28 Jun

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

40 PAGES

MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010

RAJAB 16, 1431 AH

NO: 14773

150 FILS

Teachers burdened to mark final exam ‘bundles’

Palestinians seek basic rights in Lebanon

G20 seeks balance in uneven recovery

Malaysia reality TV seeks young Muslim leader

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conspiracy theories

Before it is too late

By Badrya Darwish

A

ll what we need right now is a religious dispute. As if things are so perfect and all is well and our parliamentarians, as we said 1000 times before, have no worries or problems or issues to handle. Their agendas are empty and they need topics to discuss before they take off for their four-month holidays.

The new hype is religion. I think this is a red light nobody should touch or come near it. Anyone who touches this topic is not doing it for the sake of Kuwait. Just look at our northern neighbor and you will get my drift. What did they benefit from the sectarian division except killing each other and having a massacre everyday on the streets of Baghdad coming from both sides.

Outsiders use this state of affairs for their benefit. Please, you are living happily in Kuwait with all the problems we have. But if we compare our problems to those of some other countries one could safely say that we are in paradise. All of us are living peacefully regardless of tribe, sect, color or religion.

Hamdulilah (Thank God), we have security; we have peace; everybody goes shopping and has food on his table. Most people have all the necessary commodities. Some 98 percent of the nation has all the commodities and comforts of life. If we just sit for a moment and compare ourselves to other nations we should thank God for what we have.

Why are we artificially creating a problem for our country? These problems are not a joke. We are not talking about writing off debts, housing or women working after midnight or increasing the students’ allowances or opening the sheesha cafes after midnight. We are not talking about the blackouts or the stock market. I know all these issues are important and they should not be existent in a country such as Kuwait.

But, but, but. ..The worst part is the lack of electricity but even if we suffer for a week it will not ruin Kuwait. There are compensations and generators. But if we start a religious war there is no compensation, there is no way out. It is one way only - killing and bloodshed. So, all sit down in your luxurious villas and think nicely of the comforts you are enjoying or wherever you are during your holidays.

Contemplate on the losses which will fall on all of you should a Sunni-Shiite war start in Kuwait, God Forbid. Do not ignite the light. Do not even reach out for the match because you will burn your own hands before you burn others. Do not dream that outside countries will come to save you and give you the same comforts you are getting here in Kuwait.

Leave the curriculum on the side and let everyone practice his religion and beliefs the way he likes; dictate your own methods and religion to your family and household; teach religion to your own children the way you think is correct. If we are talking about changing curricula, let’s not specify only religion topics.

Maybe the whole curriculum of education in Kuwait needs to be revised. Leave it for experts and professionals to do it without you interfering whether Sunni or Shiites in it.

Israeli ‘spy’ nabbed Another ‘valuable catch’ BEIRUT: Lebanese security authorities have arrested a senior executive at state-owned mobile telecom firm Alfa on suspicion of spying for Israel, security sources said yesterday.

“Army intelligence officials are questioning him. They have also arrested another ‘valuable catch’,” one of the sources told Reuters, without elaborating. The army has refused to comment. No one was available at Alfa to comment.

Lebanese newspaper ad-Diyar said army intelligence had arrested Alfa’s head of transmissions and broadcasting with the charge of “supplying Israel with sensitive information that harm Lebanese national security”. AdDiyar, which did not mention a source, said the executive was detained on Thursday and army intelligence officials were questioning him to find out who else had been working with him.

“His job is a sensitive position because he is able to access information that few others can get,” ad-Diyar said. The sources did not identify the suspect’s name to Reuters and ad-Diyar only released his initials as “S K.” Continued on Page 14

MPs pass 2 women rights bills, reject 3 27 lawmakers call for extension of assembly term

KUWAIT: Some Kuwaiti women watch a parliamentary session yesterday.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday passed two draft laws for Kuwaiti women’s rights but rejected three others with the help from the government who later combined with its supporters to shoot down the law that calls for writing off interest on Kuwaiti loans.

Angr y over the tur n of events, there were mixed reactions from various sections of MPs, but many of them criticized the government and 27 of them signed a statement calling against passing the 2010/2011 budget to force the extension of the current assembly term.

The drama began as the government voted against five draft laws to enhance the civil and social rights for Kuwaiti women but two of them were passed and the three others failed to get the required number. Women MPs strongly criticized the government after the session with Aseel Al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti insisting that they will resubmit the rejected laws for consideration.

Government spokesman and Communications Minister Mohammad AlBaseeri said that the gover nment backs women’s rights but it was forced to oppose the laws because the government was not consulted before the concerned committees approved them.

The first law passed on women’s rights amends the civil service law to grant Kuwaiti women the social allowance if their husbands do not get it.

C o n t i n u e d o n Pa g e 1 4

Tehran looms large in Saudi-US summit RIYADH: Saudi doubts over US-driven sanctions on Iran, the flagging Middle East peace process and Afghanistan will be the focus of King Abdullah’s talks at the White House this week, analysts say. Tomorrow’s meeting between President Barack Obama and the 86year-old sovereign of the Middle East oil giant, their third, comes after the sacking of the US commander in Afghanistan and with Iran still defiant over its controversial nuclear program.

Obama is expected to urge Saudi patience on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and seek its help in shoring up support in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the fight against the Taleban.

The two sides could also agree arms deals to build Riyadh’s defensive capabilities against Iran’s threat, including a long-pending request for as many as 72 F15 Eagle tactical fighters, according to defense industry sources.

Continued on Page 14

CIA chief: Iran could have nukes by 2012 Panetta hopeful of flushing out Bin Laden

BLOEMFONTEIN: Germany’s Thomas Mueller (top) scores his side’s fourth goal past England goalkeeper David James during their World Cup match at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein yesterday. — AP (See Pages 18-20)

Dubai flies higher with new airport DUBAI: Debt-laden Dubai opened its second airport yesterday, three weeks after its flagship carrier Emirates placed a major order for Airbus 380 superjumbos, enforcing its status as an air transport hub. The first plane landed on the sole runway of the Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport-named after the emirate’s ruling family, Dubai Airports said in a statement.

Three air freight companies have begun operations from the new airport with 12 others due to follow, it said. The first phase is being confined to freight traffic, with a capacity to handle 250,000 tons annually while passenger traffic was scheduled to begin in March 2011, with an annual capacity of five million passengers.

“We have achieved another important step towards completing” the airport, said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed AlMaktoum, the head of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.

Situated on the desert outskirts of Dubai and close to the Jebel Ali port and its large free zone, DWC-Al Maktoum International is touted to become the world’s largest airport when completed at an undisclosed date. But authorities said that when it is all up and running the new airport will be able to handle 160 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo, and have five runways.

Dubai, a city of around two million people, already boasts the biggest airport in the Middle East, which handled 42 million passengers in 2009 - a

DUBAI: A handout picture shows the first plane which landed yesterday on the sole runway of the new airport, which is touted to become the world’s largest when completed, with services initially confined to cargo traffic. — AFP

figure expected to surge to 100 million by 2020, said Jamal Al-Hai, Dubai Airports Senior Vice President for Strategic Affairs. “Our development follows a strategy aimed at turning Dubai into the centre of the new silk route,” linking east to west, he said.

Thanks to the strategic location and developed infrastructure of Dubai, which has established itself as a popular tourist destination and a regional business hub, air transport accounts for over 25 percent of the emirate’s gross domestic product, Hai said. He said that the capacity of the current Dubai airport stands at 65 million passengers, and should increase to 75 million in 2012 with the completion of the third concourse that will be exclusively used by the A380 superjumbos.

Emirates, the largest Middle East carrier, had earlier this month reinforced its status as the largest single customer of the Airbus A380, by placing a new order for 32 units worth 11.5 billion dollars. The order made in Berlin brought Emirates’ total orders of the superjumbo jet to 90 units, 10 of which are already in service.

“Emirates will be announcing new aircraft orders at the Farnborough Airshow” in England, which opens on July 19, an Emirates spokesman said.

The company is also the largest single operator of the Boeing 777 with 85 units in service and 21 on order. The once bustling city state of Dubai was badly hit by the global financial crisis that forced Dubai World, the biggest state-owned conglomerate, to seek restructuring of 23.5 billion dollars of debt. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make two weapons, which it could have prepared and ready for delivery as early as 2012, CIA director Leon Panetta warned yesterday.

“We think they have enough low-enriched uranium for two weapons,” Panetta told the ABC network’s “This Week” program. Tehran would need a year to enrich it fully to produce a bomb and it would take “another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable,” he said.

Iran is under mounting international pressure over its suspect nuclear program, which the West fears masks a covert weapons drive. The US Congress this week endorsed a sweeping package of tough new energy and financial sanctions on Tehran over the

program. The Islamic republic vehemently denies the charge, but has been flexing its military muscle mainly in the strategic Gulf region by staging regular war games and showcasing an array of Iran-manufactured missiles.

Neither the United States nor its top regional ally Israel, the sole if undeclared nucleararmed power in the Middle East, have ruled out a military strike to curb Iran’s atomic drive. On June 10, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1929, which imposed military and financial sanctions on Iran aiming to rein in the suspect nuclear drive.

Meanwhile, nearly nine years after the September 11 attacks, Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden remains in “very deep hiding” but consistent pressure will “flush” him Continued on Page 14

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NATIONAL

Many welcome school year-end with expectations

in my view

Kuwait's strategic importance

By Fouad Al-Obaid

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ocation is key.

Any realty broker will tell you about the importance of having an estate in a prime location near all the main utilities that a modern household needs. Access is a very important consideration people have when they consider acquiring a new property. For instance, a property that has access to more than one road is more desirable than one that has only one!

Kuwait happens to be at the epicenter of a region that is home to over 200 million people. We should fully unleash our national potential and develop our communication channels to the fullest. We can do so by upgrading and developing our maritime routes, along with our air and terrestrial transport via the upgrading of our airport and the creation of major railway projects to all major Middle Eastern capitals. By ensuring the upgrade and maintenance of as many possible means, we would emerge as the logical epicenter of a region that is on a path towards socio-economic development.

Taking a look at our current economic situation, we are a nation that has been blessed with oil. More strategically, we have allowed our oil industry to form the backbone of our economy. Our oil sector operates in several continents and offers oil solutions such as crude, refining and gas stations.

The latter however, should not be our ultimate objective. Within the domain of oil and the oil derivatives industry, we should focus on creating added value products and refined goods while ensuring that we develop future applications and products.

Another way to maximize our strategic

Monday, June 28, 2010

importance while frowning on the logical militarization most nations opt for to ensure their security, would be to focus on bringing the world to study, live and work in Kuwait.

Massive investments in research and development in oil field engineering is one of several logical directions.

Elaborating on the concept, we perhaps should create labs and research centers that would engage research and development opportunities at Kuwait University. This would boost Kuwait's international oil expertise and credentials.

Another complementary track would be to focus on the creation of various energy research universities and colleges. They would be specialized in petroleum, gas and alternative energy and would be a valuable component to indigenous incubator companies attached to the universities that encourage the creation of companies.

The Kuwait Fund, and its investment arm the Kuwait Investment Authority, has the leverage coupled with the determination of HH the Amir Shiekh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah to upgrade and ensure that Kuwait clearly emerges in the upcoming decade as a center for international trade, regional diplomacy, home to a rich culture of Arab and Islamic art.

Our location allows us to physically become the key regional player in the wider Middle East region. Our funds gives us the ability to afford major infrastructure and investment programs that would match the ambition of our country. We can establish ourselves as the unquestionable center of the Middle East, home to a free and democratic system of government that could become, when perfected, an example for the wider region. fouad@kuwaittimes.net

Teachers burdened to mark final exam 'bundles'

By Jay Walker KUWAIT: Imagine 400 men and women packed in a large hall that can fit half of a South African stadium full of soccer fans blowing vuvuzelas? That is exactly how one feels upon entering the final examination marking hall. Teachers, sleepdeprived and coffee-filled mugs, crouch over loads of papers, their eyes reddenHundreds of teachers had their eyes glued to exam papers shivering under the very low, aircondition controlled temperature. Some teachers wore jackets or brought small blankets along to keep themselves warm during the session. Others brought in their own coffee or tea just to avoid having to wait in long queues, or rather cram into the crowd at the tea corner and waste the 30-minute break by doing so.

Marking at bulk Having to mark exam papers of over 16,000 students from the Arts section over three days is not an easy task. At some point, one may get hazy and start mistaking digits. Looking at various faces, many expressions and impressions can be noticed. One can see happy, angry, frustrated, sleepy, worn-out and exhausted faces among crowds. For this reason, teachers were divided into groups of 12s, eight for marking and four for checking and double checking their assessment. It is surely a neckbreaking task; the most annoying and joyful time of the year for teachers. This is a great chance to meet old colleagues and acquaintances one haven't seen for long.

Teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being terminated, told the Kuwait Times that they were disappointed and frustrated due to the contradictory decisions made by the Ministry of

ing from staring at mistakes. Their eyesight begins to cheat on them. The hall had a partition to separate the female teachers' section, and one can only imagine how noisy the teachers, namely ladies, sound if each couple whispered to each other. During the past fortnight, teachers of various subjects have started marking sessions from 7:30 am till 1:00 pm and from 4:30 to 10:00 pm with only two half-hour breaks on each session to have a cup of tea, coffee, smoke or pray.

KUWAIT: Teachers marking the final school leaving certificate exams.

Education.

Educators have been spending millions to develop the educational process while skipping the prime element in it; teachers themselves. They are being taken for granted as mere tools or teaching aids and instruments while setting strategy or budgets regardless of developing and ensuring the welfare of the main human resource; teachers.

Thirty-five-year-old A spoke angrily by reminding how Islam urges Muslims to pay people for their work 'before their sweat dries off.' "We are marking the final exams (the fourth period)

while we still haven't been paid for marking the second period exams last January," he sighed.

He noted that this was the first time that bonuses have been delayed for so long. "It's all because of contradictions in decision-making and the empty promises that ministry officials have been making in a bid to reduce the number of resignations. They are accustomed to spreading rumors about giving pay hikes starting from February and March when many people report their intention to resign.

Other rumors were spread just before and during this marking

session. Some officials told us that the second period marking allowances will be paid this Monday. This is very silly. We are used to such irresponsible, incredible statements made just to get the work process going regardless of our feelings and exhaustion during this very stressful period of the school year," he underlined. He reminded how the ministry had published the names of teaching staff members that deserve a KD 200 bonus for their excellent performance in local dailies and how the decision was cancelled the following day without proper justification.

Devoted Despite their suffering because of soaring prices, extreme heat, many broken promises, frustration and annual pre-exam empty official statements, high-school expatriate teachers are currently working relentlessly toward marking the final-school leaving certificate exams, just a few days before many of them left for summer vacation to their respective countries. However, these are not the teachers' only sufferings.

"It's like, now you see it, now you don't," said 49-year-old Arabic teacher S. He said that expatriate teachers were promised a pay hike of KD 90 as rent allowance since the beginning of the year. Despite the Civil Services Commission's approval, the decision was stalled by the ministry and suspended until a so-called further notice. He added that he had been working for the ministry for about 20 years and that he was receiving only KD 450, just like any new recruit. "How can the bread-winner of a family of four live in Kuwait with such an amount while having to pay at least 50-60 per cent of it as rent value?!" he wondered bitterly. He noted that he knew some new recruits, who had just signed contracts with the Ministry of Education to teach during the present academic year (2010-2011) and would be paid KD 510. "Just imagine this. They will get more than me with all my over twenty years experience and, even if my paycheck rises to the same amount, what makes me different from all my experiences?" he added. He noted that teachers lacked proper financial and moral

incentives. He also noted that some teachers receive KD 250 as rent allowance while the majority receive only KD 60.

No Increments Khaled, another dissatisfied teacher said that it was essential to give teachers suitable annual increments to avoid having to face demands for chunks at once.

"We deserve a handsome rent allowance and air fare tickets for us and our families like our colleagues in other GCC states, and Moroccan and Tunisian colleagues working in Kuwait on a secondment basis. Our job is the most tiring of all. It is the only one that requires many parts of it done at home. So, at least help us lead a decent life without having to look for one or two extra part time jobs to keep on living," he demanded. He reminded that the last increment of only KD 30 was given three years ago when around fifty teachers peacefully demonstrated outside the Mubarak Al-Kabeer educational zone after school time and were sent away and threatened by security forces. "Unfortunately, we can't do that now as state laws incriminate demonstrations and strikes, and ban the gathering of more than five people," he elaborated. He noted that demonstrators could be deported for no other reason.

M reported another kind of suffering of a group of teachers and inspectors who recently recorded some lessons for the newly launched educational TV channel Ethraa. "They haven't been paid yet and rumor has it that they will only get KD 150 for all the lessons despite the fact that they had to spend at least 12 hours on the shooting site each time to record a 40 minute lesson," he explained.

Teachers seconded by their own countries' ministries of education to work in Kuwait upon special contracts (mainly Moroccan and Tunisians) echoed another disaster. "We have been recently told by the ministry that according to our contracts, we are not entitled to receive any allowances or bonuses for any extra work we do, be it during or outside official working hours like this marking session, for example. Where on earth can this happen or be logically accepted," he wondered. He noted that if this was true, he would never take part in any future extra work.

On his part M mentioned a technical problem, "Despite being the main element of the educational process, teachers are not allowed to express their opinions in the curriculum or exams freely," he said. He noted that one of his colleagues had been terminated merely because a final exam was criticized. "Inspectors kept fishing for faults the following year and got him fired for 'weak performance," he added. Performance and teachers’ satisfaction appear to go hand in hand.

Unfortunately, a popular joke among teachers in Kuwait indicates just the opposite. "It's okay, it's not a disgrace to work as a teacher," said someone to a teacher when he shyly answered his question about what he did for a living.

NATIONAL

Monday, June 28, 2010

3 Help to face power outages

Electricity hotline 152 answers emergencies

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) has set up a call center to receive complaints and emer-

KUWAIT: National Assembly members Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi and Musallam Al-Barrak discussing a topic with Speaker, Jassem Al-Khorafi during the NA session yesterday.

Kuwait’s youth and summer hat do school kids in Kuwait do when they have summer holidays?

Are they able to utilize their time properly?

Parents are forced to stay in the country owing to business developments. They think about how the children will spend the holiday with the fewest entertainment facilities available. The relentless heat makes nearly most outdoor activities an unpleasant experience. So, this is an issue for families who are forced to stay in Kuwait during summer. This is worrisome even if the children do not get involved in any trouble.

Now, whenever kids do nothing but

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sleep, eat and watch TV during summer holidays, we must remember Kuwait’s obesity rate. We, as a media tool, have to call for more efforts to be put in.

Reports shows that obesity is a major health concern in Kuwaiti society.

There is no use of blaming the youth for it. Of course, our kids will grow fat.

What else do they do during weekends other than eat and hanging out at the malls.

However, summer holidays are a different story. The heat reaches its peak. With schools remaining closed, there in nothing else to do other than watch TV. What worries me is the fact that some kids hang out at roads, steal others’ cars and get involved in crimes in the absence of proper parental supervision.

This can be put an end to only if we create newer ways of helping the youth spend time in places. Children who are trapped with the wrong companions feel

that there is nothing more creative to do other than engage in vandalism.

These acts are illegal and lead to prison term during the end of summer!

In the West, school children take up small summer jobs. Here, we have local organizations that offer the same but within a limited capacity.

I know Loyac is one of the greatest places for the youth. We need more organizations like Loyac for our youth.

Maybe we should help Loyac become bigger and stronger. Why not? It is completely Kuwaiti made. I salute them.

Summer should not be a problem. In a rich country like Kuwait, with the help of many grand local companies they should adopt a policy for the youth especially those aged between 14 to 17 years old. Summer jobs are a great way. It will also help give a helping hand to many young children. muna@kuwaittimes.net

Oil union demands allowances KUWAIT: The Petroleum and Petrochemical Industries Labor Union recently urged allowances to be paid to engineers working in the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, or any of its affiliated firms, reported Al-Qabas. They made the demand in regards to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision 27/2006 that classifies

allowances according to the nature of jobs.

In a statement released recently, General Secretary of the union, Nassir Al-Mutawa criticized the “great contradiction on the part of the CSC.” He accused them of failing to pay allowances despite their statements on numerous occasions to support employees in

explained that when the call center receives a call, the caller’s number appears in front of the call center. The complainant says his or her name, and states the nature of the complaint. The call center refers it to the emergency center where the complainants reside.

“The area from where we receive the most phone calls is Khaitan. This is because it is the area that has the most power shortages and we are doing our best to fix the problem there. Most people who live in Khaitan toy with electricity transformers and this is wrong and dangerous. They rewind it by this way. When the technician goes to the complainant’s area, they find that the transformers have been vandalized,” Ghadeer added.

She further said that power cuts in

Abassiya will be taken care of in two days.

The problem is from the transformer of Al-Omariya. Everything will be okay in two days.

In her words, the most affected area is the Farwaniya governorate, “We receive the second largest number of calls from this area, but with the good team we have here, we help people and do our best to solve the problem. The emergency centers also help people by turning the power generator on for habitants who have experienced power shortage,” she said.

On a final note, she expressed her gratitude to the Minister of Electricity and Water, Dr Badr Al-Shuraian because he supports the project and the call center.

MP rejects debt bill cancelation

local spotlight

By Muna Al-Fuzai

Speaking to Kuwait Times, Ghadeer Quwaidi, Manager of the Electricity and Water hotline explained that the call center is connected to all the emergency call centers -water or electricity emergency. “Our service is fast and we take follow up action to repair all the electricity transformers and the emergency centers,” she said.

According to her, since the center opened a week ago they have received more than 1,000 calls in a period of 24 hours, “Not all calls are complaints; most callers keep checking if the number is right or wrong. Some people ask about the services that we provide. Callers want to know our working hours and the emergency centers we are connected to,” Ghadeer said.

Speaking about services, Ghadeer

gency calls from citizens and residents. The hotline number 152 is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. It aims to help residents who suffer from power outages all over Kuwait.

the public and oil sector with allowances.

“Oil sector engineers have proved their efficiency and continue to do the same for the development of the country’s oil sector,” Al-Mutawa said.

“Their efforts need to be acknowledged with rewards similar to their peers in the public sector,” Al-Mutawa

said. Al-Mutawa warned at the same time that depriving oil sector engineers of these allowances could drive them to work in other places, which threatens the development of the country’s oil sector.

He added that the oil sector needs their experience to keep up with advanced technologies.

KUWAIT: Cabinet affairs minister Dr. Mohammad AlBusairi said yesterday that since the bill proposing that the state purchase and write off citizens’ debts has been cancelled, it will not be included in the parliament’s future schedule. The minister said that constitutional experts had agreed to annul the bill follow-

ing yesterday’s parliamentary session.

Dr. Al-Busairi also condemned MPs’ failure to pass three bills concerning women’s rights during the same parliamentary session, denouncing what he said was the parliamentarians’ inconsistency and their failure to reach a compromise prior to the vote.

On the controversial debts write-off bill, the minister insisted, “We didn’t scheme to get a lack of quorum [for voting on the bill] since the government can be represented by only one minister.” He added that insolvent Kuwaitis have now been left with no other alternative but to utilize the insolvency fund after the gov-

ernment’s earlier approval of amendments to it.

MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun condemned the minister’s statement regarding the debt cancellation bill, insisting that it would be discussed during the next parliamentary term following summer recess, even if Al-Busairi refused to countenance this.

kuwait digest

Clear case of identity crisis

By Dr Sami Khalifa here is a clear case of identity crisis among the members of parliament regarding the contradicting way they deal with the issues as we approach the final session of the current term. While four sessions failed to be held due to lack of quorum (which is a disastrous event), we find MPs calling for special sessions to discuss issues that they see as very important and should not be waited upon until the parliament resumes operations in October. These issues are the Chamber of Commerce’s law, the civil rights for women, the civil rights of stateless residents, voting on the decision to reject the citizens’ loans’ write-off draft law and voting on the insolvency fund amendments.

In an analytical evaluation of the path that the current parliament has taken, we can say that the Cabinet

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did well to maneuver away from discussions they did not wish to address while shifting the focus toward issues and draft laws they were more interested in.

This has changed the parliament’s performance to the point that it has became under the control of the Cabinet through its majority supported MPs. During this development, there are some MPs who limited their activity to marginal issues after realizing that the parliament was divided between a pro-cabinet majority and a group of oppositionists who cause tensions with their suspicious agendas.

Some MPs are interested in the personal gains they can make from their positions in the parliament. In order to achieve these gains, those MPs focus their work on popular issues that have no support from fellow MPs or the Cabinet. They waste the parliament’s time on issues that

will only please their voters. This method has become a tool to pass certain agendas and these MPs often stir tensions and sectarianism in the country.

Inflating minor issues at the expense of several more serious issues has caused the emergence of colorless parliamentary debate in which MPs of tension seek media attention. Meanwhile, their actual performance in the parliament contradicts the promises they make outside.

The most serious problem comes in the form of obstructing the work of the parliament with marginal issues raised by those who claim to be proreform oppositionists.

MPs who are trying to pass draft laws before the end of the current term should wake up and see the ugly truth. Kuwait is afflicted with a number of troublemakers who are clueless when it comes to the principles of political work. — Al-Rai

4 NATIONAL Ukraine marks anniversary of Constitution KUWAIT: Today Ukraine celebrates the 14th anniversary of adoption of its Constitution.

And, though Ukraine was the last of the former Soviet republics to ratify a new Constitution, its Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) did so in dramatic style as the culmination of an all-night intense session that went on for more than 16 hours without a break.

What advantages the new Constitution gave to Ukraine and to Ukrainian people and how the country developed since 1996. Kuwait Times talked about it with Sergii Pushkarskyi, Charge d’affaires of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait.

KT: Your Excellency, tell us, please, what are the main foundations of the Constitution of Ukraine?

PUSHKARSKYI: First of all, the historic new Constitution established Ukraine as an independent, democratic, social, law-governed and unitary state with single citizenship. It enshrined Ukrainian as the official language, while guaranteeing the “free development” of the Russian language and other languages spoken by the citizens of Ukraine.

Moreover, the new Constitution of Ukraine guarantees basic democratic freedoms and rights, establishes a Western-style judicial system, guarantees the right to private property and the right to own land, and clearly divides power between the executive and legislative branches of power.

By adoption of the Constitution we have joined the league of European nations nations that have chosen democracy and freedom.

KT: What benefit did Ukraine get from the new

Sergii Pushkarskyi Constitution?

PUSHKARSKYI: Adoption of the main law in Ukraine was the crucial step towards the formation of democratic system in Ukraine. The system, which is based on European democratic values, market economy, respect of human rights and freedoms, freedom of mass media. Recent Presidential elections, which took place on January 2010, and which were monitored by the record number of international observers, were recognized by the international community as free and fair.

Following the elections, the power had been democratically transferred to new parliamental and governmental coalitions which testified in practice the stability of the Ukrainian political system.

Needless to say that like other democratic states, Ukraine enjoys a highly-competitive internal political environment. From time to time it leads to hot political debates in the Parliament, mass media and

society on important issues of state policies. Significantly, they are conducted within the constitutional framework and principle decisions are reached on the basis of political consensus.

This serves as a solid evidence of the European nature of Ukrainian democracy.

KT: What are, according to the Constitution, the main priorities of Ukrainian foreign policy?

PUSHKARSKYI: In the foreign policy domain Ukraine has continued to assert itself as an active subject of international and regional relations.

Pursuing a consistent, predictable and constructive policy Ukraine has merited respect in the world and continues to develop mutually beneficial and good-neighborly relations with the international partners.

European integration is defined as the strategic priority of Ukraine’s foreign policy, aimed at perspective accession to the European Union.

Purposeful implementation of

the course of European integration reflects the Ukrainian people’s aspirations for historic and cultural reunification with the community of European nations as well as contributes to consolidation of the system of European democratic values in Ukraine.

The outlined priorities are inseparable from development of friendly, constructive and equal relations with our strategic partners and other countries of the region and the world.

KT: Who are the outstanding peoples in Ukraine?

PUSHKARSKYI: Ukraine is proud of many outstanding countrymen, historical figures like Volodymyr Velykiy and Danylo Galickyi, hetman Petro Sagaydachnyi, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, author of the first Ukrainian constitution Pylyp Orlik, Mykhaylo Grushevskiy and Volodymyr Vinnichenko and many others.

Due to them the history of Ukraine was created, which is full of struggle for independence. From Princely UkraineRus to modern Ukraine, our state has the signs of the European and democratic state, which wants to develop friendly relations with all other civilized countries. Now the names of sportsmen, like boxer Vitaly Klitschko and football player Andriy Shevchenko, are wellknown in the whole world.

On the occasion of Constitutional Day of Ukraine, I take immense pleasure in congratulating all fellow citizens who live and stay in Kuwait.

I would also like to express my most heartfelt gratitude to all our esteemed Kuwaiti friends for their good wishes, great hospitality and for contributing to the good bilateral relations between our countries.

Kuwait wary of ‘Arab Union’ initiative KUWAIT: Kuwait has expressed reservations regarding a proposal put forward by Libya and Yemen to change the name of the Arab League to the Arab Union, according to a diplomatic insider in Cairo, who said that other Arab countries had also voiced qualms about changing the organization’s name.

In a document presented to the Arab League concerning the proposal, the

18

Kuwaiti representative suggested that any such change in the organization’s title would also entail a need to introduce a unified security system of questionable effectiveness at prohibitive financial cost, with the member nations’ various and potentially conflicting political systems and interests leading to further difficulties.

In the document, Kuwait also called for the League to focus more on achieving a sta-

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Monday, June 28, 2010

What's the name of the German team's goalkeeper?

Tim Wiese Philip Lahm Sami Khedira

18

ble political environment that opens the door to implementing development projects and plans in Arab nations, reported AlQabas.

This strategy should be adopted, along with a policy of abandoning political conflict as the basis for economic integration which would enable the successful implementation of initiatives such as the one proposed by Yemen and Libya.

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

Egyptian saved from drowning

36 expats arrested in Wafra security campaign KUWAIT: During a security campaign, Ahmadi police arrested 32 expats for violating residency and labor regulations in Wafra, reported Annahar. The campaign also resulted in the arrest of four Asians who were found with devices to make illegal international calls from their car. The arrested were referred to the proper authorities.

Teen saved A 13-year-old Egyptian was saved from drowning in a gym pool in Hawally, reported AlWatan. Police and paramedics responded to the emergency and saved the teen using CPR. Paramedics brought the youth to Mubarak Hospital.

Child hurt A three-year-old child was seriously injured after he fell out of his father’s moving vehicle on the Sabah Al-Salem area bridge, reported Al-Watan.

Paramedics responded to the emergency and brought the child to Mubarak Hospital.

Home robbery A citizen was robbed by a thief who broke into his Nahdha home and stole KD 5,000, reported Al-Watan. The owner discovered the robbery after returning home and called

police to report the incident.

Crime scene investigators responded to the emergency and examined the scene of the crime Fugitive nabbed A 31-year-old citizen was arrested in Sharq when police discovered that he was accused of issuing a fake KD 31,000 check, reported Al-Watan. The arrest was made after the man was pulled over by police during a routine security patrol.

The fugitive was taken into custody and referred to the proper authorities.

Drug possession Police arrested a Bangladeshi man in the northern area of Jaber Al-Ahmad after he was found in possession of 15 bars of hashish, reported Al-Watan. The man was arrested after he gained the attention of authorities for act-

ing suspiciously. He was referred to the proper authorities.

Adultery case An Asian maid was sent to the criminal investigations department along with an Asian man after they were caught having an affair inside a citizen’s home, reported Al-Anba. The home owner called police after locking the couple inside the maid’s room. Police responded to the citizens emergency call and placed the two adulterers under arrest. In addition to charges of adultery, the maid is facing charges of assisting in the committing of a crime while the man is being charged with trespassing.

Thieves caught Special forces officials arrested four Arab men for stealing material worth KD

12,000 during 18 construction site thefts across the country, reported Al-Rai. The arrests were made after an investigation led authorities to the thieves residences. When questioned, the criminals admitted to their crimes and explained that they would sell the stolen materials to other construction sites. They were referred to the proper authorities.

Addict arrested A drug addict was arrested after he was found to be under the influence of drugs and in possession of drug paraphernalia, reported Al-Rai. The man was arrested in Ferdous after he was pulled over for driving erratically and found to be under the influence of narcotics. It was also discovered that the man was wanted for a previous drug related case. He was referred to the proper authorities.

Cairo hosts meeting of Arab water committee CAIRO: Meetings of the technical committee of the Arab Ministerial Water Council kicked off at the Arab League headquarters yesterday, with the participation of Kuwait’s Electricity and Water Undersecretary Abdulkhaliq Murad.

Head of the department of environment and sustainable development, and head of the council’s technical secretariat Dr Jamal Jaballah said in a press release that the top Arab water officials taking part in the three-day meeting would be discussing the draft agenda of the Ministerial Water Council meeting, set for July 1 and 2.

He said that the ministerial meeting would be preceded by a meeting of the council’s Executive Bureau on Wednesday, adding that at present, the draft agenda included 18 articles discussing different dimensions of water issues in the Arab World.

Among these issues is the follow-up of the places of a water security strategy, as stipulated by the Arab Economic Summit that was hosted by Kuwait in January 2009, he said.

The water security strategy includes the preservation of available water resources, joint water rights, rights to water in occupied Arab territories, sustainable water resources, and millennium goals in relation to water, Jaballah added.

He also said that the Arab states would be preparing for the 6th World Water Forum, to be hosted by France in 2012.

Moreover, Jaballah said participants would be discussing a joint paper presented by Libya and Saudi Arabia on water desalination, and would be reviewing a paper on the use of joint underground water resources.

Participants will also discuss a World Bank report assessing challenges facing the development of water resources in Palestine, and Israeli practicing involving the “theft” of Arab water in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, South Lebanon and occupied Palestinian territories. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Red Crescent Society recently held its second first aid training course for children.

Bedoon solution in sight: Al-Afasi KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Mohammad Al-Afasi has reiterated his commitment to finding a satisfactory solution to the problems affecting Kuwait’s bedoon (stateless) community.

The cabinet is currently awaiting a report on the issue by the Supreme Planning Council, which it should receive shortly, said the minister in a press release issued on Saturday, adding that the report is expected to propose a strategy to resolve the situation once and for all.

Dr. Al-Afasi emphasized the importance of according bedoons their full rights, describing them as “the closest

people to Kuwaitis” and calling for them to be granted civil IDs, especially since they are already issued with civil identification numbers which are registered at the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI).

The minister also insisted that bedoons should be given the same employment opportunities as other nonKuwaiti residents of the country, asserting, “There are expatriates from 130 different nations currently working in Kuwait, and some of these are non-Arabs whose jobs can easily be filled by bedoon manpower.”

Dr. Al-Afasi added that offering more

employment opportunities for bedoons would also help to maintain Kuwait’s demographic balance and limit salary remittance levels to other nations, reported Annahar.

A number of MPs have also restated their demands that the issue be addressed, including Adnan Al-Mutawa, who urged his fellow parliamentarians to act promptly to ensure that bedoons obtain their full civil, social and legal rights.

Another MP, Faisal Al-Duwaisan, called for the prompt introduction of measures to end the enduring and continuing suffering of Kuwait’s bedoon people.

Monday, June 28, 2010

NATIONAL

5 Stronger role for women

Education evolving positively in Kuwait and Gulf region

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Education in the Gulf states, particularly in Kuwait, is evolving significantly and positively, according to a visiting American academic. Dr Ana Gil Garcia, who is visiting Kuwait with a group of fellow academics as part of their Fulbright Scholarship Program, made the observation during a press

KUWAIT: Commander of military education in the National Guards Brig Hashim Yousef visited yesterday the Saad Al-Abdullah Academy for Security Sciences, to review the academic level of courses and rehabilitation offered to student officers. The General Leadership of the National Guards said in a press release yesterday that Brig Hashim Yousef stressed that his visit comes within the framework of directives by the Guards' leadership and keenness to support coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. The visit resulted in an agreement for coordination between the Academy of Saad Al-Abdullah and the leadership of Military Education of the National Guards.

Al-Afasi pushing for a new co-op, social care legislation KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Mohammad Al-Afasi is keen to continue with the introduction of further legal reforms, following the successful introduction of the private sector labor law and the disability rights legislation, according to ministry insiders. To this end, he is reportedly pushing for the implementation of laws amending the current legislation governing Cooperative Societies, public assistance, juvenile custody and families.

The minister is also preparing to issue new regulations covering the recently introduced labor legislation in order to expedite procedures and enable Kuwait to further improve its standing internationally following its removal from the list of countries which showed least commitment to implementing minimum labor rights.

The minister is reportedly focusing on providing all the available tools to facilitate ministry implementation of the labor legislation, and is dis-

regarding all appeals to return to the previous method of database regulation after the introduction of the computerized system.

Dr. Al-Afasi is keen to develop the country's Cooperative movement and apparently intends to introduce several policies to this end, including bringing in stringently administered price control mechanisms, while taking care to preserve the social facets on which the cooperative movement is based.

He is also pushing for parliamentary discussion of a public assistance bill as soon as possible in order to introduce a safety net entitling needy Kuwaiti families to financial help from the state, reported Al-Qabas.

The various measures are being introduced as part of Dr. Al-Afasi's efforts to radically overhaul the various sectors of his ministry and expand their social care activities, including the field of family care.

CBK calendars revive heritage KUWAIT: As part of the commitment to revive Kuwaiti heritage in parallel with the country's modern advancement, the Commercial Bank of Kuwait adopted a general idea to release yearly calendars that reprise Kuwait's history.

The CBK has a decorated history in releasing illustrious and informative yearly calendars, as its calendar has received an acknowledgment from British press specialists back in 1982. It contains several shots of the most prominent landscapes in the country that represents different parts of the country's desert and urban nature.

This publication enabled CBK to achieve the first prize awarded by the British press specialists. This is in addition to the award announced for best designed annual report among Arab banks for 1981.

Each year, customers and other citizens look forward to the calendar being published. This is in order to revisit subjects and photographs that

reflect Kuwaiti heritage and the lives of citizens' ancestors.

The CBK's 2007 calendar was allocated to commemorate the achievements carried out in Kuwait during the era under the rule of HH late Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. It also contained several paintings that were also selected from a competition held for school students.

This effort to revive the country's heritage has caught the attention of several parties, as a coordination was made with the Ministry of Communications to use some of the paintings that were used in the annual calendars. Post stamps were released in commemoration of Kuwait's history.

The CBK reiterated its commitment to remain committed to revive Kuwait's history through their annual calendar publications, which has become a reference for those looking to relive their country's past amid rapid development.

"There is no doubt that Kuwait and other Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have tremendously evolved positively over the last 20 years," Garcia said. She cited the unprecedented numbers of educated women in this part of the world, plus the undeniably stronger role given to women in Arab society compared to 20 years ago.

"The participation of the female sector in society here is really impressive; it was the biggest achievement perhaps I noticed in the past years," Garcia said. "It's a healthy sign since we all believe that education is the way out of poverty and ignorance. Education is everything."

The group is headed by Auburn University Professor Jill Crystal, who expressed great interest in finding out more about Kuwait's culture, social issues and even religion.

She noted that she has already visited a number of museums and several educational institutions during her visit, adding that she would love to explore the country further.

"We are here to learn but also to share what we learned back in the US universities," she explained. "We are here to

conference organized by the US Embassy in Kuwait, which was held at the local AMIDEAST headquarters in Salmiya yesterday.

AMIDEAST, or America-Mideast Education and Training Services Incorporated, is a private nonprofit organization with a mission to promote cooperation and understanding between Americans and the people of North Africa and the Middle East through education, training and cultural exchanges.

KUWAIT: The group of Fulbright scholars visiting AMIDEAST headquarters. — Photo courtesy of the United States Embassy collect up-to-date information about social issues, local literature, modern politics, agriculture and maritime issues, as well as media and religion."

The other Fulbright scholars participating in the trip include Dr Paula Ellen Faulkner, Dr. Karen Barton, Dr. Brian Digre, Ruth Emily Benander, Dr. Mary

O'Conner, Dr. Elizabeth Traxler, Dr. Debra Beilke and Dr Ismet Ozmet Ozkilic.

Based on the information on the Fulbright website, there have been approximately 294,000 'Fulbrighters,' 111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries, since the program's inception

more than sixty years ago in 1946. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the US government and is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."

The Fulbright Program, which was established under legislation introduced by thenSenator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, is sponsored by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and operates in over 155 countries worldwide.

NATIONAL

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Monday, June 28, 2010

China, India top list

Female workforce globally to near 1 billion by 2020

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUWAIT: The number of women in the global workforce is expected to reach almost one billion by 2020, according to a new report from international management consultancy firm Booz & Company. The report’s findings are based on analysis of data from the International Labor Organization

kuwait digest

Insult is victory for reform

By Saud Al-Samaka

T

he insult that the Minister of Health, Dr Helal Al-Sayer, received from a parliament member recently was not only directed against the minister himself, but targeted the law, the system and the principles of justice and modernity. This incident is normal in an atmosphere filled with corruption against all efforts to apply the laws and commitment to the process of reform.

Instead of offending them, this inci-

dent should lift the spirits of the minister and all devout officials who long for a clean future for Kuwait, free from all forms of corruption. The insult was an honest reflection of the frustration that has spread amongst people regarding the direction of reform.

Instead of responding to the insult, the minister should thank the one who made it. This incident proved that the minister is working toward implementing reform and that his patriotic efforts have caused panic amongst the corrupt.

In the wake of this incident, the

Cabinet, mainly His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah and his first deputy, should be aware that similar incidents are likely to happen. Those who are used to having their suspicious wishes granted by the government are likely to have a similar reaction should their ambitions face a dead end during reform.

Therefore, the cabinet should not feel bad about the latest insult. It indicates that they are working on the right path or else they would’ve been praised by the corrupt. —Al-Qabas

in the news Temps to stay low

KUWAIT: A group photo of the participating officials.

IOM holds training course for Interior Ministry officials

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kuwait, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), organized a training course for officials from different departments in the ministry. The course titled “Essentials of Migration Management” was held in the UN house in Mishref yesterday morning and was attended by representatives of foreign diplomatic delegations and migration experts.

The goal of the five-day training course was to increase awareness among ministry officials about the internationally recognized policies and standards regarding migration challenges. Two international experts on migration will train 17 officers, ranked major or higher, on forming a team of Kuwaiti experts on the issues of migration management.

In her speech at the opening ceremony of the training course, the Acting Officer in Charge of IOM Kuwait, Iman Ereiqat said that this is the first cooperation between the organization and the Ministry of Interior and she expressed hope for a further growth of their partnership. “Our policy in the IOM is based on the principle of supporting the Kuwaiti government and to enhance their ability to provide training for their work force. This will reflect positively on the overall government performance,” Ereiqat said.

At the same time, Ereiqat emphasized that the training course comes as a part of the continuous support the IOM

KUWAIT: Meteorologist Dr Saleh Al-Ujairi said on Saturday that the decrease in temperatures over the past few days is a result of a low pressure system that travelled from India, which has brought northwesterly winds during the day, which subside at night. Al-Ujairi said that the Indian low pressure system had previously passed over the Empty Quarter in the southeast Arabian peninsula, leading to extremely high temperatures earlier in the month. Al-Ujairi predicted that the relatively low temperatures will continue almost until the end of July when the temperatures are set to rise, staying hot for the first week of August and throughout most of the Ramadan period, although they will fall slightly in the last week of the holy month.

Women in developing nations whose contribution was previously assessed as being at subsistence level are now entering the mainstream workforce for the first time, the report explained, predicting that 870 million more women would be in employment by 2020.

One billion women will make a far more significant contribution to the global economy and represent a significant political and economic force in regions such as the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific Rim, Eastern and Central Europe and Africa, said a Booz & Co. official speaking on condition of anonymity, further predicting that these female members of the workforce are also more likely to invest a larger proportion of their household income in their children’s education than their male counterparts.

Ahmadi governor visits French city to discuss municipal issues DIJON, France: The Governor of Kuwait’s Ahmadi Governorate, Sheikh Dr. Ibrahim Al-Duaij AlSabah, yesterday expressed his great pleasure at visiting the city of Dijon in eastern France in order to get a first-hand look at the municipal work going on there.

Speaking to KUNA, the governor said that he was visiting in France in order to acquire a better understanding of how French provinces and cities handled daily environmental and service-related matters. He said that during his four-day visit to the cities of Dijon and Bourg-en-Bresse, he would be meeting with officials to discuss methods for treating waste and drinking water, swamp drainage, water management, lighting in public areas, and town planning issues.

Sheikh Ibrahim explained that his trip followed an official visit in April by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, during which the French hosts called on Kuwaiti officials to visit the area and see the localities, especially those cities close to the French-Swiss border that are popular with Kuwaiti and other Gulf tourists.

(ILO), which shows that a fast-growing young female demographic is due to join the workforce over the next decade, which is predicted to have a strong impact on the global economy, especially given the massive growth in the developing economies, which sees China’s and India’s workforces set to grow to one billion each by the same stage.

To find out about the possible effects of these massive changes for women in the Middle East and particularly Kuwait, the Kuwait Times spoke with Dr. Raba Al-Najada, a professor at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

Dr. Al-Najada said that the measure used to gauge women’s participation in the workforce should not be their numbers but what proportion of the workforce they represent. She pointed out that in Kuwait there has been a real transformation that can be seen in the Kuwaiti marketplace, with increasing numbers of Kuwaiti women expressing great interest in launching their own businesses. She divided these businesses into two categories, those known to the public and those unofficial cottage businesses whose reputation spreads

solely by word of mouth. Giving examples of the latter, she explained that many women set up as exhibition organizers in private homes, while others run unofficial charities and nonprofit organizations.

Self-employment is becoming increasingly popular among Kuwaiti women, with many leaving jobs in the public sector to run their own businesses full-time.

Women seem to have a particular flair for trade, she said, with some importing and selling textiles and other commodities from the Far East and China.

Dr. Al-Najada emphasized that women are working in all sorts of non-traditional areas, pointing out that she knows one female director of an extremely successful construction firm, despite the fact that the woman has no training in architecture or any other related field.

Baby dies in tragic stair fall in Jabriya home

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A month-old baby boy died and his mother was critically injured after she fell down a flight of stairs while carrying him at the family’s home in Jabriya. Although the mother and child were rushed to Mubarak Hospital, the baby, who had fallen on his head, was pronounced dead on arrival, while the mother was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Jabriya burglary A British expatriate who went abroad with his family for a weekend break returned to his home in Jabriya to find that burglars had broken into the family’s home during his absence, stealing jewelry, diamonds, valuable watches and cash. The householder immediately reported the burglary to local police, who quickly traced the culprits, a Kuwaiti citizen and an Indian expatriate who had broken into the house

during the family’s absence.

The men confessed to their crime and were taken into custody, while the stolen goods were returned to the owner.

Smelly fall A learning disabled 15-yearold Kuwaiti boy was rescued from a sewage manhole in Ahmadi after he apparently fell down it while walking in the area. The boy was thankfully unhurt by his ordeal.

Drugs busts Police who stopped an Indian motorist in Sabahiya after becoming suspicious of his behavior found an envelope containing heroin on searching the vehicle. In a separate case, police in Farwaniya stopped a Kuwaiti man with a previous history of drug abuse, finding drug paraphernalia among his possessions. Both men were taken into custody and have been transferred to the General Department for Drugs Control (GDDC) for further action.

Car theft An Indian man who parked his Cherokee Jeep outside a garage in Carnation Street in Shuwaikh while visiting the showroom discovered when he came out that the vehicle had been stolen. He immediately reported the theft to local police, who have launched an investigation.

150 driving tickets A three-day crackdown on driving violations by Hawally traffic department resulted in the issuing of 150 citations to drivers, with 83 cars being impounded. The campaign focused particularly on penalizing the owners of vehicles with tinted windows, which are illegal in Kuwait, as well as on motorists who drove through red lights. The confiscated vehicles, which were removed in cooperation with local public transport firms before being taken to the traffic department’s holding garage.

KSE sales drop KUWAIT: The Kuwait Stock Exchange market (KSE) will regain activity and vitality following the Holy Month of Ramadan and the summer vacation, Chairman of Board of Directors of the Financial Group HermsEva, Khaled Al-Saleh predicted.

Al-Saleh expects a boom once the government’s mega projects have kicked off, reported AlWatan. He also asserted that although the current KSE stock prices are tempting, many investors refrained from buying owing to factors such as Kuwait’s unstable political situation, proximity of summer vacation, lack of incentives and transparency.

Citizens termination

Iman Ereiqat, the acting officer in charge, delivering her speech at the opening ceremony.

—Photos by Ahmad Saeid has provided the Kuwaiti government. “We’ve already provided training for more than 85 government officials from different ministries, as well as NGO representatives on the issues of expat labor management and fighting human trafficking,” Ereiqat explained.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, the head of the General Training Department in the Ministry of Interior, Major General Hameed AlSammak said that there will be many upcoming trainings in cooperation with the IOM. “This is just the first step in a series of training courses and workshops that will be presented in the next annual

plan,” Al-Sammak said.

Speaking to the participants, Al-Sammak said that this training is important for enhancing migration management in Kuwait. “The importance of this workshop derives from the fact that it tackles many aspects of migration management, whether the legislation is related to this topic, border security or international agreements on migration,” he said. The Major General added that it is part of Islamic teachings to give sufficient attention to human rights.

The officers attending the training will learn how to hold training of their own for other officials at the ministry.

KUWAIT: The number of citizens who applied for allowances from the Management and Government Restriction Program (MGRP) after they were relieved of their duties in the private sector reached 874 as of Jan 31, 2009, reported AlQabas. The announcement was made by MGRP’s Secretary General Assistant for manpower affairs, Fawzi Al-Majdaly. It was reported that 61 percent of the relieved citizens were male, or about 530 men as opposed to 345 female citizens. Furthermore, AlMajdaly noted that the contracting and investment sectors had the highest number of terminations for citizens’ contracts. The statistics also showed that the 498 (57%) of the applicants are married.

KUWAIT: Shaikha Al-Bahar in a group photo with the interns.

NBK launches Summer Internship Program KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and the highest rated bank in the Middle East, launched the second in a series of the 2010 Summer Internship Program twoweek courses custom-made for high school students aged between 15 and 20 years.

NBK Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Shaikha Khalid Al-Bahar said that

NBK views the Summer Internship Program, specially designed for students, as an extension of NBK’s education outreach services and a demonstration of the Bank’s long-standing social involvement as well as its national commitment towards providing the young generations with the appropriate opportunities to experience first hand how the actual professional

banking issues and transaction are handled and processed.

Highlighting the remarkably evolutionary story of NBK, Al Bahar indicated that NBK started almost six decades ago from a space of less than three shops to become the leading bank in Kuwait and the Middle East, boasting a total assets of Billion US$ 43 and an interna-

tional branch network of more than 150 branches, representative offices and subsidiaries.

NBK regularly organizes and designs events and packages for the youth of the country to familiarize them with the world of banking and make them responsible citizens. It is noteworthy that more than 4000 youths have benefited from NBK Summer Internship Program.

Smoke-free diwaniya owners act to protect guests’ health KUWAIT: Passive smoking has long been a problem for non-smokers visiting local diwaniyas. Indeed, evidence from research in this field carried out by a member of Kuwait’s anti-smoking committee Dr. Adel Mullah Hussein indicates that being exposed to the smoke from four cigarettes has the same effect as smoking one cigarette oneself.

Several diwaniya owners have therefore taken steps to stub out this health risk in the gathering places, with Kuwaiti citizen Fahad Al-Me’jel who owns the prestigious Al-Sabahi Diwaniya in Faiha, telling Al-Qabas that smoking “has been banned in our diwaniya for years now,” adding that the diwaniya is “100 percent smoke-free.”

Passive smoking, the involuntary

inhalation of smoke from others’ cigarettes, cigars or pipes, is estimated to kill 600,000 people per year worldwide (with approximately 64 percent of those victims being female), while smoking kills four million per year, almost four times more than the 1.25 million killed in traffic accidents.

Dr. Hussein asserted that many nonsmoking diwaniya guests suffer from

heart disease and other conditions as a result of passive smoking.

Diwaniya owners are aware, however, that banning smoking in their diwaniyas is not an easy policy to enforce and comes with the attendant risk of losing those guests who smoke, who might simply choose to visit other diwaniyas where smoking is still allowed.

Monday, June 28, 2010

7

INTERNATIONAL

Hamas security men seize thousands from Gaza bank Palestinians must resolve Gaza power crisis: UN GAZA: Hamas forces seized $16,000 yesterday from a Gaza bank that had frozen the funds as part of an anti-money laundering campaign launched by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. A senior official at the Palestine Islamic Bank (PIB) said Hamas police took the cash from tellers at gunpoint. No one

BEIRUT: A woman joins a march outside the United Nations building yesterday to demand civil rights in Lebanon for Palestinian refugees living in the country. — AFP

Palestinian refugees eye basic rights in Lebanon BEIRUT: Thousands of Palestinian refugees gathered yesterday outside UN headquarters in Beirut to demand basic civil rights in Lebanon, such as a choice of jobs and ownership of property. The protest organized by Palestinian and Lebanese non-government organizations was initially due to be held outside the parliament building in downtown Beirut.

“The police outside parliament usually ban any protest there,” said Maher Shehadeh, one of the Palestinian organizers. So the protesters gathered instead several hundred meters (yards) away outside the UN headquarters.

Maher said 6,000 people were taking parting in the peaceful protest. The Palestinians travelled in buses from Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps for the Beirut gathering organized by Palestinian and Lebanese non-governmental organizations.

“Working is a right,” “We want to live in dignity,” read placards carried by the protesters. “I have the right to own property,” said another, summing up the frustration of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who live in dire conditions in Lebanon. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) lists almost 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a country of four million inhabitants.

But Lebanese and Palestinian officials say the actual number may be as low as 250,000 as UNRWA does not strike off its list those who move to other countries. The majority of

UNRWA-registered refugees live in dire conditions in the camps across and are denied basic civil rights. Under Lebanese law, Palestinian refugees cannot own property or hold most white collar jobs (doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects) and are stuck in low-paid employment.

They are also denied social security and medical aid in state hospitals. “There are 10 to 15 of us who live crammed in our room. Our children have no future and those who are sick end up dying at the doors of hospitals,” said Mahmud Rashid, a farmer from Rashidiyeh camp in south Lebanon. Oum Rabih Ghneim who accompanied her husband to the protest from northern Lebanon said their home in the Nahr Al-Bared camp was destroyed during deadly fighting between Islamists and the Lebanese army in 2007.

“We are not even allowed to buy a one-room apartment,” in the northern port city of Tripoli, she said.

Yesterday’s protest came days after heated debate in parliament among MPs who support granting broader rights to the refugees, including the right to obtain social security, and others, including Christians, who expressed reservations. Many politicians fear the permanent resettlement of refugees in Lebanon arguing that it would tip the fragile demographic balance in the country, where 64 percent are Muslim and 35 percent Christian. — AFP

The account was frozen after Hamas, which won a Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006 and took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, brought in its own people to manage the charity.

It was the second time Hamas seized money from a private Palestinian bank this year. In March, its forces took $400,000 from a bank in defiance of the PMA, raising concerns among bankers over the safety of operating in Gaza.

Mahmoud Al-Ram’a, general manager of PIB, said owners of the frozen account had sued the bank in Gaza and the Hamas men who seized the money said they were executing a court order.

Gaza courts are overseen by the enclave’s Hamas-run Justice Ministry. “We are working in two different legal environments which makes our job harder. This is the main problem of the banking sector in Palestine,” Ram’a told Reuters.

The PIB reports to the PMA. He said he expected a recurrence of yesterday’s incident because the West Bank-based Interior Ministry had frozen several similar accounts in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover three years ago.

Around a dozen banks, Palestinian- and Arabowned, still function in the Gaza Strip, though their headquarters are in the West Bank. Israel, along with the United States, considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Israeli banks severed ties with Gaza banks in 2007 as part of a tightening of an embargo on the Islamist-ruled territory.

In another development, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees yesterday called on bickering Palestinian factions to resolve a deepening electricity “crisis” in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

“It is such a tragedy that, on top of all the other crises that we have in the Gaza Strip, we now have a crisis of electricity,” said John Ging, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza. “It’s an unbearable situation

was hurt in the incident. Hamas officials had no immediate comment. The bank said the money was in an account of an Islamic charity frozen by the Interior Ministry and Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA), which acts as a central bank for President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival.

here at the moment, and it needs to be solved very quickly. It’s a Palestinian problem, made by Palestinians, and causing Palestinian suffering.

So let’s have a Palestinian solution,” he told reporters.

UNRWA, which provides vital aid to more than one million registered refugees in Gaza, has repeatedly decried Israel’s four-year blockade of the territory but rarely extended its criticism to Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The territory’s sole power plant, which provides 25 percent of its electricity, was forced to shut down over the weekend as a result of a payment dispute between Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

The PA has blamed Hamas for not forcing tens of thousands of salaried Gazans to pay their bills and thereby share in the cost of industrial fuel for the plant.

But Hamas has pointed the finger at the PA and accused it of worsening the blockade. Closing the power plant has added to Gaza’s chronic power outages at a time when temperatures regularly exceed 30º C (90º F), forcing residents to rely even more on diesel generators. The industrial diesel needed to run the power plant comes through an Israeli-controlled fuel terminal, with Israel setting import quotas.

The quantity of fuel brought in to Gaza has declined since November, when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the PA after its aid program expired.

Israel supplies about 70 percent of Gaza’s power and Egypt provides five percent, with the remainder coming from the power plant, which has had to shut down several times in the past because of fuel shortages. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have been fiercely divided since the Islamist movement violently seized power in Gaza in 2007. — Agencies

‘Genocidal’ Israel to be put in its place: Chavez CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez described Israel on Saturday as a genocidal state that acted as an assassin for the United States, predicting the Middle East nation would one day be “put in its place.” The socialist Chavez is a harsh critic of both Israel and the United States and cut relations with Israel after accusing it of “holocaust” for its 2009 offensive in the Gaza Strip. “It has become the assassin arm of the United States, no one can doubt it. It is a threat to all of us,” Chavez said, during a visit by Syrian President Bashar AlAssad.

Chavez said he supported a peaceful struggle for the return to Syria of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967. “The territory will one day return to the Syrian hands,” Chavez said. “Of course we want it to be peaceful because we don’t want more war.” “But one day the genocidal state of Israel will be put into its place, and let’s hope that a really democratic state emerges there, with which we can share a path and ideas.”

Chavez did not offer further details of what putting Israel “in its place” would entail. US attempts to isolate Syria and reshape the Middle East have failed, he said, and Israel was fast losing allies. Israel last week eased its land blockade on the Gaza Strip, allowing in all goods except for arms and related materials. That move followed widespread criticism for a raid on a blockade-busting group of boats, in which nine activists died. Hugely popular in the Arab world for his fierce “anti-imperialist” stance. Chavez received a hero’s welcome when he visited Syria in 2006. He returned to Damascus on a tour last year.—Reuters

8

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, June 28, 2010

Referendum on creation of parliamentary democracy

Troubled Kyrgyzstan holds elections despite warnings OSH: Kyrgyzstan held a referendum yesterday to try to create Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy, with more than half of voters turning out despite political turmoil and ethnic bloodshed. At least 283 people were killed this month-and possibly hundreds more-in violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and

Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic that hosts US and Russian military air bases and shares a border with China. Interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva sped in a heavily guarded motorcade into the southern city of Osh, epicentre of the violence, to cast her vote in a local university.

SHARK: An Ethnic Uzbek woman cries after she voted at a polling station during a referendum yesterday. — AFP

Britain's Lib Dems suffer after austerity cut: Poll LONDON: Britain's Liberal Democrats lost support after they formed a coalition with the Conservatives and agreed to an emergency budget aimed at slashing the public deficit, published yesterday found. While the Conservatives were on 41 percent, up two points, and the opposition Labour were up four points on 35 percent, the Lib Dems plummeted five points to 16 percent, according to an ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph.

At their high point during the election campaign, the Liberal Democrats were on 31 percent with ICM and have not been as low as 16 percent since January 2009, the newspaper said.

ICM interviewed 1,006 adults after the coalition launched an emergency package of higher taxation and spending cuts amid intense concern about sky-high debt levels

in Europe. In a separate YouGov poll of 2,500 people, published by The Observer, 48 percent of those who voted for the Lib Dems in the May 6 election said they were now less inclined to back them again as a direct result of the increase, from 17.5 percent to 20 percent, in the VAT levied on goods and services.

The VAT increase had been opposed by the Liberal Democrats before they agreed to form a coalition with the Conservatives, after the Tories failed to win an outright majority.

However, ICM found that most of those polled approve the government's harsh austerity measures. Measures that received strong backing included reducing tax credits, which was supported by 80 percent of people, more medical assessments for Disability Living Allowance (82 percent), a levy on

banks (78), and reforming housing benefit (68). Less popular but still favored by the majority include freezing child benefit, which was supported by 51 percent. Raising VAT was the only unpopular measure, with only 38 percent backing it and 60 percent against.

Sixty percent agreed with cutting spending in all government departments, except for overseas aid and health, by a quarter, and 53 percent agreed with freezing pay for all public-sector workers earning over 21,000 pounds (31,600 dollars/25,600 euros) a year.

Martin Boon of ICM said: "By and large the public have reacted positively to the Budget measures and this is reflected in (finance minister) George Osborne's-and the coalition government's-performance rating. "But real concerns for the Liberal Democrats are evident."— AFP

Guinea desires change with first free elections CONAKRY: Junta-ruled Guinea held its first free election yesterday since independence more than half a century ago, a historic vote laden with hope the bedraggled West African nation will finally end decades of harsh military rule and launch a new democratic era. Millions of people made their way to polling stations across the country by bicycle, by foot, by wheelchair. "A lot of people said this would never happen," said Ouma Kankou Diallo, a 39-yearold teacher whose index finger was stained dark purple after casting her ballot at a seaside primary school. "But it has happened and we will forever be grateful. For us, this is a kind of dream."

The ballot marks a spectacular turnaround for a country that just months ago was full of despair, terrorized by a military that rampaged through the capital with impunity - courtesy of Moussa "Dadis" Camara, an erratic army captain who seized power in a December 2008 coup hours after the nation's previous despot, Lansana Conte, died. Sekouba Konate - the powerful general who took control after Camara was shot in the head by his presidential guard chief in December praised the poll and said Guinea had kept its word in holding it.

"After 50 years, this is the first time Guinea is holding free and transparent elections," he told reporters, shortly after dropping his vote in a clear plastic urn at the unoccupied presidential palace.

Konate, along with all members of his junta and a transitional governing council comprised of civilians, are barred from running. Among the top contenders: two ex-premiers, Cellou Dalein Diallo and

Sidya Toure, and a longtime government opponent, Alpha Conde.

If no candidate wins a simple majority, a runoff between the top two finishers is due July 18. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Guinea authorities to ensure the vote is peaceful and form "a government that fully reflects the will of Guineans."

Analysts say the greatest risk is that violence could break out if any of the losers fail to accept the results or contest them peacefully.

Speaking late Saturday, Konate warned a roomful of presidential hopefuls they must help avert vio-

lence or risk casting the West African nation back to its volatile past. "We can no longer continue to live like we are in a jungle, as if we are in a state without authority," he said. "Too many Guineans have perished and suffered."

"Starting from now, it's up to you to make it happen," he said. The choice, he added, is between "peace, freedom and democracy, or chaos and instability."

Campaigning was largely been calm except for an isolated spate of clashes Thursday north of Conakry between supporters of two rival candidates that left at

CONAKRY: Supporters of presidential candidate and longtime opposition leader Alpha Conde parade through the streets. — AP

least four people dead and dozens injured. Konate condemned the violence vowed to bring the culprits to justice. Guinea reached a low point last September when the military opened fire at a crowd of protesters who rallied at a Conakry stadium to insist Camara step down. In broad daylight, more than 150 people were massacred, 1,000 wounded and more than 100 women raped. A UN investigation into the tragedy fueled tensions within the junta over who would take the blame, and Camara was shot in the head by his presidential guard chief and ultimately removed from the political stage.

Although Camara survived, he remains in Burkina Faso as part of a January peace deal meant to allow the country to hold the crucial ballot without him. "It's true that only one candidate will be elected," Konate said. "But the goal we all share is to fight for an open democracy." "This time, it's not just about delivering a single candidate or one group to power.

No, no," he said.

"It's about creating a better future for all Guineans to realize their dream of freedom and progress ... victory and glory awaits us all." Some 16,000 security forces are deployed at about 8,000 polling stations to boost security for an expected 4 million registered voters.

Corinne Dufka, a Guinea expert for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said security forces and the political elite had committed "egregious crimes" over the years, "including torture, murder, rape, and embezzlement - without fear of being held accountable."—AP

"Our country today is on the brink of great danger, but the results of this referendum will show that the country is united and that the people are one. It will stand strong on its own feet and move forward," Otunbayeva said after casting her vote. The United States and Russia say they would support a strong government to prevent the turmoil spreading throughout exSoviet Central Asia, a region bordering Afghanistan where all countries have until now been run by authoritarian presidents.

The referendum calls on voters to support changes to the constitution that would devolve power from the president to a prime minister, paving the way for parliamentary elections in October and diplomatic recognition for the interim government. The central election commission said 56.19 percent of the national electorate had voted by 6 pm (1200 GMT), with polling booths set to remain open for another two hours in the country of 5.3 million people. No minimum turnout is required.

Under the new charter, Otunbayeva-the first woman to lead a Central Asian statewould be interim president until the end of 2011.

Parliamentary elections would be held every five years and the president limited to a single sixyear term. Otunbayeva, a former ambassador to the United States and Britain, took power after a revolt in April overthrew President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Though from the south, she has struggled to gain control of the region, Bakiyev's family stronghold. From his exile in Belarus, Bakiyev has dismissed the referendum and the leader who replaced him, saying her behaviour was "frivolous and irresponsible".

"She is leading the country into a dead end," he said in an interview in the online edition of German weekly Der Spiegel.

"A strong president acts more swiftly." The bloodshed also deepened divisions between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks who have a roughly equal share of the population in the south.

Many ethnic Uzbeks say they were targeted in the violence and are loath to support what they see as a Kyrgyz initiative.

Voters turn out despite violence Some ethnic Uzbeks voted early in the day. Friends who had not seen each other since the bloodshed began on June 10 embraced in polling-station queues in neighborhoods of Osh. "We have to live through this turbulent period, but when we get a real government it will all be stable again," said Andrei Abdullayev, an Uzbek veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. He was one of 600 ethnic Uzbek vigilantes guarding a neighborhood of Osh where a disused vodka distillery served as a polling station.

Laundry lines hung between the walls of burnt-out homes where people live without the shelter of a roof.

Farida Marasulayeva was among the tens of thousands of refugees who returned home after days sleeping rough or in camps at the Uzbek border. "We just want to live in peace," she said after voting, cradling her year-old son in her arms.

Election officials accompanied by armed guards carried transparent ballot boxes to locals who were too afraid to visit the polling stations, ticking off names as the boxes filled up.

"They all fear for their lives," said Nigora Abdyjanarova, an election official who carried a ballot box from door to door. "Anything is possible now. Anyone could get shot, so we have come here to give them the chance to vote." Several women said they could still hear gunfire each night. Otunbayeva said a curfew that was lifted for the referendum would be reinstated from today until Aug 10.

The 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declined to send observers to Osh and Jalalabad, another southern city hit by violence, due to security concerns. — Reuters

GORI: A crane removes a bronze statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin from the central square in the town where he was born. — AFP

Georgian authorities pull down Stalin monument TBILISI: Authorities in Georgia yesterday tore down another monument to Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin. The monument in the town of Tkibuli in western Georgia was taken down two days after authorities tore down a bigger and more famous monument to Stalin in his hometown of Gori. Both statues were brought down in the middle of the night in an apparent bid to avoid protests and media attention. Stalin was born to a modest family of cobblers in 1878. Both monuments in his honor were erected before his death in 1953.

The Georgian government says a younger generation who have embraced Western ideals of freedom favor the dismantling of Stalin's monuments. "A memorial to Stalin has no place in the Georgia of the 21st Century," President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday. Saakashvili's government said a memorial to the fallen in the RussianGeorgian war of 2008 will replace Stalin's statue in Gori. Georgia's Culture Minister Nikolos Rurua

said the government will also soon rename Georgian streets still carrying Stalin's name.

But Rurua said that the body of Stalin's mother that rests alongside the nation's most prominent figures shouldn't reburied as some in Georgia have suggested. "The mother of Stalin carries no responsibility for what her dictator and tyrant son did to people," Rurua said on Imedi television yesterday. "Reburying her body isn't a good idea."

Stalin's mother Keke Dzhugashvili, born in 1858 to a peasant family in Gori, died in 1937. She was buried at the Mtatsminda Pantheon, a cemetery in Tbilisi where Georgia's writers and other cultural and public figures were buried. The Western-leaning Saakashvili began a crackdown on Soviet-era monuments last December when a massive World War II memorial was tore down in Kutaisi, drawing protests from the Georgian opposition and from Russia. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin laid a cornerstone to a smaller replica of that monument in Moscow last month. — AP

Belgium gets ready to assume EU presidency BRUSSELS: Divided and with no new government after a general election, Belgium will take over the rotating EU presidency on July 1, with only "modest" ambitions as Europe confronts its biggest crisis in decades. "We will first of all be at the service of the European institutions," Belgium's caretaker prime minister Yves Leterme said Friday as his country prepares to assume the reins of the European Union for a sixmonth stint. "We want to adopt a modest position," he added. One Belgian for whom that could be good news is Leterme's predecessor Herman Van Rompuy, who gave up the Belgian premiership in December after he was chosen to become the first permanent president of the EU. With his country taking a relative back seat, the discreet, haikuwriting Leterme may be able to impose himself more firmly on European affairs, and thereby take the spotlight off Jose Manuel Barroso, who heads the EU commission, the bloc's executive arm.

Leterme does not have too much choice, his administration is only in charge of day-to-day affairs in Belgium as talks continue to forge a new coalition government following this month's elections which saw Flemish separatists come out on top.

With coalition-building talks between the Dutch-speaking Flemish and francophone parties in the less affluent southern region of Wallonia fraught with

difficulties, a new government is unlikely to emerge until October at the earliest. Europe faced a similar situation early last year when the Czech government collapsed halfway through its turn at the EU helm, with the result that Prague lost all influence on the running of EU affairs.

Despite its modest ambitions, the Belgian EU presidency's program is unequivocal at the enormity of the challenge Europe faces in the coming months. "The current crisis (is) on a scale without precedent during the last 50 years," with massive debts and deficits, rising unemployment, a falling euro, an aging population and increasing competition from emerging powers.

The Belgian program foresees forging a way out of the crisis and boosting regulation of the financial sector to help ensure there is no repeat.

But it will undoubtedly give space to both Van Rompuy and the EU's nascent External Action Service, the bloc's first diplomatic corps, headed by High Representative Catherine Ashton. "We are prepared to limit our role as the rotating presidency because that will give some space for Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton to exercise their new powers," Leterme said, with Belgium acting as "facilitator". Since the Lisbon Treaty came into force, the country holding the rotating presidency, Spain for the most part, has assumed a

co-pilot's role on European affairs.

That formula created some friction at the beginning of the year when Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wanted to play the main role. "The fact that there is a government of day-to-day affairs in Belgium will help," Van Rompuy, said Andrew Duff, British Liberal Euro MP and a specialist on the EU institutions. "The prospect of having Leterme meeting Obama, Putin, the Iranian leaders would have been difficult in the current context," he added.

The New Flemish Alliance, which ultimately wants independence for Belgium's northern region, came out top in last month's legislative elections.

Led by Bart De Wever, the party wants independence, eventually, for Flanders which already has its own autonomous government. "The Belgian EU presidency will not be hampered by the (national) transition period," De Wever has assured. Van Rompuy will be hoping that Belgium's turn at the EU helm will allow him to finally shrug off the "Mr Nobody" tag handed him by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. And he may even answer his most vociferous critic, UK Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage, who famously called him a "damp rag" in the European parliament and asked "Who are you? I'd never heard of you, nobody in Europe had ever heard of you." — AFP

in the news Serb to go on trial

Tribute to late Lithuanian leader

BELGRADE: A former college basketball player from Serbia who jumped bail in the US after allegedly beating an American student into a coma will go on trial in his native country today.

The First Municipal Court in Belgrade said yesterday that 23-year-old Miladin Kovacevic is accused of inflicting "severe bodily harm with possible deadly consequences" on Brian Steinhauer of Brooklyn in May 2008 in upstate New York. If convicted, Kovacevic faces a maximum eight-year prison sentence. Kovacevic also is charged with obtaining a false passport to flee the United States after the fight in a bar near Binghamton University, which both men attended. The case had strained relations between Washington and Belgrade because Serbia will not extradite Serbian citizens. But the Serbian government has paid $900,000 ( 730,000) to the Steinhauer family as part of an agreement to try Kovacevic here. The 260-pound (118-kilogram) Kovacevic has been accused of assaulting the 130-pound (59-kilogram) Steinhauer, repeatedly, kicking him in the chest and head. Witnesses told police that the two men had exchanged harsh words after Steinhauer danced with the girlfriend of one of Kovacevic's friends. The beating left the 24-year-old Steinhauer with skull fractures and a severe brain injury.

BRUSSELS: EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso hailed Lithuania's last communist-era leader Algirdas Brazauskas, who died Saturday, for his "critical contribution" to the country's European Union integration. "I worked closely with him and have known him as a true statesman who was deeply committed to our European project and its values," Barroso said in a statement released yesterday. "As president and prime minister, Algirdas Brazauskas made a critical contribution to his country's integration into the European Union," added Barroso, who was attending the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada.

Sending his condolences to the Lithuanian people he said that "the European Commission joins me in this expression of sympathy and tribute."

Brazauskas, who had been undergoing treatment for prostate and lymphatic cancer, passed away at his home in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius at the age of 77, deputy Social Democrat leader Juozas Olekas told AFP. As head of state, Brazauskas launched Lithuania's bid to join both the European Union and NATO. The nation of 3.3 million people entered both organizations in 2004, during his term as prime minister.

Monday, June 28, 2010

INTERNATIONAL

9

Duo avoid talks on China's undervalued currency

Obama, Hu seek to rekindle ties after months of distrust TORONTO: China's President Hu Jintao Saturday accepted an invitation to make a state visit to the United States as he and President Barack Obama sought to end months of distrust, despite lingering tensions. The leaders of the two powerful nations met on the sidelines of a summit of 20 developed and emerging countries aimed at taking more effective

TORONTO: A protester jumps on a burnt out car as a police car burns in the background during an anti-G20 demonstration. — AP

Vandals mar summit protests in Toronto TORONTO: Black-clad demonstrators broke off from a crowd of peaceful protesters at the global economic summit in Toronto Saturday, torching police cruisers and smashing windows with baseball bats and hammers. Police arrested more than 150 people. Police used shields, clubs, tear gas and pepper spray to push back the rogue protesters who tried to head south toward the security fence surrounding the perimeter of the Group of 20 summit site. Some demonstrators hurled bottles at police. "We have never seen that level of wanton criminality and vandalism and destruction on our streets," Toronto police chief Bill Blair said. The roving band wearing black balaclavas shattered shop windows for blocks, including at police headquarters, then shed some of their black clothes, revealing other garments, and continued to rampage through downtown Toronto. Protesters torched at least three police cruisers in different parts of the city, including one in the heart of the city's financial district.

One protester jumped on the roof of one before dropping a Molotov cocktail into the smashed windshield.

Blair said the goal of the militant protesters was to draw police away from the security perimeter of the summit so that fellow protesters could attempt to disrupt the meeting.

Police arrested at least 150 people Saturday, but Blair said many suspects remain at large. Blair said officers have been struck by rocks and bottles and have been assaulted, but none was injured badly

enough to stop working. A stream of police cars headed to Toronto to reinforce security there after the smaller Group of Eight summit ended in Huntsville, Ontario, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) away.

Security was being provided by an estimated 19,000 law enforcement officers drawn from across Canada, and security costs are estimated at more than US$900 million.

The vandalism occurred just blocks from where President Barack Obama and other world leaders were meeting and staying. "These images are truly shocking to Canadians," Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement. "We are taking all measures necessary to ensure Canadians, delegates, media and international visitors remain safe."

Previous major world summits also have attracted massive, raucous and sometimes destructive protests by anti-globalization forces.

Police in riot gear and riding bikes formed a blockade, keeping protesters from approaching the security fence a few blocks south of the march route. Police closed a stretch of Toronto's subway system along the protest route and the largest shopping mall downtown closed after the protest took a turn for the worse.

"Free speech is a principle of our democracy. But the thugs that prompted violence earlier today represent in no way shape or form the Canadian way of life," said Dimitri Soudas, the chief spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. — AP

MAHAUAL: Workers remove a palm shade from the beach in preparation for the arrival of tropical storm Alex as winds begin to increase in Mexico, Saturday, June 26, 2010. — AP

Alex heads towards Gulf of Mexico MIAMI: Tropical Storm Alex, the first of the Atlantic season, moved northwest across the Yucatan Peninsula early yesterday, raising fears it could complicate efforts to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The storm, which has weakened substantially, was likely to miss the spill area if it stayed on its current track, but could generate waves that would impact cleanup efforts, according to the US National Hurricane Center. It also had the potential to cause "life-threatening" floods and landslides in countries in the region, it said.

At 0900 GMT, the storm packed sustained winds of 40 miles (65 kilometers) an hour, down from 60 miles (95 kilometers) an hour late Saturday. It was located 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Chetumal, Mexico, the center said. Alex, which dumped heavy rain of the affected area, was forecast to move across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula last morning and enter the Gulf of Mexico later in the afternoon.

The storm was expected to weaken further and possibly become a tropical depression, but "re-strengthening is forecast last night -- and especially todaywhen Alex will be back over warm water," the NHC said. The storm will dump heavy rain over Yucatan through yesterday, with rainfall of 10-25 centimeters (4.08.0 inches), though isolated amounts of up to 38 centimeters (15 inches) are possible over mountainous areas.

"These rains could cause lifethreatening flash floods and mudslides," the NHC warned, noting that "tropical storm winds" were already affecting Belize and the eastern Yucatan Peninsula. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the coast of Belize and the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. But a tropical storm watch for the coast of Honduras has been discontinued.

In Nicaragua, authorities alerted air and maritime traffic and localities in the north, central and western regions of the country to possible heavy rains and strong winds associated with the storm. The NHC's five-day forecast has the storm heading over the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of the US-Mexico border, but with a possibility of deviating along a broad area that would graze the site of the huge oil slick unleashed by the April 20 explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig.

A forecaster at the NHC however downplayed a direct hit on the oil cleanup area. "The storm is not an issue for the spill," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen. "It may be going to Mexico. We do not see the path of the storm taking (it) into the northeast Gulf-but that doesn't mean there won't be some wave impact." In Mexico, authorities declared the Yucatan Peninsula in a state of preventive alert "for the potential of intense to torrential rain" as Alex approached. — AFP

Hu said China hoped to "strengthen" coordination with the US on major regional and international issues, noting joint efforts had led to "real progress" in ties between the world's largest and third biggest economies.

"We need to continue to follow the spirit of staying the same course and uniting together," Hu said as the two leaders met for the sixth time in about 18 months. Agreeing with the Chinese leader that "tremendous progress" had been made in improving relations, Obama said he would dispatch his top economic and security aides to China in early August for talks with Hu's advisors. Obama also signaled to Hu that tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, should be put to rest.

Aside from the longstanding currency and Taiwan issues, China and the United States have been at loggerheads on an array of fronts ranging from trade to Internet freedom. Earlier this month, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates called off plans to visit China after Beijing told the Pentagon the timing was "inconvenient," despite an invitation last year for Gates to visit in 2010. It was an apparent snub over a 6.4 billion dollar arms package unveiled in January for Taiwan, including helicopters, Patriot missiles and mine-hunting ships.

In an indication that military dialogue was critical to better ties, Obama told Hu Saturday that the United States was "looking forward to an invitation for a visit" to Beijing by Gates "in the coming months." Hu accepted an invitation from Obama to make a state visit, a senior White House official told reporters.

"The two sides will now discuss timing for the visit," Jeff Bader, the US administration's senior director for Asian affairs, said.

Obama warmly welcomed Hu on Saturday, saying: "It's wonderful to see you again."

"We worked very hard and our teams worked very hard in the past 15 months to build a relationship of trust, of mutual confidence, and it's my belief that we've accomplished many things," the US president added. But the two leaders did not touch upon the prickly issue of China's undervalued currency in public remarks at their meeting, although Chinese officials before the talks vowed not to succumb to any pressure to let the yuan appreciate more rapidly.

"If there is a change in the renminbi (yuan) exchange rate

steps to boost global economic recovery after the worst recession in decades. The meeting came a week after Beijing, in a surprise move, said it would allow the yuan to move more freely against the dollar-amid US concerns that the Chinese currency is undervalued compared to the greenback.

TORONTO: President Barack Obama talks as he and members of the US delegation, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (third from left) meet with President Hu Jintao of China and his delegation (not pictured) on the sidelines of the G20 summit. — AP it is up to the internal dynamics of the Chinese economy rather than be subject to the pressure of any individual country or international organization," said Ma Xin, who heads a key agency in Beijing which has broad controls over the economy. Chinese policymakers pledged last weekend

to let the yuan trade more freely against the dollar, but ruled out dramatic moves in the currency or a one-off appreciation.

The action was widely seen as a bid to head off rancor at the G20 summit following intense pressure on Beijing to embrace currency reform as

part of efforts to enhance a global economic recovery.

Obama had welcomed the currency reform effort, but said it was too early to judge whether it would be effective, adding he wanted to raise the issue at the G20 summit. US lawmakers also have vowed to push ahead with legislation imposing trade

sanctions on China for not allowing the yuan to rapidly rise. They have charged that China kept the currency artificially low to reap unfair trade gains that were costing US jobs and worsening the US deficit.

Some experts say the yuan is undervalued against the dollar by up to 40 percent. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

10

Monday, June 28, 2010

New PM Gillard rejects ‘big Australia’ idea for population growth SYDNEY: New Prime Minister Julia Gillard signalled a change in the government’s approach to population growth yesterday, saying she did not believe in a “big Australia”. Gillard, a former lawyer who wrested leadership of the Labor Party and the government from Kevin Rudd on Thursday, said population policy needed to strike the right balance between growth and sustainability. “I don’t believe in a big Australia,” Welsh-born Gillard said. “Kevin Rudd indicated that he had a view about a big Australia, I’m indicating a different approach.

I think we want an Australia that is sustainable,” she told the Nine Network.

With 22 million residents, Rudd had expressed optimism about a “big Australia” with a population of more than 36 million people by 2050, achieved through rising birth rates and immigration. But Gillard said such population growth could be problematic given Australia’s water shortages, the difficulty in providing services across the vast landscape and transport infrastructure. “I don’t believe in simply hurtling down a track to a 36 million or 40 million population, and I think if you talk to the people of western Sydney or western Melbourne, or the Gold Coast growth corridor in Queensland, people would look at you and say, ‘Where will all these people

SYDNEY: This combo photo shows New South Wales (NSW) Governor Marie Bashir (left), NSW Premier Kristina Keneally (second left), new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (center), Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce (second right) and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh (right). Australian women welcomed their first female prime minister but warned the unmarried, childless new leader Julia Gillard could face a gender backlash in a land known for its macho culture. — AFP go?’,” she said.

“I think we want an Australia that is sustainable. This place is our sanctuary, our home.” Gillard, who came to Australia with her parents as a four-year-old, said immigration for skilled labor was still needed, adding

that Canberra would continue to accept refugees. “I don’t want business to be held back because they couldn’t find the right workers,” she said. “That’s why skilled migration is so important. But also I don’t want areas of Australia with 25 percent youth

unemployment because there are no jobs.”

Immigration is a sensitive issue in Australia, where boatloads of asylum seekers arrive most weeks after perilous voyages from Asia, often in rickety fishing vessels, as they escape countries such as Afghanistan

and Sri Lanka. Under Rudd, Australia suspended claims for asylum from Sri Lankans for three months and Afghans for six as a way of tackling the problem. But concerns about the steady stream of boatpeople, along with the shelving of a carbon emissions trad-

ing scheme designed to tackle climate change and a new tax on mining profits are believed to have been behind the poor polling which led Gillard to contest Rudd’s leadership of the party.

The conservative opposition accused Gillard of not having the policies needed for a sustainable population, but those who believe Australia lacks the resources to support a larger population said the new approach was necessary. “It shows the Prime Minister is on the wavelength of ordinary Australians,” Labor politician Kelvin Thomson said. “Australians have expressed their concern about the impact of rising population on food and water supplies, on rising housing affordability, on traffic congestion, on the quality of life in our cities, on carbon emissions and on our endangered wildlife.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation said the nation’s rate of population growth was already among the highest in the industrialized world. “Bigger isn’t always better,” said the ACF’s Chuck Berger. “More people means more roads, more urban sprawl, more dams, more power lines, more energy and water use, more pollution in our air and natural environment, and more pressure on our animals, plants, rivers, reefs and bush.” — AFP

N Korea open to talks with Seoul over sunken warship North wants US to back out of case SEOUL: North Korea said yesterday it w as open to inter-Korean military talks to address the sinking of a South Korean w arship but urged the United States to cease its involvement in the case. The North, how ever, renew ed a demand that the South first allow Pyongyang to carry out its ow n inspection to verify the facts of the case-a condition Seoul has refused. “Our inten-

tion w as to dispatch our inspection group to South Korea from the very day the authorities linked the case w ith us and then open North-South highlevel military talks to discuss the results of the inspection,” an unnamed military official from the North said in a message disclosed by the official new s agency KCNA.

SEOU: An elderly South Korean visitor passes by the portraits of North Korea’s late president Kim IlSung (left), former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (center) and former Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin (right) at a war memorial on June 25, 2010. The two Koreas marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the war amid high cross-border tensions over the sinking of a South Korean warship. — AFP

Aborigines angry at striptease on sanctified ground CANBERRA: An Aboriginal leader called for a woman to be deported from Australia yesterday after she was filmed stripping on Uluru, also called Ayers Rock, an international tourist attraction and a sacred site for the local indigenous tribe. The video appeared on the website of the Sunday Territorian newspaper, which identified the woman as 25-year-old Frenchborn exotic dancer Alizee Sery. The video shows her climbing the red sandstone monolith in conventional dress and then stripping at the top to a white bikini, white high-heeled boots and a bushman’s hat. The images have outraged local Aborigines, who regard Uluru as a sacred site and object to tourists climbing it. However, climbing is permitted.

Aborigines also object to photos being taken of the areas of the rock important to their creation stories. David Ross, director of the Central Land Council which represents the traditional owners of Uluru and the surrounding national park, said the woman was a French tourist and should be deported. “Too often Uluru is used as a place for individuals to pursue some questionable personal development activities at the expense of Aboriginal law and culture,” Ross said in a statement. A spokesman for the newspaper did not return a telephone call seeking comment, and Sery could not immediately be contacted.

Immigration Department officials were not able to comment yesterday on the details available. Sery told the newspaper that she had been traveling around Australia and decided to do a “strip show” on Uluru. She said she did not intend to offend Aboriginal culture. “I did it as a tribute to the way it used to be, you know, how they were living naked,” it quoted her as saying. Northern Territory Police were unaware of the incident until the newspaper reported it yesterday, police spokeswoman Natalie Bell said. The woman’s behavior could constitute a minor offense of disorderly conduct, but no investigation was under way because no official complaint had been made to police, Bell said. The newspaper did not say when the video was made. — AP

in the news Philippine troops kill 2 rebels MANILA: Philippine troops attacked a communist rebel camp to rescue an abducted soldier and a militiaman in the country’s south yesterday, killing at least two communist guerrillas but failing to find the captives, the military said. The country’s 41-year communist rebellion - one of Asia’s longest-running - has raged on despite a deadline set by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the military to crush the rebels by the end of her term on June 30. Army troops assaulted a key New People’s Army camp in a hinterland near Cateel town in Davao Oriental province after receiving information that army Staff Sgt Bienvenido Arguilles and the militiaman, who were abducted by the rebels on June 19, were being detained there, army spokesman Capt Emmanuel Garcia said. The troops clashed with about 50 guerrillas for half an hour, killing two rebels. At least six wounded rebels were seen by troops being dragged away by the guerrillas, who withdrew in small groups, army battalion commander Lt Col Gilbert Saret said.

SURAT THANI: Thai rescue workers and police help an unidentified injured Western tourist yesterday on arrival in Thailand, following a speedboat accident near the island of Pha-ngan. — AP Tourist boats collide in Thailand BANGKOK: Forty-two people were injured after two boats carrying Thai and foreign tourists collided in the Gulf of Thailand near an island famed for its wild parties, police said yesterday. The boats were ferrying tourists to and from Pha-ngan island, site of “full moon” parties that attract thousands of young, mostly Western tourists each month. Police Lt Pongkajorn Sukrasang said the boats collided and overturned around midnight Saturday, throwing the passengers into the rough sea during a rainstorm just off the island. Two Thai brothers were listed as missing but were reportedly sighted later on the island, Pongkajorn said. Thirteen of the injured remained hospitalized yesterday afternoon, he said. The passengers included tourists from Britain, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, Norway and Malaysia, he said. “They’re lucky because all were wearing lifesaving vests. Most of the injuries were minor,” the police officer said.

“We still remain unchanged in our stand to open the above-said military talks and probe the truth about the case,” the official said in a telephone message sent to the US side. The statement came just a day after G8 leaders condemned the sinking of the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in an official communique released after two days of talks in Canada. Tensions are running high following the sinking of the South’s corvette near the maritime border in March with the loss of 46 lives.

President Barack Obama said in Toronto he stood “foursquare” behind South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak and scolded North Korea for its “irresponsible behavior”. South Korea, citing the findings of a multinational probe, says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship and is pressing for the United Nations to censure the communist regime. But the North strongly denies any involvement and has threatened a military response to any UN actions.

The North’s military official said yesterday that it was “preposterous” and “absurd” for the US-led United Nations Command to address the Cheonan issue. Seoul insists that the UNC, which has supervised the armistice along the border since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended, should handle the sinking, which it says is a violation of the truce pact. Pyongyang has demanded that the US-led UNC be dismantled.

“The US forces side should no longer meddle in the issue of North-South relations under the name of ‘UN Forces Command,’” the North’s military official said.

The North’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea, in charge of handling cross-border relations, issued a statement yesterday denouncing the South’s recent military drills and plans to play a bigger role in US-led global efforts to stop the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction.

It branded such South Korean policies as “reckless and frantic moves of the puppet warmongers to start a war of aggression” against North Korea. In Toronto on Saturday, Obama and Lee agreed to extend Washington’s wartime command of South Korean forces until 2015 in a demonstration of the strength of their alliance. This means that in case of war on the Korean peninsula, the United States would assume operational command of South Korean forces.

Washington had been due to transfer wartime command to Seoul in April 2012.

The delay in the transfer drew mixed responses from South Korean political parties. The ruling Grand National Party welcomed it as an appropriate measure to earn more time to better cope with growing threats from North Korea, which conducted a second nuclear test last year. But the main opposition Democratic Party criticized the government for abandoning a leadership role in defending the nation. — AFP

MALONG: In this photo released by China’s Xinhua news agency, a woman stands near her house damaged by the floods yesterday. — AP

Floodwaters receding in hard-hit southern China BEIJING: Floodwaters began receding in hard-hit southern China yesterday and workers finished repairing a dike breach that forced the evacuation of 100,000 people. Torrential rains pummeled a wide swath of China’s south and more than 3 million people had to be evacuated from their homes over the past two weeks, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

China sustains major flooding annually along the mighty Yangtze and other major waterways, but this year’s floods have been especially devastating, killing 235 people while 109 remain missing, the ministry said. Floods have also caused 53 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) in direct economic losses, it said.

Water had receded enough that some people returned to inspect their homes over the weekend, China Central Television said. Residents returned to find their mud-brick houses covered

in sludge in areas that had been under 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) of water after a reservoir overflowed in Malong county of Yunnan province.

Workers using dump trucks and earth movers finished repairing a breach in the dike on the Fu River in Jiangxi province yesterday, according CCTV. A second breach, 430 feet (130 meters) wide, was not immediately fixed in order to channel out water, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Still, the danger was not completely over for those in the disaster zone. While water in many major rivers was receding, levels in other rivers were still causing concern and even rising in at least two lakes, the state flood control office said.

Efforts also focused on other provinces with crews cleaning debris from mudslides off highways and railway tracks, CCTV said. Local authorities were ordered to step up patrols to inspect for damage. — AP

Warm glow with cold facts for new Philippine leader MANILA: Benigno Aquino will take over as president of the Philippines on Wednesday amid great hopes for change, but he was warned that not even Superman could fix the country’s many deep-rooted problems. Worsening poverty, pervasive corruption, decades-long insurgencies, empty state coffers and crumbling infrastructure are some of the massive challenges Aquino will face.

Achieving a landslide win in last month’s elections was probably the easy part for the son of democracy heroine Corazon Aquino, according to Raul Fabella of the University of the Philippines School of Economics. “In this country, hope has often been dashed in the past.

There is no guarantee it will end differently this time,” Fabella said. Aquino, a 50-year-old bachelor with an economics degree, rode to his victory on a promise to end corruption and fight poverty.

But ahead of his inauguration he has been careful to play down expectations, particularly over the issue of how to get 27 million of his compatriots, nearly a third of the population, out of poverty. “You have to be humble to say you are not Superman and Einstein combined.

You don’t have all the solutions at your fingertips from Wednesday,” he told reporters. And amid enormous expectation following nine years of rule under the deeply unpopular Gloria Arroyo, Aquino said his six-year term in office may well be too short to make a major difference.

“The focus now is really achieving everything we want to achieve cognizant of the fact we cannot transform our society in six years’ time,” he told AFP in an interview immediately after the May 10 national election. “But we are hoping to be able to provide that impetus and momentum to carry over into the next administration.” One of Aquino’s biggest hurdles to tackling corruption and implementing major

reforms could emerge immediately through parliament. With Aquino’s Liberal Party not winning enough seats to enjoy a majority in either house, people question whether he will have to lower his standards and wade into the morass of the nation’s corrupt politics to get things done.

Past presidents have ensured allies backed the leader’s agenda by the selective release of funds from the national budget — 200 million pesos (4.3 million dollars) each a year for senators and 70 million pesos for congressmen.

Critics say these pork barrel funds, which are used for legislators’ pet projects such as roads and bridges in their districts, are at the root of endemic political corruption. Even one of Aquino’s allies has said the new president will have to be pragmatic and play by these rules.

“What do you want him to do. I don’t think it (refusing to play by the pork barrel rules) will bring him anywhere,” Liberal Party senatorelect Franklin Drilon told reporters late in the campaign.

“No congressman can afford to fight city hall (the president), because in our system, if you’re a congressman people in your district would still look at the projects you bring in your district.

They don’t care about issues.” Security is one of his other major challenges, with past presidents unable to end communist and Muslim separatist rebellions that have claimed tens of thousands of lives over the past few decades.

Opposition from majority-Christian politicians in the south frustrated Arroyo’s effort to strike a power-sharing political settlement with Muslim separatists, while Maoist rebels have refused to come to the negotiating table. On the fiscal front, Aquino has warned he faces an immediate crisis, with the budget deficit widely expected to top 6.5 billion dollars this year. With the deficit growing, the government is already under pressure to renege on Aquino’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes. — AFP

11

INTERNATIONAL

Monday, June 28, 2010

Afghan village indifferent to NATO ‘protection’ plan GURGAN: In Afghanistan’s Taleban heartland, US soldiers walk a short distance from their camp into a village in mourning with a daunting offer: protection from the insurgents that live in the area. A roadside bomb killed a father and son and the Americans have come to urge people to turn to them for protection, an offer that few Afghans in this area dare accept.

“The Taleban could find out we talked to you and kill us when we work in our fields,” said 75-year-old farmer Haji Abdul Rahman, after describing how villagers had to retrieve the body parts of the father and

son, who were riding a motorcycle when they were blown up.

The US army patrol through Gurgan reflects how NATO’s efforts to improve security to enable the Kabul government to provide better services to Afghans are making little headway. NATO commanders say the Taleban cannot be defeated by military force alone so they have launched a comprehensive plan to isolate insurgents, who have been fighting tens of thousands of Western forces for nine years.

The strategy can only succeed if ordinary Afghans

are convinced that siding with foreign forces and the government of President Hamid Karzai won’t be too risky. The Taleban have made it violently clear they will not tolerate any contact with Western forces.

While Dand District, where Gurgan is located, is relatively peaceful compared to other parts of the Taleban’s birthplace, Kandahar Province, few Afghans believe they are safe. Just a few kilometers (miles) away, Taleban fighters frequently attack other international troops. Retaliatory artillery can be heard in Gurgan and surrounding villages. Lt

Matthew Bennett, a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, stopped every few minutes and spoke with Gurgan residents on the patrol, shaking hands with elders and handing out pens to excited children.

He wanted to know if pro-Taleban cleric preach at any of the village’s mosques, if militants had come around lately and intimidated anyone. As night fell, Bennett sat down in the light of a kerosene lamp with a group of villagers at a small shop. The questions kept coming. “You said you want to help us but what about roads and schools?” asked one man. Another

man said he felt threatened when US helicopters flew overhead.

Aside from dealing with the Taleban’s military tactics and ferocity, NATO soldiers have to contend with a range of other issues in order to win over Afghans. Villagers told Bennett they appreciate American efforts to secure the area but said troops had to pay closer attention to cultural sensitivities.

Soldiers manning machinegun turrets on the tops of armored vehicles had a view of women in houses and something had to be done, they said. — Reuters

Bangladesh hit by first strike since elections 12,000 policemen, Rapid Action Battalion deployed in Dhaka DHAKA: Security forces in Bangladesh arrested more than 200 people yesterday as the first nationw ide general strike since elections in 2008 w as marred by violence, police said. In the capital Dhaka, security forces fired tear gas and used batons to disperse hundreds of opposition activists as they tried

DELOITTE: An Army carry team carries the casket containing the remains of Nathan W Cox of Fremont, California, upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base. The Department of Defense announced the death of Army Specialist Nathan W Cox who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan. — AP

Eyeing exit, US sobers down in Afghan combat WASHINGTON: Nearly nine years into the Afghan war, the United States has begun scaling back its ambitions, searching for an acceptable way out that avoids defeat. Talk of routing the Taleban has been replaced by efforts to woo insurgents to lay down their arms, as pressure builds to find a formula that will open the door to an eventual exit, even as more American troops pour in to the south. “What can the United States accept?,” asked an essay on the war in the journal Foreign Affairs, a question that now preoccupies US policy makers.

“The perfect is probably not achievable in Afghanistan-but the acceptable can still be salvaged,” the authors wrote. America’s most revered military officer, General David Petraeus, is poised to take command of the NATO-led force at a time of high anxiety in President Barack Obama’s White House over the course of the war. The administration has placed its faith in a strategy that attempts to secure key towns and cities, including in the Taleban’s southern bastions, while training up security forces to gradually take over.

But the approach, inspired by the Iraq war, has made only halting progress, which US officials blame mostly on the Afghan government’s shortcomings and corruption-plagued reputation. In the stifling summer heat in Afghanistan, US officers cannot hide their frustration with an amateur police force and an unreliable government. The NATO-led force that will soon reach about 150,000 faces an elusive enemy that relies on lethal homemade bombs buried in the dirt and intimidation of local Afghans daring to side with Kabul.

Instead of trying to forge a robust democracy, the US war strategy now focuses on preventing Al-Qaeda and its allies from taking power in Afghanistan or setting up sanctuaries on its territory. The approach amounts to “Afghan good enough” instead of an overlyidealistic “Afghan impossible,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In Washington and NATO capitals, there is now “more willingness” to reach an accommodation with middle and lower level members of the Taleban, as well as trying to peel away some senior figures if possi-

ble, he said.

“Those are now options people are more willing to accept,” Cordesman told AFP. Some insurgents have taken oaths and turned in their assault rifles in return for jobs and amnesty, but the outcome of a more elaborate reconciliation plan by Afghan President Hamid Karzai remains uncertain. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has acknowledged the Taleban are part of the “political fabric” of Afghanistan and that a political settlement will be needed to eventually end the conflict.

The Americans are betting that a combination of military pressure, aid and political olive branches will force the insurgents to the negotiating table for a peace deal. But even a more modest plan will take years to succeed, Cordesman and other analysts said, and there are still no guarantees in the “graveyard of empires.”

The authors of the Foreign Affairs article argue the United States needs to jettison the idea of a strong central government in Afghanistan, and instead settle for a messier, decentralized power-sharing model more in keeping with the country’s traditions.

Even as policy experts debate the best way forward, lawmakers in Congress are asking if the conflict’s human and financial cost can be justified much longer.

Members of Obama’s party are anxious to launch a drawdown of troops by mid-2011, as the president has pledged. With the new strategy in place less than a year, and a US troop buildup still under way, Gates and the newly nominated commander, Petraeus, have appealed for patience.

But public patience on both sides of the Atlantic is wearing thin with a war that has dragged on since 2001.

Driving through the Taleban’s birthplace in Kandahar city this month, two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division wondered whether American forces have overstayed their welcome. “We get a lot of dirty looks, I get the feeling they don’t like us very much around here,” one said. His comrade agreed, imagining a conversation with the Afghans. “You don’t want me here, I don’t want to be here. OK, I am going home, sounds like a good deal for both of us.” — AFP

in the news McChrystal downbeat on Afghan war before firing LONDON: US General Stanley McChrystal issued a highly critical assessment of the war in Afghanistan just days before he was sacked by President Barack Obama, a British newspaper reported yesterday. The Independent yesterday said leaked military documents showed McChrystal had briefed defense ministers from the countries involved in the war earlier this month and warned them to expect no progress in the next six months. McChrystal was forced to step down as commander of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan due to disparaging remarks about administration officials, including Obama, in an explosive Rolling Stone magazine article. But the newspaper suggested the article was only one reason why the general quit, saying his candor about the reality of the situation in Afghanistan was an obstacle to plans for an early US withdrawal. “Stan argued for time, and would not compromise.

Rolling Stone provided an excuse for Obama to fire the opposition to his plan without having to win an intellectual argument,” it quoted an unnamed senior military source as saying. According to the paper, McChrystal had said corruption and security remained serious issues as foreign forces battled a “resilient and growing insurgency”. He said the Afghan security forces were “critically short on trainers-the essential resource required for quality”, while the Afghan government had little control over the country.

Protesters shut down Nepal town KATMANDU: Pro-monarchy Hindus shut down a key trading town in southern Nepal yesterday to protest the assassination of one of their leaders who was gunned down a day earlier, officials said.

Kashinath Tiwari of the royalist Hindu Youth Association was shot dead Saturday night by three unidentified attackers at Birgunj, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Katmandu. Birgunj Police Chief Rajendraman Shrestha said four suspects have been arrested, and officers were questioning them over the attack. Supporters of

Tiwari’s organization shut down the town and surrounding areas yesterday, blocking traffic and shuttering markets. The town is an important trade gateway for Nepal, which imports much of its goods and oil from neighboring India. Police said no one has claimed responsibility for killing Tiwari, whose group supported the restoration of the monarchy. Former King Gyanendra was forced to step down from the centuries-old throne after a legislative vote declaring Nepal a republic, and the monarchy was abolished in the Himalayan nation in 2008. Tiwari had led protests against the Maoists, the former communist rebels and opposition party, last month during a Maoist-imposed general strike to demand the ouster of the government. The Maoists had issued threats against Tiwari.

Kashmir orders probe into latest killings SRINAGAR: Authorities in restive Indian Kashmir ordered a judicial probe yesterday into the killing of two young men by security forces in a bid to stem protests over their deaths. Police said the two men died on Friday in Sopore, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar, when troops opened fire after protesters pelted their vehicle with stones. “The state government has appointed a retired justice to conduct an enquiry into the Sopore incident” and report within a month, a statement said Syed Bashir-udDin, who has been asked to conduct the probe, is also the head of Kashmir’s human rights commission. The retired judge has been asked to “determine the persons responsible for the said deaths and fix responsibility for use of excessive force, if any”. Tensions have been rising in recent months in Indian Kashmir, where two decades of rebellion against New Delhi’s rule have left thousands dead.

In Sopore, the situation was reported quiet as authorities enforced a curfew for a third straight day. Police clamped the curfew on the town late Friday after thousands of people poured into the streets, torched a security vehicle and attacked a police station to protest against the killing of the two men.

At least 12,000 policemen and the elite Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in Dhaka to try to avert violence as the shutdown brought much of the capital of 13 million people and the country to a standstill.

Police said the strike had halted transport throughout the country and disrupted business operations. In Dhaka, most private offices, shops, schools and colleges were closed. The BNP had called the strike to protest against what it says is the Awami League government’s failure to provide basic services such as power, water and gas and against “arbitrary” arrests and harassment of opposition supporters.

The Awami League swept to power in January 2009 after a landslide election victory on December 29, 2008. The BNP, which ruled the country twice after democracy was restored in 1990, was reduced to a small opposition. Police used batons to disperse opposition activists, footage shown by private television channel Bangla Vision showed. The channel also reported that several people had been injured. At least 96 people, including two former BNP ministers, were arrested during the strike and 120 activists were taken into custody hours before it began.

“We arrested former public works minister Mirza Abbas this morning on charges of torching vehicles,” said the police chief of Dhaka’s main commercial district, Toffazzal Hossain.

Opposition activists hurled small bombs and pieces of brick at police but there were no casualties, he told AFP. Thousands of BNP activists demonstrated in Dhaka in small groups.

Police cordoned off the party’s main office and banned marches in roads linking government offices and ministers’ homes to the airport.

Several smaller parties, including the main Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, supported the strike. The southeastern city of Chittagong, the country’s main port and home to five million people, was cut off by lack of transport and at least 10 people were arrested for smashing the windows of a bus, police and officials said. Big jute fibre mills and shops were closed in the southern city of Khulna but there was no trouble, police inspector Jamal Uddin said.

Earlier in the decade, repeated strikes, blockades and protests disrupted business life in Bangladesh, costing the impoverished country millions of dollars as the two parties battled for control. But the strikes came to a halt in 2007 when the country came under emergency rule and the army-backed government sought to bring political stability. — AFP

to hold marches along major roads, police said. An opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) law maker w as hurt w hen supporters and opponents of the strike clashed at Dhaka University, police spokesman Walid Hossain said, adding the man w as rushed to hospital and later arrested.

DHAKA: Bangladeshi main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Shahid Uddin Chowdhury, wearing white, cries in pain as he is injured during a clash with police yesterday. — AP

Pakistani Islamic schools for women gain popularity ISLAMABAD: To its detractors, the AlHuda chain of Islamic schools across Pakistan is a driver of conservative Islam, especially among the secular elite. But to the thousands who attend its classes across the country, it is a blessing. Take Mariam Afzal, who says she was once so selfish she would take up two spots in a parking lot without a second thought. Back then, she knew little about Islam beyond the basic rituals. A decade later, the 30-year-old credits Al-Huda with turning her into the veil-wearing Quran teacher she is today.

“It has really helped me become a better person,” she says. Al-Huda’s popularity and rapid growth - and the criticism of it as a promoter of intolerance and gender segregation - is a sign of Pakistan’s swing away from the moderate, Sufi Islam-influenced sphere of South Asia toward the more conservative, Saudi-influenced Middle East. That swing comes as religious observance is on the rise in many other Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Indonesia, especially after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the US put a magnifying glass on Islam and its adherents. The appeal of conservative Islam to the Pakistani elite - the same elite that gave Pakistan a female prime minister, Benazir Bhutto - has been brought into focus following the attempted car bombing in New York’s Times Square on May 1. The would-be

bomber and most of a dozen others held were from educated, wealthier segments of the mostly impoverished country.

Founder Farhat Hashmi started AlHuda (Arabic for “guidance”) in her home with a small group of students in the early 1990s. Now it caters to women and girls in Pakistan and elsewhere, including the US and Canada, where Hashmi now lives. Al-Huda is distinct in several ways from other groups in Pakistan offering classes on Islam. It offers a structured curriculum and a range of programs, a strong brand name and administration, and it was conceived and run by women from the start, instead of being a branch of a male-dominated institution. At its main campus in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, women wearing uniforms of head scarves and long robes sit in rows and take notes as teachers lead lessons on the meaning of the Quran.

Children scamper through the multistory facility. There’s a library, concession stands, a range of pamphlets, books and audiotapes and even an 80-year-old member who acts as a therapist of sorts.

Women can sign up for full-fledged diploma courses, taught in Urdu and English, or they can be “listeners,” just stopping by now and then. Schedules are flexible to attract working women, housewives and the young. Students can live on campus, and a bigger facility is being built on the edge of Islamabad.—AP

ISLAMABAD: In this photo, Pakistani female students study. — AP

Pakistan starts resettling South Waziristan tribes PESHAWAR: Pakistan yesterday launched a process of resettling tens of thousands of tribesmen displaced in a major offensive in the Taleban stronghold of South Waziristan last year, officials said. Pakistan’s military launched a sweeping offensive into South Waziristan last October aimed at wiping out the nerve centre of the main Taleban faction behind a wave of attacks that have killed about 3,400 people since July 2007.

The government has now set up two centers for registration of people who want to resume normal life in the rugged mountainous region, local administration official Mudassar Riaz Malik said. More than 40,000 families or some 300,000 people fled their homes during the offensive in the area, which was known to shelter battle-hardened Uzbeks and Arabs with links to Al-Qaeda. The military is now pursuing insurgents believed to have fled to the other six districts that make up the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

South Waziristan’s displaced have mostly been staying with relatives, friends or in rented houses. “The registration centers in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan towns started working today and the response was good,” Malik told AFP by telephone. The actual resettlement process will begin soon after registration is over, he said.

“We want to resettle all those who had been displaced,” he said adding that two more centers would be established to expedite the work. The returnees will be provided with food and other essentials in addition to cash assistance to help in resettlement, he said. The government offered to begin resettling displaced people earlier in the year but the tribes people proved reluctant to move until the situation was completely stabilized, tribal sources said. Malik said troops would remain in the area to ensure peace and security and would “stay there as long as needed”. The military confirmed it was providing security for the process. “It is a joint effort, we are involved in the repatriation process,” a military official said. — AFP

OPINION

12

Monday, June 28, 2010

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issues

Lack of jobs in US could undercut Obama's win

By Liz Sidoti

T

he sweeping overhaul of the US financial industry is President Barack Obama's answer to Americans' outrage over Wall Street bailouts. But come November if more Americans don't have jobs, Democrats in Congress could very well lose theirs, too. That's clearly not lost on party leaders.

"This law will send a clear warning: no longer will we allow recklessness on Wall Street to cause joblessness on Main Street," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared after the House and Senate reached agreement around dawn Friday on a measure overhauling rules overseeing the financial industry.

"The legislation will end the era of taxpayer-funded bailouts and too-big-to-fail financial firms, and it will be fully paid for, with Wall Street footing the bill."

Her carefully worded pitch was by design a nod to populist anger coursing through the electorate.

The still-fragile economy and persistently high unemployment are by far the foremost issues on voters' minds in a tough election year for the party in power.

Democrats are on defense while Republicans have enthusiasm on their side four months before the first midterm elections of Obama's presidency.

Democrats are counting on bills like the health care overhaul and the financial regulation to help level the playing field. A remake of US energy policy could be next. Nothing short of

the Democrats' grip on power in Washington is at stake in November. And the outcome will shape the remainder of Obama's first term and, perhaps, his likely 2012 re-election race.

A year in the making, the financial regulatory legislation couldn't have come at a better time for the president, a gift as he headed to Canada for global economic talks with world leaders at the end of a challenging week.

In Canada, Obama called for more stimulus to keep the world economy growing but ran into strong opposition from countries wanting to put deficit reduction first. He fired the Afghanistan commander who raised doubts about the White House national security team. A deep-sea robot jostled a cap collecting crude oil from BP's spewing Gulf Coast well. A judge blocked the administration's offshore drilling moratorium. And Republicans again blocked his election-year stimulus jobs bill, a top agenda item for House and Senate Democrats looking to maintain majorities in Congress.

The unemployment rate still is hovering around 10 percent.

Even though the economy is improving in some places, many people aren't feeling it because they don't have jobs. Most people - 72 percent in the latest Associated Press-GfK poll describe the nation's economy as poor. Fewer than half approve of how Obama is handling the economy and unemployment.— AP

In signal to Pyongyang, US, Seoul beef up ties

By P Parameswaran

I

n a display of unshakeable unity against nuclear-armed North Korea, US President Barack Obama agreed Saturday to wrap up a long delayed free trade deal with South Korea and extend Washington's wartime command of South Korean forces. As tensions surged on the Korean peninsula after Pyongyang was blamed for a deadly attack on a Seoul warship, Obama held warm talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, declaring that "our friendship and alliance continues to grow" both on the security and economic fronts. After talks on the sidelines of a G20 summit, Obama launched a new initiative to implement a free trade agreement signed between the two allies in June 2007 during the administration of his predecessor George W Bush.

Its implementation had been put on hold after Obama raised market access problems over American beef and autos. On Saturday, Obama ordered his officials to complete talks with their South Korean counterparts to get the agreement ready by November, when he visits Seoul for the next G20 summit. "I want to make sure that everything is lined up properly by the time I visit Korea in November, and in the few months that follow that, I intend to present it to Congress," Obama said.

"It is the right thing to do for our country, it is the right thing to do for Korea," the US leader said. The trade deal has been touted as the biggest free trade

agreement since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In their joint press conference after talks, Obama and Lee also sent a firm message to North Korea that it should be held to account for its alleged torpedo attack on a South Korean ship which left 46 South Korean sailors dead.

"We stand foursquare behind him," Obama said as he met with Lee, who vowed Seoul "will react swiftly and strongly" to prevent another attack by North Korea.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula rose after a multinational investigation found the North torpedoed the 1,200-tonne Cheonan near the disputed Yellow Sea border.

Pyongyang has angrily denied any responsibility and threatened military retaliation if it is slapped with international censure amid concerns that it may be preparing for a new round of missile tests..

Obama and Lee also agreed Saturday to postpone until 2015 Washington's transfer of wartime command of allied South Korean forces to Seoul.

Currently, if war were to break out on the Korean peninsula, the United States would assume operational command of South Korean forces.

Under a 2007 agreement with Seoul, this plan was due to come to an end in April 2012. The White House's chief adviser on Asia, Jeff Bader, told reporters on a conference call that South Korea wanted to push back the date to underline the US commitment to security in the region at a time of tension.— AFP

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One year after Honduras coup, region remains divided

O

ne year after soldiers sent away the president of Honduras at gunpoint, political rulers in the Central American nation have failed to convince many observers that the crisis is over. The June 28, 2009 removal of wealthy cattle rancher Manuel Zelaya, who swerved to the political left during his presidency, split opinion both in Honduras and internationally.

Many in Latin America, including powerhouse Brazil, refuse to recognize President Porfirio Lobo, who won power in polls held under an unelected interim regime last November and took office in January.

But the United States, the traditional Honduras backer, has now restored economic and military cooperation,

after first condemning the coup in one of the region's poorest countries.

"Sadly, Honduras has turned into a political football," Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank in Washington said. "There have been too many attempts to score political points and too few efforts that give highest priority to the welfare of most Hondurans," Shifter said.

The coup and its aftermath increased tensions on familiar geopolitical battlegrounds in the Americas.

It provoked the Organization of American States (OAS) to suspend Honduras-a move which has not been reversed despite pressure from the United States. "It is time for the (western) hemisphere as a whole to move

forward and welcome Honduras back into the inter-American community," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told OAS foreign ministers in Peru earlier this month.

OAS experts are studying the necessary conditions for the return of Honduras but Brazil, which sheltered Zelaya in its embassy in Tegucigalpa in a long showdown following the coup, has urged countries not to rush into readmitting Honduras.

In a major challenge for Lobo's presidency, the killings of a string of journalists and rights activists this year have maintained tensions at home and abroad. A group of 27 US Democratic lawmakers on Thursday wrote to Clinton to "express our continuing con-

cern regarding the grievous violations of human rights and the democratic order which commenced with the coup and continue to this day." They called for a US mission to study the situation in Honduras. The US government supports an official Truth Commission set up to investigate alleged rights abuses surrounding the coup.

But many in Honduras fear that officials who are implicated but still in power could influence that probe.

Rights activists including two Nobel Prize laureates last week set up a rival commission to investigate abuses and responsibility for the coup. Supporters of Zelaya plan demonstrations to mark the one-year anniversary on Monday.

Zelaya allied himself with Venezuela's

firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez and angered the country's elite as he sought to change the constitution. His critics accused him of seeking to extend term limits.

Zelaya made two bids to return to Honduras, including a spectacular attempt by airplane, before appearing in Brazil's embassy last September. He left for the Dominican Republic in January. Lobo caused a stir earlier this month after saying that he himself might be removed in a coup. The conservative leader, who is faced with opposition from politicians and business leaders within his camp as he seeks to make peace with the international community, later played down the threat. — AFP

Stalemate persists as suspect avoids police

By Angela K Brown

T

he past decade has taken a toll on John Joe Gray, holed up on his rural East Texas land while waiting for a siege that has not happened. He has been living on 47 acres behind a fence without running water and electricity but with plenty of guns, daring authorities to arrest him for a 10-year-old, third-degree felony warrant. He says he has not left his property since 2000, all the while allowing his distrust of a government he views as evil to fester.

The handmade warning signs have faded and the hordes of fellow militia members have long since gone, leaving behind only Gray and some relatives he will not say how many - on the treeshaded property along a river in rural Henderson County, about 50 miles southeast of Dallas. They grow their own food and live in a shack and trailer - always wearing holsters with weapons. They do not guard the entrance anymore.

Gray is thin and pale with a long, graying beard flowing down from his gaunt face, almost unrecognizable from photos taken in 2000, which showed short, dark hair and a mustache. "I'll never leave," Gray said recently, wearing a holster that sheathed a knife on one side and pistol on the other. "I don't feel like a prisoner ... because I'm living out here and following God's laws."

Gray, now in his early 60s, had worked in construction and led a Texas militia group that often trained on the isolated property where he lived for about 15 years before the so-called standoff.

In late 1999 Gray was in a car pulled over for speeding in nearby Anderson County. State troopers saw high-powered rifles and anti-government materials in the car, but Gray refused to get out. When the troopers tried to remove him from the car, he allegedly bit one trooper's hand and tried to grab his weapon. After his arrest Gray showed up in court for a bail hearing, when Anderson County District Attorney Doug Lowe told the judge he feared Gray was a major threat because troopers found diagrams of plans to blow up a Dallas overpass. "I wanted the judge to know what he was possibly thinking," Lowe said.

But Gray posted bond, left and never showed up again in court. Gray then sent a handwritten letter on dusty notebook paper telling authorities that they had "better bring plenty of body bags" if they stormed his compound,

TEXAS: Photo shows handmade signs on John Joe Gray's property near Trinidad, Texas. The past decade has taken a toll on John Joe Gray, holed up with relatives on his rural East Texas land while waiting for a siege that's never happened. — AP said Gary Thomas, a former investigator for Anderson County prosecutors.

That never happened. Authorities in Henderson County did not want to risk a gun battle that probably would have killed officers or children on the compound, said Sheriff Ray Nutt, the third sheriff in office since 2000.

If Gray is ever spotted driving in town or seen at a business, however, he will be arrested, Nutt said. Gray has not paid property taxes since 1995. The county has sued him for $12,700 in back taxes and interest penalties. But Nutt said it is too dangerous for deputies to serve notice of the suit filed in 2008, and until that happens, the case cannot continue. "Our hands are tied," said Anna Marie Fontana, a legal assistant with McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen, the law firm that filed the suit for Henderson County.

Lowe said because Gray already has been indicted on charges of assaulting an officer and trying to take his weapon, there is no statute of limitations on prosecuting him. "Effectively he's been under self-imposed house arrest for the past 10 years, and the maximum sentence for his charges was 10 years," the prosecutor said. "It calls into question why we didn't make an attempt to resolve this, but some people have such a distrust of the government that

they're willing to sacrifice themselves and their families by living like that."

As Gray settled into his compound, militia members from several states heeded Internet messages "calling all patriots" and arrived to help stand guard 24 hours a day at the entrance.

The now-faded handmade signs with warnings or Bible verses still hang from the fencepost and trees: "Disobedience to Tyranny is Obedience to God!" and "Howdy - Now Git!" Gray even wrote "kids inside" on one, expecting a raid.

As the case gained national attention in the summer of 2000, a former police chief's negotiations with Gray fell apart. A county constable who was a friend of Chuck Norris got the Texas actor and conservative activist to meet with Gray and send his own lawyers to negotiate on Gray's behalf. But talks with prosecutors failed quickly. "I wanted him to turn himself in, and we talked about what he would do after that ... but I never made a concrete offer because he just didn't want to turn himself in," Lowe said.

Gray's former son-in-law has a special reason to want the case resolved.

Keith Tarkington has not seen his sons since his then-wife, who is Gray's daughter, moved to the property with the boys in 1999 before the standoff

began. John Joe Gray had grown increasingly paranoid and wanted his family, minus Tarkington, to live there and prepare for the turn of the millennium, the ex-son-in-law said.

Gray and another family member had run-ins with authorities over their lack of drivers' licenses and car registrations, instead using tags from the Oregon-based Embassy of Heaven, a sect that rejects governmental authority. Gray has accused local authorities of targeting him because he knows about their longtime drug-manufacturing facilities near his property, which authorities dismiss as ridiculous. He also claimed that a jail nurse tried to inject him with a tracking device.

Tarkington said he did not want his children reared around Gray and filed for divorce in 1999. Lisa Gray never appeared for court hearings, and Tarkington was granted custody, although he says he was prevented from seeing the children when he repeatedly went to Gray's property.

Toddlers when Tarkington last held them, the boys are 14 and almost 13 now.

They may no longer be living there.

"I wonder what they look like now. Are they left- or right-handed? Things like that," said Tarkington, who lives in nearby Gun Barrel City. "People have

said, 'When you get them, they'll be so screwed up and afraid, and they won't know you.'

But I love them, and I'm still their father." Tarkington, who complains that "law enforcement has never done anything to try to get my sons back," described a family gathering: "I was watching my nieces and nephews and wondering about my kids, wishing they were with us. I eat with it, sleep with it, breathe it." Although a court authorized deputies to take the children away from Lisa Gray, then-Sheriff Howard "Slick" Alfred said removing them from Gray's compound was too risky.

After receiving Gray's note about body bags, Alfred said in 2000, authorities wanted to avoid "another Waco," referring to the disastrous 1993 siege on the Branch Davidians sect compound near that Texas city, and decided not to go near the property. Some wonder whether the case remains on officials' radar because people have reported seeing Gray driving in nearby towns and going to stores. "It sticks in my craw that somebody's done this and gotten away with it," said Thomas, the former investigator, now a justice of the peace. "But it just became a frenzy, and everybody got so gun-shy and was afraid of stepping on toes."

As the years have passed, Gray and his family have been living peacefully on their land and want to be left alone.

He will not say whether Tarkington's sons were among the children who have lived there, or where they are now. The Grays drink well water, eat vegetables grown in their garden and fish in the river that borders the land covered with a canopy of trees. They live in a ramshackle house and a mobile home and often eat at the picnic table far from the road but visible through the trees.

Neighbors say the Grays are misunderstood by law enforcers and the media and have never caused problems. Even the sheriff notes the time a few years ago when one of the Grays it is unclear which family member called for help on a CB radio when a hunter was injured on neighboring property, and the family tended to him until an ambulance arrived. "Our department right now could probably go out there and talk to John Joe Gray face-to-face," Nutt said, but he said he does not plan to do that. "The situation is stable," he said, "but these situations could explode at any time. We are prepared if something forces us into a situation." — AP

ANALYSIS

Monday, June 28, 2010

13 focus

More Asia progress possible under new Australian leader

By Amy Coopes

O

UTTAR PRADESH: Social activist Richa Singh speaks to villagers in Pipari village, about 180 kilometers north of Lucknow. The world's largest social welfare program, a new law in 2005 guaranteeing every rural family 100 days of work a year at a wage that is now pegged at 100 rupees ($2.10) a day, is working to transform villages like Pipari. (Right) A village woman heats cereals of other villagers in Pipari village. — AP Photos

One Indian village wins freedom with job program

By Ravi Nessman

F

or as long as anyone can remember, the people of Pipari have lived as virtual slaves. The wealthy, upper-caste landlord forced them to work his fields for almost nothing, gave them loans at impossible interest rates, controlled their access to government welfare and held the police in his pocket. They were dalits, the lowest caste, with houses made of cattle dung, clothing in tatters and barely enough food for a meal and a half a day. They were trapped below the bottom, serfs in an age-old system of exploitation that few in rural India dared question.

Until, one day, with the help of the world's largest social welfare program, they did. The roots of Pipari's revolt lie in the latest effort to alleviate the devastating poverty that plagues India, amid an economic boom that brought luxury cars to city streets but left rural villages without running water. Earlier programs intended to empower the poor - giving them land and subsidized food, reserving posts for women and lower castes - often ended with uppercaste landlords and corrupt bureaucrats amassing even greater power.

They distributed the cheap food, but kept a cut to sell at market rates. They used front men to obtain land meant for the destitute. Their servants and wives ran for reserved posts on their behalf.

So legions of critics rolled their eyes when the government passed a new law in 2005 guaranteeing every rural family 100 days of work a year at a wage that is now pegged at 100 rupees ($2.10) a day. But the law was largely shaped by social activists with deep onthe-ground experience, who designed it as a vehicle for transforming rural India.

The program, which has given work to more than 52 million families this year - pays the rural poor to build everything from roads to irrigation ponds. It also fights corruption by giving local grassroots groups oversight. It pressures rural employers to raise their wages to compete with the program's pay. It reserves one-third of the jobs for women. And, the government hopes, it will stem the flight from farms to cities.

"It's incredibly ambitious," said Jean Dreze, a development economist affiliated with the Delhi School of Economics. "Over time, all of this could lead to quite a bit of social change."

When corrupt officials siphoned off part of the villagers' wages, the government pushed the program's 90 million workers to get bank accounts so they could be paid directly - a revolutionary move that suddenly gave much of India's rural poor access to formal banking for the first time. When "agents" began gathering at the banks to help workers fill out forms for a hefty fee, the government mandated that all paperwork be taken care of at the job sites.

The program has had an uneven impact across India. In some places, like Pipari, it has doubled or tripled local incomes and empowered villagers. In many others, villagers do not even know they have the right to request work, or if they do, are simply brushed off by local officials. Some states are barely implementing the program, Dreze said. And even the program's supporters admit it is hemorrhaging money.

The cost of 400 billion rupees ($8.6 billion) accounts for nearly 4 percent of the central government's budget. Some economists says as much as 30 or 40 percent of the funds might be pocketed by unscrupulous officials - a relatively good track record for rural India.

Program officials say the percentage of misused funds is far lower. But the program has also won accolades from surprising quarters. Political analysts credit it for the Congress Party's reelection last year. Citigroup says the money it pumped into rural areas helped India weather the global economic downturn.

"There is a huge amount of scope for

UTTAR PRADESH: A villager puts his arms around children and listens to a social activist during a meeting in Pipari village. — AP improvement," said Himanshu, a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, who goes by one name. But, "it's working a lot. More than what we had expected."

Pipari is so far at the bottom, its economy runs on cattle manure. It is mixed with mud to construct brittle homes baked pale yellow in the paralyzing heat. It is cut into logs, laid out to dry and burned as cooking fuel. It is stacked for safekeeping into 8-foot (2.5meter)-high mounds scattered everywhere in the village.

There is no electricity, no running water and not a single toilet or outhouse for the 179 families of this village, about 180 kilometers north of Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh. The villagers are chamars, from the untouchable caste of traditional leather tanners, and pasis, the slightly higher caste of watchmen.

Before India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, they were landless peasants tending farms on behalf of their upper-caste landlords.

After independence, they were given tiny farms of their own. In total, the families have about 60 to 70 acres (24 to 28 hectares) of sandy, uneven farmland with no irrigation facilities.

They eke out one annual harvest of wheat and lentils. But even in good years, that was never enough to survive.

So the men in their threadbare shirts and torn rubber sandals headed off for weeks at a time to the city of Kanpoor, 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, to pedal bicycle rickshaws. And

they continued to work the land of the upper castes for a pittance.

Naimish Shukla's family ran this area by fiat for generations. A powerful upper-caste man with more than twice the farmland of all of Pipari, Shukla, 50, is referred to simply as the pradhan the chieftain. When women saw him in the market, they would cover their heads with scarves, avert their gaze and hurry away.

The men would drop to the ground and touch his feet. When he needed work done in his fields, he would give a command and the villagers would come. "We were all afraid of him. When he spoke to us, he never used our real names, he used diminutive nicknames or insulting names," said Mahavir, a villager who goes by only one name.

The villagers made a pittance, some just more than $100 a year, and were forced to turn to Shukla for loans for fertilizer, train fare to Kanpoor, weddings, cholera medicine and food. In return, he charged interest rates that could turn a 500 rupee ($10.50) loan into a 1,000 rupee ($21) debt in months, villagers said. Some sold their precious silver jewelry to pay him. Others sold parts of their tiny farms for a pittance to men they suspected were agents of the upper castes.

Nearly all were forced to work his fields for three days a month in lieu of the interest on their never-ending loans, they said. Shukla also was the mayor or technically his wife was - and they needed his help in gaining access to government welfare programs. "We were his slaves," said Om Prakash, 35,

one of more than a dozen villagers who spoke at length about the situation.

Defiance against the Shuklas was so rare, the villagers still talk about the only other time it happened. A man dug a trench through the family's fields to a river to stop flooding that had devastated Pipari, said Mansa Ram, the man's grandson. In retaliation, the family accused him of theft, but a sympathetic policeman refused to pursue the case, Ram said. That was in 1960. Half a century later, the villagers recount their own rebellion. It began in late 2006, when they asked Shukla for work under the new law.

Many local officials - fearing an erosion of their power - refused to register families who applied, refused to give work to those who registered and refused to pay those who worked.

Shukla told the villagers there were no jobs, even though the law requires they be given work within 15 days or paid unemployment. But the people of Pipari were at the breaking point.

Everyone had a loan they couldn't pay off. Men were forced to spend more time peddling rickshaws in Kanpoor, leaving the women alone with the children and the fields, which produced ever less food.

"We had a hunger in our stomachs, and we had no choice," said Prakash. A community group, Sangateen, brought some of them to the nearby city of Sitapur for a large protest that forced regional officials to comply with the jobs law. In December, the villagers were given work for five days digging a pond and another seven days digging a

canal. Shukla paid them half their wages and told them they would get the rest soon, the villagers said. They didn't. By February, with the harvest still two months away, Pipari was desperate.

Fifty-three men walked to Shukla's home to ask for their money. He brushed them off. So they marched to a nearby government office and were promised payment the next day, they said. They went back to Shukla's house the following morning, but were told it would take one more day. On the third day, they gathered at 10 a.m., but he was gone. They called him on his mobile phone and he promised to bring the money, they said. Over the next five hours, the men sat in the dirt of his yard and stewed. They reminisced about the recent protest in Sitapur, which forced much more powerful officials than their pradhan to cave in.

At 3 p.m., they called back. He yelled at them over a speakerphone and told them to leave immediately. Amid the anger, the humiliation and their desperate need, something inside the men snapped. "We stopped being afraid of him," said Santosh Kumar, 31.

"There were so many of us, I didn't feel any fear," said Kishori Lal, 50. They refused to leave. Even more, they demanded he return immediately with their money. They threatened to riot and to loot the nearby ration shop.

When they spotted sacks of grain intended for a school feeding program, they demanded them as collateral for their salaries. "No one had ever done that before," Prakash said.

Shukla told his terrified staff to give the villagers the grain. Soon after, he paid their wages. The villagers were stunned. They had defied their pradhan, threatened him even, and they had won. So they did it again. They camped at his house every day for 10 days until he gave them all their job cards. When he refused to let women work, 37 turned up at a job site anyway and prevailed, to cheers. They rallied when he wouldn't sign papers for them to open bank accounts, and then protested when the bank demanded 100 rupees ($2.10) to open the accounts. "After that first protest, there was no going back," Prakash said.

Shukla denies everything, from the usurious loans to the ceaseless confrontations with the villagers. "There has never been any conflict with the workers," he said, sitting on a woven day bed in the anteroom of his house, as he prepared to preside over a government meeting in his wife's stead.

But one of his servants, Ram Pyari, shook her head and reminded her boss of that time three years ago when the Pipari villagers arrived en masse and demanded their money.

The seemingly unbreakable power structure has crumbled. With more money in their pockets from the jobs program, the villagers are taking far fewer loans from Shukla. They refuse to toil in his fields for meager pay, and he complains that he has had to nearly double his wages to attract workers.

Prakash's income shot from 6,000 rupees ($127) a year to 16,500 rupees ($350). Instead of bread and salt, his family eats a full dinner, and he pays 50 rupees ($1) a month to send his daughter to private school. The men don't pedal rickshaws in Kanpoor anymore, but stay home with their families and their fields.

The women are earning money of their own for the first time. The villagers are even discussing taking on the next most powerful person in the area, the man who runs the government food shop, whom they accuse of stealing their subsidized sugar ration.

As for Shukla, they still defer to him, but rebel in small ways. When he tells them to do work for him, they do what is convenient and ignore the rest, they said. And they have stopped touching his feet, giving him a little salute instead. "He still acts like a king, but we don't consider him a king anymore," said Harpal Gautam, 37. "His rights and our rights are equal." — AP

usted Australian leader Kevin Rudd may have talked big on engagement with Asia, but his successor, Julia Gillard, has a consultative approach seen as more likely to get things done, analysts said. Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking China expert and former diplomat in Beijing, was tossed from power Thursday in a sudden Labor Party coup less than three years after his landslide election win.

The self-avowed Sinophile made much of his passion for what he described as the "Asian century," proposing a new panAsian body to boost regional integration and pushing literacy in Asian languages. But his foreign policy legacy was dismissed as heavy on style with little substance by a number of Asia commentators, who said he did more to alienate key partners like Japan, India and China than consolidate relations.

"Most of the region was very willing to give him the benefit of the doubt at first, and indeed quite willing to embrace and willing to listen to him," said Rory Medcalf, a director at foreign policy think-tank the Lowy Institute. "But within a fairly short time I think they were disappointed with the way he engaged with them, the fact that he didn't listen to them," he said. Medcalf said Southeast Asian nations liked Rudd's Asiacentric stance, and many applauded his apology to Aborigines as a "further and final step away from Australia's reputation as some sort of old fashioned Anglo-Saxon relic."

But the paradox of Rudd was that "his rhetoric about Asia was great, his achievements weren't," said Medcalf, citing his doomed push for an Asia-Pacific bloc incorporating the US, China, Japan, India, Indonesia and Russia. "I think in a way he was too convinced of his own unique expertise and his own unique brilliance on these issues," he explained. "The style of Asian diplomacy is slow, consultative consensus-building rather than jumping out with dramatic new ideas and declaring your ideas before you've actually consulted."

Andrew O'Neil, director of Griffith University's Asia Institute, said Rudd earned a reputation as an "activist," particularly during the global slump. "Some leaders saw Rudd as this meddling Australian prime minister and some of them may well be relieved he's gone now," O'Neil said. Gillard was likely to follow the "same broad contours" of foreign policy as Rudd-a strong alliance with the US, affinity with the United Nations, and a deep engagement in the Asia-Pacific.

"But I think Gillard is probably going to be a little bit more cautious in the way she approaches foreign policy," said O'Neil, predicting a more consultative manner and the delegation of more responsibility to the foreign minister. Medcalf said Gillard would likely be well-received in the region and had the opportunity to make a clean break from Rudd, particularly in China, where he said the former prime minister had "overpersonalised" the issues.

"I think he overestimated what he could achieve as a Mandarin speaker and China expert, and underestimated how difficult it actually is to influence events within China," said Medcalf. "(Gillard) can show a little bit of humility and willingness to consult."

Australian National University expert Jim George said the change in leadership would have little impact on China, Australia's most important trading partner.

"If nothing else (the Chinese) are enormously pragmatic, and while the profile might be slightly different with someone other than Kevin Rudd as prime minister, I suspect that will have little to do with the decision-making associated with our relationship," he said.

Medcalf tipped Gillard to abandon Rudd's push for a new regional bloc and said she would probably "try to work with existing institutions" pragmatically and cement ties with Japan, China, India, Indonesia and South Korea. "Essentially, I don't think she's going to play up Asia or play down Asia," he said. "I think she'll just simply get on with the job." — AFP

Austerity row underscores Romanian govt's weakness

By Sam Cage and Luiza Ilie

A

legal ruling that threw out the Romanian government's plan for harsh spending cuts has undermined its authority at a time when the EU's second poorest member needs strong leadership to tackle the recession. In a last-resort effort to raise money after the country's top court said planned pension cuts were illegal, Prime Minister Emil Boc's government said on Saturday it will hike value added tax to cut the budget deficit and secure a 20 billion euro ($27 billion) IMF-led deal.

The quick-fix solution may appease the International Monetary Fund, but Boc's centrist government lacks clout to force through more measures to keep the country's ballooning budget deficit under control. The government's predicament also showed a lack of long-term thinking-many analysts had predicted the pension cuts would be declared illegal-and further undermined its authority. The developments came a week after the government squeaked past a no-confidence motion, suggesting it could fall if the leftist opposition files a fresh motion. Analysts question whether they would want power at such a challenging time.

"The government is weak, but I doubt the opposition will file another no-confidence vote," political commentator Mircea Marian said. "The best thing for the opposition is to let the government stay in power and selfdestruct." The VAT tax hike, coupled with planned cuts in public sector wages, would bring only temporary relief to the cabinet's strained budget and it still needs to shake up the public administration.

Boc, a 43-year-old former mayor of Cluj-Napoca and close ally of President Traian Basescu, will struggle to pass urgently needed reforms to the vast public sector, which provides a third of all employment and costs about twice as much as it should, according to economists. While the tax hike should help Romania meet its IMF-agreed fiscal deficit of 6.8 percent of gross domestic

product, analysts said inflation would jump sharply and recession would deepen as battered households grappled with a price blowout.

GRIM OUTLOOK Victor Ponta, head of the opposition Social Democrats, said on Friday the cabinet should drastically cut current expenditure rather than raise taxes but stopped short of announcing plans to file a new no-confidence motion. "We appeal to President Basescu to ask for Emil Boc's resignation," Ponta told reporters. "This is the government that has lost parliamentary support and whose actions were once more declared unconstitutional." As things stand, none of the major parties commands enough support for a solid parliamentary majority and the government will stumble on unless Basescu, who won a tight election in December, dismisses Boc or calls new elections.

Those seem unlikely, since Basescu has close links to Boc's Democrat-Liberals and would be reluctant to cede parliamentary support for his presidency. The government may also face more pressure from unions and demonstrations, as austerity measures bite deeper, although a planned general strike earlier in June was something of a damp squib. It all makes investors warier than ever over the likelihood of reforms and should protests flare up again, like a large May demonstration against the spending cuts, it could raise the specter of debt-ridden Greece.

Friday's court ruling knocked more than 1 percent off the leu currency and some 5 percent off the main share index, showing markets' nervousness. May's protest also hit asset prices.

Capital Economics analyst Neal Shearing forecasts Romania's economy will shrink a further 1 percent this year and sees additional risks to the downside due to political instability. "We are taking this measure (VAT hike) because it is important to ensure our financing ability," Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu said. "But we believe this is not what is best for the Romanian economy." — Reuters

NEWS

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US drawdown from Iraq gathering pace CAMP VICTORY: The withdrawal of American combat troops and equipment from Iraq is 60 percent complete two months ahead of a deadline that will serve as a precursor for a complete US military pullout. Camp Victory, a giant sprawling base on the edge of Baghdad airport, is one of eight sites where American soldiers are sorting through the mass of hardware and supplies that must either be taken home, sent to Afghanistan, or destroyed.

Although the military is anxious to avoid accusations that it is “cutting and running” from Iraq as operations in Afghanistan take precedence, US troop numbers are steadily falling and just 50,000 will remain beyond August 31. “We are right-sizing the force,” Brigadier General Gus Perna, the man in charge of the drawdown said at Camp Victory in a giant yard filled with 330 vehicles headed for neighboring Kuwait to be moved out of the country. “Over 32,000 pieces of rolling stock have been retrograded out of Iraq since February 2009,” he said, referring to MRAP (Mine-resistant, armorprotected) and Humvee troop carriers used since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.

The vehicles are being driven south into Kuwait before they are moved to Afghanistan or back to the United States.

Around 800,000 other pieces of equipment have so far left Iraq in cargo containers.

Camp Victory is the central hub for movement operations and combines with four

locations in northern Iraq, one in the west of the country and two in the south where equipment is being processed and tracked for eventual shipping.

There are currently 84,000 US troops in Iraq, but President Barack Obama’s decision to pull all combat soldiers out means 34,000 are readying themselves to leave while a training and advisory force stays behind after August. It takes one hour for a vehicle to be processed and it will stay there for three to five days before heading south in a convoy. Between 30 and 40 vehicles leave Camp Victory each day, US logistics officers said.

When combined with the seven other sites, however, around 3,500 vehicles have left the country in June so far, the highest monthly total this year. An Iraqi military official said that Baghdad is happy with the pace of the pullout of combat troops and stressed that important equipment was being given to local forces. “The withdrawal has reached more than 60 percent of its requirements and there have been no problems so far,” said defense ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed Al-Askari.

Excess US equipment with an estimated worth of 91.4 million dollars has so far been handed over to the Iraqi government, and other supplies such as rifle ammunition will be left because it is uneconomical to ship it to America. This is in addition to hardware and facilities that the United States has

refurbished under the two-billion-dollar Iraqi Security Force Fund approved by Washington. Although some equipment is being given to the Iraqis there is also a massive amount of material that the US military machine is destroying because it is deemed “unserviceable”.

At Camp Victory, clapped-out military trucks were being stripped down and cut up and sold off to local scrap metal dealers, while dozens of computers and printers were being destroyed in a giant shredding machine. Between 50 and 70 40-foot and 20-foot containers filled with equipment are being lifted by giant magnetic cranes onto lorries bound for Kuwait each day. With deaths of Iraqi civilians and security forces still in the hundreds each month, there remains concern that a dangerous security vacuum could ensue when US combat troops pull out in just over two months’ time.

But Michael O’Hanlon, a national security and defense policy expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the August 31 withdrawal should not be seen as a cause for concern. “I’m generally optimistic,” he said. “The end of the ‘combat mission’ is partly a semantic change and the 50,000 remaining US troops will still be quite capable. “The fact that we have been out of the cities for a year already suggests the drawdown is eminently feasible,” O’Hanlon added. — AFP

Egypt ‘repressing’ youths CAIRO: Egypt’s youths are being repressed by the government which is preventing them from taking part in political life, the United Nations said in a report yesterday.

“There should be a margin of freedoms and less censorship,” said the 2010 UN Human Development Report on Egypt. “Bloggers should not be arrested in order to help young people take part in public life,” it said, only days after thousands protested in Alexandria against the alleged killing by police of a young Internet user.

The report also criticized the “absence of channels through which young people can express their opposing views or solutions for social problems.” The report focused on Egyptian youths aged 18-29, saying they represented 22 percent of Egypt’s overall population of about 80 million people. It said Egypt should improve and make education more accessible for its youths, especially for low-income people and girls in poor families, saying that 80-82 percent of them have no access to education whatsoever.

Young Egyptians do not trust the electoral system and shun politics because of the security services’ intolerance of public activity, the report said. The annual UN Development Program report coincides with mounting protests-small on a global

scale but unusual in Egypt-calling for political change before parliamentary and presidential elections this year and next.

Potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei led thousands of people on Friday in an anti-torture protest. But protests have mostly numbered no more than hundreds in a country of 78 million people, where those between 18 and 29 years are estimated at a quarter of the population.

“The potential for the creation of an enabling environment also appears to be undermined by the country’s record of democracy and by a security apparatus that is intolerant of any form of public display,” the report on human development says.

“Youth appear to endorse the importance of democracy but do not perceive it as much of a priority as earning a living in the future,” the report said, adding youths faced high unemployment and were deterred by perceived levels of corruption.

Protests in Egypt partly reflect pent up frustration after almost three decades of rule by President Hosni Mubarak, 82. But security forces have been quick and often violent to end them. Based on discussions with more than 400 graduates, the report said: “By a large majority, they see political

activities as useless and incapable of making a difference to their more immediate problems or addressing their real concerns.” It said youths had lost trust in the electoral process, making religion more attractive.

Egypt’s biggest opposition group is the Muslim Brotherhood, but it is officially banned.

The report, which was supported by the government, did not give a detailed account of Egypt’s political system which critics say gives little room for any organized opposition. Emergency law, in force since 1981, allows indefinite detention and other steps rights groups say are used to silence dissent. The report said the law undermined media liberties. “Youth unemployment is the dominant form of unemployment in Egypt, and the most serious kind of youth exclusion,” it said, adding at least 90 percent of unemployed were under 30 years.

Officials put unemployment at around 10 percent but analysts say this masks problems such as underemployment. “We are fully aware of the challenges the youths face these days, and we are seeking to decrease them,” Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told a conference on the report, highlighting economic initiatives but not addressing political issues. — Agencies

Arrests expose myth of Indonesia’s deradicalisation policy: Analysts JAKARTA: Indonesia’s vaunted “deradicalisation program” aimed at bringing terrorists back into mainstream Islam has been exposed as a myth by recent arrests of re-offenders, analysts and police said. Senior police now acknowledge that no such program exists and are issuing increasingly stark warnings that, on the contrary, the mainly Muslim country’s prisons are at risk of becoming schools of violent jihad.

The final straw appears to have been the re-arrest of Abdullah Sunata, 32, on suspicion of plotting attacks on the Danish embassy and a police parade. He was released from jail last year for good behavior after serving only a fraction of a seven-year sentence for his role in a 2004 attack on the Australian embassy, which killed 10 people.

One of Sunata’s alleged accomplices arrested on the same day last week had also been jailed for the embassy attack, while a third who was killed by police was a former

soldier who had been radicalized in prison while serving time for smuggling. Other recent examples include bomb-maker Bagus Budi Pranoto-also jailed over the embassy truck bombing, he was released after just four years only to be re-arrested over last year’s suicide attacks on luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Within months of Sunata’s release, he was allegedly back on the jihadist war path, plotting attacks and helping to organize a new terror cell dubbed “Al-Qaeda in Aceh” under the leadership of Jemaah Islamiyah militant Dulmatin. Police discovered the cell in February and killed Dulmatin in March.

National police spokesman Edward Aritonang said Sunata’s case was further evidence that Indonesia’s prisons, far from helping to rehabilitate terrorists, risked turning into terrorist “schools”.

It is time to look at a “new system or method, so the counseling for prisoners truly works and prisons don’t become schools” of

radicalization, he said. Hundreds of terrorists have been convicted, jailed and released since Indonesia was shaken by the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly Western tourists. With rare exceptions-notably three of the Bali bombers who were executed in 2008 - most have been given lenient sentences and even financial help to find jobs and reintegrate into moderate Indonesian society.

Counter-terrorism squad chief Colonel Tito Karnavian complains that the notoriously corrupt correction system effectively provides extremists a sanctuary to preach, recruit and plot. “In prison they can convene, sit and discuss freely and safely, secured by the government,” he told reporters earlier this month, adding that Indonesia had “no systematic mechanism” for rehabilitation.

“They are able to survive, not only survive but collaborate... We need quite a big budget for prevention and rehabilitation, not only repression.” — AFP

CIA chief: Iran could have nukes by 2012 Continued from Page 1 out, the CIA’s chief said yesterday. While hard data on the world’s most-wanted fugitive has been slight since the 2001 attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency and US forces have killed or captured at least half the leadership of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda.

“We just took down number three in their leadership (Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid) a few weeks ago,” CIA director Leon Panetta told ABC’s “This Week” program. “We continue to disrupt them. We continue to impact on their command and control. We continue to impact on their ability to plan attacks in this country.” Panetta estimated that AlQaeda’s depleted numbers had shrunk dra-

matically and said the pressure was definitely on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri. “I think at most, we’re looking at maybe 60 to 100 (Al-Qaeda members), maybe less,” he said. “If we keep that pressure on, we think ultimately we can flush out Bin Laden and Zawahiri and get after them.”

Panetta stressed that US President Barack Obama had made going after AlQaeda the “fundamental purpose” of the Afghan military mission. “We’ve got to disrupt and dismantle Al-Qaeda and their militant allies so they never attack this country again,” he said. Bin Laden remains “in very deep hiding” in a tribal area in Pakistan surrounded by tremendous security, according

to the CIA chief. “The terrain is probably the most difficult in the world,” he added.

The CIA is also hunting radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaqi, a US-born Yemeni who recently urged all Muslims serving in the US military to kill their comrades and has been linked to several previous attacks, Panetta said. A US counter-terrorism official said in April that the Obama administration had authorized the targeted killing of Awlaqi, who also holds American citizenship. “Awlaqi is a terrorist and yes, he’s a US citizen, but he is first and foremost a terrorist and we’re going to treat him like a terrorist,” Panetta said.

“We don’t have an assassination list, but I can tell you this. We have a terrorist list and he’s on it.” — Agencies

in the past have accused each other of eavesdropping on telephone calls.

The Western-backed government of former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had accused Hezbollah in 2008 of violating Lebanon’s sovereignty by operating a private telecommunications network, an accusation that in part sparked street fighting and brought the country to the brink of civil war. Israel has not commented on any of the arrests. Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, has called for the death penalty for all

suspects convicted of spying for Israel.

Senior Lebanese security officials have said the arrests dealt a major blow to Israel’s spying networks in Lebanon and that many of the suspects played key roles in identifying Hezbollah targets that were bombed during the 2006 war. Other suspects have been charged with monitoring senior Hezbollah officials. A Lebanese arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel confessed in March to having helped in the assassination of a Hezbollah commander in 2004. — Reuters

Israeli ‘spy’ nabbed Continued from Page 1 Lebanon began a wave of arrests in April 2009 as part of an espionage investigation in which dozens of people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel. A retired brigadier general of the General Security directorate was among the high profile detentions. More than 20 people have been formally charged.

Earlier this week a Palestinian refugee was also arrested. Telecommunications in Lebanon are a sensitive issue. Politicians

Monday, June 28, 2010

Karachi wracked by spate of killings KARACHI: Asif Raza and his brother were killed days apart and in the same manner: gunned down on the streets of Pakistan’s largest city. Their relatives insist the pair was targeted by Sunni extremists only because they were Shiites. Around the same time, Rizwan Qadri, a Sunni, was killed when he stopped by a betel leaf shop on his way home. His killers are presumed to be either Shiite extremists or members of a powerful political party that has been linked to many deaths in the city.

Close to half of the 600 murders reported so far this year in the economic hub of Karachi have been “target killings,” slayings carried out by religious groups and gangs affiliated with political parties.

That’s roughly double the number that occurred in all of 2009. The surge is symptomatic of the lawlessness that has long plagued this teeming southern port city of 18 million, where police are ineffectual, religious tensions run high and politicians exploit ethnic divides.

But the uptick is violence is particularly worrying these days as it is a reflection of the problems that plague Pakistan in general, where a weak government is often no match for the volatile mix of ethnicities and religious sects that compete for power and loyalty.

“Successive political governments with conflicting political interests, fragile policies and weak political determination and will were not able to deal with the cancerous disease of sectarianism, ethnicity and the mafias,” Imtiaz Ahmed, a former intelligence chief, said of Karachi’s problems.

In Pakistan, though, an increase in urban crime is never just a local problem. The city’s chaos provides cover for the growing number of Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants looking for a hide-out beyond the northwest tribal regions under siege by army operations and US missile strikes. The Taleban’s No 2 leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was arrested in Karachi in February, and other members of the militant group’s top leadership council are believed to spend time in the city.

It is also threatening to undercut confidence in the USallied government bogged down in a war against those Islamist extremists. Asif Raza, a 37-year-old accountant, was killed on June 11 as he traveled to work. He had promised

KARACHI: Photo shows family members of a target killing victim mourn over his dead body in Karachi. A surge in killings - sectarian, political and criminal is wracking the economic hub of Karachi. — AP his 11-year-old son he would buy him a new BMX bicycle on his return, according to his widow, Shagufta, who could barely speak because of her tears.

“The killers are the enemies of the Shiites,” said Syed Ali Raza, another of Asif’s brothers. “We wonder about our survival and how we get back to our homes safe and secure in the evening.” Police have lodged a case alleging unknown assailants were behind the attack, but the family has no hope for justice. On the same day, in another corner of this crowded city where millions live in slums, Qadri was gunned down. He was a member of Sunni Tehreek, a moderate Sunni group that is not believed to have links to extremism. Members of the group have been targeted in the past by both Shiite extremists and members of the Muttahida Quami Movement, the most powerful political party in Karachi. Qadri’s death underlines the difficulty of tracing the cause of many killings in Karachi, where sectarian and political tensions, as well as criminal impulses, all fuel violence. The only thing that binds the deaths is the inability or unwillingness of authorities to stop them. The religious violence that courses through the city is so pervasive that many of its thousands of mosques are locked outside of prayer times.

Battles have not only broken

out between the country’s main Sunni sect and minority Shiites. Fighting among different schools of Sunni Islam is also common.

Over two dozen Shiite Muslims have been killed this year, according to data collected by the Citizen Police Liaison Committee, a public-private sector crime watchdog and monitoring organization. A dozen Sunnis, most members of the extremist Sipah-eSahaba group, were also gunned down. Most people trace the origin of the conflict to two events in the 1980s that helped changed the nature of what has always been Pakistan’s most cosmopolitan city.

First, the US-sponsored war against Soviet occupation in Afghanistan triggered a flood of weapons into the region, as well as refugees. At the same time, dictator Gen Zia ul-Haq oversaw a decade of “Islamization” of Pakistan, seeking to remodel the country along the lines of Saudi Arabia, which along with the United States supported his rule. Thousands of hardline Sunni religious schools that promoted anti-Shia beliefs were established, with Karachi home to many of them.

The religious tensions have been allowed to fester as ineffectual leaders either ignore or exploit them in their quest for power - much as they have with ethnic divides. Many killings have been linked to gangs con-

trolled by the city’s main political parties, which have been feuding for much of the last 20 years. The two parties most linked to the violence have their electoral bases in different ethnic groups that make up a large chunk of the city’s population.

The Muttahida Quami Movement claims to represent the Urdu-speaking descendants of those people who came to Karachi soon after the birth of Pakistan. It is secular and likes to speak out against the socalled Talebanization of the city, a jab at the Awami National Party, which represents the ethnic Pashtuns from the Taleban heartland in the northwest.

Activists of the Pakistan People’s Party, which runs the federal government, and other parties also allegedly take part in the killings.

President Asif Ali Zardari has promised to establish peace in Karachi at all costs. But many analysts and commentators said the federal government needs to take concrete steps to rein in the various political parties and dismantle sectarian groups that are banned but are often allowed to operate openly. “Tough words need to be backed by solid action, and if those tasked with maintaining peace aren’t capable of doing so, perhaps more capable individuals can be given the job,” said a recent editorial in Pakistan’s leading English-language newspaper, Dawn. — AP

MPs pass 2 women rights bills, reject 3 Continued from Page 1 The law also provides Kuwaiti women employed in the government a 70 day maternity holiday which can be extended for a further two months with full pay. The holiday can also be extended for four more months with a half pay. The law allows the minister to grant Kuwaiti female employees with a long unpaid vacation for between six months and three years. Kuwaiti women employees are entitled for a daily two-hour reduction in working hours for breast feeding for two years.

The second law changes the immigration law to grant children of Kuwaiti women from foreign husbands permanent residency and exempts them of residency fees and allows Kuwaiti women to sponsor their foreign husbands. The assembly however rejected a law calling to grant Kuwaiti housewives a monthly salary of KD 350. It also rejected two other laws, one exempting children of Kuwaiti women from a foreign husband of health insurance fees and another to provide them

with free education.

The assembly passed the two laws in the first reading but failed to force a second and final reading and accordingly all the laws will have to be studied again by the assembly in the next term starting late October. On the other issue, the assembly rejected with a 33 against 26 vote the law that calls for scrapping interest on bank loans obtained by Kuwaiti citizens.

The law was passed by the national assembly several months ago. The government rejected the law and sent it back to the assembly. To override the government rejection and make the law mandatory, MPs had two options: either vote on it during this term but with a two-thirds majority, or wait until next term to re-pass it only with a simple majority. Supporters of the law knew that they will not get the magical two-third majority of 44 votes and were banking on the next term.

But speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi stunned them when he announced that since the law did not get the simple majority of the vote it will be taken off of

the agenda which means it will not stay for another vote in the next term. Khorafi said his decision was based on the internal charter but veteran MP Ahmad AlSaadoun and several other lawmakers disputed Khorafi’s conclusion and insisted they will still have the right to have another vote on it next term.

However, Baseeri appealed to MPs to pass amendments on the government sponsored defaulters fund which is scheduled to take place today. The defaulters fund is the government answer for the law to scrap interest. The fund, which is expected to have a capital of as high as KD 1 billion, will provide assistance only to Kuwaiti debtors who are unable to repay their debt.

Meanwhile, the statement signed by the 27 MPs urged other lawmakers not to pass the state budget unless the assembly had debated and passed a number of highly important bills and issues. Under Kuwaiti law, the assembly term cannot be ended before passing the state budget and delaying the action would automatically mean extending the current term.

Tehran looms large in Saudi-US summit Continued from Page 1 There are no gaping strategic differences between the close allies, said Saudi expert Thomas Lippman at the US Council on Foreign Relations. Abdullah and Obama’s initial meeting in Riyadh on June 3, 2009, and Obama’s landmark address to the Arab world in Cairo the next day did much to bridge the chasm dug by previous president George W Bush’s administration.

The two coordinate closely on fighting Al-Qaeda and other threats, Lippman said.

“There’s no breach to be repaired like before.” But even as they endorse Washington’s lead on key regional problems, the Saudis have doubts about its approach, especially in Iran and Afghanistan. They also worry that Obama’s commitment to a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal, a centerpiece of his Cairo address, has flagged against Israeli resistance.

“My sense is that the Saudis are unhappy about a couple of things, but they don’t know what they should do or we should do about it,” Lippman said. “For King Abdullah, it is the question of the peace process.” Mustafa Alani, director of

Security and Defense Studies at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai, said: “There is deep disappointment in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world in President Obama’s ability to deliver.”

On Iran, Alani said “the Saudis believe strongly that economic sanctions will have no effect. But they have no answer” on an alternative. “The Saudis are going to want to feel like there is an actual American plan, that gives them confidence that the US is an enduring power in the Gulf,” said Jon Alterman, the Middle East Program head at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Gulf allies “want a voice” in US policy making, even if they might lack ideas about how to stem Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he said.

Normally reticent to air policy differences in public, in February after meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud AlFaisal criticized sanctions against Iran as taking too long. “We see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat ... We need an immediate resolution,” he said. Saud did not spell out what Riyadh wants, but the Saudis have long

linked achieving a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal to alleviating other regional tensions, including the perceived threat from archrival Iran.

In May, Saud’s brother, former intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal argued that a Middle East nuclear-free zone, including currently nuclear-armed Israel, was a realistic approach. He said creating a nuclear-free zone would require equal treatment for all nuclear states, a “universal nuclear security umbrella” for the region, and “a good military option” against any country which does not cooperate.

He blasted Clinton for downplaying the idea after it was endorsed by the UN Security Council’s five permanent members, including the United States.

Turki, whose comments are believed to reflect high-level Saudi thinking, also called US policy in Afghanistan “inept.”

“What Afghanistan needs now is a shift from nation-building to effectively countering ter rorists,” he said. Obama “should not be misdirected into believing that he can fix Afghanistan’s ills by military means.” — AFP

SPORTS

Monday, June 28, 2010

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MLB results/standings Results and standings from the Major League Baseball games on Saturday: Minnesota 6, NY Mets 0; St. Louis 5, Kansas City 3; Texas 7, Houston 2; Atlanta 4, Detroit 3; Tampa Bay 5, Arizona 3; Baltimore 6, Washington 5; Toronto 5, Philadelphia 1; Seattle 5, Milwaukee 4; LA Dodgers 9, NY Yankees 4; Boston 4, San Francisco 2; Chicago White Sox 3, Chicago Cubs 2; San Diego 2, Florida 1; Cincinnati 6, Cleveland 4; LA Angels 4, Colorado 2; Oakland 5, Pittsburgh 0.

American League Eastern Division W L NY Yankees 46 28 Tampa Bay 44 30 Boston 45 31 Toronto 40 35 Baltimore 22 52

PCT .622 .595 .592 .533 .297

GB 2 2 6.5 24

Central Division Minnesota 41 33 Chicago White Sox 39 34 Detroit 39 34 Kansas City 31 44 Cleveland 26 47

.554 .534 .534 .413 .356

1.5 1.5 10.5 14.5

Western Division 45 29 42 35 36 40 31 43

.608 .545 .474 .419

4.5 10 14

National League Eastern Division Atlanta 44 31 NY Mets 42 32 Philadelphia 39 33 Florida 35 39 Washington 33 42

.587 .568 .542 .473 .440

1.5 3.5 8.5 11

Cincinnati St Louis Milwaukee Chicago Cubs Houston Pittsburgh

Central Division 42 33 41 33 33 41 32 42 29 46 25 49

.560 .554 .446 .432 .387 .338

.5 8.5 9.5 13 16.5

San Diego San Francisco LA Dodgers Colorado Arizona

Western Division 44 30 40 33 40 34 39 35 29 46

.595 .548 .541 .527 .387

3.5 4 5 15.5

Texas LA Angels Oakland Seattle

OAKLAND: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Daniel McCutchen works against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of a baseball game. —AP

White Sox tame Cubs, Angels beat Rockies CHICAGO: Paul Konerko hit his 19th home run to snap an eighth-inning deadlock as the Chicago White Sox won their 11th straight game by beating the struggling Chicago Cubs 32 on Saturday.

The White Sox are on their longest win streak since a 12-game run in June 1961, and they can thank Konerko for keeping it going.

He broke a 2-all tie with one out in the eighth when he connected off reliever Andrew Cashner (0-1), sending the White Sox to their 15th victory in 16 games. The Cubs got another good start from Carlos Silva and a homer from Aramis Ramirez, but lost for the sixth time in eight games.

Angels 4, Rockies 2 At Anaheim, California, Hideki Matsui hit a grand slam in the first inning and Joe Saunders (6-8) struck out a season-high eight batters in seven innings as the Los Angeles Angels downed Colorado.

Relievers Fernando Rodney and Brian Fuentes combined with him to allow just one hit and one walk in the final four innings.

Athletics 5, Pirates 0 At Oakland, California, Trevor Cahill allowed two hits and struck out 10 batters in 7 2-3 innings, and Daric Barton had three doubles to match his career high with four RBIs as Oakland blanked Pittsburgh. Cahill (7-2) walked three and struck out a career-high 10 as the A’s won two in a row for the first time since winning four straight May 26-29. Kurt Suzuki homered as the A’s remained unbeaten in eight games against the Pirates.

Rays 5, D’backs 3 At St. Petersburg, Florida, David Price pitched eight strong innings to become the American League’s first 11-game winner as Tampa Bay bounced back from Edwin Jackson’s no-hitter to beat Arizona.

Sean Rodriguez and Jason Bartlett both had two RBIs for the Rays, held hitless Friday night for the third time in the past 12 months. Price (11-3) allowed two runs and seven hits while walking one and matching his career high with 11 strikeouts.

Rodriguez keyed a three-run sixth that made it 4-1 by driving in a pair with a single off reliever Sam Demel. Carlos Pena added an RBI grounder.

Red Sox 4, Giants 2 At San Francisco, Mike Cameron hit a three-run homer and Darnell McDonald also connected as Boston beat San Francisco and its top pitching prospect. Scott Atchison (1-1) tossed 2 1-3 innings against his former team after Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz was removed early because of a hyperextended left knee that he hurt while running the bases.

Along with his first home run in a season that featured more than a month on the disabled list, Cameron crashed into the wall to make a great catch of Pablo Sandoval’s fly to end the eighth.

Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances. Buster Posey drove in both Giants runs.

Dodgers 9, Yankees 4 At Los Angeles, James Loney drove in four

runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers became the latest team to knock around struggling New York Yankees starter AJ Burnett. Burnett (6-7) had his shortest outing of the season. The righthander gave up six runs, six hits and six walks in three-plus innings, falling to 0-5 with an 11.35 ERA in his last five starts.

Mark Teixeira hit an early three-run homer for New York, but the Dodgers rallied from deficits of 3-0 in the first and 4-2 in the third.

Rangers 7, Astros 2 At Arlington, Texas, Ian Kinsler ended a career-long 32-game homerless drought with a tiebreaking shot as Texas rebounded from its first loss in two weeks to beat Houston.

Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single in the sixth inning.

Kinsler’s three-run homer off Josh Banks (01) in the fourth snapped a 2-all tie. It was only his second homer of the season and first since May 18, the day after manager Ron Washington moved Kinsler to the No. 3 spot in the batting order and dropped Hamilton to fifth.

Braves 4, Tigers 3 At Atlanta, Chipper Jones’ three-run homer in the seventh gave Kenshin Kawakami his long-awaited first win of the season, but only after Atlanta escaped a ninth-inning jam.

Peter Moylan struck out pinch-hitter Johnny Damon with the bases loaded to end it, and Kawakami needed Jones’ help to avoid the first 0-10 start by a Braves pitcher. The right-hander trailed 1-0 when he left for a pinch-hitter in the seventh.

Jones’ homer off Joel Zumaya (2-1) later in the inning landed about 10 rows deep in the center-field seats and drove in Gregor Blanco and Melky Cabrera, who walked.

Twins 6, Mets 0 At New York, Jason Kubel and Minnesota roughed up former teammate Johan Santana early, and Carl Pavano produced another fine pitching performance in a win over the New York Mets.

Pavano (9-6) gave up three hits in his second consecutive complete game, both of which have come against an NL East ace. The well-traveled right-hander tossed a four-hitter yesterday to beat Roy Halladay and the NL champion Phillies 4-1.

Pavano had two hits and a sacrifice at the plate for Minnesota, which ended a four-game skid. The Twins began the day a half-game up on Detroit in the AL Central.

Reds 6, Indians 4 At Cincinnati, Laynce Nix singled home the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning and came around to score on a jarring dive into home, rallying first-place Cincinnati past free-falling Cleveland for its fifth straight win.

Nix’s single off Justin Masterson (2-7) was the turning point in a ragged game on a hot, humid night. Cleveland has lost a season-high seven in a row and 11 of 12, falling a season-low 21 games under .500.

The Reds’ surge has moved them back into first place in the NL Central, a half-game ahead of St. Louis. They haven’t been in first so late in a season since 1999, the last time they made a serious run at the playoffs.

Cardinals 5, Royals 3 At Kansas City, Missouri, Colby Rasmus and Skip Schumaker homered off Kyle Davies as St. Louis beat Kansas City. Blake Hawksworth (2-4), making his second major league start, went five-plus innings for the win, allowing two runs and two hits.

Ryan Franklin got four outs for his 15th save in 16 opportunities. Cardinals reliever Jason Motte left the game in the seventh with a cramp in his right calf and is day to day.

Blue Jays 5, Phillies 1 At Philadelphia, John Buck, Aaron Hill and Alex Gonzalez homered, and Shaun Marcum (7-3) pitched six solid innings as Toronto downed Philadelphia.

Marcum allowed one run and five hits while striking out six and walking one. The right-hander improved to 7-1 in nine starts following a Blue Jays defeat, the latest victory coming on the heels of Friday night’s 9-0 loss to the Phillies and former Toronto ace Roy Halladay.

Ryan Howard homered for the Phillies, who had won four straight and scored 28 runs in their previous three games. The Blue Jays had lost four of five.

Orioles 6, Nationals 5 At Baltimore, Adam Jones homered and Matt Wieters had three hits and two RBIs as Baltimore rallied to beat Washington and clinch their first series win in 14 attempts.

Baltimore scored the game’s last six runs after falling behind 5-0 in the fourth inning.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the Orioles came

Japan defeat Cuba CARACAS: Olympic champion Japan defeated Cuba 1-0 on Saturday after a rain delay to remain unbeaten after four games at the world softball championship.

Japan has allowed only one run at the tournament and is a favorite to challenge the United States, which has won this title six straight times. The championship ends July 2.

The United States also improved to 4-0 in the tournament, humiliating Botswana 20-0 in a game that was stopped after three innings by the run-ahead rule — also known as the mercy rule.

The Americans will have a tougher time on Sunday against Australia, which is expected to challenge Japan and the US among the contenders. Lauren Lappin was 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Jennie Finch picked up the victory.

Sayuri Yamane went the distance and got the victory, giving up only three hits. Japan also managed only three hits. Japan scored its only run in the bottom of the second when Naoko Matsumoto doubled to score Misato Kiwano. Yusmari Pacheco took the loss for Cuba. Japan

coach Haruka Saitoh knows her team will have to survive without pitcher Yukiko Ueno, who was the star in the Beijing Olympics.

She is taking a break from the game. “If we do enough hard work in every game we’ll have a chance to win the championship game,” Saitoh said. Saitoh said her team was prepared to deal with the long rain delays, which are common this time of year in Venezuela. And she said there was no sign of overconfidence, despite the strong start.

“We’re not thinking about our record,” Saitoh said. “We’re thinking about every game. The players need to be confident. Each game is our only game. We can only think about that one.” Canada also improved to 4-0, beating Britain 70 and defeating Argentina 12-0 in a game that was postponed by rain on Friday. The Netherlands improved to 3-1, beating Argentina 4-3 and Cuba 3-1.

In other results Saturday on a day filled with rain delays: Australia blanked both the Czech Republic and Dominican Republic by identical scores — 6-0, China trounced New Zealand 11-0, Venezuela defeated the Czech Republic 5-1 and Taiwan downed South Africa 8-1. —AP

back from a six-run deficit to win. Baltimore had lost 11 straight series and was 0-12-1 since taking two of three from Seattle on May 11-13.

Mariners 5, Brewers 4 At Milwaukee, Seattle reliever Brian Sweeney pitched four scoreless innings in his first appearance since 2006, and Milton Bradley and Jose Lopez homered as Seattle edged Milwaukee.

Milwaukee’s season-long five-game winning streak ended despite a four-run third that included Prince Fielder’s 15th homer and a wild play that saw Corey Hart coming around to score on an error after hitting a double.

Sweeney (1-0) had been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on June 15 and made his first appearance since playing with San Diego after Doug Fister went four innings in his return from the disabled list. Fister gave up four runs and five hits and threw 92 pitches.

Padres 2, Marlins 1 At Miami, Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI double as San Diego became the first team in nearly two months to score more than once against Florida ace Josh Johnson. Jon Garland (8-5) pitched into the seventh inning and hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth after a triple by Jerry Hairston Jr. The National League West-leading Padres (4430) moved 14 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2007 season.

Heath Bell worked the ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances, helped by a sparkling sliding catch by center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. —AP

Samoa shock Fiji for Pacific Nations Cup

CARACAS: Japan’s starter Sayuri Yamane pitches against Cuba during a Women’s Softball World Championship game. —AP

APIA: Samoa became the first Pacific Island nation to win the Pacific Nations Cup rugby tournament when it shocked favorite Fiji 31-9 in the Samoan capital on Saturday.

Fiji went into the final round of the tournament unbeaten in two games and widely expected to win the Pacific title for the first time. But Samoa, recently crowned world rugby sevens series champions, scored five tries to none to clinch the title.

Both teams finished with two wins and a loss from three games, but Samoa compiled a better points differential. Joe Tekori and Mikaele Pesamino scored tries as Samoa opened a 14-3 lead by halftime Saturday.

Fullback Taniela Rawaqa provided Fiji’s only first half points with a penalty.

Sevens star Alefoti Faosiliva scored two second-half tries and Uale Mai added another a minute from fulltime as Samoa made its win convincing. Lolo Lui kicked three conversions for Samoa.

Rawaqa added two penalties in the second half for Fiji, who were outmuscled by Samoa in the crucial forward battle. The Pacific Nations Cup has been dominated by New Zealand teams since its inception in 2006, but the absence of New Zealand and Australian sides this year opened the way for Samoa to become the first Pacific Island winner. Flyhalf James Arlidge kicked 16 points as Japan beat Tonga 26-23 in the other match played Saturday. Kensuke Hatakeyama scored a try for Japan who were also awarded a penalty try while former New Zealander Arlidge kicked four penalties and two conversions. William Helu and Alipate Fatafehi scored tries for Tonga, while Kurt Morath kicked three penalties and two conversions for 13 points.

16

SPORTS

Monday, June 28, 2010

Kerr extends lead at LPGA Championship

PITTSFORD: Cristie Kerr watches her tee-shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the LPGA Championship golf tournament at Locust Hill Country Club. — AP

O’Brien Rose stays ahead at Travelers wins Irish Derby DUBLIN: Trainer Aidan O’Brien landed a record fifth Irish Derby win in succession at The Curragh yesterday when 7-2 chance Cape Blanco took the spoils.

Ridden by Johnny Murtagh, the colt led home a 1-2-3 for O’Brien, beating Midas Touch (9-2) by half a length with another stable companion, Jan Vermeer (4-1), in third.

English raider Monterosso, the 3-1 favourite after winning at Royal Ascot this month, finished fourth of the 10 runners with Frankie Dettori on board.

Cape Blanco had advertised his classic credentials in May when winning the Dante Stakes at York, where his victims included subsequent Epsom Derby winner Workforce, but he disappointed in the French Derby at Chantilly finishing down the field.

After yesterday’s victory, O’Brien told At The Races TV: “Johnny gave him a brilliant ride. The last time out in France was a blip and we couldn’t understand it.

“Maybe it was the travel, it was his first day away and in the heat something upset him and he wasn’t the horse we know.”

Victory was extra sweet for Murtagh who rode with a plaster on his nose after escaping serious injury when his horse in the first race crashed into the rails in a freak incident.

Cape Blanco may now clash again with Workforce in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 24. O’Brien said: “We always thought if everything did go well today then we would look at the King George.”

Bookmakers William Hill, in a special bet ignoring other runners, priced up Workforce at 4-9 with Cape Blanco at 13-8. — Reuters

CROMWELL: Justin Rose of England closed in on his second straight PGA Tour victory Saturday, shooting a 2under 68 to take a three-stroke lead over Ben Curtis into the final round of the Travelers Championship.

Rose, the 29-year-old who won the Memorial three weeks ago but then failed to qualify for the US Open, had a 16-under 194 total at TPC River Highlands after setting the tournament 36-hole record with rounds of 64 and 62.

“It was just a day when nothing went in on the greens at all,” said Rose, a stroke off the best 54-hole total in tournament history. “The tale of the day was that I made nothing on the greens. The longest putt I made was 4 feet, 10 inches for par on 17.

“So, I’m really happy to have a day like that on the greens and still shoot 68 and still maintain my lead.” Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion, shot a 64.

Vaughn Taylor (67) was 11 under, and Ricky Barnes (64), Scott McCarron (66), Brendon de Jonge (67), Bubba Watson (67), Matt Jones (68), Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (69) and Bill Lunde (69) were 10 under.

Charlie Wi cut Rose’s lead — four strokes after the first two days — to two early in the round, but that was as close as Wi or anyone else could get.

Rose birdied Nos. 5 and 6 to open a

six-stroke lead before Curtis — seven strokes back at the start of the round — pulled within three with five back-nine birdies. “I thought the start was key for me today,” Rose said.

“I hit a lot of good shots early in my round. Birdies at 5 and 6 really felt like it got the round going and brought me back into the comfort zone.” Rose drove into the water on the 13th hole en route to his first bogey in 37 holes.

“I had only one real bad swing — on the tee on 13,” Rose said. “There was a little bit of wait there. It was just a bit of a slack tee shot, I suppose. After that, I played really well. I bounced back well from the only bogey of the day.” Curtis’s big regret was that he didn’t play the front nine as well as he did the back. His had eight pars and a birdie on the opening nine.

“I got off to a slower start today than I maybe wanted to,” Curtis said. “I just stayed patient and tried to keep hitting the greens and tried to make the putts and luckily, on the last nine holes, they kind of started going in.” Rose’s birdie on 15 stretched his lead back to three.

“I just got to keep playing aggressive when I need to and just keep hitting the greens and picking the right club,” Curtis said. “You know, it’s one of those weeks when if you shoot par, you’re going to go backward.”—AP

CROMWELL: Justin Rose of England watches his tee shot on 18 during the Travelers Championship golf tournament. — AP

PITTSFORD: Cristie Kerr shot a 3-under 69 despite persistent rain and extended her lead to a tournament record eight shots after three rounds of the LPGA Championship on Saturday.

Kerr, the top-ranked American seeking her second career major victory, opened the day with a five-shot lead at Locust Hill Country Club.

Her advantage entering Sunday’s final round tops the mark of seven set in 1961 by winner Mickey Wright.

Mika Miyazato doublebogeyed No. 18 to finish at 72 and fall into a three-way tie for second with rookie Azahara Munoz and Jimin Kang after both finished with 70s. Kerr has played nearflawless golf since an opening 68 on Thursday put her in a three-way tie for the lead.

On Saturday, Kerr took charge on the back nine while it rained for about two hours.

After a bogey-5 on No. 10, Kerr responded with three straight birdies. She then bogeyed No. 14, but came back with an 8-foot birdie on the par-3 15th.

Kerr’s run came after Miyazato, playing in the same group with Kerr, cut the lead to three strokes after she birdied No. 10 and Kerr settled for bogey after just missing a 15-footer for par.

With thunderstorms forecast to roll in early in the afternoon, officials moved up the tee times by 90 minutes, and had the players go off in threesomes and off both tees in a bid to squeeze in the third round. The rain began about noon, and grew heavier an hour later as the final group reached the 14th green. The forecast for Sunday calls for the possibility of afternoon thundershowers.

After showing little emotion on the course during the first two days, Kerr was much more animated on Saturday. She was visibly scolding herself for hitting her tee shot into the rough on No. 14.

Two shots later, she tapped her iron to her forehead after her chip shot to the green landed well short of the hole. Kerr also dropped her putter in frustration after coming within a few inches of sinking a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 ninth.

Kerr is a 13-time US LPGA Tour winner — her only major win came at the 2007 US Women’s Open. She opened the week fifth in the world standings while already enjoying a solid year in which she’s posted three top-three finishes, including winning the State Farm Classic two weeks ago.

A win late yesterday would put Kerr in a position to challenge Ai Miyazato for the top spot in the world rankings. Miyazato shot a 70 for a 54-hole score of 1-over.

Jiyai Shin, the No. 2 ranked player, shot a 70 to move into a tie for fifth with Song-Hee Kim (69). This is Shin’s first tournament since an appendectomy two weeks ago.

Kerr finally showed a few signs of struggle after carding just one bogey through the first two rounds.

She bogeyed the par-4 second hole after just missing the green near the pin and following to slide her chip seven feet past the hole. Kerr rebounded with birdies on the next two holes, both times draining 15-foot putts.

Munoz got as low as 3-under for the round before a bogey5 on No. 14. She birdied the next hole but gave back a shot with a bogey-6 on 17.

Munoz closed her round with a par-saving, 8-foot putt.

Also playing in the final threesome was Inbee Park, who struggled to a 75 to fall 2-under for the tournament. — AP

MUNICH: David Horsey from England laughs while holding the trophy after the victory ceremony after the final day of the 22nd BMW International Open 2010 golf tournament. — AP

Horsey triumphs in Munich MUNICH: David Horsey of England won the BMW International Open by one shot yesterday after carding a 5under 67 to finish on 18 under.

The 25-year-old former Walker Cup player took the $410,000 cheque — easily the biggest of his two-year professional career — by finishing ahead of compatriot Ross Fisher.

Five players were tied for third on 16 under — Germany’s Alex Cejka, Spanish pair Pablo Larrazabal and Rafael Cabrero-Bello, England’s Kenneth Ferrie and Bradley Dredge of Wales.

Dredge took a three-shot lead into the final round and extended that to four after making a birdie at the first. But his round collapsed when he dropped five shots in seven holes from the 10th, finishing with a 2-over 74. The key moment for Horsey came at the 18th, which he went into sharing the lead with Dredge.

But while the Welsh player twice was playing his ball into a hazard to run up a double bogey at the 16th, Horsey cautiously laid up with his second shot to the par-five last and then sank what turned out to be a winning birdie putt from five feet.

“Although it was on a big screen by the green, I didnt

watch what was happening to Bradley,” Horsey said. “My caddy knew but he didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask. “I was just trying to make birdie without having taken the risk of trying to hit the green in two from 250 yards out. I didn’t want to know what was happening because I did not want to put pressure on myself. That had been my policy all through the four rounds, to just try to relax and not make mistakes.”

Horsey’s previous best finishes were second places at the Malaysian Open in 2009 and the recent BMW Italian Open. For Dredge, his failure to close out victory could prove costly. He was hoping to record his third career win and move closer to securing a Ryder Cup place on home soil at Celtic Manor in October.

But having lost a four-shot advantage, he now possesses the unwanted record of failing to close out victory nine times in his career when leading going into the final day.

At No. 39, Fisher was the highest-ranked player in the last three playing groups and had started his final round in joint-second place. His hopes of victory crashed when he ran up a double bogey at the fourth and he only managed to clinch second place with a closing 70 when he sank a putt for an eagle three on the final green. — AP

PARIS: US swimmer Michael Phelps during the men’s 200m medley at the Paris Open swimming championship. — AP

Phelps wins 200 medley in Paris PARIS: Michael Phelps says he needs to train harder after a weekend of mixed results at the Paris Open. The 14-time Olympic gold medalist won two races in Paris, including yesterday’s 200-meter medley, but struggled in freestyle events and lost two finals. “Am I upset? Yes. Very,” Phelps said.

“When I’m upset, I think it’s the best time for me to try and use that as a motivation.” Phelps won the 200 medley in 1 minute, 58.95 seconds ahead of fellow American Patrick Todd, who clocked 2:00.81.

Italy’s Federico Turrini finished third in 2:02.31. Phelps, who was third in the 200 freestyle earlier yesterday, said training is the key to rediscovering his best form.

“Hopefully it’s a wake-up call, if it’s not then I have to change a lot,” he said. “I blame myself. You’ve got to be responsible for your own action.”

Phelps expected to improve after the Charlotte UltraSwim last

month but was disappointed by his times. “It’s kind of the same times that I went in Charlotte,” he said.

“I’m clearly disappointed, but it’s my own fault. I know I didn’t do the training when I needed to do it at the right time.”

In the 200 freestyle, Phelps had a good start but quickly faded away, touching in 1:47.54. France’s Yannick Agnel won with a new national record of 1:46.30, and Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands finished second in 1:46.97. Fresh from three weeks of training in Colorado, Phelps also won the 200 butterfly in Paris and came last in the 100 freestyle on Saturday.

“The 200 fly I thought I had done better training (after Charlotte) but clearly I have not,” Phelps said.

“I’m the only one who can fix it.”

Phelps will stay in France next week to train in Vichy, where the American swimming team will have a training camp before the London

Olympics in 2012. Phelps will try to be ready for the American trials in August, which will determine the roster for the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California, later that month. The 18-year-old Agnel, who finished second in the 100 freestyle, claimed the biggest win of his career.

“This is so great,” Agnel said about beating Phelps. “I have to realize what I did. But it’s also true that Michael was not really fit. He will be ready when it really matters.” Asked about a potential rivalry with the promising Agnel in the coming years, Phelps said: “Everybody is going to be a rival at this point.

“I’m way behind and I’m the one who needs to catch up with them.”

Among Sunday’s winners, world and Olympic champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil posted a season’s best 21.55 to claim the 50 freestyle ahead of Frenchmen Fabien Gilot and Frederick Bousquet. — AP

SPORTS

Monday, June 28, 2010

17

After 70-68, what will Wimbledon’s Week Two produce?

WIMBLEDON: If it’s hard to imagine how this wildest of Wimbledons — does 70-68 ring a bell? — could top itself in Week Two, consider all the characters still strutting around on tennis’ biggest stage.

Roger Federer, bidding for a recordequalling seventh championship at the All England Club. Rafael Nadal, seeking a second after declining to defend his 2008 title because of injury. Andy Roddick, yearning for one Wimbledon trophy after three runner-up finishes.

Andy Murray, well aware that all of Britain is counting on him to end its 74-year wait for a homegrown men’s champion. A pair of sisters named Serena and Venus, aiming for a fifth all-Williams final, and third in a row, at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament; one or the other has won eight of the past 10 women’s championships.

Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, back at

Wimbledon after years away and hoping to finally win it. Another former No. 1 and major champion, Maria Sharapova, striving to return to relevance in the latter stages of big events.

Each of those names — indeed, each of the 32 men and women left in the singles draws — is featured on the fourth-round schedule when action resumes today, following Wimbledon’s traditional day of rest on the middle Sunday.

Two intriguing showdowns are Serena Williams vs. Sharapova, in a rematch of the 2004 final won by the Russian; and Henin vs.

Clijsters, in the 25th meeting between the Belgian rivals.

“Well, I’d rather be here doing an interview than being at home on the couch and watching Wimbledon from home, that’s for sure,” said the top-seeded Federer, who plays No. 16 Jurgen Melzer of Austria. “So I

feel very lucky, of course. ... I’m excited I’m still in the tournament. I hope I can go further.”

Before looking ahead, though, take a moment to reflect on all that’s transpired through six days. In the tournament’s opening Centre Court match, 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer dropped the first two sets against a guy with a sub.-500 career record before turning things around.

Nadal fought out consecutive come-frombehind, five-set victories and needed a trainer to help with a right knee problem, although he told the AP it felt “good, good; not bad” after a 40-minute practice session yesterday. There’s more.

The weather has been ideal, with nary a drop of rain. Both women’s finalists from this month’s French Open lost in the first round. Queen Elizabeth II attended the tournament for the first time since 1977,

applauding after watching Murray’s secondround victory and his well-choreographed bows.

Victor Hanescu, a Romanian seeded 31st, was fined $15,000 for spitting and swearing at hecklers during a match and for not giving his all before quitting in a huff during the fifth set.

Novak Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion, played the latest-finishing match in Wimbledon history, winning the last point under the roof and lights at Centre Court at 10:59 p.m., one minute before the tournament’s self-imposed curfew.

Add his five-setter to those of Federer and Nadal, and it’s only the second time in the 42-year Open era that a Grand Slam tournament’s top three seeded men each was taken the distance before the fourth round. Indeed, there already have been 28 five-set matches, the most through three

rounds at Wimbledon since there were 29 in 1994.

Nothing, of course, tops what John Isner of the United States and Nicolas Mahut of France endured in the first round: It was the longest match — by far — in tennis history, a body-battering, 183-game test of will that encompassed 11 hours, 5 minutes of action over three days; play was suspended twice by darkness because they were out on Court 18, which has no artificial lights.

The fifth set alone, which Isner finally won by that score no one will soon forget, 70-68, dragged on for 8 hours, 11 minutes, more than 11/2 hours longer than any previous entire match on record.

“When you look at it on paper, it just looks funny, like some sort of joke,” Isner said. “It did shine a positive light on the sport. It kind of shows what tennis players are capable of — that we’re pretty good ath-

letes.”

They played 980 points, 711 in the fifth set. Isner hit 112 aces, and Mahut 103, both easily surpassing the previous single-match mark of 78. After all of that wear-and-tear, Isner said his right shoulder was “kind of dead,” his neck stiff, and his little left toe stinging from the pain of a “gnarly” blister.

His second-round loss went all of 74 minutes, the shortest men’s contest in the tournament so far, which seems to fit with the way the week went.

“From the first match out of the gate, with Roger being up against it, you know, to the Isner-Mahut trilogy, to the queen coming, to Rafa in five _ if you guys are struggling for story lines, you need to get a different job, fast,” Roddick told reporters.

And yet, for all of those unusual sights, there has not been one truly significant upset involving a title contender.—AP

Vettel revives F1 title bid with Valencia win

LONDON: Australia’s Michael Hussey (right) plays a shot as England wicketkeeper Craig Kieswater (left) looks on during the third one-day international at the Old Trafford cricket ground.—AP

England seal Australia series win MANCHESTER: England survived a dramatic collapse to beat Australia by one wicket in the third one-day international at Old Trafford here yesterday and so take an unbeateable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

England, set 213 to win, after off-spinner and man-ofthe-match Graeme Swann took four wickets 37 runs, were cruising to victory at 185 for three. But they lost six wickets for 18 runs in 39 balls as they slumped to 203 for nine.

One of the men out was England captain Andrew Strauss, who made his best ODI score against Australia of 87.

But Tim Bresnan (14 not out) held his nerve and, with four needed off the last over, edged James Hopes to the boundary as England, who finished on 214 for nine, won with five balls to spare.

Strauss was caught behind off Ryan Harris before left-arm quick Doug Bollinger (three for 20 in 10 overs) and fast bowler Shaun Tait, playing his first ODI since February last year, ran through the tail.

England’s victory ended world champions Australia’s run of seven straight one-day series and tournament wins following their 3-2 loss in South Africa last year.

It also meant Ashes holders England, who beat the Aussies in last month’s World Twenty20 final in Barbados, had completed a ‘treble’ of victories in all three international formats against Australia.

Australia were without injured fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus. But it was a top-order lacking only wicketkeeper/batsman Brad Haddin that failed, as did captain Ricky Ponting, who was stumped for three.

Swann did most of the damage and pace bowler James Anderson, on his Lancashire home ground, polished off the tail on his way to three for 22 off eight as Australia were bowled out for 212 with four overs to spare.

Shane Watson top-scored for Australia with 61 while Tim Paine, Haddin’s replacement, made a brisk 44. Australia were given fresh hope when Tait, called up in place of injured offspinner Nathan Hauritz on Friday, produced a brilliant 95mph yorker with only his

SCOREBOARD MANCHESTER, England: Final scoreboard in the third one-day international between England and Australia at Old Trafford here yesterday: Australia S. Watson c Strauss b Swann 61 T. Paine lbw b Yardy 44 R. Ponting st Kieswetter b Swann 3 M. Clarke c sub (Bell) b Swann 33 C. White c Strauss b Swann 12 M. Hussey b Collingwood 21 S. Smith lbw b Anderson 20 J. Hopes b Anderson 7 R. Harris c Strauss b Broad 1 D. Bollinger b Anderson 3 S. Tait not out 1 Extras (w6) 6 Total (all out, 46 overs) 212 Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Paine), 2-93 (Ponting), 3130 (Watson), 4-154 (White), 5-169 (Clarke), 6183 (Hussey), 7-202 (Hopes), 8-207 (Harris), 9211 (Smith), 10-212 (Bollinger) Bowling: Anderson 8-1-22-3; Bresnan 6-0-43-0 (2w); Broad 6-1-30-1 (2w); Wright 1-0-14-0; Yardy 10-0-45-1 (1w); Swann 10-1-37-4 (1w); Collingwood 5-0-21-1 fourth ball to bowl Craig Kieswetter middle stump for nought.

Strauss, on 23, then survived a huge lbw shout from part-time left-arm spinner Michael Clarke. English umpire Ian Gould was unmoved although replays suggested the ball would have hit the stumps.

But Australia did have a second wicket to celebrate when Tait held a sharp return catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen for 25 on the South Africa-born batsman’s 30th birthday.

Left-hander Strauss shared

England A. Strauss c Paine b Harris 87 C. Kieswetter b Tait 0 K. Pietersen c and b Tait 25 P. Collingwood b Bollinger 40 E. Morgan c Ponting b Smith 27 M. Yardy c Paine b Tait 8 L. Wright c Hopes b Smith 0 T. Bresnan not out 14 G. Swann b Bollinger 1 S. Broad b Bollinger 0 J. Anderson not out 0 Extras (b1, lb3, w6, nb2) 12 Total (9 wkts, 49.1 overs) 214 Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Kieswetter), 2-52 (Pietersen), 3-128 (Collingwood), 4-185 (Morgan), 5-189 (Strauss), 6-190 (Wright), 7-197 (Yardy), 8-203 (Swann), 9-203 (Broad) Bowling: Tait 10-1-28-3 (1nb, 6w); Bollinger 103-20-3 (1nb); Harris 10-0-59-1; Hopes 6.1-0-440; Clarke 4-0-25-0; Smith 9-0-34-2 Result: England won by one wicket

stands of 76 with Paul Collingwood (40) and 57 with Eoin Morgan (27) before he fell having faced 121 balls with eight fours.

Strauss fielded first after England had twice won chasing in four-wicket victories at the Rose Bowl and Cardiff earlier this week. Paine was severe on Bresnan, taking 18 off one over from the Yorkshire seamer.

But a first-wicket stand worth 75 ended in the 14th over as Yardy, with his third ball, had Paine, playing back, plumb lbw.

Ponting’s best score in four

previous innings this tour was 33, against Ireland. Here his 16ball struggle ended when, going down the pitch, he was beaten leg side by Swann and wicketkeeper Kieswetter completed a neat stumping.

Watson went on to a 54-ball fifty but gave his wicket away when top-edging a flick off Swann to square leg where Strauss held the easy catch.

Anderson ended the innings with a burst of three for five in seven balls. The series continues with a day/nighter at The Oval on Wednesday.—AFP

Chavez Jr. outpoints Duddy SAN ANTONIO: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. of Mexico unanimously outpointed Ireland’s John Duddy on Saturday night in a 12-round middleweight fight at the Alamodome. Chavez Jr. (42-0-1) dominated the early part of the fight with a steady dose of hooks and jabs, but Duddy (29-2) kept the pressure on and pushed Chavez to 12 rounds for the first time in his eight-year career.

“John is the toughest fighter I’ve faced so far,” Chavez said. “He kept the pressure on and really pushed me farther than I’ve been to this point in my career. But I knew coming in that he was going to be challenging, and I was happy to walk away with the victory.”

Former boxing star Julio Cesar Chavez led his son into the ring to an eruption of applause. The elder Chavez then did color commentary for the pay-per-view broadcast. The fight was Chavez’s

first since 10-round unanimous decision over Troy Rowlands in November that was changed to a no-contest after he tested positive for a banned substance a diuretic and was suspended for seven months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The fight also was Chavez’s first with trainer Freddie Roach, who guides WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Chavez returned to the place where he watched his father fight to a controversial 12-round draw against Pernell Whitaker in 1993.

“To fight in the same building that my father did is almost surreal for me,” Chavez said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be headlining at the Alamodome.” On the undercard, Marco Antonio Barrera (66-7) unanimously outpointed Adailton DeJesus (26-5) in a 10-round lightweight fight.—AP

VALENCIA: Sebastian Vettel revived his title challenge yesterday when he cruised to his second win of the season and the seventh of his career in a dramatic and exhilarating European Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old German controlled the race from start to finish on a day when his Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber survived a horrific 300 kph crash in which his car flipped upside down.

It was Vettel’s first win since the Malaysian Grand Prix and his Red Bull team’s first since the Monaco Grand Prix when Webber was victorious.

He came home ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton who was second, despite being given a drivethrough penalty for overtaking the safety car, with his McLaren team-mate and fellow Briton Jenson Button third.

“Germany one, England nil, so far,” joked Button to Vettel as they went to the victors’ podium, in reference to the World Cup match later on Sunday between the two nations.

Vettel had earlier been told by his Red Bull team over the team radio that it was “Germany’s best result of the day!” “It’s about time I won from pole. We’re back on track,” said Vettel.

“It wasn’t easy and we didn’t expect to be that strong but we were able to come through it in the end. “When I got the message that Lewis had to go to a drive-through I was able to back off.

“It’s good to get a lot of points, good for the championship, so I’m pleased for today.

Vettel added: “The most important thing Mark is fine. I asked on the radio and I am glad he is okay.”

The result enabled Vettel to jump back into the title race in which Hamilton stayed on top with a lead of six points ahead of Button and the young German in

SPAIN: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany holds his trophy and the team’s constructor trophy after Europe’s Formula One Grand Prix at the Valencia street circuit.—AP third place.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello finished fourth for Williams ahead of Pole Robert Kubica of Renault and German Adrian Sutil of Force India, who was sixth.

A dazzling drive, notably a late surge including two fine passing moves, took Japanese Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber to seventh ahead of Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso and two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who finished a disappointed ninth in front of his home crowd. Fellow-Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa finished tenth in the second Sauber.

A mid-race announcement by the stewards that they intended to investigate nine drivers for passing the safety car, including Button, was due to take place after the race - and could have an impact on the final result.

The safety car was brought out following Webber’s crash from which the Australian emerged unhurt. Webber, who was down in ninth after losing places on the

first lap, was trying to pass the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen when he hit the back of the Finn’s car.

The Red Bull flipped into the air before crashing onto the circuit.

By the end of the opening lap, Vettel led Hamilton, Alonso and Massa with Kubica fifth, Button sixth and Barrichello seventh.

Germany’s Michael Schumacher who started 15th had risen to 11th.

Webber clearly had problems and by lap eight he had decided to make an early stop and came in to change to hard compound tyres, but a poor pitstop cost him at least three seconds.

Two laps later, as he tried to find a way past Kovalainen’s Lotus, Webber ran into the back of his car in a sickening crash that saw his car bounce again across the circuit before ramming into the barriers with two wheels torn off in a cloud of debris.

It was a huge accident, but Webber amazingly stepped out of his wrecked car unhurt, though bitterly disappointed to have also

damaged his title push. “I was defending and I think he just ran into me,” said Kovalainen.

The safety car was sent out and, almost immediately, the front running pair Vettel and Hamilton pitted ahead of a pack of cars as the running order was shaken up.

Hamilton was later adjudged to have passed the safety car and given a drive-through penalty, but after such an extended delay that he was able to keep his second place ahead of Kobayahsi, who did not pit until the final laps.

Hamilton’s penalty meant he had to push hard to cut into Vettel’s lead and he soon found a rhythm and cut the German’s lead to 13 seconds, clocking a series of fastest laps that put him within eight seconds of him with ten laps remaining. The drivers named for post-race investigations were Button, Barrichello, German Nico Hulkenburg, Kubica, Russian Vitaly Petrov, Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sutil, Buemi and De la Rosa and a late revision to the result was expected.—AFP

Fans seeking pardon for first black boxing champ RENO: A century ago, black heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson reached the pinnacle of his career when he defeated “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries in Reno in what was billed as the “Fight of the Century.”

One hundred years later fans of the legendary fighter are still seeking a posthumous presidential pardon for Johnson, saying that his later conviction for transporting a woman across state lines for immoral purposes was steeped in racism.

The Johnson faithful will gather here July 2-4 for the centennial of the July 4, 1910, bout to celebrate his life. They also hope to build on a resolution passed by Congress last year urging President Barack Obama to issue the pardon.

“I think it’s wonderful that everyone is rallying around his cause,” said Linda E. Haywood, 54, of Chicago, Johnson’s greatgreat niece. “It’s time that the wrong that was committed against my uncle be righted.”

Johnson had no children. Only one of his siblings, Janie Johnson Rhodes, did, and five of her descendants, including Haywood, plan to attend the event that will feature tours of the fight site and Johnson’s training camp, lectures, and appearances by family members of Jeffries and promoter Tex Rickard.

The Justice Department refused last year to endorse the pardon resolution, saying its general policy is not to process pardons for dead people. However, the department did note two such

pardons _ one each by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The 1910 bout was perceived by many as a battle for racial supremacy at a time when racism was pervasive in the US, said Wayne Rozen, author of a book on the fight titled “America on the Ropes.”

Rozen, who will be the keynote speaker at a Reno dinner during the centennial observance, believes Johnson was unjustly imprisoned because of his romantic links to white women.

“He just had the audacity to be with white women and they knocked him out on that,” Rozen said. “They couldn’t stand that the most important title in sports was

held by a black man. The book was thrown at him for a very minor offense and it changed his life forever.” US Sen. John McCain, who sponsored the pardon resolution along with Rep. Peter King, said he welcomed renewed support for the cause in Reno. He told The Associated Press that he is still hopeful that Obama will sign the pardon.

“I know the president, once he looks carefully at this issue, would want to correct a grave injustice done.” As a former boxer and avid boxing fan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helped spearhead passage of the resolution.

Asked whether Reid would press Obama to issue the pardon, Reid

spokesman Jon Summers replied, “That is a decision for President Obama to make.” White House spokesman Adam Abrams declined to comment on the pardon request. Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion in 1908, when he whipped Canadian world champion Tommy Burns in Australia.

Three years after beating Jeffries bloody, Johnson was convicted on the Mann Act charges.

He fled the country after his conviction, but agreed to return in 1920 and serve the one-year and one-day prison sentence. He failed to regain his title after that, and died in a car crash in 1946 at age 68. —AP

NEVADA: In this photo taken July 4, 1910 and provided by the Nevada Historical Society, Jack Johnson (right) fights “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries in Reno Nevada. A century ago Johnson reached the pinnacle of his career when he defeated Jeffries in what was billed as the “Fight of the Century.”—AP

18 Monday, June 28, 2010

World Cup Photo gallery

Early candidates for star of the WCup

LEIPZIG: German fans cheer while watching the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at a public viewing area at Central Stadium in Germany. —AP

COLOGNE: German fans watch the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at the public viewing area outside of the Lanxess Arena in Germany.

—AP

BLOEMFONTEIN: A man dressed as Queen Elizabeth II poses for a photograph with England soccer fans before the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at the Free State Stadium. —AP

SOUTH AFRICA: An England soccer fan poses for a photo at the Waterfront near the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.

—AP

CAPE TOWN: Diego Maradona, Salvatore Schillaci, Zinedine Zidane.

At almost every World Cup, there’s one man whose burst of outstanding play captivates the globe. At this year’s competition in South Africa, the early candidates are Luis Suarez of Uruguay, Asamoah Gyan of Ghana and Spain’s David Villa. Both have led their teams to the quarterfinals and could be the ones to push their teammates all the way.

Uruguay had not been to the last eight of the World Cup since 1970 but Suarez took them there with his third goal of the tournament for a 21 win over South Korea.

“Fortunately, Suarez was able to score that spectacular winning goal,” coach Oscar Tabarez said. It is what makes the World Cup so special. Within a month, players can burst from the fringes of popular consciousness to center stage.

Almost no one outside Italy knew of Schillaci before the 1990 World Cup but the reserve striker ended up leading scorer with six goals, dragging the host nation to one penalty shootout from reaching the final in Rome. Tomorrow in Cape Town, Portugal plays Spain.

With Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Xavi Hernandez and David Villa available, the game will have plenty of defining players. Villa has played well and scored spectacularly, but Ronaldo and Torres have yet to play a defining game here.

“I’m still missing something, I notice I can’t give it all but it’s not easy to return from an operation,” said Torres, who is only just back in action after right knee surgery in April. “I need some time to be 100 percent.” Ronaldo has less of an excuse and Portugal has been more impressive than its star player.

The World Cup was seemingly set up for Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o to shine. It was the first time Africa hosted it, and banners bore his likeliness to market the event. Yet he was out when the first round was over. “There’s no point blaming one person or another,” Eto’o said.

Many, though, will remember his public spat with former Cameroon great Roger Milla, who rebuked striker Eto’o for failing to reproduce his club form with the national team.

For at least another four years, Milla will continue to tower over Eto’o in the minds of fans for leading Cameroon to the quarterfinals in 1990 and putting Africa on the World Cup map.

Like Eto’o, Chelsea’s Didier Drogba also failed to come through for the Ivory Coast, although the broken right arm he suffered just ahead of the World Cup is a big excuse. But some players do live up to the hype. Coming into the World Cup, Lionel Messi had been criticized as producing for Barcelona but not Argentina. Once in South Africa though, failing to get on the scoresheet has been the only flaw in an otherwise impeccable performance.

“No one has played even at 40 percent of the level Messi played the other day,” coach Maradona said of Messi’s performance in a 1-0 win over Nigeria. “He needed a game like that, to be a charismatic leader with his teammates.”

Maradona knows what it needs to take on that role. In 1986, he was at the peak of his talent and made the World Cup his own with some of the greatest goals in history against England and Belgium. He then set up the decider in the 3-2 final win against Germany. That World Cup has been identified with the Argentine dynamo ever since.

Four years later, he led an inferior Argentina team yet again and had the towering presence to take it to the final against all odds, losing to Germany only on a belated penalty.

This year, the race for the defining figure in a World Cup full of surprises is still wide open. Ajax’s Suarez already has three goals and it will be tough to see a more thrilling one than his decider against South Korea. He sidestepped two defenders in the driving rain and struck a right-foot shot from the edge of the area that curled just enough to beat the goalkeeper. “Being young, I always dream of these types of moments,” the 23-year-old forward said. “These moments we’re experiencing are once in a lifetime.”

It was the same for Gyan. He got the injury-time winner in a 2-1 victory over the United States, when he took a long ball from Andre Ayew over the defense, stayed upright despite a challenge and shot from 16 meters (yards) to send his country to the quarterfinals for the first time. —AP

GERMANY: Fans of the German national football team attend the public viewing event of the FIFA Football World Cup 2010 match between England and Germany in the northern German city of Hamburg. —AFP

Body language reveals penalty’s direction: Study JOHANNESBURG: Penalty takers can give away the direction of their shot by the way they move their bodies or plant their feet, an American doctoral student found in a study.

Gabriel J. Diaz of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York found that there are certain clues that goalkeepers can pick up on to determine which way a penalty shooter will go.

“The most reliable source of information is the direction to which the planted foot is pointing,” Diaz said Saturday in a telephone interview. “If you drew a line from the heel to the toe, where that line would project determines where the ball will go.” Diaz noted, however, that penalty takers can sometimes send the ball in the opposite direction in order to trick a goalkeeper. But to do that, the penalty taker will compensate in other ways to maintain balance. “Perhaps you are changing your base of support. You are going to compensate this change elsewhere on the body,” Diaz said. “Maybe move your arm in a way to stabilize your

posture.” That, Diaz found, can mean that shooters can give themselves away by doing the same thing everytime they aim either to the left of the goalkeeper or to the right.

With the World Cup being played in South Africa, penalty shootouts are becoming a hot topic of conversation. And with FIFA acknowledging Saturday that the Jabulani ball being used may have something wrong with it, contributing to its erratic behavior, penalty kicks could become all the more important.

Diaz, who based his study on different experiments involving university students and used cameras, software and sensors as well as computer analysis, said his theory would be difficult to prove in a professional football match.

“Professional soccer players may not have the luxury of that extra time, and also professional soccer players are much better at placing the ball at the further side of the goal,” Diaz said. “I can’t say for sure in real world situations what would be the best

thing for the goalkeeper to do.” Oliver Kahn, a former Germany and Bayern Munich goalkeeper, spoke about the art of saving penalties in Johannesburg on Friday.

“You can read a lot from the body language of the shooter and where he will be shooting,” Kahn said. “It is a psychological game between the goalkeeper and the taker.

It has a lot to do with eye contact and body language.” Another recent study looked at penalties from the shooter’s point of view.

Psychologist Greg Wood of Exeter University in Britain tracked the eye movements of penalty-takers and noted how players about to kick a ball could be distracted by the goalkeepers in front of them. From whichever direction you look at it, it doesn’t leave much time for the shooters or the keepers.

“If you only have a tenth of a second to read someone’s body language,” said Petr Cech, who plays the Czech Republic and English club Chelsea, “it becomes difficult.” —AP

Discipline key to Ghana’s progress at the World Cup SUN CITY: A tough disciplinary code which almost cost star midfielder Sulley Muntari his World Cup spot is one of the key reasons Ghana is Africa’s sole representative in the knockout rounds of the tournament, the country’s top football official says.

Muntari reportedly abused Ghana’s coach after a group stage draw with Australia and was benched until the closing minutes of the extra-time, 2-1 second-round win over the United States which secured the Black Stars’ place in the quarterfinals.

And not only is Muntari on his last warning, the Inter Milan midfielder’s place in the starting lineup for Friday’s quarterfinal against Uruguay is in jeopardy because of how well the team performed without him for much of the match against the Americans.

While Ghana reached the quarterfinals, the continent’s five other World Cup representatives — including host South Africa — exited at the group stage. Some blamed too much individualism, some blamed less focus on team discipline for the failures of the other teams. But Ghana will accept no disorder within its squad, Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi said yesterday, even if the chief culprit so far is a star such as Muntari, who has won a Champions League title.

Nyantakyi said adopting such a firm approach with Muntari was a sign of growing professionalism in both the national team and domestic competition setups — and a lesson for the team.

“Having discipline dovetails into the performance of the team,” Nyantakyi told The

Associated Press. “There is discipline. We have a code of conduct for players: they have to wake up at this time; they have to train at this time. So many rules and regulations.

“Muntari wasn’t left out, he was reprimanded and if he misbehaves again he will be thrown out.” Nyantakyi said the one set of rules apply to everyone in the squad.

“Even though (Muntari) didn’t leave the camp he is reformed now and others know not to commit the same offense,” Nyantakyi said. “So we have achieved our objective.”

Coach Milan Rajevac told the AP through a translator that Muntari wasn’t an automatic inclusion for the quarterfinal because, “usually you don’t change a winning team.”

There will be enforced changes for Ghana, however, with midfielder Andre

World Cup matches (local timings) Netherlands v Slovakia ......................................... 17:00 Al Jazeera Sport 1 HD Al Jazeera Sport Global Al Jazeera Sport +9 Al Jazeera Sport +10 Al Jazeera Sport World Cup Brazil v Chile ............................................................... 21:30 Al Jazeera Sport 1 HD Al Jazeera Sport Global Al Jazeera Sport +9 Al Jazeera Sport +10 Al Jazeera Sport World Cup

Ayew and defender Jonathan Mensah both suspended. Kevin-Prince Boateng, who scored Ghana’s first goal, requires treatment for an injured right hamstring. “We are praying he will be available for the next match,” Rajevac said of Boateng.

“He had a slight injury against Germany and in yesterday’s match it got worse. “In the first half he was outstanding really and in the second half he experienced problems.

The medical team have a lot of work to do and will see what will happen in the next few days.” For now, though, it is a time for the Ghana players to savior the joy they have brought to a continent still awaiting its first World Cup winner. The win over the United States sparked celebrations across Africa on Saturday night.

The Black Stars already know how to win continental titles — they have won four African Cup of Nations — and international trophies, with the Under-20 side producing Africa’s first World Cup triumph at that level last year.

“We have been shocking the world in the last two years,” Rajevac said. “The under-20 team has won the World Cup which was a fantastic result for Ghana and the players learned how to compete.” As did reaching another African final in January, which it lost 1-0 to Egypt.

“We had eight players missing in Angola but that tournament helped me build the team for the World Cup,” Rajevac said. “It taught us how to compete at this level.” US coach Bob Bradley says Ghana is a growing force. —AP

19 Monday, June 28, 2010

World Cup

Chile look to topple mighty Brazil

Photo gallery

MANCHESTER: An England soccer supporter is seen with his face painted as he watches England play Germany in a 2010 World Cup soccer match taking place in South Africa at a fan zone in the Castlefield area. —AP

HANNOVER: A girl with her face half painted in the German colors and the other half in the English colors attends the public viewing event of the World Cup match between England and Germany.

—AFP

SOUTH AFRICA: An England fan cheers prior to the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at Free State Stadium.—AP

BLOEMFONTEIN: An England fan cheers prior to the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at Free State Stadium in South Africa.—AP

JOHANNESBURG: Chile will be out to derail Brazil’s drive towards a sixth World Cup title here today when the South American teams meet in their Round of 16 showdown.

The Chileans are at the World Cup finals for the first time since France 1998 and their negotiation of the group phase is being celebrated by the fans back home as much as the players here.

Now, their 54-year-old coach Marcelo Bielsa is hoping the Brazilians will struggle to find the form which saw them finish the group stage unbeaten.

“Historically, they are a team to fear,” says Bielsa, after the Brazilians put four goals past the Chileans in their previous meetings in 1962 and 1998 to advance.

Bielsa suggests that today’s Dunga-coached squad is no less dangerous than its forebears after they beat North Korea and the Ivory Coast, but drew with Portugal in Group G. “This latest version retains all the creative footballing aspects of this country (Brazil) — to which they have added aggression and forcefulness.”

But he added that the Chileans, who pushed Brazil all the way in the 18-match regional qualifying programme to reach their first finals since 1998, were determined to pull off a shock and reach the last eight. “We will do the impossible to ensure that things don’t come to an end too soon for us,” he insisted.

Ten-man Chile had a bittersweet night on Friday as they qualified for the last 16 despite suffering a 2-1 defeat to Spain and will need to pull off the biggest shock of the World Cup so far if they are to beat Brazil.

“We couldn’t be more motivated for the game against Brazil,” forward Jean Beausejour told FIFA.com after midfielder Marco Estrada was sent off against Spain.

Midfielder Rodrigo Miller, who score Chile’s consolation goal, said it means a lot to the fans as they bid to topple the world’s highest-ranked side.

“We know we’re making the people in Chile happy with what we’re doing here,” said a grinning Millar, whose side are currently ranked 18th in the world.

In contrast, Brazil coach Dunga has yet to grin a smile of satisfaction after any of his side’s three performances here so far even though the South American giants are undefeated.

Convincing wins over North Korea and the Ivory Coast were followed by an uninspiring goalless draw with Portugal on Friday which Dunga spent in an agitated state gesticulating wildly and berating his players.

Dunga will welcome back midfield pair Kaka and Elano for Monday’s match at Johannesburg’s Soccer City.

Kaka served a one-match ban after being sent off against the Ivory Coast while Elano was ruled out through injury.

Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar believes it will be a difficult test against Chile, but says his side have to keep improving.

“Now a new and more complicated stage in the competition begins and I am certain that Brazil will be ready,” he said.

“We have done what we expected to do so far and now we have to focus one game at a time and continue to improve game by game.” The return of Kaka and Elano will boost Brazil, says Inter Milan’s Cesar.

“They are both crucial players for us and it will be good to have them back in the team for our next game,” said the Inter Milan player.

Brazil striker Luis Fabiano scored twice against Ivory Coast and will be aiming to add to his tally against Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who can expect a busy evening at Soccer City against Brazil’s potent attack.

The South American giants have failed to get out of second gear so far at South Africa 2010, but should have too much firepower in their squad to be seriously threatened by the Chileans. —AFP

JOHANNESBURG: A combo of file pictures shows Chile’s striker Alexis Sanchez (left) and Brazil’s midfielder Felipe Melo during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. —AFP

Kaka, Elano and Robinho to return against Chile JOHANNESBURG: Kaka, Elano and Robinho are set to return to Brazil’s starting lineup for the World Cup second-round match against Chile today, giving the team an attacking boost.

Coach Dunga may not be able to count on Felipe Melo, however, because the defensive midfielder injured his left ankle in Brazil’s 0-0 draw against Portugal on Friday.

Reserve midfielder Julio Baptista hurt his left knee also against Portugal and may not be available.

Kaka will be back from his suspension for the red card he received in the 3-1 win over Ivory Coast, while Elano should be fit after recovering from a right ankle injury that forced him out of Friday’s match in Durban. Elano trained without restriction on Saturday and wasn’t bothered by the injury.

“I’m upbeat because I practiced normally and didn’t feel any pain,” he said. Robinho was rested for the final Group G match against Portugal after a minor left thigh problem, but Brazil doctor Jose Luis Runco

said the striker can return against Chile.

“I would have played against Portugal if it was a decisive match and Brazil hadn’t advanced yet,” Robinho said.

Without the three playmakers, Brazil struggled to create scoring opportunities and failed to get past Portugal’s defense at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The result still gave Brazil first place in the group, but halted its seven-match winning streak. The five-time champion hadn’t been held scoreless since a 0-0 home draw with Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier last October. Dunga said the absence of the three regular starters, especially Robinho, played a part in Brazil’s failure to score.

“Robinho could’ve given us an edge,” Dunga said. “He can make a difference with his dribbles when there is not a lot of space, like it was the case against Portugal.” Elano had scored a goal in each of Brazil’s first two matches, and Kaka and Robinho each had assists.

Daniel Alves replaced Elano on Friday, while Julio Baptista came in for Kaka and

Nilmar for Robinho. Nilmar came close to scoring when his close-range shot was tipped on to a post by goalkeeper Eduardo in the 30th minute. Felipe Melo was substituted by Josue just before halftime, and Runco said the Juventus player is doubtful to face the Chileans at Ellis Park.

He twisted his ankle in a hard challenge from Portugal defender Pepe.

Pepe received a yellow card for the foul. Felipe Melo minutes earlier had also received a yellow for a hard foul on Pepe.

Runco said Felipe Melo and Julio Baptista improved considerably from their injuries but were still receiving intensive treatment. Felipe Melo has been a regular starter in Dunga’s team since making the squad just before last year’s Confederations Cup, which he helped Brazil win.

Wolfsburg’s Josue, which hasn’t play much with Brazil recently, will probably replace him against the Chileans. Julio Baptista, who replaced the suspended Kaka against Portugal, was replaced by Ramires in the 82nd minute after twisting his knee. —AP

Dutch favorites against Slovakia DURBAN: The Netherlands play surprise package Slovakia in a round of 16 match here today wary of a team spirit that saw the unheralded side beat defending World Cup champions Italy in the group stage.

The Dutch, two-time finalists in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups, were themselves unbeaten in the group phase, beating Denmark 2-0, Japan 1-0 and Cameroon 2-1.

World Cup debutants Slovakia drew 1-1 with New Zealand and lost 2-0 to groupwinners Paraguay before trumping Italy 3-2 to spectacularly claim their runners-up spot.

“Slovakia will be tough,” Dutch striker Robin van Persie warned. “They showed really good spirt and hung in there against Italy and it was a great result for their country. “So far, it’s looking good for us, but we can still improve on bits and pieces.”

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk added: “This is an opponent we must not underestimate. We cannot be nonchalant.” Although the Dutch notched up three group phase wins-a feat matched only by Argentina, van Marwijk warned they could ill afford to let teams back into games through sloppy play, as was the case against Cameroon.

“That period of negligence we had, we cannot afford that again,” he said. “It’s a bit of a lesson for the next match.”

Slovakian striker Robert Vittek, who scored two goals in his team’s win over Italy, said

that the game against the Azzurri had “really pushed the limits of Slovak football”.

“Beforehand we couldn’t have dreamt about this, I’m so happy, we showed everything that we’re capable of in achieving this,” he said. “The Dutch are clear favorites but we will try to give them a hard time. As newcomers we have nothing to lose.” The Netherlands were boosted by the return against Cameroon of star winger Arjen Robben, who made his South African World Cup bow as a late substitute after missing their opening two matches with a hamstring injury.

If there were any lingering doubts over his injury, Robben erased them in emphatic style with a trademark contribution to the Netherlands’ winning goal, slamming a shot against the post with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar burying the rebound.

“We made it clear at the start that we would be taking this tournament one challenge at a time, and now we will focus on Slovakia and Slovakia alone,” said Robben. “I’m already looking forward to it.” The Bayern Munich player will likely come off the bench for a half.

The winner of the second round match at the Moses

Mabhida Stadium here face a tough quarter-final against the winner of the Brazil v Chile play-off. After Arjen Robben’s delightful cameo against Cameroon, the Bayern Munich winger stands a good chance of playing a significant chunk of the game against Slovakia, who conceded five goals in their group phase. Slovakia’s captain and playmaker Marek Hamsik pulls the strings for his team in midfield and will have to get them moving forward as they did in their shock victory over defending champions Italy to make any inroads into a Dutch team oozing class up front.—AFP

DURBAN: Members of the Netherlands football team warm up during a training session at the Princess Magogo stadium on the eve of their round of 16 match against Slovakia.—AFP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Officials help Germany humiliate England BLOEMFONTEIN: Germany inflicted England’s record World Cup finals defeat yesterday after a 4-1 victory in their Last 16 match that was overshadowed by one of the worst refereeing mistakes in the tournament’s history.

Germany’s superior movement and ruthless finishing made them worthy winners on an afternoon when England’s defending was shockingly substandard and their talisman, Wayne Rooney, once again failed to deliver on the game’s biggest stage.

But there is no saying what would have happened if England had not been denied a goal that would have levelled the match at 2-2 just before half-time, when a Frank Lampard shot bounced off the underside of the bar and landed a yard over the goal-line.

Matthew Upson had just headed England back into the match after Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski had given Germany a two-goal advantage.

Two second-half goals for Thomas Mueller enabled the Germans to run up their most convincing win against their biggest rivals, but they were both scored on the counterattack as England sought an equaliser they should not have been obliged to chase.

Referee Jorge Larrionda’s misjudgement was all the more inexplicable because he was well-placed to see the incident.

Yet, after looking across at his linesman, he waved play on.

England coach Fabio Capello said that the Lampard moment was the turning point. “The Lampard incident was one of the most important in the match,” said Capello.

BLOEMFONTEIN: Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer looks at the ball that hit the bar to bounce over the line during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Germany and England at Free State Stadium.—AP “The referee made one of the biggest mistakes, but Germany are a great team, we were caught out on the counterattack. “This is football. Little things make all the difference.”

The controversy over the incident will rumble on but England will also have to ask themselves some hard ques-

tions after what was, at times, a shambolic display.

Germany coach Joachim Loew, whose side next face either Argentina or Mexico, revealed he ordered his side at the interval to keep pushing.

“I said to my team at the halftime break, we need to try and score the third goal. We knew

we could hit England on the counter-attack because they were open. Our players carried it off brilliantly,” he said. Twogoal Mueller was already anticipating a deeper run into the tournament.

“Now anything is possible, even if there is a tough nut waiting for us. But that doesn’t mat-

ter, we just have to clean the way. This result is madness,” he said.

Klose was delighted with his team’s efforts. “We were aggressive from the first minute, unlike in the Ghana game (which Germany won 10). The win was highly deserved,” said Klose. “We

have always said our goal is the semi-finals at least. That’s what we want to reach.”

England’s vulnerability at the back had been exposed early on and, after goalkeeper David James had denied Mueller, Klose exploited it to get on the end of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s upfield punt to give

Germany the lead.

John Terry allowed the ball to fly over his head and Klose outmuscled and outpaced Upson before flicking the ball past James with the outside of his boot.

Mueller did the damage for Germany’s second. Taking Klose’s first-time pass, the

Bayern Munich midfielder broke into the box before switching the ball to Podolski, who beat James at his near post from a tight angle.

Neuer pulled off a superb reflex save at close range to prevent Lampard finishing off James Milner’s low cross just before Upson gave England a lifeline.

Germany’s goalkeeper had been impressive up to then but his lack of experience showed when he charged off his line and got nowhere near the cross from Steven Gerrard that the West Ham defender nodded in.

Lampard himself came agonisingly close to an equaliser seven minutes after the restart, hammering a free-kick from nearly 40 yards against the bar with Neuer struggling to cover.

Germany centreback Arne Friedrich, who had already been booked, was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a cynical body check on Rooney.

The resulting free-kick was blocked by the German wall and Germany immediately swept upfield to claim their third goal.

Bastian Schweinsteiger did most of the leg work through the inside left channel before switching the ball to Mueller who beat James at his near post with a fiercely struck drive from 12 yards.

The fourth was virtually a carbon copy, although this time it was Mesut Ozil who wreaked havoc after latching on to a punted clearance towards the left touchline.

The Werder Bremen star powered away from Gareth Barry with ease before cutting in to the box to present Mueller with the simplest of a tap-ins—AFP

Tevez puts Argentina into last eight JOHANNESBURG: Argentina will meet Germany in the World Cup’s quarter-finals after striker Carlos Tevez struck twice — once controversially — to seal a 3-1 win over Mexico in yesterday’s round of 16 match.

Goals by Manchester City’s Tevez and Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain, his fourth here to become the tournament’s top-scorer, means Diego Maradona’s Argentina will now meet the Germans in Cape Town on Saturday in the last eight.

“It’s important to have reached the quarters. As for my goals? Well, I just want to be effective,” said Tevez self-effacingly.

“Now we have to relax a little ahead of going up against the Germans in the quarter-finals, four years after losing to them” also in the last eight, when the Germans won on penalties.

Mexico forward Javier Hernandez gave his side brief hope when he turned his marker in the 71st minute and smashed his shot

past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero, although it was too little, too late.

Argentina were not to be denied, but Tevez’s first-half strike was awarded in controversial circumstances as replays showed he was off-side when world footballer of the year Lionel Messi gave him the final pass.

The Manchester City star’s shot was saved by Mexican goalkeeper Oscar Perez, but Messi followed up and chipped Perez for Tevez to head home.

The Mexican defence complained bitterly that Tevez was offside, but Italian referee Roberto Rosetti allowed the 26th-minute goal to stand despite the furore caused by a replay of the incident on the stadium’s giant TV screens.

Mexico captain Rafael Marquez picked up a yellow card almost from the restart for fouling Messi. Things went from bad to worse for the Mexicans on 33 minutes when defender Ricardo Osorio’s pass went straight to Higuain, who slotted past Perez

to make it 2-0 at the break.

Rosetti had to step in to break up a pitch-side melee between the two sides as they walked off for half-time with tempers boiling over in the wake of the first goal.

Tevez settled the matter with a breathtaking strike on 52 minutes which he rifled into the net’s top right-hand corner from just outside the penalty area, giving Perez no chance.

The Manchester City star came off in the 69th minute to make way for Juan Veron just as Argentina’s Martin Demichelis cleared off the line before Hernandez scored Mexico’s consolation.

This was the fifth straight finals where Mexico have exited the competition at the round of 16 phase and the last time they reached the quarter-finals was when the hosted the event in 1986. Argentina remain on course for their third World Cup title after 1978 and 1986.—AFP

JOHANNESBURG: Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain (bottom left) scores his side’s second goal during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Argentina and Mexico at Soccer City.—AP

Wataniya’s InTouch makes international calls affordable

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VIVA will provide Internet to Council for Planning

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Samsung introduces mobile phones Wave and Galaxy S

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Monday, June 28, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

G20 eyes economic balance in uneven recovery TORONTO: World leaders put the finishing touches on plans to build a more stable global economy yesterday but backed away from one-size-fits-all pledges as two years of crisis give way to an uneven recovery.

Balance was the buzz word. The Group of 20 rich and emerging economies wants to halve budget deficits by 2013 without stunting growth, and clamp down on risky bank behavior without choking off lending. The leaders must also show progress on a promise made in September to rebalance the global economy. That means export-reliant nations such as China and Germany need to look inward for growth and indebted countries including the United States need to change their borrow-andspend ways.

G20 sources told Reuters that there would be no reference to China’s yuan currency in a final statement to be issued when meetings conclude later.

An earlier version of the document, obtained by Reuters, had welcomed Beijing’s recent move to loosen its grip on the yuan.

US President Barack Obama, China’s Hu Jintao and leaders from the rest of the G20 economic powers gathered for the fourth time since the financial crisis spilling out of the United States in 2007 fueled fears of a new Great Depression. The G20, spanning the emerging economic powers as well as the developed economies where the trouble started, united last year to throw trillions of dollars into the battle against recession. The group has since become the predominant forum for coordinating the tackling of global economic challenges.

“With a global recovery that remains fragile, it is incumbent upon us to act with the same unity of purpose, the same sense of urgency, and the same commitment to the enlightened exercise of our national sovereignties as we did at the depths of the crisis,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement at the opening of the G20 meeting.

World leaders took their seats shortly after 9 am Toronto time (1300 GMT). Germany’s Angela Merkel was seated next to Britain’s David Cameron, who joked earlier this week that he would try not to “wrestle her to the ground” when Germany and England meet in the World Cup later yesterday.

More than 400 people were arrested after demonstrations turned violent in downtown Toronto on Saturday and police braced for more possible trouble yesterday.

With sluggish growth in many developed countries, Washington fears Europe’s drive to slash post-recession debt could derail the recovery, a worry also voiced by other G20 leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he understood the pressure to put public finances back on a sustainable path, but urged G20 leaders to be mindful of who bore the burden.

“We must not balance budgets on the backs of the world’s poorest people,” Ban said at a G20 dinner Saturday evening. The G20 leaders are set to announce a concerted effort to halve public sector deficits within three years and stabilize government debt. At the same time they recognize that the start of that process will take place at different speeds, according to a draft communique that Reuters obtained.

The document acknowledges that after the downturn, the economic recovery varies in pace across the world and there is a delicate balance needed between restoring budget discipline and sustaining growth.

“There is a risk that synchronized fiscal adjustment across several major economies could adversely impact the recovery,” it says. “There is also a risk that the failure to implement consolidation when necessary would undermine confidence and hamper growth.”

Managing deficits looks easily achievable, considering President Barack Obama has already pledged to do that and Europe sees the target as a bare minimum. Stabilizing debt as a percentage of total output within six years may be more difficult.

Obama’s budget forecasts show the debt ratio rising at least through 2015, and most advanced Western economies face rising health care and retiree costs as their populations age.

Regulatory reform was another source of friction. US lawmakers agreed on a package of reforms, but the G20 has struggled to come up with a common set of rules. Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, said he was concerned the lack of international consistency would lead to an uneven playing field. —Reuters

Toronto police gear for second day of protests

TORONTO: World leaders gather at the opening plenary session of the G20 Summit in Toronto yesterday. —AP

UAE banks may take D-World provisions from Q3: Bankers ABU DHABI: Banks in the United Arab Emirates are likely to book specific provisions against loans to Dubai World in the third quarter as they await guidelines from the central bank, bankers and analysts said yesterday.

The central bank has directed banks to book only general provisions in the second quarter until its recommendations are ready, a senior Abu Dhabi banker said.

“We were told the committees in the central bank are still working on the subject of provisions,” said the banker, who asked not to be named.

L ast week the central bank held a meeting with the chief executives of local banks and discussed matters relating to liquidity and real estate but did not discuss anything relating to Dubai World provisions.

The central bank did not return calls seeking comment.

“The stock market has already priced in the provisioning needs of the local banks, so the timing of when banks book provisions is not the main issue. The third quarter is likely, sounds plausible,” said a senior executive at a Dubai-based bank.

“This could be an individual institutional call. It’s a material event for 2010, something that needs to be addressed before the end of the year.” In May Dubai World reached a deal in principle to restructure $23.5 billion in debt with core lenders holding 60 percent of the exposure, in a deal to repay creditors over five and eight-year maturities.

The final terms of the debt deal are expected to be presented to remaining creditor banks towards the end of June or in July.

“Until there’s further clarity from the Central Bank, we will take general provisions in Q2 as we did in Q1 for our exposures,” another banker said.

Banks in the UAE have an estimated exposure of $15 billion to Dubai World. Dubai lender Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank <ADCB.AD> are thought to carry a large proportion of the exposure.

Provisions of UAE banks for non-per for ming loans (NPLs) declined to 35.2 billion dirhams in May from 36 billion dirhams while general provisions edged up to 13.6 billion dirhams in May from 13.4 billion dirhams the previous month, according to Central Bank data.

“Banks are looking for guidance from Central Bank and they may now take provisions in third quarter,” said Deepak Tolani, ana-

lyst at Al Mal Capital. UAE banks will also need to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which could lead to quite specific requirement from the central bank on Dubai World provisioning.

Ratings agency Moody’s in a recent note said the outlook for UAE banks remained negative on continued asset quality concerns.

“Dubai World’s recent restructuring is central to defining problem loans that pose significant asset quality challenges to the UAE banking system,” the note said.

“Problem loans could more than double by year end 2010 to around 9.5 percent to 12.5 percent of gross loans, taking into a c c o u n t t h e D u b a i Wo r l d re s t r u c t u r i n g ” , s a i d J o h n Tofarides, Moody’s analyst, in the note. —Reuters

Half of Kuwait’s oil output comes from Burgan: Report KUWAIT: Half of Kuwait’s oil production comes from Burgan, the second largest oilfield in the world, a senior oil official said in remarks published yesterday.

That would indicate the field was pumping just over a million barrels per day (bpd), as Kuwait pumped around 2.3 million bpd in May, according to a Reuters survey.

The field has capacity to pump 1.6 million bpd, according to US government data.

Known as Greater Burgan, the oil field encompasses the Burgan, Magwa and Ahmadi fields. The field holds around 70 billion barrels, or around 70 percent of Kuwait’s 101.5 billion barrels of reserves, according to US data.

Sami Al-Rushaid, chief executive of state-run oil and gas exploration and production arm, Kuwait Oil Co, told Al-Seyassah newspaper

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

Kuwait shares falter, Aabar falls on delisting

TORONTO: Demonstrators protesting the G8 and G20 Summits gather as Canadian police officers form a line to hold them back in Toronto, Canada. —AP

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments tumbled yesterday after setting the date for a shareholder meeting to discuss delisting the firm.

Middle East markets fell as an end-ofweek surge in oil prices failed to outweigh gloom over declines in world equities following fresh doubts about a global economic recovery. Aabar lost 7.1 percent. The world’s only listed sovereign wealth fund has called a July 26 shareholder meeting to debate plans to convert into a joint stock company.

“The main concern regarding Aabar is how minority shareholders will get treated - there isn’t a set road map on how companies delist from the exchange and that’s why investors are cautious,” said Matthew Wakeman, EFG-Hermes managing director for

cash and equity-linked trading. Kuwait was the biggest regional loser, dipping 0.8 percent.

Other Middle East markets fell, tracking end-of-week declines on global bourses in the absence of local catalysts, although a Friday surge in oil prices helped limit regional losses.

“Trading is very lacklustre and seems quite random - there are no real themes to what is going on,” said a Riyadh-based analyst who asked not to be identified.

“It’s a day traders’ market, with a lot of uncertainty about the global economy, which is weighing heavily on local sentiment.”

Dubai builder Arabtec fell 0.5 percent, taking its losses to 31 percent this year, with investors little moved by comments from the builder’s chief financial officer

that it expects to receive payment in cash from indebted Dubai World unit Nakheel soon.

“Comments like these will be largely ignored,” added Wakeman. “Until all banks say they have signed up for Dubai World’s debt restructuring and local contractors say they have been paid, we won’t see any significant movement.”

Dubai World is restructuring about $23.5 billion of debts. Egypt’s index fell 0.3 percent in thin trade as state-owned banks dumped positions ahead of the end of the fiscal year on June 30, said Amr Shamel of Pharos Securities.

“There is no direction with this volume. You cannot decide where the market is going,” he said. “There is no interest. No institutional interest, no retail interest.” —Reuters

Burgan was one of 17 fields the OPEC member was producing from. Kuwait has 110 oil reservoirs, he said.

In April, a Kuwaiti official said the oilfield was bigger than past estimates had indicated.

The world’s fourth-largest oil exporter’s capacity stands at 3.1 million bpd. It aims to reach 3.5 million bpd in 2015 before expanding to 4 million bpd in 2020. —Reuters

KFH eyes better Q2 results KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is expected to post better results in the second-quarter compared to the first quarter of 2010, its chairman was quoted as saying yesterday.

The countr y’s biggest Islamic lender posted a net profit of KD30.9 million ($106 million) in the first quarter of 2010, down 21.4 percent from the year earlier period.

The lender is currently executing projects in Saudi Arabia that exceed 100 million dinars, KFH Chairman Bader Al-Mukhaizeem told local daily newspaper Al-Watan.

Besides Saudi Arabia, KFH is currently focusing its operations on the markets o f t h e United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, he added. —Reuters

22

BUSINESS

Monday, June 28, 2010

30 free international minutes every month with new voice plan

Wataniya’s InTouch plan makes international calls affordable KUWAIT: In today’s day and age when life is busy and work is hectic, it is very difficult to keep in touch with friends and family living abroad.

Wataniya’s new postpaid plan InTouch now makes it easy, affordable and extremely convenient for customers to pick up their phone and call their loved ones. InTouch voice plans are ideal choice that offers postpaid customers free local and international minutes every month via three flexible plan options.

“We are pleased to be the first telecom provider to introduce InTouch, a unique and essential service for our customers”, said Scott Gegenheimer, Wataniya Telecom GM and CEO. “At

Scott Gegenheimer

Dubai house price recovery 2011 at earliest: Report DUBAI: Dubai house prices are not seen recovering before 2011 at the earliest while oversupply in commercial property will boost vacancy rates to more than 50 percent next year Jones Lang LaSalle said yesterday.

A total of 26,000 homes are expected to be completed in 2010 and 25,000 in 2011, bringing total residential stock to 320,000 homes by the end of 2011, up from 287,000 at the end of the second quarter, the property consultancy said in a report.

“Despite the recent stabilization in pricing levels, Dubai’s residential market will experience a situation of oversupply and prices are not expected to recover before 2011 at the earliest,” the report said. “Finance is a key factor in market recovery.

The residential market has shown signs of improved lending in 2010 as more banks are injecting liquidity into the mortgage market.”

Dubai’s once booming property sector collapsed in the wake of the global financial crisis, leaving developers and customers with huge debts and several major projects unfinished.

Average apartment rents fell 10 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year ago,

Wataniya Telecom, we believe in creating products and services that satisfy the ever evolving needs and wants of our growing customer base.

He added saying “InTouch is a convenient option through which our customers will be able to enjoy both local and international talk time at very nominal rates.”

Customers can choose from three plans, and depending on the plan selected, customers will enjoy 150 1200 local minutes. In addition to 30 free international minutes every month to one country from Wataniya’s growing list of destinations which currently includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Iran, India, Pakistan,

and were down 4 percent from the first quarter this year.

Average villa rents fell 23 percent in the second quarter from the second quarter of 2009 and were down 11 percent from the first quarter this year.

Greatest declines were in the luxury and high-end for both categories, the report said.

Apartment prices remained stable while villa prices rose marginally over the quarter.

While Dubai’s office market is expected to experience a supply overhang, there is still a shortage of good quality supply, the report said. Vacancy rates are expected to exceed 50 percent over the next year from around 28 percent currently, it said, adding that average office rents fell by between 45-60 percent since their peaks in mid2008.

2010 represents the peak in new supply with 20 million square feet of supply expected, but only 25 percent of that is currently complete and further delays are expected. A further 12 million square feet of supply is expected to be released over 2011 and 2012 adding to the 48 million square feet of total office stock at the end of the second quarter this year. — Reuters

Syria, Bangladesh, Lebanon, USA, UK and Jordan. Once the customer chooses an InTouch plan, the country activation can be done by sending * 789 * country code #. The customer then has to reply to the confirmation message with “1”.

InTouch is a combination of local and international inclusive minutes that enhance customer experience to the fullest. As promised, Wataniya Telecom continues to deliver the best services and products that facilitate communication and enable customers to build stronger connections locally and across the world. For more information call 121, or visit any Wataniya or Fono stores or authorized dealers.

New regulations on the Kuwait investment sector Markaz Commentary KUWAIT: Given the severe losses sustained by the investment sector in Kuwait, which dwarf those of other GCC nations, a move towards increased regulation of the sector has been expected for some time says a recently released commentary by Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” entitled “The New Regulations on the Kuwait Investment Sector” which aims to analyze the current state of the investment sector in light of new regulations by CBK. The sector lost over $2 bn in 2009 following a monstrous loss of upwards of $3 bn in 2008, and continues to post an aggregate loss of over $100 mn in 1Q10 (an annual run rate of $400 mn). The losses are tied to impaired assets which companies have been writing-off in an attempt to restore some health to their balance sheets.

Liquidity and over-leverage have also been an issue for the sector, whose assets are often comprised of difficult to value and illiquid investments which are then pledged as collateral against further borrowings. These issues were not bothersome during the boom periods; however, when the global financial crisis hit, it exposed the sector’s vulnerabilities resulting in a massive destruction of wealth.

Consequently, in June 2010, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) issued an announcement of tightened regulation over the sector through three criteria spanning liquidity and leverage. The new regulations are effective immediately with the CBK expecting quarterly reports on the same, but it has given the sector until June 2012 to fully comply with the new measures or face as yet

unnamed action from the CBK. According to CBK, nearly 50% of investment companies (both listed and unlisted) comply fully with all the three criteria. Given the fact that CBK’s criteria are more stringent than the traditional definition of these ratios; this will likely alleviate much of the negative sentiment associated with investment companies due to the financial crisis.

According to the report, the new regulations aim to increase transparency, credibility and uniformity in the investment sector, which has grown to be of systemic importance to the Kuwait financial sector; the move from CBK would have also been inspired by its pioneering engagement with Basel II banking accords (Kuwait was the first Arab country to adopt the accords back in 2005). The new regulations may mirror those of Basel due to the similar skill set required in implementation which CBK would already posses.

These regulations provide a level playing field of sorts whereby the health of the sector, and its constituent firms, could be objectively measured and compared, which would significantly ramp up investor confidence in the country with a positive trickledown effect to the banking sector.

Kuwait Financial Centre SAK ‘Markaz’, with total assets under management of over KD921 million as of March 31, 2010, was established in 1974 has become one of the leading asset management and investment banking institutions in the Arabian Gulf Region. Markaz was listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) in 1997.

Egypt to seek tenders for Gulf of Suez windfarm CAIRO: Egypt will launch within days a tender competition to choose firms to build a 1,000 mega-watt wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, its electricity minister said.

The power plant will be constructed on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes said in a statement, without providing further details. Egypt’s El Sewedy Cables is likely to bid for the project, CI

Capital said in a note yesterday. It was shortlisted among other companies in Egypt’s last wind farm tendering.

“We believe that management will surely apply in this wind bid,” the investment bank said.

Sewedy, the largest Arab cable maker by market value, said in March it was looking to supply wind energy projects in Egypt, the Middle East and African mar-

kets to tap growing demand and suitable climates. Shares in Sewedy rose 4 percent on Sunday, while Egypt’s benchmark index fell 0.3 percent.

Egypt has been developing windpower along its eastern Red Sea coast with wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada and an installed capacity so far of 500 megawatts but it expects to see its wind power capacity reach 7,200 megawatts by 2020.

Egypt also aims to generate 12 percent of its power from wind farms out of a total of 20 percent from renewable sources by 2020 and is seeking to attract $110 billion in investments in its energy sector by 2027.

Younes said in November the ministry qualified 10 firms to build a 250-megawatt wind farm on its east coast, the country’s first privately owned wind farm. — Reuters

The winner Saeed Othman is receiving the cheque from Tareq Al-Shuwared, AUB Area Manager

Only investment savings account with prizes compliant to Sharia Al-Hassad Islamic Account from Al-Motahid KUWAIT: AUB has announced the results of the Weekly draw of its AlHassad Islamic savings scheme. The lucky customer was Saeed Othman winning the Grand Weekly prize worth KD 20,000 at the draw held on June 16th 2010 . The following Al-Hassad Islamic customers won cash prizes of KD 1000 each: Saeed Radhi Ali, Ali Ibrahim Abdulrasoul Ali, Mohammed Jaffer Mohsin Al Tajir, Saif Aldin Saleh Awadh and Ehsan A Hussain Abbas Qannati.

The biggest-ever AlHassad Islamic savings scheme features 6000 prizes worth KD 10 million in total.

The scheme’s structure gives eligible customers the

opportunity to win KD 1 million in two quarterly prize draws, offering a single ‘Grand Salary for Life’ prize of KD 4000 a month for the next 250 months.

Other ‘Salary for Life’ prizes include quarterly KD 500,000 prizes (KD 2,000 paid out every month) and KD 250,000 prizes (KD 1,000 paid out every month).

With a total of three winners announced each quarter, all prizes convert to a stable source of monthly income for the winner over the next 250 months. Apart from the quarterly prizes, one Grand Weekly prize of KD 20,000 and five weekly cash prizes of KD 1,000 each are given away every week.

Customers with KD 1000

and above invested in the AlHassad Islamic scheme are eligible to win KD 500,000 in each of the four loyalty draws held over the scheme period.

The concept behind the savings scheme is giving customers the opportunity to win a “salary for life”. AUB’s objective has been to create a lifetime change for the winners and allow them to invest their winnings in things that will make a lasting difference to the well being of their families.

For more information on the Al-Hassad Islamic investment savings account, its prize structure and eligibility criteria, customers may visit any AUB Kuwait branch or call Hayakom 181 2000.

Saudi Arabia has no plan to buy European government bonds JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia does not plan to buy European government bonds, the Gulf oil producer’s central bank governor Muhammad AlJasser was quoted as saying yesterday.

“There are no plans to buy European sovereign debt,” Jasser was quoted as saying by Saudi al-Watan daily on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Toronto. Leaders of the world’s 20 leading nations meeting in Toronto this weekend are seeking ways for countries to cut public debt without undermining a fragile global economic recovery.

Jasser also said the Arab Gulf country will not implement proposed new bank taxes.

Germany, France and Britain are planning additional taxes but Canada and several

emerging market economies in the G20 do not want to do likewise.

The draft summit communique obtained by Reuters showed countries would be given a choice whether to levy taxes on banks to recoup bailout costs, and can phase in stricter bank capital rules to fit national needs.

Since the onset of the financial crisis the world’s largest oil exporter has boasted that its conservative regulations had protected banks from the worst effects of the credit crunch.

But debt restructuring in Saudi familyowned businesses trimmed credit growth, which has now started to pick up slowly after stalling at the turn of the year. —Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2860000 .4340000 .3560000 .2630000 .2780000 .2510000 .0045000 .0020000 .0786950 .7667040 .4020000 .0750000 .7516210 .0045000 .0500000

.2960000 .4440000 .3640000 .2710000 .2870000 .2590000 .0075000 .0035000 .0794860 .7744100 .4180000 .0790000 .7591750 .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 .2899000 .4369930 .3587630 .2653580 .2798860 .0481930 .0375450 .2536010 .0372690 .2090160 .0032490 .0063010 .0025600 .0034100 .0042250 .0789670 .7693420 .4099910 .0773450 .7533520 .0063010

.2920000 .4397750 .3612960 .2672370 .2818670 .0485340 .0378110 .2553910 .0375330 .2104960 .0032720 .0063460 .0025780 .0034340 .00422550 .0794700 .7742460 .4128940 .0778380 .7581530 .0063460

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2920000 .4397750 .2672370 .0778380

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen 3.309 Indian Rupees 6.310 Pakistani Rupees 3.408

Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

2.557 3.950 210.330 37.451 4.201 6.303 8.982 0.296 0.310

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 77.694 80.044 756.900 773.800 79.331

Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 53.750 51.724 1.290 194.130 411.100 195.440 6.232 33.091

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 291.200 Euro 364.000 Sterling Pound 442.200 Canadian dollar 284.510 Turkish lire 185.120 Swiss Franc 269.500 Australian dollar 254.610 US Dollar Buying 288.250

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound

SELL DRAFT 258.600 774.220 4.310 285.000 571.700 14.100 49.400 167.800 53.490

10 Tola

GOLD 1,370.780

363.600 37.980 6.285

411.530 0.198 92.390 3.940 210.500 756.100 3.420 6.285 80.090 77.730 211.320 40.890 2.559 441.000 268.500 9.170 79.340 291.100

SELL CASH 257.100 774.220 4.202 283.500

211.300 51.295

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling 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

3.422 2.568 4.220 6.400 3.211 9.015 6.367 3.961

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

291.100 3.425 6.295 2.570 4.205 6.300 79.360 77.840 773.800 51.270 442.900 0.00003280 3.990 1.550 413.900 5.750 366.500 286.700

Al Mulla Exchange

TRAVELLER?S CHEQUE 441.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

365.100 38.130 6.560 0.035 0.276 0.257 3.350 412.830 0.197 92.390 45.300 4.550 212.000 1.984 47.000 758.280 3.520 6.590 80.520 77.730 211.320 40.890 2.758 443.000 38.700 270.000 6.400 9.340 196.263 79.440 291.500 1.340

Sterling Pound

GOLD 249.000 126.000 66.000

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

291.300 363.550 441.100 283.500 431.678 361.594 262.530 715.354 772.506 79.440 80.143 77.795 411.846 51.450 6.365

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 291.100 365.000 436.750 288.000 3.225 6.372 51.320 2.565 4.201 6.398 3.125 774.000 79.300 77.700

BUSINESS

Monday, June 28, 2010

23

Dollar weakens further, euro-zone in jitters KUWAIT: The US dollar continued to weaken against other major currencies last week amid lower than expected economic releases. The Euro traded between a high of 1.2466 and a low of 1.2207 to close the week at 1.2375 as investors covered their short positions. The Sterling Pound had a bullish week, as the MPC minutes showed that the votes were not unanimous on keeping the key interest rates unchanged, driving the Sterling to a high of 1.5077 and closing the week at 1.5072. The Swiss Franc reached a low of 1.1138 and a high of 1.0915 closing the week at 1.0932. The Japanese Yen reached a low of 90.44 and closed at 89.28.

The Federal Reserve kept the key interest rate unchanged at the range of 0-0.25% for another “extended period”, and said “that underlying inflation has trended lower” as it awaits a clear outcome to the fiscal crisis in Europe. This is the first significant change in language on inflation since

September that suggests that concerns about risks over the economic recovery have shifted towards Europe’s fiscal fears.

The US economy grew by 2.7% annually in the first quarter of 2010, lower than the previously estimated 3.0%. Although growth was not as anticipated, it still marked three straight quarters of expansion as the economy pushes its way out of the worst economic downturn since the 1930’s.

Confidence rising US consumer sentiment rose in June to its highest level since January 2008, which should help support consumer spending in the US. The University of Michigan index on consumer sentiment rose to 76 in June from 73.6 in May, above the forecasted 75.5.

Purchases of new homes in the US fell in May to a record low as a government tax incentive ended, showing the market remains dependant on government support.

Sales collapsed to 300,000 homes last month

NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKETS REPORT from a downward revised previous of 446,000 in April. In parallel, sales of existing home sales dropped unexpectedly in May to reach 5.66 million from a previous 5.79 million, also a result of the ending tax credit, which indicates that the decline raises the risk that sales will continue to fall more than anticipated following the expiration of the government tax incentive.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits declined last week from a two-month high, pointing to an improvement in the labor market that is taking time to develop. Initial jobless claims fell to 457,000 from a previous 476,000.

Orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose in May for a third time in four months, indicating that manufacturing

will help maintain the recovery. Core durable goods orders rose by 0.9% in May from a previous decline of 0.8% in April.

Total orders dropped for the first time in six months as demand for airplanes retreated.

Durable goods dropped from an increase of 3.0% in April to fall by 1.1% in May. Europe Last week witnessed the downgrade of BNP Paribas by Fitch from AA to AA- as worries continue to mount over the state of the bank’s balance sheet. The agency noted that the downgrade was partially a result of the decline in the bank’s value of assets through 2009.

German business confidence unexpectedly rose to a two-year high in June as the Euro’s depreciation and a global economic

recovery improved the outlook for exports.

The IFO business climate index increased to 101.8 from 101.5 in May. Growth in Europe’s services and manufacturing industries slowed in June, indicating that the European recovery is calming down. The German manufacturing PMI fell to a four-month low to reach 58.1 in June from a previous 58.4 in May, indicating that the previous surge in the manufacturing PMI is beginning to fade away. In parallel, the German services PMI fell to 54.6 from a previous 54.8 indicating that the manufacturing and services sectors are expanding at a slower pace.

The Bank of England minutes for the month of June showed that the decision to keep interest rates at the low of 0.5% was not unanimous for the first time in seven months as one of the policy makers said it was appropriate to “gradually withdraw” BOE stimulus measures amid inflation

risks. In addition, the MPC said that UK’s growth momentum may be more than previously thought, while the majority of the members said the balance of risks signaled for no change.

Deflation continues Japan’s core consumer prices fell at a slower pace of 1.2% in May from the previous fall of 1.5%, down for the 15th straight month, as deflation continues to plague the Japanese economy. The Tokyo Consumer Price Index also showed that prices are dropping at the slower pace of 1.3% from a previous 1.5% drop last month. The slowdown in deflation indicates that the exportled recovery is starting to spread to households through wage increases and stabilization of the job market.

Kuwait Dinar at 0.29045 The USDKWD opened at 0.29045 yesterday morning.

Burgan Bank completes Tunis International Bank purchase ‘Deal is catalyst for new business plan’

VIVA CEO, Najeeb Al-Awadhi.

VIVA Kuwait will provide Internet to Council for Planning & Development Wins prestigious contract with best service proposal KUWAIT: VIVA Kuwait has won a contract to provide Internet service to the Higher Council for Planning and Development in Kuwait. VIVA Kuwait will be providing service through Internet mobile lines. Najeeb Al-Awadhi, VIVA CEO, and Dr Abdullah Al-Weqyan, Secretary General of the Higher Council of Planning & Development signed the contract.

VIVA Kuwait’s proposal was found to be the best at providing the fastest and most reliable Internet service to the council, and thus chosen from among all entries. VIVA Kuwait offers mobile Internet service at speeds of up to 21.6 MB per second, which is possible because VIVA Kuwait ‘s network uses the most advanced technology.

This contract reflects the confidence that the Higher Council of Planning & Development has in VIVA Kuwait and in its abilities to provide impeccable service. “We are honored that the Higher Council of Planning and Development have placed its trust in VIVA Kuwait,” said VIVA CEO, Najeeb Al-Awadhi. “We are confident that VIVA Kuwait will be able to provide the Council with outstanding Internet service,” he added.

Al-Awadhi also thanked VIVA Kuwait’s sales team for their continued efforts and praised them on winning such a prestigious contract.

VIVA Kuwait strives to satisfy its customers and make their lives better by providing them with the best products and services.

Become Gulf Bank’s next KD 500,000 Al-Danah Winner Three days remaining to deposit or open an Al-Danah account KUWAIT: Gulf Bank is paving the way for its Al-Danah account holders to win one of the biggest single draw prizes in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world. Final deposits to participate in Kuwait’s highly anticipated draw is June 30, 2010.

Customers can increase their chances by using AlDanah’s easy to use formula, the more you deposit and the longer you keep your money in the account, the more chances you gain in becoming Gulf

Bank’s latest Al-Danah winner.

Existing Gulf Bank customers can also open an Al-Danah account using Gulf Bank’s online banking service.

Al-Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al-Danah Deposit Only ATM card which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience. Another service that is offered is the Al-Danah Calculator which is now in operation to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an Al-Danah win-

ner. Opening an Al-Danah account is simple and easy.

Customers have a choice of several channels to open and/or deposit money, either through Gulf Bank’s 51 branches, logging on to Gulf Bank’s bilingual website, www.e-gulfbank.com, through Telebanking’s 24/7 service by simply calling 1805805 or using the Al-Danah ATM deposit card to deposit money directly into their Al-Danah account at any of Gulf Bank’s deposit ATM machines.

Losses rise at Bahrain’s state investment fund Mumtalakat restructures some of its holdings DUBAI: Losses at Bahrain’s government investment company more than doubled last year as it restructured some of its holdings and the economic slump hurt key businesses.

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Co said losses increased to 183 million dinars ($485.4 million) from 69 million dinars ($183 million) a year earlier. Mumtalakat is a holding company mostly focused on state-run businesses in the tiny Gulf island nation. It said it has spent much of the past year restructuring operations and tweaking its strategy. “I would characterize 2009 as a year in which we took an inward-looking approach to prepare for the future,” Chief Executive Talal Al-Zain said in a statement on Saturday. The global downturn particularly hurt business at its money-losing airline Gulf Air and at Alba, an aluminum smelting company, it said.

Gulf Air, one of Bahrain’s most visible companies, last

year hired the former head of Royal Jordanian Airlines as CEO in an effort to revive the struggling carrier. The new boss, Samer Majali, is credited with turning around and privatizing Royal Jordanian.

He immediately set out to reevaluate Gulf Air’s entire operations, and is looking at culling unprofitable routes and potentially renegotiating billions of dollars worth of aircraft orders.

Mumtalakat did not provide specific financial details about Gulf Air or Alba. While the smelter lost money, mostly because of financial bets and a one-time restructuring charge, it managed to generate “positive cash flows” despite lower aluminum prices, the company said.

Gulf companies, both stateowned and private, have struggled to attract cash in the wake of the debt crisis in the nearby financial hub of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.

Lenders have questioned

the region’s ability to cover debts despite its oil wealth, and have raised concerns about inadequate transparency and financial oversight. That may be starting to change.

Mumtalakat last week managed to issue $750 million worth of bonds. HSBC, which managed the sale, touted the deal as a milestone, saying Mumtalakat “effectively reopened the regional debt capital markets.” Mumtalakat has not spoken publicly about the bond sale. But Al-Zain said the company’s financial future generally looks brighter going forward.

“In 2010 I see a great opportunity to really enhance the value in our portfolio companies and potentially start the process of rebalancing our portfolio through measured steps,” he said. Bahrain — a US ally in the Gulf that is home to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet — has been working to diversify its economy away from oil as its crude reserves dwindle. —AP

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank and United Gulf Bank (UGB) yesterday announced that Burgan Bank has completed the purchase of Tunis International Bank from UGB. The deal - which is part of Burgan’s regional expansion strategy - first announced in 2008 - involved the purchase of Jordan Kuwait Bank, Gulf Bank Algeria, Bank of Baghdad and Tunis International Bank from UGB for a total of $ 725 million (KD 194 million).

Burgan Bank and UGB said that the announcement was welcome news. Burgan Bank Chairman, Majed Eisa Al Ajeel, said: “We are delighted to have completed the first stage of our regional expansion strategy by the acquisition of Tunis International Bank. This deal further extends our presence in North Africa and gives us a unique opportunity to develop our banking activity in Tunisia.

The deal also marks the completion of the first stage in our aggressive regional expansion strategy and we are delighted with the progress our regional banking network is making.”

UGB’s Chief Executive Officer, David Rhodes, said: “We are delighted that we have now completed the agreement with Burgan Bank for the sale of our regional operations. The deal will allow us to move forwards with our new business plan and is a catalyst for our development as one of the region’s leading investment banks and asset management companies.”

Vodafone-Tel Egypt talks end over sale size CAIRO: Talks to boost Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone’s Egypt unit ended because the British firm insisted on selling all or none of its share, the unit’s head said in remarks published yesterday.

Fixed-line monopoly Telecom Egypt, which is eager to increase its exposure to the competitive Egyptian mobile market that has eroded its revenues, said in May it was considering raising its 45-percent stake in Vodafone Egypt.

But in June the firms said the talks had ended without a sale.

“Telecom Egypt expressed interest in raising its share in Vodafone Egypt through numerous phone discussions and meetings, in which the international company insisted on selling its whole stake,” al-Mal reported, citing Chief Executive Hatem Dowidar.

Dowidar played down the chance of any other body competing for a share in Vodafone Egypt if negotiations were reopened, saying Telecom Egypt had a right to change its offer if there were any competing offers, the newspaper said.

Telecom Egypt has said it would have the right of first refusal in any sale of Vodafone’s stake in the Egypt unit. Egyptian Communications Minister Tarek Kamel was also quoted in al-Borsa newspaper yesterday as saying it was certain the government would list more of its 80-percent share in Telecom Egypt once the stock market improved. The minister last month said the landline monopoly might sell some of its stake on the bourse, but had made no final decision. — Reuters

Safat Home introduces Renver, Posh Fashionation, Muno brands KUWAIT: The newly-rebranded ‘Safat Home’ has announced yesterday the introduction of highly contemporary European brands Renver, Posh Fashionation and Muno which will be exclusively available at Safat Home. The Italian Renver, the Belgian Muno and Posh Fashionation have much to offer by way of products and ideas for home furnishing and accentuation, bringing a unique modern touch to customers’ homes throughout Kuwait.

Ultra-chic and the epitome of Italian elegance, Renver offers products emanating the height of contemporary living.

Vibrant, distinctive accessories in an assortment of colors complete the brand’s product line, creating an unparalleled ambiance with a distinct European feel in every home.

The epitome of fashion is now in home furnishing with Posh Fashionation, brought to Kuwait straight from the heart of Belgium. Officially and internationally registered as a fashion brand for the home, Posh

Fashionation is renowned for luxuriously decorated European products, made only from the richest fabrics and highest quality yams. Posh Fashionation carpets, cushions and accessories will soon be available in Kuwait only at Safat Home. It will soon be featured in ABC New York and ABC Harrods.

From lamps to chandeliers, cushions to ottomans, Belgiummade Muno products and accessories introduce incomparable fashionable, modish twists to home furnishing. With contemporarily designed products echoing the latest European fashions, Muno will be bringing their product line to Kuwait, available exclusively at Safat Home.

Renver, Posh and Muno are only the beginning of international brands that will soon be available at Safat Home. The furniture store has a collection of brands and products unlike any other seen in Kuwait; each of which will add a unique touch to the all-new Safat Home showroom at Al-Rai.

Union postpones strike ballot after new BA offer LONDON: The main union involved in the British Airways strikes said yesterday it would defer a fresh ballot on industrial action planned for next week after the airline made an “interesting” new offer.

Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of the Unite union, told Sky News television it would be “suicidal and indeed inexplicable” if members were not consulted on the offer put forward by BA on Friday. The loss-making airline has already been hit by 22 days of strikes this year by cabin crew in a long-running and increasingly bitter dispute over pay and working conditions, and a Unite ballot on fresh action was due Tuesday.

“It would be suicidal and indeed inexplicable if we didn’t put this latest offer to our members at this stage,” Woodley said. He said that after “some interesting movement” by the airline, “we will be undoubtedly

postponing the ballot that was due to start on Tuesday so our members themselves can view this latest and final offer from British Airways”. BA says the new offer would ensure existing crew will not see their pay cut when new, less-well paid members are taken on, and it has also scrapped a plan to raise the number of crew on flights, paid for by cutting crew allowances.

However, Woodley added that the issue of the company’s removal of travel perks from striking staff remained to be fully resolved and could still get in the way of a settlement.

In response to his comments, BA said: “We welcome this statement from the Unite leadership. We believe our offer is fair and reasonable and provides a genuine opportunity to end this dispute.”

The decision on whether to defer the strike ballot has to be formally confirmed by union officials today. —AFP

Reliance sells phone towers to GTL MUMBAI: India’s GTL Infrastructure Ltd has agreed to buy the phone towers of Reliance Communications Ltd, creating an independent telecommunications infrastructure company worth 500 billion rupees ($11 billion), Reliance said yesterday.

Reliance Infratel, a subsidiary of Reliance.

Communications, will spin off its 50,000 telecom towers, adding to GTL’s 32,500 towers, but retain its 124,280-mile (200,000-kilometer) fiber optic network, which the company says is the largest in India.

In exchange, GTL will give Reliance Communications equity and cash and take on some of the company’s burgeoning debt.

The company said the details of those ratios are still being worked out and that it expects to close the deal within six months.

Reliance Communications has been courting international operators to sell off a 26 percent stake and reducing the company’s debt will help Reliance win a more attractive valuation.

The debt transfer and cash infusion from GTL will reduce Reliance Communications’ consolidated net debt from 330 billion rupees ($7.1 billion) to 150 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) — roughly the value of a 26 percent stake in the company at Friday’s closing price, a person close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity because the details have not been finalized. The person also said each Reliance Communications shareholder would get two to three shares in GTL. Reliance Communications said the deal gives it “enhanced financial flexibility” as it continues to look for a strategic partner. — AP

24

BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

KSE equities lose track KUWAIT: The average total value traded reached KD145.17mn during 2008 and KD90.30mn during 2009, while during the day, total traded value did not exceed KD21mn, which obviously explains new regulations impact on investors’ behaviors.

Global General Index (GGI) decreased by 2.51 points (1.34 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 185.33 points. The KSE Price Index also fell 54.10 points (0.82 percent) and closed at 6,571.00 points. Market capitalization went down by KD415.13mn yesterday to reach KD30.64bn.

Market breadth During the session, 107 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners, as 75 equities retreated versus 11 that advanced.

A total of 126 stocks remained unchanged during yesterday’s trading session.

Trading activities ended on a negative note today as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 40.80 percent to reach 97.04mn shares, and value of shares traded decreased by 25.52 percent to stand at KD20.34mn.

The Investment Sector was the volume leader, accounting for 28.00 percent of total market volume. The Banking Sector was the value leader, accounting for 45.35 percent of total market value.

Burgan Bank was the volume leader, with a total traded volume of 9.67mn shares. It was also the value leader, with a total traded value of KD15.40mn.

In terms of top gainers, United Gulf Bank increased its gains as it took the top spot, adding 9.43 percent and closed at KD0.290. On the other hand, Kuwait Metal Pipe Industries & Oil Services was the biggest loser, shedding 8.77 percent, and closed at KD0.260, followed by Gulf Franchising Co losing 8.06 percent during yesterday’s session, and closed at KD0.029.

Sector wise Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, they ended the day on a mixed note.

Global Insurance Index was the only gainer, adding a marginal 1.21 percent

Monday, June 28, 2010

Saudi Aramco invites bids for new Wasit gas plant KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia: State oil giant Saudi Aramco has invited companies to bid for the construction of the biggest gas plant in the kingdom, industry sources said yesterday.

After completing a crude oil capacity expansion plan last year, the world’s top oil exporter has focused on developing gas production to meet rapidly rising domestic demand. Aramco has given no cost estimate for the Wasit plant, but industry sources said it would cost between $6 billion and $8 billion.

Twelve companies have passed Aramco’s qualification process and can bid for each of the four construction packages. The packages are for a gas unit, a cogeneration power plant, a sulfur recovery unit with utilities and the final package is for a natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation plant.

Bidding would close by Sept. 29, the sources said and the contract would probably be awarded in January. Canada’s SNC-Lavalin has completed the front-end engineering and

design (FEED) work for the plant, one source said.

Wasit would process up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of gas from the Arabiyah and Hasbah offshore gas fields. Contractors also said they expected to receive tender documents for the Shaybah NGL project soon.

That plant would strip out NGLs from gas while producing around 1.4 billion cfd for reinjection in 750,000 bpd oilfield.

Most of the kingdom’s gas output is associated with oil, so when Saudi Arabia curbs crude output with OPEC it loses some gas volumes.

Last year, Aramco’s non-associated gas output exceeded for the first time associated gas output, it showed in its 2009 annual review.

Wasit along with Khursaniyah and Karan gas plants would help Saudi Arabia to process its targeted production increase of raw gas to 15.5 billion cfd by 2015 from 10.2 billion cfd. Aramco expects overall sales gas production to exceed 13 billion cfd by 2020. — Reuters

Oil prices to usher in fresh stage after G20 summit to its value, backed by Al-Ahleia Insurance Co, up 5.00 percent, closing at KD0.420. Global Investment index was the biggest loser, losing 2.41 percent of its value, backed by Strategia Investment Co, down 7.35 percent, closing at KD0.032.

Global’s special indices all ended the day on a negative note. Global Small Cap Index being the biggest loser, shedding 2.12 percent, backed by Gulf Franchising Co, down 8.06 percent, closing at KD0.029.

Oil news The price of the Kuwaiti barrel of oil rose by 52 cents on Friday’s dealings in comparison to those a day earlier, to $72.25 per barrel, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced on

Saturday. The sovereign debt crisis of European nations is still lurking over oil prices, a problem feared could threaten the economic recovery starting to be felt worldwide, therefore affecting oil demand.

Market news National Petroleum Services Co (NAPESCO) submitted the lowest bid for the third and sixth groups of Tender NO RFQ-1043049. Accordingly, the company will supply different-sized drill pipes with related accessories to Kuwait Oil Co (KOC). Valued at KD3,721,688, the tender will last one year.

Specialties Group Holding (SPEC) has submitted the lowest bid through its wholly- owned subsidiary Alghanim

Specialties Co for tender No RFQ1043049. Under the agreement, the company would supply Kuwait Oil Co with drill and casing pipes at a total value of KD9,368,077 for groups 2, 4,10, 11, 12 and 13 over 44 weeks. The company will notify KSE management of any related developments.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is expected to post better results in the second-quarter compared to the first quarter of 2010, its chairman was quoted. KFH is currently executing projects in Saudi Arabia that exceed 100 million dinars, KFH Chairman Bader AlMukhaizeem said.

Besides Saudi Arabia, KFH is currently focusing its operations on the markets of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, he added.

KUWAIT: Global oil prices are poised to enter a new stage following the G20 summit held in Canada, which is predicted to shape the world economic future.

Oil prices become volatile so easily due to reports on global economic recovery or slowdown, especially after the Greek financial crisis and reportedly insoluble financial problems facing other European countries.

Last week, OPEC basket of crude prices plummeted from $75.96 per barrel on Monday to $72.93 per barrel on Friday, down $3.03 over only four days ahead of rebounding.

OPEC member states always seek to keep the oil price level in the vicinity of $70-80 per barrel, given that this level is in the interest of producers and consumers alike. In spite of the oil price fall last week, there are

still several factors that could favorably affect the market conditions, chiefly potential positive recommendations and resolutions by the ongoing G8 summit in Canada on how to maintain global economic recovery, a Kuwaiti oil expert told KUNA. Other factors include fruitful efforts to fend off the spill of the Greek financial crisis to other European countries, and forecasts that world demand for oil could go up by 1.5-2 million barrel per day to 89 million barrels per day by 2011, Khalid Boudi said. All such factors, apart from global inflation, are anticipated to raise oil prices to higher levels, he said, predicting that such prices would not slump unless demand for oil skyrocket, something which is not on the cards for the time being.

Having divergent views, a Kuwaiti oil economy professor

believed that oil markets were not upbeat about looming outcomes of the G20 summit in Canada owing to difficulties facing European countries.

Talal Al-Bathali even expected that the summit would reveal that other European countries were also suffering serious economic problems.

He said should more economic crises be unfolded, the global economy would be egregiously dented, thus seriously impacting on international oil prices.

Oil prices at world markets always largely interact with negative reports, he argues. But, he disparaged that growing oil stockpiles in the US could have merely short-run impacts. He even believed that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has favorably impacted on global oil prices over the last weeks. — KUNA

BUSINESS

Monday, June 28, 2010

25 Wave Lifestyle

Galaxy S

Samsung introduces Wave and Galaxy S 'Smart Phone for Smarter Life' KUWAIT: Samsung Electronics, a leading mobile phone and telecommunications provider, Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain and Wahran Trading; official distributor for Samsung mobile phones in Kuwait, announced the launch of the two flagship products Samsung Wave and Samsung Galaxy S. Sandeep Saihgal, general manager of mobile phones at Samsung Gulf Electronics commented: "Samsung is committed to the smartphone market; delivering a smartphone to suit any user or lifestyle.

This strategy points to delivering devices, applications and services relevant for every lifestyle to empower users with access to the information and connections that produce valuable user experiences.

"The 'Smart Phone for Smarter Life' concept delivers a smartphone experience that is simple, organized and integrated. Smart Life is flexible and versatile, allowing consumers to customize their experiences based on their needs. Such a philosophy embodies Samsung's drive to build a new class of smartphones that will maximize user experiences."

Samsung Wave The Samsung Wave features the world's first Super AMOLED display; delivering an unrivalled screen experience on a smartphone. The Super AMOLED offers a much brighter, clearer, and less reflective viewing experience. With a free viewing angle and super fast response enabled by this proven technology, the Samsung Wave display provides superb image quality for viewing both videos and photos. For those who love music, the device home-

Wave page can be turned into an intuitive media player; while for those who take and share a lot of photos, the page can be customized to feature favorite images. Users will also benefit from Quick Panel, a way of prioritizing and aggregating apps into one screen for instant access.

Samsung's Bada platform offers a genuine smartphone experience rich with mobile applications, new technology and possibilities to Samsung mobile phone users. The name 'Bada', which means 'Ocean' in Korean, was chosen to convey the limitless variety of potential applications which can be created using the new platform. It also alludes to Samsung's commitment to a variety of open platforms in the mobile

France tightens screw on tax breaks again PARIS: A crackdown on tax breaks will have to be intensified to enable the French government to meet its 2011 deficit target, Budget Minister Francois Baroin said yesterday, underscoring the struggle it faces in shoring up its finances.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Baroin said his ministry might need to bring in 10 billion euros ($13 billion) next year by cutting back on an array of tax breaks-the second time in just two days that the government has had to increase this figure. The economy ministry originally said it wanted to raise 2 billion euros from this measure in 2011, then raised the figure to 5 billion. On Friday Prime Minister Francois Fillon said it could climb to 8.5 billion euros, "depending on the situation". But Baroin said even 8.5 billion euros might not be enough. "We proposed 5 billion euros a few weeks ago for next year and I think we'll have to be closer to 10 billion ... so that we can meet our goal, which is unavoidable, of lowering our deficit from 8 percent (of GDP) to 6 percent," he said.

The government estimates that tax breaks cost the French treasury some 75 billion euros a year and it has already said it will continue to attack this mass of loopholes, often intended to encourage investment and employment, in 2012 and 2013.

The government has promised the European Union that it will get its deficit back to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 from 8 percent this year, basing its forecasts on the assumption that the economy will grow 2.5 percent from 2011. Although many economists say this is overly optimistic, Baroin said it was "ambi-

tious but achievable". He also said the economy would grow 1.4 percent this year as forecast.

"Revenues from corporate tax these last few weeks shows that things are on track. There won't be unpleasant surprises as far as growth is concerned," he said.

The minister reiterated that the government did not plan any generalised increase in direct taxation in its forthcoming budget, which will be unveiled at the end of September.

"We are doing everything possible to avoid austerity. Austerity would act as a brake (on growth)," he said, adding that the government could raise money by cutting spending.

Public spending accounts for 54 percent of gross domestic product in France-the highest level in the euro-zone. "We have more room for manoeuvre on spending because we spend more (than EU partners)," he said.

Many of France's neighbors have openly embraced austerity to try to improve state finances that were ravaged during the 2009 recession, with Britain last week announcing comprehensive tax increases and public spending cuts. Although France faces similar budget woes, ministers have studiously refused to talk in terms of austerity, for fear of alarming the country's notoriously grumpy electorate.

However, Baroin confirmed that the government would cut its operational costs by 10 billion euros between 2011 and 2013 and said he wanted to see no increase to civil service wages beyond automatic hikes already written into their contracts. "Everyone has to make an effort," he said. — Reuters

Germany's Metro to open Egyptian store, plans others CAIRO: Germany's Metro Group said yesterday it would open its first wholesale store in Egypt this month and might add about 20 more, a move Cairo said would encourage more efficient internal trade and cut consumer prices.

The government is seeking to encourage more internal trade with plans to set up zones on the outskirts of big cities to improve logistics and food storage. Deals for setting up three such zones will be signed later on Sunday.

Metro said its new 10,000 square-metre facility in the Cairo area would offer 20,000 food and other products. It opens on June 30 and a further two stores, also under the Makro brand, are planned to open this year, it said.

Some 90 percent of products on offer will be Egyptian. Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid told a joint news conference with Metro executives that the development with Makro would boost Egyptian agriculture and improve supply chains.

"Agriculture will benefit a lot from this project because it will improve ways of displaying agricultural goods. More importantly, it will shorten

(supply) chain links so the producer will get a better price and the consumer will get a price," he said.

Inflation remains stubbornly high despite falling from more than 20 percent in 2008. It was 10.5 percent in May. Metro said it was considering about 20 stores in the longer term but did not give a precise timeline. The stores, costing about 20 million euros ($27 million) apiece, will serve traders, hospitality professionals and businesses.

Metro Group has previously said it sees the move into Egypt, with a population of 78 million, as an important step into the growth region of the Middle East and North Africa.

The government is setting up three logistics and storage zones in Luxor south of Cairo and Beheira and Daqahliya north of the capital, cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady said. The zones would be offered to private developers, he said. "We will encourage governorates to create logistic areas.

We have a problem in storage spaces and the efficiency of agriculture storage. The chain is not efficient," he told Reuters, adding that this initiative would help address the issue. — Reuters

industry. Samsung Bada also represents the fresh challenges and opportunities available to developers, as well as the entertainment consumers will be able to enjoy once the new platform is open.

The Samsung Wave is the first handset in the world that incorporates the Bluetooth(r) 3.0 and WiFi 802.11n standards.

Samsung Galaxy S The Android-powered Galaxy S incorporates a 4inchSuper AMOLED screen and a 1 GHz application processor that enables vibrant HD videos, rich augmented reality content through Layar Reality Browser.

The 'Social Hub' provides always-on social networks connectivity allowing users to enjoy communications with their friends, colleagues, and families whenever they want and wherever they are. Social Hub which allows the consumers to efficiently manage their communication needs by providing intuitive and unified access to emails, IMs and Social Networking Sites (SNS). The benefits of Social Hub are further enhanced by the Wave's TouchWiz 3.0 UI, delivering superb user experience. Availability of Social Hub can be decided by market demands.

The Galaxy S immerses users in a world of rich multimedia. The large 4-inch Super AMOLED display delivers unrivalled screen quality, with less

reflection, free viewing angles and super-fast touchresponse.

The mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) - a technology used in Samsung's best-selling LCD and LED TVs - boosts an even sharper and crisper viewing experience for photos, videos, and ebooks. It creates a perfect environment to record, edit and play HD video, to browse the Internet, and to read your favourite e-books. A variety of Google applications from Android Market(tm) allows users to even more extend the benefits and excitement of smartphone experience.

Living a "Smart Life" requires intelligence, and the Galaxy S delivers just that by utilizing personal preferences to gather information online that each user needs and wants. With a user-defined daily briefing, lightning-fast processing speeds and location-based search options like Layar Reality Browser - the Galaxy S gives users the information they need wherever and whenever needed. The Galaxy S represents the next level of intelligence in smartphones.

The Galaxy S integrates every aspect of life in a smart and sophisticated way. In addition to wireless integration with a variety of other devices, such as notebooks, TVs and cameras, the highly advanced Social Hub plugs users quickly and conveniently into their complete world of social networking and email.

Samsung Galaxy S is the perfect device for people in all corners of the world who want that extra edge; to be more effective, productive, better connected, and in tune with their smart life - both personal and professional - all in a very easy and simple way.

Beijing urges concrete steps from Washington

Everyone knows US to blame for Doha stalemate: China GENEVA: China has dismissed US comments that Beijing is blocking a new trade agreement, saying that it was the United States that was stalling progress in the World Trade Organization's long-running Doha round. The angry comments, by China's ambassador to the WTO, indicate how difficult it now is to bridge the gaps in the Doha talks, launched in late 2001, because of Their new excessive request on an elevated level of ambition is in fact equivalent to a restart of the round and a flagrant deviation from the original negotiation mandates."

Frustration on both sides has now boiled over into a public war of words, making a deal even harder, a fact recognized by leaders of the G8 countries, who include the United States but not China, when at their summit in Canada on Saturday they dropped a commitment to complete Doha this year and simply renewed a pledge to conclude an agreement.

Sun was responding to comments by his American counterpart, Michael Punke, the US ambassador to the WTO. Punke told Reuters in an interview on June 24 that the talks were stuck because of a refusal

by China and other big emerging economies such as Brazil and India to open their markets.

The United States says that the big emerging countries have benefited from the global trading system and will also be the sources of much future growth. They therefore have a duty to open their markets to create new business opportunities not just for rich nations

differences between the United States and big emerging economies, foremost China. "Everybody knows what the real reason for the deadlock of the Doha round is and where the main political obstacles come from," Sun Zhenyu told Reuters yesterday. "The US is the sole member who insists that we're still far away from the conclusion of the round.

BEIJING: Chinese house buyers visit a property fair in Beijing. Property prices in China rose at a slower pace in May from the previous month, official data showed in June, suggesting measures aimed at cooling the red-hot real estate market were working. — AFP but also for other developing countries. It says that China, now the world's biggest exporter, has clearly gained enormously from joining the WTO in 2001, when it made big cuts in tariffs and opened its markets.

But Punke said China had

not responded to US requests for detailed one-on-one negotiations, although there were signs of hope that Brazil and India would take part in talks.

He said the United States recognized that serious negotiations involved give and take, indicating that Washington was

ready to pay for new concessions from its partners.

But Sun said that the United States was trying to reopen what had been agreed over the past eight years by making new demands on developing countries to open their markets without saying what it would

give in return.

"The blame put on China, Brazil and India is nothing but a red herring to distract people's attention from the real problem," he said. If the United States really wanted to make progress in the talks, it could address a number of contentious issues, he said.

It could cut its trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, especially cotton, from $15 billion, cut "tariff peaks" on sensitive goods that keep out developing country imports, comply with WTO rulings condemning its controversial method of calculating anti-dumping duties, known as zeroing, and let in more temporary workers for services from health to construction.

Sun said China was negotiating actively in the Doha talks and under current proposals would cut its agricultural and industrial tariffs by about 30 percent, as well as opening several new service sectors to foreign competition.

China had repeatedly called at the G20 for a Doha deal to help the world recovery, but a deal had to benefit developing countries, not the interest of one rich WTO member, he said. — Reuters

Back from the dead, Saab is ready for its revenge TROLLHAETTAN, Sweden: Three months ago, at the Saab factory in southwestern Sweden, the lights were off, silence filled the air and the scoreboard keeping track of the day's production posted a big fat zero.

But today, after the iconic brand's last minute rescue by industry minnow Spyker, the plant is back from dead and brand new Saab 9-5s, the first new Saab model since 2002, are rolling off assembly lines. Standing in front of a large window overlooking the factory, Saab chief JanAake Jonsson says it is a total transforma-

tion. "This winter, we couldn't produce anything, we were just preparing the company's shut-down," he said. "Now there is a shortage of cars and we have to replenish the stocks," he said, while behind him, the last employees were heading home for the night and the scoreboard they had made some 228 Saabs were made that day.

After starting up production again at the end of March, Saab is now readying to pick up the pace in July, pushing it from 28 to 39 vehicles a day.

The new production level will require some 200 new staff, and the car maker has

already hired a new wave of employees earlier this year. Four weeks ago, Magnus Ekman was one of the many laid-off employees called back to work.

"I was so happy, so relieved," the blondhaired, pierced-eared 28-year-old said while screwing a bolt on a 9-5's frame, adding he was unemployed for a year before taking short-term jobs in the area and up in Norway.

Rescued by a last-ditch, 400-millioneuro ($495 million) purchase by Dutch luxury car maker Spyker and its keen CEO Victor Muller, Saab is entering an era of

independence, after spending 20 years as a General Motors brand.

After years of posting losses and months of negotiations and setbacks that left Saab's fate in limbo, including the aborted purchase by Sweden's Koeningsegg, Saab is ready to show what it's made of, said union leader Annette Hellgren.

"There is really a feeling of revenge, we want to show what we can do," she told AFP. "It's pretty unique for a company to survive a year of restructuring and a winddown." — AFP

BUSINESS

26

Monday, June 28, 2010

S Africa sees tourism boon in World Cup scores CAPE TOWN: Halfway through the World Cup, tourism officials say football fans have already brought an economic windfall that looks set to keep rolling as a raft of big countries play in the second round.

Business is booming with foreign fans at bars and restaurants, which are also boosted by plenty of local support for big guns like England, Portugal and Brazil after hosts South Africa bowed out.

Cape Town’s dockside V&A Waterfront shopping and entertainment complex has proved a magnet for fans ahead of every match at the nearby Green Point stadium, where Portugal plays Spain on Tuesday in a game sure to pack in fans of all stripes.

“On a daily basis it’s more or less in the figure of

100,000 coming through with spikes on match day,” said Waterfront spokeswoman Annemie Liebenberg.

“These loyal supporters travel with their teams. It’s absolutely fantastic to have the big guys still.”

South African Tourism head Thandiwe JanuaryMcLean admitted this week that the industry wanted the world’s tourism giants to stay in the tournament.

“For us Germany and England and those countries are important because they have been core markets in which we have been working,” she said.

“Seeing them qualify is, from a touristic point of view, in our interest, if truth be told.”

Gillian Saunders of Grant Thornton consultancy said South Africa looked on track to earn about 8.8 bil-

lion rands ($1.1 billion, 934 million euros) from tourism during the World Cup. That’s just a slice of the 93 billion rands that the games are expected to have generated for the economy. Most of that amount was construction spending by government to build stadiums and overhaul the transport system over the last four years. South Africa had to scale down its initially rosy expectations for 450,000 foreign visitors over the four weeks, lowering the number last month to 300,000.

But coming during the winter months that are normally low season for tourism, the football fans have given South Africa a second peak season with numbers that match its busy summer travel months. The

country spent about $100 million on its World Cup marketing campaign, but January-McLean said the marketing benefits were invaluable from hosting one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.

“From a touristic point of view this has been a fabulous opportunity, just given the exposure that South Africa has received all over the world.”

Hotels are around 85 percent full in Johannesburg, the most convenient jumping-off point for most stadiums, according to SA Tourism. Cape Town says on average its hotels have been at 40 percent over the last two weeks, but accommodation closest to the stadium is booked solid and tour operators report a 20 percent jump in business against last June.

For normally quiet towns like the central city of Bloemfontein, where England and Germany face off on Sunday, bars, restaurants and hotels have seen swarms of visitors around games.

Even Port Elizabeth, one of the most distant host cities, has reveled in the flood of visitors.

“It was absolute chaos! From 10 past six until quarter to four this morning, we were upside down, inside out,” said Sandy Nel, owner of News Cafe in Port Elizabeth, where England secured its second round entry on Wednesday. The outlet saw a 200 percent turnover rise and sold 3,135 units of beer, said Nel. “We sold the most beer we’ve ever sold in the nine years we’ve been in existence.” — AFP

History in the making...

Taiwan, China prepare to sign trade agreement TAIPEI: Every Chinese leader since Mao Zedong has seen Taiw an as the ultimate prize. Now that prize may have moved a little closer, through the medium of trade and common economic interest. Senior envoys from Taiw an and China w ill sign a sw eeping and eagerly aw aited trade agreement tomorrow , w ith hopes running high

that this could mark the start of a new chapter in relations betw een the tw o sides.

“The agreement has landmark significance for both sides. It w ill only be a beginning, but it is far from the end,” said Tang Yonghong, an economist at the Taiw an Research Institute at Xiamen University in southeast China.

TAIPEI: Anti-China demonstrators hold placards as they march in a street, denouncing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) planned with China in Taipei. — AP

Argentina says Greece will tame debt with Europe fiscal reforms: IMF official focus is wrong TORONTO: Europe’s focus on cutting deficits is “absolutely wrong,” Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said, citing her country’s experience with austerity she said helped lead to a huge default in 2001.

Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Fernandez sounded a warning on the plans of several European nations, saying Argentina also cut salaries for public sector workers to get public accounts in order. “It all ended in an implosion and in default,” she said.

Fernandez is in Toronto for a meeting of the leaders of many of the world’s biggest economies. The Group of 20 is trying to forge consensus on how quickly to shrink government deficits, how best to strengthen banks so they can withstand any new downturn, and how to harmonize financial regulatory reforms.

Europe’s simmering debt troubles have led countries like Greece and Spain to embrace painful spending cuts. But Fernandez said spending cuts in Europe would hit economic growth, reducing government revenues and hitting states’ ability to pay back their debt.

“This focus is absolutely wrong,” she said.

Before Argentina’s default, the government cut public spending in the middle of a recession, deepening the country’s economic malaise. At the same time, Argentine policymakers also refused to devalue the currency, which was pegged to the dollar. That set the stage for a currency crash that eventually provoked a record $100 billion debt default and left one out of four Argentines unemployed.

Fernandez said Argentina’s economy would grow more than 5 percent this year, and that the country felt it was in no rush to return to international capital markets after its recent debt swap aimed at satisfying creditors affected by the 2001 default.

“For us, returning to the capital markets hasn’t been that important,” she said.

Argentina hopes the debt swap will defuse lawsuits from “holdout” creditors who rejected a 2005 restructuring.

The G20 covers two-thirds of the world’s population. It includes China, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, big European economies, the United States and Canada. — Reuters

ATHENS: Greece will overcome its huge debt crisis with its austerity plan, an IMF official said yesterday as a poll showed a majority of Greeks fear that unpopular pension reforms will be in vain.

Poul Thomsen, the head of the International Monetary Fund mission dealing with Greece, told To Vima daily that Athens is making progress on its “ambitious” program of cuts.

The cutbacks have caused labor turmoil and a series of protests across Greece, with a new general strike, the fifth since February, due to be held on Tuesday. “Such an adjustment is not easy and often causes discontent,” Thomsen said. “This is understandable as people see things getting worse before they improve.”

But he added: “The effort has begun vigorously and I firmly believe that Greece will succeed.” Thomsen also applauded the Greek government’s decision not to restructure its debt as this “which would entail a huge cost.”

After decades of unrestrained state spending, Greece faced bankruptcy this year with a national debt of nearly 300 billion euros ($371 billion).

It was rescued by a bailout loan from the

European Union and the IMF for which it had to pledge a spate of deep spending cuts. Among the measures is an overhaul of the pensions system which has eaten up vast amounts of state funds.

The government this week finalized reforms which progressively raise by 2015 the age of retirement for both men and women to 65 years for a full pension, equating the sexes for the first time. It also increases the mandatory workforce period from 37 years to 40 years.

The new system will see an average reduction in pensions of seven percent and bonus retirement dues which pensioners used to receive for Christmas, Easter and summer vacations will be slashed. Parliament is expected to begin debate on the reforms next week.

A poll in Proto Thema daily yesterday showed that 64.8 percent of Greeks believe their sacrifices will not save the crumbling pensions system, which currently consumes 12 percent of national output.

The Alco poll also found that 51.1 percent of 800 respondents believe Prime Minister George Papandreou is “too submissive” towards Brussels. — AFP

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou walks towards a cabinet meeting in parliament, expected to finalize changes to a controversial pension reform that has caused labor unrest. — AFP

At the same time, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as the pact is called, is hugely controversial in Taiwan, which has ruled itself since 1949, with thousands of opponents voicing anger at a rally in Taipei on Saturday.

It is perhaps symbolic that the pact will be signed in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing, the nation’s capital during World War II, when Nationalists and Communist were mostly united in the common battle against Japan.

After 1945, civil war between the two parties broke out again, ending four years later when the Nationalists were forced to Taiwan and the confrontation became a cold war that has lingered to this day.

For example, China has never given up the idea of taking back Taiwan by force and keeps adding new missiles aimed at the island.

But the new economic deal, which is by far the most comprehensive yet between the two and offers reduced tariffs for hundreds of key products, could do more than anything else to lower tensions.

Just as importantly, the agreement is a special case of a more universal phenomenon-a growing sense across the world that a future without China is hardly feasible.

“Survival is more important than sovereignty. If Taiwan can’t survive economically, how can we maintain sovereignty?” said Liou Ho-tai, an expert on Taiwan’s ties with China, at Taipei’s National Chengchi University. “If there is an economic crisis, no country will come to help us. If we can maintain economic prosperity, we can survive,” he said.

Taiwan has tried for years to escape China’s immense gravitational pull, with measures such as an only half-successful drive in the 1990s to focus more on investment in Southeast Asia.

The argument has usually been that it is important to put Taiwan’s eggs in more than one basket, but it has been hard to ignore the huge basket waiting in the form of the mainland market just across the narrow Taiwan Strait.

China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner, with two-way commerce reaching $87 billion last year, and with Taiwanese investments in the mainland estimated to be in excess of $150 billion. But economics was not the main issue for masses of people who braved heavy rains in Taiwan’s capital Saturday to protest outside the presidential office.

“You can’t trade away sovereignty,” said Chen Chu, one of Taiwan’s best-known female politicians and one of a number of speakers making emotional appearances at the protest. According to Tang, the Chinese scholar, the pact is just a “trade and economic agreement... without special political meaning” but opponents of the deal are not so sure.

If it is all about economics, they wonder why 539 Taiwanese products will benefit from the pact, while the same is true for less than half the number of Chinese products.

And they are not exactly reassured by a Chinese top negotiator who said last week that an unbalanced deal was acceptable to China because the two sides belong to “one family”.

For supporters of the agreement, it is a milestone towards peace and prosperity. For its enemies, it is a millstone that threatens to pull the de facto independent island to the bottom of a hostile ocean. — AFP

TAIPEI: Chiang Pin-kung, Taiwan’s top China envoy, speaks during a press conference in Taipei yesterday on the eve of his departure for China. — AFP

Taiwan seeks protection for its companies in China TAIPEI: Taiwan’s top China negotiator said yesterday that the island hopes to sign an agreement with Beijing later this year to protect the interests of Taiwanese businesses on the mainland as labor costs there rise.

The statement by Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung reflects the increasing difficulties Taiwanese companies are facing as workers in China’s southern manufacturing heartland hold strikes demanding better benefits. China has also allowed its yuan currency, also called the renminbi, to strengthen recently. Chiang’s foundation is a semiofficial agency responsible for conducting high-level talks with China. The predicament of Taiwanese businesses in China has been highlighted by problems at Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, which makes products for many leading electronics companies. The Taipei-based company recently raised the wages of its Chinese workers twice after a string of suicides at its mammoth complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Chiang said Taiwan’s government is

seeking to sign an agreement with Beijing offering Taiwanese companies better operating conditions in China.

“Taiwanese companies on the mainland are now struggling with various problems, and these issues include a stronger renminbi, rising wages for workers, a shortage of labor, and the consequences of the Foxconn incident,” Chiang said.

“They now need more protection to deal with the situation.” A spokesman from Chiang’s foundation could not provide details of the proposed agreement, and it was unclear how Taiwan would seek to protect the interests of its companies on the mainland.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing continues to claim the self-ruled island as part of its territory. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has sought closer economic ties to ease tension across the Taiwan Strait.

There are about 40,000 Taiwanese companies in China. Over the past 20 years, Taiwanese companies have invested a total of at least $83 billion on the mainland, with China being the most popular destination for Taiwan businesses looking to invest overseas. — AP

Venezuela will pay for nationalized H&P rigs CARACAS: Venezuela will pay Helmerich and Payne for a fleet of oil rigs it seized from the US company, the oil minister said on Saturday, warning that five drills at a Chevron venture were also at risk of nationalization.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced this week that OPEC member Venezuela was nationalizing 11 rigs belonging to Helmerich and Payne following a year-long dispute over pending payments by state oil company PDVSA. “Here we pay book value,” Ramirez said.

“A process begins by which we establish fair price between the two parties.”

Socialist President Hugo Chavez has nationalized most of Venezuela’s oil industry, starting with major heavy-crude projects worth billions of dollars in 2007, then taking over dozens of smaller service companies last year.

Ramirez said the government would not allow the private sector to idle equipment in pay disputes

with state-run oil company PDVSA and did not rule out further nationalizations.

“We are not going to let the private companies stop work or boycott in any way our oil operations,” Ramirez said. He mentioned five Wilson drills operating for Petroboscan as one company in trouble with PDVSA. On PDVSA’s website, Petroboscan is listed as a 115,000 barrel per day joint venture formed in 2006 with US firm Chevron. Chevron says the project produced 90,000 bpd of liquids in 2009 and drilled six development wells.

Venezuela generally has good relations with Chevron, which is a partner in the multi-billion dollar development of the vast Carabobo field in the tar-like Orinoco oil belt.

PDVSA on Friday said it had reached agreements with 32 other companies over tariffs after the state firm fell behind in payments when oil prices collapsed in 2008. — Reuters

TECHNOLOGY

Sunday, June 28, 2010

27

US unveils plan to make online transactions safer WASHINGTON: In the murky world of the Internet, how do you ever really know who you’re talking to, who you’re buying from or if your bank can actually tell it’s you when you log in to pay a bill? Amid growing instances of identity theft, bank account breaches and sophisticated Internet scams, the government is looking for ways to make those transactions in cyberspace more secure.

But officials must tread carefully, as efforts to create identity cards, personal certificates or other systems of identifiers raise privacy worries and fears of Big Brother tracking its citizens online. In a draft plan released Friday, the White House

laid out an argument for a yet-undeveloped, voluntary identification system and set up a website to gather input from experts and everyday Internet users on how it should be structured. The website was already getting votes, snipes and suggestions Friday afternoon - underscoring the incendiary nature of any discussion of Internet regulation or formal structure.

“The technology that has brought many benefits to our society and has empowered us to do so much has also empowered those who are driven to cause harm,” said White House cyber coordinator Howard Schmidt in a blog posting Friday outlining the need for better security online. The plan, he said,

envisions a future in which people would be able to get a secure identifier - such as a smart identity card or a digital certificate from a variety of service providers.

Customers could then use the card or identifier to prove who they are as they make their online transactions.

“Digital authentication has been the holy grail of Internet security policy since the early ‘90s,” said James Lewis, cyber security expert and senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. This latest effort, he said, has a better chance of succeeding than previous tries, “but we need to see how much opposition it runs into and whether

people will actually use it even if it gets deployed.”

Ari Schwartz, vice president at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the unfettered openness of the Internet is what allowed it to grow and prosper but also created security gaps that need to be addressed. But any move to improve identity systems raises many concerns. “The whole thing is very difficult to do and privacy is one of the more difficult pieces of it,” said Schwartz, adding that the system has to balance efforts to maintain privacy while still finding out enough about someone to ensure his identity.

The government, he said, is correct to

try to plan ways to move toward better security, rather than letting it just happen with no coordination. But cyber security experts also argued that the technologies for creating such identifiers already exist and are already used in different ways by businesses, particularly banks. “The vision they put forth is already realized and commercially available,” said Roger Thornton, a cyber security expert and chief technology officer for Californiabased Fortify Software. He noted that banks already use sophisticated fingerprinting processes to identify a customer who signs in. The system knows if a customer is using a different computer and will often require

additional identification if that computer has not been used for the banking website before.

But many companies don’t bother with the more expensive or complex identification systems. So, said Thornton, “the opportunity is there to make things more interoperable and more uniform.” The draft plan is part of an administration effort to promote cyber security both within the government and among society as a whole. Lawmakers have introduced a number of bills aimed at furthering those goals, and the White House plan was met with initial support from one of the authors of Senate computer security legislation. —AP

Foxconn says will upgrade worker dormitories in China TAIPEI: Foxconn is to upgrade the factory dormitories which house thousands of migrant workers in China as part of the IT giant’s efforts to stop a spate of suicides, company officials said yesterday. Foxconn, which assembles Apple’s iPhone, has signed an agreement with two property management companies to take over the running of on-site housing for 450,000 workers in China’s southern city of Shenzhen.

The dormitories will be in a more open lay-out than before, said officials at Hon Hai Precision, the Taiwanese parent of Foxconn, rather than the existing “college campus-style” model. The new arrangement was to keep in tune with “new realities in China”, officials said, without providing firm details. “Providing employees with basic necessities... might have been sufficient in the past, but this arrangement no longer satisfies the

needs of the young migrant workers of today,” Terry Cheng, Foxconn Corporate executive vicepresident, was quoted as saying during an agreement signing ceremony.

He added that “companies, government and communities need to work together to expand support networks so that employees have a stronger sense of belonging and can better integrate into the community”. Foxconn announced early this month salary increases after 11 Chinese employees apparently committed suicide by jumping from buildings this year, including 10 in Shenzhen.

Labour rights activists have blamed the suicides on tough working conditions at Foxconn, the world’s largest maker of computer components and a supplier to leading brands such as Dell and Nokia. —AFP

Ariane rocket puts 2 satellites into orbit CAYENNE, French Guiana: An Ariane rocket has put two satellites into orbit after a launch from French Guiana on Saturday, space officials said.

The Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from the European Space Agency’s launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America at 6.41 pm (2141 GMT). Originally slated for launch on Wednesday, countdown was halted seconds before lift-off when a technical problem was detected.

A second launch attempt on

Thursday was also halted because of technical problems.

Twenty-six minutes after liftoff the Arabsat-5A satellite separated from the rocket.

Arabsat is designed for telecommunications throughout the Middle East and north Africa for Riyadh-based Arabsat.

The satellite weighed 4.9 metric tons at launch and was built by a consortium led by EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space.

“The Riyadh station is going to pick up the satellite

within a few minutes and there will be a partial deployment of the solar panels,” Arabsat satellite manager Ahmad AlShraideh said. Six minutes later the South Korean COMS satellite separated from the rocket. COMS will provide weather forecasting, ocean monitoring and telecommunications for South Korea’s Aerospace Research Institute (Kari). “After separation of COMS our satellite will be managed by Astrium in Toulouse (France),” Koonha Yang of Kari said. — Reuters

Kinect with Microsoft’s new camera With sequels to established franchises dominating the software line-up, this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo was more notable for the hardware on show. And although it had been revealed at the previous year’s briefing, Microsoft’s Kinect motion camera, a hardware add-on that allows completely controller-free gaming - the player utilizing their whole body to manipulate the action on screen took centre stage this year, with details emerging of a November launch and the software set to accompany the peripheral’s release.

There is currently no confirmation of a price, but early estimates suggest somewhere around the £100 mark; while the new, smaller, quieter Xbox 360 console (set for launch in July) will undoubtedly be bundled with Kinect at a tempting price.

Kinect is surprisingly responsive and accurate.

The device works by utilizing skeletal-mapping technology to track the movement of the player in 3D space, as well as responding to voice commands. As with any motion-sensing gaming, there are a few foibles: particularly noticeable were the struggles with steering in knockabout racing game Joy Ride, though more exaggerated motions, with hands held further apart, yielded better results.

That aside, the responsiveness was impressive, with only a very slight delay between the actions of a player and their on-screen avatar.

As for the software, it’s clear the kind of audience Microsoft is targeting. Of the 15 launch titles, Kinect Sports is the most obvious Wii equivalent, even featuring a bowling game, though it was a clear highlight of the software shown, with surprisingly nuanced

controls. Hurdling required an energetic, exaggerated running style and felt a little more capricious, but no less entertaining.

Indeed, Kinect Adventures asked players to duck, dodge and leap through its entertaining obstacle courses, while the excellent Dance Central, from Rock Band creator Harmonix, saw even the cynical abandoning dignity to throw shapes to Lady Gaga and Bell Biv DeVoe. The cute Kinectimals was perhaps best suited to a younger audience, though its visual charm was impossible to deny.

It’s understandable that core gamers remain unconvinced, particularly given Microsoft’s firm focus on titles for the expanded audience it hopes to woo, though there are a number of popular franchises which promise Kinect functionality, such as Fable and Forza Motorsport.

Creative director Kudo Tsunoda likens the Kinect experience to the inclusive and social arcade culture of the 1980s and 90s, citing the importance of audience participation, and the device’s literal interpretation of “jump in, jump out” co-operative play. So perhaps it shouldn’t be too big a surprise that Microsoft’s briefing chose to ignore the Kinect-compatible Child of Eden, the thrilling sequel to psychedelic hardcore favourite Rez. Microsoft’s biggest obstacle now is in convincing a mainstream audience to, as its motto says, “jump in”; to persuade consumers that controllerfree gaming is genuinely the next step up from Wii. If it can clear that hurdle, there’s every chance this Christmas could see people Kinect with their family and friends in an entirely new way. —Guardian

SAN FRANCISCO: An Associated Press reporter holds the new Apple iPhone during a product test review in San Francisco Thursday. —AP

4 easy answers to iPhone 4 problems Just avoid holding it in that way: Steve Jobs So what if some iPhones lose reception when the hand covers the antenna? That’s your problem, not Apple’s.

“Non issue,” Apple chief executive Steve Jobs told a MacRumors forumgoer via email. “Just avoid holding it in that way.”

1-Fair enough, but what about iPhone 4’s other reported issues, including screen discoloration, reversed volume buttons, stubborn cameras and scratched glass? If Apple’s

going to pin the antenna problem on users, why stop there?

Here’s how the company should handle all those other pesky complaints: 2-Yellow blotches or bars on the screen It’s called Xanthopsia-yellow vision. Look it up on Wikipedia.

You’ll find an article suggesting Vincent Van Gogh was affected

by Xanthopsia due to a certain kind of epilepsy medication, and the result was some really awesome art. Think of the wonderful things you’ll do on an iPhone

4 with a yellow-blotched screen. You probably won’t go insane and cut off your own earlobe.

3-Rear-facing camera doesn’t work To put it bluntly, your friends are ugly. So are your children. I’m sorry, but for the good of the open Internet, Apple can’t let those photos show up on Flic kr or Facebook. Better to keep that camera shutter on lockdown.

And please, stop downloading photo filter apps; when Apple

said iPhone 4 “Changes Everything,” they didn’t mean everything.

4-Volume buttons upside down That’s a little trick Apple did to protect your hearing. Did you know that just an hour of listening to an iPod can do damage?

You don’t care; you’ll crank up the tunes just the same because the subway’s too noisy-but not with Apple’s revolutionary take on volume buttons. What’s that, old man? You’re actually trying to turn the volume down? Apple

doesn’t need squares like you brandishing the iPhone 4 in public anyway.

Glass is Easily Scratched Why stop with a few scratches? Gizmodo’s Ryan Salerno got it right by dropping the iPhone 4 on some hot New York City asphalt. Accidental, sure, but Salerno says “the look gives it character . . . I guess.” That’a boy, Ryan. Scratched and shattered iPhones are like snowflakes. It’s those creepy Androids you’ve got to worry about. — PCworld

Carbon storage faces leak dilemma: Study PARIS: Dreams of braking global warming by storing carbon emissions from power plants could be undermined by the risk of leakage, according to a study published yesterday.

Rich countries have earmarked tens of billions of dollars of investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is still only at an experimental stage.

Under CCS, carbon dioxide (CO2) would be snared at source from plants that are big burners of oil, gas and coal. Instead of being released into the atmosphere, where it would contribute to global warming, the gas would be buried in the deep ocean or piped into underground chambers such as disused gas fields. CCS supporters say the sequestered carbon would slow the pace of man-made warming. It would buy time for politicians to forge an effective treaty on greenhouse gases and wean the global economy off cheap but dirty fossil fuels.

Critics say CCS could be dangerous if the stored gas returns to the atmosphere. They also argue that its financial cost, still unknown, could be far greater than tackling the source of the problem itself. The new research, published by the journal Nature Geoscience, wades into the debate with an estimate of capturing enough

carbon to help limit warming to two degrees Celsius, the figure set in last December’s Copenhagen Accord.

Storing CO2 in the ocean will contribute to acidification of the sea, with dangers that reverberate up the food chain, says its author, Gary Shaffer, a professor at the Danish Centre for Earth System Science in Humlebaek, Denmark. It also carries a higher risk of being returned to the atmosphere by ocean currents and storms.

Underground storage is a better option, but only if the geological chamber does not have a significant leak or is breached by an earthquake or some other movement, says the paper.

The gas will have to be stored for tens of thousands of years to avoid becoming a threat to future generations, a scenario similar to that for nuclear waste, it says. This means less than one percent of the stored volume can be allowed to leak from the chamber per 1,000 years. To offset any bigger leak, re-sequestration would be needed—in other words, grabbing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the air and storing it. But this would be a cost burden that could last for millennia. “The dangers of carbon sequestration are real and the development of CCS should not be used as a way of justifying continued

high fossil fuel emissions,” said Shaffer.

“On the contrary, we should greatly limit CO2 emissions in our time to reduce the need for massive carbon sequestration and thus reduce unwanted consequences and burdens over many future generations from the leakage of sequestered CO2.”

Until only recently, CCS was widely dismissed as fantasy or a last-ditch option. In the last five years, though, it has become progressively enshrined as a favorite policy among

rich economies.

In 2008, the Group of Eight (G8) summit recommended launching 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects by 2010. This target “remains a challenge,” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris. It estimates that over the past two years, countries have committed 26 billion dollars in CCS projects. Thanks to this funding, “between 19 and 43” large-scale demonstration projects would be launched by 2020. — AFP

Google moves its encrypted search If you’re paranoid about snoops discovering your Web search terms and results, you’ll have to start pointing your browser to another URL to use Google encrypted search. The search giant announced in a blog post on June 25 that its encrypted search service moved from https://google.com to https://encrypted.google.com.

The encrypted search, which gives a user the option to use SSL to prevent packet sniffing, was moved to accommodate “better serve our school partners and their users,” Dave Girouard, president of Google Enterprise says in the blog post.

Previously, school administrators-or anyone else, for that matter-who wanted to block encrypted searches at https://google.com would also block Google authenticated services such as Google Apps for Education.

Why would schools want to block encrypted searches? Using the service “creates an obscured channel between a user’s computer and Google,” which allows students to bypass a school’s content filter, Girouard said. That makes it harder to block adult content, a policy of many schools. Google’s change should make it easier for school IT staff to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which requires schools to implement measures to address minors accessing “inappropriate matter,” among other things. —PCworld

HEALTH & SCIENCE

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Magnetic brain stimulation shows promise for Alzheimer’s Stimulating the brain with magnetic pulses might help people with Alzheimer’s disease improve their use of language, new research suggests. However, this treatment is still highly experimental and has been tested on very few people.

What do we know already?

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 400,000 people in the UK. Over time, it damages people’s ability to think, remember things, and use language. There are several drugs that can slow down the progress of the disease, but there’s no cure, and most treatments have fairly small effects. Alzheimer’s charities stress the importance of practical

support to help patients and carers cope, and to help people live independently for as long as possible. In recent years, researchers have developed techniques that use magnetic pulses to influence the electrical activity in people’s brains. The magnetic pulses travel through the skull, so there’s no need for surgery. Smallscale studies have looked at using magnetic stimulation for several conditions, including migraine, Parkinson’s disease, and depression.

A new study has now looked at magnetic stimulation as a treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

What does the new study say?

People who had magnetic stimulation

showed a small, short-term improvement in their ability to use language. For two weeks, half the people in the study had magnetic stimulation, and the other half had sham treatment with an inactive device. People had five sessions a week, each one lasting 25 minutes. Over the two weeks, people who’d had magnetic stimulation improved their scores on a language test looking at sentence comprehension. The average starting score was 67, which increased to 77 after treatment. People who had sham stimulation scored an average of 66 points at the start of the study, and didn’t improve over the two weeks.

It’s worth noting that the people in the

study took a whole battery of tests, looking at things like their mental state, their ability to name objects in a picture, a writing test, and a test looking at how well they performed their day-to-day activities. The sentence comprehension test was the only one where people showed an improvement.

After the first two weeks, both groups were given another two weeks of treatment, and this time everyone had real magnetic stimulation. The people who’d started with sham treatment caught up with the people who’d had real magnetic stimulation from the start, but there was no additional improvement among people who’d had the real treatment all along. People continued

getting higher scores in the language test in week 12 of the study, eight weeks after they’d finished treatment.

How reliable is the research?

The findings come from a small, preliminary study looking at just 10 people. While there seemed to be some improvement in language ability, there were no improvements in memory or in people’s ability to make decisions or do everyday things. So, it’s debatable just how much of a difference this treatment would make to people’s dayto-day lives.

Where does the study come from?

The study was done in Italy and appeared in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, published by the BMJ Group. Funding came from the Italian ministry of health and the Fatebenefratelli Association for Biomedical and Health Research.

What does this mean for me?

Alzheimer’s is a serious illness, and it can make life very difficult for patients and their carers. It’s natural to be hopeful about new treatments, but it’s likely to be some time before researchers fully investigate magnetic stimulation and can say confidently whether it works.—Guardian

Test could predict menopause Study to help women decide when they want children LONDON: Doctors could one day use a blood test to predict decades in advance when women will go into menopause, scientists say. In research to be presented today at a European fertility conference in Rome, Iranian experts say their preliminary study could be a first step toward developing a tool to help women decide when they want to have children. The test does not predict when

women will lose their fertility, which typically occurs about a decade before menopause , but if doctors know when women will go into menopause, they can calculate roughly when they will run out of eggs. Scientists say the test could be especially helpful in identifying women who might go into menopause early, in their late 40s or earlier instead of their mid-50s.

YOGYAKARTA: The Earth casts a shadow over the moon during a partial lunar eclipse that is observed Saturday in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia.—AP

Partial lunar eclipse visible in western skies LOS ANGELES: Skygazers got a treat Saturday when a portion of the moon crossed into the Earth’s shadow during a partial lunar eclipse visible in the western United States and Canada, the Pacific and eastern Asia. NASA says that the eclipse

occurred in the pre-dawn hours on the West Coast. It began at 3:17 am PDT (1017 GMT) and ended about three hours later.

During a lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks out some of the sun’s rays that would normally reach the moon. Slightly more than

half of the moon’s surface was shaded at the eclipse’s peak, according to NASA’s web site. Saturday’s partial eclipse was a preview to the total lunar eclipse in December that will be visible throughout North America.—AP

MADRID: Two parrots fly during an exotic bird show at the Madrid’s zoo.—AFP

At the moment, there are few clues for doctors to tell which young women may be headed for early menopause.

Blood tests and ovary scans only give women a few years’ advance notice. Iranian scientists took blood samples from 266 women aged 20 to 40 and measured the amount of antiMullerian Hormone, or AMH, in their bodies. Testing the amount of AMH in women tells doctors how many eggs there are left in the ovaries.

Two more blood samples were taken in the following six years and physical exams were also performed. Based on the amount of AMH women had, scientists used a mathematical model to estimate when women would go into menopause. Of the 63 women in the study who have hit menopause, the researchers’ prediction of the event was accurate to within four months. The study began in 1998 and is ongoing.

“This is not something we could start rolling out tomorrow,” said William Ledger, a fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, who was not linked to the research. “But if it really does work, it could be immensely useful to young women who are making choices about whether to work or have a family.” Previous studies in Canada, the US and elsewhere have suggested analyzing AMH could help predict when women will go into menopause, but no long-term studies have yet been finished.

“If our model is validated, then women in their 20s could take a blood test and we could provide them with a good estimate of what her age will be at menopause,” said Dr. Ramezani Tehrani, an associate professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, who led the study.

Some experts, however, were skeptical a single blood test on young women could be so revealing. “The principle of measuring AMH is reasonable, but I am not sure you could predict (menopause) decades in advance with one test,” said Nick Panay, a consultant gynecologist at Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospitals in London. He thought it might be necessary to test women more often as they got older to monitor if hormone levels dropped off, an indication menopause was imminent.

Doctors said more data should be available about the test’s reliability in about five to six years. “If we’re using a test to advise women about when to have children or to have (in-vitro fertilization), then it needs to be a very robust test,” said Dr Nicholas Macklon, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southampton. He said analyzing AMH was a reasonable way to predict menopause, but that it needed to be validated by tracking thousands more women after they became menopausal. “It will be extremely valuable to be able to tell women how fast their biological clock is ticking,” he said. “But people will be making extremely important decisions based on this, so we need to have all the data first.”— AP

TAIPEI: A school of Angelfish swim in a tank during a press conference organised by the government’s fisheries agency from the Council of Agriculture in Taipei to present the results of an industrial-academic cooperation to transgenically modify the fish so that they fluoresce in their dark tank. —AFP

Polar bear overseer: Few tools to stop melting ice ANCHORAGE: Polar bear policy in America can be summed up succinctly: The iconic bears are threatened with extinction, and so far nothing much is being done.

Two years after they were listed under the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has taken no major action in response to their principal threat, the loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change. Federal officials have declared that the Endangered Species Act will not be used in the attempt to regulate greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and melting ice in the Arctic Ocean.

That leaves Rosa Meehan, the Fish and Wildlife Service marine mammals manager in Alaska, with few tools to protect the great bears of the Arctic. She hangs on to the hope that the scientists are wrong about the bears’ future. “Our crystal ball is not perfect,” Meehan said last week. She spoke between public hearings on whether the federal government should designate critical habitat for polar bears.

Her agency has proposed designating 187,166 square miles (485,000 sq. kilometers) of US territory , 95 percent of it in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, as polar bear critical habitat.

And that has drawn objections from the energy industry and other business interests. It would mean, for example, that before granting permits for offshore drilling, federal agencies would have to review whether the action would adversely modify the habitat.

More than one person has asked Meehan whether designating critical habitat, which, after all, would also be subject to warming, wouldn’t be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

“I’m one of the people who really hopes, you know, hopefully we didn’t get this completely right,”

she said. “Maybe bears will be able to hang on. And if they are, then we want to make sure we give them as easy a chance as possible to hang on in a marginal environment. And so that means addressing all the other potential effects on bears.”

Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, under threat of lawsuits, reluctantly listed polar bears in May 2008.

He said the alarming loss in recent decades of summer sea ice in the Arctic, and climate models indicating the trend will continue, forced the decision.

The announcement came eight months after summer sea ice levels melted to their lowest recorded level ever: 1.65 million square miles (4.27 million sq. kilometers), or nearly 40 percent below average since satellite monitoring began in 1979.

Along with the listing, Kempthorne created a “special rule” stating that the Endangered Species Act would not be used to set climate policy or limit greenhouse gas emissions. The group that petitioned to list polar bears, the Center for Biological Diversity, calls the Kempthorne rule illegal and has sued to overturn it.

“The service itself has determined that loss of sea ice, which is a direct result of human-induced climate change, is the primary threat to polar bears’ survival,” said Alaska director Rebecca Noblin.

“It defies logic to omit from consideration the single most important factor in listing the polar bear in the first place.” Alaskans on the other side of the issue are bewildered over why the agency is bothering to designate critical habitat for polar bears.

The proposal covers an area larger than California.

Richard Glenn of Barrow, a geologist and vice president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., told federal officials there’s a breach in logic by creating regulatory hardships for Alaska compa-

nies while providing so little additional benefit for polar bears. “If the creation of critical habitat is not going to result in any additional protection for the polar bear, then why create it?” he asked. People in Barrow, he said, already feel the effects of living near endangered species.

“If you take that last bit of land remaining to our ownership, and then you bestow upon it multiple layers of critical habitat designation, then that’s the ultimate bait and switch of a lifetime,” he said.

Likewise, advocates for petroleum development off Alaska’s northern coast said the agency erred by not accounting for inevitable costs to industry: consultations with federal agencies and litigation costs or delays from challenges to drilling permits.

The Resource Development Council, an Alaska business advocacy group, urged the service to exclude lease sale areas and communities from designated critical habitat.

“Environmental groups will likely target virtually every project within or adjacent to critical habitat, putting them and their associated benefits to local communities, the state and the nation at risk,” said spokesman Carl Portman.

Meehan said she’s playing the cards she’s dealt.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, she said, will do all it can to ensure polar bear survival. The agency’s models indicate that if summer sea ice disappears in the Arctic Ocean, a remnant of polar bears could survive in the Canadian Arctic.

Maybe there will be a global addressing of greenhouse gases, Meehan said.

“We’ll have a place for bears to come back to,” she said. The threatened bears, she said, are important to public understanding.

“They clearly underscore the impacts of changes, and it’s something people can relate to. That’s a really important conservation contribution that this whole situation gives. — AP

Monday, June 28, 2010

HEALTH & SCIENCE

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The pain of Bartonella: NC State University RALEIGH: A bacterial infection typically spread by fleas, lice and biting flies could be more prevalent than many think, and may have been transmitted from a mother to her children at birth, scientists from NC State University say.

Dr Edward Breitschwerdt, an infectious disease veterinarian and one of the world's leading researchers of bacteria called Bartonella, has for the first time documented evidence that the pathogen may have been passed between family members.

Although more studies are needed to back up his findings, Breitschwerdt and colleagues describe the case of a mother and father who began battling chronic aches, fatigues and other symptoms soon after they were married. When their twins were born in 1998, the daughter died after nine days from a heart defect, and the son developed chronic health problems.

Using tissue from the daughter's autopsy and blood from the surviving family members, Breitschwerdt's team discovered that the entire family was infected with the same species of Bartonella bacteria, despite having no

shared exposures to flea or lice infestations. Bartonella is known to causes such illnesses as trench fever and cat scratch disease, and it is increasingly suspected of triggering a variety of aches and inflammations that doctors have been unable to diagnose.

"I think we have stumbled across something that is of monumental medical importance," said Breitschwerdt, whose findings were published recently in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Proving the mother-child transmission could be difficult, however. Little funding is available for such research because the bacteria are still not considered a major source of human disease.

Dr Michael Kosoy, who heads the Bartonella laboratory for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colo., said scientists are only beginning to build evidence that Bartonella infections may be more common than previously thought.

"Bartonella are circulated around the world in many animals, but there are different Bartonella species, and the question is how can they be transmit-

ted to humans?" Kosoy said, noting that most known cases have been transmitted from biting insects. He said the NCSU findings about the potential family transmission is compelling but inconclusive.

At least 26 strains of Bartonella have been named worldwide, and the list is growing. The most notorious Bartonella infection is cat scratch disease, a fever illness passed to humans from flea-infected cats. Fleas are the primary hosts, and they spread the bacteria in their feces.

Other Bartonella strains spread more serious diseases. Kosoy is studying how often heart inflammation is caused by a Bartonella that thrives among rat fleas in Thailand. He has already established that about 25 percent of unexplained fever illnesses among a group of patients there were caused by Bartonella.

"This is not limited to cat scratch," Kosoy said. "That's just the tip of the iceberg." Breitschwerdt said he thinks the bacteria may be the hidden cause behind a host of chronic symptoms _ muscle aches, neurological problems, fatigue, arthritis _ that defy diagnosis.

About two years ago, Breitschwerdt began testing blood samples from a doctor in Maryland, who was curious whether Bartonella infections might be causing problems for some of his patients. "There are lab tests showing inflammation," but no discernible cause, said Dr Robert Mozayeni, a Yale-educated rheumatologist who practices in Rockville, Md. Mozayeni contacted Breitschwerdt and his NCSU colleague, Ricardo Maggi, who together developed a more sensitive test for Bartonella. Routine blood tests fail to detect Bartonella because they search for antibodies that the body is slow to produce. Instead, Breitschwerdt and Maggi figured out how to cultivate the bacteria in the laboratory from blood samples of infected people. They founded a company called Galaxy Diagnostics to handle the laboratory volume.

Of Mozayeni's mystery patients tested at the lab, nearly 20 percent had Bartonella infections. "I suspect this is going to be one of the causes of rheumatoid arthritis and a few other things, but it's too speculative right now to say," Mozayeni said.

More studies are needed, and Mozayeni said he has now joined Breitschwerdt and Maggi in the diagnostic company to oversee human testing. "Certainly, the prevalence of Bartonella infection in people with chronic illness is higher than I would have ever guessed, but we still don't know what that means," Breitschwerdt said. Among the biggest unknowns is how to treat people who have been infected. The effectiveness of antibiotics depends on which strain of Bartonella is at work, and with so many strains, treatments can be hit or miss.

Breitschwerdt said the family in his most recent study declined to comment about their experience. He said they were having difficulty finding a doctor to treat them.

"It is very difficult to find a physician who wants to see someone with a chronic illness that is poorly defined," he said, adding that many such patients often think they have Lyme disease, a tick-borne bacterial infection with similar symptoms _ and stigma. "With an unexplained illness, it becomes problematic."â&#x20AC;&#x201D; MCT

Veteran cosmetic surgeon Dr. Yang Yunxia of Shanghai's New Generation Cosmetic Surgery Hospital and her surgery team perform thousands of cosmetic surgeries a year. The hospital advertises procedures that promise to "end your beer belly" and "say farewell to square face malformation." â&#x20AC;&#x201D;MCT

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WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

Monday, June 28, 2010

Embassy information

Congratulations

F

amily, friends and well-wishers gathered on Friday 25th June 2010 at the Life Abundant International Fountain Church to pray and rejoice with Mr/Mrs Willy Eneh for their child dedication. We pray the good Lord will guide baby Godswill as he grows to be a blessing to his family Amen.

CCCL holds Sixth Fundraising Gala Dinner U nder the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah the Prime Minister of Kuwait; the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL) organized a fundraising Gala Dinner at the Sheraton Kuwait Hotel & Towers, on Wednesday June 16th, 2010.

All the proceeds from this special event go to the treatment of children from all Arab Countries stricken with cancer at the CCCL. Paul Edde (Chairman of the CCCL Board of Trustees), Issam Makarem (Vice Chairman and Cashier of the Board), Salwa Salman (Secretary to the Board), Faisal Ali Al Mutawa (CCCL Board member and Chairman of Bayan Investment Company); in addition to, CCCL Medical Director, Dr Miguel Abboud, International Outreach Director, Nassib Nasr, and Fundraising Executive, Karen Khoury, all attended the gala.

Faisal Ali Al Mutawa addressed the attendees in a speech highlighting the significant role the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon is playing within the Arab region and especially in Kuwait where all Arab children are treated at no cost.

Edde, in his unique address, thanked all the CCCL benefactors and emphasized on the major role Kuwait is playing in supporting the CCCL. More than 600 guests mostly from Kuwaiti families and from various corporate sectors, in addition to many Lebanese and Arab residents in Kuwait were entertained by the wonderful performance of the Lebanese diva Najwa Karam who donated her performance to the CCCL continuing her outstanding and magnificent support to the center.

Master of ceremony Joumana Bou Eid was the perfect host to this successful evening, and English Christie’s auctioneer, Andrew McVinish conducted the auction that was held in benefit of the CCCL. The pleasant evening ended with the children of the CCCL acknowledgement and appreciation to donors and participants in making this event a real success. The event was organized by “Special Events Productions” - a subsidiary of “Meaza Group Company”. To learn more about the CCCL, visit www.cccl.org.lb or call +961-1-351515 and +961 70 35 15 15.

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 nonimmigrant visas through the collection of the application fees. The increased fees are to take effect June 4, 2010. Under the new rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petitionbased visas will pay an application fee of $150, as each of the below categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists.

These categories include: H visa for temporary workers and trainees L visa for intra-company transferees O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors R visa for religious occupations The application fee for K visas for fiance(e)s of US citizens will be $350.

The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors will be $390.

EMBASSY OF INDIA 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 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.

AMICOS Kuwait announces office bearers ssociation of Mar Ivanios College Old Students, AMICOS Kuwait Chapter is pleased to announce the Office Bearers for 2010-2011. They are as follows: President : Dr Grace Alex, Vice Presidents: Kuruvilla Thomas, Alexander Chacko, Aby Varghese, Gen Secretary: Dany V Jacob, Secretaries: Sunil Varghese Malayil, Zacharia Varkey, Treasurers: Noel Cherian, Rajmohan Thampu, President General Secretary, Dr. Grace Alex Dany V. Jacob, P.O. Box 2980, SAFAT 13030, KUWAIT - FAX 2240 3055, www.amicos.in www.marivanioscollege.ac.in Email: amicoskuwait@yahoogroups.com / amicoskuwait@gmail.com, Association of Mar Ivanios College Old Students, Kuwait Chapter.

A

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.

Monday, June 28, 2010

31

WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT

The Press Attache of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Kashif Zaman (fourth from right) hosted a reception at his residence recently for local media. —Photo by Joseph Shagra

RAK conducts family meet

R

amapuram Association of Kuwait has conducted their family meet on 25th June Friday. Chessil Cherian presided over the function and delivered the presidential address. Patrons M K Kuriakose, Dominic Mathew and other officials Baby John, Mathewkutty, Jomon John, Sunny Joseph, Anoop Andrews, Jaibee Manuel also delivered their speeches. Different musical, dance, games and cultural programs from the children added the extra flavor to the function to make it an ever-memorable one. Chinnamma Kuriakose, Moly Baby, Chinnamma Dominic distributed prizes to the children, Masters Joseph Mathew, Don Biju, Jane Jobin, Angel Raju, Anitta Rose Siby, Kripa Gibi Philip, Rekha Mathew.

Pakistan English Academy Farwaniya summer party

P

KFH organizes sign language training course for employees

K

uwait Finance House (KFH) organized its first training sign language training course for its employees, in order to enable the employees to serve deaf clients.

This step comes to cement KFH’s eagerness to serve various society sectors.

KFH’s AGM for Support Services Sector Abdul Aziz Al-Jaber announced that such a training course is pivotal, since they will be able to service deaf clients. He asserted that KFH is keen on qualifying several employees by providing 40 seats for them in the sign language course, in addition to other future specialized programs in the field of serving people with special needs in conjunction with Training Gate. He added that the employees are the pillars of KFH and that it always seeks to develop them

through training courses, and mentioned that the first course organized

by KFH and Training Gate was a one month training course that included practical and theoretical applications

taught by specialized trainers in sign language.

Meanwhile, the General Manager of Training Gate Kefaya Al-Alban explained that the company was established 6 months ago through Human Investment Company which is a KFH subsidiary. She added that the company aims to train people with special needs, their families, colleagues, and teachers in the private and public sector, in order to cater to this segment of people. She stated that the company seeks to offer the best career development solutions to improve all aspects of people with special needs in Kuwait and the GCC through following internationally approved programs. She encouraged people to allow people with special needs to take part in the society and to raise the awareness regarding their needs.

akistan English Academy Farwaniya arranged a party along with the teachers before the summer vacation.

Saud Abdul Aziz Al-Shaya, the sponsor of the school, Yasser Mehmoud, Director and Amjad Ali Khan, Principal of the institution specially attended the ceremony.

On this occasion Yasser Mehmoud the Director of AlShaya Educational Group expressed his views about the Pakistani education system. He admires the Pakistan Embassy in the field of education. He especially praises the selfless and untiring efforts done by Dr Sajjad Ahmed Charge d’Affaires.

He said, “The Embassy has always helped them in the promotion of the educational cause.

While talking about the owner of the Al-Shaya Educational Group, he said, “Dr Saud Abdul Aziz Al-Shaya is very generous and helpful person who never hesitates to help his staff as well as parents. He said Kuwaiti and Arab Parents prefer to send their children in Pakistani Schools as they are providing advanced and religious education as well.”

Al-Shaya Educational Group is running two Pakistani schools and one Arabic school. He said, “He came in Kuwait in 1995 and served in different educational institutes. In 1996 he joined Darul-Salam which was the running Pakistan English School and Indian Central School. In 2005 he joined Al-Shaya Educational Group. He said, “I love Pakistani People as they are honest, hard working and loving people.”

“Education is my mission and by the grace of Almighty Allah, he will never give his mission in promoting the values of Islam,” he said.

Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

TV PROGRAMS

32

Monday, June 28, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 21:20 Giuliana & Bill 21:45 Giuliana & Bill 22:10 E! News 23:00 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 23:25 Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami 23:50 Pretty Wild

00:00 Law & Order Criminal Intent 01:00 Psych 02:00 ER 03:00 The Murdoch Mysteries 04:00 Psych 05:00 Dawsons’ Creek 06:00 Bones 07:00 Law & Order Criminal Intent 08:00 Criminal Minds 09:00 Cold Case 10:00 ER 11:00 Dawsons’ Creek 12:00 Bones 13:00 The Murdoch Mysteries 14:00 ER 15:00 Psych 16:00 Criminal Minds 17:00 Cold Case 18:00 Law & Order Criminal Intent 19:00 Bones 20:00 My Own Worst Enemy 21:00 Saving Grace 22:00 The Murdoch Mysteries 23:00 Supernatural

00:15 Going Ape 00:45 Going Ape 01:10 Going Ape 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:30 Animal Cops Philadelphia 04:25 Going Ape 04:50 Going Ape 05:20 Animal Cops South Africa 06:10 Aussie Animal Rescue 06:35 Vet on the Loose 07:00 Wildlife SOS 07:25 Pet Rescue 07:50 Orangutan Island 08:15 Dark Days in Monkey City 08:45 Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous...

09:40 Monkey Business 10:05 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 10:55 Monkey Life 11:20 SSPCA: On the Wildside 11:50 Animal Precinct 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Phoenix 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Orangutan Island 15:55 Dark Days in Monkey City 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 16:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Monkey Business 17:45 Gorilla School 18:15 Dogs 101 19:10 Orangutan Island 19:40 Dark Days in Monkey City 20:10 Animal Cops South Africa 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 I’m Alive 22:55 Animal Cops Phoenix 23:50 Orangutan Island

00:15 Doctor Who 01:00 Doctor Who Confidential 01:10 North And South (2004) 02:15 Inspector Lynley Mysteries 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 Days That Shook The World 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 Days That Shook The World 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 Inspector Lynley Mysteries 18:47 Doctor Who Confidential 19:00 Gil Mayo Mysteries 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 New Tricks 22:45 Holby City 23:45 Holby City

00:10 Saturday Kitchen 00:35 Living In The Sun 01:25 Cash In The Attic 02:10 Cash In The Attic 02:55 Cash In The Attic 03:40 Bargain Hunt 04:30 Living In The Sun 05:20 Cash In The Attic 06:05 Cash In The Attic 07:00 Cash In The Attic Usa 07:20 Antiques Roadshow 08:10 Bargain Hunt 08:55 Bargain Hunt 09:40 Hidden Potential 10:05 Cash In The Attic Usa 10:30 James Martin’s Favourite Feasts 10:55 Sweet Baby James 11:20 Living In The Sun 12:10 What Not To Wear 13:00 Come Dine With Me 13:50 Hidden Potential 14:15 Cash In The Attic Usa 14:40 Bargain Hunt 15:25 Bargain Hunt 16:10 James Martin’s Favourite Feasts 16:35 Sweet Baby James 17:00 Living In The Sun 17:50 Hidden Potential 18:15 Cash In The Attic Usa 18:40 Cash In The Attic Usa 19:00 Come Dine With Me 19:50 Masterchef Goes Large 20:20 Saturday Kitchen 20:45 Saturday Kitchen 21:10 Cash In The Attic 21:55 A Life Coach Less Ordinary 22:40 Come Dine With Me 23:30 Masterchef Goes Large

Battle In Seattle on Show Movies

01:00 La Graine Et Le Mulet-PG15 03:30 Sweeney Todd-18 05:30 Planet Of The Apes-PG15 07:30 Max And Co.-PG 09:00 Morning Light-PG 11:00 Edward Scissorhands-PG 13:00 It Might Get Loud-PG15 15:00 Save The Last Dance-PG 17:00 Frozen River-PG15 18:45 The Apostle-PG15 21:00 Survivre Avec Les Loups-PG15 23:00 Baghead-18

00:00 Ross Kemp on Gangs 01:00 Destroyed in Seconds 01:30 Destroyed in Seconds 02:00 Battle Machine Bros 02:55 Fifth Gear 03:20 Fifth Gear 03:50 Heartland Thunder 04:45 How It’s Made 05:10 Destroyed in Seconds 05:40 Destroyed in Seconds 06:05 Industrial Junkie 06:35 Industrial Junkie 07:00 Really Big Things 07:55 Massive Machines 08:20 Street Customs 2008 09:15 Mythbusters 10:10 Ultimate Survival 11:05 Overhaulin’ 12:00 Border Security 12:30 How Stuff’s Made 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’s Made 20:00 Mythbusters 21:00 Ultimate Survival 22:00 Swamp Loggers 23:00 American Loggers

00:30 Extreme Bodies 01:20 The Colony 02:10 The Gadget Show 02:35 The Gadget Show 03:00 The Future of...

03:50 Speed Junkie 04:45 Nextworld 05:40 How Does That Work?

06:10 Engineered 07:00 Junkyard Wars 08:00 Race to Mars 09:00 The Gadget Show 09:25 The Gadget Show 09:55 Stunt Junkies 10:20 Weird Connections 10:50 What’s That About?

11:45 How Does That Work?

12:15 Mega World 13:10 Sci-Fi Science 13:35 The Gadget Show 14:00 The Gadget Show 14:30 Nextworld 15:25 How Does That Work?

15:55 Race to Mars 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Mega World 18:40 Da Vinci’s Machines 19:30 Engineering Thrills 20:20 How It’s Made 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Mythbusters 22:00 Da Vinci’s Machines 22:50 Engineering Thrills 23:40 Mega World

00:20 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 00:45 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 01:10 JONAS 01:35 Wizards of Waverly Place 02:00 Suite Life On Deck 02:20 Fairly Odd Parents 02:45 A Kind of Magic 03:10 Replacements 03:35 Phineas and Ferb 04:00 Fairly Odd Parents 04:25 Replacements 04:50 Sonny With A Chance 05:15 Hannah Montana 05:35 Suite Life On Deck 06:00 Timmy Time 06:10 Special Agent OSO 06:35 Handy Manny 07:00 Imagination Movers 07:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 07:45 Jungle Junction 08:00 Fairly Odd Parents 08:25 Phineas and Ferb 08:50 Wizards of Waverly Place 09:15 Sonny With A Chance 09:40 Hannah Montana 10:00 High School Musical 2 11:35 Fairly Odd Parents 12:00 Phineas and Ferb 12:25 Replacements

12:45 Suite Life On Deck 13:10 Hannah Montana 13:30 Kim Possible 13:55 A Kind of Magic 14:20 Fairly Odd Parents 14:45 Phineas and Ferb 14:55 Replacements 15:15 Stitch 15:40 Wizards of Waverly Place 16:00 Hannah Montana 16:25 Sonny With A Chance 16:45 Fairly Odd Parents 17:10 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 22:50 Sonny With A Chance 23:15 JONAS

00:40 Bank of Hollywood 01:30 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences 03:15 Extreme Hollywood 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets of Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:25 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 THS 12:00 E! News 12:50 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties 13:15 Pretty Wild 13:40 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 14:05 Kourtney & Khlo√© Take Miami 14:30 Dr 90210 15:25 E!ES 16:15 Behind the Scenes 16:40 Behind the Scenes 17:10 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 17:35 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 18:00 E! News 18:50 Wildest TV Show Moments 19:15 Pretty Wild 19:40 THS 20:30 THS

00:00 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge 1 00:30 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge 2 01:00 Klunkerz 02:30 Bmx Megatour Ep7 03:30 Bmx Megatour Ep1 04:10 Smp Shanghai Showdown 1 05:00 I-Ex Season 2 05:30 I-Ex 07:00 FIA European Drag Racing Championships 07:30 FIA European Drag Racing Championships 08:00 Flipside 08:30 Flipside 11:00 Fantasy Factory 11:30 Fantasy Factory 12:00 Untracked Series 1 12:30 Untracked Series 1 13:00 FIA European Drag Racing Championships 13:30 FIA European Drag Racing Championships 14:00 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Vert 14:30 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Street/park 15:00 Fantasy Factory 15:30 Fantasy Factory 16:00 Untracked Series 1 16:30 Untracked Series 1 17:00 Flipside 17:30 Flipside 20:00 Untracked Series 1 20:30 Untracked Series 1 21:00 Fantasy Factory 21:30 Fantasy Factory 22:00 Harvest 1 23:00 M1selection 2010

00:00 Chopped 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 Food Network Challenge 15:30 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Everyday Italian 17:00 Iron Chef America 17:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 18:00 Guys Big Bite 18:30 Chopped 19:00 30 Minute Meals 19:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:00 Food Network Challenge 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:30 Everyday Italian 22:00 Iron Chef America 23:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 23:30 Guys Big Bite

00:30 Extreme Forensics 01:20 I Almost Got Away With It 02:10 Dr G: Medical Examiner 03:05 Deadly Women 04:00 Extreme Forensics 04:55 Real Emergency Calls 05:20 FBI Files

06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Real Emergency Calls 09:05 Real Emergency Calls 09:30 Diagnosis: Unknown 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Mystery ER 12:50 The Prosecutors 13:40 Disappeared 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Real Emergency Calls 16:35 Real Emergency Calls 17:00 Diagnosis: Unknown 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Mystery ER 20:20 The Prosecutors 21:10 Disappeared 22:00 FBI Case Files 22:50 I Escaped Death 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

01:50 Texasville 03:55 Favor, The 05:30 Neon City 07:15 Marshal Law 08:50 Death Rides A Horse 10:45 Buona Sera, Mrs.Campbell 12:35 Moving Target 14:10 Miracle Beach 15:40 Submerged 17:10 Give Me Your Life 18:40 Men At Work 20:20 The Boyfriend School 22:00 Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave, The 23:30 Angels & Insects

00:30 Bondi Rescue 01:00 Bondi Rescue 01:30 The Best Job In The World 02:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 02:30 Banged Up Abroad 03:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:30 4Real 05:00 Destination Extreme 05:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 06:30 Bondi Rescue 07:00 Bondi Rescue 07:30 The Best Job In The World 08:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 08:30 Banged Up Abroad 09:30 Banged Up Abroad 10:30 4Real 11:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 11:30 Surfer’s Journal 12:00 Bondi Rescue 12:30 Lonely Planet 13:30 Departures 14:30 Which Way To...

15:30 Banged Up Abroad 16:30 Madventures 17:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 17:30 Surfer’s Journal 18:00 Bondi Rescue 18:30 Lonely Planet 19:30 Departures 20:30 Which Way To...

21:30 Banged Up Abroad 22:30 Madventures 23:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 23:30 Surfer’s Journal

00:00 Better Off Ted 00:30 Will & Grace 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Curb your Enthusiasm 02:30 Bored to Death 03:00 Saturday Night Live 04:30 South park 05:00 Drew Carey 05:30 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Eight Simple Rules 07:30 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Yes dear 09:00 Married with Children 09:30 Drew Carey

10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Eight Simple Rules 11:00 Frasier 11:30 Hope & Faith 12:00 Best of Late night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 Will & Grace 13:30 Yes dear 14:00 George Lopez 14:30 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 15:00 Saturday Night Live 16:30 The Drew Carey show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Hope & Faith 18:30 Eight Simple Rules 19:00 Billable Hours 19:30 Will & Grace 20:00 Friends 20:30 Friends 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 Colbert Report Global 22:00 Monday night Stand Up 23:30 South park

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 Downsize Me 02:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 03:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 05:00 GMA Weekend (Repeat) 06:00 Parenting 06:30 Popcorn 07:00 Ahead of The Curve 07:30 Chef’s Table 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 Downsize Me 10:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 11:00 The View (repeat) 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 Ahead of The Curve 16:30 Nature’s Edge 17:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 18:00 10 Years Younger 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View (repeat) 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 22:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 23:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified

00:00 Halloween 2-18 02:00 Genova-PG15 04:00 Space Chimps-PG 06:00 Keith-PG15 08:00 Three Investigators-PG15 10:00 Man In The Chair-PG15 12:00 Beverly Hills Chihuahua-PG 14:00 Dragonlance-PG 16:00 Three Investigators-PG15 18:00 Swing Vote-PG15 20:00 Lakeview Terrace-PG15 22:00 Battle In Seattle-18

01:25 Vantage Point-PG15 03:00 Watchmen-18 05:40 Ba’al-PG15 07:10 Double Team-PG15 09:00 Enough-PG15 11:00 The Building-PG15 13:00 Fracture-PG15 15:00 Enough-PG15 17:00 Final Destination 3-PG15 19:00 The Mist-PG15 21:00 Hellboy II: The Golden Army-PG15 23:00 Basic Instinct 2-R

00:00 Faintheart-PG15 02:00 Just Buried-PG 04:00 Drillbit Taylor-PG15 06:00 First Sunday-PG15 08:00 Loins Of Punjab Presents-PG15 10:00 Short Track-PG 12:00 Blank Check-FAM 14:00 The Broken Hearts Club-PG 16:00 Faintheart-PG15 18:00 This Is Not A Test-PG15 20:00 Van Wilder: Party Liaison-PG15 22:00 Wieners-18

00:00 Patoruzito-FAM 02:00 Bedtime Stories-FAM 04:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 06:00 Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything-PG 08:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale-FAM 10:00 Superman: Doomsday-FAM 12:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM 14:00 Bedtime Stories-FAM 16:00 Babar: King Of The Elephants-FAM 18:00 The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian-PG 20:30 Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollars MuttsPG 22:00 Elias And The Royal Yacht-FAM

00:00 Ashes to Ashes 01:00 Dollhouse 02:00 Without A Trace 03:00 Dawson’s Creek 04:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 04:30 Home Improvement 05:00 Beauty and the Geek 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Without A Trace 08:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 08:30 Home Improvement 09:00 Dawson’s Creek 10:00 Beauty and the Geek 11:00 Without A Trace 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Every Body Loves Raymond 13:30 Home Improvement 14:00 Ashes to Ashes 15:00 Dollhouse 16:00 Beauty and the Geek 17:00 Dawson’s Creek 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Eureka 20:00 Desperate Housewives 21:00 Without A Trace 22:00 Survivor 23:00 Dawson’s Creek

Trucker on Super Movies

00:00 AFL Toyota Premiership 02:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 03:00 International Rugby Union 05:00 Futbol Mundial

05:30 FEI Equestrain World 06:00 ICC Cricket World 06:30 World Sport 07:00 Cricket One Day International 15:00 International Rugby Union 16:45 International Rugby Union 18:30 Spirit of the Open 19:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 20:00 AFL Highlights 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 22:00 FEI Equestrain World 22:30 Spirit of the Open 23:00 NRL Premiership

00:00 International Rugby Union 02:00 World Sport 02:30 NRL Premiership 04:30 AFL Toyota Premiership 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 NRL Premiership 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Futbol Mundial 12:00 Live NRL Premiership 14:00 PGA European Tour 18:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 19:00 NRL Premiership 21:00 International Rugby Union 23:00 AFL Highlights

00:00 What I Hate About Me 01:00 My Celebrity Home 02:00 Split Ends 03:00 How Do I Look?

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 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 How Do I Look?

18:00 How Do I Look?

Final Destination on Show Movies Action

01:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter Finale 04:00 WWE NXT 05:00 WWE Vintage Collection 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE Bottom Line 08:00 FIM World Cup 08:30 FIM World Cup 09:00 Red Bull X-Fighters Highlights 10:00 Mobil 1 The Grid 10:30 V8 Supercars Extra 11:00 UAE National Race Day 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 V8 Supercars Championship 15:00 WWE Smackdown 17:00 WWE Vintage Collection 18:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter Finale 21:00 UFC Wired 22:00 UFC Unleashed 23:00 UFC Unleashed

01:00 Crossing Over-PG15 03:00 Fred Claus-PG 05:00 The Firm-PG15 07:00 Living Proof-PG 09:00 Little Girl Lost-PG 11:00 Centre Stage 2: Turn It Up-PG15 13:00 Where God Left His Shoes-PG 15:00 The Loss Of A Teardrop DiamondPG15 17:00 Little Girl Lost-PG 19:00 Trucker-PG15 21:00 Quantum Of Solace-PG15 23:00 Monsters Vs. Aliens-PG

02:40 Across The Wide Missouri 04:00 Cimarron 06:30 The Screening Room 07:00 The Glass Bottom Boat 08:50 Travels With My Aunt 10:35 Hearts Of The West 12:15 High Society 14:00 The Yellow Rolls-Royce 16:00 Fun With Dick And Jane 17:35 Khartoum 19:40 The Screening Room 20:05 All The Fine Young Cannibals 22:00 Grand Prix

00:30 Human Weapon 01:20 Ax Men 02:10 Deep Sea Detectives 03:00 Lost Worlds 03:55 How the Earth Was Made 04:50 Man Moment Machine 05:40 Russia: Land of the Tsars 06:30 Human Weapon 07:20 Ax Men 08:10 Deep Sea Detectives 09:00 Lost Worlds 09:55 How the Earth Was Made 10:50 Man Moment Machine 11:40 Russia: Land of the Tsars 12:30 Human Weapon 13:20 Ax Men 14:10 Deep Sea Detectives 15:00 Lost Worlds 15:55 How the Earth Was Made 16:50 Man Moment Machine 17:40 Russia: Land of the Tsars 18:30 Human Weapon 19:20 Ax Men 20:10 Deep Sea Detectives 21:00 Man Moment Machine 21:55 Mega Movers 22:50 Shootout!

23:40 Warriors

19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 Jerseylicious 22:00 Peter Perfect 23:00 Peter Perfect

01:04 Africa 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 08:04 Sound System 08:45 Playlist 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 16:04 Latina 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:04 Hit US 21:00 Playlist

00:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 01:00 Planet Food 02:00 Essential 02:30 Travel Today 03:00 The Big Guide 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Planet Food 06:00 Intrepid Journeys 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 48 Hours In 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Warner Bros Movie WorldAustralia 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Intrepid Journeys 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 Journey Into Wine- Australia 14:30 Panasia 15:00 Warner Bros Movie WorldAustralia 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 48 Hours In 17:30 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 18:00 Planet Food 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Planet Food 21:00 Essential 21:30 Travel Today 22:00 The Big Guide 23:00 Globe Trekker

00:00 VH1 Rocks 01:00 Vh1 Music 07:00 Vh1 Hits 09:00 Vh1 Music 11:00 Aerobic 12:00 Top 10 Best Male Songs 2010 So Far 13:00 Music For The Masses 14:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 15:00 Vh1 Music 17:00 Music For The Masses 18:00 Vh1 Music 19:00 VH1 Viewer’s Jukebox 20:00 VH1 Viewer’s Jukebox 21:00 Top 10 Best Male Songs 2010 So Far 22:00 Music For The Masses 23:00 MTV Live: The Streets¬†@ Roskilde

Monday, June 28, 2010

33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights Monday 28/06/2010 Airlines Flt Route Wataniya Airways 322 Sharm El Sheikh Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Wataniya Airways 408 Beirut Bangladesh 045 Dhaka/Bahrain Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Turkish 772 Istanbul Jazeera 435 Mashad Air Arabia Egypt 551 Alexandria Egypt Air 614 Cairo Jazeera 267 Beirut DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa/Bahrain Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 637 Aleppo Jazeera 503 Luxor Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Jazeera 527 Alexandria British 157 London Jazeera 529 Assiut Kuwait 204 Lahore Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 352 Cochin Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Qatari 132 Doha Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 425 Bahrain Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Middle East 404 Beirut Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Jazeera 165 Dubai Jazeera 447 Doha Iran Aseman 6521 Lamerd Jazeera 171 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai Oman Air 645 Muscat Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus United 982 Washington DC Dulles Jordanian 800 Amman Fly Dubai 057 Dubai Jazeera 257 Beirut Wataniya Airways 332 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Saudia 500 Jeddah Kuwait 552 Damascus Nas Air 745 Jeddah Qatari 134 Doha Kuwait 548 Luxor Kuwait 546 Alexandria Kuwait 1802 Cairo Kuwait 678 Muscat/Abu Dhabi Kuwait 118 New York Bahrain Air 344 Bahrain Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi Emirates 857 Dubai Gulf Air 215 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut Saudia 510 Riyadh Arabia 125 Sharjah Jazeera 239 Amman Jazeera 493 Jeddah Jazeera 367 Deirezzor SriLankan 227 Colombo/Dubai Kuwait 104 London Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai Kuwait 542 Cairo Kuwait 502 Beirut Kuwait 786 Jeddah Kuwait 618 Doha Jazeera 177 Dubai Kuwait 744 Dammam Kuwait 674 Dubai Kuwait 614 Bahrain Kuwait 774 Riyadh Indian 575 Chennai/Goa Fly Dubai 061 Dubai Middle East 402 Beirut Rovos 081 Baghdad Jet A/W 572 Mumbai KLM 0445 Amsterdam Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut Wataniya Airways 632 Rome DHL 372 Bahrain Gulf Air 217 Bahrain Emirates 859 Dubai Jazeera 459 Damascus Qatari 136 Doha United 981 Bahrain Jazeera 429 Bahrain Jazeera 449 Doha Jazeera 185 Dubai Egypt Air 612 Cairo Kuwait 1804 Cairo Tunis Air 327 Tunis Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt Pakistan 239 Sialkot Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai

Time 00:10 00:30 00:50 01:05 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:45 02:00 02:05 02:10 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 03:30 05:25 05:45 05:50 06:15 06:20 06:30 06:40 07:10 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:25 10:25 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:15 11:20 11:45 12:40 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:50 14:05 14:05 14:10 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:30 15:30 15:35 16:15 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:40 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:35 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 18:55 19:05 19:15 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:30 20:30 20:40 20:50 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:35 21:55 22:15 22:30 22:40 22:55 23:25 23:35 23:45 23:55 23:55

Departure Flights on Monday 28/06/2010 Airlines Flt Route Time Jazeera 528 Assiut 00:05 India Express 390 Mangalore/Kozhikode 00:25 KLM 0447 Amsterdam 00:30 Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt 00:50 Safi 216 Kabul 01:00 Indian 982 Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai 01:05 Pakistan 206 Peshawar/Lahore 01:10 Turkish 773 Istanbul 02:15 Bangladesh 046 Dhaka 02:15 Air Arabia Egypt 552 Alexandria 02:40 Egypt Air 615 Cairo 03:05 DHL 371 Bahrain 03:15 Emirates 854 Dubai 03:45 Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi 04:00 Ethiopian 622 Addis Ababa 04:15 Qatari 139 Doha 05:00 Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai 06:50 Jazeera 164 Dubai 07:05 Wataniya Airways 331 Alexandria 07:30 Jazeera 422 Bahrain 07:30 Jazeera 446 Doha 07:40 Gulf Air 212 Bahrain 07:45 Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain 07:50 Jazeera 256 Beirut 08:05 Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus 08:10 British 156 London 08:25 Jazeera 170 Dubai 08:30 Kuwait 545 Alexandria 08:35 Fly Dubai 054 Dubai 08:40 Kuwait 1801 Cairo 08:40 Kuwait 677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat 08:45 Kuwait 671 Dubai 09:00 Wataniya Airways 421 Amman 09:10 Kuwait 547 Luxor 09:20 Arabia 122 Sharjah 09:20 Wataniya Airways 631 Rome 09:30 Emirates 856 Dubai 09:40 Qatari 133 Doha 10:00 Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10 Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut 11:35 Gulf Air 214 Bahrain 11:35 Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo 11:50 Middle East 405 Beirut 11:50 Kuwait 541 Cairo 12:00 Jazeera 238 Amman 12:10 Jazeera 366 Deirezzor 12:15 Jazeera 492 Jeddah 12:15 Kuwait 103 London 12:30 Iran Aseman 6522 Lamerd 12:45 Kuwait 501 Beirut 13:00 Kuwait 785 Jeddah 13:30 Egypt Air 611 Cairo 13:55 Oman Air 646 Muscat 14:15 Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai 14:30 Jordanian 801 Amman 14:30 Fly Dubai 058 Dubai 14:35 United 982 Bahrain 14:50 Jazeera 176 Dubai 14:55 Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut 15:10 Kuwait 673 Dubai 15:10 Kuwait 617 Doha 15:35 Saudia 501 Jeddah 15:45 Nas Air 746 Jeddah 15:45 Jazeera 458 Damascus 15:50 Kuwait 773 Riyadh 16:05 Qatari 135 Doha 16:20 Kuwait 613 Bahrain 16:20 Kuwait 743 Dammam 16:25 Kuwait 1803 Cairo 16:40 Rovos 082 Baghdad 17:00 Bahrain Air 345 Bahrain 17:25 Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi 17:35 Emirates 858 Dubai 18:05 Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo 18:05 Gulf Air 216 Bahrain 18:05 Kuwait 543 Cairo 18:10 Arabia 126 Sharjah 18:20 Jazeera 184 Dubai 18:30 Saudia 511 Riyadh 18:35 Jazeera 462 Beirut 18:40 Jazeera 448 Doha 18:50 SriLankan 228 Dubai/Colombo 19:10 Jazeera 428 Bahrain 19:20 Wataniya Airways 407 Beirut 19:25 Wataniya Airways 433 Damascus 19:30 Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai 19:40 Kuwait 283 Dhaka 20:00 Jazeera 266 Beirut 20:10 Fly Dubai 062 Dubai 20:50 Kuwait 331 Trivandrum 21:00 Middle East 403 Beirut 21:20 Jet A/W 571 Mumbai 21:30 Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain 21:35 KLM 0445 Bahrain/Amsterdam 21:40 Gulf Air 218 Bahrain 21:55 DHL 373 Bahrain 22:00 Kuwait 675 Dubai 22:10 Emirates 860 Dubai 22:25 Jazeera 612 Lahore 22:25 Kuwait 381 Delhi 22:30 Falcon 102 Bahrain 22:30 Qatari 137 Doha 22:35 Kuwait 381 Delhi 22:30 Kuwait 301 Mumbai 22:45 Kuwait 205 Islamabad 22:55 Jazeera 526 Alexandria 23:20 Jazeera 502 Luxor 23:40 United 981 Washington DC Dulles 23:40 Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 Egypt Air 613 Cairo 23:55

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

available for family or two working ladies with a Keralite family in Abbassiya near Neethi store Abbassiya.

Phone 65730628. (C 2421)

SITUATION VACANT

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for Keralite family, working ladies or couple, rent KD 70. Tel: 97769931.

(C 2422) Urgently available one furnished room in Farwaniya in a C-A/C building, with all facilities behind Al-Arbid building. Call 97245851.

(C 2427) Furnished sharing accommodation available in C-AC flat (2 BR, 2 bath, 2 balcony, 1 hall, 1 kitchen) in Mangaf block-4 with Keralite bachelor. Phone: 66513151 after 5:30pm. (C 2423) 28-6-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for couple or working ladies with Keraltie family. Contact: 66013882. (C 2425) 27-6-2010 Sharing accommodation

Cook needed for Kuwaiti family, call 99800408 from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm only.

(C 2419) 26-6-2010

FOR SALE Caprice maroon,

Classic 1995 registered till

No: 14773

12/4/2011, excellent condition, run 300000 kms, well maintained, Indian owner.

Phone 66513151 after 5:30pm. (C 2424) Pajero-iO, 2004, silver, 100,000 km, very good condition, KD 1,250. Call: 99881982. (C 2429) 28-6-2010

CHANGE OF NAME I, Bhaskaran Pillai Anil Kumar, holder of Indian

Passport No G3439994 hereby change my name to JANARDHANAN PILLAI ANIL KUMAR for all purpose. (C 2420) 26-6-2010

MISCELLANEOUS Required car Opel, Victra or Astra, 2005 or 2006 or 2007.

Please call 99881982. (C 2428) 28-6-2010

34

SPECTRUM

Monday, June 28, 2010

Calvin

CROSSWORD 5

Aries (March 21-April 19) You may decide to gather and update picture albums, club news, salvaging and preserving what is good and healthy in your experience. You begin to care more for your health and nutrition. The idea here is that you are able to analyze your experiences and eliminate what is pure and what is not. You respond to your personal needs and those of others today. You can see what is going on and you are committed to joining in the process of making things work. Relationships are so important to you that the care and tending of one could seem to be obstacles at times. You are not satisfied with superficialities. You want a lasting marriage. Tonight you may enjoy eccentric or unconventional friends in a fun dining atmosphere. You are rewarded for your caring ways.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your most basic quality has to do with the very real love and compassion you radiate.

Your sense of value and sheer appreciation for life are communicated to all who come to know you. Beyond whatever external considerations may be present, you exude a contagious thankfulness and fondness for things and people. Your family becomes all-important to you and the networking between loved ones and the support you give each other is something you may devote much time to on days like this. These inner, loving qualities are experienced as a very real good. You may have a tendency to avoid sensitive subjects, but you would be wise to hear someone out today. Knowledge and understanding through another viewpoint may be very important.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

5. Tropical tree of Central America and West Indies and Puerto Rico having spikes of white flowers.

10. A federally chartered savings bank.

13. Among the largest bony fish.

14. An annual award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievements in motion picture production and performance.

15. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

16. A powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon.

17. In bed.

19. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.

21. Usually elongate cluster of flowers along the main stem in which the flowers at the base open first.

23. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

24. A state in midwestern United States.

25. A republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea.

28. In the Arabian Nights a hero who tells of the fantastic adventures he had in his voyages.

32. A byproduct of inflammation.

34. A sign of assent or salutation or command.

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

36. Conqueror of Gaul and master of Italy (100-44 BC).

40. Any tropical gymnosperm of the order Cycadales.

41. A loss of will power.

44. A small cake leavened with yeast.

46. A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material.

47. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages.

50. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part.

55. Not only so, but.

57. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922).

58. An elegantly dressed man (often with affected manners).

62. The cry made by sheep.

63. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

64. In societies practicing shamanism.

65. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

DOWN 1. Spread or diffuse through.

2. Eurasian plant cultivated for its seed and as a forage crop.

3. A coarse obnoxious person.

4. A state in the United States in the central Pacific on the Hawaiian Islands.

5. A state of southwestern India.

6. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.

7. (informal) Of the highest quality.

8. A state in southeastern India on the Bay of Bengal (south of Andhra Pradesh).

9. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

10. The front of the head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear.

11. Winning all or all but one of the tricks in bridge.

12. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

18. The act of scanning.

20. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India.

22. A blue dye obtained from plants or made synthetically.

26. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

27. An ancient Hebrew unit of capacity equal to 10 baths or 10 ephahs.

29. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

30. God of fire.

31. An informal term for a father.

33. A column of light (as from a beacon).

37. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

38. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

39. A partially opened flower.

42. An undergarment worn by women to support their breasts.

43. An awkward stupid person.

45. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

48. (in Gnosticism) A divine power or nature emanating from the Supreme Being and playing various roles in the operation of the universe.

49. A island in the Netherlands Antilles that is the top of an extinct volcano.

51. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

52. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

53. Of or relating to or characteristic of the Republic of Chad or its people or language.

54. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

56. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

59. A soft silver-white ductile metallic element (liquid at normal temperatures).

60. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

61. An associate degree in nursing.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) There is the possibility of new visions or sudden insights into your self-image or into your ideals and dreams. Keeping a dream diary may bring some interesting insights. This is a time to reshape and renew your philosophy or religion, during which your imagination can be at full tilt. There are breakthroughs in compassion and communion. This could be a good time for intense soulsearching, during which you examine your ideals and goals with an eye to separating the wheat from the chaff. You could take an interest in world unity and a more communal type of existence. There is a search for pure ideals and pure vision. Relationships get a boost this evening; whether it involves partnerships, personal or the social scene.

Non Sequitur Cancer (June 21-July 22)Your natural ability to grasp spiritual and visionary matters comes into play today. You can perform with the imagination and metaphysical thoughts as others work with durable things. This is because you understand what is behind and connecting things. Much of your own self-image is wrapped up with your ability to work with images--dreams and the imagination. You may even enjoy teaching music or philosophy. You could be guiding young people today. Your feelings are expressed through your action and reaction to others and life--build upon the positive. Your intuition is strong and can guide you accurately in making forecasts or decisions. There may be a desire to change your physical makeup--muscle toning, etc. Consider walking or sports.

Leo (July 23-August 22) A strong devotional nature becomes apparent to anyone who takes time to know the real you. Today is a great time to be with friends and loved ones. Your positive attitude lets you get right to the point, but you display little patience with those who are not organized; careful. Be patient with young people just now. You have plenty of enthusiasm and warm up to things and people quickly. You have an inner self-confidence that burns with its own light. You enjoy an overall improvement in health and attitude today. Daily meditation can help you maintain this balance and energy. If you have not learned any particular meditation technique, it may be a wise move to find one soon-it can be beneficial for your peace of mind and healthy body.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You are very conservative when it comes to your personal appearance and communications with others. However, once you are motivated you could communicate with anyone. You tend to know your subject matter and can bring your ideas to others in a language that will work on many levels. You probably do not waste words. Your spiritual group may call upon you to speak to others. You have the ability to ground and make spiritual ideas a practical matter, bringing them down to earth and into everyday life. You have great discipline when it comes to working with spirituality and unity. You grasp the principles that bind things together; you are a down-to-earth type of person with a high degree of motivation when it comes to giving and to personal sacrifice.

Libra (September 23-October 22) You have great discipline when it comes to working with spirituality and unity--whatever binds or links all of us together.

You would be able to teach and show others these realms. This is a time when you can expect a little boost, some sort of extra support or recognition from those around you. You may feel that you are in touch and in harmony with others; the lines of communication are open now and the support you need is there. Others may find you especially witty and a bit eccentric this afternoon. You may have insights or breakthroughs regarding your living situation or life circumstances. You may want to decorate or paint. Others value you for your independence and unique qualities. You may appear very at ease and loose today.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The morning could be a time when everything around you seems to be in a change. You may feel challenged by others, or by circumstances. Working through problems acted out with others or combining group ideas for a solution may be the order of the morning. Discussing whatever changes need to be made now will help improve situations and allow others input. It may be time to create some new traditions. Family ties are stronger where there are rituals or social events to look forward to and plan. Also you will create ways to set aside special times for visiting with each member of your family. This is the time to make room for listening. This is a rewarding day; friends are more open and family members seem to draw closer.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Take a little trip, or get outside today. You may want to break that routine and try something new or different right now. You may discover insights into day-to-day problems that will be of great value later. You are very much the creature of habit and habitat. Your encircling network of friends, relationships and whatnot are crucial to your success or lack thereof. You are nourished in great measure by the atmosphere and conditions you are able to set up for yourself. You are most satisfied today as you accomplish your chores and improve your surroundings, perhaps by cleaning or working with plants and perhaps, animals. The good life--all that is fine and luxurious, may be what you value just now. You enjoy making your own way.

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Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Decisions made now may have to be re-thought later, take your time with what you think is the answer to whatever question may arise today. You are a heavy-duty thinker and serious student, now, however, is time for a break--FUN! This may mean a family or neighborhood get-together or simply a walk in the park with a loved one. You pour a lot of energy into those around you. Your home and surroundings reflect this as well. When it comes to teaching or coaching young people, you are a natural. An active social life is beginning for you now. You will soon find that all those volunteer hours, as well as your help with young people, create the desire for others to express their appreciation. This may happen through dinners, presentations or a phone call.

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 may have some interesting conversations with someone that has a firm political viewpoint. You experience life mostly through your emotions and how you feel about someone or something. Your intuition is strong, however and can guide you accurately in making decisions. Your sensitivity makes you recoil from aggressive types. You know and understand more than you let on and others may experience growth through simply answering your penetrating questions or by asking you questions. There is obviously a great gift for sensing the truth of any matter. You find good results with children when you help them to see the importance of structure and responsibilities. Good communication can be enjoyed with all.

Word Sleuth Solution

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual today. Intuitive insights are important for you at this time. Dive in and try your hand at whatever challenges your imagination. Any attempt to avoid confronting life at the personal level is bound to frustration. Your goals and ambitions may lead you to ignore questions of vulnerability. You can win an adversary over to your way of thinking, through logic and understanding. After you first reach out your hand to help others--it becomes fun. This may encourage you to pour a lot of energy into those around you. Do not go too fast too soon, you could become exhausted and loose interest. Your home and surroundings reflect your desire to have a well run life. Tonight is for romance.

INFORMATION

Monday, June 28, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada始a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha始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

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290

(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:

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

Monday, June 28, 2010

Shakira has no marriage plans S

hakira doesn’t want to get married even though she’s engaged.

The ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ singer says she has no intention of tying the knot with fiance Antonio De La Rua, despite saying yes when he popped the question over four years ago. She said: “I have no plans to get married. Ever.

“There’s something romantic about being someone’s girlfriend forever. I like the state that I’m in.” Although she has no plans to marry, the 33-year-old beauty says she and Antonio are keen to start a family together. She told the News of the World newspaper: “I definitely plan to have children but I don’t see a wedding dress.”

Shakira, who met Antonio nine years ago in a restaurant in Argentina, has recently admitted she knew straight away he was ‘The One’. She said: “The minute I walked in, I saw him sitting, and I thought, ‘That man is for me, he’s the man of my life.’ I kept staring at him until I got to meet him that night. And then I just followed my intuition and everything worked out.

Frankly, meeting him that night was like winning the lottery.”

Mena Suvari has got married T Miley Cyrus to go to college in 50 years

he ‘American Beauty’ actress tied the knot with music promoter Simone Sestito in a private church ceremony in Vatican City, Italy, which was followed by an intimate reception nearby. One guest told People magazine: “The ceremony was truly unique and Mena looked breathtaking. They are very much in love.” Mena recently revealed how finding love with Simone gave her hope after ending her sixyear marriage to cinematographer Robert Brinkmann in 2006. She explained: “I think you just know when you have found ‘The One’. It’s a feeling. Relationships

T

Sir Paul McCartney doesn’ t feel his age T

he 68-year-old singer - who penned a track called ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ with his former band The Beatles still loves performing and claims music feels as fresh to him as it did when he was first starting out. He said: “Do I feel my age?

No. It feels weird to say 68.

It’s funny, I wrote the song ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ when I was in my twenties.

I was thinking, ‘That age will never arrive.’ “Now I’m four years after it. “It was always my ambition to plug in my electric guitar, play with some people and write songs and that hasn’t

are challenging, but I love him and he’s very good to me. I think you know when you know. “After a divorce, I think it’s most important for people to get in touch with themselves and really get to know who they are and what they want and establish goals.” She also revealed she was desperate to find a wedding dress which will cover her tattoos as she wanted to respect her fiance’s religious family. She said: “I think it would be considerate to Simone’s family to have my tattoos covered, since there are two Catholic nuns on his mother’s side of the family.”

he 17-year-old star is preparing for the end of her Disney TV show ‘Hannah Montana’ but as she wants to continue working in movies and music, can’t see the point in finishing her education yet. She said: “My sister went to college for two years and then decided she wants to be a musician and now she is a musician. “I just already know what I want to do and if there is ever a time where I want to go back, I can. “I learned that from my grandma. She went to college at 67 and graduated at 70 and was a teacher from then. She’s 77 now, so you can go whenever you want.” Miley recently splashed out on a $3.4 million Los Angeles property that she will move into when she turns 18 in November and can’t wait to have her own space.

She added: “I’ve bought my house and I want to decorate it the way I want and I think I worked really hard to be able to have a place that is purely my environment and exactly the way I envision - kind of like a serene, tranquil place that can just be my space.”

Vickers was picked on for being different

Katie Price influences Alex

Megan Fox wants to star in ‘Lost Boys’ remake

T

he ‘Jonah Hex’ actress is a huge fan of the 1987 comedy horror film - which starred Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman and the late Corey Haim - and though it would be her dream role, she thinks a new version of the cult favorite would “destroy” the original. She said: “They couldn’t remake it because it would destroy it, but I’ve always loved ‘The Lost Boys’.

The female character in it s not really amazing, but if you were to turn one of the male characters into a female, I would love to do that. “That movie has stuck with me my whole life. There’s something magic about it to me.” The 24-yearold star also spoke of her reluctance to move into

iana Vickers got picked on in school for being different.

The ‘Boy Who Murdered Love’ hitmaker was the “joker” of her class, but did have brushes with bullies because of her unique style. She said: “I always had quite a lot of friends at school and I was the joker of the class, but I did get picked on a little bit when I was younger. “I had quite a lot of friends in my year, but some people in the year below picked on me because they said I was a bit different - I always had the big hair and the hippy clothes. I just chose to ignore it.” However, she won over the bullies and the 18-year-old singer confesses she is now more confident than ever. She added in an interview with Top of the Pops magazine: “There’s no point in hiding away - I’m not afraid to be myself. There are days when you get insecure about the way you look and things, but you’ve just got to think, ‘It doesn’t matter at al. I’m just gonna be me and people are gonna love me for who I am.” —Bang Showbiz

D

K

atie Price influences her husband’s style. Cage fighter Alex Reid - who married the glamour model in a secret Las Vegas ceremony in February - admits his wardrobe has changed since they tied the knot, but denied it was a “conscious decision.”

Responding to speculation his personal style has changed, he said: “It is not a conscious decision if I have. I think most men’s fashion change a bit after they get married as you can’t help but be influenced by your wife.” Katie and Alex are preparing to renew their wedding vows in a televised blessing next month, and it has been claimed the glamour model is forcing

left me. I play the first chord, turn it up loud and it still feels like a rebellious thing to do - playing a bit louder than you should.”

The veteran rocker also admits he no longer tours as much as he used to because he wants to see more of Beatrice, his sixyear-old daughter with exwife Heather Mills. He added: “I do a show then I’m off all week. Partly it’s because of my little girl.

I’m a hands-on dad and I wouldn’t want to work too much when I’ve got her, so my life has completely changed. “When I go home - that’s the real world.”

those invited to sign a confidentiality agreement before telling them the details of the ceremony. “It is very cloak and dagger. They haven’t confirmed where it is, even though they’re already electing marquees.” Earlier this month, Katie

more comedic roles as she doesn’t feel old enough yet. She explained to Sky Movies magazine: “I’m wary of doing romantic comedies, you could end up doing them all the time. “Business-wise, those movies are very safe. They’re tailored to Middle America. “But I’m 24, I don’t belong in a romantic comedy yet. A black comedy like ‘Jennifer’s Body’ maybe, but I don’t know if I could do something like ‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’.

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Music & Movies

Latin American singer Shakira performs on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury festival near Pilton, Somerset on June 26, 2010. — AFP

Australian singer Kylie Minogue performs with the Scissor Sisters at Glastonbury Festival, in Glastonbury, England Saturday.

The Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

—AP

By Mike Collett-White ustralian pop princess Kylie Minogue made her debut at the Glastonbury music festival on Saturday, five years after she was forced to pull out of the event after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The 42-yearold, a major star in Britain, was a guest of US glam rockers Scissor Sisters on the main Pyramid stage in front of tens of thousands of revelers who descended on a farm in southwest England for the four-day music showcase.

She did not address the raucous crowd directly and performed only one number “Any Which Way”, but her appearance, and a stirring set by Colombian singer Shakira hours earlier, ensured a high-octane end to the penultimate day of the festival. English rock band Muse rounded off the night with some

A

aiwanese pop diva Chang Hui-mei dominated her home country’s Golden Melody Awards, clinching song of the year and best Mandarin album for her record “A-MIT.” Chang, affectionately known to her fans as “A-Mei,” was also named best female Mandarin singer at the 21st edition of the Grammys of Chinese pop in the Taiwanese capital Taiwan late Saturday.

David Tao was best male Mandarin singer. “A-MIT” also picked up awards for best producer and best arranger. Famed Hong Kong lyricist Lin Xi also won for his work on the album, which is named after Chang’s aboriginal name. Chang is a member of Taiwan’s Puyuma tribe. — AP

rousing singalongs, and they were joined by U2 guitarist Edge for a cover version of the Irish group’s hit “Where the Streets Have No Name” which prompted huge cheers.

U2 were scheduled to headline the festival, celebrating its 40th year in 2010, before frontman Bono had emergency surgery on his back meaning that Gorillaz took their place. And Glastonbury, one of the world’s biggest music festivals, finally took off on Saturday after Gorillaz’s performance the night before had divided critics.

Adding to the feel-good factor for around 150,000 fans was uninterrupted sunshine, the exception rather than the rule for an event where rain regularly falls causing a mudbath.

With the England soccer team playing Germany on Sunday at the World Cup-a major sporting event that will be beamed on to giant screens at the festival-the mood was buoyant.

Shakira feeds soccer mania Shakira referred to the game during her sizzling set. When introducing her official World Cup song “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)”, she said: “I just performed this in South Africa and thought it would be appropriate to sing it tonight because ... there is a big match tomorrow which I’m planning to watch in some pub in east London.

Let’s hear you make some noise for England!”

With temperatures soaring, and expected to rise yet further on Sunday, Glastonbury 2010 has been about bare chests, bikinis and outlandish costumes rather than raincoats and rubber boots.

Medical staff have dealt with an unusually high number of incidents, most of them heat-related.

“This is my fourth year and the weather is just so much better,” said 17-year-old Luka Taraskevics, from Bath. “I didn’t even bother bringing my wellies. If anything maybe it’s a bit too hot.” The festival has helped cement rappers’ place at a fes-

tival better known for its indie music and stadium rock.

Snoop Dogg and Dizzee Rascal whipped the crowds into a frenzy, while Radiohead, which was voted Glastonbury’s best headline act in a recent poll, pulled off a surprise when it appeared on the smaller Park stage late on Friday. London rapper Tinchy Stryder kicked off Saturday’s programme, making a valiant attempt to reach an audience struggling to shrug off the effects of the night before.

In 1970, Glastonbury founder and dairy farmer Michael Eavis decided to hold a music event and booked the Kinks for 500 pounds ($750) but, when they failed to show, got Marc Bolan instead. That year 1,500 people showed up when the event was known as the “Pilton Pop Festival”. They each paid one pound and were given free milk from Eavis’s Worthy Farm. This year the tickets cost 185 pounds.

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French actor Gerard Depardieu poses with his commemorative plaque on the Bridge of Glory during the 18th Art Film Fest International Film Festival in Trencianske Teplice, some 150 km north of Bratislava, on June 26, 2009. — AFP

omania has sanctioned five civil servants after Australian rockers AC/DC got stuck on a “Highway to Hell” and were unduly asked to pay to leave the country, news agency Mediafax reported. Four employees of Romania’s national roads company were sacked and one was demoted following the incident, which happened after the band played a concert in front of 60,000 fans in Bucharest on May 16, it said.

The company said earlier this month that the “overzealous” employees had stopped the band’s convoy at Hungarian border and demanded a total of 2,500 euros in so-called fines for allegedly failing to pay highway tolls. AC/DC said in a letter to the company however that they had received no receipt for the fine, the company’s manager Doina Tiron told AFP. After an internal investigation, the company decided to fire four inspectors who were involved in the incident, the director of the company for the Timisoara region, Ioan Malita, told Mediafax. The local chief of the Control and Collection Agency at the border crossing of Nadlac was stripped of her managing post and will work now as a simple inspector, he added. — AFP

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By Christy Lemire

By Daniel Bases oviet Russia’s missiles and soldiers snaking through Red Square made for chilling images of a repressed society during the Cold War, but one Russian-American filmmaker is casting a new light on the period to show there was cultural life beneath the communist ice.

Semyon Pinkhasov, an emigre to the United States at the height of the Cold War has made documentary films about prominent Soviet-era artisans and sport figures, who not only survived but thrived during communism’s repressive rule.

“When the temperatures sink and snow is on the ground there is still life under the ice. It is the same for society under a dictatorship,” said Pinkhasov.

Self-taught and self-financed, his films have been shown worldwide at festivals, and on Russian and English-language television channels. One film about German fencing legend Helene Meyer, whose half-Jewish heritage provided Adolf Hitler with political cover to stage the 1936 Olympics, won for best screenplay at the 2009 International Festival of Sports Films in Moscow.

All of the films expose the tragicomic truths about cultural life under the grey facade of communism and fascism. After having his medical school hopes crushed

by Soviet prejudice, he reinvented himself as a physiotherapist, supported a family, trained champion fencers and marched with the US Olympic team as a coach in 1984. Then, nearing the time

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Taiwanese singer A-mei holds her awards for Best female Mandarin Vocalist, Best Album in Mandarin and Best Song of the year at the 21st Golden Melody Awards.

Taiwanese singer Lala Hsu holds her award for Best New Artist at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. — AP photos

when most people retire, he plunged head first into the world of documentary films.

Poking big brother “Music Made on Thursdays,” his first film tells the story of Grigory Fried and his music club that took hold in 1965.

Fried tackled taboo subjects when paranoia ruled and Russia’s military industrial complex turned out war materiel above all else. Every topic of discussion was taboo without communist party approval.

Fried just never bothered to get advance clearance. The club served as an outlet to listen and discuss classical music, something far removed from the overbearing state, the drudgery of work, and the miserable weather.

“It didn’t work out the way (Fried) wanted. I started to go when I was 20 years-old. Now everyone in the audience is in their 60’s. There are no young people and I thought I have to get this all on film before it dies,” he said. “The whole system, communism, was a fraud. It was about suppression and squeezing the life out of people. But even then, under this dictatorship they achieved some positive things.” Pinkhasov explained.

A composer and musicologist, Fried at 94 still runs the club but has never taken a salary, Pinkhasov said. “We like to vilify the Soviet Union, but there were many positive aspects of the system. The music club shows a close group of friends getting together. Art mattered then. —Reuters

his may come as a surprise, but I’ve come to praise Tom Cruise, not to bury him. Before all the couch-jumping and creepy laughter in leaked Scientology videos, before public spats with Matt Lauer and Brooke Shields, Cruise wasn’t just THE A-lister among all Hollywood A-listers, he was also an actor who could really act. In recent years, his off-screen antics have overshadowed his on-screen talent. “Knight and Day,” coming out this week, should turn that around: Cruise is at his charismatic best here, equally adept with the stunts in the action sequences as he is with the banter with co-star Cameron Diaz.

So it’s a good opportunity to look back at his strongest performances-the ones that made Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise: • “Magnolia” (1999): Pretty much universally recognized as his best work ever, it earned him the third of his three Oscar nominations, this time for supporting actor. As cocky self-help speaker Frank T J Mackey, Cruise electrified Paul Thomas Anderson’s opus about intertwined lives - and falling frogs-over one day in Los Angeles. He was totally commanding in his arrogance on stage, yet also laid himself bare watching the death of his father (Jason Robards) and struggling with the conflicting emotions it stirred.

• “Jerry Maguire” (1996): OK, so maybe the “You complete me” scene is more than a little cheesy in retrospect.

Still, his performance as a sports agent trying to rebuild his career and his personal life allowed him to show the full range of highs and lows within him. And that line from Cameron Crowe’s film remains famous largely because he’s the one who says it-just like the movie’s catchphrase, “Show me the money!”

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•

•

(“Jerry Maguire” also earned Cruise one of his two bestactor Oscar nominations.)

“Born on the Fourth of July” (1989): Here’s where Cruise showed his ability to dig deep, and do more than just charm us by flashing that sexy smile of his and working his high-energy, verbal magic. He’d had plenty of dramatic scenes in “The Color of Money” and “Rain Man,” but in Oliver Stone’s searing film about Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, who returned from the war partially paralyzed and fully disillusioned, the transformation in Cruise occurred not just superficially but internally, as well. (This was his first Oscar nomination for best actor.)

“Minority Report” (2002): Sure, the visuals and the bold ideas are what you probably remember from Steven Spielberg’s darkly thrilling sci-fi drama, based on the short story by Philip K. Dick. But Cruise is at the center, holding it all together confidently as the straight man in a fantastic, futuristic world, even as his detective character, John Anderton, goes on the run for a crime he hasn’t yet committed. Delivering a rare understated performance really works for him here.

• “Risky Business” (1983): Of course, the movie that made him a star in the first place. In retrospect, it’s a classic Tom Cruise role, the prototype: a young guy who has it all and thinks he has all the answers, only to experience a comeuppance and learn more than he bargained for. It’s a performance that solidified his place in pop culture; nearly 30 years later, the scene in which he dances around in his undies to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” is still being parodied. Cruise has had so many of those in his career, though, how do you choose just five?

Sometimes, you just gotta say, what the ... well, you know. — AP

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Fashion

Models display creations for Dior by Belgian Kris Van Assche.

— AP/AFP photos

By Jenny Barchfield

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illowing panels and fluttering swaths of fabric transformed the classic suit into something brooding, romantic and poetic as Paris menswear designers from Dior Homme to emerging Croatian talent Damir Doma served up voluminous silhouettes for spring-summer 2011 on Saturday.

Pants at both houses sat low on the hips, with drooping crotches and full hips, and seams were often left raw-in keeping with a minimalist statement at Dior and the hermetic aesthetic that reigned at Doma.

Belgium’s Raf Simons, on the other hand, was all clean lines and sharp angles, though his silhouette-futuristic, layered, uni-sexy shapes featuring body-hugging tunic vests and miniskirts-was no more conventional. For men who can’t go to work dressed looking like a Hindu sadhu or a “Star Trek” crewmember, Kenzo served up inviting linen suits with just a dollop of zaniness. And for those with mile-deep pockets, luxury saddlemaker Hermes had a whole wardrobe full of yachtready looks in sumptuous cotton, linen and silk.

Besides drop-crotched pants, the other big look of the day on Paris catwalks was the vest with a vertiginous Vneck. In the two previous days of Paris’ four-day-long menswear marathon, the jumpsuit and Jesus sandals emerged as other big trends-to the detriment of the safe and sellable suit.

The French capital’s menswear displays wrapped up yesterday, with shows by much-coveted Paris label Lanvin and British madcap Paul Smith. Much of the fashion glitteratti will stay on through the City of Light’s rarified haute couture displays, which start early next month and feature made-to-measure gowns with price-tags resembling that of a nice new car.

DIOR HOMME Less was more at Dior Homme, where designer Kris Van Assche’s ravishing collection of raw seams and flowing panels proved you can spend more for fewer finishings. Deepcut V-neck tank tops were left open down one side to expose a wide swath of skin. Blazers cut sharp through the shoulder, and lapels dissolved at what normally would have been the hemline into billowing lengths of fine wool fabric. Jackets were shorn of their closures, and long trenchcoats were missing their sleeves. The drop-crotched pants fit so low on the hips that one model on the verge of losing his had to stop and hitch them up. Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, a devoted Dior Homme fan who’s usually on hand for the shows,

Models present creations for Kenzo.

praised the collection as “very elegant.”

“Dior suits are the best made in the world-nobody does clothes like that,” the ponytailed designer told The Associated Press in a backstage interview, adding that he and the male members of his posse were all wearing-tight-Dior suits.

Still, Lagerfeld, acknowledged he “may be a little old” for the flesh-exposing looks on Saturday’s catwalk. “You have to be very young” to wear such looks, said the spunky septuagenarian. Designer Van Assche, a Belgian who showed his signature line on Friday, said he “wanted to show less to put all the attention to quality.” “That for me is the real luxury.

It’s not about sequins anymore,” he told The AP. DAMIR DOMA The Damir Doma man looked like an ascetic who’d just happened to stumble upon the catwalk during his hermetic wanderings. The Croatian designer culled from different religious traditions, pairing his signature voluminous trenches and wide-cut blazers with dhotis that looked snatched off a Hindu sadhu or North African harem pants in earthy fibers.

The cocoon coats, some in Franciscan brown, resembled a monk’s robes.

Doma swathed the models in nubby fringed blankets, making them look alternately like Himalayan aesthetics or Bedouin nomads. Muslim skullcaps topped all the looks, giving some of the models the air madrassa students. It was an earnest and convincing display from a designer who’s widely considered among Paris’ most promising emerging talents.

KENZO East met west at Kenzo, as the Paris-based label-founded by a Japanese designer-marked its fortieth birthday with a back-to-the-roots collection. Designer Antonio Marras conjured up an imaginary voyage by a Parisian dandy to the Land of the Rising Sun of the early 20th century, fielding casual chic linen suits printed with Japanese watercolors. French sailor stripes were mixed with chunky knit cardigans and plaid pants.

“This artist, he returns to France and starts to take elements he picked up in Asia and mix them, creating his own style,” Marras, an Italian who also designs his own signature line, told The AP in a backstage interview. “We started with these two visions-Japanese and French-that are so vastly different, and the aim was to meld them. After all, that’s what Kenzo started as, that’s the heritage of the house.” Like the label’s now-retired founder, Kenzo Takada, before him,

Models wear creations

by German fashion designer Damir Doma.

Marras managed and pulled it off with panache, fielding picture perfect garments for a sunny summer day.

HERMES If you haven’t yet picked out your wardrobe for that yacht vacation, Hermes’ had just the thing for you: Designer Veronique Nichanian delivered a sumptuous collection of tasteful white linen suits and casual chic printed silk blouses that would feel right at home on even the highest-end of 200plus-foot (60-plus-meter) yachts. Well-toned models sported khaki blazers and safari jackets-with only one button done to better highlight their chiseled pecs-paired with white trousers that were neither wide nor narrow, neither long nor high-water, but simply the perfect cut. Cardigans in featherweight silk were layered beneath chunky sweaters and adorned with silk scarves knotted jauntily at the neck. A pair of silk pajama pants was worn alone, as if the model just rolled out of his cabin below deck.

Totes in buttery calfskin nodded to the leather-working tradition of the storied house, which got its start as a saddlemaker and has since morphed into a purveyor of ultra luxurious accessories and garments with cardiac arrest-inducing price tags. Nichanian called the collection “nonchalant,” and it was just that-easy, classic, tasteful chic for the discriminating, yacht-set consumer.

RAF SIMONS The Belgian designer gave men a breather, fitting the body-skimming, futuristic and androgynous looks with zippers that opened down the back. Simons marked his signature label’s 15th anniversary with a show that revisited some of his silhouettes from seasons past-while keeping his gaze resolutely fixed on the future. Formfitting tunic vests were paired with ultra wide legged pants-both in blinding white microfiber. Plain-front shirts like doctors’ scrubs in hospital green were worn with little skirts layered over biker shirts, while another model wore a similar look in head-to-toe fuchsia knit.

Besides a handful of razor-cut suits, nearly all the tops zipped down the back, allowing them to be worn roomily or bodice-tight. “There has been more and more liberation, you know about sexuality, gender, taking care of yourself but I think that men’s fashion itself doesn’t make those big steps,” Simons, who also designs for minimalist label Jil Sander, told The AP. “The open back is a way of making suggestions about new options, a new kind of feeling, new things to think about.”— AP

Models present creations by French designer Veronique Nichanian for Hermes.

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Fashion

Models wear creations by Belgium fashion designer Raf Simons.

By Jenny Barchfield anvin, the coveted Paris label that has its finger on the pulse of what women want, gave the men something to lust after yesterday with a ravishing spring-summer 2011 collection that was equal parts romance, sport and danger. Silk blazers with bulky shoulders and raw seams were paired with tapered, high-water trousers, and plunging V-neck vests were layered over slim knit shorts that looked like the offspring that would result if longjohns and biker shorts were to mate.

Made largely from microfibers and other technical fabrics, the collection was meant to move, and rawseamed flaps and panels that spiraled down the trousers and jackets quivered as the models tramped down the endless catwalk. “There’s this fusion between activewear and more classic, elegant tailoring,” menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver told The Associated Press backstage after the show, which was held in a museum at a Paris botanical garden.

Ossendrijver didn’t neglect his accessories, sending out models in orthopedic-looking sandals — a big hit on this season’s Paris runways — and chunky jewelry — chains hung with scythe-like horns that wound, snakelike, round the models’ necks. “We had a lot of debate about the jewelry: Is it too feminine? Is it butch, is it macho? But in the end, I think that when women can wear pants, men can wear jewelry,” Ossendrijver said.—AP

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Models pr esent crea tions by Dutch de signer Luc as Ossendrij ver for La nvin, during the men’s 201 1 spring-sum mer ready -towear coll ection sho w y esterday in Paris.—AF P

www.kuwaittimes.net

In this photo taken on June 14, 2010, chief judge Hasan Mahmud Al-Hafiz speaks while filming the reality TV show ‘Imam Muda’ or ‘Young Leader’ at a mosque auditorium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. — AP

By Sean Yoong he 10 young men have washed corpses according to Islamic rites, cried while counseling unmarried pregnant women and joined a police crackdown on teenage motorcycle racers-all before judges on national TV. A Malaysian cable station has given a reality show makeover to its Islamic programming, and it’s taking this moderate Muslim-majority country by storm. The show, called “Imam Muda” or “Young Leader,” is halfway through a 10-week run.

With its blend of doctrine and drama, it is a natural fit for Malaysia, a Southeast Asian nation that has tried to defend its Islamic traditions while also welcoming high-tech industry and Western culture. It’s these parallel strains in society that the program taps so successfully.

The producers say they want to find a leader for these times, a pious but progressive Muslim who can prove that religion remains relevant to Malaysian youths despite the influence of Western pop culture.

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In this photo taken on June 14, 2010, contestants listen while filming the reality TV show ‘Imam Muda’ or ‘Young Leader’ at a mosque auditorium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. — AP

Even the prizes combine both worlds: An all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to Makkah and a car. “This is not like other programs that have no religious values,” says the show’s chief judge, Hasan Mahmud Al-Hafiz, a former prayer leader at Malaysia’s national mosque.

“We have no shouting or jumping. We provide spiritual food. We’re not looking for a singer or a fashion model.”

In 21st century Malaysia, it’s a formula that works. The producers say the show has become the Islamic-themed channel’s most-watched program ever. “We try not to miss a single episode, because we find that we learn new things about our religion,” says Fauziana Ismail, a 25-year-old nurse, who watches it with her husband and his parents every week.

More than 1,000 men auditioned for the show.

They were made to recite prayers, given tests on Islam and asked questions on current affairs such as naming world leaders. Background checks were done to ensure none had unsavory pasts.

In the end, 10 were left, including a bank officer, a farmer, a cleric and some university students. Most of the contestants, photogenic men between 18 and 27, could pass as models. In some episodes, they appear in well-tailored suits and ties, albeit with Muslim caps on top. In others, they don traditional flowing robes, or simply fashionable slacks and shirts.

“We want to prove that our young Muslim Malaysians can keep up with the times,” said Izelan Basar, the show’s creator and manager of the cable channel. “We chose the brightest, most devout men for this program-young men whom our female viewers now want for their husbands or sons-in-law.”

Besides the pilgrimage and the car, the prizes include a job as prayer leader in a major mosque, a scholarship to study in Saudi Arabia, 20,000 ringgit ($6,400) in cash and a laptop.

The contestants are sequestered in a mosque hostel with no access to family, friends or cell phones.

They spend much of their time being tutored in

In this photo, Izelan Basar, the creator of the reality TV show ‘Imam Muda’ or ‘Young Leader’ and Oasis’ channel manager, speaks to media before filming at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur. — AP

Islamic studies. The cameras start rolling when they’re out on assignments. “I want to fulfill my responsibility to my religion and my community by being here,” said Taufek Noh, a motivational speaker, during a break in filming at a mosque auditorium.

The 27-year-old was allowed time off to get married on June 12. He spent only one night with his bride before being whisked back into seclusion with the other contestants.

“My new wife and I are sad to be separated, but we accept that it is Allah’s will for us. If it is also Allah’s will for me to win, then we will be thankful,” Taufek said with a confident smile. The show isn’t Malaysia’s first religion-based reality show, but it has generated more public excitement than its sedate predecessors, such as “Akademi Al Quran,” in which participants underwent training to recite Quranic verses. An “Imam Muda” Facebook page has drawn 25,000 fans and comments dissecting the contestants and hailing them as role models.

For their first major task, the contestants put on

This file photo shows the Hamburg Philharmonic Hall (Elbphilharmonie) designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron in Hamburg, northern Germany. — AFP

face masks and medical gowns to perform Muslim ablutions on two corpses that had gone unclaimed for weeks in a morgue. They also buried the bodies, reflecting at the cemetery on their own mortality. In another episode, tears flowed freely among the men as they provided religious counseling for residents of a women’s shelter and a home for abandoned children. The show’s tone is often somber. In the episode on death, the host intoned: “When our time comes, nobody can delay death by even a second.

Old people die, children die. Are we ready for death?” In the first five weeks, a three-member judging panel of religious scholars ousted only two contestants, saying their social skills and knowledge were relatively weak. Even then, it inflicted minimal anguish. After announcing one of the eliminations in an auditorium without a public audience, chief judge Hasan embraced the contestant and prayed for Allah to bless him. The other men hugged each other and wept on camera, speaking earnestly about the bond of brotherhood they had forged. — AP

By Matthias Gafni arry McClure slowly backed his wife’s Lexus into their garage, stopped, pulled the emergency brake, rolled up the windows and ... he was stuck by a hair.

When you’re the national mustache champion, sporting a subnasal decoration measuring 31 inches from tip to tip, power windows become more obstacle than convenience. “I’m not a conformist. I just don’t like doing what everybody else does,” said the 67-year-old retired truck driver, relaxing in his Concord, Calif, living room.

McClure and his handlebar have attained a cultlike following in his hometown of four decades. A blog posts McClure sightings, residents constantly request photos with him and onlookers inundate him with questions.

Top question: “How do you sleep at night?” “I just tell them I sleep standing up,” McClure said with a laugh.

On June 5, McClure’s snow white whiskers gained national recognition when he won Best Mustache in the inaugural National Beard and Mustache Championships in Bend, Ore. “I went there as a fluke,” he said. “The win was completely unexpected.”

Phil Olsen, founder and captain of Beard Team USA, recruited McClure after receiving e-mailed photos of the nearly yard-wide ‘stache. “Larry has a huge mustache which he has sculpted into quite the artistic masterpiece,” said Olsen, himself the owner of a foot-long beard. “He was definitely the crowd favorite in Bend. It was his rookie appearance and a big success for him.”

Jack Passion, a two-time full beard world champion and Walnut Creek, Calif., resident, emceed the event. “I think the Diablo Valley is a very fertile valley and there’s just something about the mineral profile of the soil and the great clean East Bay MUD water,” the 26year-old said, beard firmly in cheek. A year ago, McClure had a healthy beard reaching his upper chest.

He shaved it off and began growing the mustache. “I have to go into a different bathroom because he takes 45 minutes,” his wife Marilyn said, laughing. “It’s his face and his hair. He can do what he likes with it.” She

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By Deborah Cole ermany’s second city Hamburg is building a dazzling new concert hall intended to rival the Sydney Opera House as a global attraction, but little has gone according to plan. Construction delays, building defects and a price explosion have led even the developers to admit the landmark project has hurtled out of control, with no one able to say what the hall will finally cost or when it will open. Meanwhile local artists fear the audacious development at the city’s 800year-old port will eclipse the scruffy homegrown cultural scene that gave rise to future legends like The Beatles, who cut their teeth in Hamburg’s red-light district clubs.

Jutting out from the end of a pier straddling the Elbe River and the city, the Elbphilharmonie will take a boxy brick former warehouse as its base, and perch a breathtaking glass structure recalling frozen waves on top. Sandwiched between the two levels, a public plaza will offer stunning views of the “Gateway to the World” port and the spires of the charming Hanseatic League city while guests wait to attend concerts by the world’s top orchestras. The building will stretch 110 meters (360 feet) in height, from the more than 1,700 piles under the warehouse to support the massive structure to the signature undulating lines of the roof.

As a boon to investors, the architects Herzog & de Meuron, who designed Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games, are adding posh apartments on the west side of the building and a luxury hotel on the east. The city aims to create one of the world’s top 10 concert halls with 2,150 seats and acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, best known for his work at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, as well as two smaller venues. The develop-

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ment is part of a bold new vision for the port district, currently the biggest construction project in Europe. But such ambition has its price.

Originally budgeted at 114 million euros (140 million dollars), the projected costs have however ballooned to an estimated 323 million euros but few in the city expect that to be the end of the story.

And hopes to open the concert hall this year have been dashed, with a new target date of 2012, more than five years after construction first began, looking ever more elusive.

Karl Olaf Petters, spokesman for the city’s cultural affairs office, acknowledges that nagging construction problems and legal disputes have thrown spanners in the works. “Not everything has gone as

planned,” he said with a wry smile. “But the excitement and curiosity about the hall are unbroken-this will be a magical place.” At an official presentation of the building’s towering skeleton late last month, Mayor Ole von Beust said the dream was to create an indelible landmark on the order of the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty or Sydney Opera House.

But, not unlike the breathtaking but wildly over-budget masterpiece in Australia, von Beust admitted the Hamburg project had veered off course since it was first conceived. “I don’t know if we would have had the courage to do it if we were starting now,” he said. “But when it is finished, no one will question the artistic and creative achievement

A file photo taken on May 27, 2010 on a construction site shows the concert hall of the Hamburg Philharmonic Hall.—AFP

behind this building.”

Outside, a handful of toga-wearing demonstrators sang protest songs and passed out hand-printed 350-million-euro bills emblazoned with the question: “With billions in debt, do we need a memorial for Ole?” referring to the aristocratic mayor. Hamburg, whose metropolitan area has 4.3 million residents, has an annual deficit of more than 550 million euros and von Beust has launched a punishing austerity drive.

Elbphilharmonie director Christoph Lieben-Seutter dismissed criticism that his hall would become the 800-pound gorilla of the Hamburg’s artistic scene, or that it was simply a gift to the city’s elites. “You need a rock and a pop music scene and then you need something like the Elbphilharmonie-they shouldn’t be pitted against each other but rather complement and enrich each other,” he told AFP. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, a national broadsheet, said the only thing that has not driven a wedge through the city is the hall’s groundbreaking design. “A building that no one doesn’t like-when was the last time you saw that in contemporary architecture?” it wrote. Petters admits that Hamburg, long known for its northernstyle reserve and modesty, was acting a bit out of character with this bid for global prominence. “There is something playful, almost crazy, about what we are doing,” he said. “It is not necessary but by the same token, neither was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

Local residents, Germany’s richest per capita in a major city, said that while they were curious about the new hall, they were worried it might be an indulgence they cannot afford. “The exploding costs are a scandal, plain and simple,” said 61year-old teacher Doris Heidhoff. “But yes, I expect I’ll be standing in line to get in when the thing finally opens.”—AFP

In this undated family photograph, Larry McClure, of Concord, California, had no facial hair when he married his wife Marilyn 43 years ago. also squelched any intimacy concerns. “It doesn’t affect it at all. He’s a real good kisser,” she said. They have been married 43 years. Each morning, McClure showers, dries his mustache with a hair dryer and firms it with hair spray-a lot of it and the strongest he can find.

Finally, he gently curls the tips skyward. —MCT

Larry McClure and his 31-inch wide moustache hold distinction as the winner of the first-ever National Beard and Moustache Championships taking first place in the Best Moustache division.— MCT photos