coach and the son of Spanish immigrants, started in management at the 1994 World Cup in the United States where he was assistant to Mexico coach Miguel Mejia Baron.

He moved on to Mexican clubs Atlante and Pachuca before his first stint as the national team’s coach where he averted another qualifying catastrophe to take the side to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, an experience which ended in the first knockout round after a loss to the United States.

CALIFORNIA: Aguirre’s next stop was Spain, Mexico's player where he spent several years at Rafael Marquez Spanish clubs Osasuna and controls the ball Atletico Madrid, helping the latagainst New ter to qualif y in 2008 for the Zealand during an Champions League. international friendHis playing days took him to ly soccer match at Mexican clubs America, the Rose Bowl staGuadalajara and Atlante and the 1986 World Cup in his dium in Pasadena. country.

— Reuters — AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Walcott, McCarthy out of World Cup squads LONDON: England dropped Theo Walcott but kept injured Gareth Barry, while host South Africa left alltime top scorer Benni McCarthy out of its World Cup squad on deadline day yesterday.

Although many of the 32 qualifiers have already named their final squads ahead of FIFA’s deadline of 2200 GMT yesterday, defending champion Italy and three-time winner Germany were among those to leave it until late on the final day.

Four years after former coach Sven-Goran Eriksson took Walcott, age 17 at the time, to the World Cup in Germany but never used him, Fabio Capello decided not to take the Arsenal winger to South Africa.

Walcott has struggled with injury and form this season and, even with David Beckham out with a partially torn Achilles tendon, Capello preferred to summon Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Barry has been sidelined since May 5 with ankle ligament damage and Capello gave him until a fitness check on Tuesday before deciding to take the Manchester City midfielder.

Barry now has 10 more days to get fit for England’s first group game, against the United States.

The other six players to miss out on England selection were Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson and Leighton Baines. South

Africa was widely expected not to include McCarthy. The 32-year-old striker, who has scored 32 goals in 78 games for South Africa, has struggled with fitness and form all season while playing in England for Blackburn then West Ham. “It was a sad thing to have to split apart our family,” coach Carlos Alberto Parreira told a news conference as he announced the six players who will not play in the first World Cup to be staged in Africa.

“But I told them, ‘Put your heads up, life goes on. All of you deserve to be here’. Unfortunately we have to obey FIFA rules and we can only name 23.” South Africa kicks off the competition against Mexico on June

11, and then faces former World Cup winners Uruguay and France in its group.

South Korea, Slovakia, Greece and Ivory Coast also named squads on Tuesday with no major surprises, although the Slovaks named two strikers who are recovering from injuries.

Filip Holosko broke his leg last year and was not able to train with the team until Monday while Robert Vittek has been sidelined with a knee injury. Neither player was able to play in Saturday’s 1-1 warmup draw with Cameroon at Klagenfurt, Austria.

“It was a tough decision,” coach Vladimir Weiss said. “Holosko isn’t

100 percent fit. Or, he may be fit but we don’t know what to expect in a real match. It’s the same with Vittek.

We’ll see in the next few days.”

Slovakia’s first group game is against New Zealand on June 15 and it then meets Paraguay and Italy.

Defender Kwak Tae-hwi, who injured his knee in Sunday’s 1-0 warmup loss to Belarus, is out of the South Korea squad and was replaced

by Kang Min-soo.

Coach Huh Jung-moo cut three more players from his provisional squad, leaving midfielders Ku Ja-cheol and Shin Hyung-min and Japanbased striker Lee Keun-ho behind.

“Lee Keun-ho hasn’t been able to get over his poor run of form,” Huh said.

“Shin Hyung-min didn’t look sharp against Belarus, and it’s unfortunate but Ku Ja-cheol wasn’t selected.” The 2002 World Cup semifinalist faces European champion Spain in a warmup match on Thursday in Innsbruck before leaving for South Africa for Group B games with Greece on June 12, Argentina five days later and Nigeria on June 22.

Ivory Coast coach Eriksson trimmed five players from his provisional squad but still included six strikers. Chelsea duo Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are likely to lead the attack but the Ivorians are in a tough group, alongside five-time champion Brazil, Portugal and North Korea.

They open against Portugal on June 15. Greece coach Otto Rehhagel, who led the team to a surprise Euro 2004 triumph and had already trimmed his squad to 25, left out midfielder Grigoris Makos and defender Giorgos Tzavelas.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi, who guided the team to its fourth World Cup triumph in Berlin four years ago, has to cut five players from its squad, with forwards Marco Borriello, Fabio Quagliarella and Giuseppe Rossi most at risk.

Germany coach Joachim Loew hopes to take as many as six strikers, although he may have to change his plans because of injuries to midfielders. —AP

Soderling upsets Federer

PARIS: Sweden’s Robin Soderling returns the ball to Switzerland’s Roger Federer during a quarter final match for the French Open tennis tournament. —AP

NBA finals is Lakers and Celtics, part 12 LOS ANGELES: Here comes Kobe Bryant’s chance in the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics who beat him two years ago. He’s far from the only Los Angeles Lakers great to fall short against Boston.

The Lakers and the Celtics, the league’s most storied franchises, renew their rivalry in the NBA finals for the 12th time from tomorrow. Boston beat Los Angeles in the 2008 finals with a dominant defense that made life miserable for Bryant, that season’s MVP. When they meet again at Staples Center, the Lakers can show how much better they are since then.

“We’ll see, we’ll see how much we matured,” Bryant said.

“They challenged us extremely well in the finals a couple of years ago. Now is a chance to see how much we’ve grown.” Los Angeles will be going for its second straight title and No. 16 overall. The Celtics still have the edge, hanging their 17th banner with their victory two years ago in six games.

“We remember more than anything losing on our home court, a situation where we had some defensive lapses and they took advantage of it,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “This year we have homecourt advantage, and we

look forward to the rematch with great intensity.” The Celtics improved to 9-2 in the finals against the Lakers, having dominated the series for decades even against the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor until Los Angeles won twice in the 1980s. That was back when a Lakers-Celtics finals was expected. Nobody predicted this one.

While the Lakers were the best of the Western Conference all season, the Celtics stumbled over the second half and were only a No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. But they’ve rediscovered the defense that contained Bryant two years ago, and after eliminating Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Cleveland’s LeBron James, they get another shot at the Lakers star.

The Celtics limited Bryant to 25.7 points per game in the 2008 finals — he had averaged 31.9 through the first three rounds — and 40 percent shooting. Bryant would say: “They definitely were the best defense I’ve seen in the entire playoffs.” This one is pretty good, too.

The Celtics knocked off James and Cleveland, which had the league’s best record, in the second round, then upset Orlando, last season’s Eastern Conference champion. —AP

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers

PARIS: There will be a Grand Slam semifinal without Roger Federer for the first time in six years. French Open upset specialist Robin Soderling struck again yesterday, rallying past defending champion Federer in a rainy quarterfinal, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. That ended Federer’s record streak of reaching the semifinals in 23 consecutive major events.

The shocker was the second pulled off by Soderling in as many years at Roland Garros.

He ended the reign of four-time champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round a year ago, clearing the path for Federer to win his first French Open title and complete a career Grand Slam. Federer beat Soderling in last year’s final. Before yesterday, Federer was 120 against the big-swinging Swede, winning 28 of their 30 sets.

But Soderling’s recent improvement was evident as he controlled rallies from the baseline with his thunderous strokes. Federer found himself on the defensive and unable to move forward.

Seeded fifth, Soderling saved a set point in the third set when he won a frantic rally, then won the set to take the lead shortly after a rain delay of 75 minutes. “It cannot be much better,” Soderling told the crowd after his latest center-court stunner.

“It’s great to play on this court. It’s for sure my favorite Grand Slam.” His opponent Friday will be No. 15-seeded Tomas Berdych, who beat No. 11 Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-1, 62. Berdych has yet to drop a set in five rounds.

The semifinal round Friday without Federer will be the first at a Grand Slam tournament since he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open.

Because of Federer’s defeat, Nadal will reclaim the No. 1 ranking next week if he wins the title. The upset raises the possibility of a Nadal-Soderling rematch in the final. It was a cold, damp afternoon, with occasional rain that had some spectators watching from under umbrellas, but the conditions didn’t seem to rob Soderling’s shots of any sting. He hit winners past Federer even standing two strides behind the baseline.

The upset was all the more surprising because Federer was in control early. He won 22 of his first 24 service points and led 30love in his first service game of the second set when he suddenly faltered, losing four points in a row.

Rain prompted an untimely delay in the middle of the next game. At that juncture, Federer led by one point after 167 had been played.

The match resumed on a drab evening in a half-empty stadium, and the remaining fans were firmly in Federer’s corner.

But he promptly lost his serve, doublefaulting before Soderling whacked a forehand winner for the break. When Soderling hit an ace to seal the set, Federer waved his arms as though helpless.

On match point, Soderling hit a second serve that Federer couldn’t put in play.

Soderling improved to 5-18 against players ranked in the top three. His only other major semifinal berth was at Roland Garros a year ago.

Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to reach the French Open semifinals since 1954 after upsetting No. 3-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3. Seeded 17th, Schiavone is the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

“I’ll tell you the truth: I can’t grasp the historical nature of what I did,” Schiavone said. “But the importance of this victory, in itself? Yes. ... I’m enjoying it so much. When you work a lot, hard every morning, every afternoon of your life, and arrive at a good result, I think you feel much more.”

Schiavone’s opponent tomorrow will be No. 5-seeded Elena Dementieva, who rallied past fellow Russian player Nadia Petrova, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. The showing is Dementieva’s best at Roland Garros since 2004, when she was runner-up.

The 29-year-old Schiavone had been 0-3 in major quarterfinals and hadn’t reached the last eight at Roland Garros since 2001. This time she made the most of her chance.

Playing on Roland Garros’ center court for the first time in her career, Schiavone won with steady, sometimes looping groundstrokes, limiting errors while mixing the pace to keep Wozniacki off-balance. Rallies sometimes became moonball exchanges reminiscent of the wooden-racket era.

“She’s definitely a difficult player to play against, because she plays with a lot of spin,” Wozniacki said. “She plays differently. She mixes up the balls a lot. She didn’t play typical women’s tennis.” Schiavone played serve and volley to win the next-to-last point and then slammed an overhead winner on her final shot. —AP

BULAWAYO: Sri Lankan batsman Dinesh Chandimal (left) plays a shot while Zimbabwean wicketkeeper, Brendon Taylor looks on, during a triangular series match. —AP

Sri Lanka crush Zimbabwe BULAWAYO: Sri Lanka captain Tillekeratne Dilshan led his team to a crushing victory over Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club here yesterday in a Tri-nations series that also involves India.

He scored 60 runs in 46 balls, including a six and seven fours, to add to the 61 he took from India on Sunday. It was his 18th half century in internationals.

Supported with a 40 from Upul Tharanga, the only Sri L ankan wicket to fall, the three batsmen necessary coasted to the mere 119 necessary for victory by nine wickets with only 15.2 overs required.

“All our bowlers did their job well and gave us the foundation we needed. We came out today 100 percent and were dominant from the start,” Dilshan said.

Zimbabwe had laboured to 118 all out in their innings, with Hamilton Masakadza scoring a fighting 62 for the home side for whom extras was next with 13. Masakadza’s 10 team-mates mustered just 43 runs between them.

Zimbabwe’s new coach Alan Butcher has much to do in order to repair both batting technique and battered pride.

Scoreboard BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe: Final scoreboard of Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka at Queens Sports Club here yesterday in the third Tri-nations match of a series also involving India: Zimbabwe H. Masakadza c Kulasekera b Fernando 62 B. Taylor c Chandimal b Fernando 2 G. Lamb c Mendis b Mendis 10 C. Ervine c Dilshan b Mendis 7 C. Coventry c Perera b Randiv 11 E. Chigumbura b Mendis 1 A. Blignaut c Chandimal b Randiv 1 G. Cremer b Randiv 2 P. Utseya st Chandimal b Mendis 0 R. Price run out (Perera) 9 C. Mpofu not out 0 Extras (3b, 5lb, 1nb, 4w) 13 Total (all out, 24.5 overs) 118 Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Taylor), 2-28 (Lamb), 3-64 (Ervine), 4-83 (Coventry), 5-84 (Chigumbura), 686 (Blignaut), 7-90 (Cremer), 8-92 (Utseya), 9-116 (Masakadza), 10-118 (Price)

They had looked so good against India, scoring 289-4 in their six-wicket win on Sunday, and they will be keen to refind that form.

Butcher said: “Frankly today we were rubbish.”

Asked what needed to be done he drew laughter by remarking “do better”.

He explained they had been looking to score 160-190 from the 27 overs in the game

Bowling: Newan Kalusekera 4-0-12-0, Dilhara Fernando 5-0-24-2 (1w), Ajantha Mendis 6-0-21-1 (1w, 1nb), Thisara Perera 1-0-16-0 (1w), Suraj Randiv 5-0-23-2, Jeevan Mendis 4-0-12-2 (1w) Sri Lanka T. Dilshan not out 60 U. Tharanga run out (Utseya) 40 D. Chandimal not out 10 Extras (4b, 2lb, 3w) 9 Total (for one wkt, 18.2 overs) 119 Did not bat: Chamara Kapudegera, Chamanda Silva, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Suraj Randiv, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis Fall of wickets: 1-86 (Tharanga) Bowling: Chris Mpofu 2.2-1-17-0 (1w), Ray Price 6-0-14-0, Andy Blignaut 2-0-15-0, Prosper Utseya 3-0-21-0, Greg Lamb 2-0-20-0, Elton Chigumbura 2-0-15-0 (2w), Graeme Cremer 1-0-11-0

delayed by rain, but fell a long way short of that.

Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said with the wicket on the slow side, Sri Lanka’s spinner benefitted fully.

From 83-3 when there was some prospect of a decent total, the home team slumped in disarray to 92-8. One of those to fail was Andy Blignaut, who had waited five

years to return to international cricket. He lasted two balls.

Sri L anka’s man of the match Suraj Randiv took 3-23, Jeevan Mendis 2-12 and Dilhara Fernando 2-24. All three teams in the series are now level as they move into the second half of the tournament at Harare, beginning with Zimbabwe against India tomorrow. They each have one win and one loss each.—AFP

Ethiopian men finish 1-2-3 BOULDER: Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia has won the men’s Bolder Boulder 10kilometer race, crossing the finish line hand-in-hand with fellow countrymen Tilahun Regassa and Tadese Tola.

The trio broke away from two Kenyans in the third mile Monday and entered Folsom Field hand-in-hand.

Expecting a sprint to the finish, the crowd of 50,000 roared ever louder when it became apparent the Ethiopians instead would cross the tape together.

Desisa finished in 29 minutes, 16.93 seconds, officially 0.03 seconds ahead of 2009 champion Regassa and 0.15 seconds in front of Tola. “We

decided if no Kenya and if we are three, we finish together,” Desisa said.

As race officials attempted to separate them just past the finish line into first, second and third place, the three runners adamantly refused to be sorted into any order. “We didn’t even try to race each other,” said Regassa, the 2009 champion.

“We tried to go together.” Desisa ear ned $3,750 for finishing first, Regassa $2,750 for securing second and Tola $2,250 for taking third.

Unable to officially share the win, they vowed to share the winnings.

“We decided to equally divide the

money,” Regassa said. “That’s the plan.” One of them will come up a penny shy of the others’ $2,916.67.

They’ll also get a $15,000 check to share for winning the International Team Challenge.

“We were very happy,” Regassa said.

“This is the first time we have done it this way. Usually one of us just runs and follows the second one. This time, from the beginning we decided to go together.” After crossing the finish line, the Ethiopians gathered for a group hug with two-time champion Mamitu Daska and Amane Gobena, who had given Ethiopia a 1-2 finish in the women’s race minutes earlier. —AP

Wataniya Airways begins flights to Alexandria

Honda China production still out

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European stocks slump

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

No end to Gaza’s economic woes BEIT HANUN: One day after Israel’s bloody raid on an aid convoy destined for Gaza, Hazem Juha returned to the fields of rubble along the territory’s border with Israel where he collects the detritus of years of conflict. “I am trained as an electrician but there has been no construction in Gaza for three years and my family needs money to live,” he says, while gathering scrap metal and breaking down concrete chunks in the scorching heat.

He can make 12 dollars (10 euros) for each half ton of scrap, which will be used in the limited rebuilding efforts following the 2008-2009 Gaza war. “What are we supposed to do, just wait until we die?” he says. The so-called “Freedom Flotilla”, loaded with hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists and 10,000 tons of building supplies and other goods, had been hoping to break the blockade imposed by Israel in 2006 and which Egypt has largely backed.

Although Israel has promised to deliver all the fleet’s supplies to Gaza through its land crossings, Gaza remains largely cut off from the world, with most people relying on international aid and goods smuggled through cross-border tunnels from Egypt. Israel defended its decision to halt the convoy, saying its blockade is vital for stopping Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza, from rearming and that it allows in plenty of aid and basic goods.

“The blockade is in place to protect Israelis,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. “The blockade is there to prevent countries like Iran, Syria and groups like Hezbollah from transferring deadly weapons to the Hamas regime.” But the border closures, tightened after Hamas seized power in June 2007, have failed to convince the Islamist group to recognize Israel or renounce violence, and many believe it has fuelled further radicalism.

“The strengthening of the blockade has failed to bring down the Hamas government and has not rallied the people against Hamas. Instead, it has made them more

sympathetic,” says Omar Shaaban, a Gazabased economist. The effects of the blockade are not immediately apparent in Gaza, where grocery shelves are full and home appliances and fuel are widely available.

But outward appearances can be deceptive in a territory where more than 80 percent of the population relies on foreign aid and virtually all the goods on sale are brought in through smuggling tunnels, where scores of laborers have died in cave-ins.

“Without the aid and the services that UNRWA provides, life in Gaza would completely collapse,” says Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel has allowed UNRWA-which provides food, health services and education to more than a million registered refugees in Gazato bring in limited amounts of building materials for some projects. However, the UN Development Program said in a report last week that many aid agencies have been severely hindered by a self-imposed ban on using materials brought in through the tunnels-although Arab and Islamic organizations have largely stepped in to fill the gap.

Shaaban estimates that a third of the organisations now providing aid in Gaza are Islamic, including the IHH, the Turkish charity heavily involved in the doomed aid flotilla which also owns the passenger vessel where the most violent clashes took place. “A third of the aid organizations in Gaza are foreign Islamic organizations and this means there will be a dangerous transition towards greater radicalism,” he says.

Meanwhile, hardly any of the more than 6,000 homes severely damaged or destroyed during Israel’s devastating 22day assault on Gaza which ended in January 2009 have been repaired because of the lack of building materials. About 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the offensive, which halted years of near-daily rocket attacks from the Hamas-run territory. Thirteen Israelis were also killed in the fighting. — AFP

Gaza relies on international aid, goods smuggled from Egypt

KUALA LUMPUR: An anti-Israel protestor shouts in front US embassy building during a demonstration yesterday. Some 400 protestors from different religious and political group stages protests in front of the US embassy condemned a deadly raid by Israeli commandos on a Gazabound aid ship, in which at least nine people were killed. — AFP

EU, Russia unite on economy but strains visible ROSTOV-ON-DON: EU leaders pledged yesterday to join forces with Russia in a drive to modernize its economy after a summit marked by unusual harmony but clouded by European worries on human rights. EU President Herman Van Rompuy, in his first meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev since the Lisbon Treaty created his position, warned the rights situation in Russia remained of “great concern” to Europe. The day earlier, police had violently broken up opposition protests in Moscow on the eve of the summit, detaining scores of people.

“The situation for human rights defenders and journalists in Russia is of great concern for the European public at large,” Rompuy told reporters at the meeting in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. “Another matter of concern... is the climate of impunity, particularly in Chechnya and other areas of the North Caucasus.” Nevertheless, talks struck a warm tone that belied relations often marred by disputes, as both sides-humbled by the financial crisis-strove to boost trade and investment ties.

Rompuy hailed the “friendly and fruitful” style of talks, while Medvedev stressed they marked a “change in atmosphere” from past summits-marred by spats over the 2008 Georgia war and Moscow’s ire over perceived EU encroachment in its former Soviet fiefdom. They signed a declaration stating Europe’s desire to help Russia in its urgent drive to modernize its economy, which the crisis showed up to be overly dependent on oil and gas exports. “We want to be Russia’s partner in modernization,” the EU president said. “Russia is a real strategic partner... with Russia we do not need a reset, we want a fast forward.”

“President Medvedev’s ambition to place Russia’s modernization in the 21st century of democratic values by building a modern diversified and dynamic economy... is a significant development for Russia,” Rompuy stressed. The proposed Partnership for Modernization

will aim at “promoting reform, enhancing growth and raising competitiveness... based on democracy and the rule of law,” their joint statement said.

It names a long wish list of targets, including investment in innovation, property rights, infrastructure, energy efficiency as well as space and the fight against corruption. But the summit comes as the EU faces deep internal divisions over the Greek debt crisis and a sagging euro-developments that Medvedev said have not gone unnoticed by Russia, which holds nearly half of it massive reserves in euros.

“I remind you that about 40 percent of our reserves are in euros and we don’t have the smallest reserves,” Medvedev told reporters. He said Russia would refrain from “hysterics about whatever problems pop up in other corners of the world such as now in the European Union.” A top Kremlin official estimated that trade between the partners had dropped about 30 percent last year.

According to the EU, the bloc’s exports to Russia fell from 105 billion in 2008 to 66 billion in 2009. But the new initiative will help boost economic ties “more, faster, better,” said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who was joined by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton at what is the 25th EU-Russia summit.

However, he said it might all be for nothing if Moscow remains outside the World Trade Organisation-a fact Brussels has said is stalling talks for a new partnership accord, after the last expired two years ago.

“We hope necessary steps will be taken,” for Russia to join the WTO, he stressed. “Because truly modern economies are the ones that are open... not the ones that practise protectionist measures.” The EU is sore at its biggest energy partner over anti-EU tariffs on timber exports and fees for transSiberian overflights, but there was no headway on these issues or Moscow’s declared dream of a visa-free partnership at the summit. — AFP

ROSTOV-ON-DON: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (center) talks as EU president Herman van Rompuy (left) and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso listen to him at a press conference during Russia-EU Summit yesterday. — AP

Standard and Poor’s sees stable outlook for Kuwait KUWAIT CITY: Standard and Poor’s ratings services yesterday affir med Kuwait’s “AA-/A-1+” sovereign credit ratings, saying the OPEC member has a stable outlook and strong fiscal position. “The ratings on Kuwait are supported by the sovereign’s rich resource endowment, which, combined with prudent policies, has enabled the state to build ver y strong external and fiscal balance sheet positions,” it said. “In our view, these strengths comfortably balance our view of the state’s increased contingent liabilities, high institutional risks and the slow progress thus far on structural reform,” the ratings agency added.

The stable outlook on Kuwait balances the government’s strong financial position against elevated regional geopolitical risks, increased contingent lia-

bilities, and potential impediments to growth, it said. The agency also said that a stable relationship between the government and parliament would help remove obstacles to growth. Understanding between government and parliament helped to pass a number of key economic legislation, mainly a privatization law after a delay of about 18 years.

Kuwait, OPEC ’s fifth largest producer, has posted close to 140 billion dollars in budget surplus in the past 11 fiscal years due to high oil prices. Its sovereign wealth fund is estimated to hold more than 230 billion dollars.

But the Gulf emirate was impacted by the global economic downturn, which severely hit its financial sector and par ticularly investment companies. It also hit its foreign investments. — AFP

Hewlett-Packard to slash 9,000 jobs in services unit NEW YORK: Hewlett-Packard Co said yesterday it will lay off about 9,000 workers in the unit that provides technology services to other businesses as the company consolidates and automates its commercial data centers. The cuts will be made over about three years and amount to some 3 percent of HP’s global work force of 304,000 employees as of October 2009, the most recent figure available. The company said it plans to replace two-thirds of those jobs, hiring 6,000 people to boost its global sales and delivery staff.

HP said the job cuts will result from productivity gains and automation in the data centers, which are clusters of computers that HP’s business customers tap into to store data, run software and perform other tasks. Like most companies that offer such services, HP has data centers around the world. HP did not specify the locations of its planned cuts.

Once it completes the restructuring, HP said it will see savings of about $500 million to $700 million a year. HP, which is based in Palo Alto, California, said it will take $1 billion in charges, about half of it in the current quarter and the rest by October 2013, the end of its fiscal year. The charges, which are

largely for severance expenses, will be excluded from the company’s adjusted earnings results.

HP, the world’s biggest maker of PCs and printers and the top technology company by revenue, has been working to expand its business in other areas as PC profit margins are usually thin. To boost its services business, the company bought Electronic Data Systems, a rival of IBM Corp, in 2008, cutting 24,600 jobs as part of that acquisition. HP said the commercial data centers will help its corporate clients run their businesses faster and more efficiently. Ann Livermore, executive vice president for HP Enterprise Business, said the company is confident its actions will “provide a foundation for growth for the next 10 years.” “We believe that these sets of actions will enable HP to grow better than the market,” she said in a conference call with analysts.

Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Tom Smith applauded HP’s latest actions, calling them the “next step toward efficiency gains” after the initial integration of EDS. In addition to business services, HP is also pushing into the mobile market with its planned acquisition of struggling smart phone maker Palm Inc., announced in April. — AP

PALO ALTO: This file photo shows the entrance to the HewlettPackard Co facility in California. — AP

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

exploring the etp jungle

Weekly commodities update

Risk reduction ruled in may By ole s Hansen lobal markets during May experienced the most difficult month since late 2008 as the European debt crisis escalated paving the way for a global rush to reduce exposure across most asset classes, including commodities. Safehavens such as gold, the dollar and certain government bonds continued to attract interest from investors scrambling to reduce exposures in riskier assets. Economic data during the month were generally favorably but investors failed to react accordingly. US data increased the likelihood of the dollar becoming a growth currency as the US economy looks likely to lead the way ahead of Europe and Japan.

The euro continued to spiral downwards, sometimes reaching a near capitulation mode before the crucial support at 1.2135 versus the dollar halted the move and sideways trading prevailed into month end. A break below that level which represents a 50 percent retracement of the rally from 2000 to 2008 could trigger another move sub 1.20.

The Reuters Jefferies CRB index lost more than eight percent during May, the biggest monthly decline since November 2008. Some of the markets that had been the most favored became the least wanted, as overwhelming selling pressure drove crude oil, distillates, platinum and palladium to double digit losses.

The sheer scale of the market capitulation was highlighted in the weekly statistics from the CFTC which showed a dramatic decline in the speculative long positions in WTI Crude and Gasoline. Positions in NYMEX Platinum future saw the largest ever weekly fall as the speculative long were cut by 38 percent during the month.

Investors lived up to the old saying as they “sold in May” but whether they went away is a different question.

The sheer scale of price drops and risk reduction ended up triggering a small recovery as investors went looking for buying opportunities among oversold commodities. The new month will show if this emerging stabilization will hold or whether another market upset waits around the corner, an interesting but volatile summer can be expected.

Crude oil lost a quarter of its value during the first few weeks of May as it ran into a perfect storm of negative news. The slowing European economies, Chinese growth concerns and continued large builds of inventories at

G

Ole S Hansen Cushing, the delivery hub into NYMEX WTI, left investors overexposed and a 22 dollar sell off followed. Generally market friendly news from the US economy was largely

ignored until prices reached oversold territory which helped investors to refocus.

The WTI crude future for July delivery managed to retrace 38.2 percent of the

sell-off to reach 75.80 before low activity ahead of month end and holidays in US and UK halted any further progress.

Speculation that economic growth in the US will sustain a global recovery in fuel demand will be the focus heading into the important monthly unemployment data this coming Friday. It is worth mentioning that despite the recent sell off most of the major forecasters still sees oil prices above 85 dollars at year-end.

Technically the recent rally has brought prices back to a neutral RSI levels and some sideways consolidation can be expected ahead of the unemployment report. Look for resistance at 75.80 followed by 78.50 with support now at 73.20 followed by 71.25. Gold

together with natural gas were the only commodities that managed to show a gain for the month of May. This happened as investors looked for a safehaven amid the escalating problems in Europe. Western monetary policy will now most likely remain accommodative for longer to support a fragile financial system which in turn can lead to higher inflation expectations down the line.

Financial investments in gold as seen through the popularity of ETFs reached a new peak with total known holdings in gold ETFs rising by 8.3 percent or 5 million ounces to a total of 63.80 million ounces while the speculative long on COMEX in New York stayed stable at around 23 million ounces.

KAMCO MARKET RESEARCH

debt, financial crunch affect kuwait’s realty KUWAIT: Kuwait’s real estate sector grew at unprecedented levels up to the end of 2007, thus enabling the sector to play a key role among the economy’s non-oil sectors. However, due to the large amounts of accumulated debt, limited bank lending, and plunge in asset prices the real estate sector was severely hit during the financial crisis. Government spending on construction and real estate has been below levels needed in order to stimulate demand among the real estate market and re-stabilize prices.

In the short to medium term, however, debt troubles are expected to hinder the sector’s ability to recover in a timely manner especially with the lack of demand in the commercial and investment segments. In addition, efforts by real estate and investment companies to offload property investments will put downward pressure on assets prices. Accordingly, throughout 2010 and most of 2011, we expect to see debt restructuring efforts from heavily indebted companies in order to deleverage their assets along with a renewed focus among real estate companies on their core real estate operations.

Despite the new restrictions on residential real estate property trading and a more stringent flow of credit for the residential segment, the recovery of this segment is expected to supersede other segments. This recovery will be primarily due to the vast shortage in the supply of housing along with the local population demographics, as growth in the residential segment is in a large part driven by the young local population’s demand for housing. An extensive part of this demand will be met through the six new residential cities that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) are currently developing, as it aims in distributing an estimated 75,000 housing units by the end of 2015, along with Kuwaiti Cabinet’s decision in allowing residential construction among areas that

were previously prohibited.

Taking the above discussed information into consideration, we have developed a real estate profitability outlook based on different scenarios in order to better understand our expectations and the sensitivity of our assumptions for the final output.

Accordingly, we have divided the sector’s total revenue into its two major income streams; real estate income and investment income.

In our ‘Base’ case scenario and based on historical average returns on real estate assets of 25.5 per cent over the period of 2001-08 and a return over the first 9 months of 2009 of 16.2 per cent, we expect an estimated 17.5 per cent return on real estate investments in 2010, reflecting a marginal recovery in real estate demand and activity. On the other hand, return on investments averaged 13.2 per cent over 2001-08 with the first 9 months of 2009 registering a return of 5.7 per cent, thus we estimate the level of return on investments to marginally decrease during 2010 to 5 per cent reflecting our market expectations.

As a result, we expect revenues to reach an estimated KD 415 million during 2010 as compared to KD 606 million registered during 2008 and KD 308 million during the first 9 months of 2009. Based on this assumption as well as keeping the level of expenses constant with the annualized 2009 figures, we expect the aggregate net profit for the sector to reach KD 121 million.

Given that the sector has 60 percent of its assets tied down to its core operations as of September 2009, which amounts to KD 3.45 billion, and that the leverage stands at 0.68x, it will serve as a buffer for the majority of real estate companies in their expected short term debt rescheduling efforts with lenders. The sector has accumulated KD 1.05 billion in shortterm debt, which has to be repaid within a 12-month period, and given

that the sector has only KD 218 million in cash on hand, it will need to rely on its asset base to serve as a collateral in its negotiations with creditors for loans rollover or possibly replacing short-term with longer term obligations. Knowing that most of these assets will be utilized for improving the sector’s capital structure, slower growth in the sector’s asset base is expected during 2010 and 2011, with projects in progress taking the brunt of the beating during the process.

In order to reschedule their debt, companies will seek to dispose part of their equity and real estate portfolios to pay back short-term obligations, consequently exerting further pressure on property prices. This will lead to a further slowdown in the growth of the sector’s asset base.

Additionally, earnings growth will not be sustainable in the long run without growth in operating cash flow.

Over the short run, earnings growth can be financed with debt; however; current tight credit conditions have, for the most part, eliminated debt as an option for additional funds. For this reason companies may look to strengthen their capital structure through internal sources of financing such as raising more capital.

Furthermore, the local banking sector has, during the fallout of the financial crisis and the bursting of the property bubble, found itself over exposed to the real estate and construction sector with local credit extended to the sector amounting to KD 8.3 billion, as of January 2010, representing 33 percent of total credit facilities which amounted to KD 25.1 billion. Also, given that 31 per cent, or KD 12.8 billion of the KD 41 billion local banking sector’s total financial assets, are tied to the real estate and construction sector, any defaults related to the real estate sector debt will weaken the quality of banks’ assets as additional provisions will be needed to cover the potential rise in non-performing loans.

By Robert Broadwell ssets of exchange traded products (ETPs) surpassed $1,000 billion near the end of 2009, up a staggering 45 per cent year over year. Robert Broadwell explores the ETP jungle and reviews the dynamics of this growth. After a drop in 2008, asset growth for ETFs and other exchange traded products (ETPs) has resumed, and assets of all ETPs globally exceeded the $1,000 billion milestone in 2009. There are now more than 2,600 ETPs, with some 4,800 listings on more than 40 exchanges from about 140 providers, and hundreds are currently in the planning stage.

Moreover, ETPs now account for approximately 30 percent of the average daily volumes in US listed equities, and approximately 10 percent of European average daily volumes. ETP providers continue to launch products with new asset classes and market exposures, many of which are only tradable off exchange.

Given the vast jungle of ETPs listed around the world, even professional investors are finding it difficult to distinguish between the various index-tracking products - all of which trade like single stocks on recognized exchange. At a very high level, it is important for investors to appreciate that there are basic structural differences between the various categories of exchange traded products. Some of the confusion, nodoubt, comes from various category acronyms that have developed among the product providers and market makers. Some would say it’s a nightmare of acronyms - I would agree and have tried to provide an overview of the basics that have helped me distinguish the evolving ETP Jungle.

First, to distinguish, ETP (Exchange Traded Product) is essentially a general term to describe the combination of above exchange traded products. The sum of Exchange Traded Funds + Exchange Traded Notes + Exchange Traded Commodities = Exchange Traded Product universe.

Let’s start by looking at the most popular and recognized ETP, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). ETFs have been around longer than other ETPs, have a greater number of listings and more assets under management. It’s an investment product which is legally structured similar to mutual funds, but trades like an individual stock on a stock exchange. The “F” is a key differentiator. Mutual funds are typically regulated by various securities agencies, have segregated liabilities independent board of directors and ring-fenced assets for the benefit of the funds’ shareholders.

Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) are a relatively small part of the exchange traded product universe. An ETN is a debt security which is a direct obligation of the issuer. ETNs are sometimes backed with collateral that can be obtained in the event of the issuer of the ETN going into default and or bankruptcy. If an ETN

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Robert Broadwell issuer were to default and there was no collateral backing the ETN, the end shareholders of the ETN would be in the same position as other debt holders of the bankrupt company.

Finally, the ETP family also includes Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs). An ETC is a type of ETN that seeks to track the performance of a single commodity or several commodity indices. ETCs can be backed with physical commodities like gold bullion or hold listed futures contracts or total return swaps that are issued by investment banks. Futures or swap backed ETNs will not track spot commodity index prices, as their underlying indices are calculated on rolling commodities futures contracts.

The upshot of the diversity amongst ETPs, is that every index product trading on-exchange is not an ETF. There are significant counterparty and structural difference between various ETPs as noted above, however, investors need to read the prospectuses and or contact the issuers before deciding on which type of ETP might be most appropriate.

Gulf based professional investors have used ETPs for years, based on their various portfolio needs, but ETCs have seen most coverage in the media, specifically as it relates to gold; in fact, the first locally listed Exchange Traded Product was a gold ETC. The consistent coverage on gold ETPs has led to greater recognition of the product category and we have now seen the recent launch of ETFs in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. I fully expect the growth and maturation of the ETP sector in the region in the coming years.

Boeing wins tender to supply planes to Russia MOSCOW: US aerospace corporation Boeing has won a tender to supply up to 65 planes to Russia, the state industrial holding Russian Technologies said yesterday. “Boeing presented the best offer in terms of technical, operative and financial indicators. State corporation Russian Technologies declares it the winner,” the holding said in a statement.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Russia’s state aircraft holding United Aircraft Corporation also submitted bids.

The tender was initially

announced in August 2009 to supply 50 planes, with an option of 15 more, for a startup airline company called Rosavia, a project that was subsequently abandoned. The planes will now go to Aeroflot and aviation companies owned by Russian Technologies, a source at the state holding told AFP. Russian Technologies signed a deal in April to buy and lease planes for the country’s flagship airline.

“Russian Technologies in cooperation with state airline Aeroflot will in the near future submit firm orders for supplying specific aircraft models,” the

statement said. The number of planes will also be negotiated with Boeing, the Russian Technologies source told AFP. “Due to the new context, the quantity and models of the aircraft may change.”

The holding announced the tender at the MAKS airshow outside Moscow in August 2009.

The holding, whose head Sergei Chemezov is a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, also said it planned to buy domestically made planes, including the AN-148 and Sukhoi Superjet, from the United Aircraft Corporation. — AFP

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

.2840000 .4180000 .3540000 .2480000 .2730000 .2440000 .0045000 .0020000 .0789120 .7688160 .4020000 .0750000 .7536910 .0045000 .0500000

.2940000 .4280000 .3620000 .2580000 .2820000 .25200000 .0075000 .0035000 .0797050 .7765420 .4180000 .0790000 .7612660 .0072000 .0580000

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

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2907000 .4204560 .3566410 .2507870 .2756010 .0479400 .0370400 .2463500 .0373220 .2065020 .0031920 .0063190 .0025670 .0034320 .0042370 .0791840 .7714620 .4111210 .0775580 .7554270 .0063530

.2928000 .4234240 .3591590 .2525620 .2775520 .0482790 .0373020 .2480890 .0375860 .2079640 .0032150 .0063630 .0025850 .0034560 .0042670 .0796890 .7763480 .4140310 .0780520 .7602410 .0063980

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2928000 .4234240 .2525620 .0780520

al-muzaini exchange co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES 3.221 6.252

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

3.428 2.562 3.924 208.440 37.490 4.213 6.282 9.020 0.301 0.292 GCC COUNTRIES 77.910 80.260 758.930 775.900 79.553 ARAB COUNTRIES 54.750 51.602 1.294 194.700 412.600 196.000 6.270 33.182

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 292.000 Euro 359.900 Sterling Pound 425.300 Canadian dollar 280.800 Turkish lire 185.020 Swiss Franc 253.910 Australian dollar 244.900 US Dollar Buying 289.250

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound

SELL CASH 249.200 776.340 4.390 282.600 573.200 15.800 49.200 167.800 54.510

10 Tola

GOLD 1,334.150

361.000 38.030 6.265

412.660 0.197 91.110 3.930 200.200 758.180 3.435 6.285 80.300 77.950 209.350 40.340 2.583 425.500

9.170 79.560 291.900

SELL DRAFT 247.700 776.340 4.214 281.100

209.300 51.613

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

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

291.850 280.544 423.928 360.836 252.133 715.354 772.506 79.440 80.143 77.795 411.846 51.609 6.272 3.426

2.562 4.220 6.280 3.196 8.961 6.367 3.903

kuwait Bahrain intl exchange co.

Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 425.500 291.800

dollarco exchange co. ltd

Bahrain exchange company COUNTRY

362.500 38.180 6.580 0.035 0.289 0.258 3.300 414.100 0.198 91.110 45.200 4.290 201.700 1.989 45.800 758.360 3.540 6.570 80.730 77.950 209.350 40.340 2.765 427.500 38.100 256.500 255.000 6.400 9.340 217.900 79.660 292.300 1.340

Sterling Pound US Dollar

GOLD 242.000 123.000 64.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 292.000 3.440 6.270 2.575 4.210 6.310 79.580 78.050 775.900 51.600 428.500 0.0000328000 3.990 1.550 414.600 5.750 364.100 286.500

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 291.600 357.000 425.200 280.000 3.230 6.260 51.600 2.563 4.210 6.285 3.425 775.400 79.450 77.810

BUSINESS

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

23

Wataniya Airways begins flights to Alexandria

Abdulsalam Al-Bahar

KUWAIT: Wataniya Airways, Kuwait’s premium service airline yesterday began a regular service to Alexandria, The Pearl of the Mediterranean, Egypt’s second largest city and recently nominated as the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2010. The inaugural flight coincides with the addition of a sixth brand new custom fitted Airbus A320 to Wataniya Airways’ fleet.

Wataniya Airways will be offering its guests four flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday from the exclusive Wataniya Airways Sheikh Saad Terminal to Alexandria’s Borg El Arab airport. The airline will also provide a free shuttle bus from the airport to Sedy Jaber Train Station where guests can travel around Egypt. Alexandria is Wataniya Airways’ tenth destination since the launch of its commercial operations in January 2009 and the third Egyptian city to be served by the airline. The other two destinations are Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh.

Abdulsalam Al-Bahar,

NBK Capital acquires 30% stake in Dunya Goz Group

Amjad Ahmad ISTANBUL: NBK Capital announced yesterday that it has completed its fourth investment in Turkey by acquiring a 30 percent equity stake in Dunya Goz Group (“Dunya”), Turkey’s largest ophthalmology hospital chain. This investment was made through its NBK Capital Equity Partners Fund (the ‘Fund’), the firm’s regional private equity fund focusing on growth and expansion opportunities in MENA and Turkey.

With annual revenues of $70 million in 2009, Dunya is one of the leading healthcare platforms in Turkey and the broader Middle East/Eastern Europe region. Over the last 16 years, it has built a reputation for its extensive

treatment offerings and best-in-class service in eye care. The company currently operates a broad network of full scale hospitals, clinics and pretreatment centers across sixteen locations in Turkey and Europe.

Amjad Ahmad, Senior Managing Director of Alternative Investments at NBK Capital, noted that, “Our active ownership approach, reinforced by our local presence in Turkey and close partnership with the current management team, will accelerate the growth trajectory of the Company”. Ahmet Tataroglu, Director, Alternative Investments - Private Equity continued, “Dunya’s strong brand and leadership position will allow it to better capitalize on growth opportunities in Turkey and the surrounding region.”

Eray Kapicioglu, Chairman and CEO of Dunya noted that the investment will be used to strengthen the company’s financial standing and allow it to further expand its operations in Turkey and international markets.

“We are thrilled to embark on this new chapter in our history with an outstanding firm one of the most respectable names among the leading private equity firms in the region. We have great confidence that the strategic and financial expertise of the Fund will enable Dunya in the process of transforming into a world-class company.”

NBK Capital Equity Partners Fund, managed by NBK Capital as part of its Alternative Investments Group, is a $250 million private equity fund that specializes in acquiring strategic stakes in companies in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and Turkey with the objective of providing growth and expansion capital. The fund implements an active investment approach to create longterm sustainable value through financial, strategic, operating and corporate governance enhancements.

Chairman and Managing Director of Wataniya Airways said “By launching regular services to Alexandria, Wataniya Airways is serving the increasing demand for travel between Kuwait and Egypt. “Alexandria is an ancient center and a destination for culture, known for its cultural diversity and its historic civilizations. Its long history attracts large numbers of visitors from all around the world including Kuwait and we believe the launch of our new service will continue to strengthen the long standing trade and tourism links between both countries.”

Guests wishing to travel on Wataniya Airways can book their tickets by logging on to wataniyaairways.com or calling the Kuwait Guest Contact Centre on 118 or +965 24379999 or make their reservation through their preferred travel agent. Wataniya Airways’ seventh aircraft is scheduled to be received later in the year to provide more traveling options to more destinations for the airline’s guests.

twofour54 launches Arabic applications fund

KUWAIT: The Dow Chemical Company - a world leader in science and technology recently provided an update on its 2015 sustainability goals. Posted for public review, the Q1 2010 sustainability goals update provides a recap of each of Dow’s seven 2015 goals. In line with its efforts to promote sustainability, Dow is committed to improving environment, health and safety performances, while addressing the world’s most pressing challenges; including energy and climate change.

In 2010 - the mid-point of a journey to achieve its 2015 sustainability goals, Dow continues to make progress in reducing its footprint and delivering technology that helps the rest of the world reduce theirs.

Highlights that exemplify the Company’s commitment to innovation and collaboration include:

• •

KUWAIT: The Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport KSC (Closed) held its ordinary general assembly meeting on Monday, May 31, 2010 at 11 am, at the Kuwait and Gulf Link Holding Company headquarters located at the Shuwaikh Industrial area. The general assembly meeting was presided over by Saeed Esmail Dashti, Chairman and Managing Director, for the approval of its Financial Statements and Consolidated Balance Sheet for the year ended December 31, 2009 and election of a new Board of Directors for the next three financial years.

The Board of Directors Report outlined the significant growth in the size of the company’s businesses during the year 2009 and the profits gained by the company despite the global economic slowdown in 2008 as well as the amortization of its losses incurred last year. Among the most significant items approved by the general assembly are the declaration of the company profits for the financial year ended December 31, 2009, and the completion of the restructuring of group companies, as well as the rescheduling of the company’s banking facilities.

The company aims at increasing its profits by the end of fiscal year 2010, and to continue implementing the policy adopted by the company since 2008 to reduce operational costs, restructure its subsidiaries and reschedule its

banking facilities in line with the company’s long-term plans and projects.

The operational revenues for the financial year 2009 amounted to KD 53,241,880, as compared to the amount of KD 57,495,188 for the financial year 2008. The total operational expenses amounted to KD 38,977,198 for the financial year 2009, as compared to the amount of KD 42,062,002 for the previous year, resulting in a net profit amounting to KD 605,617, compared to a loss of KD 8,337,746 for the year 2008.

The general assembly also elected the new Members of the Board of Directors for the next three financial years, namely Saeed Esmail Dashti, Hussain Jafar Al-Sayegh, Ali Hussain AlIssa, Jassem Mohammed Nuseib, Adnan Saud Al-Rashed, Yaqoub Abdullah Al-Wazzan and Ali Esmail Dashti. Finally, the chairman and managing director lauded and thanked the shareholders, customers and partners of the Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport for their endless support and confidence in the company’s continued improvement and success.

Following the general assembly meeting, the Board of Directors convened and elected Saeed Esmail Dashti as Chairman and Managing Director and Hussain Jafar Al-Sayegh as Vice Chairman.

demand for local content.”

At the same time the company announced that its training academy, twofour54 tadreeb, has been appointed a Pro-Apps Apple Authorised Training Centre (AATC). The certification and training courses will follow Apple’s official pro applications curriculum and offer a range of training options on Apple’s professional photography, audio and filmindustry software products including Aperture, Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server and Logic Studio. The courses will be delivered by Apple Certified Trainers who maintain Apple’s highest quality standards.

“We recognise the need to provide world-class training to existing and aspiring media professionals in the region, which is why we have obtained Apple training accreditation,” added Wayne Borg, COO of twofour54. “Becoming an Apple Authorised Training Centre further enhances twofour54’s reputation as a centre of excellence for content creation in the Middle East and enables us to offer the highest-quality training experience to help the region reach its full potential.”

Dow reports on 2015 sustainability goals

•

KGLT holds general assembly

KUWAIT: twofour54 is to launch an Arabic applications development fund for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad called ‘AppsArabia’. The fund will be offered by twofour54 ibtikar, which provides funding and support to start-up and early stage Arabic content initiatives.

‘AppsArabia’ will invest in the best ideas for apps from entrepreneurs, app developers and businesses, and provide commercial guidance, resources and marketing support to make these apps successful. A new community web site, www.appsarabia.com, has been established to provide a supportive marketplace for all stakeholders in apps development - entrepreneurs, designers, developers and corporate clients. “iPhone OS is the world’s most advanced mobile platform and, with more than 4 billion apps already downloaded from the App Store, it presents a huge opportunity for developers in the Middle East”, commented Tony Orsten, CEO, twofour54. “Mobile adoption in the region is soaring and ‘AppsArabia’ will empower Arab entrepreneurs to create apps that address the growing

Tony Orsten

•

KUWAIT: KGLT’s officials are pictured during the general assembly held at Kuwait and Gulf Link Holding Company headquarters on Monday, May 31, 2010.

Alexandria

Innovations for tomorrow Dow contributes to the sustainability of society and the planet by developing innovative technologies for current and future markets Dow and Caltech announce NextGeneration Photovoltaics Research initiative Dow Presents “Electric Avenue” at North American International Automotive Show Dow POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle wins GLOBE Award for Environmental Excellence in Emerging Technology

Jordan cash supply up by 8% in April AMMAN: Jordan’s money supply rose 8 percent year-on-year at end of April, and increased 0.9 percent from March, central bank data showed yesterday. M2, the broadest measure of money supply, rose to 20.474 billion dinars ($28.8 billion) at the end of April from 18.947 billion dinars in the same period last year. The data showed M2 grew 2.3 percent from the start of the year when it stood at 20.013 billion dinars.

Money supply growth almost halved to 9 percent in 2009 and supply stood at 20.013 billion dinars at the end of December as banking lending shrank due to the global downturn, Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) data obtained by Reuters showed.

Growth in money supply, an indicator of future inflation, has decelerated rapidly since peaking at a record 17.3 percent in 2008 when a sharp rise in oil and commodity prices spurred high inflation.

Domestic bank credit, a component of M2, fell last year for the first time in over a decade, by 1.5 percent, after commercial banks adopted tighter credit policies as the global downturn dampened growth and domestic consumption. The CBJ took a series of pre-emptive measures to soften monetary policy from the outset of global turbulence at the end of 2008 to ease the impact on the economy and inject more liquidity. It cut reserve requirements on commercial deposits, stopped issuing certificates of deposit and cut major benchmark lending rates to free up funds for lending to spur growth. — Reuters

Partners for change As leaders in advancing all aspects of sustainability, Dow openly collaborates with customers, suppliers, communities, civil society and governments • US Studies Centre announces Dow Sustainability Program • Dow unveils R&D vision in Saudi Arabia • Dow receives the 2009 Value-Based Health Award for Large Employer from the Institute for Health and Productivity Management •

• • • •

•

Smart solutions for today Dow’s technologies enable customers, and their customers, to develop more sustainable products and service.

Dow delivers next-generation insulation solution to meet growing energy efficiency needs New technology saves Dow plant one billion gallons of water, $4 million Dow Building insulation products achieve Cradle to Cradle certification Responsible operations Dow’s operations are a model for others in all communities in which it operates, allowing its infrastructure to positively impact the company, employees and communities Addressing climate change through Hydrogen Flare Technology.

UAE’s Aabar may increase $800m loan ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Aabar Investments may increase its recent $800 million loan with local and international lenders to $2 billion to refinance debt, bankers said yesterday. Last month Aabar, the emirate’s fastest growing investment vehicle which has stakes in Daimler and Virgin Galactic, entered into a $800 million, threeyear loan agreement with lenders.

“Banks are working on upsizing the recent loan to $2 billion that could be used for paying maturing loans and probably investments,” a banker familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Another banker said the new loan will be finalized “within weeks”. Both bankers asked not to be named as the deal is not yet finalized.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi was the lead arranger of the $800 million loan. Aabar’s board will meet on June 3 to consider refinancing opportunities for existing debt, it said in a statement on Abu Dhabi’s bourse, earlier yesterday. The board will also consider new investment opportunities at its meeting, it said.

Aabar’s borrowings which are all-term loans stood at 15 billion dirhams ($4 billion) in December 2009. In April, Aabar said it plans to issue convertible bonds worth 7.346 billion dirhams ($2 billion) to IPIC, which holds a 71 percent stake in Aabar. — Reuters

Gulf Bank sponsors Creative Forum KUWAIT: Gulf Bank yesterday announced that it is the sole sponsor of the Second Creative Forum, organized by the Technical Guidance of Family and Consumer Sciences at the General Department of Al-Jahra Educational District. The Second Creative Forum, which is being held under the patronage of Professor Moudhi AlHumoud, Minister of Education and Higher Education tomorrow, aims to improve education by making it more creative and enjoyable.

Gulf Bank’s sponsorship stems from its commitment to supporting change and development across the education system. Two competitions were recently launched in line with such changes to help young people benefit from available capabilities, skills and creative thoughts at schools.

‘Educational Games’ and ‘Protecting School Environment’ help protect and maintain school properties along with their environment, promote a culture of efficiency and instil values of loyalty, integrity, and volunteer work. It is hoped that the results of such competitions are felt beyond the school environment and become an inherent behaviour handed down to future generations.

Teachers as well as middle and high school students are participating in the competitions, where the winners are judged on various criteria including the quality of their presented educational game on a CD, the extent to which the idea of the game was clear, creativity and user-friendliness, and the capability of providing an enjoyable educational experience.

The judging criteria also includes the quality of the presented plan and its execution, whether the plan contains educational, religious, cultural, learning and behavioural objectives, the follow up of the effect of the plan on students, and monitoring of their behaviour through surveys across the school year. A panel of senior directors at Family and Consumer Sciences, school controllers, and directors of school activities will participate in the judging process.

By sponsoring the Second Creative Forum, Gulf Bank’s decision to embrace these talents and skills is in line with its corporate social responsibility objectives and its belief in the importance of creating an enjoyable learning environment to encourage more educational and learning concepts within students. The Bank believes that learning is most efficient when it involves students psychologically and physically, with a goal to motivate them for more participation and sharing.

The bank recently sponsored, also under the patronage of Professor Moudhi AlHumoud, the ninth educational “Damaged Country or a Creative Pen”‘ Forum which was aimed at raising awareness on aggressive behaviour amongst students, and the negative associations this presents.

The event, which took place between April 5-8, included seminars and workshops on negative behaviours and acts and the phychological problems that lead to aggressive behaviour, in addition to finding appropriate solutions to improve and develop the talents and creative skills of Kuwait’s future generation.

24

BUSINESS

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Bourse begins with marginal gains Dubai Holding faces Global Daily Market Report

loss, sparks concerns

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) started June trading recording a marginal increase in the major and sectoral indicators, with support in the last minute of trading giving an unclear picture for traders, despite the regulation over daily trading.

Market indices Global General Index (GGI) rose 0.43 points (0.22 percent) during yesterday's session to reach 193.53 points. Furthermore, the KSE Price Index increased by 4.30 points (0.06 percent) yesterday and closed at 6,704.00 points. Market capitalization was up KD 70.64 million yesterday to reach KD 31.97 billion.

Market breadth During yesterday's session, 212 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners, as 43 equities retreated versus 28 that advanced. A total of 141 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday's trading session.

Daily trading activity Trading activities ended on a positive note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange increased by 16.90 percent to reach 161.40 million shares, and value of shares traded decreased by 9.78 percent to stand at KD 19.63 million. The investment sector was the volume and leader yesterday, value accounting for 30.12 percent and 26.62 percent, respectively. Gulf Finance House was the volume leader yesterday, with a total traded volume of 27.28 million shares. National

Bank of Kuwait was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD 1.72 million.

Top gainers and biggest decliners In terms of top gainers, Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting took the top spot for the day, adding 6.90 percent and closed at KD0.310.

On the other hand, Kuwait Financing & Investment Co shed 10.00 percent and closed at KD 0.090, making it the

biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors wise Regarding Global's sectoral indices, they ended the day on a mixed note, with Global Investment Index being the top decliner. Global Banking Index was the biggest advancer, up 1.14 percent during yesterday's session, backed by National Bank of Kuwait. Global's special indices also ended on a mixed note, with Global Small Cap Index being the top decliner.

The index ended the day down 0.36 percent.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at 71.88 dollars a barrel on Monday, compared with $70.62 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Market news Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Company (QPIC) announced yesterday the

establishment of United Petrochemical Company (UPC). UPC is a joint venture between Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company which holds 90 percent of the company and United Industries Company, holding the remainder. The world-scale petrochemical plants are estimated to cost $700 million and will utilize Paraxylene (PX) produced by the Kuwait Aromatics Company, in which Qurain owns 20 percent.

DUBAI: Dubai's benchmark index slumped to a five-month low yesterday after a heavy loss from a unit of a conglomerate owned by the emirate's ruler sparked concerns that the emirate's debt troubles were far from over.

Most Middle East markets declined as oil prices dropped 3 percent to $72 per barrel and world stocks fell as expectations that slowing growth in China and the euro zone would hamper the global economic recovery.

Dubai Holding's main unit, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG) posted a $6.2 billion loss for 2009 and said it may resort to asset sales, in the latest setback to the emirate's troubled finances.

Dubai's index fell 3.1 percent to 1,531 points to touch a five-month low in a sell-off led by real estate stocks.

"Foreign investors are away from the market and a major part of what we are seeing today has to do with the announcement from the Dubai Holding unit," said Samer AlJaouni, general manager for Middle East Financial Brokerage Co. "I believe we are seeing negative sentiments widening further in the region."

Real estate stocks took a beating, with market heavyweight Emaar Properties falling 6 percent. Developer Deyaar dropped 7.4 percent and Union Properties ended 6.5 percent lower. UBS analyst Saud Masud said concerns that the Dubai Holding subsidiary would add more units to the property market was the main cause of concern for the sell-off in property stocks.

"The amount of pipeline that they plan to bring into the market (about 21,000 units) and when you take into account that Nakheel is going to add more units, it is going to create significant over supply in the market," he said. Saudi Arabia's benchmark fell 2.5 percent as investors sold petrochemicals stocks amid falling oil prices. "After yesterday's run up we were expecting stocks in the petrochemical sector to trade in line with commodity prices. The sector is the worst performing sector in the region today," said Ali Khan, managing director and head of brokerage at Arqaam Capital in Dubai.

Yanbu National Petrochemical (Yansab) fell 5.2 percent. Index heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) dropped 3.1

percent. The broader petrochemical index fell 3.3 percent. Abu Dhabi's index fell 2 percent to 2,553 points, its lowest level since December. Aabar Investments fell 5.5 percent. The company may increase its recent $800 million loan with local and international lenders to $2 billion to refinance debt, bankers said. Qatar's index bucked the downtrend in regional and global markets to end up 0.7 percent at 6,833 points.

"The prices are not very attractive for sellers and we don't have any major concerns in the economy unlike some of the other regions. Also, banks in the region are at a comparatively better position, despite the slowdown," Jaouni said. Oman's index falls 1.3 percent to 6,210 points as risk-averse investors hold back from making new buys.

YESTERDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS Kuwait The index gained 0.1 percent to 6,704 points.

Saudi Arabia The benchmark fell 2.5 percent to 5,966 points.

Abu Dhabi The measure declined 2.0 percent to 2,553 points.

Dubai The bourse fell 3.1 percent to 1,531 points.

Qatar The index rose 0.7 percent to 6,833 points.

Oman Muscat's measure fell 1.3 percent to 6,210 points.

Bahrain Bahrain's index eased 0.5 percent to 1,444 points.

Egypt The index fell 1.7 percent to 6,438 points. — Reuters

BUSINESS

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

25

AIG won’t accept lower Prudential offer for AIA LONDON: Bailed-out US insurer AIG said yesterday it won’t accept lower offer for its Asian insurance business from Prudential, which proposed a $5 billion cut to calm rebellious shareholders who thought the price was too high. London Stock Exchange-listed Prudential PLC initially agreed to pay $35.5 billion for AIA, the Asian insurance business of American International Group Inc. Faced with the growing possibility that it could not win 75 percent backing from shareholders, Prudential lowered the offer to $30.375 billion.

“After careful consideration, the company will adhere to the original terms of its previously announced agreement with Prudential,” AIG said in a

statement. “The company will not consider revisions to those terms.” “The board of Prudential is considering its position,” the company said in a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange. “A further announcement will be made when appropriate.” AIG, majority owned by the US government, planned to use the proceeds from the sale to repay US taxpayers for some of the $180 billion it got in bailout money during the financial crisis.

Barrie Cornes, analyst at Panmure Gordon in London, said he believed AIG had killed the ambitious deal. “We think that AIG’s response is a surprise given the market movement since the deal was announced and the obvious opposition to the exces-

sive price being paid by Pru’s shareholders,” Cornes said.

Prudential shares rose 3.5 percent to 560.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange, a sign that the market would regard the collapse of the AIA deal as positive at least in the near term. Pru share had been a 603 pence before the announcement of the proposed takeover of AIA. Prudential needs to line up support from holders of 75 percent of its shares by June 7. If the AIA deal falls through, Prudential will owe AIG a termination fee of $230.6 million.

Opponents of the deal have formed a Prudential Action Group, which is seeking to muster support for a vote of no confidence in the Prudential’s chief exec-

utive Tidjane Thiam. The group claims that at least 15 percent of shareholders intend to vote against the deal. AIG hoped to raise a total $51 billion from the Prudential deal and the sale of its American Life Insurance Co division to MetLife Inc. “Clearly as majority owner of AIG, the hand of the US government is writ large over the apparent rejection of price conciliation,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London. “Pity, but then again, why should they re-negotiate just because the other side got its sums wrong?”

Prudential said its lower offer included $23 billion cash, $5.375 billion worth of shares in the combined companies and $2 billion in notes.

Prudential saw the acquisition as a transformative deal in which the combined company would be earning three-fifths of its profits in Asia. The Pru-AIA combination would have leading market shares in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, China and India, according to London investment managers Charles Stanley & Co. AIG’s brief announcement gave no clue about what it intends to do if the Prudential deal falls through. A year ago, AIG had said it planned an initial public offering for AIA shares on an Asian exchange, but never announced a detailed proposal on how large a stake in AIA it would offer or how much it hoped to raise. — AP

Honda China production stalled following strikes Production yet to resume at parts factory FOSHAN: Honda Motor Co m a de little progress yesterda y in resum ing production a t a p a rts fa ctory in south Ch ina a fter a p rolonged a nd high-p rofile strik e tha t ha s highlighted grow ing la bor unrest in the region. J a p a n’s No 2 a utom a k er sa id m ost of the 1,900 w ork ers-

LONDON: In this file photo, Chief Executive of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, points at Iceland on partial maps of Europe during a news conference. — AFP

Ryanair soars back into profit, pays 1st dividend DUBLIN: European budget airline Ryanair announced a return to robust full-year profits yesterday and unveiled its first-ever cash dividend to shareholders, underlining its ability to fight the headwinds of recession. The Dublinbased carrier said it recorded a net profit of €305.3 million ($375.7 million) for the 12 months ending March 31. That reversed last year’s net loss of €169.2 million, when Ryanair suffered an exceptional €222.5 million writeoff on its 30 percent stake in its struggling Irish rival, Aer Lingus.

And Ryanair underscored its exceptionally strong cash reserves by announcing its first dividend since becoming a publicly listed company in 1997. Ryanair said it would pay shareholders about €500 million, or €0.34 per share, in October and envisioned a similar payment by 2013. Chief financial officer Howard Millar said the airline was making the payout because of Ryanair’s previously announced shelving of plans to negotiate a new 200-plane order with Boeing, its sole supplier of aircraft.

He said this would mean much lower capital spending for the next three years. The airline said its cash reserves already have risen by €535 million over the past year to €2.8 billion. Millar said the postponement of new aircraft orders could fuel an additional €1 billion in savings through 2013. Ryanair said its passenger numbers rose 14 percent to 66.5 million, but its income rose just 2 percent to €2.99 billion, reflecting its hefty discounting of airfares to keep its planes full.

The airline also recorded another exceptional writeoff of €13.5 million because of continued falls in the share value of Aer Lingus, the formerly state-owned airline that Ryanair has been trying to acquire since 2006. The Irish government, which remains Aer Lingus’ second-largest shareholder, opposes a Ryanair takeover on competition grounds. Ryanair turned an operating profit excluding exceptional items of €402 million, compared to €144.2 million a year earlier, in part because its fuel costs fell 29 percent to €894 million.

In the current year, Ryanair said it expected traffic to grow 11 percent and profits to rise more than 10 percent, even though it expects fuel costs to rise about €300 million. Chief executive Michael O’Leary said Ryanair also expected to lose €50 million from extensive flight disruptions caused by volcanic ash eruptions in Iceland. The threat forced European air safety officials to cancel 9,400 Ryanair flights, stranding 1.5 million customers in April and May. Many are seeking compensation for their hotel and meal bills from Ryanair.

But unlike the recession-battered airline industry as a whole, Ryanair keeps growing.

The airline said its fleet has grown to 232 over the past year with the delivery of 51 more Boeing 737-800s from previous orders. It opened 284 new routes and eight new European bases to reach 940 routes and 42 bases. Ryanair shares rose 0.9 percent to €3.41, bucking a broadly negative market on the Irish Stock Exchange. — AP

S Africa’s PMI plunges, factory output loses pace JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s purchasing managers’ index fell for the third consecutive month in May, suggesting the pace of recovery in the key manufacturing sector after last year’s downturn is losing some steam.

Analysts said the PMI data, coming a day after credit extension data surprised on the weak side, leaves the door open for another interest rate cut to support the economy despite earlier indications from Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus that rates should stay on hold for some time.

A survey conducted by the Bureau for Economic Research and sponsored by Kagiso Securities showed the PMI was down at 51.1 in May, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, from 55.2 the previous month. “While the level of the index continues to indicate that the factory sector is expanding, the latest reading is the lowest since November 2009 and suggests that the pace of manufacturing production has eased in recent months,” Kagiso said.

The survey showed that the business activity component of the index fell 5.3 points to 49.0 in May, a decline Kagiso said may have

been exaggerated by a three week strike at logistics firm Transnet that hampered rail and port services. “For that reason, and notwithstanding the risks that (for example) drawn-out European sovereign debt problems pose to the South African manufacturing sector, one should be cautious not to get carried away by the fairly negative tone of the May PMI data,” the sponsor said.

The employment index also saw a big decline of almost 9 index points, falling below the key 50 level in a sign job creation remains a challenge after nearly a million were lost last year, during South Africa’s first recession in nearly two decades. The latest drop in PMI suggested that a lot of the impetus behind manufacturing growth due to restocking may have fallen away, said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered. “In the context of manufacturing (along with mining) being one of the few sectors supporting overall growth, this is a concern,” Khan said. “Along with yesterday’s unexpectedly weak credit extension data, this will lead to renewed focus on the possibility of a new rate cut.” — Reuters

including a bout 600 interns-a t the w holly ow ned pa rts fa ctory ha d a greed to m a na gem ent’s offer for a 24 p ercent w a ge h ik e, w ith less tha n 100 holdouts still refusing the term s a fter violent cla shes on Monda y.

As of late last afternoon, the majority of interns had gone back to work after an executive from Guangzhou Automobile, Honda’s Chinese partner, urged workers to give management three days to meet their demands, said a witness who had spoken with one of the interns. Those demands included a wage hike, guaranteed bonuses, and a promise to not to fire any strikers returning to work. It was unclear how many regular employees had picked up their tools again.

The tussle between union members, striking workers and those trying to work within the factory was preventing a smooth transition to operations, Honda spokesman Yoshiyuki Kuroda said. China has been hit with a string of labor disputes at foreign companies, whose migrant workers have begun to demand better pay and conditions. Strikes are technically illegal in China, which fears any overt signs of social unrest, but have become more common as employers try to rein in rapidly rising costs, especially in southern China, dubbed “the world’s workshop”.

Inco me di s crepancy ang ers Honda has been unable to build cars in the country, the world’s fastest-growing car market, since last week after workers at the parts plant went on strike demanding higher pay.

With few transmissions built and inventory running low, Honda said it would probably keep all four local assembly plants idle through tomorrow. The company said it would decide tomorrow what its plans were for June 4.

Analysts said Chinese workers were growing increasingly impatient with the difference between their own wages and those of their foreign co-workers. “People get angry about the huge income discrepancy between Taiwanese or Japanese workers and local Chinese workers,” said Zhang Chenhao, a China equities analyst with JLM Pacific Epoch. “This is the second generation of migrant workers, and they want similar jobs and lifestyle as regular employees. (This strike) will be an example for other workers in China. This is quite a significant trend.”

At a dormitory for workers in a nearby village, an 18-year-old intern told Reuters a company representative came by to tell workers not to go to work yesterday in case of a repeat of conflicts that flared up the previous day. On Monday, some striking workers displayed scratches underneath their shirts, saying they were roughed up by union officials who tried to push them out of factory grounds as police and reporters watched.

The Communist Party-backed All China Federation of Labor Unions discourages independent worker activism and generally sides with management. Last morning, about 100200 angry workers approached the factory gate from inside the compound to appeal to reporters, complaining about being beaten by union members the day before, according to a witness. The intern at the dormitory, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said many workers were not signing the contract yet because they were still angry and wanted to see how the company responded to Monday’s violence.

Fas tes t g ro wi ng auto market Including a small exports-only factory producing the Jazz subcompact, Honda’s four China plants have the capacity to build 650,000 cars a year, some 15 percent of Honda’s global capacity. The parts factory, which builds manual and automatic transmissions, offered to lift regular workers’ monthly starting salary by 366 yuan ($53.59) to 1,910 yuan ($279.6), far above the legal minimum wage is 920 yuan, Honda said.

Interns were offered an increase of 477 yuan per month, from a base ranging from 900 to 1,300 yuan per month, the intern said.

The interns are students who are required by their schools to get work experience, with internships lasting between six months to a year and a half, according to the intern. Other foreign firms have also been raising wages following criticisms about pay and conditions.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd said last week it plans to raise salaries by about a fifth at its Foxconn International unit, maker of Apple Inc’s iPhone, as it struggles to stop a spate of suicides and quell public anger. Honda’s shares closed down 0.2 percent yesterday, in a broader Tokyo market down 0.6 percent. — Reuters

FOSHAN: In this photo, employees at a Honda supply plant gather near the factory gate during a strike in south China’s Guangdong province. — AP

Europe posts record unemployment stats BRUSSELS: Debt-laden Europe logged record unemployment yesterday and its core currency and shares plummeted amid a worrying industrial slowdown. The unemployment rate hit 10.1 percent in April, its highest since the euro came into being in 1999 in just one of a series of blows yesterday to the eurozone economy after a brief lull last week in market pressure. Almost 16 million people were out of work across the 16 countries that share the euro, the European Union said.

The numbers reached more than 23 million in the 27nation EU as a whole, including non-euro giants Britain and Poland, 2.4 million more than one year earlier. The euro sank to a new four-year low of 1.2115 dollars on concerns about the European financial sector’s ability to weather the region’s debt and deficit crisis. “We have no doubts on the future of the euro. The euro is one of the most stable currencies in the world,” European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters during an EU-Russia summit.

However, European stock markets also fell sharply, as market reports said the European Central Bank had warned that eurozone banks could face new asset writedowns. Meanwhile, fresh data from purchasing managers further showed that private sector manufacturing output growth slowed in May to a level not seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008. Leading economy Germany recorded a “significant slowdown” in its growth rate, with the overall trend reflecting “the speed with which uncertainty surrounding the sovereign debt crisis appears to have hit business activity,” according to Markit research boss Chris Williamson.

Analysts noted that the number of new jobless in the eurozone, at 25,000 in May, was the smallest monthly rise since last November, and well down from the previous month. However, “the rise in the number of eurozone jobless spiked up to 287,000 in the first quarter of 2010 from 137,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009,” London-based IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer underlined. “Despite April’s much reduced rise in unemployment, we remain doubtful that the eurozone labour market is on the brink of turning around,” he stressed.

The latest figures show US unemployment running at 9.9 percent, and Japan’s just 5.0 percent. Throughout the EU, only Germany recorded a fall in unemployment over the full year, from 7.6 percent to 7.1 percent. Deficitplagued Spain, with a 19.7 percent rate beaten only by Latvia, saw unemployment among under-25s reach a dizzying 40.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

The threat of nasty tailwinds from the world’s deepest post-war recession lurks behind a sharp slowdown in growth. “All countries saw a deterioration in growth of output and new orders,” said London-based Markit of the manufacturing brakes, particularly painful in recessionary Greece. “The extent to which manufacturing growth slowed in May has been exceeded only once in the survey’s 13-year history, in the aftermath of Lehman’s collapse,” they said referring to the September 2008 bankruptcy of Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers.

There was some good news in the data, relating to the currency fall. Export growth was “running at a near 10year peak,” said Williamson, and his figures actually indicated a rise in manufacturing employment for the first time in two years. —AFP

Indian automobile firms show strong monthly sales MUMBAI: India’s car and motorcycle makers yesterday said sales for the month of May were robust, as demand improved amid cheap loans and new model launches. Hero Honda Motors, the world’s largest two wheeler maker, posted record figures.

Demand for cars has been on the rise in Asia’s third-largest automobile market, making India an attractive target for global automakers.

Japanese-controlled Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest passenger carmaker by sales, posted its highest-ever monthly sales.

Maruti said it sold 102,175 vehicles in May, including exports, up 28 percent on the previous year. The previous highest record was 96,650 cars sold in February this year. Its closest competitor, Hyundai Motor

India, said sales for the month of May rose 7.3 percent to 46,808 vehicles.

Hyundai said its sales were constrained by a planned shutdown of its factory in the southern Indian city of Chennai in May, which led it to divert export production to meet the demand for the local market.

Hero Honda Motors, a joint venture between Delhi-based Hero group and Honda from Japan, said sales of its motorbikes rose 14 percent to a record 435,933 units in May this year. The previous highest monthly sales from Hero Honda was 415,137 units in August last year. Rival TVS Motor said total sales, including exports, rose 30 percent in May to 154,667 twowheelers, which includes motorbikes and scooters. — AFP

JAMMU: An Indian boy washes water melons in a canal before taking them to sell at a market yesterday. — AP

BUSINESS

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

European stocks slump, euro hits new four-year dollar low Asian markets tumble LONDON: European stocks slumped and the euro hit a new four-year dollar low point yesterday on concern eurozone banks may have more skeletons to show in their balance sheets. But the dollar rose on its status as a safe-haven from jit-

ters over Israel’s deadly Gaza ship raid. Shares suffered a fierce sell-off after the European Central Bank warned on Monday of possible new bank writedowns, added to chronic concerns about the region’s debt and deficit crisis.

NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. — AFP

German minister promises decision on Opel aid soon Advisory body finds no business reason to grant aid BERLIN: Berlin promised to decide by the start of next week on whether to grant state aid to General Motors unit Opel, ending a year and a half of uncertainty over the European carmaker’s future. A steering committee due to assess the matter will meet on Friday, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said yesterday.

The committee’s meeting is one of several steps necessary before Bruederle can make a final decision on whether to give Opel the more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in state loan guarantees it has requested. GM asked for aid from European governments to help fund a costly turnaround plan at Opel that would shrink production capacity by about 20 percent.

But the parent company’s strong balance sheet and return to profitability from bankruptcy in just 12 months is undermining the arguments for state aid for its subsidiary. Bruederle has said he is skeptical

about whether Opel should receive aid, and recent delays in the decision-making process had raised suspicions that Berlin is purposely dragging its feet before ultimately turning Opel down.

The process was revived on Monday as a panel of independent economic expertswhich advises Berlin on state aid to ailing firms-made a recommendation on Opel aid, after having postponed a decision several times. It was not immediately clear what the panel recommended. A statement was expected later yesterday.

Bruederle only said the panel was “very critical” of Opel’s request for aid. German business daily Financial Times Deutschland earlier said, without citing sources, that the panel found no financial reasons to extend loan guarantees to Opel. That means any decision in favor of aid would be based on political rather than financial factors, such as a desire to preserve good US-German relations, the paper said.

Opel labour leader Klaus Franz said to his knowledge the article was speculative and wrong. “There was no negative recommendation,” he said. The advisers to the rescue fund are mainly former captains of German industry, such as ex-Schering CEO Hubertus Erlen and industry lobby group BDI’s former head Michael Rogowski. The steering committee that is due to meet on Friday, meanwhile, includes state secretaries from government ministries and federal states that are home to Opel plants, as well as a representative of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office.

In a positive step for Opel’s turnaround efforts, labour and management signed a restructuring deal on Monday that aims to save 265 million euros in annual wage costs through 2014.

European union and workforce representatives from countries hosting Opel’s major factories also signed the deal with Opel Chief Executive Nick Reilly. — Reuters

SWIP keen on German exporters with overseas growth LONDON: German exporters are likely to emerge stronger from the euro zone debt crisis, as the weak euro boosts the appeal of firms with large exposure overseas, a fund manager at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) said.

Worries over burgeoning sovereign debt in euro zone states and the effects of austerity measures on the region’s growth have pressured European equities and stung confidence in the bloc’s single currency, which fell 7.4 percent against the dollar in May. Steven Maxwell, head of European equities at SWIP-a unit of Lloyds Banking Group, said large German conglomerates such as Siemens and Daimler are in a good position to benefit from a weak euro, which makes European exports more competitive. “With the euro losing value, Germany is now massively competitive and large German exporters are in a very good position,” said Maxwell, who is also manager of SWIP’s Pan-European Equity Fund. The 16.1 million pound ($23.50 million) fund grew by 12.1 percent in the 12 months to end-May, underperforming its peers in the IMA Europe universe by 2.29 percentage points, according to Lipper data.

Cautiously optimistic Maxwell said strong international exposure, a sound balance sheet and good earnings momentum were the key elements to stock selection within the fund in the current economic climate, citing HSBC as an example of a company which meets the criteria. “I’m still cautiously optimistic (on the

outlook for equities) but there is no doubt that we’re facing significant macro uncertainties,” Maxwell said.

“What we’re seeing in the market this year has almost been a battle between the good and the bad. We have had plenty of good news from companies, but the top-down issues and country factors are taking precedence.” The fund has an overweight posi-

tion in industrials on confidence in the sustainability of a global economic recovery, and holds HeidelbergCement for its exposure to the United States and emerging markets.

Maxwell said the euro zone debt crisis has increased the appeal of stocks with strong free cash flow, such as Roche and Nestle, as investors seek the stability of companies with

good dividend track records.

“Over the last 40 years (since 1970), almost a third of total returns have come from the dividend return.

It is not an insignificant contributor to total return,” he said. “In these uncertain times the market is going to be paying a premium for companies that have free cash flow which is going to sustain or grow the dividend.” — Reuters

Australian PM warns of long mining tax battle SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned yesterday of a protracted fight with mining firms over his proposed 40 percent tax on resources profits, but said the levy would not be withdrawn. Rudd, whose Resource Super Profits Tax plan has galvanized the resources industry, said talks with miners over the transition to the new system were progressing well but would not be resolved overnight. “We do not expect to land any agreement with the mining industry anytime soon,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“This is going to be a quite long and protracted negotiation over quite a long period of time. Dare I speak of weeks at least, if not beyond.” The centre-left Labor leader, who has been accused of attempting to nationalize the country’s valuable mining industry, said the 40 percent tax on the profits of the mining industry would go ahead.

“I wish to emphasize the government remains fully committed to a resource super profits tax,” he said. “It is important reform, we remain fundamentally committed to it.”

Global miners such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have attacked the tax, arguing it will reduce Australia’s ability to attract investment and was already damaging the country’s reputation.

But the government has argued the “super profits” tax is needed because mining companies riding the Asian commodities boom are not paying sufficient tax, with multinational

firms effectively paying about 13 percent. Rio Tinto disputed the figures yesterday, releasing independent analysis showing it had paid more than 20 billion dollars (16.6 billion US) in corporate levies and royalties in the 10 years to 2009 — an effective tax rate of more than 35 percent.

“Put simply, these figures demonstrate that Rio Tinto, one of Australia’s biggest taxpayers, pays its fair share of taxes,” chief financial officer Guy Elliott said in a statement. “It should also be emphasized that the data shows Rio Tinto has effectively invested all of its Australian profits, and more, back into Australia in the past decade.” Rio said misleading information “propagated by other parties has not facilitated a proper dialogue about the importance of the minerals sector to all Australians” as it reiterated its desire to work with the government on tax reform.

The prime minister defended his decision to use taxpayer funds to pay for advertisements supporting the new tax as necessary in the face of a well-funded mining industry campaign. “Frankly we are not just going to declare the field vacant, we are going to join the battle,” he said. It is not known whether the tax, which is set to be introduced from July 2012 and will kick in when returns on investment hit six percent, will be finalized ahead of a general election expected this year. “We don’t intend to be railroaded by any particular timetable,” Rudd said. — AFP

Markets were also rattled by fresh data which indicated that China’s economy could be slowing down, raising concerns for the global recovery. In late morning trading, London lost 2.19 percent, with BP shares plunging after its latest attempt to fix the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster failed. The Frankfurt market fell 1.72 percent while Paris shed 2.46 percent in value.

Madrid’s stock market, which has suffered heavy losses recently over concerns about Spain’s debt and the country’s embattled savings banks, tumbled 3.20 percent. In foreign exchange trading yesterday, the euro slid to 1.2111 dollars-touching a level last seen on April 14, 2006. It later pulled back to 1.2140, down from 1.2305 late in New York on Monday.

Banks led the way lower after the European Central Bank had suggested Monday that eurozone banks might have to reduce the value of their assets by a total of 195 billion euros (240 billion dollars) by 2011. “Nothing but bad news continues for the eurozone,” IG Index analyst David Jones told AFP. “There was that ECB report saying that banks will need to write down even more in bad debts this year than last year.”

Sentiment was also hurt by a move by credit rating agency Fitch on Friday to downgrade Spain’s rating one notch from the maximum AAA to AA+ owing to the country’s poor growth prospects. Jones added that the US dollar was also benefiting from its safe haven status after Israel’s deadly navy raid on an international aid convoy heading for Gaza. “The raid on the Gaza-bound ships by Israel over the weekend has ratcheted up once again the nerves of international investors which were already on edge following increased tensions between North and South Korea,” said Jones.

“With sentiment in financial markets already fragile, it is not too surprising to see the US dollar one of the assets benefitting this morning as investors look for a perceived safe haven for their funds.” The dollar is regarded by many investors as a safe bet in times of geopolitical uncertainty. In London, shares in British energy giant BP nosedived 15.49 percent to 418.15 pence after its latest setback trying to plug the spilling undersea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

One rare stock to make gains in Europe was British insurer Prudential which gained 4.25 percent to 564.06 pence after investors welcomed a major setback to its huge takeover of US insurer AIG’s Asian unit AIA. However, Asian markets also sank yesterday after official data showed China’s purchasing managers index (PMI) had slipped in May to 53.9 from 55.7 in April.

A separate PMI study by HSBC revealed a drop to 52.7 from a revised 55.2 the previous month. A reading above 50 means the sector is expanding, while below 50 indicates an overall decline.

The Hong Kong stock market tumbled 1.36 percent, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.58 percent and Shanghai shed 0.92 percent. The figures follow a number of measures announced by Beijing aimed at cooling the country’s blistering growth-it expanded 11.9 percent in the March quarterincluding tightening lending by banks.

“Investors around the globe still look to China to lead the global recovery and whenever there’s a bit of poor economic data from them it usually leads to a sell-off in equities,” said Capital Spreads analyst Simon Denham. A slowdown in China would have a massive impact on Asian markets as the country is a major export destination for several regional economies which rely on its voracious appetite to help their recovery.

Lingering concerns that China would unveil more measures to tighten credit have weighed on Shanghai stocks for several weeks. — AFP

BUCHAREST: A child looks on as commuters wait at a bus stop during a subway strike in Romania. — AP

Thousands march to protest Romania cuts BUCHAREST: Thousands of people marched in Romanian cities and Bucharest’s underground transport system was halted for hours yesterday to protest government austerity measures that will slash salaries. More than 8,000 teachers, prison guards, nurses and pensioners demanding the resignation of the government marched in cities including Iasi, Targu Mures and Craiova, riot police said. The metro shut down until noon in solidarity with workers and pensioners targeted by a government plan to cut public sector wages by 25 percent and pensions by 15 percent in a bid to bring down the budget deficit.

“No one is happy to see his salary or pension

shrink after years of work. This is why we are on strike,” metro union official Florin Crisu told AFP. Tens of thousands of civil servants held a one-day strike on Monday to protest the austerity cuts with some teachers continuing their work stoppage into yesterday.

The centre-right government of Prime Minister Emil Boc has insisted the cuts are vital to secure new installments of a 20-billion-euro (24-billion-dollar) rescue package from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. They are aimed at bringing the budget deficit down to 6.8 percent of gross domestic product. — AFP

BP shares plunge after ‘top kill’ fails to plug US oil leak LONDON: BP shares tanked more than 15 percent yesterday after the British energy giant failed in its latest attempt to plug the spilling undersea oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The share price nosedived 15.49 percent to 418.15 pence as investors as BP also admitted that response costs linked to the oil spill disaster currently stand at about 990 million dollars (811 million euros). The embattled group announced on Saturday that its risky “top kill” operation to plug the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico had failed, adding it would shift to a new strategy to cap the leak.

Engineers had spent days pumping heavy drilling fluid into the leaking well head on the ocean floor in a high-pressure bid to smother the gushing crude and ultimately seal the well with cement. “The cost of the response to date amounts to about 990 million dollars, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs,” BP said in a statement yesterday.

“It is too early to quantify other potential costs and liabili-

ties associated with the incident.” The latest costs estimate compared with a figure of 930 million dollars that was given on Friday. BP repeated yesterday that it will now proceed with a “containment” plan to place a cap over the leak. “Preparations are ongoing for deployment of the lower marine riser package cap containment system,” the company said in a statement.

The group said that remotely operated vehicles were being used for preliminary operations for the plan.

BP’s market value has dropped by billions of dollars since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, operated by BP and owned

by US contractor Transocean, sank on April 22 — two days after a massive explosion killed 11 workers. At least 20 million gallons of oil are feared to have already flooded into the Gulf since the rig exploded. “BP (is) weighing heavily on the (London stock) market this morning as operation ‘top kill’ is pronounced a failure,” said Spreadex trader Sam Wright.

“A second plan which involves redirecting the oil flow to a containment vessel could

possibly take until August, as will the drilling of the two relief wells.

“As BP confirms the costs have hit 990 million dollars, its shares are trading down 15 percent at 420 pence, weighing heavily on the FTSE.” In a gloomy assessment, Dougie Youngson, oil analyst at Arbuthnot, added that the crisis has the potential to “break” the company.

“This situation has now gone far beyond concerns of BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward being fired, or shareholder dividend payouts being cut-it’s got the real smell of death,” said Youngson.

“This could break BP.” He added: “Given the collapse in the share price and the potential for it to fall further, we expect that it could become a takeover targetparticularly if its operating position in the US becomes untenable.”

The dramatic slump in BP shares contributed towards wider losses in the London stock market yesterday. The British capital’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies sank 2.19 percent in early afternoon deals as investors also fretted about concerns about the health of the European banking sector. — AFP

MANHATTAN: A protester stands outside a BP (British Petroleum) gas station in New York.

technology

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

27

Enabling new digital strategies for next-generation broadband DUBAI: High-speed broadband access facilitates a number of pivotal socioeconomic services and activities, including education, health, trade, and innovation, and has transformed interactions among businesses, consumers and governments. The creation of national broadband networks is therefore crucial to sustainable economic development and social progress - not only in emerging economies, but in developed ones as well.

Despite the widespread recognition of broadband's benefits, most of the world's households today lack access to an adequate broadband connection. A study by Booz & Company, published in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report, found that in order to pave the way for universal broadband access, governments and private-sector operators both need to make fundamental changes in their mind-sets and business models. Broadband must move to the top of national strategic agendas, policymakers ought to consider balancing their goal of protecting consumers with providing for an efficient industry structure that entices invest-

ment in national networks and operators must adopt new business models to account for transformative shifts in the industry's structure. "Countries with higher broadband penetration have reaped rich broadband dividends across economic and social activities," commented Karim Sabbagh, a partner at Booz & Company and the Global Practice Leader for the Communications, Media & Technology. For a society to realize the full potential of this asset, its broadband deployment has to be universal and affordable, it has to enable highspeed access, and it must happen in a timely manner. Universality and affordability are vital to ensure that broadband is inclusive and can be used as a tool for public service, particularly in health, education, employment and social integration. Broadband's performance is also a fundamental component of its effectiveness in transforming the way individuals and corporations cooperate and create.

In developed nations, the rapid deployment of broadband at the national level can accelerate economic recovery, create new markets and maintain countries' competitiveness with

global peers. Emerging nations can also reap these benefits, as well as more fully integrate their citizens into society and their private sectors into the global economy.

Three inhibitors are preventing governments and the private sector from collaborating to ensure adequate investments in national broadband infrastructure and therefore endangering the sector's long-term sustainability: the sheer magnitude of these investments, revenue prospects and regulatory uncertainty.

"Investments in national broadband infrastructure are significant, front-loaded, and irreversible, and as a result investors are cautious," commented Bahjat El-Darwiche, a partner at Booz & Company. "Uncertainty surrounding future broadband revenue streams and regulatory obligations are making it difficult for operators to gauge the level of investment risk."

The emergence of powerful application and service providers is another critical factor driving uncertainties around future broadband revenue streams for investors, as the growing competition between operators and application providers marks a fundamental disruption to

the sector's prevalent revenue model.

Finally, regulators have not established a clear framework targeted at broadband networks. Until regulators define a new regulatory regime, operators will lack confidence in their ability to monetize their investments in national broadband infrastructure.

Broadband: A national imperative Given the economic and social benefits that broadband offers, governments must elevate broadband from merely another regulatory concern to a top issue on the national strategic agenda.

Since governments have a vested interest in national broadband networks, they need to play an active role in the sector's development.

"Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are needed as a model for the telecommunications sector in developing national broadband networks, where governments subsidize infrastructure, provide tax concessions to private operators or trigger demand for broadband services," commented Sabbagh.

An alternative new horizontal business model approach, which separates the layers of

traditional service delivery and establishes three different plays, would allow risk to be more appropriately tied to rewards and ensure investment sustainability.

The top layer would have a number of "ServiceCos" operating in an extremely competitive and lightly regulated market consisting of multiple application and content providers.

Businesses in the middle layer, "ActiveCos," would provide differentiated services to both application providers and end users, operating in a competitive market with regulations on service levels, quality, and pricing. PassiveCo would focus on deploying passive infrastructure across the country, leveraging economies of scale and functioning like an infrastructure utility business. PassiveCo is likely to be a natural monopoly and would be heavily regulated.

Governments typically have migrated from owning incumbent networks to investing passively in them and finally to simply regulating them. Most regulatory authorities have pursued the singular strategy of preserving customer welfare by introducing competition in

the various telecommunications markets.

"However, to address the three inhibitors to investment in national broadband, governments need to rethink their role and consider taking the bold steps necessary to facilitate investments and ensure the sector's long-term sustainability," commented El-Darwiche.

Operators need to diversify their revenue streams by seeking scale in their provision of access services and capturing a larger share of application and content providers' revenues.

Success in changing markets requires operators to alter their business and operating models from vertical integration to horizontal plays.

"Operators need to focus on building scale and cost efficiency in the utility-like infrastructure layer and offering reliability and affordability in the service layer, while competing on innovation and speed in the application layer," commented El-Darwiche.

Finally, operators need to be proactive in both adopting the new horizontal approach and engaging the government on suitable implementation approaches in order to accelerate national broadband infrastructure deployment.

Model uses particle-based technologies

Taiwan firms display slew of e-readers at computer show TAIPEI: A model wearing a pair of goggles displays three dimensional images at the booth of Nvidia, a US-based graphics processing units and chipset technologies giant, at the opening of Asia's biggest information technology trade fair in Taipei. — AFP

Sport, operas to soothe French 3D teething pains PARIS: French firms are counting on sport and entertainment to lure viewers into buying 3D TV sets, but mass adoption of the new technology will come only when viewing comfort improves and prices fall, experts say.

Three-dimensional (3D) TV sets made by Panasonic, Sony and Samsung hit the French market in May and even if volumes have remained small, manufacturers are betting on a swift take-off.

Since James Cameron's highly profitable Avatar opened the door for 3D technology in cinemas, producers and broadcasters for the box have been rubbing their hands in glee, hoping to bank on life-like effects and the new sensations made possible.

Experts see football, rugby and boxing as well as other forms of entertainment such as opera, ballet and erotic shows leading the seduction campaign.

Other types of images like those shown in news bulletins are thought to be inappropriate for the new medium.

"Unlike HD television, 3D doesn't mean a transformation of television in the short term.

We're not going to tell the French: 'Tomorrow you have to get 3D or you won't have a telly'," Gilles Maugars, deputy director for technologies at TF1, told Reuters.

Market research firm Gfk sees sales in France reaching 200,000 units by the end of the year, and estimates sales for May alone at about 1,000 sets.

Manufacturers are more upbeat, aiming for half a million TVs sold this year.

Gfk sees French sales for all TVs growing by 18 percent this year to 8.7 million units.

Prices for a 3D box start from around 1,300 euros ($1,600), plus about 100 euros for an additional pair of goggles, a must-have for each viewer.

With major sport events planned for 2010, and especially the football World Cup tournament, 3D unit sales should get a kick-start, said Ghislaine Le Rhun-Gautier, head of 3D at French telecom group Orange.

Orange, which has already broadcast 3D images from the French Open free of charge for its TV subscribers, is amongst five networks chosen by French commercial channel TF1 to air images from the World Cup, alongside Canal Sat, France Sat, Free and Bouygues Telecom.

Experts say broadcasters will find it hard at first to make subscribers pay for this content, as they are still fumbling with visual and technical glitches.

Text, like that on a scoreboard, is still uncomfortable to read in 3D, said Vince Pizzica, head of strategy, technology and

at France's research Technicolor.

Some shooting angles popular in 2D can be unsuitable in 3D, and cause headaches, nausea or even vomiting, experts say.

"The technology is not yet mastered and quality is still disparate", said Joseph Guegan, VP for technology at pay-TV group Canal Plus, which plans to air 3D versions of only a few programmes this year, including sport.

Citing these visual issues as well as unanswered questions about financial returns, experts are not betting on a channel that would broadcast in 3D 24 hours a day.

"We still have to find the right recipe for TV, we've only got hypotheses today", says Gilles Maugars of broadcaster TF1.

Some telecom operators plan to launch video on demand (VOD) services as more 3D content emerges and technical difficulties get sorted out, while producers of erotic content are pushing for a monthly subscription model. Marc Dorcel's 3D offering will be available for a 20-30 euros monthly subscription, Chief Executive Gregory Dorcel said, adding the group, which has revenues of around 20 million euros, invested 1.5-2 million euros in its 3D project.— Reuters

China, Japan launch world's biggest online marketplace TOKYO: China's largest retail website Taobao and Yahoo! Japan launched a joint service yesterday in a deal expected to create the world's biggest online marketplace by harnessing Asia's surging ranks of e-consumers.

The service is expected to dwarf US rival eBay in terms of users and products on offer, attracting 250 million customers and offering 450 million products.

"This marks the birth of the world's largest ecommerce market," Masayoshi Son, chairman of Yahoo! Japan and CEO of mobile phone carrier Softbank, told a packed hall in a Tokyo hotel.

Online stores on Taobao will be able to offer products from China to Japanese consumers at Yahoo! Japan's China Mall, the companies said.

The new services will allow Internet users in both countries to buy and sell using systems and procedures that are familiar to them in their native languages, one of the biggest hurdles to doing business in either country.

The combined number of users on the new service is expected to eclipse the 90 million active users at US online marketplace eBay, which last year sold goods valued at 60 billion dollars. Son is banking on Asia's exploding number of Internet users which he expects will

account for 50 percent of the web in five years, compared to just 19 percent a decade ago.

He added that he expects the number of American users to fall to 12 percent of the global share.

Taobao is a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Both SoftBank and US Internet company Yahoo! are shareholders in Alibaba. Alibaba Group's Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Alibaba.com already has a joint venture with SoftBank called Alibaba.com Japan.

The cooperation with Yahoo! Japan is the latest effort by the Alibaba Group to expand in overseas markets.

Last month, its wholesale website Alibaba.com announced a new platform, AliExpress, allowing payments from users of US online payment service PayPal. Online shopping in China has boomed in recent years, as the nation's more than 400 million Internet users-the world's biggest online population-become increasingly web-savvy.

Baidu, China's top search engine in terms of market share, said in January it would set up a joint venture with Japanese retail website Rakuten to launch a shopping mall targeting domestic web users in the second half of 2010. — AFP

TAIPEI: Taiwanese electronics firms displayed a slew of e-readers at an industry show yesterday, with one maker unveiling a lightweight model that can display a full magazine page in color. The color model -- developed by Delta Electronics Inc. and expected to go on sale by December -- stood out among a number of monochrome e-readers at the Computex Show in Taiwan.

Named e-Magazine, the model uses particle-based technologies that Delta has developed in collaboration with Japan's Bridgestone Corp., in contrast with ink-based technologies available in the market.

The 13-inch display would allow users to read a magazine page by page without scrolling it up and down like the smaller sized e-readers on the market, said Delta executive Hui Lee. E-Magazine -- about half the weight of Apple Inc.'s iPad -- is made especially for professionals to read magazines or documents with color charts, Lee said. Apple's iPad and some ereaders sport LCD displays, which can show color. But those are harder to see in sunlight, cause eye-fatigue and consume much more power than the epaper displays used in other ereaders. While Delta's new technology is yet to be tested by the market, most other e-readers displayed at the industry show use ink-based displays.

Taiwan, a leading player in the digital book market, also supplies monochrome displays for Amazon's Kindle and Sony's e-Readers.

A leading supplier of the epaper displays is Prime View International Co., a Taiwanese firm that obtained the cuttingedge electronic ink technologies by acquiring Cambridge, Mass.based E-Ink. At the show, Acer Inc., the world's second largest PC vendor, displayed a 6-inch e-reader, Lumiread. It comes with a camera that allows a user to scan a book's bar code to find out if it has a digital version for downloading. Acer is working with leading publishers in the U.S., China and Germany to market the product in the third quarter this year, said company executive Trisha Pan. Also using the e-paper displays is Hanwang Technology Co., a leading Chinese electronics firm which sold 266,000 e-readers last year, mostly in China. Having marketed a 5-inch e-reader in 2008, Hanwang also displayed its latest 6-inch model that went on sale last month.

Hanwang Chairman Liu Yingjian said the Chinese firm is seeking Taiwanese partners to jointly explore the world market, noting Taiwan's full hardware supply chain and its rich Chinese-language book content.

E-paper technologies are being developed at a fast pace.

Prime View has announced plans to develop e-inks for color display as well as a rollable paper display that can be folded.

Delta's Lee said the company hopes to develop in two to three years particle-based displays that can display sharper colors like magazine pages, instead of the more shady colors its e-Magazine now displays.

No price tag was given for eMagazine. Lee said publishers may offer the e-readers free with a two or three years magazine subscription. — AP

TAIPEI: A man walks past a booth of Power Quotient International, a leading memory module manufacturer in Taiwan, at the opening of Asia's biggest information technology trade fair in Taipei yesterday. The five-day Computex Taipei, which has attracted more than 1,700 exhibitors, features 4,861 booths and is expected to get around 120,000 visitors, including 35,000 international buyers, organisers say. They expect the fair to generate around 20 billion USD in business. — AFP

China supercomputer named second-fastest BEIJING: A Chinese supercomputer has been ranked the world's second-fastest machine in a list issued by US and European researchers, highlighting China's ambitions to become a global technology center.

The Nebulae system at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen in southern China came in behind the US Department of Energy's Jaguar in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, according to the list released Monday.

Supercomputers are used for complex work such as modeling weather systems, simulating nuclear explosions and designing jetliners.

The semiannual TOP500 list highlighted Beijing's efforts to join the United States, Europe and Japan in the global technology elite and its sharp increases in research spending, driven by booming economic growth. It also reflected China's continued reliance on Western know-how: Nebulae was built by China's Dawning Information Industry Ltd. but uses processors from Intel Corp. and

Nvidia Corp., both American companies. The Nebulae is capable of sustained computing of 1.271 petaflops -- or 1,271 trillion calculations -- per second, according to TOP500. It said the Jaguar was capable of sustained computing of 1.75 petaflops. The Chinese computer ranked first in theoretical computing speed at 2.98 petaflops, the group said. The list was compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The communist Beijing government wants China to evolve from a low-cost factory into an prosperous "innovation society." A 15-year government plan issued in 2006 promises support for areas ranging from computers to lasers to genetics.

Boosted by Nebulae's performance, China rose to No. 2 overall on the TOP500 list with 24 of the 500 systems on the list and 9.2 per-

cent of global supercomputing capacity, up from 21 systems six months ago. The United States held onto its overall lead with 282 of the 500 systems and 55.4 percent of installed performance. Europe had 144 systems on the list, including 38 in Britain, 29 in France and 24 in Germany.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan had 18 supercomputers on the list, up from 16 six months ago, and India had five. A second Chinese computer also made the Top 10. The Tianhe-1 at the National Super Computer Center in the eastern city of Tianjin, at No. 7, uses processors made by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., another American company. The list also reflected breakneck advances in supercomputing speeds. No. 1 on the June 2008 list was the Roadrunner system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, capable of 1.04 petaflops, or about two-thirds of Jaguar's level. In the latest list, Roadrunner dropped to No. 3. —AP

World's first iPad lookalike on sale HONG KONG: Apple may have sold two million of its new iPad tablet computers in less than two months, but it now has a Chinese challenger-the identical looking iPed. Apple's iPad is not, officially, even on sale yet in China but the iPed can be bought in Shenzhen, southern China, for almost a fifth of the price of the US price of Apple's gadget.

The world's first iPad lookalike runs on Google's Android operating system, is apparently powered by an Intel chip and sells for 105 dollars. The basic model iPad sells in the US for 499 dollars.

Pictures of the iPed, filmed by Japanese TV news and posted on YouTube, show the gadget being sold in a Shenzhen computer mall in packaging that even looks like an iPad box.

The change in vowel is seemingly the only major difference in appearance between the two gadgets. A review of the iPed on tech website TECHi says "the iPed is exactly what you're thinking: a Chinese knock-off."

"The iPed is an Intel-driven, Android-based copycat packaged like an Apple product and, to be honest-it doesn't look half bad."

Last week, Apple and its contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn refused to confirm or deny rumours that the iPad was being made at Foxconn's massive Shenzhen factory, which has been hit by a spate of staff suicides.

Apple, now the largest US technology company by value, said Monday it had sold two million iPads, outdoing even the iPhone on its launch.

Last Friday, the flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet computer that Apple claims will revolutionise the industry went on sale in Australia, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Demand in the United States was so strong that the company pushed back the global roll-out. It goes on sale in nine more countries in July, including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. — AFP

TAIPEI: A model displays a TouchPad (lower) and an E-ink, developed by China's Hanvon Technology at the opening of Asia's biggest information technology trade fair in Taipei. — AFP

health & science

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Vitamins C and E don’t prevent pregnancy complications LOS ANGELES: Contrary to the results of earlier studies, large quantities of vitamins C and E do not prevent preeclampsia, high blood pressure and other complications of pregnancy, researchers found in the largest study of the vitamins to date.

British researchers reported about a decade ago that the vitamins, which are known to be antioxidants, lowered the

risk of preeclampsia, but subsequent studies have yielded mixed results.

Preeclampsia, which affects about 6 percent of pregnancies, is a sudden increase in blood pressure, usually occurring after the 20th week of pregnancy. It can damage the mother’s kidney, liver and brain and lead to the death of the mother and infant if left untreated.

To examine the subject more thoroughly, a team headed by Dr. James M. Roberts of the University of Pittsburgh enrolled 10,154 pregnant women in the ninth to 16th week of their pregnancies.

All were in their first pregnancy, were healthy and did not have hypertension or gestational diabetes. In addition to their normal pregnancy vitamins, half received

1,000 milligrams of vitamin C and 400 international units of vitamin E daily — about 10 times the normal daily dose — or a placebo.

The rate of preeclampsia was 7.2 percent among those taking the vitamins compared with 6.7 percent among those taking a placebo, a statistically insignificant difference. The rate of simple hyper-

tension and other complications was 6.1 percent among those taking vitamins and 5.7 percent among those taking the placebo.

“These results are very useful,” said Dr. Catherine Y. Spong of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in a statement. “In this case, it shows us that what originally

appeared to be a promising treatment did not actually offer any benefit clinically.”

Roberts cautioned women against discontinuing their pregnancy vitamins, which are important to maintain the health of the mother and fetus. At the level of vitamins used in the study, he said, they should be considered drugs, not supplements. — MVT

New law wipes away threat of imprisonment

Spanish conservatives sue over abortion law MADRID: A conservative opposition party asked Spain’s highest court yesterday to throw out a new law allowing abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, calling it unconstitutional. The center-right Popular Party filed suit with the Constitutional Court and asked it to block

the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 5 while it deliberates. The party objects to eight clauses in the legislation, which became law in February when the Senate confirmed passage given late last year by the lower chamber of Parliament.

MOSCOW: A pregnant woman and her child pass by a banner with an echography of a fetus during a rally against abortion in Moscow on May 30. — AFP

Ten minutes of exercise, hour-long effects WASHINGTON: Ten minutes of brisk exercise triggers metabolic changes that last at least an hour. The unfair news for panting newbies: The more fit you are, the more benefits you just might be getting.

We all know that exercise and a good diet are important for health, protecting against heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. But what exactly causes the health improvement from working up a sweat or from eating, say, more olive oil than saturated fat? And are some people biologically predisposed to get more benefit than others? They’re among questions that metabolic profiling, a new field called metabolomics, aims to answer in hopes of one day optimizing those benefits — or finding patterns that may signal risk for disease and new ways to treat it. “We’re only beginning to catalog the metabolic variability between people,” says Dr. Robert Gerszten of Massachusetts General Hospital, whose team just took a step toward that goal.

The researchers measured biochemical changes in the blood of a variety of people: the healthy middle-aged, some who became short of breath with exertion, and marathon runners. First, in 70 healthy people put on a treadmill, the team found more than 20 metabolites that change during exercise, naturally produced compounds involved in burning calories and fat and improving blood-sugar control. Some weren’t known until now to be involved with exercise.

Some revved up during exercise, like those

involved in processing fat. Others involved with cellular stress decreased with exercise.

Those are pretty wonky findings, a first step in a complex field. But they back today’s health advice that even brief bouts of activity are good.

“Ten minutes of exercise has at least an hour of effects on your body,” says Gerszten, who found some of the metabolic changes that began after 10 minutes on the treadmill still were measurable 60 minutes after people cooled down.

Your heart rate rapidly drops back to normal when you quit moving, usually in 10 minutes or so. So finding lingering biochemical changes offers what Gerszten calls “tantalizing evidence” of how exercise may be building up longer-term benefits.

Back to the blood. Thinner people had greater increases in a metabolite named niacinamide, a nutrient byproduct that’s involved in blood-sugar control, the team from Mass General and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard reported last week in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Checking a metabolite of fat breakdown, the team found people who were more fit — as measured by oxygen intake during exercise — appeared to be burning more fat than the less fit, or than people with shortness of breath, a possible symptom of heart disease.

The extremely fit — 25 Boston Marathon runners — had ten-fold increases in that metabolite after the race. Still other

differences in metabolites allowed the researchers to tell which runners had finished in under four hours and which weren’t as speedy.

“We have a chemical snapshot of what the more fit person looks like. Now we have to see if making someone’s metabolism look like that snapshot, whether or not that’s going to improve their performance,” says Gerszten, whose ultimate goal is better cardiac care. Don’t expect a pill ever to substitute for a workout — the new work shows how complicated the body’s response to exercise is, says metabolomics researcher Dr. Debbie Muoio of Duke University Medical Center.

But scientists are hunting nutritional compounds that might help tweak metabolic processes in specific ways. For example, Muoio discovered the muscles of diabetic animals lack enough of a metabolite named carnitine, and that feeding them more improved their control of blood sugar. Now, Muoio is beginning a pilot study in 25 older adults with pre-diabetes to see if carnitine supplements might work similarly in people who lack enough. Next up: With University of Vermont researchers, she’s testing how metabolic changes correlate with health measures in a study of people who alternate between a carefully controlled Mediterranean diet and higher-fat diets.

“The longterm hope is you could use this in making our way toward personalized medicine,” Muoio says. — AP

BEIJING: Young Chinese children take part in a fashion parade at a themepark in Beijing yesterday, as part of Children’s Day celebrations. A third of primary school children in China are suffering from psychological ill-health as a result of classroom stress and parental pressure, according to a study published by British and Chinese researchers. — AFP

The law was the last pending piece of a liberal reform agenda undertaken by Spain’s Socialist government since it took power in 2004. It brought traditionally Roman Catholic Spain more in line with its secular neighbors of northern Europe.

The law allows 16- and 17year-olds to have abortions without parents’ permission, though parents would have to be informed.

Under Spain’s current abortion law, which dates back to 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits — up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed. But abortion is in effect widely available because women can assert mental distress as sole grounds for having an abortion, regardless of how late the pregnancy is. Most of the more than 100,000 abortions carried out each year in Spain were early-term ones that fell under this category.

The new law wipes away the threat of imprisonment and declares abortion to be a woman’s right. In challenging the 14-week clause as unconstitutional, the Popular Party cited a ruling from the 1985 Constitutional Court that said a woman’s rights could not systematically take precedence over those of an unborn child, but rather only in cases of rape, fetal malformation or when the mother’s health is in jeopardy.

To establish a period for unrestricted abortion “violates the balance between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn,” Popular Party lawmaker Sandra Moneo said. The party also argued that letting teens have abortions without parental consent violates parents’ right to have a say in the upbringing of their daughters. —AP

Depression can make you feel utterly alone.

Americans prefer drugs over therapy for depression: Survey WASHINGTON: Americans prefer drugs to talk therapy for depression, with nearly 80 percent taking a pill for the condition, Consumer Reports said yesterday.

The most popular class of drugs remain the socalled SSRIs such as Prozac, the group found.

People found newer, pricier antidepressants less desirable because of side-effects.

Patients benefited just as much from therapyalmost any kind of therapy, the consumer group found in its survey of 1,500 readers.

Those surveyed said they improved just as much after seven or more sessions of talk therapy as if they took drugs and it did not matter if the therapist was a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker.

Nearly 80 percent of people who had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety were pre-

scribed antidepressants.

Patients were happiest with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, a class that includes Eli Lilly and Co’s Prozac or its generic equivalent fluoxetine;, Pfizer Inc’s Zoloft or sertraline, and Celexa or citalopram and Lexapro o escitalopram from Forest Laboratories Inc. People complained of more side-effects from serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRIs, a newer, often more expensive class of antidepressants, the survey found.

These include venlafaxine, made by Pfizerowned Wyeth under the Effexor brand name and Lilly’s duloxetine, sold as Cymbalta.

The survey found a range of side-effects, but the most common one-loss of sexual interest or ability-was less common than in past surveys, the consumer group said. — Reuters

Blood test to detect cancer

WHO experts meet to assess flu pandemic

LONDON: A simple blood test that can detect a cancer before a tumour has taken shape has been developed by British scientists, it was revealed yesterday.

Due to be introduced in Britain by early next year, it is described as offering a “paradigm shift” in cancer diagnosis, experts told the Times newspaper.

The test is the first to identify accurately the signals sent out by a person’s immune system as a cancer germinates.

Research suggests that such signals can be detected up to five years before a tumour is spotted, priming doctors to intervene at the earliest moment when a solid cancer appears.

Scientists described the test, devised initially for lung cancer, as a means of tackling the country’s poor record of early diagnosis and disease survival. Detection of lung, pan-

GENEVA: World Health Organisation expert advisers could yesterday determine that the H1N1 flu pandemic is fully over, or may deem it is still circulating in the southern hemisphere and therefore a global threat. The WHO’s emergency committee is due to meet by teleconference from 1200 GMT. “They are going to look at the info and see what the epi (epidemiological) info says around the world,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters in Geneva.

“The two most likely outcomes are either status quo or ‘post-pandemic’.”

This would mean the experts could skip the “post-peak” phase in the WHO’s pandemic scale, which has been at the top level of 6 since June 2009, and recommend that WHO DirectorGeneral Margaret Chan move the alert level directly to “postpandemic”. The UN agency’s guidance on whether a disease constitutes a pandemic determines how its 193 member governments handle an outbreak, including stockpiling vaccines and antivirals.

Hartl stressed that the virus remained threatening to some vulnerable people, notably pregnant women, young children and those with respiratory problems, and would continue to require vaccinations for at-risk groups.

“It is predicted that H1N1 will continue to be the primary or overwhelming virus among influenza viruses for quite a while,” he told journalists. —Reuters

LONDON: Zoo keepers hold Reggie, a royal python, as they try to scan it during a photo-op in London Zoo, yesterday. The photo opportunity was organized to mark the process of the annual scanning of the animals, reptiles and birds, which had been micro chipped. Royal Pythons are large bodied, terrestrial snakes that originate from the West, East and Central regions of Africa. — AP

creas and gullet cancers is often so late that it acts as little more than confirmation of imminent death.

Physical symptoms the most common trigger for treatment often will not appear until two thirds of the way through the cancer’s development.

In the case of lung disease, the tumour can already be the size of a tennis ball.

Even the earliest screening detection is only picking up the cancer after more than 20 cell divisions, while death normally comes after about 40.

The new test is to be introduced in America later this month.

Initially it will help screen smokers at high risk of lung cancer, alongside conventional screening.

The technology, developed by scientists at the University of Nottingham, England, works by identifying how the immune system responds to the first

molecular signs of cancer development.

Research has shown that cancers involve irregular cells producing small amounts of protein material called antigens.

These prompt the immune system to react, producing large amounts of autoantibodies.

By tracking this activity, and identifying which combination of antigens signals the presence of a particular cancer, scientists have been able to create a reproducible test which simply requires 10 ml of blood from a patient.

Respiratory specialists and family doctors in the US have been piloting the test, which costs 300 pounds, on smokers.

In many cases it either confirmed suspicions of a cancer, or prompted surgical intervention on a cancerous nodule previously thought to be benign. — KUNA

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

HEALTH

29

School helps teens with school, sobriety, life MADISON: Connor Johnson, 16, credit his months of sobriety to the private, non-profit Horizon High School that operates in two rooms of a Madison community center.

“If I didn’t have to come to Horizon, I don’t think I’d be alive right now,” said Johnson, who at 15 overdosed on heroin and was thrown into a cold shower by friends to get his heart beating.

All nine students at Horizon, located within the Neighborhood House Community Center in Downtown Madison, are recovering from either a drug or alcohol addiction or both. Before being accepted into the school, each student is interviewed with their parents and must fill out an application. In addition to studying a curriculum that meets state standards, each student receives counseling for an hour every day and is randomly drug tested weekly, said Lori Battista LaFond, the school’s director of outreach and marketing.

Since the little-known school opened in January 2005, more than 50 students from around Dane County have attended, 11 of whom graduated with a diploma. Others returned to a traditional high school or got their General Equivalency Degree.

Now advocates say they want to grow the school to serve students struggling with substance abuse. But officials say fundraising dollars are limited and not all parents can afford the $6,000 tuition each semester.

“We’ve been living on the edge ... pretty much since

day one,” said Steve Caldwell, a Horizon board member and treasurer.

Dane County students with substance abuse problems can get services in area schools.

For example, the Madison School District offers inschool intervention, counseling and group discussions for students suffering from substance abuse or mental health problems, said Jeannette Deloya, a district social worker.

School staff may refer students to an alternative program within the district or to an outside program as needed, and also provides support for parents, she said.

‘Keeping them alive’ Shelly Dutch, director of Connections Counseling in Madison, started Horizon with a handful of parents with teens who struggled with relapses after receiving treatment.

“The relapse rate is so high and it’s so hard for kids to maintain their sobriety” when they return to their schools, said Dutch, who still serves on the Horizon board.

At Horizon, teens can enroll at any point during the year. Nearly all of them have gone through inpatient treatment for drugs or alcohol.

“This school is a place for kids who want to learn in a sober, clean environment,” said director Traci Goll.

Graduation is the academic goal, but “our bigger goal is keeping them alive.”

As a private school, it receives no state, federal or local tax dollars. This semester more than half of the students

received financial aid through donations to the school.

The school’s annual operating budget for 2009-2010 is $129,000, with 42 percent coming from tuition and 58 percent coming from donations. It’s running a $30,000 deficit.

“It’s a struggle and it makes it difficult to plan,” Caldwell said of the deficit. “All of the implications of not being able to have a predictable funding stream is a reality.”

Horizon leaders and board members see several options to continuing and expanding the school’s mission, including partnering with the Madison schools or another Dane County district.

“We’re certainly always open to discussing possibilities as far as partnering with Horizon,” said Ken Syke, Madison School District spokesman. “But it would take a lot more conversation.”

Even recovery schools that receive some tax dollars are struggling. At Project Change, a public charter recovery high school in the Waukesha School District, seven students are graduating this year and officials hope to have four underclassmen return in the fall.

“We have a lot of similarities and same challenges and the same goals as Horizon High School,” said Tracy Mitchell, the school’s director.

Another option for Horizon is to seek state or county tax dollars, advocates said.

Wisconsin has three recovery schools. Nationwide there are about 40 recovery schools in 12 states. — MCT

Nepal to ban smoking KATHMANDU: Nepal is to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places and outlaw all tobacco advertising to try to deter young people from taking up the habit, the government said yesterday.

A new anti-smoking bill will also make it illegal for anyone under 16 to smoke, and introduce compulsory health warnings on cigarette packets, health ministry official Bal Sagar Giri told AFP. “More and more young people are being lured by attractive tobacco advertising. That has to end,” he said.

“It is high time we had a strict enforcement of law that regulates tobacco use and punishes offenders.”

Giri said the bill, currently being debated in parliament, would also introduce fines of 5,000 rupees (70 dollars)

for individual offenders and 100,000 rupees for tobacco companies.

The government estimates that 15,000 people die every year of smoking-related diseases in Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries.

Globally, tobacco kills five million people annually, according to the World Health Organization, with deaths expected to hit 10 million a year in two decades, 70 percent of those being in developing nations.

In 2006, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to ban smoking in public places and outlaw tobacco advertisements in broadcast media, but the ruling has never been implemented.

The new bill bans smoking in all enclosed public places including government offices, schools, hospitals and restaurants. — AFP

30

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

FAIPS-DPS maintains supremacy in Class 10 exam F AIPS has stamped its seal of authority in the firmament of Kuwait with academic excellence in the recently declared CBSE Class X Examination 2010. The stupendous result is a testament to the dedication and commitment of all concerned.

FAIPS can proudly boast of: * 59 Students have scored Average CGP of 9 and above (63.4% of the students appeared) * Highest number of students securing A1 grades in all subjects * Highest AGP (average grade points) in all subjects * Highest percentage of A grades (either A1 or A2) in all subjects * Highest number of average A1 & A2 per student FAIPS stars who have done the school proud with a CGP of 10 and A1 in all subjects are: * Akshaj Kuchibhotla - Unassuming and hardworking with A1 in English, French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Anirudh Ashok - Studious worker with a steady head on his shoulders; A1 in English, French, Math, Science and Social Studies * Divyapriya - Quiet and well mannered with an eye for detail - A1 in English, French, Math, Science and Social Studies * Pranav Menon - Modest and reserved with a sharp mind - A1 in English, French, Math, Science and Social Studies.

Other stars who have secured at A1 grades in at least 3 or more subjects: * Arnab Pramanik, polite and humble scoring a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Ashwin Kumar, a good student with high ambition with a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Maths, Science and Social Studies. * Ashwin Venkat, a conscientious, quiet student securing a CGP of 9.8; A1 in English, French, Math and Social Studies, A2 in Science. * Mandava Sritanay, Well-mannered and soft spoken with a CGP of 9.8; A1 in English, French, Math and Social Studies, A2 in Science. * Nupur Kale, charming girl, bright and affable, CGP- 9.8; A1 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Rhoshini Rajasekarn, polite, humble and consistent having a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Singanamalla Sudheesh, committed and levelheaded with a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Sreemoyi Debroy, pleasant and hard-working securing a CGP of 9.8; A1 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Sridhar Ajay Kumar, an effervescent, ever-smiling boy has shown his prowess in academics with a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Stuti Jain - An avid reader with a brilliant mind; with a CGP of 9.8; A1 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Sudharshan Ramani- vivacious and studious with a CGP of 9.8; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math, Science and Social Studies. * Tejasvini Vivek Wani - A graceful dancer with a tenacious determination securing a CGP of 9.8; A1 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Abhishek Menon- Meticulous, consistent with an intelligence to match; he has secured a CGP of 9.4; A1 in English, A2 in French, A1 in Math, B1 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Amrityan Naiya, a soft spoken, quiet student who has a hidden mettle. CGP of 9.4; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, B1 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Anshuman Singh, an all-rounder with a pleasant personality has scored a CGP of 9.6; A1 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, A2 in Science and A1 in Social Studies. * Anum Aziz, committed and level-headed with a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A2 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Ashray Jain, self- reliant with a great flair for writing; scoring a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English and Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Athira Sasidharan, committed and responsible with a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in Hindi, A1 in Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Kabilan Selvarangan, a good sportsman, pleasant and well mannered with a CGP of 9.6; A1 in English, French and Math; A2 in Science and Social Studies. * Kaustubh Mishra, composed and hardworking, obtained a CGP of 9.4; A1 in English and Hindi, A2 in Math, B1 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Kshitiz Dhiman, studious showing readiness for duty with a CGP of 9.4; A2 in English, B1 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Monica Chatterjee, vivacious student with a focused mind, CGP of 9.4; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Paavni Anand, a versatile writer and brilliant debater with an intelligent mind to match obtaining a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English and French, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Pahan Gunawardena, organized and regular securing a CGP of 9.6; A1 in English, A2 in French, A1 in Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Pranav Makarand, modest and hard-working; CGP of 9.6; A2 in English and French, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Priyadarshan Veerarajan, a responsible high achiever with a CGP of 9.4; B1 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Raunak Singh, talented and hard-working securing a CGP of 9.4; A1 in English, A2 in French, A1 in Math, B1 in Science and A1 in Social Studies. * Reno John Cyriac, polite and committed scoring a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Richard Thomas, good-natured and talented securing a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in French, Math and Science, A2 in Social Studies. * Rishabh Sharma, responsibility and dedication personified with a CGP of 9.4; A2 in English, B1 in Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Sharwari Pandit, a dancer, quizzer and a brilliant student; CGP of 9.2; B1 in English and Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Sheena Gupta, a delightful all-rounder exuding confidence obtaining a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English and Hindi, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Shwetank Kharat, modest and talented with a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies. * Uddipta Nandi, good student academically with a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science and A1 in Social Studies. * Verghese Kurien, soft spoken and intelligent securing a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English and French, A1 in Math, Science and Social Studies. * Viswanath Hariharan, sincere and hard-working with a CGP of 9.6; A2 in English, A1 in French and Math, A2 in Science, A1 in Social Studies.

Embassy information Embassy of NigEria The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to invite all Nigerians residing in Kuwait to come and register with the Embassy. The registration is compulsory for all Nigerians residing /visiting Kuwait. Kindly bring the following documents along with you: • A photocopy of the Nigerian passport • One passport photograph • Copy of the civil identification card or visa For additional information please call: 25620278 or visit the Embassy at Block, 4, Malik Bin Anas Street, Avenue 44, House 31, Along Al-Aqsa Road, Rumaithiya. The Consular Section opens Sunday - Thursday from 9 am - 3 pm Your prompt response is highly solicited.

Embassy of UkraiNE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait informs that it has started updating the information about Ukrainian citizens, who live and work in Kuwait. In this connection, we are asking you to refer to the Embassy and update your file in consular register in order not to be excluded from it. For additional information please call: 25318507 ext.106 or visit the embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait (address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str.6, house 5). The consular section of the Embassy open every day from 09:30 till 14:30 except Friday and Saturday.

Embassy of iNDia

Indian English Academy School stands tall

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enis Waitley once said, “The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become”.

Friday, May 28, 2010, dawned in with surprises galore for IEAS. The anxiety of many students turned into a big accomplishment with the announcement of the CBSE results. Once again, the students of Indian English Academy School, Salmiya, did us proud by excelling at the 2010 CBSE examination held in March this year with 100% pass results.

A total of 61 students appeared for the Class 10 exams. Geethu Treesa Mattam secured the highest Grade Point of 10.0 in English, French, Maths, Science, and Social Studies and topped the school. 37 students secured CGPA score of 8.0 and above.

IEASians have once again proved that they continue to excel in academics while at the same time honing their skills, talents and personality through multifaceted co-curricular and extra curricular activities that the school provides.

Very often it’s said, “Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating.” Having scaled through with fervour, the students of IEAS applaud their success. Not only was the overall performance excellent but the individual performance in different subjects was overwhelming too.

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.

EmbASSy oF AmErICA 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 petition-based 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 SErbIA The Embassy of the Republic of Serbia would like to inform the public that the offices of the Embassy have been move to Al Surra, Block 5, street 1, house 71. The Embassy is open for the public as from 1st June 2010.

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

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Congratulations

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ainab Mohammad Munawer recently celebrated her graduation at the fifth grade (class of 2009/2010) from Al-Huda private school in Jleeb AlShuyaikh.

Investiture ceremony at Integrated Indian School

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ntegrated Indian School, run in collaboration with the Kalka Group of Institutions organized a function on 17th May 2010 to install the new members of the senior school cabinet who were elected by students through

aneet Singh Anand (son of Kawaljeet Singh Anand) stood first in Carmel School CBSE Class 12 Board Exams. Janeet scored 93% and topped in Carmel School Kuwait.

He scored 98% in maths, 97% in chemistry, 99% in computer science and 99% in physics.

Al Qabandi Management and Staff would like to congratulate Janeet for this outstanding performance and wish him all the very best in his academics and career in the future as well.

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free and fair democratic elections.

The programme began with the recitation of the verse from the Holy Quran followed by the Kuwait National Anthem and the school song.

After lighting of the ceremonial lamp the guests

were welcomed by a traditional dance which was a harmonious blend of Bharatnatyam and Kathak.

The Director, Mr. Anil Mehrotra, Manager Mohd Ali, and the Principal Mrs. Ritu Mathur invested the students with the badges

and sashes after which they took an oath.

Rasfug Mali was sworn in as the Head Boy and Irine Mary Kuruvilla took the oath as the Head Girl. Abhriam Prasad was elected as the Vice Head Boy and Nada Sultana

the Vice Head Girl.

All the chosen prefects promised to abide by all the rules and regulations of Integrated Indian School and be a role model to all the students of IIS.

A musical night at Viaggio — Crowne Plaza hotel!

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iaggio the Italian restaurant at Crowne Plaza Hotel - Kuwait hosted a unique dinner event for the press and media of Kuwait. The Restaurant Manager Daniel Solombrino began the ceremony by expressing his delight in having the esteemed media members at Viaggio serving them the best times with great tastes.

Daniel announced two surprises; the first was ‘Solaris Duo’ the Italian duo who had come all the way from Italy.

Having performed in over 20 countries worldwide, they are

here in Kuwait to entertain Viaggio’s guests with their melodious musical voices with popular Italian, French, Spanish and English songs creating the perfect ambiance with authentic and intense Italian flavors.

Roberto Bosco and Marylu Sansone make an amazing couple duet who are all set to mesmerize Viaggio’s guests. They will perform everyday from 7 pm to 11 pm except Sundays, until the 9th of August 2010.

The second surprise was Vincenzo Di Tucci, the new Italian Chef with 25 years of experience who joined Viaggio

lately to delight Viaggio’s guests with totally new platters like Penne Al Salmone Pasta, Pesce Al Cartoccio seafood dish and many others.

Viaggio is elegantly designed in the Florence theme and is distinctive as it serves delectable dishes starting from appetizers to desserts in the traditional Tuscan style of cooking.

The guests admired the luxury of the restaurant and relished the mouthwatering Italian dishes craftily prepared by the new Italian Chef Vincenzo Di Tucci and his staff.

Flex Resorts unveils summer surprise!

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ear up and beat the heat as Flex Resorts proudly unveils its new and exciting summer camp! This summer, be prepared, as Flex Resorts takes you on a ride for almost any sport imaginable and purely fun-engaging educational programs!

Encourage your child to explore and take the challenge in the midst of Flex Angels Academy’s engaging environment.

Situated in Bneid Al Gar, the summer camp at Flex Angels Academy offers your kids an all-rounder agenda designed to provide a rich learning experience involving group activities and interpersonal skills that help in developing self confidence and character in a professionally monitored social setting.

Flex Resorts top priority is to keep people on the go with its fun-filled activities. With summer holidays on the brink and considering Kuwait’s low activity rate during the season; Flex brings to you a full-fledged sum-

mer camp tailored for children to indulge in. It is the organization’s aim to motivate the younger generation towards a healthy lifestyle combined with an intellectual active mind and to instill healthy living habits from a younger age.

Priding their facilities to exclusivity and the ability to provide a unique experience, Flex Resorts houses a multi-level fully equipped and state-ofthe art facility which incorporates all the activities lined up on the agenda for the summer camp under different clubs and services. Specifically tailored for children from 18-23 months, the program is focused on nurturing while developing self confidence and encouragement to discover the world around them as they will focus on enhancing social and motor skills!

While children from 2-4 years will get to experience a Montessori based curriculum with their skilled staff focused on bilingualism as lessons will be delivered in Arabic, English and

French.

Apart from the club facilities which include two swimming pools to build their swimming skills and water confidence there is also a 12 meter tall climbing wall, one of the most popular sport amongst kids! Moreover, a whole floor devoted to children’s activities-Kids Athletic Club games, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, hip hop dance, sand play and soft, and a bowling alley. In addition to the above, the Kid’s Athletic club offers complete sports skills development experience which caters to the kids focusing on the development of their body control, balance, coordination, speed and confidence. And not to forget, our very own little Dashing Diva; Flex Resort’s entity and a place for young girls to go and have their nails done, get a manicure, or even a pedicure-just like mom!

The summer camp at Flex provides a new and rewarding experience and unlimited fun, an all in all-a family fun destination!

McDonald’s hosts private screening of Shrek Forever After at Cinescape 360

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cDonald’s recently held a private screening for ‘Shrek Forever After’ in 360 Mall for all the staff of McDonald’s head office, their families, and members of the media with their children. Around 340 viewers packed Screen 12 of Cinescape 360 to watch the final part of the DreamWorks blockbuster animated movie starring the popular green ogre in 3D. “The beauty of Shrek is that he appeals to people of all ages,” commented George Khawam, Marketing Director of McDonald’s Kuwait.

“We have been inviting different groups over the last few years to experience Shrek. This year we decided to

Shukri Salman joined Costa Del Sol Hotel

GIS students excel in Class 10 exam C

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n keeping with its tradition of 100% pass Gulf Indian School emerged victorious in the AISSE March 2010 with all the 89 students scoring grade points (CGPA) above 6.

Alan James, a combination of diligence and

determination scored a neat 10 points with Al grade in all subjects. Industrious and meticulous Juanna Jinson, hardworking and focused Betsy Tesy Mathew and tenacious and conscientious Tania Joseph scored 9.8 points. Close at heel with 9.6 points are Sruti K.S, Allwyn John, Sakina Jetaji and Hasanur Rahman.

Scoring 9.4 are Aishwarya V. Manas Gupte, J. Anusri, Mamta Datwani, Richa Sara Koshy, Shilpa Dinesh and Vijayalaxmi Naganadhan. Next in line with 9.2 grade points are Ann Thomas,

Varun Kunnath, Rohit Shaju John, Roshwyn Fernandes and Saheela Pulookil.

Scoring 9 points are Abed Ahmed, Bilha V. Ganesh S. Gincy Santhosh, Joby Santhosh, Laxmi Priya, Habi Ummer, Jeena Irinjeri, Shabnoor Ansari, Shahnawaz Hussain and Siddharth M. Nair.

The GIS scores are as follows: Grade Average No. of Students Point 10 9.8 3 9.6 4 9.4 7

9.2 5 9 11 Subject wise Grades Subject Al A2 Mathematics 42 20 Social Science 33 27 General Science 14 28 English 10 31 Hindi 6 French 4 4 The result reflects the academic excellence of the school. It was the culmination of teamwork, dedication and diligence which made GIS come out with flying colours.

osta Del Sol Hotel welcomed Shukri Salman who has joined the management team recently as Director of Sales & Marketing. Shukri holds a long experience in hotel industry in Kuwait, in addition to his scientific background. He worked for Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and then joined Crowne Plaza Hotel where he took up several managerial positions within a period of 13 years. Then he joined Swiss Inn Plaza hotel as Director of Operations, followed by the post of Director of Sales, Marketing and P.R. at the Safir international Hotel for 5 years. And now he is being welcomed by the management team of the Costa Del Sol Hotel with best wishes of success in his new assignment.

make it a ‘family affair’ for members of our corporate head office, and an opportunity to have an employee outing that our staff can enjoy with their families.” Mr. Khawam concluded.

McDonald’s will hold a Shrek decoration contest between all of their store outlets throughout Kuwait.

There will also be plenty of Shrek-related activities for kids at McDonald’s corniche store on the Gulf Road throughout the month of June. What’s even more exciting is that Shrek Part 1, 2 and 3 will be played at the store, in addition to Shrek toys that will be given away with each Happy Meal at every McDonald’s branch.

IKEA Kuwait restaurant celebrates pasta festival KEA Kuwait the leading Swedish furnishing store has begun a month long Pasta Festival starting from May 15th. The renowned IKEA restaurant is offering it’s a patrons a variety of seven authentic pastas ranging from Spaghetti Meatballs, Penne Alfredo, Lasagna el Pesto, Fettuccine el Scampi, Tagliatelle Rustica, Penne Con Funghi & Polo Arabiata - for a special festive price.

“For years in a row, we have organized this festival. Our Pastas have become much popular from past year and have a larger variety. Learning from our experience last year, our team has again put together a unique festive menu of the most celebrated pastas dish,” said Mr. Prem Shah, IKEA Kuwait Food & Beverage Manager.

At the IKEA Restaurant & CafÈ visitors can enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and deserts (dessert). A wide and diverse menu is on offer including the traditional Swedish specialties such as the popular IKEA Swedish meatballs with cream sauce and lingonberry is served with a generous portion of French Fries (French fries).

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TV PROGRAMS

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 13:15 Pretty Wild 13:40 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 14:05 Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami 14:30 Dr 90210 15:25 THS 16:15 Behind the Scenes 16:40 Behind the Scenes 17:10 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Wildest TV Show Moments 19:15 Pretty Wild 19:40 E!ES 20:30 THS 21:20 Bank of Hollywood

00:00 Burn Notice 01:00 Life 02:00 One Tree Hill 03:00 CSI Miami 04:00 Life 05:00 Dawson’s Creek 06:00 Doctor Who 07:00 Burn Notice 08:00 House 09:00 FlashForward 10:00 One Tree Hill 11:00 Dawson’s Creek 12:00 Doctor Who 13:00 CSI Miami 14:00 One Tree Hill 15:00 Life 16:00 House 17:00 FlashForward 18:00 Burn Notice 19:00 Doctor Who 20:00 Lie to Me 21:00 Law & Order 22:00 CSI Miami 23:00 Supernatural

00:15 Dark Days in Monkey City 00:45 Animal Cops Houston 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 Pit Bulls and Parolees 03:30 Animal Cops Philadelphia 04:25 Animal Precinct 05:20 Animal Battlegrounds 05:45 Monkey Business 06:10 E-Vets: The Interns 06:35 Aussie Animal Rescue 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Orangutan Island 08:15 Dark Days in Monkey City 08:45 Austin Stevens Adventures 09:40 Monkey Business 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Monkey Life 11:20 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes?

11:50 Animal Precinct 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Philadelphia 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes?

15:30 Orangutan Island 15:55 Dark Days in Monkey City 16:25 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Monkey Business 17:45 Monkey Life 18:15 The Animals’ Guide to Survival 19:10 Orangutan Island 19:40 Dark Days in Monkey City 20:10 Animal Cops Houston 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 The Animals’ Guide to Survival 22:55 Animal Cops Philadelphia 23:50 Orangutan Island

00:15 Love Soup 00:45 Silent Witness 01:40 The Weakest Link 02:25 Last of the Summer Wine 03:00 Teletubbies 03:25 Me Too 03:45 Tikkabilla 04:15 Teletubbies 04:40 Me Too 05:00 Tikkabilla 05:30 Teletubbies 05:55 Me Too 06:15 Teletubbies 06:40 Me Too 07:00 Tikkabilla 07:30 Teletubbies 07:55 Me Too 08:15 Tikkabilla 08:45 Teletubbies 09:10 Me Too 09:30 Mastermind 2006 10:00 Coast 11:00 Last of the Summer Wine 11:30 Last of the Summer Wine 12:00 The Weakest Link 12:45 Eastenders 13:15 Doctors 13:45 Mastermind 2006 14:15 Coast 15:15 Last of the Summer Wine 15:45 Last of the Summer Wine 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Eastenders 18:00 Silent Witness 19:00 Red Cap 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 A Thing Called Love 22:45 Casualty 23:35 Casualty

00:20 James Martin’s Brittany 00:45 What To Eat Now - Summer 01:10 Superhomes 02:00 10 Years Younger 02:50 Come Dine With Me 03:40 Hidden Potential 04:05 Diy Sos 04:35 Bargain Hunt 05:10 10 Years Younger 06:00 Masterchef Goes Large 06:30 Masterchef Goes Large 07:10 Antiques Roadshow 08:00 Antiques Roadshow

Rendition on Super Movies 08:50 Bargain Hunt 09:35 Hidden Potential 10:00 Diy Sos 10:30 James Martin’s Brittany 10:55 What To Eat Now - Summer 11:20 Superhomes 12:10 10 Years Younger 13:00 Come Dine With Me 13:50 Hidden Potential 14:15 Diy Sos 14:40 Bargain Hunt 15:25 Bargain Hunt 16:10 James Martin’s Brittany 16:35 What To Eat Now - Summer 17:05 Superhomes 17:55 Hidden Potential 18:20 Diy Sos 18:50 Come Dine With Me 19:40 Masterchef Goes Large 20:10 The Hairy Bakers 20:40 Trish’s French Country Kitchen 21:05 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 21:50 Here’s Looking At You 22:15 Here’s Looking At You 22:40 The Restaurant Uk

01:15 I Want You-18 02:45 Milk-18 05:00 Surviving Picasso-18 07:15 Stolen Summer-PG 09:00 Travellers And Magicians-PG15 11:00 October Sky-PG15 13:00 Janis-PG 15:00 Quand J’etais Chanteur-PG15 17:00 Moll Flanders-PG15 19:00 Welcome To Sarajevo-18 20:45 Julia-18 23:15 Inventing The Abbots-18

00:00 Border Security 00:30 Destroyed in Seconds 01:00 Street Customs 02:00 Dirty Jobs 02:55 Mighty Ships 03:50 Extreme Engineering 04:45 Mythbusters 05:40 How Stuff Works 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Extreme Engineering 07:55 Mean Machines: Transatlantic Challenge 08:20 Street Customs 09:15 Mythbusters 10:10 Ultimate Survival 11:05 Overhaulin’ 12:00 Border Security 12:30 How Stuff Works 12:55 How It’s Made 13:20 Mythbusters 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Ultimate Survival 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 Deadliest Catch 18:00 Destroyed in Seconds 18:30 Border Security 19:00 How It’s Made 19:30 How Stuff Works 20:00 Mythbusters 21:00 X-Machines

00:30 Mighty Ships 01:20 Eco-Tech 02:10 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 03:00 Beyond Tomorrow 03:50 Thunder Races 04:45 Cool Stuff & How it Works 05:10 Weird Connections 05:40 One Step Beyond 06:10 Mighty Ships 07:00 Thunder Races 08:00 Investigation X 09:00 Space Pioneer 09:55 Stunt Junkies 10:20 Weird Connections 10:50 Mighty Ships 11:45 Cool Stuff & How it Works 12:15 The Greatest Ever 13:10 One Step Beyond

13:35 Space Pioneer 14:30 Engineered 15:25 Cool Stuff & How it Works 15:55 Investigation X 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 The Greatest Ever 18:40 How It’s Made 19:05 How It’s Made 19:30 What’s That About?

20:20 How It’s Made 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Mythbusters 22:00 How It’s Made 22:25 How It’s Made 22:50 What’s That About?

23:40 The Greatest Ever

03:15 Wizards of Waverly Place 03:35 Fairly Odd Parents 04:00 Fairly Odd Parents 04:25 Hannah Montana 04:50 Hannah Montana 05:15 JONAS 05:35 JONAS 06:00 Special Agent OSO 06:10 Timmy Time 06:25 Jungle Junction 06:35 Special Agent OSO 07:00 Handy Manny 07:20 Imagination Movers 07:45 Jungle Junction 08:00 Timmy Time 08:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Handy Manny 09:20 Jungle Junction 09:35 Special Agent OSO 09:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 10:10 Fairly Odd Parents 10:35 A Kind of Magic 11:00 I Got A Rocket 11:25 Wizards of Waverly Place 11:45 Phineas and Ferb 12:10 Suite Life On Deck 12:35 Replacements 12:55 Hannah Montana 13:20 Kim Possible 13:40 Famous Five 14:05 Fairly Odd Parents 14:30 Phineas and Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 A Kind of Magic 15:40 Wizards of Waverly Place 16:00 Tinkerbell and The Lost Treasure 17:20 Phineas and Ferb 17:35 Suite Life On Deck 18:00 Wizards of Waverly Place 18:25 Hannah Montana 18:45 JONAS 19:10 Suite Life On Deck 19:30 Sonny With A Chance 19:55 Hannah Montana 20:20 Wizards of Waverly Place 20:45 Wizards of Waverly Place 21:10 Suite Life On Deck 21:35 Suite Life On Deck 22:00 Hannah Montana 22:25 Hannah Montana

00:15 Leave It To Lamas 00:40 Dr 90210 01:30 Wildest TV Show Moments 01:55 Reality Hell 02:20 E!ES 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets of Hollywood 06:00 25 Most Sensational Hollywood Meltdowns 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 THS 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties

00:00 Untracked Series 1 00:30 Untracked Series 2 01:00 Fight Girls Series 2 02:00 M1 Challange 03:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 03:30 F.I.A European Drag Racing 04:00 Fantasy Factory 04:30 Fantasy Factory 05:00 Ride Guide Snow 2008 05:30 I-Ex 07:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 07:30 F.I.A European Drag Racing 08:00 Quattro Int Events: Cape Epic 2009 08:30 Quattro Int Events: Gt Academy 1 09:00 Quattro Int Events: Gt Academy 2 09:30 Quattro Int Events: Cold Water Classics: Tasmania 10:00 Quattro Int Events: Tim Boal/ Beat Kammerlander 10:30 Quattro Int Events: O’neil Cwc Scotland 11:00 Untracked Series 2 11:30 Untracked Series 2 12:00 Fantasy Factory 12:30 Fantasy Factory 13:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 13:30 F.I.A European Drag Racing 14:00 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 14:30 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 15:00 Untracked Series 2 15:30 Untracked Series 2 16:00 Fantasy Factory 16:30 Fantasy Factory 17:00 Quattro Int Events: Cape Epic 2009 17:30 Quattro Int Events: Gt Academy 1 18:30 Quattro Int Events: Cold Water Classics: Tasmania 19:00 Quattro Int Events: Tim Boal/ Beat Kammerlander 19:30 Quattro Int Events: O’neil Cwc Scotland 20:00 Fantasy Factory 20:30 Fantasy Factory 21:00 Untracked Series 2

00:00 Food Network Challenge 01:00 30 Minute Meals 01:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 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 Tyler’s Ultimate 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 Tyler’s Ultimate 15:00 Chopped 15:30 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Everyday Italian 17:00 Food Network Challenge 17:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 18:00 Guys Big Bite 18:30 Iron Chef America 19:00 30 Minute Meals 19:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:00 Chopped 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:30 Everyday Italian

00:30 A Haunting 01:20 FBI Files 02:10 Deadly Women 03:05 Deadly Women 04:00 Forensic Detectives 04:55 Real Emergency Calls 05:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Fugitive Strike Force 09:30 Mystery ER 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Solved 12:50 Real Emergency Calls 13:15 Real Emergency Calls 13:40 Royal Inquest 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Fugitive Strike Force 17:00 Mystery ER 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Solved 20:20 Real Emergency Calls 20:45 Real Emergency Calls

01:30 Body Of Evidence 03:10 Vampire’s Kiss 04:50 Keaton’s Cop 06:25 Bar Girls 08:00 Trip, The 09:20 Strictly Business 10:40 Mac And Me 12:20 Moving Target 13:55 Man Inside, The 15:30 Nobody’s Perfect 17:00 Just Between Friends 18:50 No Such Thing 20:30 Grow Old Along With Me 22:00 The Boyfriend School 23:40 Hawks

00:00 Bondi Rescue - Bali 00:30 Lonely Planet 01:30 The Best Job In The World 02:00 Weird And Wonderful Hotels 02:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 03:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:30 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 05:00 Word Of Mouth 05:30 Surfer’s Journal 06:00 Bondi Rescue - Bali 06:30 Lonely Planet 07:30 The Best Job In The World 08:00 Weird And Wonderful Hotels 08:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 09:30 Banged Up Abroad 10:30 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 11:00 Food School 11:30 Surfer’s Journal 12:00 Bondi Rescue - Bali 12:30 Lonely Planet 13:30 Banged Up Abroad 14:30 Banged Up Abroad 15:30 Banged Up Abroad 16:30 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 17:00 Food School 17:30 Surfer’s Journal 18:00 Bondi Rescue - Bali 18:30 Lonely Planet 19:30 Banged Up Abroad 20:30 Banged Up Abroad 21:30 Banged Up Abroad 22:30 The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia 23:00 Food School 23:30 Surfer’s Journal

00:00 Scrubs 00:30 The Office 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Party Down 03:30 Bored to Death 04:00 Saturday Night Live 05:00 Drew Carey 05:30 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Just Shoot me!

07:30 Simpsons 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Yes dear 09:00 Married with Children 09:30 Drew Carey 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Just Shoot me!

11:00 Frasier 11:30 Hope & Faith 12:00 Saturday Night Live 13:00 The Office 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne 14:00 Married with Children 14:30 Simpsons 15:00 Scrubs 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 The Drew Carey show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Hope & Faith 18:30 Just Shoot me!

19:00 Community 19:30 Rita Rocks 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Cleveland Show 22:30 The Book Group

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 10 Years Younger 01:30 Eat Yourself Sexy 02:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

03:00 The Monique Show 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 05:00 GMA (repeat) 07:00 GMA Health 07:30 What’s the Buzz 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Eat Yourself Sexy 09:30 10 Years Younger 10:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

11:00 The View 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 GMA Health 16:30 What’s the Buzz 17:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 18:00 Look A Like 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 23:00 The Monique Show

00:00 Blindness-18 02:00 Eva-PG15 04:00 All She Wants For Christmas-PG15 05:45 Honeydripper-PG15 08:00 And Then Came Love-PG15 10:00 A Plumm Summer-PG15 12:00 Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging-PG15 14:00 Shine A Light-PG15 16:15 And Then Came Love-PG15 18:00 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins 20:00 Lakeview Terrace-PG15 22:00 Pride And Glory-18

01:00 Double Team-PG15 02:40 Solo-PG15 04:30 No Escape-PG15 06:30 Arn: The Knight Templar-PG15 09:00 Street Fighter Alpha-PG 11:00 Fire From Below-PG15 13:00 Kung Fu Hustle-PG15 15:00 Street Fighter Alpha-PG 17:00 Circus-PG15 19:00 The Objective-PG15 21:00 The Escapist-18 23:00 The Disappeared-18

00:00 New York City Serenade-PG15 02:00 In And Out-PG15 04:00 Chatterbox-PG 06:00 Much Ado About Nothing-PG15 08:00 Made Of Honor-PG15 10:00 Faintheart-PG15 12:00 Legally Blondes-PG 14:00 Slap Shots 3-PG15 16:00 New York City Serenade-PG15 18:00 Callback-PG15 20:00 Idle Hands-18 22:00 Finding Amanda-18

00:00 How To Eat Fried Worms-FAM 02:00 Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie-FAM 04:00 Genghis Khan-PG 06:00 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-PG 08:30 Papelucho And The Martian-FAM 10:00 Genghis Khan-PG 12:00 Cinderella-FAM 14:00 Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie-FAM 16:00 Ghatothkach - Master Of Magic 18:00 Sunshine Barry And The Disco Worms-PG 20:00 The Missing Lynx-PG 22:00 Cinderella-FAM

00:00 Lost 01:00 Lost 02:00 Without A Trace 03:00 In Plain Sight 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Home Improvement 05:00 Law and order 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Without A Trace 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Home Improvement 09:00 In Plain Sight 10:00 Law and order 11:00 Without A Trace 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Home Improvement 14:00 Lost 15:00 Lost 16:00 Law and order 17:00 In Plain Sight 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 20:00 Private Practice 21:00 Criminal Minds 22:00 True Blood 23:00 In Plain Sight

08:00 Red Bull X Fighters 09:30 V8 Supercars 10:00 V8 Supercars Championship 11:00 V8 Supercars Championship 12:00 WWE NXT 13:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 15:00 AFL Toyota Premiership 17:30 V8 Supercars 18:00 WWE NXT 19:00 WWE Smackdown 21:00 UFC Wired 22:00 UFC Unleashed 23:00 UFC Unleashed

01:00 The Day The Earth Stood Still 03:00 American Violet-PG15 05:00 Georgia O’keeffe-PG15 07:00 A Dance For Bethany-PG15 09:00 Last Mimzy-PG 11:00 Meet Dave-PG 13:00 Madagascar 2-PG 14:30 Australia-PG 17:15 Last Mimzy-PG 19:00 Rendition-18 21:00 Mr. Nobody-PG15 23:30 Frost-PG15

00:00 Tap 01:20 The Alamo 04:00 Crazy In Love 05:30 December 07:00 Nicholas And Alexandra 10:00 On The Town 11:35 Living Free 13:05 Singin’ In The Rain 14:45 Echoes Of A Summer 16:25 After The Fox 18:05 The Yellow Rolls-Royce 20:05 Clash Of The Titans 22:00 X Y & Zee 23:45 Songwriter

00:30 Dogfights 01:20 Ice Road Truckers 2 02:10 Mega Disasters 03:00 World War II: Lost Films 03:55 Hell’s Battlefield 04:50 Battle 360 05:40 Battles B.C. 06:30 Dogfights 07:20 Ice Road Truckers 2 08:10 Mega Disasters 09:00 World War II: Lost Films 09:55 Hell’s Battlefield 10:50 Battle 360 11:40 Battles B.C. 12:30 Dogfights 13:20 Ice Road Truckers 2 14:10 Mega Disasters 15:00 World War II: Lost Films 15:55 Hell’s Battlefield 16:50 Battle 360 17:40 Battles B.C. 18:30 Dogfights 19:20 Ice Road Truckers 2 20:10 Mega Disasters

00:00 Dr 90210 01:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 01:30 Growing Up Fabulous 02:00 Split Ends 03:00 Dude, Where’s Your Style?

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 Style Her Famous 08:00 My Celebrity Home

09:00 Style Star 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

11:00 How Do I Look?

12:00 Ruby: The First 100 Pounds 13:00 Clean House 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Dress My Nest 15:00 What I Hate About Me 16:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?

17:00 Jerseylicious 18:00 Jerseylicious 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 Clean House Comes Clean 21:30 Dress My Nest 22:00 Dress My Nest 23:00 Summer-ize Your Home with Style Special 23:30 Tacky House

01:04 French Only 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:04 Focus 06:04 Playlist 08:04 Hit US 09:00 Code Compilation 09:24 Playlist 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 16:04 Sound System 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Guest Star 19:00 Playlist 20:04 RNB 20:45 Playlist 21:00 Legend 22:00 Playlist

00:00 Intrepid Journeys 01:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 02:00 Planet Food 03:00 Think Green 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Planet Food 06:00 Intrepid Journeys 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Essential 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Spring 09:30 Grannies On Safari 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Intrepid Journeys 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Taste Takes Off 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 A Taste of California 14:30 Entrada 15:00 Spring 15:30 Grannies On Safari 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Essential 17:30 Taste Takes Off 18:00 Planet Food 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 21:00 Planet Food 22:00 Think Green 23:00 Globe Trekker

00:00 VH1 Rocks 00:30 So 80’s 01:00 Greatest Hits 02:00 Vh1 Music 05:00 Chill Out 07:00 Vh1 Hits 09:00 Vh1 Music 11:00 Aerobic 12:00 Top 10 Best Of Alternative 2010 so Far

01:00 NRL Full Time 01:30 Guinness Premiership 03:30 World Hockey 04:00 Super 14 06:00 World Hockey 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 NRL Full Time 07:30 Super 14 09:30 ICC Cricket World 10:00 Rugby League 12:00 Countdown to South Africa 12:30 International Rugby Union 14:30 Sea Master 15:00 Super 14 17:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 18:00 Countdown to South Africa 18:30 NRL Full Time 19:00 Futbol Mundial 19:30 European Tour Weekly 20:00 AFL Highlights 21:00 Countdown to South Africa 21:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 22:00 AFL Toyota Premiership

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 01:00 UFC 114 04:00 Red Bull X Fighters 05:30 UFC All Access 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE Vintage Collection

Blindness on Show Movies

Star Listings (UAE Timings) STAR Movies 21:10 Annapolis 22:55 What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

00:35 Perfect Assistant, The 02:15 Invincible 04:00 High Plains Invaders 05:30 What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

07:10 Perfect Assistant, The 08:50 Great Train Robbery, The 10:45 Brother’s War 12:30 Frank Mcklusky, C.I. 13:55 Hollywoodland 16:00 Tuck Everlasting 17:30 Hellhounds 18:55 Flying Scotsman, The STAR World 20:00 Australia’s Next Top Model 20:50 Starsky & Hutch 21:00 BOSTON LEGAL 21:50 Who’s The Boss?

22:00 Grey’s Anatomy 23:00 [V] Tunes 00:00 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Tunes 02:00 Kyle XY 03:00 Scrubs 03:30 Scrubs 04:00 Stone Undercover 05:00 American Idol 06:00 Grey’s Anatomy

06:50 07:00 08:00 08:50 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:50 11:00 11:50 12:00 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 16:00 18:00 18:25 18:50 19:00

Starsky & Hutch American Idol Australia’s Next Top Model Different Strokes The King Of Queens The Bold and the Beautiful Kyle XY Starsky & Hutch Grey’s Anatomy Who’s The Boss?

[V] TUNES American Idol Scrubs Scrubs Stone Undercover American Idol Cops S19 Cops S19 Who’s The Boss?

American Idol

Granada TV 20:00 The Paul O’Grady Show 21:00 Live The Dream: As Seen On Screen 22:00 Emmerdale 22:30 Coronation Street 23:00 Live The Dream: As Seen On Screen 00:00 The Chopping Block (Series 1) 01:00 What Katie Did Next (Series 1) 02:00 Romance Wednesday: Cold Feet (Series 3) (Double Bill)

04:00 Nights From Hell 05:00 Emmerdale 05:30 Coronation Street 06:00 The Chopping Block (Series 1) 07:00 Romance Wednesday: Cold Feet (Series 3) (Double Bill) 09:00 What Katie Did Next (Series 1) 10:00 Dates From Hell 11:00 Emmerdale 11:30 Coronation Street 12:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 2) 13:00 Romance Wednesday: Cold Feet (Series 3) (Double Bill) 15:00 What Katie Did Next (Series 1) 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 Come Dine With Me (Primetime Series 2) 18:00 Romance Wednesday: Cold Feet (Series 3) (Double Bill) Channel [V] 21:00 [V] Countdown 23:00 Backtracks 23:30 Double Shot 00:00 Loop 00:30 [V] Tunes 01:00 [V] Plug 01:30 Loop 02:00 Backtracks 03:00 XO 03:30 [V] Tunes

04:00 04:30 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30

[V] Plug The Playlist [V] Countdown Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist Keys To The VIP Double Bill [V] Tunes [V] Tunes Backtracks Double Shot Loop [V] Tunes [V] Plug Loop Backtracks XO [V] Tunes [V] Plug The Playlist

Fox News 20:00 Happening Now

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

The Live Desk Studio B with Shepard Smith Live Your World with Neil Cavuto Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck Special Report with Bret Baier The FOX Report with Shepard Smith The O’Reilly Factor Hannity On the Record with Greta Van Susteren The O’Reilly Factor Hannity On the Record with Greta Van Susteren Glenn Beck with Glenn Beck Fox Report Special Report with Bret Baier The O’Reilly Factor FOX & Friends First Live FOX & Friends Live America’s Newsroom America’s Newsroom Happening Now

National Geographical Channel 20:00 Inside 911 -Zero Hour 21:00 Lonely Planet -Lonely Planet- Roads Less Trav : China 7 22:00 Best Job in the world -The Best Job In The World : Grub 5 22:30 Best Job in the world -The Best Job In The World : Last Hurrah 6 23:00 Theme Week 30m -Seconds From Disaster : The

Bali Bombing S2-8 23:30 Theme Week 30m -Seconds From Disaster : Bomb In Oklahoma City 3 00:00 Seconds From Disaster -Munich Olympic Massacre S3-3 01:00 ABOUT ASIA -China’s Great Wall : Mongol Invaders 02:00 Tribal Odyssey -Rendille: Ceremonies Of the New Moon 03:00 Cliffhangers -King Of The Cliffs 04:00 Dangerous Encounters -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Barr V. Bear S5-2 05:00 ABOUT ASIA -China’s Great Wall : Mongol Invaders 06:00 Lockdown -Alaska Bush Troopers S4-5 07:00 Hunter Hunted -Kidnapped S2-5 08:00 Tribal Odyssey -Rendille: Ceremonies Of the New Moon 09:00 I Didn’t Know That -4 09:30 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet -Sweet Tooth 17 10:00 Theme Week 30m -Seconds From Disaster : Chicago Air Crash S3-9 10:30 Theme Week 30m -Seconds From Disaster : Collision on the Runway 12 11:00 Seconds From Disaster -Munich Olympic Massacre S3-3 12:00 ABOUT ASIA -China’s Great Wall : Mongol Invaders 13:00 Wild Wednesday -Dangerous Encounters With Brad : Wild West S5-3

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Wednesday 02/06/2010 Airlines Flt route Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Wataniya Airways 434 Damascus Wataniya Airways 408 Beirut Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Turkish 772 Istanbul Wataniya Airways 322 Sharm El Sheikh Jazeera 267 Beirut DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Kuwait 802 Cairo Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 637 Aleppo Jazeera 503 Luxor Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Jazeera 527 Alexandria British 157 London Jazeera 529 Assiut Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 352 Cochin Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 344 Chennai Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Qatari 132 Doha Iran Air 603 Shiraz Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Iran Aseman 6791 Mashad Jazeera 425 Bahrain Falcon 203 Dubai Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Middle East 404 Beirut Alnaser 711 Baghdad/Najaf Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Jazeera 165 Dubai Mahan Air 5066 Mashad Jazeera 171 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai Oman Air 645 Muscat Saudia 508 Riyadh Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus United 982 Washington Dc Dulles Jordanian 800 Amman Egypt Air 621 Assiut Fly Dubai 057 Dubai Jazeera 257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Kuwait 562 Amman Saudia 3500 Jeddah Kuwait 552 Damascus Jazeera 481 Sabiha Cargolux 792 Luxembourg Nas Air 745 Jeddah Jazeera 525 Alexandria Qatari 134 Doha Kuwait 546 Alexandria Kuwait 544 Cairo Nas Air 703 Riyadh Bahrain Air 344 Bahrain Jazeera 427 Bahrain Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi Rovos 061 Baghdad Emirates 857 Dubai Gulf Air 215 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut Saudia 510 Riyadh Jazeera 239 Amman Arabia 125 Sharjah Jazeera 493 Jeddah Srilankan 227 Colombo/Dubai Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo Kuwait 166 Paris/Rome Yemenia 824 Sanaa/Doha Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai Kuwait 542 Cairo Kuwait 502 Beirut Kuwait 618 Doha Kuwait 786 Jeddah Jazeera 497 Riyadh Jazeera 177 Dubai Kuwait 614 Bahrain Kuwait 674 Dubai Kuwait 774 Riyadh Kuwait 102 New York/London Indian 575 Chennai/Goa Fly Dubai 061 Dubai Middle East 402 Beirut Rovos 081 Baghdad Jet A/W 572 Mumbai Wataniya Airways 642 Vienna Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut DHL 372 Bahrain Gulf Air 217 Bahrain Jazeera 459 Damascus Emirates 859 Dubai Qatari 136 Doha United 981 Bahrain Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt Jazeera 449 Doha Jazeera 185 Dubai Jazeera 429 Bahrain Shaheen Air 441 Lahore/Karachi Kuwait 548 Sharm El Sheikh/Luxor India Express 393 Kozhikode/Cochin KLM 0447 Amsterdam/Bahrain Egypt Air 606 Luxor Pakistan 215 Karachi Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai

Time 00:30 00:50 00:55 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:20 02:10 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 04:45 05:25 05:45 05:50 06:15 06:20 06:30 06:40 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:20 09:25 09:55 10:25 10:30 10:45 10:45 10:50 10:55 11:05 11:15 12:20 12:40 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:30 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:50 14:55 15:00 15:05 15:30 15:30 15:45 16:40 16:50 16:50 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:40 17:40 18:00 18:35 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:00 19:05 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:45 20:50 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:35 21:55 22:30 22:30 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:10 23:10 23:10 23:15 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Wednesday 02/06/2010 Airlines Flt route Jazeera 528 Assiut India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Indian 994 Mumbai/Chennai Pakistan 206 Lahore Turkish 773 Istanbul DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi Qatari 139 Doha Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai Jazeera 480 Sabiha Jazeera 164 Dubai Jazeera 422 Bahrain Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain Jazeera 524 Alexandria Jazeera 256 Beirut Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus British 156 London Jazeera 170 Dubai Kuwait 545 Alexandria Fly Dubai 054 Dubai Kuwait 543 Cairo Kuwait 177 Frankfurt/Geneva Kuwait 671 Dubai Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 551 Damascus Kuwait 561 Amman Arabia 122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Wataniya Airways 641 Vienna Kuwait 117 New York Qatari 133 Doha Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Iran Air 602 Shiraz Iran Aseman 6792 Mashad Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut Falcon 204 Baghdad Middle East 405 Beirut Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo Rovos 062 Najaf/Baghdad Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 238 Amman Alnaser 712 Najaf/Baghdad Jazeera 492 Jeddah Kuwait 103 London Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Mahan Air 5065 Mashad Egypt Air 611 Cairo Jazeera 426 Bahrain Oman Air 646 Muscat Jordanian 801 Amman Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai Fly Dubai 058 Dubai Egypt Air 622 Assiut Saudia 509 Medinah United 982 Bahrain Jazeera 176 Dubai Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut Kuwait 673 Dubai Kuwait 617 Doha Jazeera 496 Riyadh Kuwait 547 Sharm El Sheikh/Luxor Saudia 3501 Jeddah Nas Air 746 Jeddah Jazeera 458 Damascus Kuwait 773 Riyadh Qatari 135 Doha Cargolux 792 Hong Kong Kuwait 613 Bahrain/Doha Nas Air 704 Medinah Rovos 082 Baghdad Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo Emirates 858 Dubai Gulf Air 216 Bahrain Arabia 126 Sharjah Jazeera 184 Dubai Saudia 511 Riyadh Jazeera 448 Doha Srilankan 228 Dubai/Colombo Wataniya Airways 407 Beirut Yemenia 824 Sanaa Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai Jazeera 428 Bahrain Kuwait 283 Dhaka Jazeera 266 Beirut Kuwait 361 Colombo Fly Dubai 062 Dubai Kuwait 331 Trivandrum Middle East 403 Beirut Jet A/W 571 Mumbai Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain Gulf Air 218 Bahrain DHL 373 Bahrain Kuwait 801 Cairo Kuwait 675 Dubai Emirates 860 Dubai Jazeera 612 Lahore Falcon 102 Bahrain Qatari 137 Doha Kuwait 203 Lahore Kuwait 301 Mumbai Jazeera 526 Alexandria Jazeera 636 Aleppo Jazeera 502 Luxor

For AIrporT InForMATIon 161

Time 00:05 00:25 00:50 00:50 01:10 02:15 03:15 03:45 04:00 05:00 06:50 07:00 07:05 07:30 07:45 07:50 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:25 08:30 08:35 08:40 08:45 08:55 09:00 09:10 09:10 09:15 09:20 09:40 09:45 10:00 10:00 10:10 10:20 10:55 11:35 11:35 11:45 11:50 11:50 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:15 12:15 12:30 13:00 13:30 13:40 13:55 13:55 14:15 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:10 15:10 15:35 15:35 15:40 15:45 15:45 15:50 16:05 16:20 16:20 16:20 16:35 17:00 17:25 17:35 18:05 18:05 18:05 18:20 18:30 18:35 18:50 19:10 19:25 19:40 19:40 19:50 20:00 20:10 20:20 20:50 21:00 21:20 21:30 21:35 21:55 22:00 22:00 22:10 22:25 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:20 23:35 23:40

ACCoMMoDATIon Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for visiting family or two working ladies or couples in new CAC fully furnished two bedroom, two bathroom (attached) flat from 7th June 2010. Contact: 99494359.

(C 2351) 2-6-2010 Decent room in a flat in Salwa for single person only, two big windows, cool place, English toilet, rent KD 60. Contact: 99468765.

(C 2347) To let one big room with separate toilet to a decent bachelor from 1/6/10, near the city, rent KD 75 only.

Please call 60046720 for more details. (C 2345) 1-6-2010 Sharing accommodation available in new Riggae for couples/two working ladies, CA/C building. Please contact: 99874350. (C 2342) A room available in flat in Hawally, call 55360091.

Sharing accommodation available with Christian family near Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School, Abbassiya.

Contact: 24334903/ 66795128 after 4 pm.

(C 2343) Sharing accommodation available in Salmiya, opp Food Inn for decent family/couple/bachelors, Indians only to share with a Goan family in a 2 BHKWA/C. Good location available from 25th June onwards. Please contact: 97258347. (C 2341) 31-5-2010

Sharing accommodation available for a Keralite bachelor in Abbassiya. Contact: 66577233. (C 2336) Two central A/C room available in Mangaf behind Mr Baker, near seaside signal from May 30th. Contact: 99512909. (C 2338) Sharing accommodation available for Indian couple in a central A/C flat having Internet & telephone facility, rent KD 95, Amman Street, Salmiya, near Apollo hospital from Just 1st onwards.

Contact: 66757539.

(C 2337) Sharing accommodation available in Farwaniya for couples/one decent executive bachelor/visiting families (Keralites/south Indian only) to share with a Keralite family in a two bedroom, hall, central A/C flat from 1st June onwards with reasonable rent, near Mughal Mahal restaurant and Shifa Al-Jazeera clinic.

If interested please contact: 97508939. (C 2340) 30-5-2010

For SALE Toyota Corolla 1.8, model 2005, color white, 4 cylinder, 2,000 kilometer, price KD 2,250, excellent condition. Tel: 55107856.

(C 2352) Black, off white Maserati, Gran Tiresmo, model 2004, mileage 38,000 KW agency, system Ferrari F430, new mager service, 4 new wheels, price KD 7,800. Tel: 97117535. (C 2355)

Motorbike Kawazaki ZX lor, model 2007, green color, best condition, mileage 7,000 km, price KD 2,600.

Tel: 99985544. (C 2354) 1 year Internet subscription card, price KD 15, original price KD 55.

Tel: 66451465/55451465.

(C 2350) 2-6-2010 Toyota Camry Grande, model 2005, 6 cylinders, done 63,000 kms only, white color, excellent condition, cash price KD 2,850. Contact: 97213518. (C 2339) 30-5-2010

SITUATIon VACAnT

required live-in Indian Contact: housemaid.

66574800. (C 2346) 1-6-2010 Live-in full-time Indian housemaid.

Contact: 66574800. (C 2335) 30-5-2010

TrAnSporT Transport available from Abbassiya to Salmiya, Hawally, Shaab, Al Seef hospital (Ras Salmiya), Maidan Hawally, Farwaniya, Mina Abdulla, (available every half-an-hour). Contact: 99262556, 55204127, 99305742, 55568346.

(C 2348) A lady needs transport from Salmiya SAS restaurant to international clinic near Sultan Centre Salmiya, office timings reaching office by 8 am and return from office by 5 pm starting date from 6th June onwards.

Please call for details

66329575. (C 2349) 1-6-2010 SITUATIon WAnTED

Qualified accountant seeks employment with 20 years of Kuwait experience, handle up to finalizaiton, audit, MIS, advices, tax, investment for all kind of industry.

Please call: 66577069.

(C 2356) 2-6-2010

CHAnGE oF nAME I, Mohammad Rajan Khan, holder of Indian Passport No. F3274603, hereby change my name to Mohammad Lateef Khan, son of Sohan Khan.

(C 2353) I, Alphonso Albin Fernandes Anand, Passport No: Z1447802 issued in Kuwait, hereby confirm that I have changed name as follows Anand Alphonso Albin Fernandes. (C 2357) 2-6-2010 passport name: Alphonso Anand Fernandes Anand.

Passport No: Z1447802 issued in Kuwait, hereby confirm that I have changed my name as follows Anand Alphonso Albin Fernandes.

(C 2344) 31-5-2010

34

SPECTRUM

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Calvin

CROSSWORD 1007

Aries (March 21-April 19) Deadlines and projects may be running close to completion today. Things are working with rather than against you; do not hold back. However, do not overdo and try to go too far too fast. Let things take their natural course, which should be an easy one now. There will be a time for new accomplishments later today, during which insights and breakthroughs in organizational routine are in order.

You will have some really bright ideas about how to manipulate business to serve you best. The job that you are involved with today is changing into a bigger and better opportunity, but not necessarily a job you will become involved in for the rest of your life. With your financial skills you will be able to move on to bigger and better things soon.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) There will be less of an impulse now for the need for recognition. There is a growing sense of appreciating your life. This coming time may call for a change of approach and perhaps, life style. You may take an interest in your own psyche, religion and spiritual ideas. This is a time to absorb and take in new impressions and information. In summary, here is a natural breaking point, a time to let go of what has been occupying you for the last few years and assume a new attitude. This may mean a new job or a new project that is separate or within the job you already have. You may find some fun conversations with your friends this afternoon. Fashion-conscious, you make plans for the next shopping expedition; perhaps with these friends.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. A state in the western United States.

5. (Scotland) A small loaf or roll of soft bread.

8. An adult male person (as opposed to a woman).

11. Any loose flowing garment.

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

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

14. The content of cognition.

15. Being one hundred more than two hundred.

16. Tag the base runner to get him out.

17. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

19. The mission in San Antonio where in 1836 Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged and massacred American rebels who were fighting to make Texas independent of Mexico.

21. A fraudulent business scheme.

23. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

24. One of the five major classes of immunoglobulins.

25. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

27. 35th President of the United States.

28. An ancient Assyrian city on the River Tigris and traditional capital of Assyria.

31. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

33. A small roofed building affording shade and rest.

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

39. Of or relating to or affecting a lobe.

41. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

42. The compass point midway between northeast and east.

43. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

46. (of securities) Not quoted on a stock exchange.

47. Two-year-old sheep.

48. Mentally or physically infirm with age.

49. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

DOWN 1. In or relating to or obtained from urine.

2. A member of a pastoral people living in the Nilgiri hills of southern India.

3. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

4. A large number or amount.

5. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

6. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

7. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

8. Tropical Asian starlings.

9. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

10. A wealthy man (who made his fortune in the Orient).

18. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

20. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

22. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages.

26. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

29. A river in eastern France.

30. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.

32. A light touch or stroke.

34. (informal) Exceptionally good.

36. A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence).

37. The emotion of hate.

38. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

40. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

41. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

44. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

45. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Someone important or in authority may oppose your values and put a damper on your desires. You may be unable to appreciate their attitude--understanding will come. You are progressive and may feel slowed if you have to stop and straighten out a problem that you feel should not have happened in the first place.

You have a definite sense of mission. You enjoy putting into practice that which is good for all and may enjoy working with different cultures. This is where you enjoy working or helping the most. This may mean you have translation skills or you have found someone that has translation skills.

Ideas--philosophy and religion--are what you enjoy. You may travel, lend advice and be a teacher to others.

Non Sequitur Cancer (June 21-July 22) Your positive attitude lets you get right to the point today; and people listen. There is plenty of enthusiasm for whatever project is ongoing. You warm up to ideas and people quickly. Your inner self-confidence is admirable and burns with its own light. You can be very communicative, flexible, mental and other-oriented, particularly when you become relaxed with a particular audience. Circumstances can throw you into positions where you must use your mind and deal with communications, service or hidden interests. You may deal with education, psychology or teaching principles and techniques to others. Being expected to conduct a class, lecture or lead others is stressful but very rewarding at this time.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may become torn between an environment that is very comfortable and supportive versus a real need to grow, progress and push out on your own. You may put yourself in a position to choose your surroundings. Getting what you want may require some real compromising skills on your part; but you can do it. Perhaps a move or some additional real estate is in order. You have a love of history, versus future trends and older persons, versus younger, etc. Do whatever it is you need to complete your tasks and ask questions later. You are a born leader, always first and never afraid to go it alone. Your sense of mission makes for some impulsive, sometimes rash and brave actions. It may be your turn to cook a new food.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) This is an excellent day to be involved in teamwork. You may be sought after as just the person for a special job. You exhibit your patient attitude and are quite able to respond and build upon what is already in process. Change, however, may soon be in the air. Your own partiality for routine and the traditional may result in your feeling challenged by anything new or different. You could be struggling against change and progress, clinging onto the status quo. Although a conformist, you may surround yourself with partners and friends who are themselves unconventional and offbeat. You are willing to listen to others, take cues and then reflect and build upon that information. Friends are fun company tonight.

Libra (September 23-October 22) You are inclined to do things from outer necessity rather than for emotional or idealistic reasons, at least for the next few days. Your theories and mental activities are good.

Make that extra effort to have the patience it takes to let things ripen.

Everything conspires to reveal you at your most elegant, particularly in social situations. You have a lot of energy. You are responsible to the extreme, always taking on obligations and pushing yourself to the limit.

You pursue your obligations with much emotion and obvious enthusiasm.

You are disciplined when it comes to your needs and surroundings. Small and less are beautiful to you. You have a lot to teach and you enjoy guiding others. Take is easy and be good to yourself this evening.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The public loves you and it may be hard for you to avoid working with and for others. For now, you will work closely with others in some special project. Everyone sees you as genuine, giving and trusting. Someone searches for advice from you today and it would be good to be as helpful as you can--your ability to advise others is excellent. Others may see you y[]; they find it easy to take instructions from you. You enjoy helping others. Being successful in life is easy--you have a built-in sense of how to unravel even the most difficult problems.

Your abilities help you perform as a natural counselor or guide for others, particularly regarding vocational matters. Dance to a different beat.

Consider a creative writing class for fun.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You say what you mean today. You are right when it comes to questions of feelings--you may be most interested in matters of psychology, different cultures and history.

You can find support from all sides when it comes to any sort of mental activity--writing, speaking and all forms of communication. You exchange ideas with exquisite skill and it is exciting just being with you. Your high degree of mental concentration also makes you an excellent student; able to excel in speaking, writing and all types of communication skills. Your ambitions go hand-in-hand with communicating and using the mind and the two should never be far apart. You will find time this evening to get to know a new neighbor; there is much laughter.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yester

Yesterday’s Solution

To

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You are a born doer, with an incredible drive to accomplish and achieve.

Your ambitions are backed up by the will to get things done.

You would be great at research or any work that requires digging, searching and investigating. Looking through some paper work this afternoon you are able to change or update a budget to allow for some new goals. Short-term goals are important as well as the long-term goals you have been updating. Just as a raise or reward is important in a place of business, reachable shortterm goals are satisfying in your personal life. You are extremely creative when you allow for creative time in your day. Look around your home to find the area you want to improve or enhance and you will find your spirit lifted.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You are, no doubt, a touch too sober today, but when it comes to taking care of business, you really shine. Others may think you are older than you are, for you sometimes assume an authoritarian stance as well as a deep understanding of whatever you undertake to accomplish. You may even enjoy the thought of being older, and probably treat authority, the elderly and your teachers with great respect; if not reverence. Circumstances may urge you to great effort and hard work.

Things are working with rather than against you now, so don't hold back.

However, do not overdo and try to go too far too fast. Enjoy diving into a hobby this afternoon. Your mental energies, ideas, thoughts and so on may undergo some transformation--creating money.

Word Sleuth Solution

Pisces (February 19-March 20) With a great interest in the business and practical world, your brilliant mind excels in making career and management decisions. You like your career straight and conventional and you defy anyone who would suggest otherwise. This is a great time to be with others and to work together. If you are in sales you will find this a profitable time. Serving your family a meal this evening is very rewarding. You may find that they really enjoy the service and attention.

Besides . . . it is fun to treat other people to special times; it usually passes on a little information about you in the process. You show young people to respect their elders by the way you appreciate and show your concern with your own parents.

INFORMATION

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 22545171 Al-Shohada’a Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 22545171 Al-Nuzha Sabhan 24742838 22434853 Al-Helaly Al-Fayhaa 22545051 24711433 Al-Farwaniya Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 23927002 Al-Fahaheel Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 23980088 Ahmadi Al-Mangaf 23711183 23262845 Al-Shuaiba Al-Jahra 25610011 25616368 Al-Salmiya

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. Abidallah Behbahani 25717111 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

36

SPECTRUM

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

‘I

Try’ singer Macy Gray has admitted she only quit drugs because they made her look “really bad”. The ‘I Try’ singer - who has taken a number of illegal substances over the years - admits the main reason why she cut down on the amount of drugs she took was because they started affecting the way she looked. She told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper: “It’s vanity, really. At a certain age drugs make you look really bad. When you’re 20 you can party all night and look good; you wake up, throw on some sunglasses, you

A

A

ctress Selena Gomez wishes she could “lash out” without worrying about how her fans would react. The 17-year-old actress admits she would love to be able to get angry and reveal her true feelings about situations that annoy her, but is afraid of saying something which will cause her young admirers to be disappointed in her. She said: “I always ask myself, ‘Ok, what would my fans think of me if I made this decision to lash out or say something rude?’ I would never, ever want them to be disappointed in me, because they are the reason I’m here. So I’m honestly just thankful that they’ve made me think about my decisions more. Because I’m a kid, I’m a teenager, so if something

makes me mad, I wanna be like, ‘That p***ed me off’, or ‘I don’t like that.’ “ Although she has worked with a number of Hollywood’s biggest stars since she rose to fame, Selena is still not used to people being interested I her love life. She said to You magazine: “My ideal would be not to be known for who I’m dating, because eventually that’s all you will be known for. It’s hard, because people are curious about who’s in my life, but I want to be known for my work.

And I never want to view myself as any different or any better than anyone else. If I wanna go eat at a little restaurant that isn’t fancy, I’ll do it. If I wanna go out without make-up and not care what I look like, I will.”

ctress Amanda Seyfried admits she was “desperate” for Dominic Cooper to fall in love with her when they first met. The ‘Mamma Mia!’ actress has denied rumors she and her co-star have split up, but admits her feelings for the British hunk have always been much stronger than his are for her. She said: “I waited around.

I was pretty desperate for a while. It was about three years ago, and the desperation lasted for 18 months. I waited and waited while he figured his s**t out. It was meant to be, it was meant to happen, and I was meant to wait for him. At the time it’s hard and you don’t know if what you’re doing is right or wrong; that’ll come out later in life. “If I have strong feelings for someone, I’m going to tell them immediately and they can do what they want

T

eenage actress Emma Roberts admits she will never strip off and go topless for a movie because she thinks it’s “tasteless”.

The 19-year-old actress - who is the niece of movie star Julia Roberts - is adamant she won’t flash her breasts for a film role in the next few years because it is “tasteless”. She said: “I would show my back and my butt on camera, but I would never go topless. “Going topless is so tasteless, and I prefer to leave all that stuff to people’s imagination. But you never know what might happen. This is what I’m saying now, but in five years’ time it could be totally different.”

Emma has shot to fame in recent months, as she prepared for the release of her latest movie ‘4.3.2.1’. However, the pretty teenager has struggled with the interest in her private life and gets frustrated when people in America - where you must be 21 to drink alcohol - criticize her for enjoying a glass of wine when she’s in Britain, where you can drink alcohol aged 18.

She told The Times newspaper: “You feel very adult, sitting in London with a glass of wine, but because you’re not allowed to do it in Los Angeles, it is seen as bad. “It’s just kind of tough that I’m not allotted any room to make mistakes. I smoke occasionally. But because it’s me, it’s like, ‘Oh my God! You’re a terrible influence’.”

look great. Once you get into your 30s it takes a long time to shake it off. I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore, it’s starting to show!’ “ Although the mother-of-three - who raises children Aanisah, 15, Mel, 14 and Happy, 12, alone is getting older, she has felt a lot more comfortable in her skin since she turned 40 last September. She said: “I got over it real quick. I like saying I’m 40 better than I liked saying I was 39, which is like you’re on a ledge of something.”

with it. Thankfully, it’s usually been mutual in my life, but this relationship wasn’t mutual for a while.” Although Amanda claims she and Dominic are happy and settled in their relationship, the blonde beauty admits they have split up before. She added to heat magazine: “I walked away a couple of times, then I walked right back!

“We’re flippant and serious. In my first two relationships, I didn’t have that balance at all.

In my recent relationship, we have the perfect balance. We can go deep into thought and analyze things together, but then we can also be silly.

That’s what I love about Dominic - he can be so light and willing to give and take, and change. It’s a wonderful thing when you have that balance, and when yo`u don’t have it something is missing.”

Arterton loves shopping for bargains

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he ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ actress has become a huge fan of vintage stores because she knows she can get stunning items of clothing at cheap prices. She said: “Yesterday I bought an incredible pair of vintage, leather harem trousers in a shop in Los Angeles. I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the price tag and they were $38!” Although she likes a bargain, Gemma does enjoy getting dressed up for the red carpet because it means she can wear expensive gowns, something she wouldn’t day in everyday life. She

said: “Of course I enjoy it! I get to wear things that I would never be able to wear in my own life. As I do more work, I’ve been able to wear some really fantastic designers, like Valentino for example. I’m always excited to try things on and play designer dress up!” Despite being one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, the 24-year-old beauty is keen to stick to her UK style roots. She told vogue.com: “I’m always aware of keeping the British edge that I’m very proud of. My style is ever evolving, it’s all very exciting!”

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he eccentric ‘Telephone’ singer was booked to stay in London’s upmarket Dorchester hotel with her entourage, but after her staff checked in, she amazed onlookers by returning to her tour bus with her bodyguard, where they drove to a nearby Tesco supermarket and spent the night in the vehicle. A source said: “It was really bizarre. All Gaga’s luggage - about 20 laminated boxes and suitcases - were dropped off at the Dorchester and her crew at about 3am. “And 15 minutes later, the driver, one of her entourage and Gaga’s security guy got back on the bus and drove off, hitting the West Cromwell Road Tesco at about 3.30am. “They went down a ramp to park and Gaga got them to turn off the ignition and bedded down for the night.” The star - whose real name is Stefani Germanotta - was later treated to breakfast in her bus, before heading off to start work for the day. The source added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Seven hours later at 10.30am , a Mercedes SLK arrived, as well as a silver people carrier bringing a bag of shopping. “Her guard slipped her out of the bus and into the Mercedes. Both the cars drive off, with Gaga heading to a recording studio.”

he 19-year-old singer - who is currently single - admits she has a strict list of criteria when looking for a partner, with one of the most essential attributes being prowess in the kitchen. She said: “I think I have a thing for older men like Robert Downey Jr. “Tall dark and handsome... someone who cracks me up, makes me laugh, someone intelligent, someone who can cook, I can’t at all... so yes, someone who can cook better than me. That’s very important.” The ‘Woman On A Mission’ hitmaker even admitted she burst into tears when she met one of her biggest crushes, 56-year-old John Travolta. She told BANG Showbiz: “I met John Travolta at a Formula 1 event where I sang the national anthem. He was waving the flag at the start of the race and I was crying. The mayor introduced us... John has these really piercing blue eyes. I was just crying, and kept thinking ‘that’s Danny Zucko, that’s Danny Zucko!’ I used to watch ‘Grease’ over and over again.” The ‘Sweet About Me’ star would also like to go on a date with Jake Gyllenhaal, ten years her senior, but admitted she’d probably be so nervous she wouldn’t be able to speak to him. She said: “I can’t wait to see ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ with Jake Gyllenhaal, he’s pretty fine if I might say so. I probably wouldn’t be able to talk properly though because when I get nervous I can’t construct a sentence.”

— BangShowbiz

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

37

Music & Movies

Clay Aiken: From ‘Idol’ and beyond

US actresses, from left, Kim Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, wave upon arrival for the Japan Premiere of the film ‘Sex and the City 2’ in Tokyo yesterday.

—AP

By Belinda Goldsmith inger Clay Aiken says he’s returning to the music he loves with his fifth studio album since emerging seven years ago from the hit TV show “American Idol” which brought him fame but also some personal challenges. Aiken, 31, was thrust into the spotlight as runner-up in the second series of “Idol” and learned along the way to stand his ground whilst also accepting the glare on his private life.

When his “dear friend” music producer Jaymes Foster gave birth to his son Parker in 2008, Aiken decided to come out as gay, a decision he was not happy to make but is glad it is over. His fifth album, “Tried and True,” released on June 1, contains songs from the 1950s and 1960s such as “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Misty,” and two songs he sang while on “Idol” in 2003 — “Mack the Knife” and “Unchained Melody.” This month he also embarks on a co-headlining tour with Ruben Studdard, the winner of “Idol” when Aiken competed, and plans to tour with his new album early next year. Aiken, one of the top 5 best-selling “Idols”, spoke to Reuters about his new album and career:

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Q: Why go back to the ‘50s and ‘60s?

A: “This is more what I always wanted to do and is far more true to who I am than what I ended up doing after I got off “Idol.” You get off the show with a big record contract and the record company has to figure out what to do with these people they are handed. It is a bit of a challenge to create something out of nothing.”

seven years when people have tried to get me to dress extra cool for example but you just can’t try to be someone you are not. I feel like I am somewhat intelligent when it comes to making decisions about branching into this or that area but a lot of it has to do with luck and having good people work with you.”

Q: Do you still watch Idol?

A: “No, I haven’t watched it in years. I stopped watching it in the third season because it stressed me out too much. They were getting kicked off the show and my palms would start sweating. I cut the show out of my life to relieve some of the stress and found I was doing fine without it.”

Q: You’ve done about nine tours since 2003 and you were in the Monty Python musical “Spamalot” on Broadway until last year. Would you like to do more on stage?

A: “The stage thing I loved. Movies? No. Part of the reason I have been successful is that I have stayed open to different possibilities and for that reason I would not rule anything out. But I enjoy the live aspect. There is something about talk shows too with the live atmopshere that I enjoy.”

Q: You had a son, Parker, two years ago. How is he doing?

A: “He is doing quite well. He is healthy and happy and like any two-year-old. He tires me out.”

Q: Why these songs on your debut for Decca Records?

A: “These are songs that I grew up listening to in the car with my mum. They are beautiful melodies. They aren’t top 40 driven necessarily but they are called standards for a reason - they set the standard for what is great. I don’t think there are songs on the radio nowadays that meet that standard. There aren’t any new classics. What will we in 30 or 40 years time look back on and see as the classics from today?”

Q: Are you glad that the focus on your personal life has moved on after you came out publicly?

A: “It was not such a controversy. I think the controversy was more for me. I had been out with everyone I have worked with for years. But there is a fascination with this and you can’t live your life without people asking you questions so when my son was born I thought I would just knock all this out at one time. I didn’t want to have him deal with anything hidden or lies. I don’t know I am happy that I did it. I am happy it is over but I am sad it has to be done. No one has to come out to say they are straight.”

Q: What is the key to bulding success after “Idol”?

A: “I think everyone would love to have the answer to that! If I knew I would have bottled it. I think diversifying helps a little bit but remaining true to yourself also helps. There have been times in the past

Q: How do you cope with the attention that comes with fame?

A: “I stay at home most of the time. I don’t go out because I am lazy and boring and would rather stay at home.” — Reuters

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ritain’s Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, has told Oprah Winfrey she was drinking and “in the gutter” during a videotaped sting in which she apparently offered to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. “I’m aware of the fact that I’ve been drinking, you know, that I was not in my right place,” Ferguson said in an interview set to air on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” yesterday.

Ferguson said she had seen the video while traveling through airports recently but had not sat down to watch it closely: “I haven’t faced the devil in the face. Because I was in the gutter at that moment,” she said, according to a transcript released by the show on Monday.

Tape of the sting was posted on the website of London’s News of the World, which set

up the meeting. In it, Ferguson appears to ask for $40,000 in cash and 500,000 pounds ($718,500) by wire transfer, in exchange for introducing an undercover reporter to the prince. The newspaper’s sting operation has caused a major embarrassment for the 50year-old Ferguson, who has two daughters with Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth and fourth in line to the throne.

The couple divorced in 1996 and the prince, also known as the Duke of York, acts as Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is among the top-rated daytime television talk shows in the United States and is seen on 215 US stations and in some 144 countries around the world. —Reuters

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he April rescue of 115 workers from a flooded Chinese mine will be made into a film that will hit the screens in time for October’s National Day, state media said yesterday. Thirty-eight people died when the huge, state-run Wangjialing coal mine flooded in March as it was being built in Shanxi province in an accident blamed on lax safety standards. The film, provisionally titled “Eight Days and Eight Nights,” will trace efforts to reach trapped workers that led to the April 4 mass rescue which Chinese press dubbed a “miracle,” the Shanxi Evening News said.

Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi talks to reporters in Colombo yesterday.—AFP

India’s Salim Merchant brother of singing duo Salim-Sulaiman (right) talks to reporters during an event to promote the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards.—AFP The secretary to Sri Lanka’s tourism ministry, George Michael, said the three-day festival was a “wonderful opportunity to showcase the unique and exotic aspects of Sri Lanka to the rest of the world”. IIFA says it will help “bridge boundaries” between the neighboring countries, helping to promote discussion on economic and political issues in the wake of Sri Lanka’s civil

Bruce Beresford-Redman

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ollywood goes to Sri Lanka later this week for its glitzy annual awards ceremony, but the decision to hold the event in the capital Colombo has sparked a backlash from minority Tamils in India. The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), which has been held overseas every year since 2000, begins on Thursday and is designed to celebrate the popular Hindilanguage film industry and win new audiences abroad.

war that ended a year ago.

But Tamil opposition has grown ever since the venue was announced in April and some top Bollywood stars may not attend to avoid controversy. Opponents argue that far from providing a post-conflict economic boost and being a positive statement for the war-torn island, Bollywood’s presence in Sri Lanka legitimises President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government. Rajapakse is under pressure to submit to an international probe into alleged war crimes after his forces defeated the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year.

The United Nations estimates that at least 7,000 civilians died in the final months of fighting, which ended a separatist Tamil struggle that lasted nearly 40 years.

Leading the calls for a boycott, the pro-rebel tamilnet website headlined a recent article: “IIFA showbiz event blamed for promoting ‘paradise of genocide’.” The brand ambassador of IIFA, screen legend Amitabh Bachchan, and his actor son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai- Bollywood’s leading couple-have not yet confirmed their participation.

Media reports suggested that megastar Shah Rukh Khan may also opt out, citing a busy work schedule.

“There is a lot of protest from the (Tamil) Tiger lobby in Tamil Nadu to the Bollywood fraternity to boycott the IIFA Colombo awards,” Sri Lanka’s junior economic development minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said on Monday.

He was referring to the southern Indian state that is home to tens of thousands of Sri Lankan refugees. “But we will go ahead with the event as planned,” Abeywardene told reporters. Amid Tamil suspicion that India is using the awards to spread corporate influence in Sri Lanka, attempts have been made to dissuade top Bollywood stars from attending the event in solidarity with their legions of Tamil fans. Protests have been held outside Amitabh Bachchan’s homes in Mumbai, while some filmmakers in Tamil Nadu have called for an awards boycott. “The united boycott of the Indian film society will prove to be a lesson to the Sinhalese regime, which aspires to seek fame while hiding its treachery,” the Tamil Nadu Film Society said, referring to the Sri Lankan government. —AFP

The director and screenwriter have consulted with those who took part in rescue efforts, said the report, posted on popular web portal sina.com. The report said a set would be built replicating the underground shaft where the workers were trapped and the flood would be re-enacted using 3D imagery. The film, to be made by the Shanxi Film Studio, will cost an estimated 10 million yuan (1.5 million dollars) and is expected to be released around National Day on October 1, when patriotically themed movies are often shown.

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Tamils protest as Bollywood goes to Sri Lanka

By Phil Hazlewood

In this May 26, 2010 file photo, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, speaks at the Book Expo America in New York.—AP

By Mikael Wood

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nside a soundstage recently at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, Christina Aguilera was talking about the inspiration behind her 2006 album, “Back to Basics,” on which she paid tribute to the soul and blues artists who inspired her to sing. Or at least that was what she started to talk about.

Seemingly out of nowhere, she was describing the process that led to “Bionic,” her futuristic new disc. “Sorry,” Aguilera told the 200 or so audience members gathered for this taping of VH1’s “Storytellers.” “I get ahead of myself sometimes. But they can edit this. Cut and paste!”

As it happens, “cut and paste” goes a long way toward describing the choppy postmodern vibe on “Bionic,” due June 8 from RCA. A pronounced about-face from the warmly retro-

Mexican judge has ordered the arrest of Bruce Beresford-Redman, a producer of the “Survivor” reality TV show, for the murder of his wife in the resort of Cancun, a state prosecutor said. Monica Burgo, a Brazilian, was found dead in a water treatment tank at a luxury resort in Cancun on April 8 after Beresford had reported her missing.

“The attorney general’s office of the state has sufficient elements to issue an arrest order against Beresford for the aggravated homicide of Monica Burgo,” said Francisco Alor Quezada, the state prosecutor. Beresford-Redman left the country more than a week ago even though the authorities had taken away his passport and told him not to go anywhere.

In a statement published by People magazine, Beresford-Redman denied any involvement in his wife’s murder. “I am devastated at her loss; and I am incensed at the suggestion that I could have had anything to do with her death,” he said. “I am innocent.”— AFP

fied “Back to Basics”-which has sold nearly 1.7 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan-the 18-track set contains beat-driven collaborations with a host of edgy dancemusic acts, including M.I.A., Le Tigre, Peaches and Switch. More mainstream talent appears as well, in the form of Polow Da Don, Tricky Stewart and longtime Aguilera confidante Linda Perry.

To be sure, “Bionic” comes loaded with the requisite number of radio-bait hooks, not to mention a handful of stately ballads destined to appeal to fans of the singer’s 2002 smash, “Beautiful.” (That single’s parent album, “Stripped,” has sold more than 4.2 million copies, while Aguilera’s 1999 self-titled debut has sold nearly 8.2 million.) Yet with its grinding synth scapes and throbbing dance-punk grooves, “Bionic” also serves as a characteristically bold artistic statement from one of pop’s

China’s collieries are notoriously dangerous, as safety standards are often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coalthe source of about 70 percent of the country’s energy. The workers’ rescue was widely publicized but the Wangjialing disaster also highlighted that even large, state-linked facilities can be deadly. The mine was given the green light by the State Council, China’s cabinet, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, and had been promoted as a “first-class, safe and efficient, large modern mine.”—AFP

Musician Slash performs on stage in concert in the Amsterdam Paradiso, on May 31, 2010.

—AFP

least apprehensive superstars.

‘Nothing to prove’ “There’s some rebellion to it,” Aguilera said with a laugh, curled up in an armchair at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills a few weeks before the “Storytellers” taping. The singer, 29, had just finished a day of on-camera interviews, and at long last the heels came off and the hair came down. “But there’s no proving element to me,” she was quick to add. “At this point in my career, I’m over any and all weird comparisons or negativity.”

Much of the early online reaction to “Not Myself Tonight” (and its racy, S&M-inspired video) wondered whether Aguilera was feeling the need to play catch-up with Lady Gaga, who’s more or less come to dominate the dance-diva space in the years since “Back to Basics.” “In these post-Gaga times,” a post on

New York magazine’s Vulture blog asked, “can Aguilera carve out her piece of the popstar pie?” “I’m in it for the long haul, and a decade later in my career, I have nothing to prove,” Aguilera said. “To anyone who wants to be negative, it’s like, ‘I’m obviously relevant enough to you for you to care and to talk and to evoke negative feelings inside of you.”“ The singer said the new album is an expression of her femininity in all its forms: wife, mother, singer, actress. (After marrying Jordan Bratman nearly five years ago, Aguilera gave birth to the couple’s first son, Max, in 2008.) “‘Bionic’ to me is the definition of the superhuman abilities we as women have in everyday life,” she said. adding that the outre spirit of much of the music is a reaction to “feeling stifled” by the supposed exclusivity of any of those roles. “I’ve grown and changed, and I’ve learned so much. —Reuters

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Travel

Tourist Archana Srijeyanathan hikes the Light House Keepers Trail at Cape Point, South Africa, the southwestern tip of the Afican continent.

By Christopher Reynolds

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aybe it was impetuous of me to hand that money over to the young woman in Soweto. Possibly it was imprudent to slip on the harness and ride the caged industrial elevator to the top of that mural-covered utility tower turned bungee venue. Certainly it was unsettling to stand on the ledge, wind whistling in my ears and the township sprawling 300 feet below. “Five!” chanted the young men behind me. “Four! Three!

Two! ...”

But there’s no thrill without risk, right? This is what I told myself, and this must be what the high pooh-bahs of soccer were thinking when they brushed aside worries about crime, public health and infrastructure and decided to stage the FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.

Thousands of Americans must be thinking that way too: Although the US has little chance of winning the 32-team competition, Americans have bought more than 130,000 tickets, outpacing every country but South Africa itself.

In other words, lots of people will be taking leaps of faith around here in the days ahead. So I’ve just auditioned 10 adventures and excursions in and around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria-animal encounters, coastal walks, big-city explorations and the one flying leap, all within easy range of a World Cup venue. I stroked a cheetah, groomed an elephant, tasted crocodile (nothing like chicken) and checked out four stadiums. How often in life does a traveler behold the beautiful game and the Beautiful Game, furry cheek by stubbled jowl?

I did most of my exploring in the company of a guide or a group or local friends, and instead of walking anywhere at night, I took taxis. I did feel the gaze and heard the whispers of panhandlers and hustlers (in Cape Town’s Greenmarket Square, for instance).

And a few statistics lingered in my memory: The World Health Organization estimates South African life expectancies at 50 years for men, 53 for women.

The CIA estimates 18 percent of South African adults are infected with HIV. Although most US visitors to South Africa have no problems, the US State Department says, “criminal activity, often violent, is prevalent throughout the country.”

Fortunately, being here is much more pleasant than reading the stats about being here. In fancy restaurants and in a squatters’ camp, I got genial welcomes. Everywhere I turned, I found another World Cup countdown calendar, another squad of security guards in training, another entrepreneur grumbling about FIFA (the global organization that controls World Cup events and merchandise), another crew scrambling to finish a street improvement. Pride and anxiety all around.

More than 300,000 international visitors are expected during the competition’s 64 matches in 10 stadiums in nine cities. (So if you don’t already have lodging reservations, stay home until the Cup competition is over and prices drop.) Surely, all will hear

hood next to Ellis Park Stadium. But if you have tickets for one of the matches at the stadium (perhaps the June 18 contest between the US and Slovenia), remember: This is where, in 1995, South Africa’s then-President Nelson Mandela (now 91 and retired from public life) donned a green athletic shirt and walked onto the field to show solidarity with the nation’s mostly white national rugby team as it faced a World Cup final match. This is the boundary-breaking moment the movie “Invictus” was built around, and white South Africans still marvel at the power of that moment.

Near Ellis Park is a spot you can visitConstitution Hill, where South Africa’s highest court meets in a chamber partly built from recycled prison bricks. With cattle hides stretched across the justices’ tables, windows showing the feet of passersby and an open visitor area, the symbolism of the 2004 design is a virtual demand the jurists work with transparency and humility. Tours are offered every day but Sunday (www.constitutionalcourt.org.za).

the call of the vuvuzela (a plastic horn, beloved by local crowds, that sounds like a trumpeting elephant) and all can hope for a glimpse of shibobo (when an attacking player dribbles the ball between the legs of a defender).

Here are the adventures, including what happened on that ledge in Soweto.

Cape Town The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway is bound to be near the top of your Cape Town to-do list. The views are spellbinding (the mountaintop is about 3,500 feet above the sea), and the cost is a doable 160 rand (about $21) for an adult round-trip ticket. But you might never get up here. The cableway closes in rainy or windy conditions — 50 to 80 days a year, management says-and in the South African winter months of June and July, clouds often obscure the view. On my rainy three-day visit earlier this month, the service never opened. (And if the cableway closes, that means hiking conditions are difficult or impossible.)

Instead of setting aside a specific day for Table Mountain, leave your itinerary loose enough for dayswapping. That way, if you wake up to a clear morning, you can defer other plans (the South African Museum, perhaps, or the Castle of Good Hope) and head straight to the Lower Cable Station on Tafelberg Road, about 15 minutes’ drive from the city center. The cableway ride itself takes about five minutes.

Near Cape Town: Cape Point Cape Point isn’t the southernmost tip of Africa (it’s the southwesternmost), but because of its dramatic shape, it’s where you sense the continent running out. A towering rocky promontory shames Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher; stunted scrub slopes feel as remote as any quarter of South America’s Patagonia.

Clouds rippled across the sky at breakneck speeds; a wind-raked, roiling sea churned with the overlapping tensions of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Oh, and the baboons. They roam free, know no fear and will grab food and open your car doors and scramble in if you don’t lock up.

From the Cape Point parking area (which likely will be busy), walk or take a shuttle bus to the 1860 Cape Point Lighthouse on the high ground. Then, if you’re not acrophobic, ditch the crowds by taking the Light House Keepers Trail. The sign says this route is a 90-minute round-trip walk, which daunts most tourists who have bus drivers waiting. But if you’re reasonably fit, you can cover the ground in 45 minutes.

Clued in by guide Rob Salmon of Cape Convoy, I grabbed a sandwich to go from the restaurant (more nice views) and set off on a narrow trail cut into a steep, scrubby slope. The trail ends at Dias Point, a far finger of land that features another lighthouse (from 1910) and drop-dead views up and down the coast. On the way back to Cape Town, take Chapman’s Peak Drive, a 9-kilometer, 114-bend coast

Kids play in the recently completed Dhalamini Eco Park in Soweto, South Africa.— MCT photos road built by convicts from 1915 to 1922, that rivals California’s Highway 1 through Big Sur.

Green Point (which will host eight World Cup matches).

Near Cape Town: On the water Even if it’s only for 45 minutes, you need a spell on the water. My plan was to take a boat out from Gansbaai (about 1,500 rand, or about $200; www.whitesharkprojects.co.za), about two hours’ drive east of Cape Town, climb into a cage and hope to see sharks up close near Dyer Island, a.k.a. Shark Alley. The area is one of the world’s best for sighting sharks, either below the surface or breaching, and April-September is said to be peak season, not only for sharks but also for watching Southern right whales from the shore at nearby Hermanus. But as is common in winter, a storm scrubbed that excursion.

So I settled for a quick zip on a tourist boat around Hout Bay (about 45 rand, about $6). There were seals on rocks out there, but the real appeal was Sentinel Rock, looming in the mist, and the boiling, foamy waves. Once you’ve risen and fallen on 10-foot swells (some days, they’re 30 feet), it’s easier to picture all the ships that have wrecked around here. You can also sign on to a shark excursion (www.apexpredators.com) from Simon’s Town, about 45 minutes from Cape Town.

Easier still, you could take a Robben Island excursion (about three hours) or dinner cruise from Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a glitzy gathering of restaurants and shops just a couple of blocks from the new 70,000-seat Cape Town Stadium at

Near Cape Town: The Cape Winelands Winemaking in the Cape area dates to the 17th century, when Dutch settlers and French Huguenots began planting here. Now scores of wineries thrive around the cities of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschoek, amid scenery more dramatic than most of the California wine country. Although the serious wine person will debate which tasting rooms deserve visits, let me offer these words to the not-so-serious: Go to Stellenbosch (about 30 miles outside Cape Town) and check out the palatial tasting rooms, cellar and grounds of erstwhile golfer Ernie Els (www.ernieelswines.com), built in 2004.

Besides well-regarded red wines, you can admire photos of Els’ sporting triumphs and bask in the Napa-on-the-Atlantic grandeur of it all. Then, for less grandeur and more action, head to the nearby Spier winery (www.spier.co.za), a vast enterprise where the tasting room is joined by a 155-room hotel, several restaurants, swimming pools, spa, craft market, horse stables, amphitheater, eagle-rehabilitation center and a cheetah outreach project where you can see fast cats up close and, for a few dollars more, pet one.

In Johannesburg: Law, disorder and rugby Just about the worst move you could make in Johannesburg, many locals say, would be to linger after dark in crime-ridden Hillbrow, the neighbor-

In Johannesburg: Soweto For the World Cup faithful, the center of the universe will be Johannesburg’s dramatically upgraded Soccer City Stadium, site of the tournament’s first match (South Africa versus Mexico on June 11) and its final one on July 11. Locals call it the Calabash, because its pixilated red-and-brown exterior reminds them of a traditional pot for preparing food or brewing beer.

But if you’re curious about South African society, another vital stop is just a few miles away: Soweto.

Born in the early 20th century as a residence for black male laborers, the township received global attention in the 1970s and ‘80s as a site of profound poverty and key battles in the campaign against apartheid. Now it’s a big chunk of Johannesburg (40 to 100 square miles, depending how you count) with two malls, a major hospital and an estimated 2 million or more residents, some in spacious residences with water and electricity that would look at home in Simi Valley, others in squatters’ shacks. (Imagine if Tijuana were part of San Diego.) Sign on for a daylong tour and you’ll see Vilakazi Street, where Mandela lived in the 1940s and ‘50s and where Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lives now.

I took away a more personal impression from the Motsoaledi Informal Settlement (a.k.a. squatters’ camp), where about 20,000 people live in shacks and unemployment is estimated at 60 percent. “There is no electricity here,” resident tour-guide Mandla Shongwe explained. “People are using paraffin for cooking, so there are a lot of fires, especially in winter.” Still, Shongwe said: “There is a difference between living in poverty and living in misery.”

In Johannesburg: The Apartheid Museum Make time for this. South Africa’s history is a tangled, bloody, inspiring, irony-and-surprise-ridden story, especially the apartheid years from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. This provocative museum

See next page >>

Guests get a chance to groom an elephant at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hartbeespoort Dam.

Scores of restaurants and shops as well as harbor cruises await visitors at Victory & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa.

Body surfers take advantage of the large wave pool at the water park in Sun City, South Africa.

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SPECTRUM

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Travel

Where to stay

surrounded by high walls and an electric fence. Spacious rooms and bathrooms in a contemporary mansion purpose-built as a B&B. (Apex has not yet added Pathways to its website.) Doubles from about $105 a night.

In Cape Town Cape Hollow Boutique Hotel, 88 Queen Victoria St; 21-423-1260; www.capetownhollow.co.za. A grown-up, low-key, 54-room retreat across the street from the South African Museum and planetarium.

Mountain-facing rooms have great views on clear days. Spa. Breakfast in downstairs restaurant is included. No Wi-Fi above the first floor. Doubles begin at about $120.

Where to eat In Cape Town • Mama Africa, 178 Long St, 21-426-1017; www.mamaafricarest.net. Cuisine from all over Africa, including many game meats, in dark rooms full of folk art and live music, heavy on the marimba. (I liked the hunger’s game potjie, but the crocodile kebabs were chewy.) Main dishes $7-$23.

Gra nd Daddy Hotel, 38 Long St ; 21-4247247; www.granddaddy.co.za. A historic four-story building now rendered so hip that travelers older than 35 may feel geriatric.

Crowning touch: a rooftop “penthouse” of seven Airstream trailers. (But I wouldn’t book a trailer-the standard rooms are more spacious and comfortable.) Doubles from $130.

In Stellenbosch • Apprentice(at)Institute of Culinary Arts, Oude Hoek Centre, Andringa Street; 21887-8985, www.icachef.co.za/team(underscore)olive.php. Food by student chefs (in my case, excellent lamb ravioli) makes a good lunch option. Good prices and a stylish setting on a street full of art galleries. Main dishes about $7-$10.

In Johannesburg Melrose Arch Hotel, 1 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch; 11-214-6666; www.africanpridehotels.com/melrose-arch-hotel. About 119 flashy, luxurious rooms, pool, restaurant and every amenity you’d imagine in a multi-use complex that’s at least as glitzy and thoroughly policed as anything you’d find in Orange County. Playful design (note the oversized coat hangers inside and tin buckets outside). Popular with business travelers, which means higher prices on weekdays. Doubles from $220 but more generally from $272.

In Johannesburg • Lucky Bean, 16 7th St, Melville; 11-4825572, www.luckybeantree.co.za. Bustling place with popular patio in a BoHo neighborhood. Seasonal produce. Lots of organic and biodynamic wines on menu. (Known as Soulsa until late 2009.) Main dishes $9-$17.

• Doppio Zero, 10 Glen Eagles Road, Greenside; 11-646-8740, www.doppio.co.za.

Set on a block full of busy restaurants (mostly Italian), this one was born as a bakery in 2002. Now it’s grown into a proper restaurant with several locations in three cities. Lots of pizza (great crust) and pasta.

Main dishes $5-$31.

• Meat Co, 6 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch; 11-684-1787; www.themeatandwineco.com.

A modern steakhouse with a big patio in a

Pa thw ays Guest House, 99 Auckland Ave, Auckland Park; 11-888-1735; www.apexcom.co.za. Pathways, which has 11 suites, opened in January. It’s the newest of four B&Bs run by Apex Accommodations in the same upscale, university-adjacent, slightly Bohemian area. Like most other properties in the residential neighborhood, Pathways is

salubrious mall in the city’s northern suburbs. I liked the oxtail. Main dishes $11$35.

Where to go • In Stellenbosch, Ernie Els winery, www.ernieelswines.com, and Spier Winery, www.spier.co.za.

• Between Johannesburg and Pretoria, Elephant Sanctuary, Hartsbeespoort Dam: www.elephantsanctuary.co.za.

• Between Johannesburg and Pretoria, Lesedi Cultural Village: www.lesedi.com.

• In Johannesburg, Apartheid Museum: www.apartheidmuseum.org.

• In Soweto, Orlando Towers: www.orlandotowers.co.za.

• In Pretoria, Voortrekker Monument: www.voortrekkermon.org.za.

What to know • Traveling alone can be risky in South Africa, especially after dark. These companies offer group or individual tours, depending on your interests and budget.

• Thompsons Holidays, 31-275-3500; www.thompsonsafrica.com. One of the largest tour operators in the country, Thompsons offers scores of day-trips and multi-day itineraries and has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

• In Cape Town, Cape Convoy tours, 72-6503755; www.capeconvoy.com. This is a small operation run by longtime local Rob Salmon, who gives day trips a personal touch.

• In Johannesburg, Hawkeye Safaris, 11-8868901; ww.hawkeyesafaris.com. Another small outfit, Hawkeye specializes in wildlife trips but can also arrange city excursions in and around Johannesburg.

To learn more • FIFA: www.fifa.com/worldcup.

• South Africa tourism: www.southafrica.net.

—MCT

Tourists snap photos of performers along the waterfront area of Cape Town, South Africa.

Tourists hike paths along Table Mountain to get views of where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet at Cape Town, South Africa.

>> From previous page (www.apartheidmuseum.org), opened in 2001, is the place to take it in. Allow two or three hours, even if you don’t usually linger in museums.

trunk-kiss from one, there’s the Elephant Sanctuary (www.elephantsanctuary.co.za) at Hartbeespoort Dam.

Near Johannesburg: Critters up close Some of the best wildlife game-viewing in South Africa is at Kruger National Park-which is convenient if you’re headed to watch a match in the nearby city of Nelspruit, or if you’ve set aside a few days for travel around the country. But for travelers who want to grab game encounters closer to Johannesburg, Pilanesburg Game Reserve (www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za) is an easier choice, about 90 minutes from Johannesburg or Pretoria, next door to the Sun City casino and entertainment complex. Or, if you’d need to stick within an hour of Johannesburg but still want to reach out and touch an elephant or get a big, wet

Near Johannesburg: Pretoria Johannesburg’s first gold boom occurred in the late 19th century, and much of the money has since migrated to its well-secured northern suburbs, where many of the best hotels and restaurants are.

(For a taste of that good life, have a sunset drink amid the tribal designs and face-painters of the massive Moyo restaurant at Zoo Lake in the Randburg area, then head for dinner at one of the flashy eateries at Melrose Arch.)

If you keep traveling north 30 more miles, you’ll hit Pretoria. This leafy city is the seat of South Africa’s executive government, home to the stolid old buildings around Church Square, and the century-old

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, which will host six World Cup matches, including US -Algeria on June 23.

After downtown Joburg and Soweto, Pretoria feels like a different country, its history dominated

by Afrikaner farmers (aka Boers), mostly descended from Dutch, German and French immigrants, who came to South Africa centuries ago. These are the white farmers who fought the British for control of the country in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the dogged fighters whose leaders instituted apartheid in the 1940s.

In all of South Africa, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more potent symbol of those old ways than the Voortrekker Monument at the edge of town. It’s a solemn stone box atop a series of steps, built in 1940 to commemorate the Boers’ defeat of Zulu forces in the early 19th century. It gave me the willies.

By Harry R Weber

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ast Memorial Day, Ronald Dolly spent the long weekend in Miami Beach with two friends. This year, the destination is the same, but the quarters are closer: 11 people, two cars, one hotel room. “There are a lot of us, so it will be a lot cheaper,” Dolly, a student from the Atlanta area who studies health care management, said Friday. He figured the trip would work out to an average of less than $40 per person. Welcome to another scaled-back summer of travel. More people will hit the road than did last year, but their budgets will be even tighter than in 2009, thanks to persistently high unemployment, stock markets in retreat and the fragile economy.

Auto club AAA says about 32.1 million Americans will travel over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, roughly 5 percent more than last year. Families will spend an average of $809, or $67 less than a year ago. They’re knocking down the cost, travel agents say, by staying closer to home, choosing less-expensive modes of transportation or by picking destinations based on the best fares and lodging they can find.

In summers past, Dennis Chang and his family visited Disney World or Jamaica. But this year, with his wife recently out of work, the 33-year-old clothing designer from Laurel, Maryland, says the family is scaling back. The more likely destination for this summer is

In this file photo taken May 25, 2007, Sid Moreno, of Moorpark, Calif, prepares to drive off the lot in a 29-foot motor home at Expedition Motor Homes in Calabasas, Calif, before heading for a Memorial Day vacation.—AP Virginia Beach, Virginia, a four-hour drive away, with sandwiches in the car and hunting for discounted tickets to theme parks along the route.

Debbie Dixson, an airline bag checker from St Louis, can get cheap tickets to New York or Paris through her job. But the cost of food, lodging and entertainment in a big city would

Near Johannesburg: The high-up lowdown For an easy bird’s-eye view of downtown Joburg, try the 50th-floor observation deck of the Carlton building, which rises above a mall. Or you could do what I did. We were in Soweto, driving by the Orlando Towers, a pair of concrete cooling towers (picture Three Mile Island) that helped deliver electricity to the city from the 1950s until 1998. Since then, the towers have been covered top to bottom by colorful murals.

And since 2008, the towers have been rigged with gear for bungee jumping and something called “power swinging,” which is like rappelling (so you go down feet first, not head-first). The tower spoke to me.

Soon I was stepping into the orange shipping containers that serve as the operation’s offices, watching a couple of other jumpers, inquiring

quickly wipe out whatever she saved. So she and her husband will instead drive to Douglas, Michigan, to meet their six kids for a week’s stay in a cabin along Lake Michigan.

While the economy is recovering, travel has bounced back slowly, says Steve Piraino, senior economist at IHS Global Insight. His firm attributes it to high unemployment, still hovering near 10 percent. The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending was stagnant in April and is at its weakest level in seven months. The savings rate rose last month, showing that more people are holding on to their money in uncertain economic times.

Hotels and resorts are trying to entice people into longer stays with lower rates or discounts at restaurants and spas. As a result, the average room rate is down slightly to about $95, according to travel research firm STR. It was $107 just two years ago.

In states from Texas to Florida that are threatened by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, resorts are offering free golf and complimentary room nights. Some have promised a full refund if the oil hits popular beaches.

Some theme parks are offering specials on traditionally slower days. At Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, guests who stay three nights or more can buy a special $89.95 pass good for unlimited trips to the theme park, zoo, botanical garden and museum. A standard one-day pass is $52.95. The vast majority of

about prices (360 rand, about $48, for a power swing, 60 rand, about $8, for a ride to the viewing platform) fatalities (none so far) and traffic (40 jumpers on a busy Saturday). Then I was up top, trying to keep cool.

“Look,” I wanted to say. “I can see Desmond Tutu’s house from here.” But what came out was: “Um. Feeling some nerves.” “Perfectly natural,” said the jump master. Then came the countdown.

And then I took the big step and plunged in freefall for a purported 3.5 seconds (it felt like less).

As tension on the ropes increased, my fall slowed and I swung back and forth, those enormous murals growing and shrinking and coming and going at crazy angles, the sound system throbbing below. Eventually the Earth came up to gently greet me. It was a hoot. I hope the World Cup works out the same way.

Americans drive to their summer vacation spots, and they should get a break at the pump in the weeks ahead. The nationwide average for gas is $2.75 a gallon, and analysts think it could fall as low as $2.65 by July 4.

AAA says about 28 million Americans will take road trips over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, 1.6 million more than last year.

About 2.15 million will fly, up slightly from a year ago. For fliers, finding a deal will be more difficult. During the recession, airlines cut back on the number of planes they fly, and fewer available seats means higher fares.

From June through August, domestic airfares are 24 percent higher than last year, averaging $321 per round trip, according to faretracking website Bing Travel. Not everyone is cutting back, of course, particularly young professionals, people with stable jobs and the affluent, according to recent travel surveys.

“I usually take a weeklong vacation, but this time I’m gone for two weeks,” said lobbying firm employee Debra Saiki of Honolulu, while waiting recently at Boston’s South Station to catch an Amtrak train to New York.

If the job market improves, more people will be able to travel, Piraino’s firm says. And they’ll spend more to do so. But until then, Chang and many others will reluctantly opt for the steering wheel instead of a fold-down tray table. “We’re usually a flying family,” he said. “I don’t like to drive more than an hour.”—AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Woo-hoo! Homer Simpson named top character in 20 years

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eer-swilling doughtnut-lover Homer Simpson has been named the greatest character created for television and film in the past 20 years. The star character of long-running US cartoon series “The Simpsons” beat schoolboy wizard Harry Potter and vampire slayer Buffy to take top place in the survey for US entertainment magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Simpson’s creator, Matt Groening, said millions of people were able to identify with Homer with his catchphrase “D’oh.” “The Simpsons,” broadcast in more than 90 countries, is the longest-running US TV series in prime time, now in its 21st season. “People can relate to Homer because we’re all secretly propelled by desires we can’t admit to,” Groening was quoted as telling Entertainment Weekly.

“Homer is launching himself head-first into every single impulsive thought that occurs to him. His love of whatever...is a joy to witness.” Harry Potter, created by British author JK Rowling and played by actor Daniel Radcliffe in six films, was described as a “global icon” to take the second place in the magazine’s poll. The title character of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, was third in the list, followed by Tony Soprano from HBO drama series “The Sopranos” and comic-book villain the Joker, played by late Australian actor Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Rachel from “Friends”; Edward Scissorhands from the movie of that name; Hannibal Lecter, played by British actor Anthony Hopkins; Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City”; and cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. The list of top 100 characters was released Monday to mark the 20th anniversary of Entertainment Weekly. —Reuters

A worker works atop a giant sculpture of a soccer player, made of soft drink crates on the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg, yesterday. The square will be used as an entertainment park where World Cup Soccer matces will be screened on giant screens. —AP

Artist Louise Bourgeois dies in New York F

rench-American contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois, known for her series of giant metal spiders, died Monday in New York at the age of 98, a spokeswoman said. “I am very sad to confirm that Louise passed away this morning at Beth Israel Hospital after suffering a heart attack on Saturday night,” said Wendy Williams, managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Among her most famous pieces are a series of giant spiders presented as symbols of the mother, entitled “Maman,” with one standing more than 30 feet (nine meters) high outside the National Gallery of Canada.

“The Destruction of the father,” a 1974 installation, depicts her traumatic relationship with her father.

Bourgeois, inspired at the beginning of her career by Max Ernst and Constantin Brancusi, had never classed herself into a particular artistic grouping, preferring instead to pursue her own personal brand of art. “All my inspiration comes from my childhood, from my education, from France at a certain moment in my life,” the artist once said.

The news came as an Italian foundation was preparing an exhibition of her work to open in Venice on Friday featuring little-known works in cloth as well as sketches from between 2002 and 2008. She had been actively involved in the preparations until two days ago, said foundation president Alfredo Bianchini.

Indian entrepreneurs chase the ‘pink rupee’

By Rupam Jain Nair

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In this photo provided by the Louise Bourgeois Archive, Louise Bourgeois is seen in her studio circa 1946. —AP Photos The show at the foundation from June 5 to September 19 also features collages and other assembled works dating from the 1960s created from Bourgeois’ own clothes to tell “intimate and symbolic” stories. The artist

would “continue to live through her work,” Bianchini said, paying homage to her “great energy” and creative capacity. Some of Bourgeois’ works have fetched over a million dollars at auctions in recent years.

In this 1990 file photo released by the Guggenheim Museum shows Louis Bourgeois alongside her sculpture “Eye to Eye, 1970.”

In this Oct 3, 2007 file photo, French-born artist Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture of a giant spider, Maman 1999, stands outside the Tate Modern in London.

Born in Paris on December 25, 1911, Bourgeois moved to the United States in 1938 where she produced the bulk of her emotionally powerful and provocative art which explored the traumas of her childhood and sexuality. Her parents owned a studio that restored tapestries. She had a troubled relationship with her father, never forgiving him for his infidelity to her mother.

Bourgeois studied art in Paris and in 1938 married American art historian Robert Goldwater and left for New York. She became a US citizen in 1951 and had three children before being widowed in 1973. She is survived by her two sons Alain and Jean-Louis.

Her third son Michel died in 1990.

Conceptual artist Jenny Holzer said she “orbited Bourgeois” and that “my artist friends and I are crying today.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute to “a very great artist” who “never stopped creating and renewing herself in her art.”

Bourgeois had been able to “reach a higher truth, rich in its contradictions, avoiding the trap of the latest trends,” he added. Sarkozy met Bourgeois when he awarded her the Legion d’Honneur in New York in 2008. French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand spoke of his sadness at the news of her death. With her death, the world had lost “a great artist, indomitable and universal,” he said in a statement issued late Monday. —AFP

anjay Malhotra, the owner of an Indian travel company, knows his target market-so he seeks out and recruits gay-friendly guides, taxi drivers and hotel managers. “Nobody who works for me laughs or passes a silly remark if two men are obviously partners. They treat gays as anyone else because I have hand-picked these people,” he said.

Malhotra’s company, Indjapink, is a bold venture offering custom-designed travel packages for gay men who are keen to explore India but who are often victims of what he calls “cheap abuse and insults.”

Sanjay Malhotra, “We identify the needs of gay travposes at his ellers,” he said. “People who look after our clients are all aware of and respect office in New their sexual preference, ensuring they Delhi. —AFP can travel without fear of discrimination.”

In a landmark ruling by the Delhi High Court last year judges said that a ban on homosexual acts, in place since British colonial times, was discriminatory and unconstitutional. Gay advocacy and human rights groups were delighted, but homosexuality still carries a massive stigma in India, and the court ruling triggered protests from Hindu, Muslim and Christian groups who denounced same-sex relationships as against divine and natural law.

Malhotra, who is also a professional fashion designer, said that while the fight to gain acceptance continues, savvy marketers and entrepreneurs are now chasing the “pink money”. In many parts of the West, the purchasing power of the gay community has long been acknowledged in areas of retail from clothes and travel to bars and nightclubs. “If there is a market for the pink dollar and pink pound, then it is time for pink rupee in India to make its presence felt,” said Malhotra.

“Gay men are the biggest spenders on lifestyle products. They have maximum disposable incomes and do not hesitate to pay a bit extra if their needs are addressed,” he said. Lucknow-based historian Saleem Kidwai, co-author of a 2001 book called “Same-Sex Love in India”, said he was flooded with offers from Indian publishers to write books about-and for-gays and lesbians.

“Until recently, publishers would outright refuse to print such books, fearing controversy and attacks by hardline groups,” said Kidwai, who is researching Sufi saints who have penned verses in support of gay lifestyles. “But now they demand it, and are commissioning writers to focus on these sorts of subjects,” he said.

Sylvester Merchant, a gay activist based in Gujarat state, said the emergence of small enterprises focusing on gay and lesbian clients was a reflection of cultural changes in some sectors of Indian society.

He is about to launch a company taking tourists to temples dedicated to Bahucharaji, the goddess of transsexuals, as well as shrines of so-called “gay” saints and ancient sculptures depicting same-sex courtship and intercourse. “Creating an economy around homosexuality is helping us to justify our existence,” he told AFP. “The idea is to enlighten gays and lesbians, many of whom worry about their natural sexual preference and choose to live in denial.” A small number of hotels, restaurants, shops and night clubs are now catering to homosexual customers in big cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengalaru as they try to tap into a discreet but lucrative niche market.

“Worldwide, pink money is valued in billions of dollars across a variety of sectors. It is high-time India cashed in,” said Ravi Dhaliwal, manager of a swish nightclub in the eastern city of Kolkata. Dhaliwal has been organising private parties for the gay community since 2009 and said business was growing every month. “We are now planning to start queer-friendly brunches, fashion shows, painting and photo exhibitions. There is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow,” he said. —AFP