6 Oct

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

40 PAGES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010

Lead poisoning kills 400 children in Nigeria

SHAWAL 27, 1431 AH

Rial rebounds as banks resume selling greenback

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NO: 14871

150 FILS

Shakib stuns Kiwis in rain-hit one-dayer

As ‘Peanuts’ turns 60, Schulz family plans future PAGE 40

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Furore over appointment of KPC chief MPs slam ban on rallies

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (center) is seen with Education Minister Modhi Al-Humoud and other officials and teachers during a ceremony to mark World Teachers’ Day yesterday. Sheikh Sabah honored around 331 teachers during the event. — KUNA (See Page 2)

Carbon pioneers win physics Nobel STOCKHOLM: Two Russian-born scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, won the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize yesterday for pioneering work on graphene, touted as the wonder material of the 21st century. Both laureates began their careers as physicists in Russia but now work at the University of Manchester in Britain.

Geim holds Dutch nationality and Novoselov is both a British and Russian national. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences hailed graphene, a form of carbon isolated only six years ago, for its glittering potential in computers, home gadgets and transport.

It lauded Geim, 51, and Novoselov, 36, for having “shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics”.

Graphene is a novel form of carbon that comprises a single layer of atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice. Just one atom thick, graphene it is the world’s thinnest and strongest

MANCHESTER: University of Manchester professors Andre Geim (left) and Konstantin Novoselov, who were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, pose for pictures outside Manchester University yesterday. – AP

nano-material, almost transparent and able to conduct electricity and heat. As a result, graphene is described as the candidate material to replace silicon semi-conductors.

Graphene transistors would in theory be able to run at faster speeds and cope with higher temperatures than today’s classic computer chips. That would resolve a fast-growing problem facing chip engineers who want to boost power and shrink semiconductor size but without raising temperatures, the bugbear of computing. Its transparency means it could potentially be used in touch screens and even solar cells, and when mixed with plastics would provide light but super-strong composite materials for next-generation satellites, planes and cars. The academy said it was “interesting to consider that everyone who has used an ordinary pencil has probably produced graphene-like structures without knowing it”.

Continued on Page 14

NICOSIA: Cyprus’ Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis (left) and his Kuwaiti counterpart Mustafa Jassem Al-Shamali sign an agreement between the two countries on tax issues yesterday. — AFP

Kuwait, Cyprus eye mutual investments NICOSIA: Kuwait and Cyprus said yesterday they would explore reciprocal investment opportunities, such as in energy and services, as they signed a deal to avoid double taxation of companies operating in the two countries. “We think that there are a lot of opportunities in Cyprus either with the gov-

ernment of Cyprus or directly with the private sector,” said Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. He added that Cypriot businesses, particularly services, could invest in Kuwait. Asked whether Kuwait’s potential investments in Cyprus could Continued on Page 14

Defiant Times Square bomber jailed for life

Egyptian daily sacks dissident chief editor CAIRO: A leading independent in Al-Dustour on Sunday. “So the Egyptian daily has fired its chief editor, result is the silencing of satellite chanan outspoken government critic, amid nels ... and then the turn of the newswhat journalists are calling a state papers will come.”

Al-Dustour reported on its website crackdown on the media ahead of parliamentary elections. Ibrahim Eissa’s early yesterday that the paper’s mogul dismissal from Al-Dustour, announced publisher Elseyed El-Badawi fired Eissa on Monday. in the paper yesterEissa later told the day, comes as uncerQatar-based Altainty has grown Jazeera TV that he over Egypt’s politiwas told by the cal future, with parpublishers they liamentary elections were firing him less than two because they are months away and under government constant speculation pressure over his about the health of writings. “They 82-year-old want us to shut our President Hosni mouths and be M u b a r a k . silent,” he said.

Presidential elecEissa told AFP he tions are set for next was not given the year. exact reasons for Eissa had long the sacking. But he been a vocal critic of said his dismissal the government.

Ibrahim Eissa came “hours after Last month he was the publishers told pulled from a popular talk show he hosted on a private me they didn’t want me to run an artisatellite TV station, which the cle written by Mohamed ElBaradei”.

“There were phone calls between Journalists’ Union condemned as “an organized attack on media freedoms.” me and the owners. They wanted me Before his firing from the newspaper, to remove the article written by Eissa warned of a government cam- ElBaradei... I objected, they asked me paign against any criticism in the to refrain from publishing it for a few media, especially in light of approach- days but then a few hours later I was ing elections that activists expect to be informed of the decision,” he told AFP. marred by widespread fraud. “The Former UN nuclear watchdog chief Egyptian regime cannot give up cheat- ElBaradei has emerged as the promiing in elections, so the only solution for nent opposition figure since returning the authorities is to stop any talk about to Egypt in February, calling for constirigging, rather than stopping the rig- tutional amendments and political Continued on Page 14 ging itself,” Eissa wrote in an editorial

KUWAIT: A political controversy appears to be boiling over the oil minister’s intention to appoint Farouq AlZanki as the new chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), with some MPs criticizing the decision while other supporting it.

Liberal MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjari yesterday criticized the minister’s decision, saying he was surprised by the nomination of Zanki by completely overlooking and ignoring recommendations made by a specialized committee.

The committee was formed by KPC more than a year ago and made undisclosed recommendations for the appointment of leading posts at KPC and its subsidiaries. The committee claims that Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah refused to receive its recommendations. Anjari said that the committee worked for almost a year to evaluate the performance of various oil executives, but the minister even refused to meet with its members.

Anjari said that the oil sector is highly important for the future of Kuwait and “we will not accept that key appointment decisions are affected Continued on Page 14

A screen shot of a video posted on YouTube shows an Israeli soldier (right) bellydancing around a bound and blindfolded female Palestinian prisoner. — AFP

Fury as Israel soldier dances round woman JERUSALEM: A grainy video of a male Israeli soldier bellydancing around a bound and blindfolded female prisoner which went viral overnight, yesterday provoked a furious response from the Palestinians. The clip, which came to light after it was screened on Israel’s private Channel 10 television late on Monday, shows a soldier gyrating to rhythmic drumbeat of an Arabic track as the woman, who is wearing a headscarf, huddles against a wall, her hands bound in front of her and her eyes bound with a white cloth.

The soldier, who is wearing sunglasses and grinning broadly, repeatedly brushes up close to the woman

who has a Hebrew speech bubble coming out of her mouth reading “Allahu Akbar” - Arabic for “God is greatest.” Crudely captioned “israeli soldier catch arab terrorist (he dance on haer) funny,” the clip lasts just over a minute. The video was immediately slammed by the Palestinian Authority as “deeply offensive to the dignity of women”. “This is a disgusting illustration of the sick mentality of the occupier. This is not an isolated incident,” said a strongly-worded statement from the office of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.

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NEW YORK: A PakistaniAmerican man was sentenced yesterday to life in prison for a botched car bomb attempt in New York’s famed Times Square, but in a chilling statement warned that jihadist war “has just begun”. “The defeat of the US is imminent and will happen in the near future,” Faisal Shahzad, 31, told the court at his sentencing. “Brace yourselves because the war with the Muslims has just begun.”

Shahzad, a US citizen who lived in Connecticut and started what resembled an ordinary American family before embracing jihadist militancy, pleaded guilty in June to the May 1 bombing attempt.

The car bomb parked in the heart of teeming Times Square on a warm Saturday evening failed to detonate, and Shahzad was caught two days later at John F Kennedy Airport while about to take off in a plane bound for Dubai.

But the bomb scare and revelations that Shahzad had been trained by Pakistani Taleban further strained US-Pakistani relations, while deepening worries in the United States about so-called homegrown terrorists.

Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum chided Shahzad for his “total lack of remorse” Continued on Page 14

NEW YORK: This courtroom sketch made yesterday shows Faisal Shahzad surrounded by US marshals during his sentencing in Manhattan Federal court. — AP

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NATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Amir sponsors Teachers’ Day 331 teachers honored

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and minister, Moudhi Al-Homoud with one of the honored teachers.

KUWAIT: Under the auspices and attendance of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, a ceremony was held yesterday to honor teachers in the Education Ministry, a celebration which coincides with the World Teachers Day. The opening ceremony was attended by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Abdullah AlRoumi, as well as top officials of the state.

Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Moudhi Al-Humoud said in the opening speech that “those working in the education field as well as those interested in education in Kuwait are keen on developing education in Kuwait and this country’s leadership will always backup efforts by educators here.” She affirmed to His Highness the Amir that educators in

Kuwait are keen on developing education in order to partake in the state’s five-year development plan aimed at bring Kuwait back to the vanguard position within the region.

Education needed to be developed via providing students with valuable information and values that would help them to give back to their society, stated the minister, who addressed the celebrated teachers, saying that their role was integral on this aspect.

“Your sincere efforts will be backed up by this country’s leadership and people,” said Al-Humoud.

Teacher Mohammad Al-Loqman said that teachers in Kuwait were very eager to meet His Highness the Amir, adding that his contributions were always felt by the teaching staff of the Education Ministry. His Highness honored around 331 teachers during the event. Outstanding schools also received a cash prize worth KD1,000 while the honored teachers received a prize worth KD500. —KUNA

in the news Kuwait lends Bahrain KD15 m MANAMA: Kuwait’s Ambassador to Bahrain, Sheikh Azzam AlSabah, said on Monday that the many projects funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) reflect Kuwait’s enthusiasm for support-

ing comprehensive development projects in all countries. “The State of Kuwait is pioneer in supporting development and vital projects,” Sheikh Azzam said after a KD15-million loan agreement was signed between the KFAED and Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority. The loan will be used to

expand and improve the efficiency of the Bahraini electricity network, he explained. The KFAED’s contribution reflects the vision of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah’s economic diplomacy, as well as enhancing partnership and helping the industrial sector to

meet the development goals, said Sheikh Azzam.

ATO, IBRD ink deal The Arab Towns Organization (ATO) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(IBRD) to support urban development, knowledge governance and decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The MoU will allow the ATO and IBRD to cooperate in fields of improving Municipal work, manpower and information systems in Arab region, as well as offering technical support for the Kuwaitbased ATO. The memorandum stipulates that the funding will be used to spread common knowledge through conferences, workshops, websites and other media to highlight urban development and governance in the Arab region. The ATO, established in 1967, is a non-governmental organization whose membership comprises 420 towns in 22 Arab countries.

Education undersecretaries meet Members of the Executive Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Arab Education Office met here on Monday to discuss how to address violence in schools and conditions affecting education in the six GCC member countries. Tamadher AlSdairawi, Undersecretary of Kuwait’s Ministry of Education (MoE), told KUNA that the council members discussed Kuwait’s proposals concerning media knowledge of public school students and the program of values.

NATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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Kuwait lauds Iranian fatwa

kuwait digest

Similarities between students’ blocs and political movements

Religious decree forbids insults against Prophet’s wife

By Suad Al-Mejel

D

uring every round of student elections that take place at the Kuwait University, whether on the student union or the college’s level, all students actively try to recruit the most number of voters. As such, they tend to focus most of their efforts on new students. By reviewing the programs that each bloc of students adopt, it reveals how much these blocs have been affected by the political movements outside of the university. This is understandable despite the opinions against political interference at KU. However, what is strange is that the outside influence on KU is not just ideological, but also systematic. For example, if we take the manner by which the Social Reform Society has always claimed sole responsibility for the success of the Jeddah Convention during Kuwait’s Invasion, in spite of the efforts of other Kuwaiti citizens in that regard, we can find a striking similarity between it and the manner by which the Students Coalition Bloc (I’tilafiya) claims full responsibility for leading the movement by Kuwaitis against the suspension of the constitution back in the 80’s (more commonly known as the ‘Monday Diwaniyas’ movement).

The Student Coalition Bloc claims responsibility for that movement despite the efforts made by other citizens, such as Dr Ahmad Al-Khateeb, the late Sami Al-Munees, Faisal AlSanea, Saleh Al-Fadhalah, Abdullah Al-Naibari, Ahmad Al-Nafisi and several others. All student blocs talk about is democracy and freedom as the student elections approach, which is exactly what parliamentarians do before the parliamentary elections.

Only the Democratic Center Bloc (Al-Wasat) has maintained their principles of equality and patriotism since their establishment in 1974. — Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Symbolism of tomato box

By Dr Abdullatif Al-Suraikh

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olitical, sport and media problems have become recurring features in our country. The most recent symbol of greed in Kuwait is the sharp increase of the price of tomatoes and other vegetables in local markets.

To those unaccustomed to Kuwaiti traditions, it’s wellknown that Kuwaitis are people who adore daqoos and is a main ingredient in almost all dishes of Kuwaiti cuisine. Since tomatoes are the main ingredient in daqoos, greedy traders have attempted to exploit Kuwaitis’ need for this important food item for their financial benefit.

They raised tomato prices in a crazy and laughable way and then tried to convince us that the increase affected the whole region. This caused the prices in Kuwait to jump by as much as 1000 percent.

As daqoos is a symbol of our culture, tomatoes are a main ingredient of our culture’s cuisine. We can force its price to return to its normal rate by refusing to purchase the item. When the state’s concerned departments fail to curb the price we can force the price of tomatoes back down with a massive boycott. I acknowledge the public’s effort to encourage the boycott through the media. Our goal can be reached by using a united collective effort. I hereby announce that I join the tomato boycott until their prices return to normal. — Al-Rai

Trafficking mafias in Kuwait KUWAIT: The head of the Kuwaiti Union for Owners of Maid Recruitment Agencies has stated that a number of maids working in Kuwait have fallen victim to human trafficking mafias run by nationals of their own countries.

Fadhil Ashkenani said that some individuals from Asian and African nations have set up in business as domestic staff recruitment specialists, with some even going so far as to open offices in their nations’ embassies, in order to lure domestic workers from their own nations illegally and without the embassies’

knowledge and to make money from persuading those already here to leave their employers and work for their compatriots’ agencies. Ashkenani accused what he called these ‘mafias’ of inciting maids already in Kuwait to leave their employers in search of more lucrative work solely in order to increase their own profit by reemploying these workers.

He told Al-Qabas that these ‘mafias’ are principally dependent on circulating maids between different sponsors rather than recruiting more from their home nations.

Providing suitable housing for citizens is govt priority KUWAIT: The government is keen to provide suitable, high-quality housing that will meet citizens’ needs, seeing this as a top priority, said the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of State for Development, and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Monday. In a speech marking Arab Housing Day, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad said that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) had made it its mission to tackle problems facing housing affairs through “finding realistic solutions,” adding, “It is important to set government plans in motion

‘Arab Housing Day’ to allow projects to be finished in time.” He revealed that teams have been assigned to implement these plans and ensure that the work is of a sufficiently high quality and is completed by the scheduled deadline.

Finding practical, scientific solutions to the country’s housing problem is a key issue requiring a great deal of hard work and determination, said the minister, adding that allowing the private sector to provide technical and financial expertise within the framework of the

Genetic tests for newborns KUWAIT: A top Ministry of Health official on Monday stressed the importance of carrying out studies into hereditary medical conditions in order to provide every possible precaution against genetically inherited diseases requiring extensive and costly treatment. Speaking on behalf of health minister Dr Helal AlSayer at the inauguration of the National Convention on Genetic Diseases, MoH Assistant Undersecretary for Technical Affairs Dr. Khalid Al-Sahlawi acknowledged the contributions of leading Kuwaiti geneticist Dr. Sadiqah Al-Awadhi, who is also attending the event, describing her as the “mother of genetics” in Kuwait.

Dr Al-Sahlawi explained

that the objective of the convention is to introduce the latest scientific studies and research material from around the world on genetic medical conditions, reported Al-Rai. The senior health ministry official also revealed that the MoH intends to introduce mandatory tests for hereditary diseases for every newborn baby in Kuwait, adding that such tests are standard in most advanced nations. In her speech at the opening ceremony, Dr Al-Awadhi, who heads the Genetic Diseases Center, indicated that the percentage of individuals diagnosed with hereditary diseases in Kuwait stands at 13 percent, with 6,000 of these individuals currently undergoing treatment at the center.

MSAL introduces new safety rules KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi has issued new policy guidelines, which include detailed health and safety regulations to protect skilled and unskilled workers in the workplace. Under the new guidelines, employers will be compelled to implement effective health and safety regulations to protect all personnel. They will also need to introduce precautionary measures to pro-

tect workers against exposure to potentially harmful conditions and to demonstrate a full commitment to compliance with instructions on handling hazardous substances.

The new guidelines also call for periodic workplace inspections by trained staff from the ministry’s health and safety inspectorate to ensure that all workplaces are complying with the regulations, reported Al-Qabas.

Under the new policy, workers should

receive training in health and safety, and in maintenance operations where required, while all workplaces will be legally compelled to fit smoke detectors and fire alarms.

The guidelines also stipulate the introduction of protective attire were appropriate, stating, amongst other things, that those working in posts where they are regularly exposed to strong sunlight must be furnished with articles that provide shade.

Kuwait Autism Center, students’ parents meet KUWAIT: The Kuwait Autism Center recently held an event to allow the parents of the autistic children who recently started the 2010-11 school year there to meet with the center’s staff. The event began with a welcoming speech delivered by the school’s

headmistress, after which the head of the social service office, Uroub Burahma gave a presentation about the principal factors involved in enhancing cooperation between the school and students’ families to achieve the best possible learning experience for the

children. Burahma also talked about several new facilities introduced by the school this year, including a pottery workshop and other workshops. The event also featured an exhibition of the center’s various publications regarding research on autism.

Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system would allow the projects to be completed. Involving the private and public sectors resulted in the introduction of law 50/2010 which in essence provided a kick-start for the Khairan, Met’la and Harir housing developments and other projects, with the private sector companies able to bid for 40 percent of shares at public auction while citizens can bid for a further 50 percent.

All of the state’s housing development projects aim to provide cit-

izens with housing within a short waiting period, stated the official, revealing that around KD8 billion has so far been invested in housing projects. On the PAHW’s efforts to grant housing services to widowed, unmarried women and others who meet certain special criteria, Sheikh Ahmad affirmed that these sectors of society have not been forgotten, pointing out that there are procedures in motion to issue a law that would establish a KD 250,000 portfolio to grant women more financial facilities or to buy real-estate for the purpose of creating housing for members of this group. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti government has praised those Muslim scholars who speak out against discord and sectarian extremism, while commending Iran’s spiritual leader Ali Khamenei’s religious decree (fatwa) in which he has forbidden insults against Sayyeda Aisha, the wife of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), or any Muslim icon. During its weekly meeting, chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammed Al-Sabah, the cabinet voiced confidence that Muslims are aware of all attempts to create discord amongst them.

In this context, the cabinet members discussed all efforts to confront plans of sectarian discord and to demonstrate that Islam is a “civilized” religion, said Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan in a statement delivered after the weekly meeting. The cabinet also welcomed the return of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to Kuwait following a private visit abroad. On a separate issue, HH Sheikh Nasser briefed the cabinet about his visit to Mexico, as a representative of HH the Amir, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the republic’s independence, as well as his visit to Washington and his meeting with US VicePresident Joe Biden.

HH Sheikh Nasser also briefed the cabinet members about the outcome of the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meetings, during which the Kuwaiti Premier affirmed the importance of supporting the international community to address poverty, hunger and famine, as well as to focus on confronting terrorism and other challenges, noted Al-Roudhan.

Sheikh Nasser also spoke about the results of his visits and the meetings he held with a number of leaders of friendly and brotherly countries on the sidelines of the sessions in New York.

Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Sabah, meanwhile, briefed the cabinet about the meeting between the foreign ministers of the GCC and ASEAN countries, as well as the GCC troika’s meeting with the Chinese foreign minister over regional issues.

Sheikh Dr Mohammad also talked about the GCC troika’s meeting with the Rio Group to boost political, economic and cultural relations between the two blocs. He also told the cabinet members about the current preparations for the Arab-Latin American Summit, due to be held in Peru next year, to cement political, economic and investment cooperation. The foreign minister said that the governments of Latin American countries had expressed their appreciation of HH Sheikh Nasser’s tour of the region last July, considering it an important means of strengthening relations in all areas. — KUNA

NATIONAL

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Iran nuke plant worries Kuwait KUWAIT: A senior Kuwaiti foreign ministry official has reiterated the country’s concerns over potential environmental threats to Kuwait caused by the proximity of the Iranian nuclear reactor in Bushehr, despite the reassurances from Russian experts concerning its safety. Speaking to reporters while attending the German Embassy in Kuwait’s National Day celebrations, foreign ministry undersecretary Khalid AlJarallah echoed the concerns expressed by Kuwaiti geologists, who have warned that, given the Bushehr reactor’s location, in an area with strong seismic activity, a powerful

earthquake could result in disaster for the facility and for Kuwait.

On a separate note, AlJarallah also told reporters that Kuwait has officially communicated its disapproval to German authorities at reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had presented an award to a cartoonist who reportedly published a number of cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). The German officials had expressed their understanding of Kuwait’s stance on the issue, he said, adding that such mutual respect is absolutely essential in overcoming antipathy over such incidents.

‘25-minute Tuesdays’ extra school time KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education’s (MoE) new policy of adding a further 25 minutes to school days on Tuesdays took effect yesterday at all Kuwait’s schools, with Education Minister Dr Moudhi Al-Humoud reiterating her “full recognition” of the Kuwait Teachers’ Society’s strong opposition to the move. In a press release issued to mark the introduction of the new system, Dr Al-Humoud indicated that demands from the KTS to postpone its implementation had been carefully considered before being rejected by senior MoE staff.

She said that the additional 25 minutes of school time on Tuesdays would be used for various educational activities for pupils. The minister also reiterated the education ministry’s commitment to acknowledging teachers’ efforts, reported Al-Qabas. On a separate note, the education minister also revealed that the ministry intends to build new schools in all of Kuwait’s six governorates. These will be added to the current school-building plans which will see new schools constructed in the Hawally, Mubarak Al-Kabeer and Capital education zones.

MP hosts seminar KUWAIT: A seminar hosted by MP Ahmad Al-Shahouni at his home in Salwa to discuss the government’s decision banning public gatherings saw heavy security deployed in the surrounding area “in order to maintain order.”

Fellow parliamentarians Drs. Walid Al-Tabtabae and Faisal Al-Mislem agreed with Al-Shahouni that banning public gatherings contradicts the basic principles of freedom and democracy.

Al-Mislem said that banning such events was a way for the cabinet to conceal its own failures, and warned that interpolation motions against the interior and education ministers are imminent, reported Al-Qabas.

Al-Shahouni, meanwhile, condemned the “alarming” police presence surrounding a seminar which he said was being held to provide opportunities for the free expression of opinions. The host also rejected security officials’ claims that the police presence was required in order to secure the participants’ safety, noting that “no similar actions were taken when a VIP figure visits Salwa.”

Another speaker at the event, former MP Abdullatif AlOmairi, asserted that banning public gatherings, such as seminars, was a violation of the Kuwaiti constitution.

Civil Defense develops early warning system KUWAIT: The Civil Defense Department modernized and developed the sirens of early warning system, making them linked to the Digital Communication System (TETRA) in Kuwait, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Operations Affairs Maj Gen Mustafa Al-Zuabi said yesterday.

Al-Zuabi said in a statement to KUNA yesterday that this system consists of external and internal sirens, pointing out that the first stage of the project that was put forward by the civil defense department aims to upgrade the external sirens through replacing the mechanical sirens with a modern ones.

He also made clear that the modern sirens contain recorded voice messages that can be transmitted to citizens and residents alike in order to guide them to the prescribed instructions as well as sending SMSs to the members of the civil defense committee.

Al-Zuabi added that the modern sirens are characterized by the purity, clarity and spread of sounds at 360 equal degrees, namely 123 decibel (db), and this is linked to the digital communication system (TETRA) applied by the Ministry of Interior. He explained that the total number of sirens in the country now are 237 distributed to all residential and border areas.

The Civil Defense Department currently studies

the second stage of the early warning system that aims at installing sirens inside the civil service buildings, malls and shopping centers in cooperation with Public Authority for Civil Information and Public Authority for Housing Welfare, he said.

The department will launch the early warning sirens on Oct 13 at 10 am and voice messages will be sent to citizens and residents alike to announce the trial run of the sirens, it will be followed by launching the first tone which is one minute intermittent and denoting imminent danger along with a voice message with the tonal meaning.

Then, this will be followed by a wavy tone denoting danger followed by a one-minute voice message with the tonal meaning, then a siren of continuing tone will be released to denote the end of danger and it will be followed by a one-minute text message.

Al-Zuabi also said that this trial run of sirens aims to make acquaint both citizens and residents alike of the tones of these sirens and their connotations as well as checking the preparedness of the system. Finally, he said that these early warning sirens will be linked to traffic signs on the main roads, appealing for citizens and residents not to be confused and to be calm and to listen to the instructions of the Civil Defense through official media when sirens are released. — KUNA

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Amir to visit Tunisia Tunisia, Kuwait have over 30 economic agreements TUNIS: The visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah to Tunisia later this month is expected to stress relations between the two countries in all fields. The visit of His Highness the Amir is in response to an invitation from Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The two countries’ relations remarkably strengthened in the past few years, especially after the visit of Ben Ali to Kuwait and his participation in the Arab Economic Summit in January 2009.

Trade between Kuwait and Tunisia noticeably developed in the first half of 2010 despite the effects of the world economic and financial crisis, through the increase on Tunisian exports to Kuwait. Along the past 40 years, cooperation between the two

countries’ developed in the fields of economy, tourism, education, health, technology, and science. Tunisia and Kuwait have over 30 joint economic agreements.

Three of the agreements were signed at the meetings of the fourth term of the TunisianKuwaiti joint technical trade agreement committee that were held in Tunisia last June.

The agreements were a cooperation protocol on attracting direct foreign investments, an administrative cooperation agreement regarding customs, and a memorandum of understanding about holding exhibitions.

Trade exchange between the two countries increased noticeably in the past few years. It increased from about $14 million in 2007 to around $100 mil-

lion in 2008. Kuwait comes in the 11th place in the list of Arab countries with the largest trade partnerships with Tunisia.

The Gulf state exports oil and oil derivatives to Tunisia and imports agricultural products. Kuwait’s investments in Tunisia started in 1976.

Statistics show that Kuwaiti investments in Tunisia value at USD 700 divided into 22 projects of government and private bodies in several fields like tourism, banking, services, real estate, and agriculture. Officials from the two countries discussed in recent meetings cooperation in attracting direct investments, customs exemption, and increasing trade exchange.

The meetings contributed in stressing trade relations, easing the transport of goods, and

developing the contributions of the private sector.

The two countries also cooperated in holding cultural, touristic, and commercial weeks and events. The Kuwaiti Education Ministry hired 132 new Tunisian teachers this year. The official discussed hiring Tunisians in the health sector in Kuwait.

The meeting of the higher joint committee that will be held in Tunisia in the end of 2010 will stress the ties furthermore.

Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) provided 31 loans to Tunisia, with a total value of KD139.4 million.

The loans were used to fund development projects in the fields of agriculture, irrigation, industry, energy, water, sewage, transportation, communication, and banking. — KUNA

Ample opportunities for US-Kuwait economic cooperation: US envoy

By Velina Nacheva KUWAIT: Kuwait’s $104 billion four-year development plan and the Obama administration’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double US exports worldwide in a period of five years, creates a host of opportunities for fostering the economic relationship between the two countries, an American envoy says. “We see opportunities to align with Kuwait on the Development Plan because there are some significant investment opportunities not only in the oil sector but also in infrastructure,” said the US Ambassador to Kuwait, Deborah Jones. Ambassador Jones made her comments at a press conference at the US Embassy in Bayan yesterday. She spoke on the occasion of her upcoming visit to the US as part of a delegation of US ambassadors with aspirations to highlight business opportunities in the region.

“We have always found Kuwait to be reliable economic and security partners,” she said, elaborating that there is room for further cooperation in the fields of the environment, healthcare, alternative energy, food and education. This month Jones will be visiting five US states - New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas. “My goal is to talk to companies about the opportunities and discuss the challenges of doing business in Kuwait,” she said. Her mission will be to discuss how to get projects and do business “that is mutually beneficial, sustainable and improves Kuwait’s infrastructure.” She added that projects that can improve health care, roads, diversify the economy with educational opportunities in Kuwait while giving opportunities to American businesses is an important part of her strategy.

Number s speak louder than wor ds She provided some figures on the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. US exports to Kuwait in the first seven months of 2010 were about 80 percent higher than they were during the same period last year, she said, pointing out that they have already approached almost a 92 percent increase compared to 2009. She added that Kuwait’s exports to the US have also recovered and she estimated them to be 72 percent higher than this same time period in 2009, already about 84 percent more than the total amount exported to the US last year.

While Kuwait sells about 200,000 barrels of oil a day to the US, Jones hopes that her visit to the US will bring bilateral relations beyond oil and gas and toward engaging in renewable and alternative energy initiatives. Taking the point further she said, “We want to improve and expand our cooperation in environmental trade, in environmental remediation and in green building, which we believe will be of great benefit to both countries.”

There is a lot of room for

KUWAIT: The US ambassador to Kuwait, Deborah Jones is seen addressing a press conference in the embassy’s premises in Bayan yesterday. growth when it comes to increasing access to health care in Kuwait. “Kuwait and the United States have shared health care issues, such as diabetes and heart disease,” she said, elaborating that cooperation in this field can be expanded either with treatment in the US or in Kuwait with high quality American products and services. The US ranks last among the large economies of the world in exporting as a percentage of our GDP, she said. “We don’t export to the extent that other countries do,” Jones stressed. “There is a lot of room for growth and it gives me a lot of incentive to look at the prospects for increasing our export opportunities in Kuwait,” she said.

Cooperation in the field of education will also top the agenda of the American envoy in the US. “Kuwait is a young country,” she said. “It has a young population. This young populations is going to need meaningful work and opportunities to be mentored and to partner and grow with these corporations.” Jones hopes to encourage partnerships that provide opportunities to educate and expand employment opportunities for young Kuwaitis.

Challenges “Kuwait is not an easy place, in some ways, to do business,” she said, further quoting

Kuwait’s ranking in “ease of doing business” as 61st in the world and fifth in the GCC. She pointed out that Saudi Arabia is the leader in the Arab World when it comes to the “ease of doing business,” ranking 13th in the world. “In fairness, even at 61st, Kuwait is still in the top third of all countries ranked by the World Bank. We think that there are still opportunities that we can promote,” she said.

A way to facilitate business exchange would be the creation of a special website. It would be great to see a website for companies in languages other than Arabic where companies can go to do one-stop shopping, Jones said. On that website, she said, the mega projects that have been announced would appear with their feasibility studies and provisional work plans or business plans. “In that way partners could go online and see what is happening,” she said. “That would certainly make it easier for American and other businesses.”

Welcoming the privatization bill and the recently approved Capital Authority law, she pointed out that many have questioned whether the privatization law will attract foreign investment. She added that some companies see it as problematic that the government retains veto power, whether it’s through the Parliament or some other gov-

ernment entity, and that there exists strong protections for employees that don’t allow them flexibility.

Cooperation “We think that there are things we can do while working together to improve the climate, to make Kuwait more attractive, because it is in our interest to see Kuwait grow and develop,” she said. “We want to be part of that partnership because we have been here on the ground and we want to stay on the ground. We want to reflect our strong security and political relationship with a strong commercial relationship as well.”

Currently, Kuwait and the US right now cooperate under the existing Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

When questioned about the obstacles that have halted FTA negotiation between Kuwait and the US, Jones explained that the Trade Promotion Authority - the authority that Congress gave to the executive branch to negotiate and conclude trade agreements, including the Free Trade Agreement - expired in July 2007 and hasn’t been renewed. “We don’t have the legal authority to pursue a Free Trade Agreement right now,” she said.

The view of Kuwait business Referring to conversations with local and American business people, she reiterated the need for economic reform. “Before there was oil there was business here,” Jones said, stressing that Kuwaitis have always been extraordinary entrepreneurs.

“The definition of an entrepreneur is a Kuwaiti. I think they’re known for being some of the sharpest, most talented traders and businessmen. This has been their life’s blood.”Stressing that Kuwaitis are the number one investor in other countries, with a total investment of $36 billion, she said that in the same period Kuwait attracted less than $600 million in foreign direct investment. She argued that Kuwait does not need capital and observed that “Kuwait needs development and the opportunity for human resource development for its young people and for its own markets internally.”

“Kuwait matters because it is a functioning and moderate country,” she said. “It plays a positive role, contributing to the peace process, to regional security, to financial security around the world with an educated population that is sophisticated enough to understand what’s going on.

We need partners like that everywhere.”

GCC to introduce new luggage-search system KUWAIT: The head of the Kuwaiti customs department official revealed on Monday that a new system for searching luggage and cargo is to be introduced across the Gulf states. Speaking at a press conference held yesterday to announce the inauguration of the 39th convention of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) customs departments, which opened yesterday, Kuwaiti customs head Ibrahim Al-Ghanim said that the new system would be different to the one put in place by the US Customs and Border Protection Service due to the high cost and other requirements of the latter.

Al-Ghanim said that delegates at the conference would discuss the creation of an electronic database shared among the six GCC member states in order to facilitate land cargo services and customs procedures, reported Al-Qabas. He also revealed that new classification codes are being introduced to categorize each commodity being transported in order to quickly assess any taxes to be paid or bans in place on the goods in question.

The senior customs official added that a number of studies are currently being carried out into proposals for a GCC-wide ‘openborders’ policy like the one in operation in the EU, which it is felt would enhance commercial trade between the member nations.

KUNA’s chairman in Riyadh RIYADH: KUNA Board Chairman and Director General Sheikh Mubarak Duaij AlIbrahim Al-Sabah visited yesterday the KUNA’s office in AlSulaimania neighborhood here as part of his efforts to develop the agency’s offices abroad. The office’s director Abdulrazzaq AlHezami briefed Al-Sabah on work at the office and the mechanisms to cover activities and events in Saudi Arab in a way that stresses the relations between the kingdom and Kuwait. Al-Sabah praised the efforts of the office in covering events and strengthening relations with Kuwait Embassy. He called workers at the office to open more communication channels with Saudi media bodies and to stress relations with Kuwaiti media bodies to exchange expertise. He highlighted that the Gulf media had a significant role in spreading awareness to develop Gulf societies through covering regional and international developments and events. On his part, AlHezami expressed happiness for Al-Sabah’s visit. Al-Sabah was accompanies during the visit by Director General of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Abdullah Al-Hussein, director of the office of KUNA’s director general Naief Al-Otaibi, and head of KUNA’s international relations department Isam Al-Riwayeh.

Al-Sabah visited several Saudi media and press bodies including SPA. Al-Saqubi presents credentials RIYADH: Kuwait’s Consul General to Jeddah Saleh Ali AlSaqubi met yesterday with Saudi Foreign ministry Director General Ambassador Mohammad Al-Tayib and presented his credentials as the Consul General. After the meeting, Al-Saqubi said about his keenness to support bilateral relations between the two countries, noting that he will relentlessly bolster cooperation to benefit the people of both countries in all fields. Al-Saqubi conveyed during his meeting greetings by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti government. The Kuwaiti diplomat shed light on the importance of Saudi-Kuwaiti bilateral relations, including efforts exerted by both countries’ leaderships to boost and develop such relations.

Al-Saqubi expressed gratitude on behalf of Kuwait to the Saudi leadership and people for their stance and support of Kuwait, particularly during the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

The meeting was also attended

by Kuwait’s Deputy Consul General to Jeddah Sultan AlSubaiee.

Health Minister depart s Cairo CAIRO: Kuwait’s Minister of Health Dr Hilal Al-Sayer yesterday concluded his visit to Cairo where he took part in the 57th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean. The minister expressed Kuwait’s keenness to partake in such events and gathering which convene once every year and discuss various health issues on the regional and international arena. Al-Sayer added that Kuwait took part in various discussions on the working papers reviewed during the

four-day session, and did contribute to devising and activating of health policies of the region which comes in line with the conditions and needs of its countries. The session also shed light on a number of reports including the smoking fighting initiative in light of the increasing legislations in the countries of this region on combating cigarette smoking and an another report on strengthening the existing health system based on the primary health care as well as a report on the latest developments in the field of eliminating polio, Al-Sayer said.

Developing comput er crimes legislat ions vit al DOHA: Acting Attorney General Dherar Al-Asousi yesterday, stressed the need to develop legislations on computer crimes. The statement of AlAsousi to KUNA came on the sidelines of his participation in the fourth Conference of Arab Heads of Public Prosecutions that was held on Monday.

People who commit electronic crimes are in continuous development, which requires frequent update of legal legislations to reduce such crimes, he added.

He pointed out that the definition of “terrorism” was still discussed at the fourth meeting, adding that a clear definition was needed. Kuwait will present at the conference a paper on crimes of corruption and the abuse of public money, he said, adding that he thinks the paper will interest many participants.

He praised the Arab relations and Gulf Public Prosecutions, indicating that it is important that they cooperate without resorting to diplomatic relations. The conference, which was concluded yesterday, discussed information theft, mechanisms to strengthen cooperation between Arab Public Prosecution bodies, crimes using credit cards, intellectual property rights, and the possession of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Representative of 17 Arab countries also discussed fighting corruption and terrorism crimes.

COMCEC meetings important ANKARA: Kuwait’s Ambassador to Turkey Abdullah Al-Thuwaikh has stressed the importance of the meetings of the 26th session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (COMCEC), which began in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday.

Ambassador AlThuwaikh, who is also the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Turkey said that the meetings are important because of the significant issues being discussed by those participating, including the Kuwaiti delegation, headed

by Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali. The participants are expected to discuss several issues, including a program aiming to achieve economic integration amongst the member states, he said. The ambassador asserted that, as a COMCEC member, is keen to ensure the success of the meetings, with the Kuwaiti leadership enthusiastic about stressing Islamic solidarity. Economic cooperation between Islamic countries is vital, especially since large economic blocs are becoming prominent, he emphasized.

Dear citizens and expatriates, Your cooperation with police and traffic officials helps to maintain a smooth flow of road traffic.

— With the compliments of the Ministry of Interior’s security media department

natiOnal

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Child molester arrested KUWAIT: The janitor of a building in Hawally was arrested after he attempted to rape a child living in the same building, reported Al-Watan.

The man tried to force the 10year-old girl into his room soon after her father dropped her off from school. However, an Asian woman who lives in the same building realized the man’s intentions and helped the girl escape. She called the girl’s parents and police responded to the scene of the incident. The Egyptian was arrested and referred to the proper authorities.

Addicts caught A citizen was arrested for being in possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia in Qurtoba, reported Al-Watan.

The suspect was arrested after his vehicle was searched at a police checkpoint and he was found to be in possession of heroin as well as being under the influence of alcohol.

An investigation of his identification revealed that he was wanted for several previous offenses. He was referred to the proper authorities.

In an unrelated incident, an Egyptian expat was found to be in possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia in Hawally, reported Al-Watan.

When questioned, he told police that he was on his way to his apartment where he was planning to use the drugs.

He was referred to the proper authorities.

Home robbery Thieves broke into a citizen’s home in Naeem and stole the KD23,000 he had stored in a safe in his bedroom, reported Al-Watan. As soon as he realized that he had been robbed, the citizen informed police of the incident. Authorities are still searching for the suspect.

He was brought to Jahra Hospital.

Failed assault An Arab construction worker was arrested after he attempted to sexually assault a female citizen, reported AlRai. The laborer was hired to work at a residence in Saad AlAbdullah by a housewife and tried to assault the woman while she was watching over his work. He tried to flee the scene after his attempted assault failed and was later picked up by police after they tracked his phone number. He was referred to the proper authorities after his intended victim was able to identify him as her attacker.

Burglary gang busted A gang of six Arab burglars were arrested after an investigation revealed that they were responsible for 17 cases of theft in Shuwaikh and Farwaniya, reported Al-Rai. The investigators were able to apprehend the whole group after they caught one of them in Shuwaikh. They were referred to the proper authorities after admitting their guilt.

Bootlegger caught A Bangladeshi man was recently arrested for selling alcohol and drugs, reported Al-Anba. An investigation was launched by authorities after they received information regarding a bootlegger who was selling imported vodka and whisky. The man unknowingly sold the liquor to a police informant and an additional ten bottles of liquor, as well as hashish, were found in his residence. When questioned, the culprit admitted to be working for a Bangladeshi man who imports the supplies illegally from Iraq. An investigation was launched in pursuit of the suspect.

Accident

Fiancé fooled

A 6-year-old child sustained several injuries after he was struck by a speeding car in Amayer, reported AlWatan. The incident occurred in the parking lot of a mall while the child was heading toward his family’s vehicle.

A Sri Lankan man filed a case with the Fahaheel police station informing them that his Sri Lankan fiancé of three months stopped talking to him after he gave her KD400 cash and jewelry as a dowry. An investigation was launched.

5

Canada showcases colleges, universities at exhibition Number of students from Gulf growing rapidly

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: About 1,000 students from Gulf countries are enjoying an academic life in Canada and the number is rapidly growing, said a Canadian embassy official during the university and colleges fair held at the Marina Hotel on Monday.

Martin Barratt, Canadian Commercial Attache to Kuwait, noted that both parents and students trust Canadian education. “The value and quality of the education we offer surpasses expectations,” Barratt said. “We have excellent facilities, we have a beautiful environment and the top universities and schools offering the best of education in Canada. Our fees are not that high and are very competitive compared to other countries offering the same services.”

About 20 leading colleges and universities participated in a four-hour exhibition in the hotel’s lobby, attended by hundreds of prospective students accompanied by their parents. Monday’s event, which was graced by the presence of Canadian Ambassador Reid Henry, was fifth on their list of annual exhibitions they hold every October or November in almost all the major cities in the Middle East. “We brought them here to enlighten students and parents and give them more options,” Barratt said. “We are giving them a rare opportunity to talk to school administrators and officials face-to-face and ask about their programs in order to help them decide what colleges are best for their needs,” he said. He added that Canadian students can enjoy access to the most sophisticated, up-to-date technologies and facilities. “In Canada, students don’t just enjoy their academic preferences but also life in a free and welcoming society in a diverse community.”

Omar Maher Sabouny visited the exhibition with his mother. He said that studying in Canada was a dream that he wanted to fulfill one day. “My parents lived in Canada,” he said, “they are Canadian citizens but they are here working and applying their Canadian education in Kuwait.

They told me to study in Canada so, for me, it’s like going back to my real home,” he said. Yara Hadi, another prospective student, was visiting the exhibition with her three classmates, all of them seniors in

KUWAIT: Canadian Ambassador to Kuwait Reid Henry talking with Mark Eichhorst (seated) and Martin Barratt at the start of the event on Monday. (Right) Some of the universities officials welcoming prospective students with their parents at the lobby of Marina Hotel during the exhibition. —Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh high school. “We are all searching for the best university,” she said. “They have programs that I really like so perhaps I’ll enroll in Canada. Besides, Canada welcomes Muslim students. They are not so critical of Islam, unlike other countries, so I think I will probably enroll in one of them.”

The exhibition was organized by the

Canadian Embassy, under the Middle Eastern Education Initiative of 2010. Mark Eichhorst, a Counselor currently based in Abu-Dhabi, was the main coordinator of the Middle East Initiative. According to Eichhorst student visas are easily secured provided they all have valid passports and acceptance from any universities in Canada. “Visas can be easily secured with-

in six weeks of receiving an approved application,” he assured.

The universities and colleges that participated in the festival include the University of Alberta, Alexander College, Algoma University, Carleton University, Canadian Bureau for International Education, Columbia vCollege, Dalhousie University, University of Fraser Valley,

Lethbridge College, Memorial University, Ocanagan College, Ryerson University, Seneca College, Sheridan College, Vancouver Island University, University of Victoria, University of Waterloo, University of Windsor and York University. For more information about studying in Canada, please visit the website www.educationau-incanada.ca.

High demand drives oil prices up KUWAIT: Two Kuwaiti oil experts attributed the recent upward trend of prices to several factors relating to the outlook of the world economy. The prices gained more than two US dollars per barrel in the run-up to the conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due in Vienna on October 14, Moussa Ma’rafi noted in statement to KUNA here.

“The meeting is unlikely to change the output ceiling adopted by the global cartel in 2008 when the key producers decided to trim production by 4.2 million barrels a day,” he pointed out.

“This great decision helped curb the

slide of the oil prices and keep the prices within the USD 70-80 pb range which is fair for both consumers and produces,” Ma’rafi recalled. “The OPEC members were 75 percent committed to their respective output quotas but the ratio of commitment declined recently to 50 percent.

“Among all members Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the most compliant with the quotas. “Some non-OPEC countries including Russia manipulated the decision of cartel and increased their output, thus pushing the oil prices down in early 2010,” Ma’refi said, noting that Russia’s output topped 11 million bar-

rels a day. The prices started to revive in the second half of the year driven by the traders’ upbeat about the outlook of the world economy and the growth of demand. “The prices will break the USD 83 pb barrier by the end of October and then slide down to $60-70 pb this winter which will be warmer by two degrees Celsius than the previous winter. The wavering prices will remain until mid 2011,” he predicted.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Al-Shatti, another oil expert, said the economic data particularly relating to the oil inventories in the world’s major consumers such as United States and China helped boost the prices recently.

“The growth of manufacturing industries and auto sales in China sent upbeat message to oil dealers. China’s oil consumption doubled from 4.4 million barrels a day in August 2009 to 9.4 million barrels year on year. “The US GDP exceeded previous expectations, thus curbing the unemployment claims.

These positive factors, coupled with the decline of exchange rate of the US dollar vis-a-vis major currencies, drove up the oil prices,” Al-Shatti added. The price of Kuwait crude hit $75.39 pb on Thursday compared with $73.52 pb early last week while OPEC’s basket of twelve crudes went up from $75.06 to $77.48 pb in the same period. —KUNA

6 MCI acts to prevent fish prices increase

NATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Fishermen slam PAAAFR over restrictions KUWAIT: While investigations continue into allegations that local firms have stockpiled supplies of tomatoes in order to increase demand and raise prices, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) is working to address supply shortages in seafoods which could see the prices of fish and other seafoods increasing in a similar manner. The ministry has already held a number of meetings with various bodies to discuss the rising prices of seafoods at local markets, it explained in a statement, adding that it will take prompt measures to ensure that sufficient supplies are provided in cooperation with other consumer protection agencies.

Fishermen themselves, however, insist that their “terrible working conditions” are reflected in their poor catches, which ultimately lead to a supply shortage. Speaking to Al-Rai, local fishermen were highly critical of what they called the “tyrannical decisions” made by the Public Authority of Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR), indicating that they face numerous restrictions and draconian punishments for any infringement of regulations. The men said that they are fearful of incur-

ring severe penalties such as having their fishing licenses revoked, their boats seized or even their citizenship stripped from them simply for overfishing or otherwise contravening PAAAFR regulations.

They also bitterly criticized the authority’s failure to pay them the KD 500 subsidy each was due to receive two years ago, as well as its recent demolition of a fishermen’s cabin in Doha.

The fishermen also said that heavy overfishing by Iraqi and Iranian trawlers in Gulf waters is also having a massive impact on fish stocks in Kuwaiti waters. On a separate issue, the Kuwait Union for Consumer Cooperative Societies (KUCCS) invited members of the Union of Food Importers to a meeting that took place yesterday to discuss ways of reducing the prices of imported food items sold in local Co-ops.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Mohammad Al-Jabri, the head of the KUCCS’ price monitoring committee, indicated that several suppliers who had increased the cost of their produce in an unjustifiable manner had failed to discuss the issue beforehand with the committee.

MoH pronounces Similac supply safe KUWAIT: Kuwait’s stocks of the Similac powdered baby milk formula are entirely safe, having been produced in Europe, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) spokesman on Monday, after concerns were raised over the withdrawal of US-produced stocks of the formula from the Saudi market.

Dr Omar Al-Saeed Omar, the MoH Assistant Undersecretary for Medication and Medical Equipment Affairs, was speaking after the Saudi Food and Drug Authority banned the sale of the powdered baby milk in Saudi Arabia over con-

cerns of contamination.

This followed reports carried by the Reuters news agency, stating that the manufacturers, Abbott Laboratories, had announced the recall of around five million units of Similac, its topselling brand, last months.

The recall was limited to stocks in the US, Puerto Rico, Guam and Caribbean nations.

Dr Omar further indicated that MoH officials are working with their counterparts at Kuwait Municipality on a joint statement regarding the Similac recall in response to quell consumers’ concerns.

Al-Motahid launches ‘Shari’ah and Pleasant Treatment’ fraught with charity and human activities and several social contributions and sponsorships, represented in providing the financial and moral support to several miscellaneous institutions, along with the various volunteering actions taken up by the Public Relations Work Team in support of the groups which need special care in the society, including sick people, old age persons, and special needy persons.

Al-Motahid is one of the pioneers in support and patronage of many and several social events. This reflects the Bank’s desire to stress its communication with all groups in the society to assume its social and human role in no less than the success of its role it undertakes as one of the most inveterate economic institution in Kuwait established in 1941. Ahli United Bank is going through its campaign and making it successful, based on its keenness to support the various activities and affairs in the society; including the educational issues, health, cultural, sports, and other issues in the context of its message aimed at servicing the society.

KUWAIT: In the framework of its social responsibility and persistent interaction with the social issues, which symbolizes its bountiful course of action extended for over 69 years, Al-Motahid launched a campaign titled, “Shari’ah and Pleasant Treatment”, which started at the beginning of the last holy month of Ramadan when AlMotahid erected a large Ramadan Tent beside the Bank headquarter which was attended by considerable number of more than 1000 fasters, along with the organization supervised by volunteers from the Bank staff.

As such, in the context of AlMotahid campaign “Shari’ah and Pleasant Treatment”, Al-Motahid distributed cold mineral water bottles in different locations in the country where large number of visitors gathered, of which are the frequenters of the Ministries Complex, Masajed, the Liberation Tower, Hawally Passports Department and other public areas.

Worth mentioning, Al-Motahid, within its concerns in assuming its social responsibility, it holds programs

NBK ‘main sponsor’ of 2nd Kuwait Financial Forum

Kuwait to host 2nd meeting of GCC standing committee KUWAIT: Head of Fatwa and Legislation Department Sheikh Mohammad Mohammad AlSabah said yesterday that Kuwait will host the second meeting of the standing committee for legislation chiefs at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab states on Oct 1213. Sheikh Mohammad said in a statement to KUNA that the meeting will gain special importance as it will discuss some legislative affairs that aim to provide a single legislative base in various fields based on joint cooperation and in what ensures the interests of GCC states. He added that the meeting will also mull the working papers presented by the member states dealing with many topics that aim to ease the difficulties that face the legislative process in the GCC states.

The working paper that will be submitted by the Fatwa and Legislation Department in the State of Kuwait will includes a guide book for formulating legislations that was supervised by Undersecretary of the Fatwa

and Legislation Department Hoda Al-Shaiji, he explained.

He pointed out that the guide book was prepared by a working team at the legislation department charged with following up the implementation of the decisions made by the standing committee for the heads of legislation departments at the GCC states chaired by Dr Fahad Al-Afasi.

He said that this meeting comes at the decision made by the GCC Ministerial Council, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 9 and was chaired by president of the current session, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. The top Kuwaiti diplomat accepted the recommendation made by the officials of legislation departments at the GCC states, which includes holding periodical meetings for the GCC legislation departments under the umbrella of the GCC General Secretariat. — KUNA

VIVA Launches 2nd phase of ‘Small To Big’ project

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUWAIT: Kuwaiti telecom firm VIVA on Monday launched the second phase of its ‘Small To Big’ campaign, conceived in conjunction with the King’s College University in London, England, at the Marina Mall. The event, organized by the Pink Coffee marketing and PR group, was held to mark the launch of the second phase of the project, explained Omar Al-Houthi, VIVA’s Corporate Communications Director. He revealed that the project was ranked twenty-second among a number of campaigns co-organized by the world’s most prestigious universities offering business programs.

Speaking at the press conference held during the launch, AlHouthi said, “By presenting this opportunity through King’s College University - London, VIVA Kuwait guarantees the transparency of the project and its ability to provide participants with an academic curriculum to establish successful and competitive projects for the international market.”

He emphasized the tremendous importance which VIVA accords the new project, which has acquired an essential degree of academic credibility that further develops and improves the Small To Big project, making it even more flexible and tailored to participants’ requirements. The second phase of the Small To Big project builds on the immense success of last year’s first phase, which saw experts and specialists in various corporate fields providing small businesses with technical support and information resources in order to develop their strengths.

Anna Alexopolou

Thomas Kontogeorgis

Radisson Blu Hotel hosts Greek Opera musicians

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Opera lovers are invited to attend a special Greek concert next Friday, October 8, at 8:00 pm at the Radisson Blu Hotel- Hashemi II Grand Ballroom. The concert will feature famous Greek songs performed by renowned Greek artists Anna Alexopolou on vocals accompanied by Thomas Kontogeorgis on the piano.

A press conference was held yesterday at the Radisson Blu Hotel to provide more information about the upcoming event. The Ambassador of Greece, Constantin Drakakis, provided the history of some famous composers and artists of Greece and the art form they invented more than 50 years ago.

Anna Alexopolou studied at the National Conservatory in Athens, the famous New York Juilliard School of Music and Washington DC’s American University. She also was awarded scholarships from the prestigious Fullbright and Onasis Foundations. Anna made her debut at Avery Fisher Hall, New York Lincoln Center and made her way into some of the most well known American concert hall opera houses and orchestras.

She presented her talent in many countries in Europe, including Germany, Chile, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Cyprus, Ukraine and Asia.

In Greece she took part in many

famous festivals and special events and demonstrated the range of her talents in the movie ‘The Return of Odysseus’ where she performs as a soprano vocalist, actress and pianist.

She has also records several CDs and programs for radio and television.

Thomas Kontogeorgis also studied at the National Conservatory in Athens and Budapest. He was an active musician, a pianist, accompanist, conductor, music director, composer, arranger and pedagogue. He also established the well known Quintet ‘TANGartO.’ Since 2002 he has collaborated with Hellenic Radio and TV and has recorded with several prominent Greek musicians. The Kuwait Chamber Philharmonic (KCP) announced the concert as the opening concert of the season. It will be held under the patronage of the Ambassador of Greece with the support of Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The concert will include famous Greek songs and compositions from such leading composers as M Theodorakis, M Hadjidakis, S Xsarhakos as well as works by G Gershwin, D Ellington or F Loewe.

The event’s major sponsors are KCP, AKTOR SA Kuwait and EDRASI Middle East. The Sponsors of the Season are GAC Kuwait, Tanagra, SNR Denton and Co, the Radisson Blu Hotel, the British School of Kuwait, the Kuwait English School and the

English School of Fahaheel. Tickets are available at the Radisson Blu Hotel at KD 6 for adults and KD 4 for students. For more information please call 2575-6000.

There will be additional events held throughout the season. On November 13 the Final Symphonic Concert of the 2010 Chopin Program in the Gulf will be performed by Julia Kociuban - a pianist and multiple Grand Prix prize winner with the KCP Frederic Chopin Orchestra. The event will be held under the patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Also, on December 4 there will be a Special violin recital by Olga Guy, the President of the European Soloists Association, held under the patronage of the Ambassador of Belgium.

The following events are scheduled to take place during Spring next year:- February 19 - A concert by Marouan Benabdallah, a LebaneseFrench pianist from Paris. -March 19 A celebration of the 200th anniversary of romantic genius Franz Liszt. - May 21 - A concert by Dutch Pianist and winner of Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels 2010 Hannes Minnaar. - June 11 - A festival of young musicians titled ‘Treasure of Talents’ with Special Guests and outstanding Australian soloists musicians

Letters to Muna Al-Fuzai Hi Muna,

I

am wondering about adoption in Kuwait. Is the orphanage you mentioned just for Muslim children or are there other children there also. The reason I ask is because I understand that Muslim children can’t be adopted but, perhaps, Christian or other kinds of children can. Do you have any knowledge of this? I am an American and am interested in eventually adopting a girl. I would also be interested in knowing the condi-

tions of the orphanages you speak of and where it is located. Perhaps you could write more about these orphanages.

Sincerely, Cindy, USA Dear Muna, I read your article about Sara in the newspaper and her plight is indeed sad.

The Kuwait Government should allow couples or single parents to adopt such children and give incentives to adopting couples. For example, if an adopting

couple is Kuwaiti then they should be given the same benefits as though the child were Kuwaiti. If the adopting couple or individual are expats then they should at least be given free residence for the child as long as the child is in Kuwait. These are just a few options that I think the government should consider.

Regards, Marina muna@kuwaittimes.net

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) will be the main sponsor of the Kuwait Financial Forum due to be held under the patronage of HH the Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah on November 1 and 2, 2009. The conference is organized by AlIktisad Wal-Aamal Group in cooperation with the Kuwait Central Bank and the Kuwait Bank Association.

Commenting on the event, Manal AlMattar, Public Relations and Advertising executive manager at NBK said that NBK’s sponsorship of this event comes in alignment with the bank’s ongoing policy of supporting all national economic activities, notably the events organized or patronized by the Central Bank of Kuwait and geared towards highlighting and discussing pressing topics and issues of the hour in addition to reflecting a positive image of the Kuwaiti financial and banking sectors.

“The forum will discuss a number of pressing topics and issues that have direct relevance to the unprecedented challenges faced by the Arab economies as a result of the international financial crisis as well as the impact of the changes brought forth by the international economic and financial crisis on the economic growth trends and stimulant strategies in addition to discussing the best means to developing new regulatory paradigms for financial and banking markets and the need for new international financial institutions”, Al-Mattar added.

Given its importance and timing, the forum is expected to attract the participation of a host of Arab finance ministers and central banks governors as well as heads and executive managers of most banks and financial institutions in the Arab world in addition to managers of international banks active in the region, Islamic banks and economists and banking experts.

Criticisms mount as KCCI row rages KUWAIT: As criticism mounts over the parliamentary finance and economic committee’s failure to consult the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (KCCI) management board before drafting a bill introducing new governing legislation for the body, recent reports are questioning the committee’s actions, indicating that the parliament has always dealt with the KCCI as an independent entity which should be consulted in such matters.

An article in Monday’s Al-Qabas cited several official documents issued by National Assembly (parliament) Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, Deputy Speaker Abdullah Al-Roumi and former speaker and current finance committee member MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun, all of which contain invitations to the KCCI, asking it to send a representative to attend different parliamentary committee meetings. The article goes on to state that these documents strongly suggest that the parliament has always recognized the KCCI’s legitimacy as an independent body.

Some of the documents obtained by the paper date back as far as 1986, during the period of Al-Saadoun’s 14-year tenure as NA Speaker, which ran from 1985 until 1999. This makes it all the more surprising, the article points out, that Al-Saadoun is currently at the helm of the parliamentary efforts to “correct the current illegal status of the KCCI.” Among the documents is one from AlSaadoun dated January 29, 1986, in which he asks for a KCCI representative to attend a meeting to discuss the public sector labor legislation of the time. Another, dated May 22, 1986 and again signed by Al-Saadoun, requests the presence of a KCCI representative to attend a discussion of the legislation governing the Public Authority for Industry, while a

third letter from Al-Saadoun, dated April 19, 1999, invites a KCCI representative to attend legislation on property leasing.

The current NA Speaker Jassem AlKhorafi, who was elected to the position after Al-Saadoun and has been regularly reelected since, has issued several invitations to the KCCI inviting representatives of the body to attend parliamentary committee meetings.

Even the finance and economics committee itself is on record as inviting a KCCI representative to attend a meeting on September 26 this year to provide details on legislation concerning the Central Tenders Committee (CTC).

Despite all this, however, the finance committee has failed to invite any KCCI officials to attend any of its meetings at which the KCCI-related draft bill was devised or discussed. MP Adel Al-Sarawi has criticized his parliamentary colleagues who are members of the finance committee for their failure to consult any KCCI board members on the controversial new bill, calling for the board members to be given an opportunity to review the bill before it is submitted to parliament for consideration.The principal target of AlSarawi’s criticism was the way in which the committee had “overlooked the KCCI’s historic role in the economic and political sectors” in Kuwait. The veteran MP added that the KCCI board members have always supported those politicians who pushed for the full implementation of the Kuwaiti constitution. Al-Sarawi also asserted that the explanatory memorandum attached to the parliamentary finance committee’s draft bill contains several accusations against the KCCI. He added, “With all due respect, the memorandum looks more like a vengeful statement than a list of recommendations to enhance the KCCI’s work.”

INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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Opposition leader seeks referendum on Ahmadinejad TEHRAN: Iran’s opposition leader said yesterday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s foreign policies are destructive and his performance as president should be judged in a referendum. Mir Hossein Mousavi said the president’s actions on the world stage, such as a speech at the UN last month in which he questioned 9/11, have helped deepen Iran’s isolation and worsen its economy.

“Who has given you the permission to put the country against the entire world

through adventurism and dictatorship that has led to the current grave economic and political situation?” Mousavi said on his website, Kaleme.com. “Don’t cry hurray for yourself. Hold a referendum to see whether the people recognize these destructive policies or not.” The pro-reform politician, who ran against Ahmadinejad in last year’s election, is at the head of an opposition movement in disarray and left hobbled by a crackdown on protesters, activists and reformist politicians.

Mousavi, whose office was raided and surrounded by security forces for days last month, can do little more than issue challenging rhetoric on his website in an attempt to keep rank-and-file activists inspired and encourage Iranian government opponents living abroad. In his latest remarks, Mousavi attacked the Iranian president’s speech at the UN and accused Ahmadinejad of trying to win points in the Arab world with such provocative statements at the expense of Iran’s people.

During his speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ahmadinejad said a majority of people in the U.S. and around the world believe the American government staged the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. The speech drew a strong rebuke from President Barack Obama. “We may hear cries of hurray at coffee shops in some Arab countries, but the real effect of the speech will be felt more everyday ... in the market and the national economy,” Mousavi said.

Mousavi claims he was the rightful winner of the 2009 election but that he was robbed of victory through fraud. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians protested the official results. Mousavi said Iran’s elites have either been jailed or sidelined despite Ahmadinejad’s claims at the UN that his political opponents are free. In the postelection crackdown, more than 80 demonstrators were killed and hundreds of activists and pro-reform figures were arrested.

The government, which puts the number of confirmed deaths at 30, accuses opposition leaders of being “stooges of the West” and of seeking to topple the ruling system through street protests.

Mousavi argues that some in the clerical establishment _ which came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi _ have increasingly become corrupt and strayed from the revolution’s original ideals. —AP

Gunmen kill crime lab chief in northern Iraq US, Iraqi speculate that strikes seek to discredit the Shiite-led govt BAGHDAD: Gunmen in the northern Ira qi city of Mosul ambushed and killed the director of the city’s crime lab yesterday in the latest targeted killing of security officials a nd government w orkers around Ira q, police said. A w ave of bombings and shootings have hit Baghda d and elsew here

RAMALLAH: Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad receives a banana from a shopkeeper during a visit to the Al-Amari refugee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah, along with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge (L) yesterday. —AFP

Gunmen blocked the car of Col Mohammed Aziz near his home in Mosul and opened fire with weapons fitted with silencers, police officials said. Near the southern city of Najaf, meanwhile, a parked motorcycle packed with explosives exploded as a US military patrol passed, security officials said. There were no casualties reported.

The US military did not immediately provide details of the reported attack.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials met with US business envoys as part of the first high-level American trade delegation to Iraq in more than 30 years.

Iraq has been desperate to court foreign investment, but many companies and governments have been cautious because of security worries, corruption and the political limbo after the March elections.

Deputy Prime Minister, Roj Nouri Shawis, tried to assure the delegates that Iraq has made “successes” against insurgents and bureaucratic snags to investment. The US trade delegation included Boeing Co., General Electric Co. and 12 other companies.

The visit is sponsored by the US Commerce Department.

—AP

Syria’s Assad, Shiite leader call for Iraq unity government DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a joint call yesterday with visiting Iraqi Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim for a national unity govern-

ment to be formed in Iraq. Assad and Hakim discussed “the ongoing dialogue between the various parliamentary blocs to find a solution to the formation of an

DAMASCUS: A hand out photograph made available by Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) yesterday, shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) meeting with visiting Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader Ammar Al-Hakim. — AFP

Iraqi government,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Both sides stressed the “importance of forming a national unity government that represents all Iraqi people,” it added. Hakim, who heads the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, is from the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) election coalition which came third in Iraq’s March 7 legislative poll. Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi premier and head of the secular Iraqiya bloc, held similar talks with the Syrian president in late September.

Iraq’s main Shiite parliamentary bloc chose incumbent Nuri al-Maliki, Allawi’s bitter rival for the post of premier, as its candidate for the position on Friday. The announcement by the National Alliance, which remains short of an absolute majority in the 325-member Council of Representatives, was seen as the first sign of hope in months of a new government since the inconclusive elections. Maliki’s State of Law Alliance finished second in the polls, two seats behind the Iraqiya bloc, but neither had the 163 seats needed for a majority to form a government on its own. In May, Maliki joined forces with Hakim’s INA bloc to form the National Alliance. —AFP

Ahmadinejad taunts West to put more pressure on Iran TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenged the West yesterday to put more pressure on Iran, which he said would fail to make any impact on the Islamic republic or its atomic program.

Ahmadinejad, in an address to the people of the northeastern province of Golestan, said that during a trip he made last month to the United States, people there “were insisting that the sanctions have affected us.” “And I, on your behalf, insisted and told them ‘The sanc-

tions have had no effect, and whatever the heck you want to do in the next two years, do it now so we see what you are capable of’,” he said in the speech broadcast live on state television.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials repeatedly dismiss the effects of sanctions imposed on Tehran for pursuing its atomic programme. The United Nations Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions against Iran on June 9, which were followed by

tougher measures from the United States, the European Union and some other countries.

The West led by Washington suspects that Iran is seeking to make atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge denied by Tehran. Ahmadinejad visited New York last month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, where he infuriated Washington by raising questions over the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States. — AFP

in the recent w eeks bla med on Sunni insurgents. US and Ira qi officia ls specula te that the pinpoint strikes seek to discredit the Shiite-led government after a seven-month political standstill follow ing parlia ment elections in Ma rch.

Hezbollah, Syria seek to discredit Hariri tribunal BEIRUT: Hezbollah and its ally Syria are mounting a campaign to undermine the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by raising doubts about the court’s neutrality ahead of indictments expected to accuse members of the Shiite militant group in the killing.

Many Lebanese fear that turmoil could erupt in the fragile country if the Netherlands-based court accuses Hezbollah, which boasts Lebanon’s strongest armed force and is a partner in a unity government with pro-Hariri parties.

There are worries that indictments could cause the government to collapse or spark clashes between the Shiite fighters and Hariri’s mainly Sunni allies. The case has already opened tensions within the government, which is led by Hariri’s son Saad.

Hezbollah and its allies have pressured the

government to stop cooperation with the tribunal, a step Saad Hariri has rejected.

Now, Syria and Hezbollah have stepped up attempts to discredit the tribunal, contending that “false witnesses” who gave misleading or fabricated testimony to UN investigators have irretrievably poisoned the case. This week, Syria’s judiciary issued arrest warrants against 33 people for allegedly misleading the investigation, among them figures close to Saad Hariri, including his media adviser, several judges, senior security officers and journalists working in Hariri-owned media outlets.

“By highlighting the case of false witnesses and other mistakes in the investigation, its opponents have succeeded in creating doubts over the tribunal’s credibility,” said Fadia Kiwan, a political science professor at Beirut’s St. Joseph University.

Beyond seeking to discredit the court,

the warrants could also further enflame the two sides in Lebanon , since the implication is that Hariri’s allies tried to frame Syria or Hezbollah in the killing.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri recently acknowledged that false witnesses “misled the investigation ... damaged LebaneseSyrian relations and politicized the investigation.” But the government has not moved to put them on trial. The UN-appointed prosecutor has insisted that testimony from false witnesses will not contribute to the indictments. The tribunal could issue indictments as early as this month. Tribunal officials have not yet named any individuals or countries as suspects, but Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has said he expects members of his group to be indicted. He dismissed the tribunal as an Israeli plot and vowed not to hand anyone over for prosecution. —AP

internAtiOnAL

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

UN official denies she has role representing Earth LONDON: Yes, she heads the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. No, she has not been appointed to represent the Earth in future negotiations with aliens. That’s the word from Mazlan Othman, who yesterday debunked British press reports indicating she would be Earth’s ambassador to beings from outer space if they land in “Take me to your leader” mode. Still, it’s appar-

ent she kind of likes the idea. “I think it’s cool, but no, I am not about to be appointed the ambassador to aliens,” Othman said yesterday before speaking at a Royal Society conference dealing with extraterrestrial life.

The issue of Othman’s possible role as a point person for aliens was raised nine days ago by the Sunday Times in London, which reported that the UN was poised

to give Othman the position. The Office for Outer Space Affairs, based in Vienna, quickly released a statement calling the story “nonsense.” Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, said yesterday it would make sense for the United Nations and its member states to study the important question of who should represent humanity if aliens do come to this planet. She said she does not know who should

be in charge but thinks a protocol should be put in place.

“All I have been saying is that there are many forums for such discussions and the UN is, of course, one of those forums that can be used,” she said. “I am not saying that the UN must be used.”

UFO expert Nick Pope, who advised Britain’s Ministry of Defense on extraterrestrial life, said it would be logical to make

contingency plans because life beyond the planet Earth could be discovered at any time. “We need to start thinking about the question of who speaks for Planet Earth,” he said. “That is precisely what the Royal Society has been discussing for the last two days.

There is quite a lot of controversy about it.” He said there is no clear legal procedure in place, and obviously no precedent, which could

lead to chaos if contact is made.

“My view is that it will be eventsled,” he said.

UN officials said yesterday they could not answer “hypothetical” questions about what would happen if aliens sought a contact person on Earth. The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs is charged with promoting international cooperation in the peaceful use of outer space and maintains the UN’s

detailed register of satellite launches. It also helps formulate laws and principles governing the use of outer space. The office does not have a formal role in making contingency plans in case of alien contact. Othman said plans are not important if astronomers are able to use sophisticated equipment to find life on another planet, but could become vital if aliens come to Earth. —AP

McGuinness calls bombers ‘Neanderthals’

IRA dissident car bomb hits Londonderry area DUBLIN: A dissident Irish Republican Army car bomb damaged a hotel, bank and other businesses but caused no injuries yesterday in the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry, the sixth such attack this year in the British territory. Analysts

said the middle-of-the-night blast, which blew out window frames and glass in several buildings, doing particular damage to the bank , appeared to have been timed to undermine the city’s major Sinn Fein politician, Martin McGuinness.

LONDONDERRY: Police forensic officers search the area near to where a car-bomb exploded outside the Ulster Bank, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, yesterday. —AFP

Nigeria ex-militant leader fears for life JOHANNESBURG : A Nigerian militant suspect being held on terror charges in South Africa fears for his life because Nigerian government officials have made threatening statements, the man’s lawyer said yesterday. Henry Okah was arrested in Johannesburg over the weekend and accused in the bombings that killed at least 12 people in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Friday. At a court hearing yesterday, a judge trying to allay Okah’s security concerns ordered him held pending trial alone in a cell and given a special escort to and from court.

Defense lawyer Rudi Krause told reporters after the hearing that Okah “has received information that senior Nigerian government officials have expressed the view that they should have killed him when they had him incarcerated during the course of 2008-2009.” Nigeria’s national police spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu,

dismissed the accusation.

“No government will kill its citizens,” he told The Associated Press. Okah is widely known as the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, though his lawyer denied that yesterday. The group, also known as MEND, claimed responsibility for Friday’s bombing.

MEND has destroyed oil pipelines, kidnapped petroleum company workers and fought government troops since 2006. It accuses Nigeria’s government of doing nothing to end poverty in the delta even as the nation receives billions of dollars from oil found in the delta region. In 2008, Okah was arrested in Angola and extradited to Nigeria, where he was accused of treason and terrorism and linked to a gunrunning scandal involving high-ranking military officials. His arrest and trial, during which word emerged that he was suffering from a kidney ailment,

sparked some of MEND’s most audacious attacks. Charges against Okah were dropped and he was granted amnesty and freed in July 2009 as part of an initiative the government had hoped would end unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta. In October 2009, Nigeria’s late President Umaru Yar’Adua met with Okah. At the time, MEND called the meeting “a positive step towards constructive dialogue and change.” But a cease-fire quickly unraveled. Okah has not recently been seen as a key figure in MEND, though South African prosecutors on Monday called him a “senior MEND member” and accused him of helping carry out or plot the Abuja bombings.

Yesterday, his lawyer said Okah had never been a MEND member, let alone a senior one.”Mr Okah simply strives for a peaceful solution to the problems in the Niger Delta,” Krause said. —AP

Swedish premier forms minority government STOCKHOLM: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt yesterday formed a minority government with seven new ministers and four dismissals, after his center-right coalition lost control of Parliament in last month’s election.

Both Reinfeldt’s four-party alliance with 173 seats, and the Red Green opposition with 156 lawmakers, lost ground in the Sept 19 vote to the far-right Sweden

Democrats. With neither commanding a majority in the 349seat Riksdag the rightist party holds the balance of power with 20 seats _ their first ever lawmakers.

The ruling coalition is expected to have a difficult passage in the house where both blocs have renounced the Sweden Democrats, who want sharp cuts in immigration and has called Islam the greatest

foreign threat since World War II. Reinfeldt, who heads the conservative Moderate Party, suggested the alliance could work with the Red Green opposition.

“The government will seek broad-based and responsible solutions in Parliament where it would be natural ... to primarily negotiate with the Green Party, but also with the Social Democrats if the conditions are right,” Reinfeldt said at the

Malawi Muslims burn Bibles in protest LILONGWE: Muslims in southern Malawi have been burning Bibles in protest against their distribution in Islamic schools by Gideon’s International, a senior Muslim Association of Malawi official said yesterday. “That annoyed some parents and other leaders who have resorted to burning the holy books ... in protest,” Sheikh Imran Sharif, the association’s secretary general, told Reuters.

He said the burning of Bibles was carried out by a few Muslim fanatics and the association has ordered them to stop.

Malawi has 1.7 million Muslims, mostly living in the south of the country, that has a population of about 15 million. The Muslim protest has been widely criticised in secular Malawi, which has had little religious friction.

Reverend McDonald Kadawati, a lead-

ing Christian clergyman asked Muslim leaders to ask followers to stop burning Bibles. “This is a sad case of religious intolerance and we condemn it in all uncertain terms,” Kadawati said. He called on police to arrest those involved. Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito said police have launched an investigation but did not say how many Bibles have been burnt.

Gideon’s International, which is dedicated to providing copies of the Bible to people around the globe, said on its Website it has distributed about 90 million Bibles in 22 countries in eastern Africa.

The incident in Malawi comes after US President Barack Obama appealed for religious tolerance last month in response to a Florida pastor’s threat to burn copies of the holy Quran, which sparked an outcry in the Muslim world. —Reuters

opening session of Parliament.

Reinfeldt kept key figures in his second Cabinet unchanged, including foreign and finance ministers, but changed those for financial markets, social security, infrastructure and higher education. He also created three new posts in the 24-member Cabinet.

Center Party leader Maud Olofsson, who remains in her post as energy minister, however, will relinquish her position as deputy prime minister to Liberal Party Leader Jan Bjorklund, to reflect her party’s loss of votes. Before the parliamentary session, Sweden Democrats lawmakers _ including party leader Jimmie Akesson _ walked out of a church sermon because the bishop spoke of racism and xenophobia.

“It was very clear that it was an attack against us,” Akesson told Swedish news agency TT after the church service that was held in conjunction with the reconvening of Parliament. “I was very surprised by the bishop’s speech.” On Monday, thousands of people protested against racism in the center of Stockholm, in a demonstration aimed at the Sweden Democrats, with similar protests in major cities across the Scandinavian country. —AP

McGuinness, who is also the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland’s cross-community government, was attending the annual conference yesterday of the ruling Conservative Party , long a target for IRA violence before the outlawed group’s 1997 cease-fire.

McGuinness, a former IRA commander himself, condemned the dissidents as violence addicts and political cavemen. “These conflict junkies are attempting to drive a city living very much for the future, back to the past,” McGuinness said at the Conservative gathering in Birmingham, England. “People ... are horrified that there are still these Neanderthals within our society.” The Real IRA splinter group later claimed responsibility for the attack in a coded telephone call to the news desk of a city newspaper, the Derry Journal. The dissidents telephoned warnings to local businesses, giving the police about an hour to evacuate the area, including a nursing home, before the explosion. The Londonderry mayor, Colm Eastwood, said he was on the scene when the bomb detonated.

“The car’s spare tire landed about 10 yards away from me,” Eastwood said. “I don’t know what these people are trying to achieve,” he said of the dissidents, who operate from Londonderry’s working-class Catholic districts. “This city will not be defeated by a minority of people who think they’ll free Ireland by bombing hotels.”

Analysts said the Real IRA may have targeted the hotel, in part, because it is hosting a meeting later this week between local politicians and police officers in Londonderry, a predominantly Catholic city.

Building cooperation between the traditionally Protestant police force and Catholic leaders is a central goal of peacemaking. Dissidents have repeatedly sought to harm the effort by trying to kill Catholic officers and police-liaison officials and by offering themselves as a source of vigilante justice in the roughest Catholic areas, where residents still feel communal pressure not to talk to police. The governments of Britain and Ireland denounced the bombers.

“The perpetrators are trying to undermine the future for our young people. The vast majority of people on this island will not let this misguided few dictate or disrupt that future,” said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

Britain’s MI5 spy agency and government have warned recently of an increased risk of resumed IRA dissident violence in England. The dissidents have not attempted any attacks in England since August 2001, when they car-bombed a shopping center west of London, wounding 11. The IRA killed nearly 1,800 people in a failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Republic of Ireland. The IRAlinked Sinn Fein party was permitted to enter a cross-community government with leaders of the territory’s British Protestant majority as part of long-running negotiations. The dissidents’ efforts to disrupt power-sharing with violence have caused few deaths since the single deadliest incident of the entire conflict , their 1989 car-bomb attack on a crowd in the town of Omagh that killed 29 people, mostly women and children. —AP

CHICHELEY: Mazlan Othman, head of the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs, delivers a speech about her tasks during a Royal Society conference she was attending in Chicheley, England yesterday. —AP

Netherlands to form conservative Cabinet AMSTERDAM: A new Dutch government that has pledged to slash spending, tighten immigration controls and ban Islamic burqas moved close to assuming power yesterday after two holdout lawmakers agreed to drop their reservations and cooperate with an anti-Islam party. Maxime Verhagen said all members of his Christian Democrat, or CDA, party faction in parliament will now support joining a minority Cabinet led by the pro-business VVD party with outside support from the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

“The reservations that they have against political cooperation with the Freedom Party, are still there,” Verhagen said of the former holdouts, adding they had been swayed by enthusiasm for the partnership from the CDA’s rank-and-file.

The holdouts had doubts about the wisdom of cooperating with the Freedom Party and its leader Geert Wilders, who is currently standing trial for alleged hate speech crimes. Prosecutors say Wilders went too far with statements comparing Islam to Naziism, calling for a ban on the Quran and for curtailing immigration of Muslim immigrants to the Netherlands. He denies any wrong-

doing, arguing that he represents more than a million Dutch people who voted for him.

In exchange for Wilders’ support, the prospective Cabinet has promised to turn away more asylum-seekers and cut immigration from nonwestern countries in half. It also plans to ban face-covering burqas and force immigrants to pay for their own mandatory citizenship classes.

“If the government makes a decision in which the equality of people is not protected, we will vote against it,” one of the former holdouts, Kathleen Ferrier, was quoted by Elsevier magazine as saying.

Leaders of all three parties were meeting in The Hague yesterday evening to discuss next steps. Queen Beatrix is now expected to invite VVD leader Mark Rutte to form a government as presumptive prime minister, with the new Cabinet likely to be sworn in within days. The new government’s plans also include §18 billion ($24 billion) in budget cuts. Targets include health care programs, overseas development aid, government workers’ pay and social welfare programs. —AP

OMDURMAN: Sudanese children and school students pray for peace and unity during a government organised event at Al-Khalifa square in Omdurman, near Khartoum, in Sudan yesterday. —AP

Sudan fixes timetable for south independence vote KHARTOUM: Sudanese officials yesterday announced a long-awaited timetable for a referendum on the independence of the oil-producing south, but warned unforeseen circumstances could still delay the vote.

Southerners were promised a chance to vote on whether to stay in Sudan or secede in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north.

Preparations for the vote, scheduled for Jan 9, 2011, are already well behind schedule and southerners have accused the north of trying to delay the poll to keep control of the region’s oil, a charge Khartoum denies. South Sudan president Salva Kiir on Friday said all signs now pointed to southerners choosing independence and there was a risk of “a return to

violence on a massive scale” if the vote was disrupted or delayed.

According to the timetable, voter registration should start mid November, with the final voter list ready by Dec 31, leaving just eight days before the Jan 9 deadline, referendum commission member Chan Reek Madut told Reuters. “The timetable has come out. It has been agreed upon ... The dates, the periods for objections, for amendments (to the registration list) have all been condensed to make sure the final voter registration comes out around the 31st of December,” he said.

“We don’t want anyone to tamper with the 9th January date.

Everybody is focused on that date.” Voter registration would end on Dec. 4 and parties would

be allowed to start campaigning for their preferred outcome on Dec 7, Madut added. He said plans to identify voting stations and referendum staff were on track in the south, but he was less sure on work to register southern voters living in the north and outside Sudan in the diaspora.

Madut said the timing was now very tight and it was possible unforeseen circumstances could still hold up the vote. “By that time every one will be registered will have a card in his or her hand. Then they would understand the practical reasons for any delay.” Political tensions are mounting around a second vote promised in the 2005 accord-a referendum on whether the central oil-producing region of Abyei should join the south or the north. —Reuters

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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INTERNATIONAL

US working to accept exiled Cuban prisoners HAVANA: Washington is working on a plan to bring the vast majority of exiled Cuban political prisoners from Spain to the United States and has already processed the first case, a senior State Department official told The Associated Press on Monday. Nearly all of some 39 former prisoners who are already in Spain, along with more than 100 family members, are likely to accept the offer, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the program publicly.

“The majority of those prisoners and family have expressed an interest in the program,” said the official. State Department spokesman Charles LuomaOverstreet confirmed the broad outline of the anonymous official’s account. “We welcome the unconditional release of political prisoners by the government of Cuba, and continue to call for the release of all political prisoners,” Luoma-Overstreet said.

The plan gets around a Catch-22 whereby Cubans who left the island were no longer considered in harm’s way, and thus not eligible for traditional asylum requests. Some 39 prisoners have been released from Cuban jails after agreeing to leave the island with their families. Another 13 remain behind bars,

reportedly because they have so far refused to leave Cuba.

Cuba agreed in July to free all 52 remaining political prisoners jailed in a 2003 crackdown on dissent, after an accord ironed out with the help of the Roman Catholic Church and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. The prisoners have been leaving for Spain in drips and drabs ever since. Some have complained that Spanish officials did not properly inform them of how their departure would effect a US asylum request or their eventual return to Cuba.

They have also said the emergency accommodations found for them in Spain were unpleasant.

Luoma-Overstreet said that “the US Embassy in Madrid is actively reaching out to the released political prisoners to inform them of this possibility and share information about eligibility.” The senior official said the process began three weeks ago and the vast majority expressed interest in going to the United States, where many have family. One family’s case has already been processed, and more interviews are expected to take place later this week in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

He said the program , called the Significant Public

Despite the releases, Cuba has long denied holding any political prisoners. It says those in jail are mercenaries paid by Washington to destabilize the government. The senior State Department official also commented on the detention of Alan Gross, an American subcontractor jailed in Havana without charge since December and accused of spying. He said the man’s continued detention makes it hard to move forward on improving relations, locked in a half-century long feud since shortly after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

Over the weekend, Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who has long criticized US policy toward Cuba, traveled to Havana and was meeting with Cuban government officials, discussing ways to improve relations between both countries. After the release of the 52 inmates, Cuba will hold just one person considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.

The government is holding about 100 other people who are not on Amnesty’s list, many because they have been convicted of murder, hijacking and other violent crimes. Some human rights organizations believe the convictions and lengthy sentences were politically motivated. A leading Cuban human rights

Benefit Parole program , has been in effect in other parts of the world, but had not yet applied to Cuba. He said officials at the State Department and Homeland Security worked together to make the transfer happen. Under the plan, each applicant will have to apply for entry, a process that could take up to a month.

Homeland Security officials will make the final determination on who gets accepted.

The Cubans will enter the United States without formal residency status, but will be able to apply for residency once there. They will also be issued work permits almost immediately. The official said he did not believe consular staff at the US Interests Section in Havana had yet informed the families of remaining prisoners of the offer, but he hoped they would hear about it now that the program is public. America maintains the Interests Section in Havana instead of an embassy because it has no diplomatic relations with Cuba.

While many of those still in jail have refused to go to Spain because they do not want to abandon their homeland, the possibility of settling in the United States might entice some to agree to leave, using Spain as a transit point.

official, Elizardo Sanchez, said Monday that the Cuban government had begun contacting nine prisoners not on the Amnesty list, offering them early release in exchange for accepting exile. They included three men serving life sentences for hijacking a plane, and others convicted of violent crimes including piracy, assault and terrorism. Word of the expected releases , which first came out over the weekend , is the latest sign that Cuba’s surprise decision to empty its jail of many political prisoners will not be limited to the “prisoners of conscience.” “This massive release is good news,” Sanchez said in a written statement.

In Madrid on Monday, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said it has no immediate plans to take in any freed Cuban prisoners outside of the 52 whose release was negotiated by the Catholic Church. The ministry said it was not aware of any of the nine on Sanchez’s list having asked to go to Spain, or of Spain having been contacted with regard to taking them.

The State Department official said it was not clear if the offer of a new life in America would be extended to any of those prisoners. He said each applicant would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and violent crimes could be a factor against approval. — AP

Rousseff to go into knockout round with nearest challenger

Brazil able to shake off runoff poll uncertainty SAO PAULO: Brazil reacted calmly Monday, with financial markets stable, after weekend elections showed a runoff will be needed to decide who succeeds outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The elections

COPIAPO: Sports physician Jean Romagnoli (C) explains the medical procedures to be followed when the 33 trapped miners are rescued from the San Jose mine, at the gold and copper mine near the city of Copiapo, in the arid Atacama desert, 800 km north of Santiago yesterday. — AFP

Chile president sees miners rescued before October 15 SAN JOSE MINE: Chile’s president said Monday that his government is “very close” to pulling 33 trapped miners to safety and he hopes to be there in person to see the rescue before leaving on a trip to Europe. It was Sebastian Pinera who told the miners after they were found alive Aug. 22 that they would be saved by Christmas, and his government has assembled a team of hundreds to support them while three simultaneous drilling operations pound escape shafts through a half-mile of rock. The drilling has gone well enough to move up the date since then, but rescue leaders have been cautious: Only last week, they estimated a late-October pullout. Now the president has changed the expected date again, to before his Oct. 15-22 trip.

“We are very close to rescuing them, and I hope to be able to rescue them before leaving for Europe,” he told a group of Chilean radio broadcasters Monday. “We are trying to adjust the two schedules.” “For me it is very important to share this moment, not only with the 33 miners, but with their families and all Chileans,” Pinera added.

The miners also are getting ready for their big day. For the last two weeks, they’ve been sending keepsakes up in the same capsules that carry food, clean clothes, medicine and other supplies down through a narrow borehole to their underground cavern. Letters from their families, signed Chilean flags and other things they don’t want to leave behind are coming up out of the hole each day, said Alberto Iturra, the chief of a team of psychologists supporting the miners.

Told of Pinera’s statement, rescue chief Andre Sougarret said he understands how anxious everyone is to

rescue the men, who on Monday completed 59 days underground since the Aug. 5 collapse of more than 700,000 tons of rock sealed off the lower third of the mine. “I understand the desire of everyone, me included, is to leave as soon as possible. Still, we can’t take any risks,” he said.

Setbacks also are expected. Sougarret announced that the leading T130 “Plan B” rescue drill was delayed for hours Monday to replace one of its hammers, and that the Rig 421 “Plan C” oil well drill went slightly off course in the gold and copper mine. Now the “Plan C” team is recalibrating their drill, slowing its advance. And the “Plan A” drill, which trails the other two, has been stalled since Saturday to change its drill bit. “As of now we don’t have anything new that would enable us to move up the date” from the second half of October, Souggaret said.

Only when the T130 drill has reached the miners, and the team has lowered a video camera to painstakingly examine the walls of the shaft, will the rescue team decide whether to reinforce the shaft with steel tubing. That process could extend the miners’ stay for three to 10 more days, but would ensure their safety should the unstable mine shift on their way up.

One of the miners, Mario Sepulveda, turned 40 Monday. Rescuers sang “Happy Birthday” to him by telephone, and sent down 33 little cakes in the “carrier pigeon” capsule that has served as their lifeline. Also Monday, members of the mine’s union protested in a plaza in Copiapo, the regional capital, demanding their pay for the second half of September and any other remaining benefits owed them by the San Esteban mining company.— AP

Venezuela denies links to Basque militants CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed a claim that Basque militants received weapons training in his country, calling it a farce aimed at discrediting his government. Chavez reacted Monday night in a telephone call to state television after a Spanish judge said two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA arrested in Spain last week had taken part in a weapons training course in Venezuela in 2008.

“It’s a broken record,” Chavez said, recalling past accusations of foreign militants finding refuge in Venezuela. “Now this other farce comes along. ...

There’s a permanent international conspiracy.” Chavez read aloud a statement from his foreign ministry denying any claims “that aim to link (the government) with the terrorist organization ETA.” The government statement said the testimony of “two bloodthirsty criminals” lacks credibility and suggested that they are making “absurd” claims to try to lessen the severity of their eventual sentences. Judge Ismael Moreno said one of the instructors in the 2008 course is a suspected ETA member who is a longtime resident of Venezuela, now has Venezuelan nationality and has held a government job. That alleged ETA member, Arturo Cubillas Fontan,

was indicted by Spain in March. Among other things, Spain accuses him of helping ETA supporters arrange explosives training with Colombian rebels in Venezuela.

The judge ordered the two detainees, Juan Carlos Besance and Javier Atristain, held without bail pending further investigation. The judge said in an order issued Monday that the course they took in July and August 2008 involved training in marksmanship, disassembling and cleaning guns, and communicating in code.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry said it had asked Venezuelan authorities to provide any information it might have relating to the training of the suspected ETA members in the South American country. The ministry noted that following the March indictment both countries had agreed to collaborate in fighting terrorism.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said the two countries have established ample police cooperation, and that Venezuelan authorities are fully willing to take action as necessary when Spanish authorities request it “through established channels and procedures.” Since launching its violent campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain in the late 1960s, ETA has killed more than 825 people. — AP

Instead, Rousseff, who finished first with 46.91 percent of ballots, according to final tallies, will have to go into a knockout round with nearest challenger, former Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra, who garnered 32.61 percent. Sao Paulo Bovespa’s share index was unperturbed at the result, closing 0.22 percent higher at 70,384 points.

Brazil’s currency, the real, was at 1.6917, a 0.77 percent decline since Friday, but still close to a two-year high against the greenback. The equanimity reflected traders’ belief that neither Rousseff nor Serra would do much to change the economic boom Brazil is experiencing. “Whoever finally wins the result is likely to be benign with no radical change in policy expected,” Philip Poole, the head of investment strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management, wrote in a note to investors. There was, however, a risk of political sniping now intensifying between Rousseff’s and Serra’s camps.

“While the markets have largely ignored this so far, if this becomes more confrontational, the risk is asymmetric in that it finally ends up denting confidence, particularly if there were to be any downturn in global risk appetite,” Poole said.

Brazil has become a darling of foreign investors attracted to its financial stability, soaring domestic consumption, and growth forecast to swell by more than seven percent this year. Lula stressed those optimal conditions in his campaign to have Rousseff take over from him from next year, when he is forced to step

Sunday chose Brazil’s federal and state legislatures and state governorships-but failed to hand presidential victory to Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s former cabinet chief and handpicked candidate, as had been expected.

down after serving the maximum two straight presidential terms permitted under the constitution.

Many voters-especially poor ones who had benefited from eight years of Lula’s welfare largesse-accepted Rousseff as his heir, but not enough for her to avoid the runoff with Serra.

Instead many more voters than expected backed Marina Silva, Lula’s former environment minister who resigned in 2008 in disgust at policies championed by Rousseff to boost economic development in the Amazon forest at the expense of conservation.

Although Silva came third, and thus will not be in the runoff, she scored 19.3 percent of ballots-far more than the 14 percent polls had seen going to her. That gave her kingmaking power.

Conceivably, if most of her voters now shift to Serra, he could give Rousseff a tight race in the runoff, confounding pollsters predictions of an easy victory for Lula’s pick. Rousseff late Sunday put a brave face on having to go to a knockout round. “I go into this second round with courage and energy because it gives me a chance to better lay out my proposals and plans,” she said. But Sergio Guerra, the head of Serra’s Social Democracy Party, gloated at the race’s prolongation. “From Tuesday, we are going to be doing a lot of things. Dilma doesn’t cope with confrontation,” he said, according to the O Globo newspaper. Serra himself told cheering supporters after Sunday’s vote: “We’re heading towards victory and the presidency.”— AFP

Mexico responsible for rapes: Human Rights Court MEXICO CITY: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Mexico on Monday for failing to protect the rights of two indigenous women who were raped by soldiers in 2002. In two separate rulings, the Costa Rica-based court said Mexico failed to guarantee the rights to personal integrity, dignity and legal protection of Valentina Rosendo and Ines Fernandez, both of southern Guerrero state.

Mexico must publicly acknowledge its responsibility and called for a civilian investigation into the crimes, rather than the military one, which resulted in no charges, according to the ruling.

The government also must compensate both women and publish the court rulings in Spanish and the women’s indigenous language, Me’phaa.

The government said will follow the rulings, the Interior Department said in a statement.

“The government of Mexico reiterates its full commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular to combat violence against women and girls,” the statement said. It was the fourth condemnation of Mexico from the court, which previously issued rulings against the government for the unsolved killings of women in the border city of Cuidad Juarez in the 1990s and for the country’s “dirty war” in the 1970s.

Rosendo called on the government to publicly recognize that it wrongly accused her of lying about being assaulted. “If the government has a little bit of dignity, it should accept they were mistaken so I can go on with my life,” she said tearfully at a news conference. “They didn’t want to hear me in my own country.” Rosendo, then 17, was washing clothes in a river in February of 2002 when eight soldiers came up and asked her about the whereabouts of a masked suspect. When she said she didn’t know anything, she was beaten and raped. A month later, in another indigenous community in Guerrero, at least 11 soldiers approached Fernandez in her house and asked for her husband. She didn’t respond because she didn’t speak Spanish, and the soldiers raped her. No one was punished in either case. — AP

BRASILIA: Brazil’s Workers Party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff speaks during a news conference in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday. — AP

Chavez decrees expropriation of farm business CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed a decree Monday to expropriate a leading farm-supply business, promising to bring down prices of seeds and fertilizers as his government takes control. Chavez said Monday night that he signed the decree for the “forced acquisition” of Agroislena CA. “We’re going to pay them what it really costs,” he said in a telephone call to a talk show on state television. He read aloud parts of the decree, which took effect yesterday, saying the company had become an “oligopoly” and was speculating with prices of goods such as fertilizer. He called it a step toward boosting Venezuelan agriculture that would also bring down production costs. Agroislena was founded in Venezuela more than five decades ago by Spanish immigrants from the Canary Islands and has grown into a market leader with branches across the country.

The company’s board of directors rejected the measure in a statement earlier Monday and urged Chavez to reconsider. “It’s very hard for us to believe that a business like Agroislena could end up being expropriated, and the only explanation that occurs to us right now is that the president ... hasn’t been sufficiently well informed,” the company said. It predicted the state takeover would “produce adverse effects for national

agricultural production.” It said the Spanish-owned company has made the biggest investments of its history during the past 11 years, and currently sells supplies on credit to more than 18,000 farmers.

Agriculture Minister Juan Carlos Loyo told Chavez during the program that starting yesterday the government will assign new management at the company’s approximately 64 stores, 12 silos and eight storage sites. A few dozen workers protested at a company business in Portuguesa state on Monday, holding signs saying: “No to the expropriation.” Chavez’s socialistoriented government has nationalized or expropriated businesses in sectors ranging from cement to retail stores. Chavez said Sunday that he also plans to increase seizures of farmland deemed underused in order to aid small farmers. The program has been under way for years, and Loyo said the government plans to seize an additional 250,000 hectares (more than 600,000 acres) in the coming month. Jose Manuel Gonzalez, a newly elected opposition lawmaker for Guarico state, said years of rising food imports show the farm seizures have been a failure. “Everything that falls into the hands of the government is destroyed,” Gonzalez said. — AP

CAGUA: A worker closes the gate of a plant of Agroislenia CA in Cagua, Venezuela Monday. — AP

10

INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

China, Japan end spat over maritime collision BRUSSELS: Japan declared an end yesterday to a dispute with China over a high-seas collision last month and the two countries agreed to resume exchanges and projects that had been stopped because of the incident. The breakthrough came after the prime ministers of the two countries held an impromptu after-dinner meeting in the corridor of an Asia-Europe summit. But the SinoJapan dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that led to the maritime clash last month remained unresolved, with both countries claiming possession.

The diplomatic confrontation threatened to dampen the atmosphere at the biannual AsiaEuropean Union summit, or ASEM, as Prime Ministers Wen Jiabao of China and Naoto Kan studiously avoided each other during the first ses-

sion of the 48-nation conference. But then they walked out of the working dinner at the same time and “happened to meet in the corridor,” said Satoru Satoh, the Japanese Foreign Ministry press secretary. They talked briefly and agreed to move past the maritime incident. Only the two men and their interpreters were there, he said.

“This particular incident is over,” he told reporters in Brussels.

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement “both parties agreed to strengthen nongovernmental exchanges and communications between the governments, and to hold high-level Chinese-Japanese talks at the appropriate time.”

Despite the thaw, both sides remained firm on the territorial dispute: The statement said Wen reiterated that the uninhabited islands , called Diaoyu by

China and Senkaku by Japan , belong to China.

Tokyo also made clear Japan was not compromising on its claim, which dates back to 1895. Satoh said Japan sees no need to ask a third party or the UN’s International Court of Justice to mediate the territorial dispute.

In Tokyo yesterday, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara called on Beijing to meet and discuss ways the countries could avoid similar spats in the future. “There is no territorial dispute in the East China Sea,” he said at a press conference. “But I do understand the importance of Japanese-Chinese relations, and if on both sides we can put our heads together, we can find ways to prevent such unfortunate incidents from happening again in the future.

“Our window for negotiation is always open,” Maehara said, pledging to work to restore ties with

China. The collision of a Chinese trawler with two Japanese patrol vessels last month and Japan’s detention of the fishing boat captain plunged relations to their lowest level in five years, although last week ties appeared to be heading back on track. The crash stirred up nationalism in both countries.

Beijing suspended ministerial-level talks with Tokyo and postponed talks on jointly developing undersea gas fields. Japan released the captain, but Beijing shocked Tokyo by demanding an apology.

Beijing also apparently lifted a de facto export ban on rare earth materials needed in Japan for advanced manufacturing, but Japan’s economic ministry said that it could not yet say whether shipments had resumed. According to a survey of Japanese companies conducted last week by the ministry and released yesterday, all 31 companies

involved in such trade that responded to the survey said disruptions of the shipments increased since Sept. 21. They said exports were effectively blocked at numerous Chinese ports because of abnormal amounts of paperwork and increased inspections.

“The government strongly wants this to be corrected,” said Economic Minister Akihiro Ohata.

Tokyo is pressing China to release the fourth man, who remains under house arrest and is being investigated for illegally videotaping military targets.

Satoh told reporters in Brussels he had no information on the fate of the fourth man. He said Japanese and Chinese leaders will have another opportunity to meet at an East Asia summit in Vietnam later this month, and at next month’s summit of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation forum in Yokohama, to be attended by President Hu Jintao. — AP

Dozens still missing

Flash floods in eastern Indonesia kill at least 56 TELUK W ONDAMA: Heavy rain unleashed flash floods and mudslides, killing a t lea st 56 people in a remote corner of Indonesia that rescuers were struggling to rea ch, officia ls and w itnesses sa id yesterday. With dozens still missing, residents

in West Papua province’s hillside villa ge of Wasior w ere combing the mud in sea rch of survivors, some w ith their bare hands.

Hundreds of houses w ere destroyed , at least 30 of them completely flattened.

PAPUA PROVINCE: Residents gather to inspect the damage suffered by an area affected by a flash flood in Wasior, Papua province, Indonesia yesterday. — AP

N Korea’s Kim Jong Un joins father at army drill SEOUL: North Korea’s heir apparent observed military drills with his father, according to a state media report yesterday, heralding a growing public profile for Kim Jong Un as he takes on a more prominent role in the reclusive nation.

The official Korea Central News Agency said in a dispatch that Kim joined his father, supreme leader Kim Jong Il, in a visit to a military unit and to observe a live-fire drill. The choice of a military unit, rather than an industrial site, for the first such report highlights the importance of North Korea’s “songun,” or “military first,” policy.

Kim Jong Un made his public debut last week after being promoted to fourstar general and vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s central military commission. That confirmed analyst speculation that he had been chosen to succeed his ailing father as eventual ruler of the impoverished authoritarian regime that pursues active nuclear and missile programs. North Korea’s succession is being closely watched because of concerns over Kim Jong Il’s health. The 68-year-old is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 and

regional powers are concerned about possible instability in the country were he to die without having a firm succession plan in place.

Kim Jong Il took over as North Korea’s leader in 1994 when his father, national founder Kim Il Sung, died of heart failure in what became the first hereditary succession in the communist world. Yesterday’s Korean-language report did not specify exactly when the visit took place. Also attending the event were top military officers and other ruling party officials including Jang Song Thaek and his wife, Kim Kyong Hui, who is Kim Jong Il’s younger sister. Jang and Kim Kyong Hui are considered close to Kim Jong Il and are expected to play a key role in ensuring the succession process goes smoothly.

Kim Jong Un was only mentioned in the report as being among the accompanying officials. He was listed third after North Korean Premier Choe Yong Rim and Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army Ri Yong Ho. Kim Jong Il expressed “great satisfaction over the fact that all the units are fully prepared to beat back in time any surprise

PYONGYANG: In this undated photo released on Thursday, Sept 30, 2010, by Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, right, poses for a group photo with newly elected members of the central leadership body of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK), including his third son Kim Jong Un, left, and Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho, and participants to the WPK conference in front of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, in Pyongyang, North Korea. — AP

enemy invasion and defend the socialist homeland as firm as a rock,” KCNA said in a later English-language version of the report. He also had a photo session with participating army commanders and members of the unit, identified by its numerical designation of 851, KCNA said. The drill was held to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the ruling party, which is to be marked Sunday.

The world got its first glimpse of Kim Jong Un last Thursday, two days after North Korea held its biggest Workers’ Party gathering in 30 years. The younger Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, was shown in several group photos taken with his father and other party and military officials and published in the country’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

He also was seen Thursday in video footage of the party meeting broadcast on state television in which he was shown applauding with other delegates during a speech lauding his father. Separately, the South Korean military is preparing to immediately resume full-scale propaganda activities against North Korea in the event of “any new provocations” by the country, Defense Minister Kim Taeyoung said yesterday. “We plan to put our preparations into action when a political judgment sees the need for us to further pressure the North,” he told lawmakers. He spoke a day after saying that Pyongyang may launch provocative acts as it carries out its leadership succession plan and to disrupt a summit of the Group of 20 nations next month in Seoul. Kim’s comments also came after North Korea said last week it might fire artillery at sites in the South from where leaflets criticizing the country are launched by civilian activists using balloon across the heavily fortified border.

In 2004, the rival Koreas ended decades of propaganda campaigns as relations warmed following a landmark summit in 2000. South Korea, however, installed a dozen propaganda loudspeakers along the border as a part of punitive steps taken against the North over the March sinking of a South Korean warship in which 46 sailors died. They have yet to start broadcasting from the speakers. A multinational investigation led by Seoul concluded in May that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank the 1,200-ton warship. North Korea has denied involvement. — AP

“I heard a roar and suddenly the river broke its banks,” said Ira Wanoni, describing the scariest deluge, which occurred early Monday.

“Water mixed with rocks, mud and logs gushed out. ... Many people didn’t have time to save themselves.”

With roads underwater and several bridges destroyed, rescue workers were having a hard time reaching the area, which has also been hit by power blackouts and downed telephone lines.

Navy ships carrying soldiers and police were on the way, as were several airplanes loaded down with tents, medical supplies and food.

Syamsul Maarif, who heads the National Disaster Management Agency, said the death toll had reached 56 by late yesterday. Some of the more than 60 people injured, most with broken bones , had to be evacuated to by helicopter. With so many houses damaged, together with two schools, two hospitals and a hotel, hundreds of people were fleeing the area.

Landslides and flooding kill dozens of people every year in the vast tropical archipelago of Indonesia, which has more than 17,000 islands. — AP

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi sues to keep her party intact YANGON: Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday launched a legal battle against the ruling military junta, suing to keep her political party intact after it was disbanded earlier this year under Myanmar’s new party registration law, her lawyer said.

Suu Kyi filed suit against the ruling military council, seeking a High Court declaration that her National League for Democracy remains a legal political party.

The NLD officially lost its legal status on May 6 because it failed to reregister in order to take part in November general elections.

The party is boycotting the polls, which it considers unfair and undemocratic. Among the various restrictions imposed under recently enacted election laws, Suu Kyi would not be allowed to remain a member of her own party. The militarybacked constitution already has clauses that would bar her from holding political office. The lawsuit appears to be largely symbolic since Myanmar’s courts invariably adhere to the junta’s policies, especially on political matters.

Previous appeals by Suu Kyi to the courts, on matters such as her detention, have been shunted aside or dismissed.

Nyan Win, who is Suu Kyi’s lawyer as well as a spokesman for her party, told reporters that the state Election Commission does not have the authority to dissolve the NLD, which was registered under a previous party registration law. Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in the last election in 1990, but was not allowed to take power by the military.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been locked away for 15 of the past 21 years. Her latest term of 18 months’ house arrest is due to expire on Nov. 13, just days after the scheduled Nov. 7 general election. — AP

BANGKOK: Thai policemen inspect the site of a bomb blast on the outskirts of Bangkok yesterday. — AFP

2 killed in explosion in Bangkok suburb BANGKOK: At least two people were killed yesterday in an explosion at a residential building in a suburb of the Thai capital, emergency workers and police said. The source of the blast was unclear, but a string of small bombings thought to be politically motivated have hit Bangkok and surrounding areas this year. “From what I heard, it doesn’t sound like it was caused by gas canisters or grenades. However, we need some time to investigate and find out the cause,” said National Police spokesman Maj. General Prawut Thavornsiri. The explosion yesterday evening badly damaged the 5-story house, and two people died at the scene, police Lt Col Sakon Faungkrasae said.

Some reports said the building had six stories.

TNN cable news channel reported four people were killed and 10 injured. Dozens of bombings have plagued Bangkok this year, both during anti-government protests from March to May and in the months since the military

cleared the streets. Small blasts since July have killed one person and wounded a dozen.

There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the attacks. The government suggests they are part of an anti-government conspiracy, while government opponents accuse the authorities of staging the blasts to justify an ongoing state of emergency in the capital. The authorities recently warned that stepped-up violence was expected beginning this month, and over the weekend detained 11 men in the northern province of Chiang Mai suspected of training for armed attacks on behalf of a movement to overthrow Thailand’s monarchy. The claim has been met with skepticism by government critics, who feel it is being used to smear the so-called Red Shirt movement whose militant demonstrations earlier this year unsuccessfully demanded that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva call early elections. — AP

Thai court clears way for Viktor Bout extradition BANGKOK: An alleged Russian arms smuggler dubbed “The Merchant of Death” was led off by masked commandos after a Thai court yesterday removed a key legal obstacle to his US extradition, which has landed Thailand in the midst of a diplomatic tussle between Washington and Moscow. Viktor Bout, who allegedly supplied weapons that fueled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa, has been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok as part of a US-led sting operation.

The Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday dismissed a new trial against Bout, which had threatened to stall the extradition further.

It was the latest phase _ and a potential turning point _ in a longrunning legal battle. Both Washington and Moscow have been demanding Bout’s hand-over.

The announcement of the ruling stunned the normally stoic Bout, who was standing to hear the verdict but then sat and hugged his wife, who was seated beside him and began to weep.

He then waded through the courtroom to his defense lawyer and with a look of concern said: “(Do) something now. The appeal. We need to appeal.” Court officials told reporters that the defense was not allowed to appeal. Only prosecutors who filed the charges of money laundering and wire fraud on behalf of the US have the right to appeal within 72 hours, after which time Bout could be extradited. Prosecutors were not expected to appeal. One possible twist: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said once the court process is finished he will have the final say in Bout’s extradition.

Asked by reporters how he felt, Bout replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.” Shackled at the ankles, Bout was escorted in and out of the courtroom by masked commandos. He wore a bulletproof vest for his journey to and from prison. The vest was removed inside the courtroom. A Thai Appeals Court gave its approval Aug. 20 for Bout’s extradition to the US to face trial on four terrorism-related charges that could land him in prison for life. That ruling reversed a lower court’s decision. But the process was stalled because, after the lower court rejected the request, Washington had filed a second set of charges to ensure Bout wasn’t set free. Working with Thai prosecutors, the US then tried to drop those charges after the Appeal Court’s ruling, but the Bangkok Criminal Court said Monday the legal proceedings had already started and must be allowed to continue.

But in another twist in the case, the Criminal Court yesterday ruled to dismiss the second set of charges, saying there was no further legal reason to keep Bout from being extradited. The apparent reversal from Monday to Tuesday appeared to be the court’s way of saying it would not be pressured into prematurely dropping the second case before its first hearing. It ruled that there was “a lack of evidence and witnesses” to prove the charges of money laundering and wire fraud, and would so dismiss the case unless the prosecution appealed.

When the Appeals Court cleared the way for Bout’s extradition in August, it said the extradition must take place within 90 days, or roughly by Nov 20. A US Embassy spokeswoman in Bangkok could not immediately be reached for comment.

Russia says Bout is an innocent businessman and has demanded his return. Experts say Bout, a former Soviet air force officer,

BANGKOK: Suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout is led off a car by armed Thai police commandoes as he arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. — AP has knowledge of Russia’s military and intelligence operations and that Moscow does not want him going on trial in the United States. Bout’s high-profile arrest at a Bangkok luxury hotel in March 2008 was part of an elaborate sting in which US agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization.

The head of a lucrative air transport empire, Bout long evaded UN and US sanctions aimed at blocking his financial activities and restricting his travel. He has denied any involvement in illicit activities and said he ran a legitimate business.

In 2000, a high-ranking minister at Britain’s Foreign office called Bout, who flouted UN arms embargoes on the warring parties in Angola and Sierra Leone, “a merchant of death.” Bout also reportedly supplied arms to warring parties in Afghanistan before the 2001 fall of the Taliban’s Islamic regime. The 2005 movie “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage is loosely based on Bout’s life. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

11

Foreign jihadis gravitate to northwest Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Globe-trotting jihadis who need a place to train, network or plot attacks on the West are finding a warm welcome among militant groups in northwestern Pakistan. Reports of eight German militants killed in a suspected US drone attack in Pakistan deepened concerns over an alleged plot against European targets reported to have originated with a group of individuals, some of them believed to be European citizens, in mountainous northern Pakistan.

Experts say the click of a computer

mouse on a jihadi website can eventually lead to the forbidding terrain of Pakistan’s North Waziristan, a magnet for militants and aspiring jihadists of all nationalities.

“They come in from everywhere. Some can get in by using fake passports and visas while others can get in from anywhere from Iran, or from Afghanistan by land,” said a Pakistani security official, adding that border smuggling routes are often used.

Hooking up with militant networks is fairly simple. It’s done through informal

channels in conversations in mosques, restaurants or religious meetings that are difficult to track, Pakistani security officials say. Britons of Pakistani origin, for instance, may have relatives with ties to groups.

“You know people who know people, and then they connect you. That’s what makes this very dangerous. There are no formal structures that you can take down,” said Kamran Bokhari, South Asia director for STRATFOR global intelligence firm.

Britons, Americans, Germans, Chechens,

Turks, Egyptians and Saudis are among what Bokhari refers to as transnational globe-trotting jihadis who operate from North Waziristan. Some are freelancers loosely associated with the big leagues such as al Qaeda or the Pakistani or Afghan Taliban, which provide an entrenched network built over many years. Settling for one of the many splinter groups that fall far under the radar of intelligence agencies is another option.

Determining how many foreigners operate in North Waziristan and gathering intelli-

gence on them is extremely difficult, security officials say, mainly because a large number of informants are uncovered and killed by militants. It may only take a small cell of militants, especially ones with Western passports that allow for relatively easy movement, to spend time in North Waziristan and then fly to London, Paris or New York to try and stage attacks.

Training by veteran holy warriors who groom suicide bombers isn’t hard to come by. Would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen, who

worked for a marketing firm in the US state of Connecticut, told a New York court he spent six months with his parents in Pakistan before he and a couple of friends went to Waziristan to join the Taliban, who gave him bomb training.

In June, the Taliban said a German man detained by Pakistan security forces near North Waziristan was their “comrade”. “We have many Germans here who have been taking part in jihad. It shouldn’t be shocking,” said a Taliban spokesman. — Reuters

Afghan militant attacks kill 4 civilians, wound 6 Explosives go off in Farah province KABUL: Two civilians riding a motorcycle died when a roadside bomb exploded as they passed in southwestern Afghanistan, and two others were killed by rockets in the war-weary country’s east, officials said yesterday.

SRINAGAR: An Indian paramilitry soilder demolishes a wall of a security bunker in the heart of Srinagar yesterday. — AFP

India removes security bunkers in Kashmir SRINAGAR: India began removing 16 of about 200 paramilitary bunkers in Kashmir’s heavily fortified main city yesterday to try to defuse tensions after months of deadly unrest over Indian rule. Troops inside the bunkers monitor the movements of people on the streets.

They can fire weapons and are close to big fortified security camps, which , along with security checkpoints , are detested

by Kashmiri Muslims who oppose Indian rule over the disputed region.

Schoolteacher Abdul Rashid dismissed the move as cosmetic and said such gestures have not worked in the past. “As long as they have these huge military and paramilitary camps around us, it doesn’t mean anything.” Kashmiri businessman Bashir Ahmed said withdrawal of troops from populated areas in Kashmir was needed, not just the removal of a few bunkers.

Bunkers placed in Srinagar

in the 1990s were mainly piles of sandbags, but modern ones are secure guard posts of brick and cement that can accommodate up to 20 soldiers. Both types still exist in the city.

While 16 were being removed, about 200 exist in Srinagar and hundreds dot Kashmir overall.

“We’ve removed seven so far,” said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary forces in Indian Kashmir. The removal is a goodwill gesture

by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government in an attempt to douse the deadly unrest that has claimed 108 lives since June. Most of those killed were teenagers and young men shot by government forces, and each death has stoked public anger and more protests.

Facing criticism from his political rivals, Singh sent a delegation of lawmakers to the region last month to talk to Kashmiri leaders. Some of them even met separatist lead-

ers in a bid to end the impasse.

The government backed it up by announcing the release of hundreds of detainees and reviewing the deployment of security forces and inviting Kashmiri leaders for a dialogue to end the decades-old dispute.

The separatists , who are fighting Indian rule , rejected the government’s proposals.

Yesterday, troops enforced a rigid curfew in most parts of Srinagar and key towns, while a separatist strike kept shops, businesses, schools and most government offices closed in the region. Since June, businesses have lost millions of dollars and schools and government offices have opened only intermittently , when the strike calls or curfews have briefly been lifted. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in entirety.

Protesters reject Indian rule and want independence or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan. — AP

Rockets fired by militants in Andar district Monday afternoon killed two Afghan civilians and wounded six others, said Ismail Jahangir, spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province.

The nine-year war has inflicted a mounting toll on Afghan civilians. The United Nations says insurgents are responsible for most civilian deaths and injuries, however, noncombatants are also killed in NATO military operations, which is a major source of contention between the alliance and Afghanistan’s government.

A recent UN report said more than 1,200 Afghans died and nearly 2,000 were wounded between January and June this year. It said anti-government forces were responsible for 76 percent of those casualties. The Taliban called the report “propaganda.” In eastern Paktia province, two children were seriously wounded Monday after an land mine left over from the 1980s war with the Soviet Union detonated as they played with it, NATO said in a statement yesterday.

Separately, results from last month’s parliamentary elections continued to trickle in yesterday, though widespread insecurity has threatened the legitimacy of vote.

Candidates and observers have alleged ballot-box stuffing and voter intimidation during the Sept. 18 vote. The UN says that violence related to the balloting killed at least 32 civilians.

The Afghan election commission said it nullified some or all of the ballots from 227 voting sites , about 4 percent of those that opened on election day , and detained Khost province’s election chief over fraud allegations. The vote was the first since a presidential election last year that was nearly derailed by widespread ballot-box stuffing and tally manipulation. That poll led many Western powers to question whether they should be supporting the administration of President Hamid Karzai with military forces and funds.

This year’s elections had about 2,500 candidates vying for 249 parliamentary seats. An antifraud elections watchdog has received more than 3,500 complaints of cheating or misconduct , about 57 percent serious enough that they could affect the outcome of the vote. — AP

The explosive planted by insurgents went off in southwestern Farah province’s Rusht Rod district, killing the two people on the motorbike Monday evening, said GenMohammad Faqir Askir, provincial police chief.

KABUL: An Afghan policeman looks at weapons confiscated from private security companies yesterday in Kabul, Afghanistan. — AP

Afghanistan election official arrested; vote tally delayed KABUL: Afghan police have arrested a top election official on fraud charges related to last month’s parliamentary ballot and authorities further delayed a final tally beset by vote-rigging charges, the electoral agency said yesterday. Afghanistan’s legislature election went ahead despite a Taliban insurgent threat to disrupt the ballot, but release of preliminary results has been pushed back until mid-October for more verifications and recounts amid fraud allegations.

Success in the Afghan election will be a key factor for US President Barack Obama as his administration reviews its Afghanistan policy under growing pressure at home over the unpopular and increasingly violent war against the Taliban. In the latest charges, the Independent Election Commission, or IEC, said the provincial election chief in Khost had been arrested by

police over the weekend after fraud complaints, and faced a probe by prosecutors.

“According to IEC information he was involved in fraud ... and we have received some complaints about him.

The final decision will be taken by the attorney general’s office,” IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor told Reuters. Khost is a remote, volatile southeastern province bordering Pakistan, where insurgents allied with the Taliban and controlled by veteran guerrilla fighter Jalaluddin Haqqani are active.

Khost governor Abdul Jabbar Naeemi told Reuters in Brussels the official was accused of taking money and appointing election monitors who were supporters and relatives of local candidates. Officials had initially set an Oct 9 target for the release of the preliminary results of the election, but have delayed the announcement to Oct 17

Germany investigating US drone strike deaths

24 Hindu nationalists arrested for TV protest MUMBAI: Police arrested 24 Hindu nationalists after they barged onto the set of a hit Indian reality television show yesterday to protest its inclusion of two actors from Pakistan, India’s historic archrival. The Shiv Sena activists stormed the gates of a bungalow where the “Bigg Boss” show is filmed to pressure producers to remove Pakistani model Veena Malik and actor Ali Saleem, who is known for his TV persona Begum Nawazish Ali. Lonavala senior police inspector Balraj Lengle said no one was injured, but the 24 activists have been charged with trespassing. Lonavala is a town about 100km (62 miles) from Mumbai.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the protest disrupted filming of the show, which is taped before broadcast. “Bigg Boss,” hosted by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, is an Indian version of the popular international reality show “Big Brother.” It features dis-

parate housemates who live together for weeks isolated from outsiders while vying to avoid eviction and win a cash prize. The Indian version is in its fourth season.

A spokesman for Colors TV, which airs the show, declined comment. Colors is owned by Viacom Inc. and India’s Network18 Group. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray threatened in an editorial yesterday to disrupt the show’s broadcast if the two actors aren’t dismissed.

“Pakistani television organizers do not treat our people properly. Why should we welcome their contestants?” he wrote in Shiv Sena’s editorial mouthpiece Saamna.

On Monday, the head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a Shiv Sena splinter group, asked the state’s top official, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, to halt taping of the show.

Both groups have a history of using gangs of young men to violently enforce their nationalist agendas. — AP

for more manual verifications and recounts, the IEC said. The IEC said it had so far nullified some or all votes from 227 polling centres and had ordered an audit and recount of 339 centres.

More than 1,000 centres out of a total of around 6,800 were closed during the Sept.

18 vote due to security fears. At least 17 people died in election day violence, though no major attacks hit the parliamentary elections. But most Afghans are sensitive to fraud after President Hamid Karzai’s reelection in 2009 was marred by widespread graft that has undermined his credibility at home and abroad.

Obama’s administration last year ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency steps up its attacks on Afghan and foreign troops. But the U.S. president has said he will start to withdraw troops by July next year. —Reuters

KATHMANDU: A Nepalese artist puts final touches to a statue of the Hindu goddess Durga, the matriarch of power and prosperity, ahead of Dashain festival in Kathmandu yesterday. — AFP

BERLIN: Germany said yesterday it had no information on five German Islamists who according to Pakistani security sources were killed in a US drone attack in the country’s lawless tribal belt. “Currently we have no information but we are investigating,” a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry in Berlin told AFP. The missile attack took late on Monday in the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, a purported hideout for foreign and homegrown militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

“Five German rebels of Turkish origin and three local militants were killed in the strike,” a Pakistani security official said. The strike came hours after Japan and Sweden joined Washington and London in issuing an alert warning of the “possible terrorist attack”

by Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups against their citizens travelling in Europe.

This followed reports in British and US media said that an Al-Qaeda plot to carry out attacks in Britain, France and

Germany, similar to the siege in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, had been uncovered. The source of the threat information was a German citizen of Afghan descent captured on his way to Europe and now being held in Afghanistan, the reports said.

According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s annual report in June, there are 29 Islamic extremist organisations in Germany, with 36,000 members at the end of 2009 — 1,500 more than the year before. Some 200 Germans or foreigners living in Germany have spent time in Pakistan with the intention of receiving paramilitary training from Islamist groups, the agency said.

Konrad Freiberg, the head of police union GdP, said yesterday that there were more than 100 “dangerous Islamists” in Germany. “Close to 40 men, who have undergone explosives training in camps abroad, are back living in Germany,” Freiberg told the Passauer Neue Presse daily. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

11

Foreign jihadis gravitate to northwest Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Globe-trotting jihadis who need a place to train, network or plot attacks on the West are finding a warm welcome among militant groups in northwestern Pakistan. Reports of eight German militants killed in a suspected US drone attack in Pakistan deepened concerns over an alleged plot against European targets reported to have originated with a group of individuals, some of them believed to be European citizens, in mountainous northern Pakistan.

Experts say the click of a computer

mouse on a jihadi website can eventually lead to the forbidding terrain of Pakistan’s North Waziristan, a magnet for militants and aspiring jihadists of all nationalities.

“They come in from everywhere. Some can get in by using fake passports and visas while others can get in from anywhere from Iran, or from Afghanistan by land,” said a Pakistani security official, adding that border smuggling routes are often used.

Hooking up with militant networks is fairly simple. It’s done through informal

channels in conversations in mosques, restaurants or religious meetings that are difficult to track, Pakistani security officials say. Britons of Pakistani origin, for instance, may have relatives with ties to groups.

“You know people who know people, and then they connect you. That’s what makes this very dangerous. There are no formal structures that you can take down,” said Kamran Bokhari, South Asia director for STRATFOR global intelligence firm.

Britons, Americans, Germans, Chechens,

Turks, Egyptians and Saudis are among what Bokhari refers to as transnational globe-trotting jihadis who operate from North Waziristan. Some are freelancers loosely associated with the big leagues such as al Qaeda or the Pakistani or Afghan Taliban, which provide an entrenched network built over many years. Settling for one of the many splinter groups that fall far under the radar of intelligence agencies is another option.

Determining how many foreigners operate in North Waziristan and gathering intelli-

gence on them is extremely difficult, security officials say, mainly because a large number of informants are uncovered and killed by militants. It may only take a small cell of militants, especially ones with Western passports that allow for relatively easy movement, to spend time in North Waziristan and then fly to London, Paris or New York to try and stage attacks.

Training by veteran holy warriors who groom suicide bombers isn’t hard to come by. Would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen, who

worked for a marketing firm in the US state of Connecticut, told a New York court he spent six months with his parents in Pakistan before he and a couple of friends went to Waziristan to join the Taliban, who gave him bomb training.

In June, the Taliban said a German man detained by Pakistan security forces near North Waziristan was their “comrade”. “We have many Germans here who have been taking part in jihad. It shouldn’t be shocking,” said a Taliban spokesman. — Reuters

Afghan militant attacks kill 4 civilians, wound 6 Explosives go off in Farah province KABUL: Two civilians riding a motorcycle died when a roadside bomb exploded as they passed in southwestern Afghanistan, and two others were killed by rockets in the war-weary country’s east, officials said yesterday.

SRINAGAR: An Indian paramilitry soilder demolishes a wall of a security bunker in the heart of Srinagar yesterday. — AFP

India removes security bunkers in Kashmir SRINAGAR: India began removing 16 of about 200 paramilitary bunkers in Kashmir’s heavily fortified main city yesterday to try to defuse tensions after months of deadly unrest over Indian rule. Troops inside the bunkers monitor the movements of people on the streets.

They can fire weapons and are close to big fortified security camps, which , along with security checkpoints , are detested

by Kashmiri Muslims who oppose Indian rule over the disputed region.

Schoolteacher Abdul Rashid dismissed the move as cosmetic and said such gestures have not worked in the past. “As long as they have these huge military and paramilitary camps around us, it doesn’t mean anything.” Kashmiri businessman Bashir Ahmed said withdrawal of troops from populated areas in Kashmir was needed, not just the removal of a few bunkers.

Bunkers placed in Srinagar

in the 1990s were mainly piles of sandbags, but modern ones are secure guard posts of brick and cement that can accommodate up to 20 soldiers. Both types still exist in the city.

While 16 were being removed, about 200 exist in Srinagar and hundreds dot Kashmir overall.

“We’ve removed seven so far,” said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary forces in Indian Kashmir. The removal is a goodwill gesture

by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government in an attempt to douse the deadly unrest that has claimed 108 lives since June. Most of those killed were teenagers and young men shot by government forces, and each death has stoked public anger and more protests.

Facing criticism from his political rivals, Singh sent a delegation of lawmakers to the region last month to talk to Kashmiri leaders. Some of them even met separatist lead-

ers in a bid to end the impasse.

The government backed it up by announcing the release of hundreds of detainees and reviewing the deployment of security forces and inviting Kashmiri leaders for a dialogue to end the decades-old dispute.

The separatists , who are fighting Indian rule , rejected the government’s proposals.

Yesterday, troops enforced a rigid curfew in most parts of Srinagar and key towns, while a separatist strike kept shops, businesses, schools and most government offices closed in the region. Since June, businesses have lost millions of dollars and schools and government offices have opened only intermittently , when the strike calls or curfews have briefly been lifted. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in entirety.

Protesters reject Indian rule and want independence or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan. — AP

Rockets fired by militants in Andar district Monday afternoon killed two Afghan civilians and wounded six others, said Ismail Jahangir, spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province.

The nine-year war has inflicted a mounting toll on Afghan civilians. The United Nations says insurgents are responsible for most civilian deaths and injuries, however, noncombatants are also killed in NATO military operations, which is a major source of contention between the alliance and Afghanistan’s government.

A recent UN report said more than 1,200 Afghans died and nearly 2,000 were wounded between January and June this year. It said anti-government forces were responsible for 76 percent of those casualties. The Taliban called the report “propaganda.” In eastern Paktia province, two children were seriously wounded Monday after an land mine left over from the 1980s war with the Soviet Union detonated as they played with it, NATO said in a statement yesterday.

Separately, results from last month’s parliamentary elections continued to trickle in yesterday, though widespread insecurity has threatened the legitimacy of vote.

Candidates and observers have alleged ballot-box stuffing and voter intimidation during the Sept. 18 vote. The UN says that violence related to the balloting killed at least 32 civilians.

The Afghan election commission said it nullified some or all of the ballots from 227 voting sites , about 4 percent of those that opened on election day , and detained Khost province’s election chief over fraud allegations. The vote was the first since a presidential election last year that was nearly derailed by widespread ballot-box stuffing and tally manipulation. That poll led many Western powers to question whether they should be supporting the administration of President Hamid Karzai with military forces and funds.

This year’s elections had about 2,500 candidates vying for 249 parliamentary seats. An antifraud elections watchdog has received more than 3,500 complaints of cheating or misconduct , about 57 percent serious enough that they could affect the outcome of the vote. — AP

The explosive planted by insurgents went off in southwestern Farah province’s Rusht Rod district, killing the two people on the motorbike Monday evening, said GenMohammad Faqir Askir, provincial police chief.

KABUL: An Afghan policeman looks at weapons confiscated from private security companies yesterday in Kabul, Afghanistan. — AP

Afghanistan election official arrested; vote tally delayed KABUL: Afghan police have arrested a top election official on fraud charges related to last month’s parliamentary ballot and authorities further delayed a final tally beset by vote-rigging charges, the electoral agency said yesterday. Afghanistan’s legislature election went ahead despite a Taliban insurgent threat to disrupt the ballot, but release of preliminary results has been pushed back until mid-October for more verifications and recounts amid fraud allegations.

Success in the Afghan election will be a key factor for US President Barack Obama as his administration reviews its Afghanistan policy under growing pressure at home over the unpopular and increasingly violent war against the Taliban. In the latest charges, the Independent Election Commission, or IEC, said the provincial election chief in Khost had been arrested by

police over the weekend after fraud complaints, and faced a probe by prosecutors.

“According to IEC information he was involved in fraud ... and we have received some complaints about him.

The final decision will be taken by the attorney general’s office,” IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor told Reuters. Khost is a remote, volatile southeastern province bordering Pakistan, where insurgents allied with the Taliban and controlled by veteran guerrilla fighter Jalaluddin Haqqani are active.

Khost governor Abdul Jabbar Naeemi told Reuters in Brussels the official was accused of taking money and appointing election monitors who were supporters and relatives of local candidates. Officials had initially set an Oct 9 target for the release of the preliminary results of the election, but have delayed the announcement to Oct 17

Germany investigating US drone strike deaths

24 Hindu nationalists arrested for TV protest MUMBAI: Police arrested 24 Hindu nationalists after they barged onto the set of a hit Indian reality television show yesterday to protest its inclusion of two actors from Pakistan, India’s historic archrival. The Shiv Sena activists stormed the gates of a bungalow where the “Bigg Boss” show is filmed to pressure producers to remove Pakistani model Veena Malik and actor Ali Saleem, who is known for his TV persona Begum Nawazish Ali. Lonavala senior police inspector Balraj Lengle said no one was injured, but the 24 activists have been charged with trespassing. Lonavala is a town about 100km (62 miles) from Mumbai.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the protest disrupted filming of the show, which is taped before broadcast. “Bigg Boss,” hosted by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, is an Indian version of the popular international reality show “Big Brother.” It features dis-

parate housemates who live together for weeks isolated from outsiders while vying to avoid eviction and win a cash prize. The Indian version is in its fourth season.

A spokesman for Colors TV, which airs the show, declined comment. Colors is owned by Viacom Inc. and India’s Network18 Group. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray threatened in an editorial yesterday to disrupt the show’s broadcast if the two actors aren’t dismissed.

“Pakistani television organizers do not treat our people properly. Why should we welcome their contestants?” he wrote in Shiv Sena’s editorial mouthpiece Saamna.

On Monday, the head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a Shiv Sena splinter group, asked the state’s top official, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, to halt taping of the show.

Both groups have a history of using gangs of young men to violently enforce their nationalist agendas. — AP

for more manual verifications and recounts, the IEC said. The IEC said it had so far nullified some or all votes from 227 polling centres and had ordered an audit and recount of 339 centres.

More than 1,000 centres out of a total of around 6,800 were closed during the Sept.

18 vote due to security fears. At least 17 people died in election day violence, though no major attacks hit the parliamentary elections. But most Afghans are sensitive to fraud after President Hamid Karzai’s reelection in 2009 was marred by widespread graft that has undermined his credibility at home and abroad.

Obama’s administration last year ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency steps up its attacks on Afghan and foreign troops. But the U.S. president has said he will start to withdraw troops by July next year. —Reuters

KATHMANDU: A Nepalese artist puts final touches to a statue of the Hindu goddess Durga, the matriarch of power and prosperity, ahead of Dashain festival in Kathmandu yesterday. — AFP

BERLIN: Germany said yesterday it had no information on five German Islamists who according to Pakistani security sources were killed in a US drone attack in the country’s lawless tribal belt. “Currently we have no information but we are investigating,” a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry in Berlin told AFP. The missile attack took late on Monday in the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, a purported hideout for foreign and homegrown militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

“Five German rebels of Turkish origin and three local militants were killed in the strike,” a Pakistani security official said. The strike came hours after Japan and Sweden joined Washington and London in issuing an alert warning of the “possible terrorist attack”

by Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups against their citizens travelling in Europe.

This followed reports in British and US media said that an Al-Qaeda plot to carry out attacks in Britain, France and

Germany, similar to the siege in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, had been uncovered. The source of the threat information was a German citizen of Afghan descent captured on his way to Europe and now being held in Afghanistan, the reports said.

According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s annual report in June, there are 29 Islamic extremist organisations in Germany, with 36,000 members at the end of 2009 — 1,500 more than the year before. Some 200 Germans or foreigners living in Germany have spent time in Pakistan with the intention of receiving paramilitary training from Islamist groups, the agency said.

Konrad Freiberg, the head of police union GdP, said yesterday that there were more than 100 “dangerous Islamists” in Germany. “Close to 40 men, who have undergone explosives training in camps abroad, are back living in Germany,” Freiberg told the Passauer Neue Presse daily. — AFP

analysis

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

13

Facing stark choice, Abbas may stall

By Karin Laub

P

alestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in a bind after firmly linking any peace talks with Israel to continued restrictions on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank. With Israel refusing for now to extend the moratorium on new construction, his choices seem stark: quit the month-old US-backed talks at the risk of alienating President Barack Obama, or break a very public promise to his people not to negotiate without a construction ban. As secretive US mediation efforts drag on, aides say Abbas may try to stall until after November’s US midterm elections, hoping Obama will then be bolder in pressuring Israel.

If that fails, officials say, Abbas’ long-shot options include reconciling with the Gaza Strip’s Hamas militants en route to a new strategy or asking the UN to recognize a Palestinian state without Israeli agreement. The Palestinian leader still hopes that between now and Friday, when he is to reveal his plans to the Arab League, US mediators will move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a 10month-old ban on housing starts in West Bank settlements.

A Palestinian negotiator said the US is seeking an extra 60 days - a widely reported and somewhat mystifying timeframe that has drawn notice for being just enough to get past the midterms. Netanyahu initially said he would not renew the moratorium, which expired last week. But on Monday he told his Cabinet he is in intense contacts with the US to try to salvage the talks. One Israeli official, speaking on condition of

anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the issue with reporters, said the premier has begun sounding out Cabinet ministers about the possibility of an extension in exchange for various US perks and assurances.

Abbas has repeatedly said he can’t negotiate if Israel does not extend the curbs on construction.

Over the weekend, Abbas received wall-to-wall backing from senior Palestinian politicians for this position, and turning his back on them now seems politically unthinkable. Even though the current restrictions still enabled thousands of housing units to be built, these were mostly projects whose launch predated the Nov 2009 start of the moratorium - leaving hope for the Palestinians that eventually, once those are built, there will be a true freeze.

The settlement enterprise in general is toxic with Palestinians, who say that continued construction on lands they claim for their future state sends a message that Israel is not serious about peace.

About two-thirds of Palestinians oppose negotiations without a settlement freeze, according to a survey of 1,270 people published

Monday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. It had an error margin of 3 percentage points.

In Israel some believe Netanyahu faces similar constraints. He sold the initial moratorium as a onetime deal. A majority in his hardline coalition opposes extending it and many would hardly mourn the demise of the talks. If the impasse remains, a member of Abbas’ inner

circle says the Palestinian leader will try to prevent the impression that he’s walking away from the talks - putting them quietly on the backburner while emphasizing that he remains ready to negotiate and is waiting for Israel to change its mind.

The idea is to get to the Nov 2 midterm elections without a major crisis, the Abbas confidant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing sensitive internal Palestinian discussions. If talks break down for good, Abbas has several other choices.

Palestinian officials have recently floated the idea of asking the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war. However, a US veto appears inevitable for now. As part of his attempt to persuade Netanyahu to extend the moratorium, Obama promised he would block any Security Council action for the next year, the Palestinian official said.

US officials would not confirm such reports in recent days.

Abbas would only go to the Security Council if assured of broad international support, including from the US, the official said. Another path would be to push harder to reconcile with the Islamic militant Hamas, which won parliament elections in 2006 and violently seized Gaza from Abbas the next year. The internal Palestinian split has eroded Abbas’ leverage in negotiations with Israel since he no longer

controls a key part of the territory claimed by the Palestinians.

Repeated attempts to reach a powersharing deal have failed, in part because the West opposes bringing an unreformed Hamas into the fold.

The Islamists refuse to recognize Israel, renounce violence or recognize previous agreements with Israel.

But Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah movement may have greater incentive now. Fatah, which had made negotiated peace a key tenet, may need a new strategy to remain politically relevant. And Hamas may grab the chance to end its international isolation. Striking a new tone, Hamas leaders said for the first time in recent days that the Palestinians would fare better in negotiations if united. “We would force the respect on the world and our Zionist enemy, if we are united as Arabs and Palestinians,” said the Hamas leaderin-exile, Khaled Mashaal. At a meeting last month, Hamas and Fatah negotiators reported some agreement on the terms of holding parliamentary and presidential elections in the West Bank and Gaza. The thorniest issue, melding the rival security forces, is to be tackled later this month. It remains unclear if the US, which considers Hamas a terrorist group, would give the required blessing, even tacitly.

As a last resort, the 75-year-old Abbas - widely seen as a more promising peace negotiator than any likely successor - could also decide to resign. In the past, he has used the threat as leverage, since neither Israel nor the US want it.

He also hinted at the possibility to senior Fatah leaders over the weekend. —AP

Vote highlights Bosnia’s tangled ethnic enmities

By Adam Tanner

T

he results of Sunday’s Bosnian election show the Balkan country’s electorate remains trapped in an ethnic divide that has made the country virtually dysfunctional and alienated investors. Like other emerging Balkan countries, Bosnia aspires to join the European Union but lags almost all others in the region. It cannot apply until the international protectorate oversight, introduced in 1996 in the wake of Europe’s most serious conflict since World War Two, is removed. More than 15 years after fighting came to an end, Bosnia’s ethnic rivalry endures in the absence of a single dominant group.

On Sunday, voters in Bosnia’s Serb Republic gave the biggest support to a nationalist party that threatens secession. By contrast, parties seeking a strong federal government appeared to be the biggest winner in

the Muslim-Croat half. Political analysts and diplomats say a greater role by the EU or the United States may overcome these deep-rooted divisions, which threaten regional stability and could slow progress by the emerging Balkans as a whole towards EU entry. “If this country continues on the same trajectory as over the last four years, there will be a meltdown,” said one Western ambassador. “The situation is unsustainable. Can we live with a failed state? I don’t think we can,” the official continued. “It will be a generator of problems for Europe. At least it will be a generator of organised crime, it could be a generator of terrorism.”

Zlatko Lagumdzija, head of Bosnia’s multi-ethnic SDP party, said that although some said Serbia was the key to the region, “the door is in Bosnia, because the region cannot be sorted out without Bosnia being sorted out”. Although the EU and Washington have played an

important role in Bosnia’s postwar reconstruction, a growing number of voices complain that their intervention has failed to foster stability.

Christian Schwarz-Schilling, a former international high representative for Bosnia with protectorate powers, said it was unfair to blame the Bosnians for the stalemate. “We will have a disaster in the future as long as Europe and the United States are not connecting on Bosnia,” he added.

Other states that emerged after the break-up of Yugoslavia are more ethnically homogenous. Most of Bosnia’s population is descended from the same stock of South Slavs, but hundreds of years under Ottoman domination led many to convert to Islam. In the region, even the non-religious are categorised by their religious heritage, whatever their beliefs. Sarajevo, once a model for ethnic tolerance where Muslims, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews lived side by

side, became a symbol of ethnic hatred in the 1990s. Many Bosnians still feel safer voting exclusively for their own ethnic parties.

Muslims, the largest of the three groups, want a strong central state.

Bosnian Serbs, the second largest group which sought to carve out a separate state in the 1992-95 war, want more autonomy from Sarajevo and their leader Milorad Dodik has said he may break away from Bosnia in the coming years. Many Muslims say they would not allow such a move and war would follow. The internationally negotiated peace deal in 1995 ended the fighting, in which 100,000 people were killed, but left the wartime Serb half of Bosnia intact.

“What you had was an armistice, not a peace,” said Schwarz-Schilling.

In economic terms Bosnia is certainly far better off now as the war left the economy in tatters. Its gross domestic product fell to $2.1 billion in 1995, from $8-9 billion before the war, according to a World Bank

report. The country has since received more than $15 billion in foreign aid, according to the US State Department, and by last year, GDP had grown to about euro 12 billion ($16.5 billion). Modern shopping malls and office towers dot Sarajevo as do dozens of restored mosques, but many buildings still bear the scars of more than three years of shelling.

As political uncertainty has grown and the global financial crisis took hold, foreign investment has dwindled. “The long-term prospects for foreign direct investment are substantial,” said Clifford Bond, a former US ambassador. “Bosnia has demonstrated potential in agriculture and food processing, mineral water, woodworking and lumber, hydroelectric power and tourism.” A lack of political stability remains the main short-term obstacle, he said, and this could be tackled through progress towards membership of the EU and NATO. —Reuters

Terrorism alerts reflect evolving threat

By William Maclean

U

S and British alerts about possible attacks in Europe highlight concern that growing numbers of militants are going from the West to remote war zones for training in answer to Al-Qaeda’s online call for violence. The immediate trigger for Sunday’s travel alerts was intelligence about a plot against European targets reportedly originating with a group of individuals in mountainous northern Pakistan, some of them believed to be European citizens.

Few details of the conspiracy are known. But the plot appears to be of the kind that Western officials believe poses the most significant danger today - the use of so-called self-radicalised militants with no previous record of extremism. AlQaeda’s leadership, increasingly restrained by missile strikes from US drones in northwest Pakistan, prizes such “home-grown” recruits as they have Western passports and can travel overseas easily, experts say.

Some experts suspect the flows to countries like Pakistan and Yemen of would-be militants have risen especially in the past two years, despite stepped-up efforts by some Western governments to counter Islamist radicalisation among Muslim minority communities. “It’s a serious phenomenon in Europe, especially in Britain and Germany,” said Edwin Bakker, a security and conflict expert at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. “The motivation is not always simply Islamist extremism, sometimes individuals also go to find a sense of purpose for themselves, or for excitement.”

Pakistani intelligence officials said a suspected US drone strike killed eight militants of German nationality in northwest Pakistan on Monday.

Two missiles from a suspected CIA pilotless aircraft struck a mosque in Mirali in North Waziristan. The strike came a day after the US State

British armed police officers walk across Whitehall in London, Monday. —AP Department issued an alert warning American citizens to exercise caution while travelling in Europe. Britain raised the terrorism threat level to “high” from “general” for its citizens travelling to Germany and France.

The plot that triggered the alerts involved Al-Qaeda and allied militants, possibly including European citizens or residents, intelligence sources said last week. They said the militants were plotting coordinated attacks on European cities.

The use of Western-based militants radicalised in online chat-rooms or through email contacts with hardline preachers has grown sharply in the last two years. Among the most dramatic of the mostly failed attacks and plots in the West was the failed bombing of New York’s Times

Square by Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad on May 1.

Joerg Ziercke, head of Germany’s BKA Federal Crime Office, said last month more than 400 Islamist radicals were living in Germany, some of whom had been trained in camps overseas, including a hard core with combat experience in Afghanistan.

Police had seen a rise in German residents visiting the camps.

European Union counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told Reuters on Friday the plot showed the continent had to do more to impede extremists going overseas to train. “There’s a number, a not insignificant number, of seriously dangerous people going around,” he said. “For some time there has been serious concern

about people born or resident in Europe travelling to jihadi conflict zones Afghanistan-Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen.”

In a report to EU member governments in June, Kerchove said AlQaeda remained the EU’s biggest threat and urged better control of the movements of potential terrorists in the EU. In Britain, Jonathan Evans, head of the MI5 security service, said last month there was a serious risk of a lethal attack and militants in Yemen and Somalia were growing threats.

Many of the militants who travel out to Pakistan, often Europeans of south Asian, Arab or Turkish ancestry, intend to go over the border to Afghanistan and fight Western forces there. But Al-Qaeda has fre-

quently sought to persuade them to go back home and attack Western targets there, experts say. These efforts have had some success.

Paul Cruickshank, an alumni fellew at the Center on Law and Security at New York University’s School of Law, said in a report that in the majority of 21 serious militant plots against the West since 2004, plotters either received direction from or trained with Al-Qaeda or its allies in Pakistan. Between 100 and 150 Westerners were suspected of going to the region for armed training in the last year, his Feb. 2010 study reported Western counterterrorism officials as saying.

Some of those who travel are struggling novices, who view the trips as rites of passage, said an Oct 1 joint report by the Homeland Security Policy Institute at America’s George Washington University and the Swedish National Defence College. Others are diehard militants seeking mortal combat and martyrdom against non-Muslim militaries, it said. While hard numbers on the flow of foreign fighters to conflict zones were kept secret by Western spy agencies, it was evident that “the threat from foreign fighters is now quickly growing in size and prominence”, the report said.

A Sept 10 report by US terrorism experts Bruce Hoffman and Peter Bergen for the Bipartisan Policy Center said the threat from AlQaeda had grown more complex, and US citizens and residents were playing an increasing role in the leadership of Al-Qaeda planning and operations. The group’s ability to carry out a major attack like that of Sept 11 was “far less formidable” than it was in 2001. But the group might be able to bomb symbolic American targets such as the subways of Manhattan in attacks that would kill dozens. “This level of threat is likely to persist for years to come,” it said. —Reuters

focus

The threat of invasive species

By George Monbiot

O

n a dark night last week a group of animal rights activists in Donegal in the Irish Republic made their own special contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity. They cut their way into a fur farm and released 5,000 mink. This, within their circles, was considered a clever thing to do.

A spokesperson for the Alliance for Animal Rights said “I commend whoever risked their freedom to do this”. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade announced that “we fully support what has happened”.

Had these people tipped a tanker load of bleach into the headwaters of the nearby river Finn, they would have done less damage. The effects would be horrible for a while, but the ecosystem could then begin to recover.

The mink, by contrast, will remain at large for years, perhaps millennia. Like many introduced species, American mink can slash their way through the ecosystem, as they have no native predators, and their prey species haven’t evolved to avoid them. Is there anything the animal lovers in Donegal could have done that would have harmed more animals?

But there’s a second question raised by this act of preternatural imbecility: what were the mink doing there anyway? In other respects the Irish Republic appears to be a civilised country, in this case it looks barbaric. While the United Kingdom banned fur-farming in 2000, Irish governments have resisted prohibition, to protect a tiny but wildly destructive industry. The republic’s five remaining fur farms are the sole source of continuing releases of mink, either through raids or accidents. They are also places of astonishing cruelty, in which intelligent carnivores are confined to cages the size of a few shoeboxes. The Irish government is considering phasing out fur farming in 2012. Until then, its citizens will continue to pay more to eradicate mink than they make from breeding them.

But Ireland is a small player. Two-thirds of the world’s mink farming and 70 percent of its fox farming takes place in other EU countries. Denmark alone produces 40 percent of the global supply of mink pelts.

Feral American mink on the continent are even more damaging than they are here, as they drive out the endangered European mink. The EU’s 6,000 fur farms are an affront to the values it proclaims.

This month governments meet at Nagoya, in Japan, to review the Convention on Biological Diversity. It has, so far, been a dismal failure.

Perhaps the starkest botch has been their inability or unwillingness to control the spread of invasive species.

The stories I am about to tell read like a gothic novel.

Consider, for example, the walking catfish, which is now colonising China, Thailand and the US, after escaping from fish farms and ornamental ponds. It can move across land at night, reaching water no other fish species has colonised. It slips into fish farms and quietly works through the stock. It can burrow into the mud when times are hard and lie without food for months, before exploding back into the ecosystem when conditions improve. It eats almost anything that moves.

Its terrestrial equivalent is the cane toad, widely introduced in the tropics to control crop pests. It’s omnivorous and just about indestructible: one specimen was seen happily consuming a lit cigarette butt. Nothing which tries to eat it survives: it’s as dangerous to predators as it is to prey. Unlike other amphibians, it can

breed in salty water: it’s as if it had waddled out of the pages of Karel Capek’s novel War With the Newts.

The world’s most important seabird colony - Gough Island in the South Atlantic is now being threatened by an unlikely predator: the common house mouse. After escaping from whaling boats 150 years ago, it quickly evolved to triple in size, and switched from herbivory to eating flesh. The seabirds there have no defences against predation, so the mouse simply walks into their nests and starts eating the chicks alive. Among their prey are albatross fledglings, which weigh some 300 times as much as the mice. A biologist who has witnessed this carnage observed that “it is like a tabby cat attacking a hippopotamus”.

On Christmas Island the yellow crazy ant does something similar: it eats alive any animal it finds in its path.

It is also wiping out the rainforest, by farming the scale insects that feed on tree-sap.

Similar horror stories are unfolding almost everywhere. The species we introduce, unlike the pollution we produce, don’t stop when we do. A single careless act (think of the introduction of the rabbit or the lantana plant to Australia) can transform the ecology of a continent.

According to a government report, invasive species cost Britain several billion pounds a year. The global damage they cause, it says, amounts to almost 5% of the world economy. A single introduced species - a speargrass called Imperata keeps 2 million square kilometres in the tropics out of agricultural production, equivalent to the arable area of the US, while ensuring that the native ecosystem can’t regenerate.

In most cases there’s a brief period in which an invasive species can be stopped.

So you would expect governments to mobilise as soon as the threat appears. But in many parts of the world the policy appears to consist of staring dumbly at the problem while something can be done, then panicking when it’s too late. When museum weed (Caulerpa taxifolia) escaped into the Mediterranean from the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, the authorities responded by bickering over whose fault it was. In 1984, when the invasion was first documented, the weed occupied one square metre of seabed. It could have been eradicated in half an hour.

Now it has spread across 13,000 hectares and appears to be uncontrollable.

Australia, the continent that has been hit hardest by introductions, still seems incapable of regulating the trade in dangerous species.

Ninety potentially invasive plant species are being sold in nurseries there, while 210 species of aquarium fish can be imported without a licence. The UK has some good policies. It £10,000 in 2006, for example, on a strategy (successful so far) for excluding the South American water primrose, whose control now costs France several million euros a year. But in its overseas territories - of which Gough island is one - it reacts slowly, if at all.

The mink, the walking catfish, the cane toad, the mutant house mouse, these are potent symbols of humanity’s strangely lopsided power. We can sow chaos with a keystroke in an investment bank, one signal to a Predator drone, a seed dislodged from the sole of a boot, a fish tank emptied into a canal. But when asked to repair the mess we’ve made, we proclaim our impotence. Our challenge this century is to meet our capacity for harm with an equal power for good. We are not, so far, doing very well. —Guardian

NEWS

14

Settler rabbis give Qurans to burnt W Bank mosque BEIT FAJJAR: Six settler rabbis yesterday delivered a box of Holy Qurans to a West Bank mosque which had been torched by vandals, in an unusual peace gesture welcomed by Palestinians. The delegation was led by Rabbi Menahem Froman, a founder of Eretz Shalom (Land of Peace), a small group of West Bank settlers who have reached out to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to pursue peaceful coexistence. They brought around a dozen copies of the holy book on a solidarity visit to the mosque in Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem the day after vandals spray-painted Hebrew insults on its walls and set it alight. Witnesses said the predawn attack was carried out by men who appeared to be Jewish settlers and who were driving a car with Israeli licence plates. The Israeli military and police said they were investigating.

Several hundred Palestinians cheered as the rabbis arrived in two armoured Land Rovers accompanied by Israeli soldiers. They were met by the mosque’s imam and Bethlehem governor Abdul Fatah Hamayel, who gave them a tour of the damaged mosque and showed them the remains of several Qurans which were burnt in the blaze. “We welcome the Jews to Beit Fajjar so they can see with their own eyes the crime that was committed in this mosque, which was against humanity and against religion,” Hamayel told reporters. “We welcome this delegation which is bringing a message of peace,” he said.

After talking with residents and examining the damage, Froman, who comes from the nearby Tekoa settlement, held hands with a Muslim cleric as they both raised copies of the Qurans in the air. “My belief is in peace and in God,” the white-bearded rabbi told reporters. “Those who act against peace act against God. God will defeat those who do things like this.”

Palestinians at the event expressed a similar sentiment. “We are all from the same family and we must live as good neighbours,” said Abed Farajallah, a Palestinian from the southern West Bank town of Idhna.

The attack came at a tense time, with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians on hold over Israel’s resumption of settlement building in the occupied West Bank. Defence Minister Ehud Barak dubbed the arson a “terrorist” attack aimed at hurting the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians.

Hardline Jewish settlers have been known to pursue what they call a “price tag” policy under which they attack Palestinians or their property whenever the Israeli government takes meas-

by corruption and favoritism at this crucial stage when mega oil projects are expected to be implemented over the next few years”. The lawmaker called on the prime minister to see the recommendations of the panel and to instruct the oil minister to implement them in the selection of the KPC chief and other leading oil executives. Anjari warned against attempts to exclude “honest and qualified leaders from the oil sector and involve KPC and its companies in a circle of political settlements and allow suspicious powers to wrest control of the oil sector”. Several other MPs, notably the Reform and

reforms. He had written an article for Al-Dustour to mark the anniversary of the 1973 October war with Israel.

At the paper’s Cairo office, reporters reached by phone said they were the only ones who showed up for work yesterday while editors and management staff were absent. Later the journalists issued a statement saying that they rejected Eissa’s dismissal. “Without Ibrahim Eissa the paper will be tasteless, colorless and odorless,” said the statement posted on the paper’s website. Journalists also said on the website they were staging a sit-in in support of their popular editor.

One reporter told AFP the staff “was shocked” by the decision to remove Eissa, particularly as the new owners had promised to keep the popular newspaper in its current form. Egypt’s media, television in particular, were tightly controlled in the past and restricted to positive coverage of government activities. But an explosion of privately owned satellite stations over the past five years has brought programming that pushed government boundaries when discussing politics.

El-Badawi, a businessman who heads the opposition Al-Wafd Party, bought AlDustour in August shortly after he was elected to the party post. At the time, there

BEIT FAJJAR: An Israeli settler rabbi (right) and a Palestinian imam (left) together hold up a Holy Quran during a visit by two rabbis to a mosque yesterday in this West Bank village that was desecrated by settlers. — AFP ures to curb settlement construction.

Over the last year, there have been several attacks on mosques in the West Bank, with the perpetrators scrawling Hebrew graffiti on the walls and sometimes setting the buildings on fire. The Palestinians view the presence of some 500,000 Israelis in scores of settlements across the occupied West Bank, including

annexed Arab east Jerusalem, as a major impediment to the establishment of their promised state. They have threatened to abandon peace talks that were relaunched on Sept 2 if Israel does not go back on its decision to resume building in the settlements. The international community views all the settlements as illegal. — AFP

Development Bloc, have criticized the government’s move and the Reform Bloc warned that it could resort to political questioning.

But MP Saleh Ashour said he was shocked by the wave of attacks against the planned appointment of Zanki, asking “where these people were when Zanki was the chairman of Kuwait Oil Company and Kuwait National Petroleum Company”.

Ashour said it appears that the attacks on Zanki came from MPs who wanted to see other leaders in his place. Zanki has not yet been officially appointed but he has been assigned to be the acting CEO of KPC in place of outgoing CEO Saad Al-Shuwayeb, whose term expired last month and was not

renewed.

In another development, MPs yesterday criticized the interior ministry’s ban on public rallies, saying the ban is oppressive and unconstitutional. The criticism came after the interior ministry prevented former MP Ahmad Al-Shuhoumi from holding a public rally outside his diwaniya yesterday night. The ministry has clamped down on public rallies that fo not get prior permission, saying it will only allow meetings inside diwaniyas and not outside. MP Faisal Al-Mislem said the ban is “unconstitutional, oppressive, unjustified and totally rejected”.

He called on the prime minister to stop this government aggression on the freedom of the people and the freedom of opinion.

was speculation he would fire Eissa in a move that would bring him and Al-Wafd closer to the government. Al-Wafd is expected to field a large number of candidates in the November election. Wafd recently refused to join ElBaradei in his call to boycott upcoming elections, and said it would field a large number of candidates.

Al-Dustour has been sharply critical of the government and often breaks political, social and religious taboos in commentaries on Egyptian society. Its sharp language earned it the ire of censors and it was shut down in 1998 for seven years.In 2008, Eissa was sentenced to two months in prison on charges of insulting Mubarak after he reported about the president’s health. Mubarak later pardoned him. The first sign of the latest media crackdown came in early September, when private and opposition newspapers were ordered to pull reports of a street poster campaign supporting the powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman for president. Journalists and editors were barred from writing about the story in subsequent issues and the posters were removed.

The question of who will succeed Egypt’s ruler of almost 30 years has gained added urgency since Mubarak traveled to Germany earlier this year for surgery to remove his gallbladder and a benign growth in the small intestine. Mubarak

has not yet announced whether he will run for a sixth term in 2011 presidential elections. Many believe his 46-year-old son Gamal, a powerful figure in the ruling party, is being groomed to succeed him.

Another program, the 12-year-old “Cairo Today” was also shut down Monday. Like Eissa’s talk show, it was broadcast on a private satellite TV network. Information Minister Anas El-Fiqqi told AP the closure of Orbit TV’s “Cairo Today” had no political dimension and was only because the network had not paid its bills, though officials from the station have disputed that.

“It’s a way of putting pressure on those who are calling for free elections, or those calling for a boycott,” political science professor Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayyed told AFP. “The regime is unstable and it wants to secure a smooth transition of power (to Gamal Mubarak), and so it cannot tolerate freedom of expression,” novelist and columnist Alaa Al-Aswany told AFP. He said he has stopped writing columns in the independent daily Al-Shorouk after learning that his critical articles had caused the paper problems. “I know that the owner of the paper (Ibrahim Al-Moallem) had come under immense pressure from the authorities to tone down criticism against the regime. He was asked to stop publishing articles calling for change,” Aswany said.

— Agencies

Fury as Israel soldier dances round woman Continued from Page 1 The Islamist Hamas movement which rules Gaza also denounced the footage, with spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying the soldier’s behaviour “reflects the racism and the absence of morals among the occupation soldiers”. The Israeli army insisted it was an “isolated” incident, but said the military police had opened an investigation into the video clip. “The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) denounces actions such as those depicted in the videos,” it said referring to an unspecified number of video clips. “The videos are isolated cases that do not represent the IDF as a whole.” The statement said that from now on, a military police investigation would become “standard practice in cases in which similar behaviour is alleged”.

hit “Just Dance” along a narrow A-320 passenger cabin aisle last Thursday to teach passengers emergency procedures in case of severe turbulence or a water landing.

A passenger on the one-hour flight from Manila to southern Butuan province recorded the spectacle and uploaded it to YouTube.

The video drew acclaim and criticisms.

“American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest was impressed and included the video on his website. But a group of flight attendants from the flag-carrier Philippine Airlines frowned on the in-flight show, saying it was demeaning and undignified. Left-wing legislator Teddy Casino said that while the dance routine may have captured passenger attention “it was obviously difficult to intently listen and hear the safety instructions because of the loud music.” But the airline was elated and has decided to continue the flight show. “We’d like to spread the culture of fun - and safety,” Iyog told AP.

Crew members do regular pre-flight safety demonstrations - then follow up with the musical version when the plane reaches cruising altitude, she said. In the video, the flight crew members are shown dancing animatedly while donning yellow life vests and oxygen masks and blowing emergency whistles. They turn around and spread their arms to point to emergency exits.

At show’s end, the passengers erupt into applause. It is not the first time an unusual Philippine dance routine has proved a hit on the Internet. Several years ago, the central Cebu provincial prison warden organized hundreds of inmates to dance to Michael Jackson’s songs. Prison officials and organizers said the project was part of efforts to increase attendance at exercise sessions and help prepare inmates for release. Since it first appeared in 2007, the jail dance video has recorded 44.5 million hits and turned the little-known jail into a tourist attraction. — AP

France holds 12 in Europe anti-terrorism operation

Egyptian daily sacks dissident chief editor Continued from Page 1

Filipino flight safety demo is YouTube hit MANILA: Flight attendants for a low-cost Philippine airline who dance to Lady Gaga to keep passengers from snoozing through an in-flight safety demonstration are the latest YouTube sensation. A video of stewardesses performing a choreographed routine aboard a Cebu Pacific flight last week to demonstrate safety procedures has received more than 6.5 million hits after being posted on the popular video sharing website. The Manila-based airline, known for holding party games and singing contests on its lowfare domestic and Asian flights, said yesterday it resorted to dancing stewardesses to draw more passenger attention to its inflight safety reminders.

“People hardly pay attention to the safety demo on the ground,” Cebu Pacific Vice President for marketing Candice Iyog said.

“The airline was very thrilled with the outcome.” Three stewardesses in pastel shirts and khaki skirts danced away to Lady Gaga’s

Furore over appointment of KPC chief Continued from Page 1

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Exposure of the video came just seven weeks after an Israeli soldier sparked widespread outrage by posting pictures of herself smiling and larking around next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners.

The army denounced the pictures as “shameful”, while the Palestinian Authority described them as humiliating, but the former soldier, Eden Abergil, could not understand why the images had caused such offence.

Rights groups said at the time that photographs were clear evidence of a culture within the military that treated Palestinians as objects rather than human beings - a sentiment which was echoed by Fayyad’s office yesterday. “With the advent of easy-to-use media like YouTube, the truth is coming to light about a culture of humiliation of the

Palestinians,” it said. “The soldiers are fed by a wider Israeli policy that behaves (as if it were) above the law and human rights values.”

Israeli blogger Dimi Reider, who first exposed the Eden Abergil photographs in August, said the video flew in the face of Israel’s claims to have one of the most moral armies in the world. “This video finally debunks one of the most persistent Israeli myths - that ours is the only occupying army in history that does not sexually abuse the women of the occupied nation,” he wrote in his blog, Dimi’s notes. “Second, it’s about as stark proof as it gets that the IDF cannot and should not monitor itself (if it could, the soldiers would be in prison, deranked and de-mobbed before the video even hit the web),” he said. — AFP

PARIS: French police arrested 12 people yesterday in early morning swoops the interior minister said were directly linked to a campaign to counter an elevated terrorism threat in Europe. France is on high alert after seven hostages, including five French citizens, were kidnapped by the North African wing of AlQaeda last month, and approval by the Senate of a bill to ban full-face veils. The hostages are still being held. The US State Department on Sunday issued a warning to Americans to exercise caution while in Europe. Also on Sunday, Britain raised its terrorism threat level to high from general for those travelling to Germany and France.

“Yes there is a terrorist threat at the moment in Europe. It must be neither overestimated nor underestimated,” Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told France’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after the raids had taken place. “Just this morning, police operations were launched in Marseille and Bordeaux which led to arrests directly linked to the anti-terrorist campaign,” said Hortefeux, who added that he had spoken among others to US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as recently as Monday night. “On such a sensitive, difficult issue, the French government is naturally working hand in hand with our partners, our allies and even further afield,” the minister said.

As further information emerged from

police sources, the number of arrested rose to 12, 11 men and one woman, and many of them were as much suspected of links to local gangster activity in Marseille as Islamist militant networks. All 12 are still being held.

In one operation focused on a network supplying false papers for jihadists returning from Afghanistan, police arrested two men in the Mediterranean port of Marseille and a third in the city of Bordeaux in southwest France, police sources said. The three were arrested for checks after their details were found on a man arrested in the Italian city of Naples and suspected of being connected to Al-Qaeda militants, they said.

In another operation, nine people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in arms and explosives trafficking, they said. Those arrests took place in a region around Marseille. “They’re not hardcore. If they’re moving in Islamic circles, they’re secondtier,” said one police source. In early September, Italian anti-terrorist police arrested a Frenchman suspected of belonging to AlQaeda and capable of securing explosives, Italian sources said on Sunday. According to Italian police, the man arrested in Naples last month was part of a group that had been in Afghanistan and was in the process of returning to Europe. He arrived in Rome in the first half of August having travelled overland from Turkey. He went to Naples towards the end of the month and was arrested a few days later.

French police issued a warrant for his arrest on Sept 3, the day before he was arrested in Naples.

Hortefeux said he would take stock of the situation tomorrow with European Union counterparts meeting in Luxembourg. French authorities said last month they had received a tip-off that a suicide bomber was preparing an attack on the Paris metro system and Western intelligence sources said they had uncovered plans for a coordinated attack on European cities. France’s threat level remains at red, the second-highest level. Hortefeux told reporters late on Sunday: “We shouldn’t be in denial.”

The kidnapping in Niger last month of seven employees of French companies Areva and Vinci, including five French citizens, by AlQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, highlighted tensions in the region. Mali’s president last week called for regional cooperation to fight AQIM, but said support from France, the region’s main former colonial power, should remain material. France, where the five-million-strong Muslim community is Europe’s largest, last month cleared a final legislative hurdle to becoming the first European country to ban a full-scale veil which an estimated 2,000 Muslim women actually wear, when the Senate approved the ban. The ban on the headto-toe garment that leaves only the eyes uncovered still has to be vetted by the Constitutional Council, France’s highest constitutional authority. — Reuters

Kuwait, Cyprus eye mutual investments Co nt in ue d f rom Pa ge 1 include the energy sector, Al-Shamali said: “Yes. Our investments cover all fields. In the energy sector we could help.”

Cyprus has recently started its foray into hydrocarbon exploration, opening up offshore sea plots to potential exploitation in 2007. Officials say they are preparing a

new licensing round, where plots are made available for potential hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation. They have not been specific on the timing. AlShamali said Kuwait could offer Cyprus help in tackling its chronic water shortages. Cyprus is one of the most arid member states of the EU and is increasingly reliant on water desalination to meet its needs. “We have the technical

knowhow in desalination,” Al-Shamali said.

The treaty on the avoidance of double taxation ensures that a business is not taxed twice on its activities. “It’s an important and necessary step in maintaining and expanding the economic and commercial relationship between the two countries,” said Charilaos Stavrakis, the Cypriot finance minister. — Reuters

Carbon pioneers win physics Nobel Continued from Page 1 The Nobel jury acknowledged that most of the practical applications of graphene “exist only in our fantasies, but many are already being tested”.

Geim said last year as he accepted an honour at Britain’s prestigious Royal Society that the list of uses was “long and (was) yet to be completed”. “Graphene has become known as a wonder material,” he said. He also acknowledged at the time that he had spent his career jumping from one subject to another. “Yes, it is hard to jump between subjects but it is worth the effort,” he said, adding that “before graphene, there were other successes including gecko tape, mesiscopic superconductivity and levitating frogs.”

His 1997 feat of making a frog levitate in a magnetic field was praised by the Nobel jury, who called it “an ingenious

way of illustrating the principles of physics”. Gecko tape - a super sticky tape inspired by the lizard’s ability to stick to even the smoothest surfaces - was meanwhile developed in 2003 by both Geim and Novoselov. The latter began working for Geim as a PhD student in the Netherlands and at 36 is one of the youngest laureates of the Nobel Physics Prize.

He told the TT news agency he was “shocked” by the nod. “This is just crazy,” he said, adding that he had not been expecting the prize despite speculation that 2010 could be his year. “I have learned not to listen to speculation,” he said. Geim told the committee he was looking at emails and looking at archives when he got the call. “I slept well, I didn’t expect the Nobel Prize this year,” he said, adding he was going straight back to work.

He said that unlike one category of Nobel Prize winners, who “stop doing anything

for the rest of their life”, he belonged to a category of “people who think people think they won the Nobel Prize by accident so they start working even harder than before”.

The University of Manchester said the award was “a wonderful example of a fundamental discovery based on scientific curiosity with major practical, social and economic benefits for society.” Geim and Novoselov will split 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.49 million) in prize money and will receive a medal at a Dec 10 gala dinner in Stockholm. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was glad that Russian-born scientists had won Nobel prizes in physics, but regretted that they worked abroad. “We need to make efforts so that our talented people don’t leave the country,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency. — Agencies

Defiant Times Square bomber jailed for life Continued from Page 1 and said the mandatory life sentence was without parole. “I want my sentence to be real, not fictitious,” she said.

“Allahu Akbar,” or “God is greatest,” responded a defiant Shahzad, heavily bearded and dressed in blue prison garb and a white Muslim cap. Grim-faced and in a quiet voice, he predicted defeat for US-led forces in Afghanistan and praised Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden as “the Saladin of the 21st century” - referring to the 12th century Arab commander who defeated the crusaders.

The former financial analyst and father of two became a naturalized US citizen in April 2009 after a decade in the country.

But he said yesterday that had been only a ploy. “Didn’t you swear allegiance to this country?” Cedarbaum asked. “I sweared, but I didn’t mean it,” Shahzad replied.Before Shahzad was handcuffed and led away by burly security guards, Cedarbaum said: “I hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Quran wants you to kill lots of people.” “The Quran gives met the right to defend” Muslims, Shahzad shot back.

Federal prosecutor Preet Bharara welcomed the sentence, saying in a statement that Shahzad “is a remorseless terrorist who betrayed his adopted country”.

Senator Charles Schumer said the sentence “sends a clear and unequivocal message to those who seek to do us harm”. “Let this be a warning to others who would attempt to attack us: you will be caught, you will be held to account, and justice will be brought down upon you.”

Despite training with the Taleban, Shahzad’s operation was amateur. Not only did the explosive device fail, but he had to escape on foot because he left the keys to a second getaway car - and those to his apartment - inside the vehicle with the bomb. But officials say that the bomb, had it gone off, would have caused carnage in one of New York’s busiest neighborhoods. FBI officials later recreated the device in an empty field to demonstrate the fiery explosion they said could have occurred.

Prosecutors say that Shahzad boasted he expected to kill at least 40 people and that he had also planned to set off a second explosion, had he not been caught after the first. According to prosecutors,

he admitted using Internet webcam sites to monitor Times Square and see when and where a bomb would be most likely to cause bloodshed. The son of a Pakistani air force officer, Shahzad came to the United States to study at the age of 18.

Living in the suburbs of New York City, he worked as a financial analyst and married another Pakistani-American, raising two children. But he says he became disillusioned with his estrangement from Islam and upset at what he considered humiliation of Muslims worldwide.

In a 40-minute Taleban video released by the US government, Shahzad, wearing traditional clothes and carrying an automatic rifle and a Holy Quran, calls for war against the West to avenge what he refers to as downtrodden Muslims. “You will see the Muslim war has just started, until Islam spreads war over the whole world,” he threatens in the video, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed. “Our way is with the sword.”

The video was apparently shot while Shahzad was receiving training in Taleban-friendly regions in Pakistan over the previous year, before coming back to Connecticut and gathering materials for the bomb. — AFP

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

15

Major League Baseball playoff series set to kick off LOS ANGELES: Baseball launches into its 2010 postseason with the defending league champion New York Yankees and the twotime defending NL champion Phillies on a potential World Series collision course.

There were no tiebreakers needed this year as all the matchups were set on Sunday giving the players get some much needed rest before the first swing of the playoff bats.

“Words can’t describe it,” San Francisco second baseman Freddy Sanchez said. “This is what I’ve played for ever since I was a little kid.” Tampa Bay ace David Price will

throw the first pitch against the Texas. The Rangers are the only current major league franchise that’s never won a postseason matchup. Philadelphia host Cincinnati in the next scheduled game. Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay starts game one against Edinson Volquez. The Phillies pitching rotation also includes aces Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Cincinnati is making their first playoff appearance in five years. They rewarded manager Dusty Baker with a two-year contract extension on Monday.

“I think we got here sooner than a lot of

people thought — to the playoffs,” general manager Walt Jocketty said. “I think a lot of it is due to Dusty’s leadership.”

Major League Baseball champion Yankees visit Minnesota on Wednesday for the first postseason game at Target Field.

CC Sabathia, a workhorse throughout the last postseason, starts against Twins Francisco Liriano. The Yankees were 4-2 against Minnesota this year.

New York settled for a wild-card berth Sunday after losing to rival Boston in their regular-season finale. The defeat left the

Yankees at 95-67 while Tampa Bay defeated Kansas City 3-2 in 12 innings to finish at 9666 to edge the Yankees by one game for the AL East division title.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria is expected to return for game one of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the wild-card Atlanta Braves and retiring manager Bobby Cox begin their best-of-five division series at San Francisco.

Tim Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, pitches for the Giants against Derek Lowe. Likewise, Lincecum is well rested and

ready to go. “We’re probably not expected to do well,” said Braves pitcher Tim Hudson.

Braves 69-year-old manager Cox is in the postseason again. Cox’s Braves went 4-3 against the Giants this year. Cox guided Atlanta to 14 consecutive division titles from 1991-2005, but only one World Series championship during that run. He and the Braves are back in the postseason after a four-year absence. The Giants and Braves clinched their playoff spots Sunday, eliminating San Diego. “This is what it’s all about,” Atlanta closer Billy Wagner said. “You play all year

long and it comes down to the last game and you get the champagne shower.” The Ray announced Monday that Longoria, who missed the final 10 games of the regular season battling a strained right quadriceps, will make his return as the Rays start the playoffs.

The 24-year-old hit .294 with 22 homers and a team-high 104 RBI in 151 games for the AL East champions. The AL champ will face the National League winner in the best-ofseven championship World Series later this month. — AFP

LONDON: Los Angeles Lakers’ Steve Blake (left) drives past Timberwolves’ Wayne Ellington during their preseason basketball match at the O2 Arena in London. —AP

T’wolves beat Lakers in preseason opener

LONDON: Michael Beasley scored 21 points — including eight straight to help break open the game at the start of the second half — in his Timberwolves debut to help Minnesota beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-92 Monday in their preseason opener in London.

Kobe Bryant only put in a brief appearance for defending NBA champion Los Angeles, going scoreless in a little more than six minutes of playing time. That wasn’t enough to satisfy the crowd at the soldout O2 Arena, which chanted “Kobe, Kobe, Kobe” during the second half.

Bryant, who is still recovering from knee surgery in the offseason, answered with polite laughs on the bench, but the pleas had little effect on coach Phil Jackson.

“We had plans to play Kobe in two seg-

ments, but one was enough,” Jackson said.

“He iced down at halftime. I probably should have told the PA announcer so he could tell the crowd.” Bryant has only completed two full practices since training camp began, and said he likely wouldn’t have played at all if the game had been back home.

“I had a sense of responsibility to get out there and play for a little bit,” Bryant said, adding that the chants from the crowd tempted him to play more. “I wanted to get up and get in. But my shoes were already unlaced, and I had ice on my knees.”

Instead, it was Beasley and fellow newcomers Martell Webster and Anthony Tolliver that put on a show, helping the Timberwolves use a 32-13 third-quarter run to break open the game. Webster led all

scorers with 24 points and Tolliver added 10. Not a bad start for a team that is returning just five players from the roster that won only 15 games last season. “I think we surprised everybody tonight,” Beasley said.

“I don’t think anybody thought we would win. It shows our work ethic and our character. That’s what we’re here to show this year.” Lamar Odom led the Lakers with 17 points, including 13 in a tight first half as the Lakers took a 56-55 lead into the break.

But Beasley, the forward who joined from Miami after the Heat acquired LeBron James and Chris Bosh, made sure there would be little drama in the second half. He drained a long jumper on Minnesota’s first possession and then added a 3-pointer, before driving the length of the court for a three-point play. He finished 8 of 10 from

Deslauriers, Ward help US take lead LEXINGTON: Mario Deslauriers and American teammate McLain Ward held the top two spots after the speed round of the jumping competition at the World Equestrian Games on Monday.

Hungary’s Sandor Szasz, competing at this level for the first time, was third. “Obviously we are all nervous going in,” said Deslauriers, a twotime Canadian champion who now rides for the US “I went about four or five hours earlier than (Ward) did so there was more pressure on him.

My horse is very quick. He looks a bit deceiving when you watch him go. I was very happy with him, and he jumped fantastic.” The speed competition requires a horse and rider clear a set of jumps in the fastest time and with no penalties.

Deslauriers, Ward, and Szasz all had clean rounds, but Deslauriers had the fastest time. He completed the 13 jumps in 71.25 seconds, while Ward — an Olympic gold medalist — went in 71.79 and Szasz finished in 73.24. “(The course) was challenging from the beginning to the end,” said Ward, who rides a 15-year-old mare named Sapphire.

“I have a horse with a lot of experience who is pretty predictable. She performed great. It is a long week, and I was very happy with how she felt.” The speed round serves as the first day of the team competition. The United States is in the lead, while Germany is in second and France third. It is also a qualifier for the individual competition. Team jumping continues late yesterday and today, while the individual competition is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The World Equestrian Games will conclude Sunday. —AP

the floor in a little more than 18 minutes, and was rested for the entire fourth quarter.

“You can see Beasley is a very talented player,” Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis said.

“He’s got a lot of enthusiasm and passion.

He freelanced a little bit too much for me, but that’s the way he is. He can create his own shots. I expect him to be a major contributor for us this year.”

Jackson had said before the game that Bryant would start but wasn’t likely to play more than eight minutes. He came off after the first time-out, having produced little on the floor. He went 0 for 3 from the field, including two missed 3-pointers.

He did take part in the first highlight of the night, however, stealing a pass from Beasley and feeding Odom on the fast break, and Odom finished with a one-hand-

ed dunk to make it 2-0.

Los Angeles was clearly the main attraction for the British crowd, with yellow Lakers jerseys vastly outnumbering the Minnesota shirts. However, the fans got to see little of the quality that earned Los Angeles back-to-back titles.

Ron Artest and Pau Gasol were largely anonymous, while Derek Fisher played just 15 minutes. Artest finished with three points, Gasol had seven and Fisher added 12. Center Andrew Bynum missed the game following knee surgery. “Minnesota looked great. We looked like we just got off vacation,” Jackson said. Rambis said it was clear the game meant more to his team than the Lakers.

“Any win is a good win, but I see the reality of it,” Rambis said. “Kobe only

played a little bit. They don’t have the mindset to come out and win games. We’re a young team trying to win every time.”

Odom brought some laughs when Beasley fell down in front of him as he de drove the ball up the court.

Odom had to leap over the forward and continued to run with an exaggerated highstepping stride as he drove toward the basket, before passing behind his back to Derek Fisher. The guard’s shot was blocked into the stands by Darko Milicic.

The NBA’s annual European preseason tour continues with Minnesota playing the New York Knicks in Paris today and the Lakers taking on Barcelona in Spain tomorrow in a homecoming for Gasol. Bryant said he expects to play about the same amount in that game. —AP

Luge death ruled accidental, but safety eyed

LEXINGTON: Nicklaus Schurtenberger from Switzerland rides Cantus over a jump during the World Jumping Championship at the World Equestrian Games. —AP

VANCOUVER: The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the eve of the Vancouver Winter Olympics was accidental, but the incident raises safety issues for the sport, a Canadian coroner reported on Monday.

The report recommended the International Luge Federation require more venue-specific training immediately before major competitions such as the Olympics and on new facilities like the one constructed for the 2010 Games.

An independent safety audit should also be conducted on the track where Kumaritashvili died, and international sporting officials should look at safety protocols for other facilities, especially new ones, the coroner recommended.

Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled and slammed into an exposed steel pillar during his last training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Feb. 12, just hours before the Games’ opening ceremonies.

His death was the first of a luge athlete in competition since 1975, and controversy surrounding it dogged organizers of the Vancouver Games with questions over the safety of the highspeed track’s design.

Investigators say the accident appeared to be the result of both Kumaritashvili’s relative inexperience with the track and the various safety features that failed to anticipate the type of incident that killed him.

“The collision was a result of an interaction of factors, including high speed, technical challenges and exacting physical forces ... overwhelming the athlete and causing the irretrievable loss of control of the sled,” British Columbia Coroner Tom Pawlowski

concluded.

Pawlowski said he did not have the authority to rule if the track design was acceptably safe to have been used for the Games, and noted the percentage of crashes at Whistler before Kumaritashvili’s accident had been lower and less severe than at many other tracks.

It appeared “best practices” were used in designing the track, but “Kumaritashvili’s death has shown us that the previously employed best practices have not been infallible,”

Pawlowski said. The agency now operating the track said it will conduct the recommended audit, looking at both the design and physiological guidelines for those using it.

The track was also used for bobsleigh and skeleton competitions in the Olympics. It will host bobsleigh and skeleton World Cup events in November, but does not yet have any international luge races scheduled.

Kumaritashvili died immediately of blunt trauma to his head, likely when he hit a metal post after flying off the

track, the report said.

Padding was added to the posts after the accident, but Pawlowski said that would likely not have saved his life given the speed at which he hit it.

Kumaritashvili reached speeds as high as 144.3 km/h (93.8 mph) during that run down the ice. The International Luge Federation, which initially blamed the accident on human error, allowed Olympic competition to continue for the Games but changed the starting spot in a bid to reduce speeds on the track. —Reuters

WHISTLER: In this Feb. 11, 2010, file photo, Nodar Kumaritashvili practices for the men’s luge at the Vancouver Olympics. Kumaritashvili died after crashing during a training run the next day.

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Monty basks in glow of victory, Pavin praised LONDON: Colin Montgomerie has been hailed as captain fantastic for leading Europe to a one-point victory in the Ryder Cup but Corey Pavin can also walk with his head held high after going close to conjuring up a stunning comeback win.

In public, the two captains could not have been more different. Montgomerie talked to anyone who would listen and was relentlessly bullish about the quality of his players and their chances of success at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport.

Pavin, known as one of the more volatile players on the US Tour, reined himself in to offer a calm, relaxed exterior, insisting throughout that it was all about the players and that he was just in Wales to have fun.

Inside though, a fire was raging and in the US team room Pavin was closer to his “War on the Shore” 1991 camouflage-capped persona than the new emotion-lite version.

Twice delayed by rain and shorn by the changed format of being able to rest players after the opening fourballs, the captains were left to be judged on their wild cards, their pairings, their running order and the intangible “gel” factor.

Ian Poulter certainly delivered, as Europe’s jointtop scorer with three points alongside Luke Donald, but Edoardo Molinari and Padraig Harrington struggled and will have left the overlooked Paul Casey and Justin Rose wondering from afar.

Tiger Woods was initially off-form, despite scor-

ing points, but the world number one was imperious in the singles to share top billing with Steve Stricker on three points.

Stewart Cink was America’s most consistent player, Zach Johnson shook off poor recent form to shine in the singles and Rickie Fowler brought youthful exuberance to a team that had begun to look a little old and creaky.

Pavin was questioned, including by Montgomerie, for sending out rookie duo Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson against Harrington and Donald on Day One but the Americans won to leave their skipper smiling and his team ahead.

He was questioned for “hiding” Tiger Woods in the middle of his order but Woods won three of his

four matches from there and in the singles the “down order” Woods, Mickelson and Johnson all won to pave the way for a possible last-man victory.

That, however, was where Montgomerie played his ace. The Scot had spoken all week about how previous Ryder Cups had shown the need to “frontload” the singles but Montgomerie kept Graeme McDowell until last as an insurance policy, knowing that the Northern Irish U.S. Open champion had nerves of steel.

It proved an inspired move as McDowell triumphed, partly thanks to opponent Hunter Mahan’s failure to deal with the crushing pressure as, with 30,000 sets of eyes boring into his back, he fluffed his chip on the 17th and eventually conceded.

There was a real feel of “doing it for Monty” among the Europeans, mainly because of his remarkable Ryder Cup achievements as a player.

But the Americans, often accused of not caring about the competition and being too focused on individualism, also appeared a harmonious and committed unit.

Pavin said that far too much was made of the captain’s input and joked that he could have chosen his pairings by plucking the 12 names from a hat.

The fact that the match came down the penultimate hole of the last singles match where a couple of putts either way would have taken the trophy back across the Atlantic perhaps shows he was not so far from the truth. — Reuters

McIlroy and Fowler hint at exciting rivalry

NEWPORT: US team captain Corey Pavin (left) and player Rickie Fowler react after finishing his match all square on the final day of the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament at the Celtic Manor Resort in this file photo. — AP

Morley to lead England in Four Nations tourney LONDON: Adrian Morley will captain England during the Four Nations tournament in Australia and New Zealand it was announced Monday. The experienced Warrington prop replaced the injured Jamie Peacock as skipper of a 24-man squad where Huddersfield provide six players.

England coach Steve McNamara said his decision to go with Morley owed much to the player’s experience of Australian rugby league with the Sydney Roosters.

“It’s sad for Jamie but Adrian is held in a huge amount of respect on both sides of the world,” McNamara said. “On my recent trip to Australia everybody all spoke very highly of him.”

Morley, who has twice deputised as captain in Peacock’s absence, said: “It feels absolutely incredible. “I’ve been lucky to captain Great Britain and England in one-off games but to lead a touring side is fantastic. It will be the highlight of my career without a doubt.”

McNamara opted for Huddersfield’s Luke Robinson in preference to Warrington scrum-half Richie Myler, whose form dipped towards the end of the season.

The uncapped Robinson’s chances of making the squad appeared so slim at one stage he’d scheduled his marriage to fiancee Laura in Cyprus on October 25.

But now, with Laura’s backing, he has postponed the ceremony. “I’m absolutely ecstatic but there’s been a lot of of running around to do,” Robinson said.

“I was supposed to get married but that’s off now.

There’s been a lot of heart to heart and a lot of tears but she’s fully behind me, although she was crying as she was saying it.

“She said it’s a once-in-a-life opportunity. It’s been a childhood dream to play for my country and I felt I couldn’t turn it down. “We will lose some money, I’ll be honest, but it’s something I can’t pass up. I’m over the moon.”

Leeds’ only representative is winger Ryan Hall, after club captain Kevin Sinfield joined Peacock and stand-off Danny McGuire on the injured list. Also out of contention through injury is St Helens scrum-half Kyle Eastmond.

England, formerly known as Great Britain, have not won a major international tournament involving Australia since the 1972 World Cup in France and last won a Test series in Australia back in 1970.

McNamara’s men will fly out to Auckland on Friday to prepare for a warm-up match against New Zealand Maori on Saturday week. Their opening Four Nations game will be against New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday, October 23.

England — Ryan Atkins (Warrington), Tom Briscoe (Hull FC), Kevin Brown (Huddersfield), Tony Clubb (Harlequins RL), Leroy Cudjoe (Huddersfield), Darrell Goulding (Wigan), Ryan Hall (Leeds), Luke Robinson (Huddersfield), Sam Tomkins (Wigan), Michael Shenton (Castleford), Gareth Widdop (Melbourne/AUS), Sam Burgess (South Sydney/AUS), Eorl Crabtree (Huddersfield), Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers/AUS), Stuart Fielden (Wigan), James Graham (St Helens), Darrell Griffin (Huddersfield), Ben Harrison (Warrington), Shaun Lunt (Huddersfield), Adrian Morley (Warrington, capt), Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan), James Roby (St Helens), Joel Tomkins (Wigan), Ben Westwood (Warrington) — AFP

NZ name squad for Four Nations WELLINGTON: Rugby league world champions New Zealand yesterday named two Test debutants and three players from St George Illawarra’s NRL premiership-winning team in their squad for the Four Nations tournament.

Coach Stephen Kearney said the 23-man squad, dominated by players from Australia’s NRL, was difficult to select due to the depth of emerging talent in the Kiwi ranks.

“We’re in a position with our depth developing where a number of very good players have missed out,” he said. “That’s disappointing for them but really encouraging for us that we now have strong competition for spots.”

Back rower Lewis Brown and winger Antonio Winterstein were included in the national squad for the first time, while centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall was recalled three years after his sole Test appearance against France.

Winger Jason Nightingale, a two-try hero in St George’s 32-8 win over the Sydney Roosters in Sunday’s NRL grand final, was also named, along with teammates Nathan Fien and Jeremy Smith.

New Zealand kick off their Four Nations campaign against England in Wellington on October 23, followed by clashes with Papua New Guinea in Rotorua on October 30 and Australia in Auckland on November 6.

Before that, the Kiwi side will play their first ever Test against Samoa at Auckland on October 16. The 23-man New Zealand squad named on Tuesday for the Four Nations tournament to be held in Australia and New Zealand from October 23 to November 13: New Zealand - Adam Blair (Melbourne Storm), Lewis Brown (NZ Warriors), Greg Eastwood (Leeds Rhinos), Nathan Fien (St George Illawarra Dragons), Bronson Harrison (Canberra Raiders), Lance Hohaia (NZ Warriors), Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Sydney Roosters), Thomas Leuluai (Wigan Warriors), Issac Luke (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Simon Mannering (NZ Warriors), Sika Manu (Melbourne Storm), Benji Marshall (captain, Wests Tigers), Ben Matulino (NZ Warriors), Fuifui Moimoi (Parramatta Eels), Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra Dragons), Frank-Paul Nuuausala (Sydney Roosters), Sam Perrett (Sydney Roosters), Frank Pritchard (Penrith Panthers), Junior Sa’u (Newcastle Knights), Jeremy Smith (St George Illararra Dragons), Manu Vatuvei (NZ Warriors), Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Sydney Roosters), Antonio Winterstein (Brisbane Broncos). — AFP

LONDON: Emerging from the mud, sweat and tears of arguably the greatest Ryder Cup ever contested was the hint of a rivalry that could shine as brightly as the sunshine that finally arrived in south Wales on Monday.

Virtually all the 11 firsttimers on view over four dramatic days at Celtic Manor contributed some special moments.

Jeff Overton’s hole-out eagle on Saturday, Francesco Molinari’s glorious approach to three feet at the 18th on Sunday to seal what turned out to be a crucial half point for Europe lodged in the memory.

The excitement created by American Rickie Fowler and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy suggested golf now has two fearless young warriors who will surely be fighting for majors over the next decade.

Both 21-year-olds stand out from the crowd even if their performances at Celtic Manor were mixed. McIlroy’s shaggy mop of black curly hair and Fowler’s technicolour wardrobe and boy-band looks are heaven sent for golf promoters on both side’s of the Atlantic looking to sell the sport to the Playstation generation.

More importantly, however, they both proved over the weekend that, in the heat of battle, they could deliver under pressure. McIlroy’s contest with former British Open champion Stewart Cink on Monday was matchplay golf at its most gripping.

All square and under tremendous pressure, McIlroy apeared to have blown it when he hit his second shot into a greenside bunker at the 18th and then left his third shot in the sand.

Lesser characters could have gone to pieces but McIlroy composed himself, chipped to six feet and holed the bogey putt which was good enough for half a point.

Wildcard Fowler’s Sunday performance was even more impressive as he came from four behind after 12 holes against Edoardo Molinari to steal a half point thanks to a curling 30-foot putt on the 18th to keep his side alive.

He sunk a similar effort on Saturday to secure himself and partner Jim Furyk a half in their foursomes against Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer and his performance throughly justified captain Corey Pavin’s faith in the upstart from Disneyland.

“Rickie was amazing,” Pavin said. “He’s that kind of kid, and I think we’ll see him a lot more of him in Ryder Cup venues in the future.”

McIlroy, who won his first title on the PGA Tour this year and finished third at the British Open and US PGA, raised eyebrows when describing the Ryder Cup as an “exhibition” in the weeks leading up to the match.

However, after scoring two points in the 14 1/2 13 1/2 victory he described the experience as the best of his golfing career and the experience he gained in front of some of the biggest crowds seen on a golf course will be valuable.

“You know, I’m still very, very young,” a drained McIlroy said on Monday. “I don’t want to miss a Ryder Cup for the next 20 years.”

They did not face each other directly at Celtic Manor but despite playing most of their golf on different sides of the Atlantic, it must be hoped that their paths cross regularly before the Ryder Cup returns at Medinah in 2012. — Reuters

VIVA Kuwait and The 3 Club participate in Ironman Japan Triathlon KUWAIT: VIVA Kuwait and The 3 Club, an extension of Pro Vision Sports Management Company joined forces to help spread awareness about better health, considering the essential role of a healthy lifestyle, Members of The 3 Club participating in the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon held in Japan, represents the first activity after partnering with VIVA Kuwait. Ironman Japan 70.3 Triathlon consists of a number of qualifying races at various locations worldwide, culminating in a world championship race with athletes drawn largely from top finishers in the qualifying events.

In this year’s Ironman 70.3 Triathlon, participants of The 3 Club were the most trained members who undertook the challenge to compete in an 8-hour race including swimming for 2KM, cycling for 90 KM and running for 21 KM to reach the finish line.

Ahmed Al-Majed, a participant in this challenge, was able to reach the finish line with an overall time of 6:48:29 and have the 32nd place in his category. Ahmed expressed his honor to represent Kuwait, and in spite of all the physical exhaustion he encountered during the event Ahmed said, “It is all the reflec-

tion of our determination and discipline to empower our abilities with all what it needs to excel in this field which became possible with the support of VIVA Kuwait and all our fans back home”.

As for Suliman Al Mukhaizeem, the other participant in this year’s event, who was able to reach the finish line with an overall time of 7:52:25, described all the obstacles he faced during the race as minor compared to the outstanding feelings of victory and triumph he felt as he reached the finish line.”

My heartbeats were so loud from exhaustion, but at that moment I realized that no matter what I face in life I will be able to overcome through persistence and willpower,” said Suliman who thanked VIVA Kuwait for making this opportunity possible.

“Promoting better health and having Kuwaiti youths such as Ahmed Al-Majed and Suliman Al Mukhaizeem reach their goals with our support is fulfilling and inspiring to VIVA Kuwait which will carry on paving the road to reach a stronger and healthier society” said Omar Al - Houti, Corporate Communications, VIVA Kuwait.

Contador sample shows possible blood doping NEW YORK: A urine sample taken from three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador showed abnormally high levels of plastic residues that could indicate he received a transfusion of his own blood during this year’s race, a person with knowledge of the test results told The Associated Press yesterday.

Contador, who has previously denied receiving a transfusion, was provisionally suspended by the international cycling federation last week after a small amount of the banned drug clenbuterol was discovered in one of his samples by a laboratory in Cologne, Germany.

The Spanish rider blamed contaminated beef for the result. The Cologne lab also found plastic traces that might turn up after a transfusion of blood from a plastic bag, according to the person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because Contador’s investigation by the UCI is ongoing.

Contador’s abnormal sample showed eight times the normal amount of the plasticizer, the person said. Contador has denied he underwent a blood transfusion before a grueling mountain stage on July 22. His spokesman, Jacinto Vidarte, yesterday denied any plastic residues were found in the tests. “We are not aware of any findings of this plastic substance in any of the tests,” Vidarte said. “We — officially and unofficially — have no information on anything to do with this. There were no traces of plastic in any of the tests.”

The plasticizer test result was also reported last week by French sports daily L’Equipe and German television network ARD. The New York Times reported on the finding Tuesday. The person who spoke to the AP would not confirm whether the plasticizer was detected in a test on July 20 or July 21.

The UCI said the clenbuterol was detected on July 21, the Tour’s final rest day. The Times quoted an anonymous source as saying the plastic residues were detected in a separate test on the previous day.

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani told the AP on Tuesday that the cycling body was continuing to work with the World Anti-Doping Agency to analyze the elements of Contador’s case. He said the UCI would not comment further, citing confidentiality rules.

Contador has been provisionally suspended by the UCI and will lose his Tour

SPAIN: Cyclist Alberto Contador of Spain prepares for an interview with the Associated Press in Pinto on the outskirts of Madrid. — AP de France title if he is convicted of doping.

He also risks a two-year suspension. A detection method for self-blood transfusion has yet to be fully validated, but WADA Director General David Howman told the AP last week that “its use for anti-doping purposes is partially validated and evidence from it, among others, can be used before tribunals.”

Cycling and WADA officials also have the possibility of storing Contador’s samples for years and retesting them once the detection method is validated. Contador has challenged cycling authorities to freeze his urine and blood samples until technology can show he rode clean in this year’s race.

Experts in blood doping say people who undergo intravenous blood transfusions for medical reasons or blood doping to

increase performance are potentially exposed to the plasticizer di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) found in intravenous bags.

Experts say professional riders who cheat with blood transfusions generally receive them before big mountain stages.

A French expert working for the French anti-doping agency, Professor Michel Rieu, said last month that the combined use of self-blood transfusion and micro-doses of the latest generation of blood-booster EPO is common in cycling. A scientific study recently published by Spanish experts evaluated the exposure to DEHP by measuring the plasticizer metabolites in selected groups of subjects. It found that concentrations in urine of all three metabolites are significantly higher in people receiving blood transfusions. — AP

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

17

Chiefs suddenly alone as league’s only undefeated team CLEVELAND: Members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins may be able to uncork the champagne a little earlier this year with just one unbeaten team remaining after Week Four of what has been an unpredictable NFL season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) and Chicago Bears (3-1) were culled from the ranks of undefeated team on Sunday, leaving the Kansas City Chiefs (3-0), who sat out Week Four with a bye, as the last team standing with an unblemished record.

The results will no doubt have alumni of the ‘72 Dolphins putting the bubbly on ice, which they traditionally pop each year

after the NFL’s last unbeaten falls and leaves their perfect season intact.

In recent years, the magical perfect season has been part of the NFL discussion with the ‘72 Dolphins being forced to wait until closer to Christmas before they could be sure their mark was safe.

But the toast could come earlier this year as the Chiefs will take their unbeaten record to Indianapolis on Sunday for a game against a Colts team that knows a little something about strong starts.

Last season, Indianapolis opened with 14 straight wins and the New Orleans Saints went 13-0 before their first loss.

The Colts also set the pace in 2006, charging out of the gate 9-0 while the Tennessee Titans were 10-0 in 2008.

In 2007, the New England Patriots had a 16-0 regular season before seeing their perfect campaign disappear with a loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

A loss by the Chiefs on Sunday would see no team reach their fourth game without at least one defeat in what has been a topsy-turvy but compelling season.

The Colts, tipped to return to the Super Bowl this year, slipped to 2-2 after losing 31-28 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

They now have the same record as the St.

Louis Rams, winners of just one game last season.

The Saints’ 46-year-old John Carney made three field goals as New Orleans beat the winless Carolina Panthers 16-14.

St. Louis rookie quarterback Sam Bradford, who was just one-year-old when Carney kicked his first NFL field goal, threw a pair of touchdown passes as the surprising Rams hammered the Seattle Seahawks 20-3 to notch back-toback wins for the first time in two seasons.

Pittsburgh suffered their first loss falling 17-14 to AFC North rivals the

Baltimore Ravens but head into a bye week with a 3-1 record and Pro Bowl quarterback Ben Roethlisberger set to return after sitting out a four game suspension for violating the NFL’s conduct policy.

In a year where no team has stepped forward to put stamp on the season, Pittsburgh may be the team to watch.

The Steelers were within seconds of maintaining their perfect start to the season until Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh that gave Baltimore the victory. “We could have easily been 4-0,”

Patriots crush Dolphins MIAMI: The New England Patriots scored 35 points in the second half to crush an error-prone Miami Dolphins 41-14 on Monday and join the New York Jets at the top of the AFC East division.

A dismal display from the Dolphins, whose quarterback Chad Henne threw three interceptions, caused the home team to drop a second successive defeat after opening the season with back-to-back victories.

The Dolphins led 7-6 at halftime but Henne’s two picks, both taken by former Dolphin linebacker Rob Ninkovich, proved to be decisive as Miami selfdestructed after the interval allowing New England (3-1) to ease to a moraleboosting road win.

The Patriots returned the second-half kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown, blocked a punt to set up another, took a blocked field goal in for a score and carried an interception into the endzone.

“I can’t imagine there are too many of those (games) in NFL history to be honest with you plus offensive and defensive touchdowns. It was a good day for fantasy football,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters.

Not surprisingly his Miami counterpart Tony Sparano was less impressed with the range of scoring methods though. “It was a mess. It was embarrassing.

These fans deserve better than that,” he said.

Remarkably for such a high-scoring win, Patriots wide-receiver Randy Moss did not pull down a single catch and quarterback Tom Brady had a quiet evening with just 153 passing yards.

Statistics counted for little in this game though, Henne’s 302 passing yards disguise a performance which was far from convincing for a player who took over as starter from the experienced Chad Pennington last year.

Brandon Tate’s superb kick-off return to start the second half put New England ahead and showcased the receiver’s outstanding pace as he broke out right and sprinted the length of the field, helped by a great block from Sammy Morris.

It was a play which shifted the momentum of the game and appeared to deflate a Dolphins team which simply fell to pieces.

After Brandon Fields’s punt was blocked by Patrick Chung, a 12-yard touchdown run from Benjarvus Green-Ellis two plays later put the Patriots 20-7 ahead.

Ricky Williams scored with a 28-yard touchdown run to bring the Dolphins back into the game but their resistance was short-lived.

Brady found Danny Woodhead for an 11-yard touchdown that marked the onset of a rout.

A 53-yard Dolphins fieldgoal attempt from Dan Carpenter was blocked, again by Chung, and Kyle Arrington ran into the endzone from 35 yards out.

Chung capped off his standout night when the safety picked off a wayward pass from Henne and raced home from 51 yards.

By then, the majority of the home supporters had already flooded out of the stadium, leaving their team and coach Sparano to ponder a night of many questions. —Reuters

declared Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward. “It just talks to the quality of players that we have on our team, the togetherness that we have. We came together.

The Bears, meanwhile, were reeling after a 17-3 loss to the Giants that ended with third string quarterback Caleb Hanie calling plays when starter Jay Cutler and backup Todd Collins were flattened under a ferocious New York pass rush.

While the Chiefs are the lone team still chasing perfection there are four still seeking their first wins, the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills. — Reuters

Liga ready for Copa Sudamericana title defense

MIAMI: New England Patriots’ Tracy White (58) tackles Miami Dolphins’ Nolan Carroll (28) on a kick return during the third quarter of an NFL football game. — AP

NFL standings Standings from the NFL on Monday.

NY Jets New England Miami Buffalo Baltimore Pittsburgh Cincinnati Cleveland Houston Jacksonville Tennessee Indianapolis Kansas City San Diego Denver Oakland

W 3 3 2 0

American Football Conference AFC Ea st L T PF 1 0 106 1 0 131 2 0 66 4 0 61

3 3 2 1

1 1 2 3

AFC North 0 0 0 0

1 2 2 2

AFC South 0 0 0 0

0 2 2 3

AFC West 0 0 0 0

3 2 2 2 3 2 2 1

61 86 79 68 108 71 98 117 68 113 87 76

PA 61 96 92 125 55 50 78 77 102 111 68 92 38 71 85 107

PCT .750 .750 .500 0 .750 .750 .500 .250 .750 .500 .500 .500 1.000 .500 .500 .250

National Footba ll Conference NFC East 2 0 73 2 0 95 2 0 72 2 0 54

79 79 88 53

.500 .500 .500 .333

Washington Philadelphia NY Giants Dallas

2 2 2 1

Chicago Green Bay Minnesota Detroit

3 3 1 0

1 1 2 4

NFC North 0 0 0 0

69 106 43 82

68 73 38 106

.750 .750 .333 0

Atlanta New Orleans Tampa Bay Carolina

3 3 2 0

1 1 1 4

NFC south 0 0 0 0

93 79 50 46

60 72 59 87

.750 .750 .667 0

St. Louis Arizona Seattle San Francisco

2 2 2 0

2 2 2 4

NFC West 0 0 0 0

77 58 75 52

52 118 77 103

.500 .500 .500 0

BUENOS AIRES: Ecuadorean side LDU Quito begins its quest for a fifth major South American title in less than three years as the Copa Sudamericana last-16 stage swings into action.

The Copa Sudamericana — South America’s No. 2 club tournament after the Copa Libertadores — is finally down to the last 16 stage of the 2010 competition after two complicated preliminary rounds.

As reigning champion, Liga — or Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito, to give the club its full name — got a bye to the last 16 and starts its campaign with a trip to Union San Felipe of Chile on Oct. 12.

Two round-of-16, first-leg matches kicked off last week with Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting winning 1-0 win against Argentine club Independiente and Argentina’s Banfield taking a 2-0 lead against Deportes Tolima of Colombia.

Today, Newell’s Old Boys begin against San Jose of Bolivia, while the other last 16 matches to be played during October are Goias vs.

Penarol, Universitario de Sucre vs. Palmeiras, Atletico Mineiro vs. Santa Fe and Emelec vs Avai.

The field looks weak, at least on paper. Of Argentina’s so-called big five clubs — Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Racing Club and San Lorenzo — only Independiente qualified for this year’s tournament.

Independiente’s presence will not worry the others too much either — the club is third from bottom of the Argentine league and is still looking for a new coach after bad results cost Daniel Garnero his job. Argentina has provided four of the eight past winners since the Copa Sudamericana began in 2002. Boca won back-to-back trophies in 2004 and 2005, San Lorenzo triumphed in 2002 and Arsenal, which has also failed to qualify, was champion in 2007.

Velez Sarsfield and Estudiantes — arguably the most consistent teams in Argentina recently — are further absentees after losing in the second qualifying round. Brazil’s fourstrong contingent is also uncharacteristically weak. Palmeiras, coached by World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari, is the biggest name.

“Our goal this year is to qualify for the Copa Libertadores by being among the top five teams in the Brazilian championship or winning the Copa Sudamericana. Palmeiras will be there,” said Scolari at his unveiling as Palmeiras coach in July.

Nonetheless, the Sao Paulo giant has been inconsistent under its new coach and is only mid-table in the Brazilian championship.

Relative minnows Goias, Avai and Atletico Mineiro are the other Brazilian teams qualified for the last 16. Mexican clubs, invited to take part since 2005, are also missing from this year’s tournament. Mexico’s Pachuca won the tournament in 2006.

The only other winner apart from Liga not to come from Argentina, Brazil or Mexico is Peru’s Cienciano, the 2003 champion.

Cienciano failed to qualify for the Sudamericana this year.

Liga’s hopes of retaining the Sudamericana will be masterminded by Argentine coach Edgardo Bauza, in his second spell in charge.

Bauza led Liga to its surprise 2008 Copa Libertadores win, becoming the first Ecuadorean club to win an international title.

Liga seemed to enjoy the taste of continental success. Although Bauza resigned after losing the final of the 2008 Club World Cup to Manchester United, Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati continued the success in South America, adding the 2009 Recopa Sudamericana title, a two-legged match between the Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana champions Internacional.

Liga, with Fossati still in charge, then completed a rare sweep of South American trophies by winning the 2009 Copa Sudamericana.

Boca Juniors and Brazil’s Internacional are the only other clubs to have won all three continental titles. Liga completed the feat in less than 18 months. Bauza returned to coach Liga at the end of 2009 when Fossati left to take charge of Internacional. The Argentine led the club to a second consecutive Recopa success with victory over Libertadores champion Estudiantes in August.

The lack of an obvious favorite — either from Argentina, Brazil or anywhere else — is probably good news for Liga, but could also boost the chances of clubs from other nations.

Uruguayan side Penarol, a powerhouse of South American football with five Copa Libertadores wins from the 1960s to the ‘80s, is one name that sticks out as a possible contender.

Penarol — whose last major continental trophy was the 1987 Libertadores — and compatriot Defensor Sporting will also be anxious to show that Uruguayan club football is improving once again following the national team’s unexpected run to the World Cup semifinal this year. — AP

SPORTS

18

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Laxman stands firm to earn India thrilling win

MOHALI: India’s Pragyan Ojha (left) VVS Laxman (center) and Suresh Raina celebrate their win over Australia on the final day of their first cricket Test match.—AP

Scoreboard Scoreboard at the end of the first test between India and Australia in Mohali yesterday. India beat Australia by one wicket to lead the two-test series 1-0.

Australia first innings 428 (S.Watson 126, R.Ponting 71, T.Paine 92; Zaheer Khan 5-94) India first innings 405 (S.Tendulkar 98, S.Raina 86, R.Dravid 77; M.Johnson 5-64) Australia second innings: 192 (S.Watson 56) India second innings: (overnight 55-4) G. Gambhir lbw b Hilfenhaus 0 V. Sehwag c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 17 R. Dravid c Paine b Bollinger 13 S. Tendulkar c Hussey b Bollinger 38 S. Raina c North b Hilfenhaus 0 Z. Khan c Clarke b Hauritz 10

V. Laxman not out 73 MS Dhoni run out 2 H. Singh c Ponting b Bollinger 2 I. Sharma lbw b Hilfenhaus 31 P. Ojha not out 5 Extras: (b-10, lb-8, w-6, nb-1) 25 Total (nine wickets; 58.4 overs) 216 Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-31 3-48 4-48 5-76 6-119 7122 8-124 9-205.

Bowling: Hilfenhaus 19-3-57-4, Bollinger 8-0-323, Johnson 16.4-2-50-0, Hauritz 9-1-45-1, North 4-0-8-0, Watson 2-0-6-0.

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, dismisses New Zealand’s Shanan Stewart (on ground) during their opening cricket match of the five-game limited-overs series. —AP

Superb Shakib leads B’desh to rare win

DHAKA: A brilliant all-round performance by Shakib Al Hasan steered Bangladesh to a pulsating nine-run victory over New Zealand in a rain-interrupted first one-day international yesterday.

Shakib belted 58 off 51 balls to help the hosts to a competitive total of 228 all out. He then bamboozled the visitors with his left-arm spin to grab 4-41 as New Zealand were left stranded on 220-8 after they were set a revised target of 210 runs in 37 runs.

Brendon McCullum struck a quickfire 61 off 45 balls and gave New Zealand a strong platform after he and Jesse Ryder (21) put on 53 runs for the openingwicket but Shakib brought

Bangladesh back in contention by dismissing both batsmen before rain intervened. New Zealand were 85-4 in 15 overs when rain stopped play for nearly an hour.

Upon resumption, Bangladesh thought they had Daniel Vettori out for nine when substitute fielder Sohrawardi Shuvo took a catch at deep square leg but Mahmudullah’s full-pitched delivery was judged a no-ball.

The New Zealand captain failed to capitalise on his great escape and was out for 24, caught by Junaid Siddique off Naeem Islam. Shanan Stewart was then run out for two before Naeem removed Ross Taylor for 42 to put Bangladesh in con-

trol as the visitors floundered on 161-7.

New Zealand went into the final over needing 18 runs for victory but could only add on nine to their total as Bangladesh celebrated a rare victory and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Bangladesh were a bowler short for most of the game after skipper Mashrafe Mortaza’s 27th birthday celebrations took a painful turn when he sprained his ankle in the third over of New Zealand innings.

Mortaza fell awkwardly while bowling and failed to take any further part in the game and officials said he would remain under observation for 48 hours. —Reuters

Scoreboard Scoreboard after Bangladesh beat New Zealand by nine runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in the first one-day international of the five-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladesh innings I. Kayes c B.McCullum b Mills 16 S. Nafees b Vettori 35 Z. Siddique b N.McCullum 30 R. Hasan lbw b Vettori 21 S. Hasan b Mills 58 M. Rahim c Southee b Ryder 22 Mahmudullah c Taylor b Ryder 3 N. Islam b McKay 9 M. Mortaza c Watling b Mills 15 A. Razzak c Ryder b McKay 1 N. Hossain not out 0 Extras: (b-1 lb-8 w-9) 18 Total (all out; 49.3 overs) 228 Fall of wickets: 1-34 2-61 3-100 4-132 5-170 6-174 7-198 8-212 9-221 10-228.

Bowling: Mills 9.3-1-44-3, Southee 7-0-37-0 (w-2) McKay 9-0-51-2 (w-2), N. McCullum 10-0-42-1 (w2), Vettori 10-1-29-2 Ryder 4-0-16-2 (w-3).

New Zealand innings B. McCullum b Shakib 61 J. Ryder c Raqibul b Shakib 21 B. Watling b Razzak 0 R. Taylor lbw b Naeem 42 G. Elliot lbw b Shakib 0 D. Vettori c Zunaed b Naeem 24 S. Stewart run out 2 N. McCullum b Shakib 16 K. Mills not out 22 T. Southee not out 1 Extras (lb-6 w-4 n-1) 11 Total (eight wickets; 37 overs) 200 Did not bat: A.McKay Fall of wickets: 1-53 2-72 3-85 4-85 5-135 6-148 7161 8-192.

Bowling: Mortaza 1-0-7-0, Nazmul 7-0-46-0 (w-1), Razzak 8-1-28-1 (w-1), Naeem 7-0-30-2 (w-1), Shakib 8-0-41-4, Mahmudullah 6-0-42-0 (nb-1).

MOHALI: Vangipurappu Laxman revived his role as Australia’s chief tormentor with a magnificent unbeaten 73 to script India’s unlikely one-wicket victory on the final afternoon of the first Test yesterday.

Resuming on 55 for four and chasing a victory target of 216, India appeared dead and buried in the last hour before lunch but an 81-run ninth wicket stand between Laxman and Ishant Sharma set up the opening win of a two-test series.

India had lost a flurry of wickets to slip to 124-8 but Sharma contributed 31 valuable runs in his partnership with Laxman, who was batting with a runner due to a bad back, before the hosts scrambled over the finish line in a frantic climax.

“One of the best, one of the most exciting test matches I have played and I have played some 150 now,” Australia captain Ricky Ponting said in the postmatch presentation ceremony. “The Ishant-Laxman partnership was outstanding, it made the difference,” he added.

When play began, India needed 161 runs to win while Australia required six wickets in an absorbing test but the ever-reliable Laxman kept his head as wickets tumbled, managing the tail to perfection in denying Ponting a first win in India as skipper.

Yesterday’s innings adds to Laxman’s reputation as a thorn in Australia’s side with all but one of his five 150plus scores coming against them, including a 281 in Kolkata nine years ago that led a following-on India to a stunning win.

“He is a remarkable batsman. If he is at the crease, whatever field you set, he can rotate strike, hit boundaries and keep the scoreboard ticking. He is really an amazing batsman... he was very special,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

Going into the final day, local hopes rested on overnight batsman Sachin Tendulkar (38) but the prolific and talismanic batsman threw his wicket away with a poor shot to depart just when his team needed him most.

Earlier, Nathan Hauritz had made Australia’s initial breakthrough by ending overnight batsman Zaheer Khan’s 34-ball vigil.

Paceman Doug Bollinger then took over, removing Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh, the latter wicket coming after Dhoni had ran himself out to compound the home side’s crisis.

Laxman and Sharma, however, did not panic and played deliveries on merit as the hosts eventually completed what is the fourthhighest successful chase on Indian soil.

Dhoni echoed Ponting’s sentiments in rating the match as one of the best he had played in and said the India-Australia rivalry was always capable of reaching such heights.

“Heartbeat goes up, a typical thing. I think that’s what make test cricket interesting,” Dhoni added. “When the match started, no one expected a result within four-and-half days but bowlers from both sides forced one.”

Khan, who was named man of the match for his eight-wicket haul, felt India had played marginally the better in clinching a contest that had numerous momentum swings throughout the course of the five days.

“It was a great game of cricket. Australia fought really hard and we did just enough to be on the winning side,” said the pacer, the latest member of the 250test wicket club. Bangalore hosts the second Test from Oct. 9. —Reuters

BEIJING: Maria Sharapova of Russia reaches the ball as she plays against her compatriot Elena Vesnina during their second round of China Open tennis tournament. —AP

Djokovic and Murray advance at China Open

BEIJING: Champion Novak Djokovic challenged Britain’s Andy Murray to set up a final showdown with him after the two top seeds strolled into the second round of the China Open yesterday.

World number four Murray thumped a hapless Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2 6-3 while top seed Djokovic was even more ruthless in a 6-1 6-3 win over China’s Gong Mao-xin as he seeks to defend his title at the $2.5 million tournament in the Chinese capital.

“It feels good to be back at a court where I’ve had a lot success in the last couple years,” said the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the 2008 Australian Open winner added: “Why not a final with Andy Murray. We have not played each other for a long time.”

Djokovic enjoys a 4-3 winning record over Murray although he was beaten the last time the pair met 18 months

ago in Miami.

Murray appeared to have shrugged off the jetlag that kept him awake for hours following his arrival in Beijing and demolished the error-prone Frenchman, firing 10 aces during the lopsided encounter.

“I served quite well today. I didn’t once get broken and served a lot of aces,” said the Scot before adding he was felling better after a week of illness.

“I started the match well and didn’t give him any opportunities except in the second set at 3-2. I think that was the only game where he had a couple of break points on my serve. It was a good first round.”

The 23-year-old added to Mathieu’s frustration by breaking his serve four times in front of small but noisy partisan Chinese crowd sporting several Scottish flags.

Even a hatful of reckless backhands by Australian Open finalist failed to flatten the 107th ranked Frenchman, whose flashes of

brilliance rarely tested Murray.

Former world number one Maria Sharapova’s woeful season continued as the Russian faded rapidly during her 7-6 62 defeat by unseeded compatriot Elena Vesnina.

“It’s not been a good end of the season for me. I have not had good preparations and will have to find away to improve next season,” said the 12th seed, who has slipped to 21st in the rankings.

The other Russian seeds in the women’s tournament enjoyed better fortune as second seed Vera Zvonareva flattened Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-1 while number seven Elena Dementieva was given the run around before she overcame 40-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Twice French Open runner-up Robin Soderling will be on court later yesterday at the Olympic tennis centre. —Reuters

TOKYO: Spain’s Rafael Nadal serves to Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo during their men’s singles match at Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. —AP

Nadal sends Giraldo packing TOKYO: World number one Rafa Nadal overcame fatigue to beat Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-4 6-4 and reach the second round of the Japan Open yesterday.

The Spaniard, who has won three of this year’s four grand slam tournaments, completed victory in one hour and 50 minutes under a pink sunset on his debut in Tokyo.

Second seed Andy Roddick blazed through with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Japanese wildcard Tatsuma Ito in his first match since an early exit at the US Open.

Nadal, beaten in the semi-finals of the Thailand Open at the weekend, produced some brutal hitting when he needed it most. However, too many times Nadal had to dig himself out of a hole on his own service.

“That wasn’t part of the strategy for sure,” Nadal told reporters. “I started too many games love-30. My serve was the

worst it’s been for my last 11 or 12 matches.”

Nadal’s relentless pressure from the baseline earned him a break in the fifth game of the first set when the scrambling Giraldo dumped a backhand into the net.

Dressed in a lime green shirt, Nadal broke at the same stage of the second set, sending Giraldo scampering wide before moving in for the kill and smashing a midcourt ball into the corner.

Nadal, who has won six titles this year and boasts a tour-best 62-8 match record, closed out with a swinging serve out wide to set up a meeting with Canadian qualifier Milos Raonic.

“The beginning (of a tournament) is not easy,” said Nadal, who has a day off on Wednesday. “I arrived from Bangkok two days ago at 7 in the morning so I’m a little more tired than usual.

“I have to play with more energy in my next match.” Roddick completed a com-

fortable win in 82 minutes, the big-serving American closing out proceedings with his 10th ace.

“It felt pretty much like I expected it would coming off a long layoff,” said the world number 10. “Since New York I’ve been working on getting back into physical shape and I feel like I’ve been able to do that.

“I missed a third of last year post-US Open with a knee injury so this year (late season) it’s all bonus for me,” added Roddick, who plays France’s Jeremy Chardy in the second round.

“Even though my ranking is lower than it normally is it’s an important time to pick up some points.” In other firstround matches, Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland upset eighth-seeded Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-3 6-0 while fifth seed Gael Monfils beat Japan’s Go Soeda 7-6 6-4. —Reuters

SPORTS

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

19

Blackpool, pound-for-pound, Premier League’s best PARIS: In these times of tight purse strings, a lesson in how to make a little money go a long way comes from the unlikeliest of sources — football. Perhaps only those who got lost on northwest England’s M55 motorway or who fancied a frisky dip in the Irish Sea had good reason to visit Blackpool before Ian Holloway took the seaside resort’s cut-price team to the promised land of the Premier League this season.

Holloway is a rare breed, not merely because he builds his own chicken coops, but because he is a manager with a social conscience. He acknowledges that while football hasn’t felt the full force of economic crisis, some of its fans have. He has railed against “politicians robbing you left, right and center.”

And he has no time for football’s brats

who earn big wages before they’ve earned their spurs. For these reasons, Holloway stands out among Premier League managers like a communist distributing pamphlets at a Fortune 500 meeting.

“These lads who are given far too much too early, they’re monsters in my opinion,” he says. “They get far too much too soon and they waste it.” Little danger of that happening at Blackpool. Ideology aside, one reason that Holloway can afford to be suspicious of the corrosive effects of wealth in football is that he doesn’t have much of it to work with.

Blackpool president Valeri Belokon, a Latvian tycoon who reportedly served as a sniper in the Soviet army in Afghanistan, isn’t as free-spending as some of the other sugar daddies in the Premier League.

Blackpool says it pays its players on

average just 10,000 pounds ($15,800) per week, still princely in the real world but pauperish compared to the fatter wage packets that top clubs’ stars rake in each day: Manchester City’s new signing Yaya Toure reportedly earns 185,000 pounds ($293,600) a week.

Blackpool’s most expensive signing this August in preparation for the rigors of top flight football was striker DJ Campbell, acquired from second-tier Leicester City for a bargain basement initial fee of 1 million pounds ($1.5 million) — hardly worth getting out of bed for at Real Madrid.

Blackpool’s players wash their own training kit and the club politely declined when Chelsea said it would charge 15 pounds ($23) per head to feed the visitors lasagna after they played the mega-rich London side on Sept. 19.

“We feel like a tramp who has won the lottery,” Holloway says of his little club’s rise to the big league. But cheap doesn’t have to be nasty. As its latest victim, oncemighty Liverpool, can attest, Blackpool is staking a claim as the Premier League’s best side on a pound-for-pound basis and Holloway is becoming a good bet for manager of the year. Kudos to him for not playing cut-price football. Holloway likes to field four strikers at times.

The long season will deliver the verdict on whether his tactics are admirably or merely recklessly adventurous. When it works, as it did in the historic 2-1 win at Anfield on Sunday, Holloway’s attacking philosophy is entertaining and as vibrant as the team’s tangerine jerseys. Blackpool also buried Wigan 4-0 in its opening match, its first in the top flight since 1971, downed

Newcastle 2-0 and held Fulham to a 2-2 draw.

But Arsenal, masters of the type of football Holloway would like to play, spanked Blackpool 6-0 and Chelsea put four past ‘keeper Matt Gilks, who has made spectacular saves at vital times for Blackpool this season, in a humbling first half at Stamford Bridge.

“The rich are getting richer, the best are getting better and the rest of us are trying to hang onto their coat tails,” Holloway said after that defeat. Holloway has told interviewers that it was during a year out from football before taking the Blackpool job — when he also built his chicken coops — that he learned from watching games as a commentator that he wanted his sides to be free-flowing.

“I’m fed up of teams getting behind the

ball and trying to defend things and boring 1-0 wins,” he says. But there will be times this season when Holloway is going to have to ask Blackpool to win ugly, defend, grind out slim victories and avoid late goals like the one conceded in a 2-1 loss at home to Blackburn on Sept. 25. Resilience will be vital toward the end of the season when the pressure for teams battling to stay in the top flight becomes ever more intense.

But so far, so good. In 18 seasons of Premier League football, 33 clubs have suffered the agony of the drop down to the second tier, some repeatedly. But just two — Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion — did so after earning at least 10 points in their first 7 matches, which is what Blackpool has now. So history is on Holloway’s side. His boundless optimism, too. And that costs nothing. — AP

Saudi sides lead hunt for AFC Champions League title

BULGARIA: Bulgarian national soccer team coach Lothar Matthaeus leads his team’s training session in Pravets. Bulgaria will face Wales in a Euro 2012 qualifying match in Cardiff on Friday. — AP

Forlan ready to leave Atletico MADRID: Uruguay’s World Cup hero Diego Forlan could be tempted away from Atletico Madrid if the right deal came up but his goal scoring exploits have yet to prompt a flood of offers, the striker said on Monday.

The 31-year-old Forlan has wandered from Uruguay to Argentina, to Manchester United in England and from there to Spain’s Villarreal and Atletico, steadily building a reputation as one of the world’s deadliest strikers.

He won a second European Golden Shoe award for netting 32 goals in the 2008-09 La Liga season, led Atletico to victory over Fulham in the Europa League final last May and was voted player of the World Cup in South Africa.

That exposure coupled with Atletico’s failure to qualify for the Champions League prompted speculation that they would struggle to hang on to their leading striker.

“It’s just the papers. Never, never until now, they never sent any of them,” Forlan

told Reuters in an interview at Atletico’s training ground, when asked if the reports of offers were true.

“If they send an offer you can decide if you want to go, or if you want to stay. If there is a good offer and if I have the chance to go, I will go. Like I always say, I came here to Europe, I left my home and I left everyone, so I’m not attached to a team.

“You look at the best offer you have and if you have a chance that’s good and it’s good for the team as well...I don’t see it as bad.

“The papers say things but at the moment I am here, I have a contract with the club and there’s nothing else to say.”

The apparent lack of interest in Forlan is good news for Atletico as they try to build on last season’s successes with a top-four finish, but it is surprising given his impressive scoring record.

Although he struggled when he first moved from Argentina’s Independiente to Manchester in January 2002, he took off

when he joined Villarreal in 2004.

In his first season in Spain he scored 25 league goals to win the European Golden Shoe award along with Thierry Henry, and after moving to Atletico three years later as a replacement for Fernando Torres, he repeated the feat in 2009.

Two goals in the Europa League final against Fulham secured Atletico their first European title in 48 years and he scored five times to help Uruguay reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Although he is considered to have failed during his time in England when he had to wait eight months to score his first goal for United, and spent much of his time on the bench, Forlan did not rule out a return to the Premier League.

“Everybody says things, that maybe you don’t want to go back,” he added. “The time I had in England was great and I enjoyed it and if I had the chance to go back I would be really happy.” — Reuters

Cruyff urges De Jong to clean up his game LONDON: Johan Cruyff has urged Netherlands midfielder Nigel de Jong to clean up his game after a leg-breaking tackle so severe that he was omitted from the national squad.

The former Netherlands great endorsed coach Bert van Marwijk’s to drop De Jong after his fierce challenge on Hatem Ben Arfa broke the forward’s tibia and fibula during an English Premier League match between De Jong’s Manchester City and Newcastle.

“He’s crossed the line two or three times now,” Cruyff said yesterday. “He needs to understand he is an example to all the young players and I think it is a very good decision.” FIFA warned players to pull back from dangerous tackles before and during this year’s World Cup, but serious fouls are still widespread.

De Jong injured American midfielder Stuart Holden this year and referee Howard Webb has said he would have sent off De Jong in the World Cup final had he seen his chest-high foul on Spain’s Xabi Alonso. But De Jong isn’t the only guilty one.

Wolverhampton Wanderers captain Karl Henry apologized to his own teammates and fans for a sliding tackle at the weekend that sent Wigan’s Jordi

FLORENCE: Italy’s Antonio Cassano (right) is fouled by Claudio Marchisio during a training session ahead of Friday’s Euro 2012 qualifier soccer match against Northern Ireland. — AP Gomez into a mid air cartwheel and earned him an 11th-minute red card. Gomez was lucky to avoid serious injury and the 10man Wolves lost 2-0 to its fellow relegation rival. At least Henry apologized for the offense.

“Having watched it again, I can see that it looks horrific and realize that it was a deserved red card,” Henry said. “I’m desperately disappointed. If I could go back and rerun it all again I wouldn’t make the challenge and I would have stayed on my feet.”

Others are doing the explaining for De Jong, who was already known for his combative play

after breaking Holden’s leg in a March international and then stamping Alonso’s chest in football’s most-watched match.

“It’s very unfortunate that he has broken the leg of an opponent twice in six months,” said Netherlands captain Mark Van Bommel, himself criticized for his physicality at the World Cup. “Thanks to Nigel we reached the final of the World Cup. And now I hear people calling him a criminal. What a nonsense.

“Nigel should not change his game, we need him as he is. But maybe he should occasionally go into a tackle slightly differently.”

Newcastle said Tuesday it had written to the English Football Association to protest against De Jong’s challenge, but Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini isn’t asking his midfielder to change.

“Whilst he is naturally competitive, Nigel is first and foremost a great player as well as being honest and loyal and I support him wholeheartedly,” Mancini said. De Jong injured Ben Arfa with a so-called scissor tackle, taking out his opponent with the trailing leg. It is hard for referees to spot and is often missed. — AP

RIYADH: Saudi sides lead the charge towards the AFC Champions League title this week with Al Shabab hosting Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa and Al Hilal travelling to Zobohan in Iran for the semi-finals.

Shabab are fancied to make the Tokyo showpiece on November 13 with most of their team for Tuesday’s first leg match in Riyadh Saudi internationals.

Striker Nassir Al Shamrani, brothers Ahmed Ateef and Abdoh Autef, keeper Waleed Abdullah and full-backs Hassan Muath and Abdullah Shuhail are national team regulars, while Fahad Hamad was recently called up.

Omar Al Ghamdi, the 2006 World Cup midfielder signed from Hilal in the summer, Abdulmalek Al Khaibri and former Korean international Song Chong-gug are central midfield options.

Posing problems for Seongnam up front will be Uruguayan striker Juan Manual Olivera, a recent arrival who showed his goalscoring pedigree with his first Saudi league goal in last week’s 2-1 league win over Najran.

But the hosts, nicknamed the ‘White Lions’, will be without Brazilian centre-back Marcelo Tavares, who is suspended following two yellow cards.

South Korea had four teams in the last eight but are now down to one with Seongnam, the country’s most successful club with seven K-League titles, left to fly the flag.

Shin Tae-yong’s men travelled to Riyadh on Friday and will be inspired by Jeonbuk Motors’ 1-0 win over Shabab at the King Fahd International Stadium two weeks ago, although the visitors lost 2-1 on aggregate.

Shin has moulded an organised unit and has a strong squad to call on. Mauricio Molina, a former Colombia international, and Montenegrin target man Dzenan Radoncic have netted five and four goals respectively in Asia this year and will be a danger, while Kim Cheol-ho and Cheon Kwang-jin control midfield.

On Wednesday, Iranian league leaders Zobahan host Saudi champions Al Hilal in their semi-final first leg.

Zobahan are looking to continue their remarkable AFC Champions League run as they bid to emulate fellow Esfahan club Sepahan who reached the final three years ago.

But the Greens take on Hilal, one of Asia’s biggest clubs, without former international Mahdi Rajabzadeh, who is suspended after being sent off in the quarter-final second leg against holders Pohang Steelers.

Zobahan coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh also has concerns in defence after Iran centre-back Farshid Talebi missed last week’s scoreless draw with Rah Ahan.

They have their work cut out against Hilal, who are in fine form, claiming their fifth straight win of the Saudi league season on Friday. Hilal are Saudi Arabia’s most successful club with 12 league titles in 34 years.

They have also won the former Asian Club Championship in 1991 and 2000 and the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup twice, in 1997 and 2002, but have yet to lift the AFC Champions League, a title their fans desperately want. — AFP

ARAM: Palestine soccer team player Mustafa AbuQuak (right) duels for the ball against Jordan soccer team player Anas Jabarat in the West Bank town of Aram yesterday. President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge yesterday expressed concern over ‘obstacles’ facing Palestinian athletes, and in veiled criticism of Israel said athletes should be granted free movement regardless of politics. — AP

Radebe relishes climb from hoodlum to hero LONDON: Lucas Radebe is a friend of Nelson Mandela and one of Leeds United’s finest players of modern times but he came within a whisker of returning to a life of crime in Johannesburg.

Just before Christmas in 1994 after a tough few months in Leeds he was depressed, homesick and heading home with his bags packed and an airline ticket in his pocket.

“I had no idea what to expect, I didn’t know anything about Leeds United-and when I arrived it was horrible, I hated it,” he told Reuters in an interview. He had started just one match for his new team in four months. “Nothing was happening for me and I wanted to go,” he said. “Breaking into the first team under Howard Wilkinson was tough. “I never played in the big games and I was getting depressed and homesick. Me and (team mate) Phil Masinga used to save up 50 pence pieces to phone home from a payphone. That’s how bad it was.

“The worst part was the weather, it was horrible and I thought my bags are packed, I’ve got my ticket, I am just going to go. I wasn’t going to tell

anybody, I was just going.”

But he changed his mind, won a place in the side at the start of a decade of success at Leeds and is now a friend of former South African president Mandela.

He also works as a FIFA ambassador and his new autobiography, “From the Streets of Soweto to Soccer Superstar,” tells the astonishing life story which has seen him rise from being Soweto hoodlum to one of Africa’s best-loved footballers.

“I got involved in crime, gangsterism, hijackings. We made sure that when tomorrow came we had something in our stomachs.

But that’s the lifestyle I knew growing up,” he said. “There were no role models, we didn’t have access to TV or international events, it was a day-by-day existence and survival of the fittest.”

Radebe’s lucky break came through his parents who sent him at the age of 15 to school in rural Bophuthatswana. There he developed into such a superb footballer that he was signed by Kaizer Chiefs and after three years there reports of a talented centre back were circulated to clubs in England and Scotland.

“Leeds made the best offer and I went there. I was already 25, I wasn’t young but had no real idea what I was heading for.

I had never been out of South Africa, I didn’t have a clue,” he laughed. Personal tragedy has blighted Radebe’s life too, the death of his 34-year-old wife Feziwe from cancer leaving him to bring up his three children alone. But everything would have been different if he had left his digs in Leeds and gone home. “Standing there, I realised the opportunity I had and the responsibility I had, not just of representing myself but also my country and of the chance to open some doors for other African players,” he said.

“I changed my mind. I thought I would rather fail having tried than not try at all. I had been through all the dark days of apartheid, I had been shot, I had had nothing but I survived.

That’s what transformed me.

“Coming through that childhood in which I saw many of my friends killed or jailed, built my character and helped me face the challenges in Leeds-and George Graham coming in as manager was absolutely brilliant for me.” — Reuters

BERLIN: Miroslav Klose, player of the German national soccer team (center) receives the Silver Laurel Leaf of the Federal Republic by German President Christian Wulff (right) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) in Berlin, Germany. — AP

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NEW DELHI: India’s Anil Kumar holds his gold medal to celebrate his victory over Australia’s Hassene Fkiri in the men’s 96kg greco-roman wrestling final match during the Commonwealth Games. — AP

NEW DELHI: Australia’s Georgia Bonora performs on the balancing beam in the gymnastics women’s team final event of the Commonwealth Games at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.

— AP

NEW DELHI: India’s Sanjay holds the gold medal after defeating South Africa’s Richard Brian Addinall in their men’s 74kg grecoroman wrestling final match during the Commonwealth Games. — AP

Indian gold rush but problems persist Medals table

Bomb scare in athletes’ village

NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games medals table after yesterday’s events: Gold Silver Bronze Total

Australia India England Malaysia South Africa Canada Singapore

9 5 2 2 2 2 2

9 4 6 2 2 0 0

5 2 4 1 1 5 0

23 11 12 5 5 7 2

Nigeria Scotland New Zealand Wales Bangladesh Sri Lanka Trinidad & Tobago

1 1 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 1 1 0 0 0

1 2 1 1 1 1 1

3 3 2 2 1 1 1

NEW DELHI: Indian shooting pair Anisa Sayyed (right) and Rahi Sarnobat react with the gold medals they won in the women’s pairs 25m pistol event during the Commonwealth Games. — AP

India, Pakistan start off with wins NEW DELHI: Arch-rivals India and Pakistan launched their Commonwealth Games campaign here yesterday with thrilling victories in their Pool A matches.

The Indians pulled off a narrow 3-2 win over Malaysia while Pakistan defeated Scotland 3-0 at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium, which finally saw the crowds grow in number for the evening matches.

The home team rallied twice to level the scores before Bharat Chikara scored the winner just four minutes from the final whistle, much to the cheer of a sizeable crowd of about 7,000.

Malaysia dealt an early blow to the hosts when striker Hafifihafiz Hanafi caught their defence napping and scored off a superb reverse flick in the 15th minute.

Stunned by the setback, India regrouped quickly and found the equaliser when full-back Dhananjay Mahadik converted a penalty corner 12 minutes later with a drag-flick.

Malaysia hit back to make it 2-1 through Azlan Misron before India’s penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh hammered one in just at the half-time whistle.

India, who had lost to Malaysia 5-2 in their last encounter in Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in May this year, have yet to win a Commonwealth Games medal.

Chikara said his team was lucky to start their campaign with a win.

“We were trailing the Malaysians twice in the match,” said the pint-sized midfielder. “I got a rebound and I was lucky to get the goal. Malaysia always play very well against us. It is great that we managed a win.”

For Pakistan, Shakeel Abbasi opened the scoring in the 20th minute before ace forward Rehann Butt slammed a goal from the top of the circle 10 minutes from half-time.

Muhammad Imran made it 3-0 when he converted the first of the four penalty corners that Pakistan earned in the match in the 43rd minute.

Pakistan, who finished last at the same venue in the World Cup earlier this year, seemed to have left memories of that botched campaign firmly behind them as they took control of the proceedings right from the first whistle.

The defeated finalists of the 2006 Melbourne Games, Pakistan next face Malaysia before taking on hot favourites Australia and India. Butt said his side was relieved to have crossed the first hurdle with ease. “We are really pleased that we could start off with a victory,” the 30-year-old said. —AFP

NEW DELHI: India flexed its sporting muscles to shoot up the medals table with five gold medals at the Commonwealth Games yesterday but organisational niggles continued to bedevil the event on the second day of competition.

A bomb scare in the athletes’ village, which turned out to be hoax, was a reminder of the security concerns that caused several athletes to skip the event and other teams to hire security consultants. Day two of competition started well for the hosts with crackshot Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra teaming up with Gagan Narang to claim India’s first gold medal of the Games in the 10m air rifle pairs.

“This is my best moment since winning the gold in Beijing,” Bindra said. “It is always special to win a medal for the country. And this is the first time I am competing in such a big event on home soil.”

A second gold on the shooting range was supplemented by three on the wrestling mat to move India into second place on the medal table behind the Australians, who also won five titles to take their tally to nine.

Chief organiser Suresh Kalmadi earlier brushed aside a string of concerns about transport, a lack of spectators and food, saying everything would be resolved within 24 hours.

“Yesterday was the first day of the Games,” Kalmadi said.

“Today we are sorting everything out and from tomorrow we will have a free flow of everything.”

His confident boast was made to look hollow when the automated system to check credentials at the entrance to venues crashed in the early afternoon, and the Games’ media information system stopped functioning.

A string of hitches in the runup to the Games including filthy conditions at the athletes’ village, allegations of corruption, a collapsed footbridge and health issues caused acute embarrassment to a country hoping to showcase its growing economic might through the $6 billion Games.

Residents of the city have become used to the sight of tens of thousands of armed police and

military personnel lining the streets, deployed to prevent a repeat of the attack by militants that took more than 160 lives in Mumbai in 2008.

The bomb threat at the athletes’ village was quickly identified as a hoax, officials said.

“It was a hoax call made by a juvenile. We have identified the caller and have detained for interrogation,” said Rajan Bhagat, Delhi Police spokesman. “We have also carried out a thorough search and we did not find anything.”

Anna Meares retained her 500m time trial title to lead an Australian sweep of all three medals on the first day of cycling competition and keep the title in the family for the third successive Games after her sister Kerrie won it in 2002.

“It’s the spirit of the competition that brings me here, and I think that it’s important that the big names should support their sport,” said Meares.

“We have fielded a lot of questions about security, accommodation issues and Delhi belly, but it’s been fine and you just have to get on with it anyway.”

English swimmer Fran Halsall ignored a dose of the city’s trademark stomach complaint to win a shock women’s 50 metre butterfly gold and win her country’s first gold.

Her success proved a spark for England’s Liam Tancock to follow up her with a second title in the very next race, the men’s 50m backstroke.

Robbie Renwick won Scotland’s first gold of the Games when he triumphed by a finger tip in the men’s 200m freestyle, the final race of the day.

Australia’s sole gold came from Leiston Pickett in the women’s 50m breaststroke to take her country’s tally in the pool to four.

“It was really nice to see the England flag at the top and two Aussies underneath,” Halsall joked after her being awarded her medal.

An athletics competition denuded of its biggest names by withdrawals begins on Wednesday when 27 gold medals are up for grabs in Delhi. The Games for 71 mostly former British colonies closes on Oct. 14. — Reuters

C’wealth Games Medalists NEW DELHI: Medalists yesterday after the second day of competition at the 19th Commonwealth Games: CYCLING Men 4,000-meter individual pursuit GOLD — Jack Borbridge, Australia.

SILVER — Jesse Sergent, New Zealand.

BRONZE — Michael Hepburn, Australia.

1,000 time trial GOLD — Scott Sunderland, Australia.

SILVER — Mohamad Rizal Tisin, Malaysia.

BRONZE — Edward Dawkins, New Zealand.

Women 500 time trial GOLD — Anna Meares, Australia.

SILVER — Kaarle McCulloch, Australia.

BRONZE — Becky James, Wales.

GYMNASTICS Women Team GOLD — Australia (Georgia Bonora, Ashleigh Brennan, Emily Little, Lauren Mitchell, Georgia Wheeler).

SILVER — England (Imogen Cairns, Laura Edwards, Jocelyn Hunt, Charlotte Lindsley, Becky Wing) BRONZE — Canada (Catherine Dion, Kristin Klarenbach, Cynthia Lemieu-Guillemette, Gabby May, Emma Willis).

SWIMMING Men 50 Backstroke GOLD — Liam Tancock, England.

SILVER — Hayden Stoeckel, Australia.

BRONZE — Ashley Delaney, Australia.

200 Freestyle GOLD — Robert Renwick, Scotland.

SILVER — Kenrick Monk, Australia.

BRONZE — Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Australia.

Women 50 Breaststroke GOLD — Leiston Pickett, Australia.

SILVER — Leisel Jones, Australia.

BRONZE — Kate Haywood, England.

50 Butterfly GOLD — Francesca Halsall, England.

SILVER — Marieke Guehrer, Australia.

BRONZE — Emily Seebohm, Australia.

Paralympic 50 Freestyle S9 GOLD — Natalie du Toit, South Africa.

SILVER — Annabelle Williams, Australia.

BRONZE — Stephanie Millward, England.

SHOOTING Men Pairs 10-meter Air Rifle GOLD — India (Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang).

SILVER — England (James Huckle and Kenny Parr).

BRONZE — Bangladesh (Abdullah Hel Baki and Mohammad Asif Hussain Khan).

Pairs 50-meter Pistol GOLD — Singapore (Bin Gai and Swee Hon Lim).

SILVER — India (Deepal Sharma and Omkar Singh).

BRONZE — Trinidad and Tobago (Rhodney Richard and Roger Peter).

Women Pairs 25-meter Pistol GOLD — India (Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed).

SILVER — Australia (Linda Ryan and Lalita Yauhleuskaya).

BRONZE — England (Gorgs Geikie and Julia Lydall).

Pairs 50-meter Rifle GOLD — Singapore (Xiang Wei Jasmine and Aqilah Sudhir).

SILVER — India (Lajjakumari Gauswami and Tejaswini Sawant).

BRONZE — Scotland (Kay Copland and Jen McIntosh).

WEIGHTLIFTING Men 62 Kilograms GOLD — Aricco Jumith, Malaysia.

SILVER — Naharudin Mahayudin, Malaysia.

BRONZE — Anton Kurukulasooriyage, Sri Lanka.

Women 53 Kilograms GOLD — Marilou Dozois Prevost, Canada.

SILVER — Onyeka Azike, Nigeria.

BRONZE — Raihan Yusoff, Malaysia.

WRESTLING Greco-Roman 60 Kilograms GOLD — Ravindere Singh, India.

SILVER — Terence Bosson, England.

BRONZE — Romeo Joseph, Nigeria.

74 Kilograms GOLD — Sanjay, India.

SILVER — Richard Addinall, South Africa.

BRONZE — Hassan Shahsavan, Australia.

96 Kilograms GOLD — Anil Kumar, India.

SILVER — Kakoma Hugues Bella-Lufu, South Africa.

BRONZE — Eric Fuenekes, Canada. — AP

Epicos project to back Kuwait private sector

Kerviel: ‘Ordinary’ man convicted of huge bank fraud

Behbehani launches 3 2011 Subaru models

22

23

25

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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EU, China face off amid fears of ‘currency war’ Europe urges faster yuan rise; Beijing demurs

BRUSSELS: Euro area policymakers pressed China yesterday for a faster appreciation of its currency to help rebalance the world economy but said Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had differed with them.

The chairman of euro-zone finance ministers, JeanClaude Juncker, told a news conference after talks with Wen on the sidelines of an EU-Asia summit in Brussels: “China’s real effective exchange rate remains undervalued.” He said the 16nation European currency area had urged an “orderly, significant and broad-based appreciation” of the yuan.

Asked how Wen had responded, Juncker said the message came as no surprise to the Chinese delegation, but added in French: “The Chinese authorities do not share our view.” The United States and the European Union accuse China of keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports, undermining jobs and competitiveness in Western economies.

The 48-nation Asia-Europe summit ended with agreement to consolidate a fragile economic recovery and ensure that reform of the International Monetary Fund gives more power to the emerging economies of Asia and other continents.

“This process needs to take into account the realities of today’s world economy-the shifts that have been taking place, and the strong growth in dynamic emerging markets and in developing economies,” EU President Herman van Rompuy said.

The EU offered last week to give up two of the eight seats its members hold on the 24-member IMF board, to make room for emerging nations, but analysts called the gesture insufficient. The United States wants the board cut back to 20 seats, with fewer Europeans. The issue is set to go to a Group of 20 major economies summit in Seoul next month.

Wen did not attend the news conference after the monetary talks. However, he had told the opening summit session on Monday that China’s objective was to ensure relative stability of the major reserve currencies.

However, af ter President Nicolas Sarkozy met Wen later on the sidelines of the summit, a French source said China seemed ready to discuss how to avoid “erratic” exchange rate variations.

The annual EU-China monetary dialogue came amid fears of a global “currency war” as key trading powers, such as the United States and Japan, seek to weaken their currencies while emerging economies such as Brazil and South Korea raise or threaten tougher controls to limit capital flows. Europeans are worried that they will be saddled with an overvalued currency, stifling their recovery, because they have few tools to contain the euro’s rise, even if they wanted to.

France, which takes over the presidency of the Group of 20 major economic powers next month, has put reforming the international monetary system at the top of its agenda, hoping to draw China into multilateral talks on currency coordination.

“It is not appropriate at this point in time that China is never involved in discussions about currencies,” French Finance Minister Christine L agarde told a forum in Moscow yesterday.

Sarkozy told the EU-Asia summit on Monday that monetary imbalances were a risk to the global economy and the Group of Seven wealthy industrial countries was no longer the legitimate forum to discuss currencies.—Reuters

TEHRAN: People stand in line at a currency exchange shop as they wait to purchase US dollars, at a shopping centre in Tehran yesterday as the US dollar fell after local banks sold the greenback to boost the Iranian rial. —AFP

Dollar falls in Iran as banks resume selling greenback

TEHRAN: The US dollar fell in Iran yesterday as local banks heavily sold the greenback in a bid to boost the Iranian rial, which has been pounded by the US currency in the past few days, dealers said.

The dollar was trading at around 10,750-10,800 rials compared to 12,500 rials seen last Wednesday when banks stopped selling the greenback to private individuals unless they could produce a passport and air ticket. Long queues were seen yesterday outside several banks and official foreign exchange houses as dollars became freely available again.

Before the banks last week began restricting sales of the greenback

without any explanation, the rial was trading at 10,500 to the dollar.

Economists had said the drying of the greenback was an indication that latest international sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt its controversial uranium enrichment work were beginning to bite.

They pointed in particular to the fact that Dubai, Tehran’s main trading partner, had stopped money transfers there since August after similar decisions by the United States and the European Union. Yesterday, a dealer said this week’s large sell-off of the dollar was in fact an attempt to counteract the effect of sanctions.

“We do not have access to the out-

side world as we have difficulty in transferring money outside because of sanctions. This (selling of US dollar) is the (government’s) way of battling the sanctions,” he said, asking not to be named. Another dealer predicted the price of the greenback would continue to fall. “With measures taken by the government, the rate of dollar will drop every day,” said the dealer, who also declined to be named.

The recovery in the rial follows a statement last Thursday by central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani that Iran intends to bring dollar rate down to 10,600 rials by around October 8. Bahmani added that Iran has “increased its reserves” and would

continue selling gold coins and foreign currency to professionals. The central bank over the past few years has consistently ensured that the Iranian rial remains bullish against foreign currencies.

The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on June 9 over Iran’s controversial program of uranium enrichment, which many Western states believe may mask a covert bid to make a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies.

The United States and European Union have since unilaterally imposed even tougher punitive measures, adding provisions that penalize Tehran’s trading partners. — AFP

MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS

Egypt, Orascom up on deal; markets down DUBAI/CAIRO: Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (OT) defied a regional market decline yesterday, soaring 5 percent after its executive chairman agreed to merge most of his telecom assets with Russia’s Vimpelcom.

Orascom surged in more than double its recent average trading volume of 17.6 million shares after the stock was suspended on Monday before the deal was announced.

Executive Chairman Naguib Sawiris said OT minority shareholders would have their rights respected in the planned Vimpelcom tie-up and gave the deal a 90 percent likelihood of success. Egypt’s top mobile firm by subscribers Mobinil, which is owned 34.7 percent

by Orascom, climbed 1.3 percent.

“OT caused euphoria among investors,” said Alia Khalil, a senior equity trader at Pharos Securities. “People were awaiting the deal and when it finally happened, many started buying.”

The index closed 0.1 percent higher, with around three stocks falling for each that rises, after reaching its highest intraday level since May 13.

In Dubai, Arabtec jumped to

a 16-week high, lif ting the index after the construction firm received a $1.33 billion order in Saudi Arabia. Arabtec gained 5 percent, accounting for half of the trade volume in the market. “Arabtec had a good run and it boosted the market,” said Musa Haddad, head of the MENA equity desk at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

“In general, the Dubai market looks strong and I still see it closing this year in positive territory. Dubai could reach up to 1,800 and then we will see how it reacts.”

Property shares also gained, with Emaar Properties up 1.1 percent and Union Properties climbing 1.5 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Almarai climbed to an all-time high after posting a 17-percent rise in third-quarter net profit and offering a one-for-one bonus share.

“It’s clear that the initial reaction to the Q3 results is positive,” said Hesham Tuffaha, head of research at Bakheet Investment Group in Saudi Arabia. “Almarai continues to grow for the last two years and investors are very optimistic about this company.”

The index inched up, as Almarai ended with gains of

4.7 percent, having surged up to 8.1 percent intraday on its results. The banking index fell 0.2 percent as Al Rajhi declined 0.6 percent.

Kuwait’s Zain gained 1.5 percent, matching Sunday’s

high, as investors continued to speculate on the telecom firm’s deal with Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat). “Zain’s market prices dropped initially as the company was giving details of

the deal. There is still no clarification from (major shareholder group) Kharafi but traders are speculating,” said Essa alHasawi, assistant manager at Zumorroda Investment Co in Kuwait. — Reuters

KUWAIT: Potential buyers look at the products displayed at the Bulgari’s new boutique, a Hussein Morad Behbehani Establishment, that was inaugurated yesterday in Salhia Complex, Kuwait. (See page 23) — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Gold hits record as dollar slides LONDON: Gold climbed 1.8 percent, its biggest oneday rise since May 11, to record highs yesterday as the dollar fell versus the euro and as recent volatility in the currency markets boosted demand for the metal as a safe store of value.

An announcement by the Bank of Japan that it would create a pool of funds to buy assets to tackle strength in the yen also helped gold. Moves by major economies to curb strength in their currencies are giving a major lift to the metal.

Brazil on Monday doubled a tax on foreign investors buying local bonds in an attempt to curb a currency rally that has turned into an issue in the country’s presidential race.

Spot gold hit a high of $1,340.20 an ounce and was bid at $1,337.50 an ounce at 1549 GMT, against $1,315.20 late on Monday.

US gold futures for December delivery reached a peak of $1,341.70 and were later up $21.90 at $1,338.70.

“There are a number of supporting factors to the gold price currently, including a stronger euro/dollar and the resumption of the positive correlation between gold and euro/dollar, as well as strong prospects for further quantitative easing in the US,” said BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay.

“However, we may see a correction on the FX side later this year on deflation risks in the euro zone,” she said. “In addition, the increase in narrow liquidity may translate into stronger risk appetite and... favour other assets besides gold.”

Gold prices appreciated as the dollar tumbled to an 8-1/2 month low against a basket of six major currencies, pressured by broadbased demand for the euro.

Gold is sensitive to moves in the dollar as weakness in the unit tends to lift its appeal as an alternative asset and makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for other currency holders.

Gold hit all-time highs in six consecutive sessions to Friday, and after building a base above $1,310 an ounce on Monday, rose nearly 2 percent to a new record late yesterday, lifted by concerns over further monetary easing.

Any further moves in the foreign exchange markets or signs of currency intervention are likely to be positive for gold.

“In the short term we have got the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF coming up this weekend, so there are going to be some more FXrelated headlines ahead of that,” said Tom Kendall, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

“There is no easy route out of these kinds of issues, where you have an implicit weak dollar policy now in the US... and emerging markets trying to protect their own exporters by not letting their currencies appreciate too rapidly and trying to head off asset bubbles caused by the strength of capital inflows. Those trends aren’t going away in a hurry.” Demand for physical gold retreated as prices rose again, however. Buying in main gold consumer India was muted as the weaker rupee added to pressure on local buyers. — Reuters

Muted inflows force Gulf asset managers to rethink models MANAMA: Muted inflows and rising redemptions are forcing asset managers in the Gulf Arab region to rethink their business models with managers looking at new asset classes and an alternative customer base to stay afloat.

Asset managers in the region have seen international institutions shun the Gulf as an investment destination since 2008, with money flowing to other emerging markets like China, Brazil and India.

“Raising money has been extremely difficult and that’s the main issue that the asset management industry has to tackle in the region,” said Roberto Demartini, associate director for fund services at Standard & Poor’s in an interview.

Coupled with the weak performance of local stock markets, including the likes of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, portfolio sizes of most managers have been shrinking rapidly and some smaller funds have been slowly fading away, bankers say. Total assets under management of some regional equities funds declined by as much as 80 percent in the last two years, Bahrain-based Securities and Investment Company (SICO) said in a presentation at a conference in Manama yesterday.

In the second-quarter of 2010 alone, Gulf markets saw net outflows of around $29 million compared with net inflows of around $1.1 billion in the same period last year.

Attracting inflows has become a key challenge for asset managers and lack of conviction about investment oppor-

tunities is forcing some of them to allocate as much as 25 percent of their assets into cash.

Some asset managers have been looking to raise funds from local institutions as international investors stay away, but family groups and other regional investors have been holding on to their funds since a regional property crash in 2008.

And according to SICO, out of a total $2.7 trillion investment pool in the Gulf region, over 95 percent of that is invested outside the region by sovereign wealth funds and high-networth individuals.

Fund managers, both regional and international alike, are now looking at an increasing range of options to better sell their products and attract an investor base. Some of them have been trying to move away from equities and focus more on fixed-income assets, which is considered less risky.

“Our anticipation coming through this crisis....allowed us to develop a core competency in fixed income, a more conservative approach to our clients,” said Eric Swats head of asset management at Rasmala Investments.

Managers are also seeking better distribution channels to sell their funds and have been looking to partner with regional players and third-party providers to reduce their overreliance on banks.

Profit expectations of local investors in the region also need to change for the industry to grow, managers say as most local investors look at equity and debt markets as a quick way to make big money. —Reuters

BUSINESS

22

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

‘An offset project funded by US defense manufacturer’

Epicos project to back Kuwait private sector

By Ahmad Saeid KUWAIT: Epicos, one of the leading global industrial cooperation and offset support companies, yesterday afternoon announced the official start of the “Support the Private Sector in Kuwait” project. The announcement w as made

at a launch seminar hosted by the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). The new project aims to provide support for local business to expand their operations and enhance their services. These services will be offered free of charge for local companies for a four-year period as part of an offset project funded by Raytheon, a US defense and aerospace technology manufacturer.

KUWAIT: The panel of speakers at the seminar at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

(From left): Philippe Mennicken of Epicos, Todd Shallcross of Raytheon and Apostolos Talamagas.

— Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Wataniya offers 50% discount on SMS sent to Egypt today Taking part in celebrating their joys KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom announced a promotion to all its customers giving them the privilege to send 50% discounted SMS to Egypt celebrating the occasion of Armed Forces Day (October 6).

In his words explaining this special promotion, Abdol Aziz Al-Balool, Wataniya Telecom PR Manager said: “Celebrating occasions of happiness and patriotism with our customers continues and October 6 is the date which will always be remembered in the history of Egypt and the Arab world. We have chosen to offer our Egyptian community in Kuwait a chance to send their loved ones discounted SMS on this day.”

The 50% discount on SMS will be valid for 24 hours starting today (Wednesday). Wataniya has offered similar promotions to other communities in Kuwait such as USA, Jordan, Syria, India, Philippines and Bangladesh as

Abdol Aziz Al-Balool well as many other countries, to enable its customers to stay in touch with their friends and families for half the price.

Wataniya Telecom continuously aims at providing the best and most innova-

tive services to its customers in fine qualities.

The offer reinforces Wataniya’s social responsibility towards its customers and to pave the pathway for them to keep in touch with their loved ones everywhere in the world.

Wataniya Telecom was commercially launched in 1999 as the first privately owned operator in Kuwait. In March 2007, Qatar Telecom (Qtel) acquired 51% of Wataniya Telecom shares.

Wataniya is a customer driven company that aims to provide product and service excellence that is leading to a real customer value... The company has been a driving force in increasing the mobile market penetration in Kuwait (over 80%) Wataniya Telecom has grown rapidly through acquisitions and enjoys a remarkable expansion in MENA & ASIA. Driving operations in Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria and in Palestine.

“The project offers a number of services and tools to support business relationships online and through other means to private sector companies in Kuwait,” explained Philippe Mennicken, Business Development Manager for Epicos.

According to a press release issued by Epicos, the services offered include online and offline marketing, business consultancy to analyze the company’s capabilities and business potential, and support for the development of a sustainable business partnership with foreign partners. It also includes access to the Epicos.com business portal.

Mennicken explained that the project structure consists of surveying the private sector and the creation of a 200+ facility database for the private sector.

“From this sector, 40 companies were shortlisted and invited to participate in the project,” he said, adding that the project’s second goal is to establish a local industrial online portal that will serve as the operational project platform.

Epicos’ Chief Operating Officer, Apostolos Talamagas, explained that over 230 private sector companies were invited to the seminar. He went on to say that while in principle any private sector company could participate in the project, priority would be given to certain types of private sector firms, such as hi-tech companies.

“Companies should be ready to receive new technologies and the related training and at the same time show their willingness and motivation to participate in the project in order to reap the benefits,” he noted.

He explained Epicos’ objectives, saying, “Epicos also intends to involve the concerned ministries and governmental agencies in the project not only through providing free access to the various online databases but also through customized consultancy and support where appropriate and desired.”

Epicos, which is based in Greece, was established in the year 2000. It operates a business portal that offers business intelligence information and business development support for its members to allow them to access new markets and pursue new business opportunities.

The new store of X-cite by Alghanim Electronics at Jahra

X-cite launches store in Sahara Mall, Jahra KUWAIT: X-cite by Alghanim Electronics, Kuwait’s leading multi-brand electronics retailer, expanded its footprint in Jahra with the launch of new store in Sahara Mall at Jahra.

Located on the Marzouk Al-Metab Street, the new X-cite outlet is spread across two levels and boasts of the latest in electronics products.

“We are delighted to add one more X-cite outlet to our existing network in Kuwait. We constantly endeavor to provide our customers an outstanding retail experience with the best possible services that provide greater value and convenience”, said Shahid Khan VP, Alghanim Electronics. The opening of the new store at Jahra is in line with the group’s expansion strategy for Kuwait, which aims to have an X-cite by Alghanim Electronics store in easily accessible areas of urban agglomeration.

The new X-cite store is the largest electronics store in Jahra. The store represents an innovative concept in store design, the template for which was developed in consultation with a leading international architecture and

design firm. “With the launch of the new Xcite store in Jahra we have very successfully implemented one more instance of the modern look and feel of X-cite by Alghanim Electronics stores, and combined contemporary fashion with greater customer interaction”, said Shahid Khan, VP, Alghanim Electronics.

The new store opening features amazing promotional offers and prices on a range of products. For example, on every KD 10/spent at the new X-cite store at Jahra from the 6th of October to the 30th of October, customers get a raffle coupon which entitles them to participate in a draw to win 10 Yamaha ATVs. There will be special price busters from the 6th to the 10th on a range of products to celebrate the opening of the new X-cite store at Sahara Mall. Customers visiting the store will be able to see and learn more about the latest in electronics products through interactive displays as well as participate in exciting on-the-spot offers.

Bahrain’s Mumtalakat to float 11.47% of Alba MANAMA: Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat plans to float upto 11.47 percent in Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) in an initial public offering (IPO) planned for later this year.

Alba said yesterday Mumtalakat will sell up to 163 million ordinary shares in the firm. An Alba spokesman said the company had 1.42 billion shares outstanding.

Mumtalakat owns 77 percent of Alba, with Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) holding a minority stake. Alba confirmed it had appointed JP Morgan as bookrunner and lead manager for the IPO. Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB) will act as regional lead manager and Citigroup as co-manager.

The ordinary shares would be listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange while its global depository receipts would be listed on the London Stock

Exchange, it said in a statement.

Alba Chairman Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji told Reuters last month the firm planned an IPO this year. Mumtalakat, which bundles Bahrain’s non-oil state-owned companies, is one of the smaller sovereign wealth funds in the world’s top oil-exporting region, with $9.1 billion in assets at the end of 2009.

The fund, which also owns Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air, plans to divest some of its local holdings and diversify its portfolio to more international and more liquid assets.

Alba, which operates an aluminum smelter in Bahrain, posted a full-year net loss of $220.7 million in 2009, compared with a profit of $781.9 million the year before, due to lower aluminum prices, according to a Mumtalakat investor presentation from June. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

.2790000 .4460000 .3830000 .2890000 .2740000 .2690000 .0045000 .0020000 .0768260 .7484930 .4020000 .0750000 .7337650 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2831500 .4478900 .3893680 .2923800 .2765040 .0522220 .0421470 .2712760 .0364980 .2153050 .0033850 .0063910 .0025390 .0033020 .0040450 .0771310 .7514600 .4004610 .0755570 .7362230 .0065090 TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2852500 .4510550 .2944520 .0760390

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.419 6.362

.2890000 .4550000 .3850000 .2980000 .2840000 .2770000 .0075000 .0035000 .0775980 .7560160 .4180000 .0790000 .7411400 .0072000 .0580000 .2852500 .4510550 .3921200 .2944520 .2784640 .0525920 .0424460 .2731940 .0367560 .2168310 .0034090 .0064360 .0025570 .0033250 .0040730 .0776230 .7562550 .4033000 .0760390 .7409220 .0065550

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.294 2.541 4.023 216.400 36.675 4.048 6.495 9.429 0.296 0.310 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 75.892 Qatari Riyal 78.197 Omani Riyal 739.390 Bahraini Dinar 755.890 UAE Dirham 77.500 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 52.400 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 49.952 Yemen Riyal 1.335 Tunisian Dinar 201.620 Jordanian Dinar 401.890 Lebanese Lira 190.900 Syrian Lier 6.184 Morocco Dirham 35.252 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 284.480 Euro 393.290 Sterling Pound 452.320 Canadian dollar 279.860 Turkish lire 195.730 Swiss Franc 295.410 Australian dollar 272.700 US Dollar Buying 282.995 GOLD 20 Gram 255.000 10 Gram 129.000 5 Gram 66.000

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 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

SELL CASH 276.600 756.320 4.280 282.100 558.500 14.100 52.500 167.800 52.270

216.290 43.340 2.708 454.000 43.200 295.800 6.300 9.620 198.263 77.600 284.800 1.370

392.500 37.180 6.370 0.033

401.990 0.191 94.530 4.000 212.900 738.560 3.310 6.500 78.230 75.930 75.930 216.290 43.340 2.540 452.000 294.300 6.300 9.460 77.500 284.400

GOLD 1,397.530 TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 452.000 284.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound

394.000 37.330 6.570 0.033 0.281 0.248 3.500 403.860 0.192 94.530 47.000 4.450 214.400 1.938 49.600 738.740 3.470 6.680 78.860

SELL DRAFT 275.100 756.320 4.045 280.800

216.300 49.994

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

Selling Rate 287.500 280.729 449.241 375.734 286.606 704.798 761.106 78.268 78.962 76.649 405.769 50.446 6.214 3.359

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

2.552 4.152 6.476 3.368 9.278 6.273 3.881

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 284.300 3.305 6.375 2.550 4.055 6.525 77.490 76.020 755.800 49.960 455.300 0.00003280 3.950 1.550 403.800 5.750 394.600 283.100

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 284.000 Euro 393.000 Pound Sterling 452.000 Canadian Dollar 279.500 Japanese Yen 3.430 Indian Rupee 6.360 Egyptian Pound 49.950 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.540 Bangladesh Taka 4.031 Philippines Peso 6.500 Pakistan Rupee 3.305 Bahraini Dinar 755.300 UAE Dirham 77.350 Saudi Riyal 75.810 *Rates are subject to change

BUSINESS

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

23

Behbehani launches 3 2011 Subaru models

KUWAIT: Yasushi Nagae, General Manager of Fuji Heavy Industries and Talal Behbehani, address the press conference.

KUWAIT: Yasushi Nagae, General Manager of Fuji Heavy Industries and Talal Behbehani, during the launch.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Officials of Mohammad Saleh and Reza Yousef Behbehani, the sole distributor of Subaru in Kuwait, during the unveiling.

WRX STI 5 doors hatchback, 4-door salon with automatic transmission and Impreza XV SUV KUWAIT: The launch of the new vehicles took place amidst a press conference held at the Subaru showroom in the presence of Yasushi Nagae, General Manager of Fuji Heavy Industries, manufacturer of Subaru vehicles and was attended by several members of the press and leading publications in the country. Mohammad Saleh and Reza Yousef Behbehani, the sole distributor of Subaru in Kuwait, unveiled the three new cars from the 2011 line-up of Subaru: WRX STI I) - Automatic Transmission Hatchback WRX STI - Automatic Transmission Sedan 4 II) door

The WRX STI gained its high-performance credibility after ruling several of the planet’s most competitive courses. From 19 years in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), to lap racing on Germany’s famed Nurburgring racetrack, Subaru has mastered the lessons of high performance engineering in the heat of competition which reflects directly on the production of the WRX STI year after year. The new WRX STI is considered the fastest STI of all time. The phrase fastest does not simply refer to maximum speed or engine power output, but also includes cornering speed due to improvements made to the suspension setting, handling and stability. The WRX STI is without a doubt the flagship model of Subaru car enthusiasts and

competition from all over have come to admire and respect the outstanding track record of the Subaru WRX STI both on road and in rallies.

This is the first ever STI with Automatic Transmission and is comfortable for daily use and at the same time also keeps the sense of sporty drive feel which Subaru is so renowned for. Also, this year Subaru has introduced the first ever 4-door Sedan version of the WRX STI since it took its new form three years ago. The 4 door sedan version is exclusively made bearing in mind the taste and style of the several car enthusiasts in the local market which prefer the 4 door sedan over the hatchback, the latter being most popular in Europe.

III) Impreza XV: Subaru combines the compact and comfortable design of the Impreza with the style and capabilities of an SUV. The all new Impreza XV has the highest clearance off the ground due to the suspension system giving it the appearance of a crossover utility vehicle. The roof rail makes it easy to carry what you want for your trip. Bad weather should not hamper your plans for a long trip thanks to the fog lights that provides better visibility. Its large ground clearance and four-wheel drive system gives you better harmonic control on the road and ensure you arrive safely at your destination. On the exterior, the specially designed front grill, carbon colored claddings and

spoiler around the rear window gives the car an exceptional look. The interior is also exclusive with color scheme seating designed for Impreza XV. The Impreza XV is not only designed for the young car enthusiasts but also appeals to female drivers with functionality being the main criteria delivering a real crossover performance.

Talal Behbehani, Executive Director, said, “The Subaru continues its philosophy to develop a complete car for every driver which embodies all the basics of steering control even under the harshest conditions where the SUV technology forms the base to enhance these unique features in Subaru cars.”

French oil strike reaches deadlock, shortage looms PARIS: Strikers at France’s top oil port blocked more tankers yesterday as their row with management reached a deadlock threatening to idle several refineries in a few days and potentially lead to a gasoline shortage in Europe. Some 30 vessels with crude and oil products were blocked at Fos-Lavera near the Mediterranean port of Marseille-the world’s No. 3 port after Houston and Rotterdam-up from 27 on Monday.

No meeting between the strikers and the management was scheduled for yesterday as the strike entered its ninth day. “The port has offered all possible job guarantees to the strikers, what else can the port offer?” a port spokeswoman said.

The strikers wants job guarantees as part of a port reform and are also protesting against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform to raise the retirement age to 62 from 60, which has already sparked several waves of nationwide protests. The strike has already trimmed fuel output at some refineries in France, pushing up European benchmark gasoline barge prices and premiums of gasoline to oil on expectations that the strike could lead to an oversupply of crude in the market.

“What is happening in Fos-Lavera is clearly having an impact on oil product prices,” said Christophe Barret, oil analyst at Credit Agricole. “It has cut runs and tightened supplies of middle distillates in Europe, dragging diesel into Europe from all over the world. And this is coming ahead of the winter heating oil season,” he said.

Yesterday, ICE gas oil futures eased down from a five-month high ahead of an expected influx of distillates

from Asia and the United States to help ease the glut.

A fleet of cargoes carrying 400,000 tons of the motor fuel diesel was set to arrive in northwest Europe in the first half of October from the US Gulf, traders told Reuters.

France’s oil industry lobby and a transport ministry source said three-month strategic oil stocks were so far untouched despite union officials saying Total’s La Mede refinery had started using them.

“The strategic oil stock is used at the Manosque site but it is not cut on a national level,” the ministry source said. The seven refineries dependent on the Fos-Lavera oil hub are expected to run out of crude stocks in around one week, the country’s oil industry lobby said on Monday.

The port strike would have to last another 2-1/2 weeks for motorists to start feeling the pinch, it added.

The transport ministry source said it would take at least “several weeks” before supply woes started.

But the island of Corsica, fully dependent on supplies from Marseille, was already running low on fuel on Monday and industry experts have said petrol stations could face a fuel shortage in days if refiners joined the strike. The unions of the port and oil major Total were still in talks to carry out joint actions before the national strike of Oct. 12, however no agreement had yet been found on a joint strike.

The strike, which now ended in the other parts of the Marseille port, was blocking 15 refined product vessels and 15 crude oil tankers, the port said. — Reuters

Bahrain economy grows 4.6% yr/yr in Q2 2010 CB sees investment sector mergers DUBAI: Bahrain’s economy expanded 4.6 percent in real terms in the second quarter of this year, the island kingdom’s statistics office said yesterday, slower than the pace of growth in the first quarter.

The gross domestic product of the small nonOPEC oil producer rose by 1.1 percent from the previous three months, the statistics office quoted Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa as saying on its website www.cio.gov.bh.

The prime minister said that the second-quarter growth was satisfactory given current economic challenges. Bahrain’s second-quarter growth marked a slowdown from first-quarter growth of 5.2 percent year-on-year and 1.4 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Analysts have said that Bahrain must reinvent itself as a financial centre to ensure growth, adding that the tiny island Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should fund the large infrastructure projects planned in the Gulf region to help achieve this.

The government has pumped less stimulus into its economy than its fellow-oil producers, but it ran a budget deficit in 2009 for the first time since at least 2005 as average oil prices remained below its estimated budget break-even of about $70 to $80 per barrel. Bahrain’s nominal GDP grew 8.2 percent on an annual basis in April-June and 1.4 percent quarter-on-

quarter due to higher oil prices and its products as well as a good performance of some non-oil activities, the statistics office said. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) expects the country’s investment houses to consolidate and raise more capital after being hit hard by a regional real estate crash, a bank official said yesterday.

Bahrain’s investment houses relied on fees they booked on investor money raised for private equity and property projects during a five-year oil and real estate boom that ended in 2008.

They have largely failed to generate new revenue streams and are struggling with illiquid assets whose valuations have sharply fallen. “You still need several of those investment companies to merge and consolidate activities for the sake of having better capital [levels] and being able to meet client expectations,” A Rahman Moh’d Al-Baker, executive director of financial institutions supervision, told Reuters in an interview.

Analysts and bankers say consolidation in the Gulf Arab banking and investment industry is overdue, but in Bahrain complicated ownership structures have made mergers and acquisitions difficult, with many banks and investment houses having shareholders from several other Gulf countries. — Reuters

KUWAIT: Alessandro Bogliolo, COO of Bvlgari and Hussein Morad Behbehani, CEO of Hussein Morad Behbehani Establishment, cut the ribbon to inaugurate the store. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Bulgari opens its new boutique in Kuwait with a new partner KUWAIT: Bulgari - the contemporary luxury brand and its local partner, Hussein Morad Behbehani Establishment, opened a new boutique in Kuwait which is uniquely located inside of Salhia Complex, an exclusive luxury shopping mall in the heart of the city, in the hub of the financial and commercial districts.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 4, 2010, the inauguration was conducted by Alessandro Bogliolo, COO of Bvlgari and Hussein Morad Behbehani, CEO of Hussein Morad Behbehani Establishment. The opening of the new boutique marks the new relationship between Bvlgari and HBM Est. The 130sqm Bulgari Store will feature a wide selection of Bvlgari products, including jewelry, watches, leather goods, silks, eyewear and fragrances.

Designed by Bulgari’s in-house architects to compliment Bulgari’s distinctive style, the store design combines architec-

tural innovation with classic materials and Italian tradition, according to a new design concept where the client is at the centre.

The facade features a wide entrance to welcome customers as well as two giant windows where the Bulgari products are displayed giving also a perspective view of the store interior. The rich coloured Gris Pulpis marble pilasters of the faÁade create a contrast against the Trani marble pattern, typical of Bulgari’s design concept.

Opposite the entrance door, the main curved counters displaying jewelry and watches are highlighted by a huge fiber optics chandelier, thus giving to the whole ambience great sense of elegance and luxury. A wall exhibitor dedicated to jewelry and watches as well as accessories, provides a comprehensive overview of the diversification of Bvlgari lines and invites customers to enter the Bvlgari world dedicated to women.

A VIP room will offer an exclusive ambi-

ence for those clients who prefer comfort and privacy while viewing the collection.

Any branded Bulgari Store is conceived as a unique shop. Its distinguished style and luxury atmosphere take customers into the Bulgari world and offer an exclusive and emotional shopping experience as interpreted by Bulgari.

Bvlgari is one of the global players on the luxury market. In 2009 the Group posted a turnover of 926.6 million Euro. Bvlgari relies on a stores network in the most exclusive shopping areas in the world and on selected distributors. As of 30.06.2010 the number of the Bvlgari stores in the world was 283 of which 169 as directly owned stores. Bvlgari has a product portfolio that ranges from jewels and watches to accessories and perfumes. The Group is controlled by the Bvlgari family, holding about 51% of the share capital. The remaining 49% is floating on the Milan Stock Exchange.

BUSINESS

24

KSE stocks remain bearish GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait stocks modestly recoiled by the end of yesterday’s session with investors monitoring the 3rd quarter results. National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) traded ex-dividend yesterday after its AGM and EGM held in March 08, 2010 approved 10 percent rights issue.

Global General Index (GGI) closed 0.19 points down (0.09 percent) during the day at 215.42 point as the market capitalization was down for the day reaching KD34.85mn. On the other hand, Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index closed down losing a 1.00 point to its value and closed at 6,946.1 point.

Market breadth During the session, 119 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 51 equities retreated versus 30 that advanced, while 130 stocks remained unchanged during the trading session.

Trading activities ended on a negative note yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange decreased by 4.10 percent to reach 260.50mn shares, and value of shares traded decreased by 20.46 percent to stand at KD57.90mn. The Investment Sector was the volume and value leaders yesterday, accounting for 45.99 percent of total shares and 35.93 percent of total traded value.

National Investment Company led the volume and value leaders list for the day, as investors traded 27.90mn shares of the company with a total traded value of KD12.75mn.

In terms of top gainers, Aref Investment Group was the

biggest gainer for the day, adding 8.47 percent and closed at KD0.064. On the other hand, Al-Salam Group Holding Company was the biggest decliner, dropping by 8.33 percent and closed at KD0.055.

The retreat was broad-based with 5 out of 8 sectors closing in negative territory. Global Industrial index, which shed 1.21 percent backed by National Industries Group (Holding), which lost 1.28 percent to close at KD0.385. Most of the sector’s components were seen down

yesterday.

Global Food Index followed shedding 0.91 percent. Heavy weight, Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana), carried on its negative performance, and plunged by 1.20 percent being the only decliner in the sector. Americana scrip ended at KD1.640.

Global Investment & Real Estate Indices were slightly down by 0.27 percent each backed by high losses witnessed by most of the sector’s stocks.

Meanwhile on the positive side,

Global Insurance Index was the biggest gainer adding 1.43 percent. Al-Ahleia Insurance Company, the second largest insurance company in terms of market cap, gained soared 6.25 percent to close at KD0.510.

Kuwaiti oil prices rose on Monday by $2.31 to $77.81 per barrel the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said here yesterday. Kuwaiti oil prices hit $75.50 per barrel on Friday.

Kuwaiti oil is deeply affected by the daily speculations, as well as geo-political and geo-psycholog-

ical factors in the oil market.

National Petroleum Services Co (NAPESCO) was the lowest bidder for tender No 969244 through its Turkey-based partner Meke Deniz Temizligi Ltd services.

Under the agreement, NAPESCO will provide pollution control services for Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC).

The KD2,239,299 worth of contract will last three years. The company will inform the KSE management of relevant updates.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Oil soars after Japan cuts rates, dollar falls LONDON: Oil prices rose yesterday, building on a week of gains after Japan unexpectedly lowered interest rates, raising expectations of boosts for other major economies.

The Bank of Japan cut its overnight rate target to a range between zero and 0.1 percent from 0.1 percent and pledged to buy 5 trillion yen ($60 billion) worth of assets in an attempt to stimulate the world’s third-largest oil-consuming nation.

Stock markets rallied with Japan’s Nikkei average bouncing back to its biggest daily percentage gain for almost three weeks, while the dollar slipped.

Oil often moves inversely to the dollar as it is priced in the US currency on international markets. US crude for November rose 45 cents to $81.92 a barrel by 1140 GMT, not far below Monday’s peak at $82.38, the highest price since Aug 6. ICE Brent for November gained 40 cents to $83.68.

“The Japanese moves are supporting prices,” said Christophe Barret, analyst at Credit Agricole. “In the past, increased liquidity has found its way into commodity markets and expectations of other stimulus programs are also positive.”

Central banks in Japan, the United States and Britain have been under political pressure to do more to support economies showing only tepid recovery from the worst recession in decades. Oil had slipped earlier yesterday on forecasts for gains in US crude and gasoline inventories and technical analysis signalling Monday’s rally to a two-month high was overdone.

OIL INVENTORIES US crude oil inventories probably rose last week by 600,000 barrels, while gasoline stocks

were expected to have gained 100,000 barrels as refinery utilization dropped, a Reuters poll ahead of weekly inventory reports showed.

Industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) will issue its weekly inventory report on Tuesday at 2030 GMT. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will follow with government data today.

But supplies of distillates including heating oil and diesel were projected to have declined by 800,000 barrels as demand remained strong, particularly for diesel, a major component of this inventory segment, the poll said. A crippling strike at France’s top oil port, the world’s third-largest, continued yesterday and some refineries were expected to run out of crude supplies in about a week, unions and industry officials said.

The upper Houston Ship Channel should reopen later yesterday, restoring crude flows to four refiners in Texas holding 4.9 percent of US capacity before their supplies run low, the US Coast Guard said on Monday.

Investors were keeping a wary eye on signals from oil producers ahead of next week’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is expected to keep oil output targets unchanged.

“Everything but leaving output allocations unchanged would come as a major surprise,” said David Wech of JBC Energy.

“Crude prices have been trading in the targeted $70 to $80 per barrel range for more than a year, making OPEC members happy and giving them no incentive to change allocations.” OPEC may discuss production by Iraq, which has no oil output target as it rebuilds after years of war. Iraq raised its estimate of proven oil reserves by a quarter on Monday. — Reuters

Kuwait oil rises to $77.81 KUWAIT: Kuwaiti oil prices rose on Monday by $2.31 to $77.81 per barrel, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said here yesterday. Kuwaiti oil prices hit $75.50 per barrel

on Friday. Kuwaiti oil is deeply affected by the daily speculations, as well as geo-political and geo-psychological factors in the oil market. — KUNA

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

business

25

Kerviel: ‘Ordinary’ man convicted of huge bank fraud PARIS: French trader Jerome Kerviel, jailed for three years yesterday for juggling billions of euros in rogue deals and humiliating a huge bank, casts himself as a simple soul caught up in an orgy of greed.

The 33-year-old was convicted yesterday of forgery and breach of trust for gambling away nearly five billion euros (more than $7 billion) in risky deals as a star trader at Societe Generale, one of Europe’s biggest banks.

Branded a crook by his ex-employer and a mere scapegoat by others, Kerviel insisted his bosses knew what he was doing and turned a blind eye to possible breaches of rules as long as he kept the profits rolling in. In a memoir published before his trial, he said he was dragged into a “big banking orgy.”

Even as he racked up billions for the bank in its skyscraper in Paris’s La Defense business district, Kerviel lived modestly in a small suburban flat and took the train to Brittany in the holidays to visit his widowed mother.

“I am an ordinary person. I am not crazy,” he said during investigations into the scandal after Societe Generale was forced to carry out emergency transactions worth 50 billion euros to balance its books after his risky deals.

“I didn’t earn millions (in salary) and I didn’t drive a Porsche,” said Kerviel, who was paid 50,000 euros a year plus tens of thousands more in bonuses when the scandal erupted in January 2008.

“Have you seen my apartment? Forty-five square metres (485 square feet), no masters’ paintings. Ikea furniture,” the sign of a simple lifestyle, he added.

Some commentators have interpreted his big risk-taking as motivated by the desire to prove himself, a young man from a modest background, among the ranks of high-flying traders from elite schools.

Societe Generale says he worked out how to circumvent complex risk-control mechanisms and its lawyer Jean Veil accused him of “duplicity” in reassuring his employers that all was well.

The presiding judge at his trial, Dominique Pauthe, appeared baffled as he tried to comprehend what drove Kerviel, but the trader shed little light on his motivations during hours of testimony.

“There is no Kerviel mystery,” the trader said, insisting he just tried to do his job “in the interests of the bank”. His lawyer Olivier Metzner said the bank was to blame since Kerviel was “a being that it created.” Kerviel had sought acquittal on the charges of breach of trust, falsifying and using fake documents and entering false data into company computers, for which he was sentenced to three years in jail plus two years suspended and was ordered to pay 4.9 billion dollars’ damages to his former employer.

The fine is far beyond his means. He told the court that he has been earning 2,300 euros a month as a computer consultant. Kerviel was born in the small town of Pont l’Abbe, Brittany, to a

father who taught metalwork and a mother who was a hairdresser. He once ran for municipal office as a candidate from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party but was not elected. He told the newspaper Liberation that as a child he wanted to be a vet.

Instead, Kerviel trained in economics and finance at universities in nearby Quimper and in Nantes and Lyon, where his teachers said he graduated with solid but not exceptional grades.

He joined Societe General in 2000 where he was promoted to the “front office” five years later to trade futures on European share indices-effectively betting on the direction of the stock market.

Colleagues at the time described him as a quiet loner. Journalists have likened the freshfaced ex-trader to the film star Tom Cruise. In an interview with Liberation, he said he liked the music of R and B singer Alicia Keys and was a big film fan, admitting that he cried at the end of the 3D fantasy “Avatar.”

Kerviel spent 38 days in custody after his arrest in 2008 and later took up a job at a small IT company in a suburb of Paris. He appeared for interviews smoking heavily and at his trial in June with bags under his eyes. He said ahead of his trial that he hoped it would teach people the lessons of the global financial crisis.

“Respect for work, solidarity, honesty-I grew up with these notions,” he told Liberation. “But when I became a trader, I lost part of these morals.” — AFP

PARIS: French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel (left), who faces up to four years in prison for covert stock trades that Societe Generale bank says cost it almost five billion euros, arrives with his lawyer, Olivier Metzner (C), for the verdict hearing yesterday at Paris’ main courthouse. — AFP

Supermarket’s ninth outlet in Kuwait

Gulfmart to open second branch in Hawally today KUW AIT: Gulfma rt, Kuw ait’s popular one-stop superma rket cha in opens its ninth outlet in Kuw a it and the brand’s second bra nch in Haw a lly, a t 10 am today a t the Burj Al Sa la m Complex, behind the Haw ally fire station. The ina ugura tion of the bra nch w ill be conducted by Amba ssador of India Ajai Malhotra in the presence of the Amba ssador of Nepal Madhuban P Pa udan.

BRUSSELS: Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker (right) and European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet listen to questions during a media conference on the sidelines of an EU Asia summit in Brussels yesterday. — AP

ECB soaks up cash to offset help through bond buying FRANKFURT: The European central Bank has revealed the extent of new strains and risks in the euro-zone financial system, saying it had increased 10-fold the cash it has soaked up from the banking system.

Yesterday, a leading credit rating agency also warned that it might downgrade debt issued by Ireland, spotlighting resurgent tensions in parts of the euro-zone bond market.

The European Central Bank revealed earlier, in a statement on Monday that it had extracted 1.4 billion euros by attracting this amount into deposits at the ECB, because it had injected exactly the same amount to help some financial institutions recently by buying government bonds from them.

The ECB is worried that by providing cash to parts of the euro-zone financial system, it might stoke up inflation generally. One analyst suggested that the deposit move was part of a decision taken “to tame” trading in debt issued by debtburdened euro-zone countries.

The latest data gives insights into how the ECB has had to ramp up help for parts of the banking system, playing an exceptional role as buyer of last resort, just as the value of Irish and Portuguese bonds was being pushed down sharply on debt markets in the last two weeks.

This means that euro-zone countries under pressure from heavy public deficits and debt are having to pay high rates to borrow to fund the gap between tax revenue and spending. Ireland and Portugal are among governments which have borrowed by issuing bonds recently.

The ECB took in one-week deposits worth nearly 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) from commercial banks, a move which offset a sharp jump in the central bank’s purchase of government bonds last week.

“This is the largest weekly settlement since early July, suggesting that the ECB tried to tame periphery markets last week,” Citi chief eurozone economist Juergen Michels said.

Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday that it might downgrade Ireland’s sovereign debt rating owing to the cost of rescuing Irish banks. The ECB collects one-week deposits from banks equal to the amount it holds in government debt to avoid fuelling inflation, which rose in September to 1.8 percent, the highest 12-month figure for nearly two years.

The amount bought last week, 1.384 billion euros, was 10 times greater than the previous week and was purchased amid renewed market pressure on debt issued by Ireland and Portugal.

The latest operations brought the total amount of ECB sovereign debt purchases to 63.5 billion euros, the bank said. The ECB has pursued its controversial Securities Markets Program to underpin a key market for euro-zone sovereign financing, and UniCredit analysts said the central bank “has likely bought 2.2 billion in Irish bonds (around 80 percent of its total purchases) since early August.”

When the program began in May, weekly purchases hit a high of 16.5 billion euros, before falling off to almost nothing in early August. — AFP

JOGMEC reissues tender to buy Mideast light crude

Harbinger sells half of Inmarsat stake

TOKYO: The state-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp has reissued a tender to buy Middle East light crude oil for the country’s reserves, seeking around 2.53 million barrels after falling short of its purchase target in a similar tender last month.

The tender in two tranches closes on Oct. 21, with offers to be opened the same day. JOGMEC is seeking to buy about 630,000 barrels (100,000 kilolitres) of the Middle East light crude, with delivery to the Shibushi national oil reserves in Kagoshima, southwestern Japan, between Jan. 6 and Feb 20, a tender document showed yesterday.

It is also seeking to buy another 1.9 million barrels (300,000 kl) of the crude and rent a tank for it at the same time. JOGMEC will rent the tank until March 31, 2011. The oil for the tank should be delivered between Dec 21 and Feb 20.

Japan is trying to replace medium and heavy crude in its national reserves with lighter crudes to reflect the growing share of light crudes in Japan’s recent imports.

In the tender that closed in September, JOGMEC bought 100,000 kl of Middle East light crude, or half the amount it was seeking, in the first tranche, while there were no bids for 300,000 kl of the crude and a tank rental contract in the second tranche. — Reuters

LONDON: US hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners said yesterday it had halved its stake in British satellite operator Inmarsat, bringing to a close constant bid speculation around the firm.

Harbinger, which still holds around 14 percent of the firm, said it had sold 65 million ordinary shares at a price of 630 pence per share, or around 410 million pounds ($650.3 million), after deciding not to make a full offer.

The move follows months of talk that Harbinger might make a bid for Inmarsat, whose satellites provide voice, data and broadband services to shipping and aircraft.

“Inmarsat has been a terrific investment for Harbinger and its investors,” Harbinger’s Chief Executive Philip Falcone said in a statement late on Monday, before announcing the sale on Tuesday.

“Although we have determined that we are not going to make an offer for all of the company, I remain a strong believer in Inmarsat’s future and am extremely happy to maintain a core position in the company’s stock.”

Shares in Inmarsat were down 3.2 percent in early morning trading at 634 pence and valuing the firm at just under 3 billion pounds. They lost 2 percent of their value on Monday after the firm said it was considering its options with regards to a stake sale.

Harbinger’s remaining 14 percent shareholding will be subject to a 180-day lock up arrangement with Credit Suisse and UBS. — Reuters

Speaking at a press gathering to announce the inauguration of the new venue, T A Remesh, Gulfmart Country Head, said that the overwhelming popularity of the brand among customers and their demand for even more convenience, had led to the opening of a second branch in Hawally. The inauguration will provide shoppers with a unique opportunity to snap up special bargain offers.

During the press conference, attended by senior management of Gulfmart, including Fakrudeen Kabeer (Senior Purchase Manager), Irfan Khan (Finance Manager) Jozer Sifee, Sameer Sheikh and Imran Sheikh (Senior Buyers), Remesh reiterated the brand’s commitment to customers, “Over the years, the unstinted support and trust placed in us by our patrons has led to a commitment to provide the greatest convenience and the best shopping experience at every branch of Gulfmart. Anything that helps ease the stress of shopping and brings us closer to our patrons is of paramount importance to us.”

The Country Head added, “The opening of a second branch in Hawally is based on our strategic expansion plans for the country and is also the result of ongoing demand and phenomenal response of customers in the area. The synergies of having two branches existing in the same locality will no doubt prove beneficial to customers.”

Remesh described the large floor space and roomy aisles available at the second branch in Hawally as a new shopping experience for residents in the area. Fitted out by Havelock Consultant, interna-

North Africa Holding invests in Egyptian glass manufacturer KUWAIT: Kuwait-based investment company, North Africa Holding Company (NorAH), yesterday that it has acquired a fifty percent stake in Kandil Glass, one of Egypt’s leading manufacturers of glass containers. The investment, which will allow Kandil Glass to finance the construction of a new production facility, is NorAH’s first investment in Egypt.

Emad Al-Saleh, Chief Executive Officer of NorAH, commented: “We believe that Kandil Glass, with its ability to customize its offer to market demand and its technical capabilities, has excellent possibilities for growth in the future. We chose to invest in Kandil Glass because of the outstanding quality of its management. Kandil Glass is indeed a young company, it has been founded in 2005, but it can leverage and benefit from the manufacturing capabilities of our partner, the Kandil family, whose successful entrepreneurial history started over 140 years ago. This is NorAH’s first investment in Egypt as well as our entry into the glass manufacturing sector.”

“The sector’s strong growth and Egypt’s abundant supply of raw materials, together with its reasonable energy costs and proximity to European, Middle Eastern and African markets, make our investment in Kandil Glass an interesting opportunity and a valuable addition to NorAH’s investment portfolio”, added Al-Saleh.

Kandil Glass expansion plan aims to make it a market leader in the glass manufacturing sector for the food and beverage industries, serving both local and International markets with high quality glass containers. Kandil Glass currently has a production capacity of 55 tons per day while it is undergoing a major expansion in order to raise it to over 300 tons per day.

Khalil Kandil, Kandil Glass’s Chief Executive Officer said: “NorAH’s investment in Kandil Glass will help us with the stability and the additional funding necessary to develop our company to its full potential. Kandil Glass has a record of rapid growth and there is a growing market for its products. We look forward to the continued development of the company in partnership with NorAH and its expansion into new markets.”

tional specialists in super-market outfitting, the interior layout of the new super-market is designed to allow customers to find and select items with the utmost convenience.

Elaborating on the brand’s popularity, the Country Manager added that Gulfmart has consistently maintained the quality of products and pricing structure to offer customers the best deals in town. “We have a wide and constantly refreshed array of products on display, including fresh fruits and vegetables, high- quality fish and meat, as well as an assortment of frozen and packaged food products. In addition to ethnic products from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as from Arab countries, we also carry leading cosmetic and household brands under one roof,” said Remesh. We source our products directly from these countries and as such are able to offer customers the best price and the freshest products, he added.

Gulfmart currently has 8 retail branches in Kuwait, at Shuwaikh, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 1, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 2, Salmiya, Hawally 1, Fahaheel, Farwaniya and Khaitan. The second outlet now opening in Hawally is expected to provide the large number of residents in this area with even more shopping convenience. Speaking about the brand’s latest branch opening, Arif Sheikh, Director of Gulfmart Group added, “We would like to thank our patrons for their continuous support which has helped us stay on track to reach our target of 25 branches in Kuwait by the end of 2012.”

T A Remesh, Gulfmart Country Head

ABK’s upgraded instant SMS service- faster than ever KUWAIT: SMS Banking is nothing new to ABK customers, but the newly upgraded high speed SMS service from ABK continues the tradition of excellence that ABK has come to offer its customers over the years.

When an ABK customer makes any banking transaction, whether a deposit, withdrawal or transfer, instantly they receive an SMS message confirming this transaction. This service is performed using the latest in integrated technology which ensures a continuous connection between ABK’s electronic banking system and the client’s mobile numbers.

Othman M Tawfiqi, Head of Communication

Channels at ABK, explained that, “This high speed service was launched to ensure that a strong channel of communication exists between the bank and its customers. It is an important service for our customers because it provides the added protection against any threat of counterfeiting or piracy. Wherever our customers are in the world they get a confirmation message faster than any other bank in Kuwait can provide.”

Othman added that, “The SMS service is divided into 2 categories - Push and Pull. The Push service is automatically available to all customers who are informed when their salary is deposited or when a debit or deposit transaction occurs involving their account. The Pull service is available to clients that wish to obtain information about their accounts, for example, account balance, currency rates or credit card facilities.”

The new SMS service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which enables the customer to stay up to date with all their transactions, and gain the knowhow on bank’s promotions as well.

Read pho neti cal l y Dictionary - View detailed dictionary 1. noun 1. portfolio 2. wallet 3. purse 4. briefcase 5. pocket book 6. handbag 7. billfold Li s ten Read pho neti cal l y

Othman M Tawfiqi, Head of Communication Channels at ABK

Dictionary - View detailed dictionary 1. noun 1. portfolio 2. wallet 3. purse 4. briefcase 5. pocket book 6. handbag 7. billfold

BUSINESS

26

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Tesco sees robust global recovery, no double dip

HAVANA: A man works with chicken in Havana yesterday. Cuba is to allow some houses to be rented in US dollars for the first time in 50 years as well as the opening up of small businesses as it seeks to shed 500,000 public jobs, state media said. — AFP

LONDON: Tesco, the world’s third-biggest retailer, said the global economy is recovering strongly and growth in emerging markets will help to prevent developed economies from falling back into recession.

The British group, which beat forecasts with a 14 percent rise in first-half underlying profit, also said yesterday it expected its loss-making US business Fresh & Easy to break even in 2012-13, ahead of some analysts’ expectations.

“My starting point is the global economy, which is in a pretty robust recovery,” Chief Executive Terry Leahy told Reuters, delivering his last set of results before handing over to international chief Phil Clarke in March.

When asked whether he thought developed markets like Britain might fall back into recession, Leahy said: “I don’t think it will. If you look at the customer psychology and the pulling power of the developing markets, I think they will pull Europe and the United States into a stable and established recovery.”

Tesco, with over 4,800 stores in 14 countries, said profit before tax and one-off items rose to 1.79 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) in the 26 weeks to Aug. 28, helped by growth in Asia, productivity gains, property deals and

lower interest costs.

Trading profit met forecasts with a 9 percent increase, though, and sales growth in Britain, where Tesco makes about two thirds of sales and profits, was sluggish in what the group described as a “slow and steady” economic recovery. Leahy said Britons had been hit by high petrol prices but these were now easing and, with food price inflation likely to rise to 3-4 percent, sales should pick up in the second half.

Tesco, world No. 3 behind France’s Carrefour and U.S. leader Wal-Mart, said losses at US chain Fresh & Easy would be similar to last year’s 165 million pounds.

But first-half like-for-like sales were up about 10 percent, and the group said it would accelerate store openings next year with a goal of reaching a profit in the 2012-3 fiscal year.

“A big positive surprise,” said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black, adding that target was three years ahead of his forecast. He kept his full-year profit expectations, but said there was now more pressure for upgrades than downgrades.

At 0950 GMT, Tesco shares were up 0.9 percent at 434.6 pence, valuing the firm at about 35 billion pounds.

The shares have lagged the STOXX 600 European retail index by 7 percent this year amid concerns about returns on international investments, particularly in the United States.

Leahy said returns were improving, without giving details, and added that while his successor would review all Tesco’s businesses, he was sure he would not quit the United States.

Group sales climbed 7 percent, excluding VAT sales tax, to 29.8 billion pounds in the first half, just below analysts average forecast of 30.1 billion in a Reuters poll.

Second-quarter sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.1 percent in overseas markets, up from flat in the first quarter and including 5 percent in Asia and 3.1 percent in Europe.

Underlying sales in Britain, however, were up just 0.4 percent, excluding fuel and changes in VAT, held back by a weaker performance in non-food ranges like electrical goods.

While better than the first-quarter’s 0.1 percent rise, analysts expect this will be beaten by rival J Sainsbury in a trading update today. — Reuters

Central bank to create pool of funds to buy JGBs

BOJ reverts to zero rates, vows to buy more assets TOKYO: The Ba nk of J apan yesterda y pledged to pump more funds into the struggling economy and keep rates virtually at zero, surprising ma rkets and stea ling a march on the Federal Reserve in provid-

ing a fresh dose of economic stimulus. The yen initia lly fell in rea ction to the BOJ news, but later reversed course to be firmer aga inst the dollar than when the BOJ news broke.

NEW YORK: Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York. US stock futures rose yesterday, following world markets higher after the central bank of Japan moved to weaken the yen. — AP

Moody’s warns it may downgrade Irish debt LONDON: A leading credit rating agency warned yesterday that it may cut Ireland’s government debt rating amid mounting worries over the country’s economic outlook following another bailout of the banking sector last week.

Moody’s Investor Services said it has put the country’s Aa2 rating on review for possible downgrade but that any reduction would likely only be by one notch. That means Ireland will still likely retain an A rating after the review, which could be important in preventing borrowing costs rising too high.

Moody’s says its review has been prompted by uncertainty over Ireland’s financial strength following last week’s effective nationalization of Anglo Irish Bank

and other financial rescue packages, which are predicted to increase the budget deficit to a staggering 32 percent of national income this year.

The agency also said it is worried over the strength of domestic demand as a result of the severe downturn in the financial services and real estate sectors as well as an ongoing contraction in private sector credit. Higher borrowing costs in the bond markets since July, when Moody’s last cut Ireland’s rating, also make the servicing of debt more expensive.

“Ireland’s ability to preserve government financial strength faces increased uncertainty as a result of three main drivers, which together would further increase its debt and aggravate its debt

affordability,” said Dietmar Hornung, Moody’s main Ireland analyst. Hornung said the review will focus on Ireland’s ability to preserve government financial strength in a difficult economic environment, in particular the government’s revised four-year fiscal plan, due in early November —the new spending cuts and tax rises are intended to bring the budget deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014.

The review process is expected to be concluded within three months. Moody’s also said that it could downgrade the Aa2 rating of Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), whose debt is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the government of Ireland. — AP

JAKARTA: A technician walks under power lines at a power plant in Jakarta yesterday.

Indonesia plans to boost its power capacity to 10,000 megawatts by 2011 to meet higher demand for electricity, driven by population and economic growth. — AP

For months, the central bank had eschewed government calls for more decisive action, such as buying more government bonds, focusing instead on a limited funding scheme.

But in the face of growing evidence the yen’s strength was hurting the economy, the Bank of Japan carried out what Governor Masaaki Shirakawa described as “comprehensive monetary easing”.

It cut its overnight rate target to a range between zero and 0.1 percent, from 0.1 percent, reinstating the so-called zero-interest policy that the BOJ ended only in July 2006, and it pledged to buy 5 trillion yen ($60 billion) worth of assets.

It said it would keep its benchmark rate effectively at zero until price stability is in sight, adopting a US Federal Reserve-style commitment to ultra-loose policy. Core consumer prices have been falling from year-earlier levels since early 2009 and the country has been in and out of deflation for about 15 years.

“The latest measures individually may be considered as not having a major effect, but we want to maximise the effect by implementing the steps as a package,” Shirakawa told a news conference, adding that the steps have both the elements of credit easing and an expansion of fund supply.

The asset purchases would roughly match the size of extra stimulus being considered by the government, which is also running out of policy options to lift the economy in the face of public debt that is twice the size of the $5 trillion economy.

The assets, ranging from government bonds and short-term government securities to commercial paper and corporate bonds, would come under a temporary scheme that would also cover 30 trillion yen of such assets as collateral under an existing loan program.

But analysts were sceptical the measures added up to much. “The initial reaction was positive, but it’s not clear how they’re going to prevent deflation from intensifying...

It’s not clear this will be enough,” said Tim Condon, chief economist and head of research at ING Financial Markets in Singapore.

The scepticism was reflected in markets. After initially weakening to almost 84 per dollar, the yen rebounded to 83.40 by 1006 GMT, firmer than when the BOJ news broke.

The Japanese government bond yield curve steepened, with most yields falling, but 30-year yields rose on disappointment the measures were not more aggressive.

The Nikkei stock average rose 1.5 percent though, its biggest gain in almost three weeks, in the hour and a half of trading that remained following the BOJ announcement.

BOJ policymakers have signalled in past weeks they were considering easing policy further, after Tokyo’s intervention in midSeptember to check yen strength offered only temporary relief. After falling, the yen is on the rise again.

Most market players, however, had expected the central bank to opt for a relatively minor adjustment of its 30 trillion yen loan scheme that supplies banks with funds at 0.1 percent rate. — Reuters

SYDNEY: Foreign currency dealer Ekarat Prechatanapoj displays US (left) and Australian (right) 100 dollar notes as the local currency edges towards a record high and parity in Sydney yesterday. — AFP

Australia shocks markets with interest rates freeze SYDNEY: Australia yesterday froze interest rates at 4.50 percent for a fifth consecutive month over patchy global growth and moderating inflation, confounding widespread expectations of a rise.

The surprise decision sent the Australian dollar tumbling more than one percent to 95.76 US cents, while share markets welcomed the news. Many analysts had tipped a hike of 25 basis points to prevent overheating as Australia rides the biggest mining and energy boom in more than 100 years, mostly in sales to fast-growing China and other Asian countries.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said the cash rate was close to its average over the past decade, seen as “appropriate for the time being”. But he warned it was likely to move higher “at some point”.

“If economic conditions evolve as the board currently expects, it is likely that higher interest rates will be required, at some point, to ensure that inflation remains consistent with the medium-term target,” he said.

Stevens also cited flat asset values and subdued credit growth, adding that inflation had moderated to about 2.75 percent over the past year. “That looks likely to continue in the near term,” he said.

The announcement means Australia has now left rates on hold since May, partly on concerns over the global recovery, after raising them off 49-year lows with six quickfire hikes from last October. Stevens said growth in China and Asia was “more sustainable but still strong” while warning of a more modest outlook for Europe and the United States as the effects of the financial crisis linger.

“Financial markets are still characterized by a degree of uncertainty, and are responding both to differences in growth outlooks between regions and evident strains on public finances and banking systems in several smaller

countries in Europe,” he said.

The move comes despite a series of hawkish comments from central bank officials, including Stevens’ prediction last month of a “fairly robust upswing” in growth based on the once-in-century boom.

“We are certainly surprised by the outcome, but given their rhetoric lately it was clearly a close decision,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief economist Michael Blythe.

“They still expect to hike rates soon, they’ve made that clear but they just don’t think we’re there quite yet.”

Australia, the only major Western country to avoid recession during the crisis, is clocking 3.3 percent annual growth and 5.1 percent unemployment, compared to the euro-zone’s 10 percent and 9.6 percent in the United States.

The Australian dollar has been soaring towards its record high of 98.49 US cents, reached just before the financial crisis, with experts tipping eventual parity with the greenback.

However, local shares welcomed the static interest rates as they recovered to close 0.40 percent down at 4,606.9, after sitting 85 percent lower before the announcement.

“I guess the market is saying that steady rates are healthy for the industrial and retail economy,” said BBY Senior Institutional Trader Peter Copeland. “Tightening monetary policy too aggressively on the back of the resources boom and house price strength might have had unintended consequences for the rest of the economy.”

Higher rates had been widely feared by householders after a long-running property boom left many with hefty mortgages, and raised speculation over a possible housing bubble. — AFP

Russian FM forecasts 4% economic growth MOSCOW: Russia’s finance minister yesterday forecast steady economic growth of 4 percent for this year and each of the next two years, vowing to rein in inflation and eradicate the budget deficit over that period. Such conditions will make investment-starved Russia an “island of stability” for foreign capital, Alexei Kudrin said at a Moscow conference designed to promote the country as a global business hub.

The 4 percent growth figure is consistent with conservative predictions before the summer’s devastating droughts and fires, which wiped out at least one-fifth of crops. Russia banned grain exports and prices soared.

Economic officials estimated growth would by dented by 0.8 percentage points.

Kudrin also vowed inflation would not exceed 8 percent by year-end, the lowest in years, and would even slump to 5.5 percent by 2013.

Foreign direct investment in Russia was expected to total $40 billion this year, up from $36 billion last year, and is expected to grow by 25 percent next year, Kudrin said. Arkady Dvorkovich, economic aide to President Dmitry Medvedev, lamented investment was far too

meager, imperiling future economic growth.

At a conference in Ukraine last week, Kudrin said an end to Russia’s agonizing 17-year wait to join the World Trade Organization was imminent as the United States’ concerns over Moscow’s accession had been alleviated.

The White House said Russia had made amendments to intellectual property laws that had removed some US concerns and had made positive commitments on other issues. Russia, the last major economy outside the WTO, appeared to have shelved its bid, when it signed a 2009 customs union deal with ex-Soviet neighbors Belarus and Kazakhstan and alleged they may seek to collectively negotiate the WTO accession. Officials have changed course since, saying a separate entry would be sought.

Key EU concerns include a prospective hike in Russian timber export duties and agriculture subsidies.

While Russia stands to gain new trade links from a WTO membership, many Russian businessmen still oppose the bid saying that the membership will restrict the government in allocating state aid to agriculture and other industries, crippling the sectors which have just started to pick up after the recession. — AP

TECHNOLOGY

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

27

How mobiles became so much more than just phones Ever-more sophisticated technology has turned mobile phones into fully-fledged mini-computers that just happen to make calls too.

With a large variety of handset on the market is Androids right for you? —Guardian

Get ready: Is Android right for you?

Android is a big player in smartphone operating systems NEW YORK: Android is an operating system for smartphones. Launched in late 2007, unlike many of the rival operating systems (OS) it’s available from different handset manufacturers. Google, which owns Android, had a number of objectives for customers when it launched. It wanted proper multi-tasking (so you can have something running in the background while you open a new app, rather than having to shut one down before starting another) and to make it simple and very cheap to synchronise contacts, calendars and even documents across different devices, using Google Docs and Google Apps.

Android can also run third-party apps (applications written by companies and individuals other than the provider of the operating system).

Android versus the competition One of the system’s major selling points is the ease of synchronising across different devices: “The ability to sync my calendar, documents and contacts using an Android/Google platform is easy, with no need to hook it up via USB cable, especially when switching between my two Android handsets,” says Asim Qureshi, an Android user.

But it’s not the only advantage. It’s also easy to use and, like other smartphones, you can download apps so your handset becomes uniquely yours, with functions you actually want. Qureshi was attracted by this: “One of the first batch of apps I downloaded via the Android Market were the various Google tools, including reader, listen, maps, voice, gesture search, goggles, buzz - all fantastic tools for interacting with the internet and the various content I am most interested in. True multi-tasking is an obvious advantage too. With multiple apps running on the separate screens it’s really easy to keep track of news, Facebook and Twitter updates, all with a simple swipe of a finger.”

Google also offers a more open system than some of its rivals. Qureshi was keen to make the move away from a phone whose underlying system was controlled by one company: “I felt that an open source mobile OS had so much more to offer, particularly the promise of innovative apps that didn’t need ‘big brother’s’ approval.”

What does Android offer business customers?

In many ways the real strength of Android is that it isn’t just a phone system, it can be a whole ecosystem for your computing if you want it to be.

David Hathiramani, director and co-founder of online tailor A Suit That Fits, is one of Android’s

business customers. Some of his staff are away from the office at pop-up tailoring shops a lot of the time. As a small-business owner he had previously found keeping everybody linked to an online diary and contacts system prohibitively expensive - but not at the £25 a head per year charged for Google Apps (google.com/a). “It integrates perfectly, giving enterprise capabilities for free, like totally synchronised contacts, mail and calendar,” he says. This delivers definite business benefits.

“Our team can work on the move. We have two people who travel the country, called tailorstoppers, who can keep in the loop on their phones while they are on trains - which is something prohibitively expensive on other platforms.”

The handset offers a lot of extras too. “A side benefit that comes with it is that we can easily take pictures and email to our contact list,” he says. “Before we got the phones, we didn’t realise this would be so much of a benefit, but now we regularly use them to send pictures of different fits, body shapes etc.”

Benefits continue to accrue. “There’s also an awesome feature on Google Maps called Latitude where you can track your friends’ locations,” says Hathiramani. “This means at the click of a button we can see where everyone with a phone is, which is helpful for our driver’s location, as well as where our travelling tailors are.”

It’s worth stressing that most of this arises not just from the phone but from the fact that the phone is fully integrated with the rest of Google’s services such as mail, contacts, calendars and docs. And as Hathiramani points out to his apparent delight, this means you get lots of expensivelooking functions, for which larger businesses pay thousands, very cheaply.

How popular is Android?

Many analysts have reported significant gains for Android in the smartphone market this year.

From March to May it moved from 9% of the market to 13%, and if that sounds like less than BlackBerry or iPhone, bear in mind that Android launched more recently, just two and a half years ago. Many forecasters are predicting it will move into first place over the next few years.

Whether it does or not - and, let’s be honest, few users are going to care whether they have the market leader or not, so long as it works - it’s a great way of getting all of your information organised and working for you all the time without needing a degree in computing. —Guardian

CHIBA: An employee for Japanese mobile communication company NTT docomo wears a head-mounted display (HMD) to demonstrate their augmented reality (AR) application called the “AR Walker” through their mobile network to provide map or travel guide service, at the company’s display at Ceatec, Asia’s largest electronics trade show in Chiba, suburban Tokyo yesterday. —AFP

A laser that works when wet LONDON: When it comes to sci-fi villains, few have endured as well as the Martians, whom HG Wells depicted wielding a weapon called the Heat-Ray in The War of the Worlds, back in 1898. This was a small, box-like case emitting a “beam of light and intense heat” so powerful that “whatever is combustible flashes into flame at its touch”.

Unsurprisingly, this superweapon, capable of killing any human target and destroying all mechanical objects, caught the imagination of the reading (and, later, viewing) public. Ray guns (Dan Dare), deathrays, phasers (Star Trek), laser pistols (Lost in Space), plasma rifles, blasters (Star Wars): we’ve known and loved them all, in fiction. Only now, reader, they’re for real.

At the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, the American firm Raytheon has unveiled its Laser Close-In Weapon System (LCIWS). This is a solid-state laser whose 50kw beam is capable - and the company has video film to prove it - of shooting down, from a couple of miles away, an unmanned aerial vehicle. In May, the system, mounted on a US warship, shot down four UAVs off the coast of California. You don’t get much more real than that.

Rather more prosaically, Raytheon apparently developed the system after bolting together six bog-standard commercial lasers used in the car industry.

“This was a bad day for UAVs, and a good one for laser technology,” Raytheon Missile Systems’ vice-president, Mike

Booen, told a presumably excited audience at the show. On board a ship, he said, the laser can be mounted inside and the beam fed up through fibre cables; on land, it could be trailer-mounted and used “across the globe” to target mortars and rockets. This is, says the editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly, the beginning of a new era in missile technology.

The system’s sheer power helps overcome two problems that have long hindered laser weaponry: it works in wet weather (rain and damp marine air have previously absorbed much of the laser’s energy), and it can destroy even targets fitted with reflective surfaces. “Set phasers,” as the good Captain once said, “to ‘Kill’.” —Guardian

LONDON: The transformation from wireless telephone to fully fledged minicomputer took off in 2007 with Google’s Android. An open-source operating system, Android turns your phone into a portable computer that just happens to make calls too. Electronic technology will no doubt continue to follow Powerful operating systems such as Android have allowed developers to increase mobile phones’ potential to become all-round portable communication devices. Being lost is impossible with the latest mobiles and you can already get applications that use a mobile’s GPS receiver to find your nearest pubs, cash machines and hospitals. That information can then be routed through another application that will show you a map to get to your destination. All of that on top of the social networking, the newspapers you can download and the life organising you can do - all on the move.

Getting touchy-feely Then there’s the interface. Clunky keyboards have become problematic; we want to do more (including typing), but also want our devices to be smaller. New ways of controlling things will be needed.

Touchscreens with ever more detail will become the norm. For example, Japanese manufacturer NTT DoCoMo has demonstrated a device that can be controlled by the movements of a person’s eyes.

Improved mobile base-station networks (4G and beyond, for example) will allow for faster data-transmission rates, which will bring the ability to transform video calls from a jerky flicker to smooth, high-quality reality. Better in-phone artificial intelligence technology and web connections also mean more information at your fingertips: never again will you be stuck for somebody’s name; just take a picture and in-built face-recognition software will provide you with their details.

And what if you could use phones as credit cards? This is already happening in Japan where, using radio frequency identification systems, a mobile can communicate with a receiver in a shop and transfer money securely.

A long-life solution All this extra functionality needs reliable power and, as with any mobile device, the limiting factor is battery life.

One solution is to make mobiles more efficient at expending their energy. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, engineers are working on ways to make circuits that need as little power as possible. On top of that, they are looking for ways of scavenging energy from walking and other bodily movements to charge a battery.

Even further into the future, it’s instructive to look towards Nasa. A while back they developed a way for astronauts to communicate without making any sound, by fitting button-size sensors under the chin and on either side of the Adam’s apple and recording brain signals to tongue and vocal chords. This is something that may become available to phones.

These sub-vocal speech systems could be used in noisy places such as airport towers to capture air-traffic controller commands, or even in traditional voice-recognition programmes to increase accuracy. Cheaper, more efficient mobile antennas could see them install phones in household objects or even in your body? When you hear the phone ring, just tap your tooth and talk into your inbuilt microphone, and surf the web on screens in your contact lenses.

Too fanciful? Unlike many other technologies, mobiles are deeply personal, it is not too far a stretch to imagine them becoming part of us. What is certain is that as mobiles get more advanced, the closer they will get to our bodies and the less we will notice them in our lives. —Guardian

Moore’s law (which states that the number of transistors on a microchip will double every two years, making the phones ever more powerful) but the real innovation, the stuff that will change our lives in the future, now lies with software and interfaces.

In the early 21st century mobile phones stopped being just phones and became capable of much more. —Guardian

Kitchens of the future In 100 years’ time (or less), all kitchen appliances will be connected to the internet. Utensils will help you cook. Sensors will keep you safe from fire or poisons. It’s a brave, new cullinary world LONDON: You get home late, unsure of what to make from the random collection of ingredients in your cupboard. A while back you might have speed-dialled for a pizza but now, instead of worrying about eating a collection of this and that, you’re excited. You pull out each vegetable, a couple of jars of spices and the half-bag of pasta. You pass each one in front of a webcam next to your cupboard. A few moments later, a screen on your fridge displays a tasty recipe. After dinner, you take your plates to a box next to the sink. Instead of cleaning them, your machine recycles the material and produces new plates every time you need to eat. Later in the evening, you phone your other half, who is on a business trip half-way around the world. As you drink your cup of cocoa (added to your weekly shopping list by your internetenabled cupboards when they saw you were getting low), it makes your other half’s cup glow on the other side of the world, another subtle way to keep in touch ...

Welcome to the kitchen of the future.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researchers are working on the next 100 years of the kitchen.

Despite all the recent additions, kitchens “remain dangerous and messy places and in world that is increasingly vying for our attention, we are abandoning the hearth for a meal on the run,” reads the mission statement for MIT’s Counter Intelligence project. “Our goal is to reverse this trend to make the kitchen the centre of family life by providing technologies that improve functionality and engage us cognitively and socially. Specifically, we are focusing on the technologies

The kitchen of the future will do a lot of the hard work for you. —Guardian of context sensing, material science, machine learning, and computer-supported cooperative work, with product and scenario design at the heart of our query.”

That means attaching internet connections to appliances, making utensils that can help you cook and installing sensors that will keep you safe from fire or poisons. Counter Intelligence has been running for years to help creative engineers develop and build prototypes of advanced kitchen appliances and utensils.

MIT’s Connie Cheng and Leonardo Bonanni have also worked on putting some intelligence into other kitchen utensils.

What about a spoon that uses tiny sensors to measure the temperature, acidity, salinity and viscosity of a food you’re making? As you

make your cake mixture or bolognese, the intelligent spoon would tell you at each stage if you’re following the recipe properly, when you should stir, and how much and when to add each new ingredient.

What about help with cooking?

The chameleon mug uses heatsensitive inks and metal strips to change colour as the contents get hotter or cooler. The mug also contains sensors to tell you if your liquid is too salty or sweet for the recipe you’re going for. Perhaps you need to add more vinegar?

Maybe the milk has gone bad?

The mug could help you make the perfect drink or sauce.

The researchers have even re-designed the kitchen sink.

Ever broken plates while throwing them into the sink to clean

them? The MIT group are looking at sinks made of rubber - they are as soft as human flesh but can withstand hundreds of degrees Celsius in temperature.

Bonanni is also behind one of the devices that might interest those with an aversion to washing up. The Dishmaker is designed to get rid of the stacks of plates taking up space in cupboards and all of which require an endless cycle of washing and drying. Instead, Bonanni’s device can produce cups, saucers and plates at the push of a button, almost like a 3D printer.

When you’ve used the crockery, you just put it back into the machine, where it gets ground up and melted down, ready for the next time you need plates or anything else. — Guardian

CHIBA: Japanese electronics maker Sony displays live 3D images on a large LED screen, 21.7 metres wide and 4.8 metres tall, at Ceatec, Asia’s largest electronics trade show in Chiba, suburban Tokyo yesterday. Some 600 companies and groups, of which 200 are from overseas, are exhibiting the latest electronics products and technology at the fair.

—AFP

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Canadian helps severely disabled speak through music MONTREAL: Children immured within their severely disabled bodies may soon be able to communicate thanks to a newly unveiled device that translates physiological signals into music.

Stefanie Blain studied for five years the interactions of children with severe disabilities and their parents, as part of her doctoral studies

at Canada’s largest children’s rehabilitation hospital, Holland Bloorview, in Toronto.

“They can ‘read’ their children by observing minuscule movements of their lips, or changes in their breathing,” she told a Technology, Entertainment, Design (TEDx) conference in Montreal.

By measuring those tiny physio-

logical signals, Blain was able to show that Max, a 15-year-old adolescent who was seemingly in a vegetative state, became animated when he spotted his favorite toy.

Even completely paralyzed, the body continues to react by changes in body temperature and sweat levels, as well as heart and breathing rates, she explained.

Blain initially created a graphic translation of these physiological arousals.

“But my curves and 3D simulations didn’t speak to anyone,” she said with a smile. So, being a musician, she wrote algorithms to convert them into sounds,” she said.

“Another child, whom we believed was always sleeping, start-

ed to emit a ‘biological song’ whenever clowns entered his room. It was the first time that his parents and hospital staff realized that he was conscious of the world around him,” she said.

The software she created deciphers physiological signals and translates them into a range of tonalities, from soft low-pitched sounds

when an individual is calm to highpitched and more complicated tunes when they are thinking of pleasant things.

“Each ‘song’ is unique,” she said.

“Imagine that when I arrived at the hospital, the hallways were quiet leading to the rooms of children who could neither move, nor speak, and not even make facial expressions,”

she said.

“Imagine these hallways now (full of music), imagine parents who can really get to know their children.”

Currently, the research team lead

by Tom Chau is seeking to expand the technology to make it possible for severely disabled children to answer yes or no when prompted, and use a computer. —AFP

Suicide rates among troops were higher than US national average

US army bids to build up mental ‘resilience’ in Iraq CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA: US efforts to help soldiers deal with the stress of war vary, but perhaps none are more unusual than those of Dave Roever, a Vietnam veteran who peppers tales of his own demons with dry wit. The 63-year-old recounts seeing his wife visit him in a Texas military hos-

pital after he returned from his only tour to Vietnam with a brutal injury.

Having already attempted suicide once before while at a clinic in Japan on his way back to the United States, Roever notes he was fearful his wife would, upon seeing his disfigured face, leave him.

“Davey,” she told him, “You were never good looking anyhow.” The frank account draws a sudden burst of applause and laughter from several hundred soldiers listening to the bespectacled, portly man clad in cargo pants and a polo shirt, speaking outside “Resiliency Campus.”

Opened last month at Contingency Operating Base Basra in Iraq’s south, the campus is one of two in the country with a chaplain and dietician along with massage chairs-all designed to help soldiers cope with the stress of war. The US army has dramatically reduced its number of soldiers in Iraq to less than 50,000 at present, less than a third of the peak figure during “the surge” of 2007, ahead of a complete withdrawal due by the end of next year.

Asked why, seven and a half years following the US-led invasion of 2003 and after the declaration of an official end to combat operations here a month ago, the army has taken these recent steps, Major General Vincent Brooks is brief.

“We are constantly learning and adapting on how to best lead and that’s what we are talking BASRA: US soldiers relax at the “Resiliency Campus” which opened in early September at Contingency Operating about-how to lead the soldiers, Base Basra in southern Iraq, on September 29, 2010. Open 24 hours round the clock, the center offers stressed sol- how to lead our families,” the commander of US troops in Iraq’s diers a “holistic” treatment which includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual treatements. —AFP south says. “We are 235 years old, and if we said things were (being done) late then we would never change.” A 350-page report the army published in July noted 13 percent of US soldiers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder in 2008.In addition, suicide rates among troops were higher than the US national average that year, and prescriptions for antidepressants had shot up five-fold CALIFORNIA: It’s not a perfect test. Yet angiograms,” Dr. Eric Topol, of Scripps on 226 patients, analyzed it in 640 patients, between 2005 and 2008. Open 24 researchers report a key step for the first gene Health in La Jolla, California, said of the test. and on Monday reported a validation study of hours a day, the campus is test aimed at reducing unnecessary He led the study of the test, called Corus it in 526 others. All had symptoms warranting designed to address “comprehenangiograms — expensive and somewhat risky CAD. Topol has no financial ties to it, but an angiogram, in which a tube is placed in a sive soldier fitness” in five areas: procedures that hundreds of thousands of some of the study authors work for its maker, blood vessel in the groin and dye is injected to physical, emotional, social, spiriAmericans have each year to check for CardioDx of Palo Alto, California, which paid make clogs in heart arteries show up on Xtual, and family. clogged arteries. Most of these exams, done in for the study. The research was published rays. It’s the gold standard for diagnosing “This is not a building for heart disease, but it costs more than $30,000 hospital cardiac catheterization labs, turn out Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine. treatment,” says Sergeant-Major Chest pain is never a symptom to ignore; it and involves a large amount of radiation. negative. A simple blood test to show who Bryan Barren, who coordinates To decide whether to order one, doctors truly needs an angiogram would help, and can be a sign of a blocked artery causing a the project. “This is a fitness 6,000 people have had the gene test since it heart attack. But millions of people have use formulas that consider a patient’s age, building-we help soldiers to get went on sale last year. It has drawbacks. It chronic chest pain that might mean arteries gender and type of chest pain. The gene test stronger with any of the pillars suggests too many chronic chest pain suffer- starting to clog or another problem, even just was compared to these methods. It improved they have broken down.” ers have heart disease when they really don’t, anxiety. The new test is for these non-emer- diagnosis for 16 percent more patients than As a result, soldiers are given and misses it in others who do. Several heart gency cases. It costs $1,195 and some insur- the leading method, as verified by angiograms various remedies, ranging from experts say they need to see better results ers are paying for it on a case-by-case basis. they had later. That means 16 out of 100 peodiets to programmes designed to before they’d use it. But similar tests are used Results take three days. Unlike other gene ple received a correct answer they otherwise help them quit smoking, or now to guide breast cancer treatment and tests that try to predict the odds of someday would not have had. access to a meditation room with The test is an important step toward using organ transplants, and many doctors think developing heart disease, this one aims to tell stained glass windows filled with they’ll eventually prove valuable for heart dis- whether you have it now. Rather than looking genes to improve care, but the results “do not religious texts. ease as more genes are discovered that affect for certain genes or mutations, it measures provide compelling evidence” that it should be “There are a lot of people that widely used now, genetics expert Donna how active 23 key genes are. risk. do come for spiritual resiliency, Imagine a room with lots of people talking Arnett of the University of Alabama at Yesterday, an American Heart Association because they just don’t feel they journal will publish details of a big internation- at once, trying to decide what to do. The test Birmingham wrote in an editorial in the jourget the exact spiritual guidance al effort by scientists to pool information and is like someone who can say which voices nal. Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University that they would have at home,” find more of these genes. “This could ulti- matter and what the decision is likely to be. cardiologist and health outcomes researcher, the base’s deputy chaplain mately really help to reduce unnecessary Scientists developed it from gene information agreed. —AP Specialist Jered Cooper notes.

“We are here to be the friend, here to talk to them, whatever they need, just reaching out to them... whether it be just to hear their cries,” the 23-year-old son of a Lutheran pastor says.

The base’s resident psychiatrist Colonel Bollepalli Subbarao notes soldiers suffer from instances of shock, personal problems back home in the US, and even discomfort with Iraqis living on the base. Subbarao refuses to refer to those he speaks to as “patients”, insisting they remain soldiers. “We all have resiliency, but sometimes it needs to be strengthened in times of crisis,” he says. Back at Roever’s speech, meanwhile, soldiers intently listen, awarding him the credibility of a man whose struggles have dwarfed some of their own.

The Texan recalls how, having served in Vietnam for seven months, he came “face to face with the death angel” along a river near the Cambodian border KEENE: In this Oct. 1, 2010 photo, Gail O’Brien sits at her home in Keene, N.H. O’Brien, 52, was uninsured in July 1969 when a white phosand facing cancer treatments that would have left her family in debt. She now pays $495 monthly for a plan with pherous grenade accidentally exploded in his hand. —AFP

Gene test aims for better heart disease detection

a $5,000 annual deductible. —AP

GUSAU: (FILES) A picture taken on June 10, 2010 shows mothers waiting outside the Bukkuyum General Hospital in the town of Gusau in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara State as medics of the French non-governmental Organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Border - MSF) take blood samples from their children suffering from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning has killed more than 400 children under five in the past six months in northern Nigerian state of Zamfara. —AFP

Lead poisoning kills 400 children in Nigerian state KANO: Lead poisoning has killed more than 400 children under five in the past six months in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara, an international humanitarian group said yesterday.

“Based on record of fatalities from lead poisoning, more than 400 children have died in the last six months,” said El-Shafii Muhammad Ahmad, project director for Medecines Sans Frontieres (MSF).

“But we in MSF believe the figure is much more than that,” he told AFP on the phone from Zamfara state.

A lead poisoning epidemic linked to illegal gold mining hit the predominantly Muslim state at the start of the year.

The intoxifications were caused by the illegal extraction of ore by villagers, who would transport crushed rock home from the mines to extract the gold.

The soil containing lead deposits would then be haphazardly disposed of, exposing children to inhalation or ingestion.

Ahmad said reports of 400 deaths “is an under-

estimation because many lead-related deaths are never reported and in many cases, these communities attribute them to other factors or deny them altogether.”

He said local communities mainly concealed or denied the fatalities and illnesses from lead poisoning for fear that authorities will ban their mining activities, he added.

Illicit gold mining is more lucrative than agriculture for the impoverished farmers.

A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report after a two-week study by a fourman team of experts said that lead poisoning was spreading in mining communities in northwestern Zamfara. The report was released late Monday.

The study focussed on ground water pollution in the contaminated areas of the state.

Two weeks ago, the UN’s Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in Geneva that more than 200 children were thought to have died in Nigeria out of an estimated 18,000 people affected by lead poisoning from the illicit gold mining. —AFP

IVF opened door to many other uses of embryos PARIS: In vitro fertilisation (IVF), the pioneering technique that won Robert Edwards the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine, opened up a wealth of scientific options and a Pandora’s box of ethical dilemmas.

Edwards’s success in fertilising a human egg outside of the womb led not only to “test tube babies” but also to innovations such as embryonic stem cell research and surrogate motherhood.

Amid the applause for these medical breakthroughs, ethicists from some Christian churches oppose IVF and techniques related to it because they involve the destruction of human embryos.

The bewildering array of options due to the IVF revolution from the morality of making “designer babies” to exploitation of poor women as surrogate mothers-has created much concern and many debates among secular ethicists as well.

The Roman Catholic Church ranks as probably the most vocal opponent of IVF and the once unimaginable options it has spawned. Its top official for life issues slammed the award to Edwards as “completely misplaced.”

“Without Edwards there would be no market for human eggs; without Edwards there would not be freezers full of embryos waiting to be transferred to a uterus, or, more likely, used for research or left to die, abandoned and forgotten by all,” said Ignazio Carrasco de Paula, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, in what the Vatican described as personal statement.

The director of a Catholic bioethics institute in Britain said IVF “has led directly to the

deliberate destruction of millions of human embryos.”

“It has made possible the manipulation of the human embryo on a scale never possible before,” Professor David Albert Jones of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford told Reuters.

Many evangelical Protestants and Orthodox Christians agree with Catholics that destroying embryos amounts to killing because human life, dignity and rights start at fertilisation.

“To argue that one human being is more developed and therefore in greater need in no way justifies the cannibalising of another to benefit him,” Richard Land, top ethics official for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), has said. The SBC is the largest Protestant church in the United States.

The Vatican restated its teaching on IVF and related techniques in 2009, saying that humans are persons from the moment of conception “and therefore from the same moment, his or her rights as a person must be recognised” and the first of these is “the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

The document Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of the Person) said that more than 80 percent of IVF embryos are not implanted but discarded or stored in freezers. It added that procreation “has its authentic context in marriage and in the family.”

While not all individual Catholics or evangelicals reject IVF or related techniques, opposition from their churches influenced a 1996 United States ban on using federal funds for stem cell research that created or destroyed human embryos.

More liberal Christians view the beginning of life less strictly and have fewer qualms about embryo manipulation.

Most Islamic scholars say a foetus only acquires rights at about four months of gestation, so embryonic manipulation is permissible, but IVF must be limited to married couples who use the husband’s sperm and wife’s egg to produce the embryo.

Judaism’s strong emphasis on procreation means most Jewish authorities allow IVF. In fact, Israel has one of the highest rates of IVF treatments per capita in the world.

India is a leading centre for a treatment derived from IVF, surrogate motherhood, partly due to Hinduism’s acceptance of the concept. The world’s second test tube baby was born in Kolkata only two months after Louise Brown in 1978.

Rising demand from abroad for Indian surrogate mothers has turned “surrogacy tourism” there into a four billion dollar industry, according to a report by the Law Commission of India.

It expressed concern about “the exploitation of poor women in underdeveloped countries who sell their bodies for money.”

Several European countries have warned IVF centres in Mumbai that the procedure is illegal in their countries and children born from rented mothers might not get citizenship. IVF techniques are used to clone animals. Human cloning is widely condemned but some countries, including Britain, allow research on therapeutic cloning, which can be used to create new organs to replace damaged or defective ones. —Reuters

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Want to shed pounds? Sleep longer say experts WASHINGTON: Dieters looking to shed more fat and feel less hungry while they do it may benefit from a few more hours in bed, according to a new study.

Dieters lost the same amount of weight whether they slept for a full night or fewer hours, but those who got more sleep lost more fat and they also felt less hungry while awake, according to the study, which

appears in the October 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“If your goal is to lose fat, skipping sleep is like poking sticks in your bicycle wheels,” said Plamen Penev, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and the director of the study.

“Cutting back on sleep, a behavior that is ubiquitous in modern soci-

ety, appears to compromise efforts to lose fat through dieting. In our study it reduced fat loss by 55 percent,” Penev added.

The study, undertaken by the University of Chicago’s General Clinical Resource Center, tracked 10 overweight but healthy volunteers aged 35 to 49.

The participants had body mass indexes ranging from 25, which is

considered overweight, to 32, which is considered obese.

Each ate a diet designed to give them 90 percent of the calories they needed to maintain their weight without exercise and then spent 14 days getting up to 8.5 hours of sleep and another 14 days getting up to 5.5 hours of sleep.

The difference between the two periods was pronounced.

When the dieters got up to 8.5 hours of sleep a day, more than half of the weight they lost was fat. When they were sleeping just 5.5 hours a day, only one-fourth of the weight loss was fat with the rest being mostly muscle tissue.

And getting less sleep also made it harder to diet, as the levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger, increased when the volun-

teers were sleeping fewer hours.

The strictly controlled diets available to the participants meant they had no access to additional food even when their lack of sleep made them hungrier.

But that would not be the case for real-world dieters, who could further dent their chances of shedding fat by failing to sleep enough, feeling more hungry and eating additional calories.

Penev said the message of the study was clear.

“For the first time, we have evidence that the amount of sleep makes a big difference on the results of dietary intervention,” he said.

“One should not ignore the way they sleep when going on a diet.

Obtaining adequate sleep may enhance the beneficial effects of a diet.” —AFP

‘We may need to re-educate older people’

Americans inventive in sex, not protected enough: Study WASHINGTON: Americans have a wide sexual repertory and enjoy sex well into their golden years even if the older crowd sometimes take more risks, a major new study revealed Monday. Those the biggest survey in decades of

Guatemala to investigate US study on sex diseases GUATEMALA CITY: President Alvaro Colom on Monday formed a committee to investigate how US scientists could have deliberately infected hundreds of people here with sexually transmitted diseases from 1946-1948.

“The committee’s goal is to get to the bottom of the facts. It will try to determine how it was possible for this to happen; who the victims were; as well as the consequences and presumed guilty parties,” presidential spokesman Ronaldo Robles said.

Colom himself will be on the panel, as well as Vice President Rafael Espada; Health Minister Ludwig Ovalle; Interior Minister Carlos Menocal; Defense Minister Abraham Valenzuela; members of the medical association and Robles.

Carlos Mejia, the chief of the medical association, did not downplay the outrage Guatemalans have been voicing about the study.

“This was sensitive research, with experiments similar to the ones done by the Nazis, who handpicked disadvantaged subjects” for research, he said.

“We need to know how high up knowledge of the study reached in the executive and legislative branches” at the time, Mejia stressed.

In a phone conversation with Colom on Friday, US President Barack Obama expressed his deep

regret for the experiment conducted by US public health researchers in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948, and apologized “to all those affected.”

The study, which was never published, came to light this year after Wellesley College professor Susan Reverby stumbled upon archived documents outlining the 1940s experiment led by controversial US public health doctor John Cutler.

Cutler and his fellow researchers enrolled people in Guatemala, including mental patients, for the study, which aimed to find out if penicillin, relatively new in the 1940s, could be used to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Cutler, was also involved in a highly controversial study known as the Tuskegee Experiment in which hundreds of African American men with latestage syphilis were observed but given no treatment for 40 years, between 1932 and 1972.

Initially, the researchers infected female Guatemalan commercial sex workers with gonorrhea or syphilis, and then allowed them to have unprotected sex with soldiers or prison inmates.

A total of some 1,500 people took part in the study. At least one patient died during the experiments, although it is not clear whether the death was from the tests or from an underlying medical problem. —AFP

Australian lesbian couple in rare quintuplets case SYDNEY: An Australian woman has conceived quintuplets without using fertility treatment—something believed to occur only once in every 60 million pregnancies, a report said.

Melissa Keevers, 27, was inseminated with the sperm of

a donor from the United States to conceive the babies, which doctors say have strong heartbeats and are above average size for multiple births.

“It took me a long time to get my head around what was happening,” Keevers told the latest edition of Women’s Day

magazine, published on Monday.

“But now I’ve come to terms with it, I’m excited.”

Keevers learned she was carrying five babies after going to the doctor in hope of treating her chronic morning sickness. —AFP

Pulling together all the information gleaned from their online survey, the researchers found a gender gap and a generation gap in the sex lives of Americans.

Although Americans remain sexually active “well into old age (80+)” only one in five men and one in four women over the age of 50 uses a condom, according to the study, which was published in a special edition of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Teenagers, meanwhile, are much more vigilant about condom use, if they are having sex at allwhich a majority of US teens are not.

Among sexually active teens, boys said they used a condom 79 percent of the time the last 10 times they had intercourse with a girl, while teen girls reported their partners used one 58 percent of the time, the study found.

Having grown up in the era of HIV/AIDS, teens see condoms as a means of protection against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy, said Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at the University of Indiana and a lead researcher on the study.

Most Americans over 50, on the other hand-and certainly those who are well into old age-no longer have to worry about pregnancy and see STDs differently to youngsters.

“To many older Americans, STDs are something soldiers returning from war picked up from a prostitute. They’re not acknowledged as such a social epidemic,” said Reece.

But times have changed and not only are older folks more active sexually, thanks in part to the availability since 1998 of easyto-take medications like Viagra for erectile dysfunction, but STDs are also more prevalent, he said.

“We may need to re-educate older people because as their relationships end or their partners die, if they’re dating and

sexual behavior in the United States was compiled by researchers at the University of Indiana, who documented the sexual experiences and condom use by 5,865 Americans aged 14 to 94.

NAIROBI: Jocelyn, 80, a member of a senior citizens support group peeks from behind a electrocardiogram monitor at a booth promoting medical services for a local hospital as she and other members of the group visited a trade fair during an outing near the upgraded slum of Ngendo which they call home on the outskirts of Nairobi on September 30, 2010. Jocelyn currently cares for 5 children under the age of ten and she spends almost all her meager earnings from a road side stall in feeding and clothing the children. Although she suffers from rheumatism, high blood pressure and is a diabetic she depends on money handouts from a christian charity to pay for medicine she has been prescribed by doctors. —AFP have multiple partners, there may be no danger of pregnancy, but the STD risk is certainly present,” Reece told AFP. As for the teens, Reece said they were “a public health success” and hoped that they would continue to use condoms as they get older.

In addition to the data on condom use, the study found that Americans have become inventive in the bedroom, with study

participants reporting a total of 41 combinations of behaviors at their most recent “sexual event,” as the study likes to call it.

It also found a gender gap in US adults’ sex lives to go with the generation gap in condom use.

For instance, 85 percent of men believed their partner had an orgasm during their most recent “sexual event,” but only 64 percent of women said they

actually did.

Men also said they were more aroused, had greater pleasure during sex, fewer problems with erectile function, and less pain when they were with their usual partner. Women felt more aroused with a non-relationship partner.

“Now it is time to include sex and sexuality as pleasurable and natural in open frank conversation about the human condition,”

she said.

The study comes 60 years after Alfred Kinsey, also of the University of Indiana, published a groundbreaking survey about sex and nearly 20 years after a nationwide study, published in 1994.

Reece hopes a follow-up study will be done before another 20 years have elapsed, but said it all depends on funding. The current study was funded by a condom maker. —AFP

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

30

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Indian Lawyers’ forum celebration he ‘Indian Lawyers’ Forum’, the association of Indian Lawyers and Law graduates’ in Kuwait will celebrate Onam, on 8th October, Friday 2010, at 10:30 am at Hidine Restaurant main auditorium at Abbassia, Jleeb Al-Shuyokh. The celebrations will include traditional variety entertainments, with the grand ‘Onasadhya’. All Indian Lawyers & Law graduates working here in Kuwait are cordially invited to attend with their families and friends.

For further information contact, Advocate Thomas Panicker 24346934, 97203939, (00966 533537460). Adv Suresh Pulikkal 97260159.

Email. advpanicker@gmail.com or sureshachuthan@gmail.com

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KTAA monthly presentation

T PGA ‘football for all’ programme kicks off T

he new Premier GOAL Academy (PGA) launched their first five week coaching course at Shaab Park, Kuwait, at the weekend with over 250 enthusiastic young players enrolling in the programme.

There are coaching courses on

Fridays and Saturdays for players of all ability levels from 3 years of age upwards and Centre of Excellence teams for advanced players between 8 and 18 years that train three times a week in addition to playing regular fixtures.

Everton Football Club of the English Premier League are official partners of the P.G.A. and provide fully qualified British coaches following the proven evertonway coaching programme which facilitates the development of promising young players.

There are still a limited number of places available in certain age groups and interested players are invited to come along and see the training sessions for themselves. Monday training is for 8-12 years, Tuesday 12-14 years and Wednesday 14-18 years, all at

Shaab Park from 1700-1900.

For further details contact Academy Director, Mike Finn on 99981327, Executive Director, Baker Al Nazer on 66918666 or Daniel Christensen, Director of Football on 991280010.

Email; premier_fa_kuwait@yahoo.com

Photo exhibition and arts competitions

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rrangements for the “Gandhidarsan 2010 & Arts Competitions” organized by Indian overseas congress on Oct 7th & 8th at United Indian School, Abbasiya are ready, organizers informed in a statement. The photo exhibition related to Mahatma Gandhi’s life and teachings will be inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra on Thursday 7th October 2010 at 9 am at Indian Central School and the exhibition will be continued for public at United Indian School from 5 pm on 7th Thursday till Friday evening.

More than 300 pictures portraying Mahatma Gandhi’s childhood to his tragic death will be exhibited at the venue.

Students from the Indian schools in Kuwait will be given separate timings on Thursday morning and the rest of the two days will be for public.

Registrations for the various competitions such as folk dance, group dance, patriotic song, elocution, poetry recitation, solo, poster poem, tableau and drawing competitions for junior, senior and super senior groups are progressing and extended to two more days.

General conveners Adv. John Thomas and K. J. John and Joint convenors Geevarghese Abraham and Tom Chirayil are coordinating the program. Reji. C. Ninan, Varghese Mamparampan, Thampan Mani, Raju Karunakaran, George Joseph, Joshuvakutty, Thajudeen, Shaji Kavalam and Dr. George Varkey are the various committee conveners. M.A.Hilal, M.K.Pothen, Somu Mathew, Raju Zakarias, John Abraham and Tony Mathew are the officials for the program. Registrations can be done through telephone also. The entry forms for the competitions will be available at Hidine Restaurant, Hidine Super Market and Sakina Book shop (Abbassiya), Edee Stores (Salmiya), Al Dallah Super Market (Riggae) and Zaas Restaurant (Abu Halifa). Entry forms can also be sent through email id: iockuwait@hotmail.com. For details and registration contact: 24316426, 6610570, 99827113, 66853100, 99234968, and 99576162.

Toastmasters Club announcement o you want to overcome your fear of speaking in public? Do you want to sharpen your presentation skills? Do you want to develop leadership skills? Do you wish to attend job interviews with confidence? All of these can be achieved for a nominal fee with unlimited opportunities to practice and develop at the new Toastmasters Club (affiliated to Toastmasters International USA), being chartered in Salmiya. If you want to be part of your own chartered club, join us at Bayan Restaurant, Salmiya (next to Red Tag) at 7:45 pm on Friday, September 3, 2010.

For free registration contact Vishwanath at 67735024 visragmal@yahoo.com or Xavier at 99850173 xaviermuthu@hotmail.com

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Tulu Parba competitions

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n the occasion of Decennial celebration Tulukoota Kuwait invites all Tuluvas to join us for “Tuluparba Competitions” to be held on Friday, October 8, 2010 from 10:00 am-5:00 pm at Indian Community School Auditorium (Senior Girls) Salmiya. Join us for an exciting and entertaining day with lots of fun and creativity.

Competitions for various age group planned for the day include: Dance Solo and Group, Fancy Dress Solo and Group; Pick N Speak; Onion Cutting; Ladies Cloth Bag Making; Men -Kenchana Kurlari; Smart Kid Contest; Puzzle and color me contest, “Hiriyerna Udala pathera” for senior citizens. For further details and registrations, please contact Sathyanarayana 66585077; Swarna Shetty: 99006934; Rekha Sachu 65044521 and for more details on the rules and regulations please visit our website tulukootakuwait.org.

Last date for accepting registrations was October 3, 2010.

Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2010

Y ICSK holds CBSE volleyball tournament

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he 12th CBSE Kuwait Cluster Volleyball (Boys) tournament was successfully conducted at The Indian Community School, Khaitan on 27, 28 and 29th September 2010.

Ms. Shantha Maria Convener CBSE Kuwait Cluster and Principal Indian Central School, inaugurated the tournament.

United Indian School, Carmel School, Indian Central School, India

International School, and the hosts The Indian Community School participated in the championship on a round robin league basis.

After three grueling days of tough competition. Carmel School and United Indian School emerged as the finalists.

It was a nail-biting finish, as the teams fought tooth and nail for every point.

The match that turned out to be a keen and even battle for the top honours, saw

UIS taking a two nil lead but Carmel finding their way back by taking the next two sets. The match was sealed in the fifth set, in Carmel’s favour. It was really a breathtaking match between the two stalwarts CSK and UIS. Both teams won everyone’s appreciation. The host school ICSK clinched the third spot with a three nil victory over ICS. Andrew Thomas graced the closing ceremony as the chief guest and K

Shreenivas from the sponsors. IFFCO was the guest of honour. The winners, runners-up, player of the tournament and promising player of the event along with the officials and ICSK P.E.Dept were presented with certificates and mementos. Principals Ms Fathima and Mrs Sridevi gave away the certificates.

The championship was officially declared closed by the organizing Principal S. Ilango.

Zumba fitness party with the British Academy of Sport

outh Recreation Center (Rising Stars), on the completion of 30 glorious years in Kuwait has organized a maiden/mega Singing Competition, the “Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2008” on October 17, 2008 and Kuwait’s very own voice, Vinay Lewis was declared the winner of ‘Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2008. After the super success of this event we are back again with Gulf Voice of Mangalore 2010’. The auditions/preliminary rounds for Kuwait already held on June 11, 2010 under the leadership of Lawrence Pinto and Louis Rodrigues and 12 semifinalists (six male and females each) were chosen to compete for the semi-finals in Kuwait on October 8, 2010 at the American International School - Hawalli.

On this day two finalists, one male and one female each will be chosen to enter the grand-finale. Famous personalities in the music field will arrive from Mangalore to judge the semi-finalists. There will be an entertainment program by visiting artists from Mangalore as well as the local artists, Twelve finalists from six Gulf countries will be fighting for the coveted title in the grand-finale to be held in Dubai on October 22, 2010. For further information about this competition, contact Lawrence - 99803755, Louis 66561184. Wilson - 99719938.

Filipino Badminton Committee The Filipino Badminton Committee is inviting all badminton enthusiast to join its 20th Badminton Tournament for-A cause that will start on November 5 until December 10 at the Kuwait Disabled Club , Hawally every Friday from 8:00 AM until 5 PM. The tournament will be a Team event compose of 5 players. Each team must have Level 1 & 2 (Men’s), Level 1& 2 (Ladies’) and Level 3 (Ladies’). Deadline for submission of line up will be on Octobr 15. Special prie will be given for Best Uniform, Best Team. For more information, call 97197268.

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he British Academy of Sport is pleased to announce the start of Zumba Classes on a Monday and Tuesday evening at The British School of Kuwait from 1900-2000.

Zumba fuses intriguing musical rhythms and fascinating moves to create a dynamic workout system designed to be FUN and EASY TO DO! Our goal is simple: We want people to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. By integrating Zumba into everyday life, individuals may achieve long term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exhilarating hour of caloric burning, heart racing, muscle pumping, body energizing movements meant to engage and captivate for life!

The routines feature interval training sessions where fast and slow rhythms and resistance training are combined to tone and sculpt your body while burning fat.

Add some Latin flavour and International zest into the mix and you’ve got ZUMBA! For more details contact Andrea on 67093690 or Aisha on 99458013.

he Kuwait Textile Arts Association (KTAA) under the auspices of Sadu House cordially invites you to the monthly presentation “Islamic Motifs in The al-Sabah Collection of Art from the Islamic World” given by Susan Day and Katherine Baker on Tuesday 12 October at 7pm in Sadu House, Arabian Gulf Street, on the corner of the National Museum, Kuwait City. More information available from wovenpieces@yahoo.com

Joy John Thuruthikara receiving the award from the Hon. Minister.

Joy John Thuruthikara with some of the awardees.

Joy Thuruthikara honored by Glory of India award

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oy John Thuruthikara was honored along with British Parliament Member Shailesh Vara (MP North West Cambridge shire, London), Mrs Prithy Patel, Parliament Member House of Lords, Former Chief Air Marshal N C Sun, Dr Rajeev Guptha, Director - Bamsley Foundation Hospital UK, Dr T.Subramanian - chief surgeon Bolton Hospital-USA,

Dr K.Kishore CEO - Amar Contracting Co. Bahrain, by British Indian Society presenting through their highest award “Glory of India” and certificate of excellence for their active participation and performance in social and charity works in India and abroad.

The function was held in London Crown Plaza Hotel, on 25th Sept 2010 and the meeting

was presided by Gurpeet Singh, President of British Indian Society. These prestigious award and certificate of excellence was handed over by the Hon Baraness FTSA, Minister for International Development and Chief Whip of British Cabinet (House of Lords) in the presence of different political leaders and a large no of British Indian community.

IMWA Quran competitions 2010

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MWA - Kuwait (Indian Muslim Welfare Association) is conducting its annual IMWA QURAN COMPETITIONS 2010 for the school children in Kuwait on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at Indian Public School, Salmiya, in segments as follows: Inaugural Session & Registration 8:30 am Quran Recitation (Memorized)

9:00 am to 11:00 am Islamic Quiz 11:00 am to 11:30 am Break for Zohr prayer until 12:00 noon Elocution Competition 12:00 noon to 01:00 pm Boys and girls from Grade 1 to Grade 12 are eligible to participate. The rules and the syllabus of the Competitions are made available online at IMWA

website, imwakuwait.org. All the participants and parents are requested to note the timings and cooperate with organizers.

Competition results will be announced on IMWA website.

For further info please call competition hotlines: 99740083/66520620/55630073.

The registration is now open online. Please log on to www.imwakuwait.org

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

31 Embassy information EmbAssy of Us

IIS offers red-carpet welcome to new principal

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special assembly comprising all the students and staff of the India International School (IIS) was conducted on 19th September, 2010 morning in honour of the new principal F.M.Basheer Ahmed. Amidst the thunderous applause of the students, the school Head Boy, Head Girl, and all the

prefects of the school gave guard of honour to the new principal. He was escorted to the stage by the outgoing principal Anis Ahmad, the Director Moosa Koya, the vice-principal, the Headmaster and the Head of the KG department.

Anis Ahmad, the outgoing principal, introduced the new principal to the stu-

Global Goans Convention 2010 to be held in Kuwait

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nnouncing at the press briefing in Goa yesterday, Hon. Commissioner of NRI Affairs (Cabinet Ranking) and former Minister of External Affairs, Government of India, Eduardo Faleiro stated ‘the next annual Global Goans Convention would be held in Kuwait on November 16 and 17, 2010 was being organised by the Goan Cultural Centre, Kuwait during which the Vishwa Konkani Sammelan too would be held along with a cultural programme with the involvement of Konkani speaking expatriate communities of Goa and elsewhere in India”. The annual Global Goans Convention 2010 will be held in the State of Kuwait in coordination with the Department of NRI Affairs, Government of Goa and the Embassy of India, Kuwait on November 16 & 17 and will be hosted by the Goan Cultural Centre at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kuwait.

The Global Goans Convention 2010, whose theme this year is ‘The NRI Goan’, will, in its annual debates, present the NRI Goan community with an opportunity to discuss various issues pertaining to them in their countries of domicile as well as back home in Goa, and will mainly deal with issues related to their social, financial, investment and cultural aspirations and development. It is expected that delegates and eminent speakers from over 10 countries will be participating in the convention this year. “We are happy and proud to be associated with this prestigious event”, in a statement confirming the news on its website www.goanculturalcentrekuwait.com. “We are overwhelmed by the response to the press statement, GCC chairman, Carmo Santos remarked.

Last year, Goan Cultural Centre had the largest delegation attending the Global Goans Convention held in Muscat, Oman, added Suresh Naik, GCC President and Advisor . It may be recalled that Carmo Santos was bestowed with the NRI Leadership Award at the hands of former Minister of NRI Affairs Valayar Ravi at a glittering ceremony in the presence of Goa’s Chief Minister, Digamber Kamat, in recognition of his efforts and dedication towards the Indian expatriate community. He was among a galaxy of Goan personalities chosen

by Goa’s Department of NRI Affairs from Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Delhi. The Convention will be held in coordination with the Embassy of India at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Farwania. A special Brochure will be launched during the Convention.

dents and the staff of the school. In his brief speech, he advised the students to work hard to reach greater heights in their life. He quoted an Urdu couplet which says there will be roses and thorns on one’s way and the one who walks unmindful of all these will reach the glory of success.

The Director Moosa Koya, offered a bouquet to the new principal and thanked the outgoing principal for his hard work, dedication and the selfless service that he rendered for the growth of this institution.

F.M.Basheer Ahmed, in his speech, stressed the importance of giving

respect to the teachers by the students.

He highlighted the vision of the school and assured the students that they would get wisdom if they had respect for the teachers. After the Indian National Anthem the staff and the students dispersed with the mixed feeling of joy and a tinge of sadness.

ICS presents Jashn e Bahara’n I

ndian Cultural Society (ICS) presents “Jashn e Bahara’n” with Ghazal singer Talat Aziz & famous poets on 22nd October 2010 Friday at 7.30 pm sharp. The Chief Guest for the event will be Ajai Malhotra Ambassador of India and the guest of honor will be renowned personalities from Kuwait.

Indian Cultural Society which is a registered organization with the Indian Embassy has many feathers in its cap.

ICS has organized health camps & medical assistance, provided educational opportunities, created a help desk for jobs, regularly sends timely tips for health to its members, organizes programs in Urdu and Hindi, and supports other association for noble cause. It also campaigns for frequent airline services to India and many more activities.

After hosting memorable events such as Nazar Ke Samne with Kumar Sanu, Taal se Taal with Alka Yagnik, Shaam e Ghalib with Kader Khan, Shaam e Sangeet, Shaam e Shibani, Suroon- KiShaam, Shaam- e-Ghazal, Geet & Ghazal Nite, Shab- e-Meraj, Jhoomte Sitare & many more. Jashn e Bahara’n will witness a new concept of Ghazal singing & Mushaira on same platform by Talat Aziz (actor, composer & singer). The stars of the Mushaira are world renowned Urdu & Hindi poets from India like; Mansoor

Talat Aziz

Shabeena Adeeb

Usmani, Jauhar Kanpuri, Sharif Bharti, Alok Shrivastav & Shabina Adeeb. They have enriched the world of Urdu poetry for many decades & have published several well known books.

Talat Aziz is truly the most versatile legends in the world of ghazal singing.

Talat Aziz Abdul Azeez Khan was born on 14th May 1955 in Hyderabad. Talat hails from an illustrious family, who were great patrons of fine arts. He took his initial training from Kirana Gharana, formed by Abdul Karim Khan Saheb.

Talat was trained primarily by Ustad Samad Khan and later by Ustad Fayaz

Ahmed who were great musicians of repute. Talat Aziz is a thorough professional who expresses his poetic verses with great precision collaborating feelings of love, romance and calamity moulded authentically in a ghazal format.

His popular albums like “Talat Aziz live”, Lehren, Ehsaas, Suroor, Manzil, Saughaat, Dhadkan, Irshaad, etc. He is equally versatile while singing a popular hit like “Damadam mast Kalandar” or the soul stirring rendition of “Aaina Mujhse Meri” from the film Daddy. Talat Aziz is not only singer but music composer and actor too. He act in film Dhun

as well as in television serials like “Ghulam”, “Manzil”, “Sahil”, “Lehren” “Sailaab”, “Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayee” and “Noorjehan” to his credit which has really proved him as an outstanding actor. Talat Aziz has composed music for tele-serials like ‘Deewar’, ‘Baaz’, ‘Adhikaar’, ‘Ghutan’, ‘Sailaab’, ‘Aashirwaad’ & the magnum opus ‘Noorjehan’. Film Umraojaan & Bazaar became more popular with the Ghazal voice of Talat Aziz. Talat Aziz accompanied by top musicians Jeetendra Shankar Kathak (Tabla /Percussion), Pradeep S. Pandit (Harmonium), Deven Pratap Yogi (Keyboard) & Mohd Rashid Khan (Violin). Jet Airways is official carrier simultaneously Nuna Counseling is diamond, Al Mulla Exchange Co. is Golden & Al Yasra Food co. is Silver sponsors of the event.

Young talents from Kuwait will be another attraction of the evening. So, join us for entertainment on 22nd October, 2010 Friday, at the Auditorium Al Jeel Al Jadeed School, Tunees Street, Opp- Al Bahar Center (Canary Restra.)

Hawally. For more details. Please contact: 97690035, 66568147, 94450833, 99812832, 97296577, 99788692, 94068099 & 24716004 Email ics.kuwait@gmail.com Web Page: www.nazarkesamne.webs.com

Awami League celebrates birthday of Sheikh Hasina

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angladesh Awami Volunteer League Kuwait Chapter celebrated the 64th birthday of Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh.

The celebration took place on 28th September. The event was presided over by Mohammed Masud Karim, president of Bangladesh Awami Volunteer League, Kuwait Chapter. It was brilliantly presented by Mohammed Lak Miah General Secretary of Awami Volunteer League Kuwait. The celebration begun with the recitation of’ verses from the holy Quran by Mowlana Nurul Huda. Engineer Abdur Rob the president of Bangladesh Awami League Kuwait branch & Chief Patron of Awami Volunteer League attended the celebration as chief guest. Abdus Sobhan, Sheikh Bahauddin Lablu, Mohammed Hasan Ali, renowned poet Murshed Alam Badal, writer Ali Azam, and Salim Reza were the special guests at the event.

The attendees prayed for the physical well being of the prime minister and the jubilant people’s leader Sheikh Hasina as well.

✦✦✦ Call to classical music lovers: Are you a lover of music? Would you like to promote the traditional Indian classical music in Kuwait? If your answer is in the affirmative, please write ton more details to music_karnatic@yahoo.co. in

(that is, music underscore karnatic) with your contact details or call 7978286.

Oct 14 Tulukoota Kuwait announces its “Decennial Parba “on October 14th & 15th. 2010 at American International School Hawally. We invite all Tulukoota Kuwait members to join us for fun filled and exciting events planned to celebrate the milestones throughout Tulukoota Kuwait’s 10 years journey. 14th October Rasamanjari - musical show by Star performer Anuradha Bhatt, Prakash Mahadevan Naveen Koppa & others, Vismaya Jadoo by Mega Magic Star Ganesh Kudroli & troupe. Dr. Mohan Alva Cultural Performances & King of Comedy Navin D Padil presents tulu drama “ Paniyerla aath Panande Budiyerla aath” This is a fun tilled evening for entire family! Join us for a great time. For more information call :

Swarna C Shetty - 99006934; Pascal Pinto - 9953 1557; Sathya Narayan 66585077: Suresh Salian - 99161228; Chandrahasa Shetty - 55941955.

OCT 21 Rendezvous 2010: The Kuwait Chapter of the St. Aloysius College Alumni Association (SACAA KUWAIT) have announced that “Rendezvous” their hallmark event will be conducted on 21st October at Asia Asia Restaurant, Souk Al Watiya, Kuwait City from 8 pm onwards. This year, SACAA Kuwait celebrates five years of its existence in Kuwait. SACAA-Kuwait has been synonymous with various fund raising initiatives through which they consistently supported various needs of their Alma Mater and its students back in Mangalore, India. Through Rendezvous2010, SACAA-Kuwait intends to help generate funds for the Poor Students

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 bANGLADEsH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait has taken up an initiative to update the database of Bangladesh nationals residing in the State of Kuwait. For inclusion in the database all the Bangladesh nationals are requested to collect the Registration Form from the Labour Wing of the Embassy. The forms can also be collected sending request to bdoot@kems.net e-mail address. The filled-in forms can also be submitted by hand, by email or by fax (number 2491-3204).

Announcements Theater & Music All level music classes: ‘Treasure of Talents’ (est in 1992) music education program invites all level music classes on piano, theory of music, vocal, flute.

Academic Level teachers help prepare for international exams, children concerts, yearly ‘Treasure of Talents’ Festival and music competitions.

Contact Prof Cezary, Tel. 25320427, 66549009 of Ms Yasmeene - Berlitz Institute Tel: 22542212. 22512533 or email: treasureoftalents@yahoo.com treasureoftalents@hotmail.com

The United States Department of State announces the increase in various visa fees to ensure sufficient resources to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas (NIVs).

US law requires the Department to recover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas through the collection of the application fees. The increased fees are to take effect June 4, 2010. Under the new rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petition-based visas will pay an application fee of $150, as each of the below categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists.

These categories include: H visa for temporary workers and trainees L visa for intra-company transferees O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors R visa for religious occupations The application fee for K visas for fiance(e)s of US citizens will be $350. The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors will be $390.

Fund of St. Aloysius institutions where numerous needy students look forward to assistance to subsidize their costs.

SACAA Kuwait calls upon all Aloysians, their families and also like minded people to join this noble cause and help make life a little better for those needy students back home. For entry passes and further information, kindly contact 66731828, 66746425, 66181041, 94093275, 66699857, 66091962.

OCT 28 Colva feast: Colva United Centre Kuwait invites all Colvenkars and wellwishers to attend Feast Mass at Holy Family Cathedral Kuwait - on 28th Oct 2010 at 6.30 pm.

OCT 29 Onathanima tug of war: Thanima is conducting its annual Onam celebrations along with its celebrated tug of war com-

petitions on October 29 at Central School compound, Abbasiya. Cultural procession, concert and other attractive cultural items will add glitter to the evening function in which many prominent personalities are expected to be present. Those teams wishing to participate in the tug of war competition, please contact 99865499 / 97253653 / 66071276 / 99703872.

Nov 17 Trend setter Udupi Restaurant, Kuwait proudly presents “ Gandharva Ganam” a live carnatic classical concert by living legend & maestro Padmabooshan Dr. K.J.Yesudas with his troupe on 17th Nov. 2010 at American International School, Kuwait. Sri. Nagai Murali on violin, Sri. Bakthavalsalam on Mridangam and Sri. Thripunithura Radhakrishnan on Ghatam. For more details, please contact 66752462 or 66784867.

EmbAssy of THAiLAND All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulate General worldwide, including eligible foreigners who apply for Visa on arrival at designated checkpoints, will be exempted from tourist visa fees until 31 March 2011. Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa only.

EMBASSY OF turkEY The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey announces that Turkish language course restarted at the Embassy’s Tourism, Culture and Information Office yesterday (Monday Oct 4). The lessons will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 8:00 pm. For further details and registration please contact. * The Embassy at Tel: 22531785 (only from 9 am to 3 pm) * Or fill the application form on http://kuweyt.befscnet.net and send it to the e-mail: Turkish_embassy_Kuwait@hotmail.com

TV PROGRAMS

32

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings

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

00:00 00:30 01:25 02:20 03:10 03:35 04:00 04:50 05:40 06:35 07:00 07:55 08:20 08:50 09:45 10:10 10:40 11:35 12:00 12:30 13:25 14:20 15:15 16:10 17:10 18:05 19:00 19:55 20:50 21:45 22:40 23:35

Sons of Anarchy The Invisible Man Inside the Actors Studio GMA Live RPT House Supernatural The Ellen de Generes Show Drop Dead Diva The Invisible Man Sons of Anarchy Good Morning America Live House Supernatural The Ellen de Generes Show Defying Gravity Justified Law & Order True Blood Nip/Tuck The Ellen de Generes Show GMA Live RPT

Escape To Chimp Eden Animal Cops Phoenix Ultimate Air Jaws Untamed And Uncut Wildlife SOS Sspca: On The Wildside Weird Creatures With Nick Baker The Planet’s Funniest Animals Cats 101 In Too Deep Escape To Chimp Eden Monkey Life Sspca: On The Wildside Animal Precinct E-Vets: The Interns Pet Rescue Animal Cops Philadelphia Wildlife SOS Sspca: On The Wildside Dogs 101 Beverly Hills Groomer The Planet’s Funniest Animals World Wild Vet Polar Bears: Living On Thin Ice Dogs 101 World Wild Vet Planet Earth Animal Cops Philadelphia Polar Bears: Living On Thin Ice Untamed And Uncut World Wild Vet Planet Earth

00:30 01:05 01:25 01:50 02:10 02:40 03:00 03:20 03:50 04:10 04:35 05:05 05:25 05:50 06:20 07:25 08:10 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:35 13:25 14:10 14:40 15:10 16:10 17:00 17:45 18:15 18:45 19:40 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:15 23:05 23:35

Only Fools And Horses Tweenies Teletubbies Me Too Tikkabilla Tweenies Me Too Tikkabilla Tweenies Teletubbies Tikkabilla Tweenies Teletubbies Tikkabilla Only Fools And Horses The Weakest Link Mutual Friends Doctors Eastenders Holby City Only Fools And Horses Mutual Friends The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Mutual Friends The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Heart & Soul The Keith Barret Show Only Fools And Horses The Weakest Link Casualty Eastenders Doctors

00:20 01:10 02:10 03:05 04:10

Come Dine With Me Daily Cooks Challenge 10 Years Younger House Swap Antiques Roadshow

05:00 House Swap 05:45 Bargain Hunt 06:30 Hidden Potential 06:50 Cash In The Attic USA 07:10 New British Kitchen 07:55 House Swap 08:40 Cash In The Attic 09:25 Come Dine With Me 10:15 10 Years Younger 11:00 House Swap 11:45 New British Kitchen 12:30 Cash In The Attic USA 13:10 Antiques Roadshow 14:00 MasterChef: The Professionals 14:25 Ching’s Kitchen 14:50 Daily Cooks Challenge 15:50 Come Dine With Me 16:40 MasterChef: The Professionals 17:10 Rick Stein And The Japanese Ambassador 18:05 House Swap 18:50 Cash In The Attic 19:30 Come Dine With Me 20:20 MasterChef: The Professionals 21:15 What Not To Wear 22:05 Rick Stein And The Japanese Ambassador 22:55 House Swap 23:40 Cash In The Attic

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30 04:00 04:25 04:55 05:20 05:45 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:45 12:10 12:35 13:00 13:20 13:45 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:20 16:45 17:10 17:35 18:00 18:25 18:50 19:15 19:40 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:30 22:55 23:20 23:45

The Jetsons Top Cat Tom And Jerry Popeye Classics Scooby Doo Where Are You! Tom And Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Yogi’s Treasure Hunt Droopy And Dripple Tom And Jerry Looney Tunes The Flintstones The Jetsons Tom And Jerry Kids The Garfield Show Duck Dodgers The Scooby Doo Show Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley King Arthur’s Disasters Help! It’s The Hair Bear Bunch A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Scooby Doo Where Are You! Top Cat Hong Kong Phooey Duck Dodgers The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Tom And Jerry Top Cat Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley The Scooby Doo Show Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory Looney Tunes Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show The Flintstones The Jetsons Looney Tunes Tom And Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Hong Kong Phooey Top Cat The Garfield Show The Scooby Doo Show Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley Help! It‘s The Hair Bear Bunch Popeye The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Looney Tunes The Flintstones

00:00 The Powerpuff Girls 00:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 00:40 The Secret Saturdays 01:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 01:30 Ben 10 01:55 Best ED 02:20 Samurai Jack 02:45 Cramp Twins 03:10 Eliot Kid 03:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 04:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 04:25 Chowder 04:50 Best ED 05:15 Chop Socky Chooks 05:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 06:05 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 06:30 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes

06:55 Eliot Kid 07:20 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 07:30 Squirrel Boy 07:55 Robotboy 08:20 Camp Lazlo 08:45 The Powerpuff Girls 09:10 Class Of 3000 09:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 10:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 10:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 10:50 Ben 10 11:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 11:40 Squirrel Boy 12:05 Eliot Kid 12:35 Casper’s Scare School 13:00 Skunk Fu! 13:25 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 13:50 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 14:15 Ben 10: Alien Force 14:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 15:05 Hero 108 15:30 Total Drama World Tour 16:00 Best ED 16:25 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 16:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 17:05 The Powerpuff Girls 17:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 17:45 Ben 10: Alien Force 18:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 18:35 Robotboy 19:00 Camp Lazlo 19:25 Samurai Jack 19:50 Megas Xlr 20:15 Out Of Jimmy’s Head 20:40 Chowder 21:05 Cow And Chicken 21:30 Cramp Twins 21:55 George Of The Jungle 22:20 Adrenalini Brothers 22:45 Eliot Kid 23:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 23:35 Ben 10: Alien Force

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:45

Cass-18 L’affaire Farewell-PG15 Frame Of Mind-PG15 Martian Child-PG The Memsahib-PG15 Little Nicholas-PG Jump Tomorrow-PG15 Centre Stage 2: Turn It Up-PG15 American Violet-PG15 Romulus My Father-PG15 Topsy Turvy-PG15 Dad Savage-PG15

00:25 01:20 02:15 02:40 03:05 04:00 04:25 05:15 06:10 07:05 08:00 08:55 09:25 09:50 10:20 11:15 12:10 13:05 14:00 14:55 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:35 18:00 18:55 19:50 20:45 21:40 22:35 23:30

Mega Builders Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made How Stuff Works Dirty Jobs Fifth Gear Mega Builders Chop Shop: London Garage Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Overhaulin’ Border Security How Stuff’s Made How Stuff Works Mythbusters Miami Ink Ultimate Survival Dirty Jobs Overhaulin’ Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security The Gadget Show How Stuff Works How Stuff’s Made Moments Of Terror Wreckreation Nation Mythbusters Deadly Women Chop Shop: London Garage Dirty Jobs Moments Of Terror

00:25 00:50 01:45 02:40 03:10 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:55 07:20 07:50 08:45 09:15

How Stuff’s Made Nasa’s Greatest Missions Robotica Weird Connections Mighty Ships Junkyard Wars Nasa’s Greatest Missions Mighty Ships Stunt Junkies The Gadget Show What’s That About?

How Stuff’s Made Da Vinci’s Machines

Cold Souls on Show Movies

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

Weird Connections Science Of The Movies What’s That About?

The Gadget Show Nasa’s Greatest Missions Building The Biggest Brainiac How Stuff’s Made Engineered How It’s Made The Gadget Show Space Pioneer How Stuff’s Made How Stuff’s Made Engineered Space Pioneer The Gadget Show Building The Biggest How Stuff’s Made Engineered

03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 05:05 05:30 06:00 06:50 07:15 07:40 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 11:50 12:15 12:45 13:15 13:40 14:05 14:55 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:25 18:55 19:20 20:00

K9 Adventures American Dragon Kid Vs Kat Phineas And Ferb Kick Buttowski Pokemon Zeke And Luther I’m In The Band The Super Hero Squad Show Suite Life On Deck Aaron Stone Phineas And Ferb Kid Vs Kat The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Zeke And Luther The Super Hero Squad Show Kick Buttowski I’m In The Band Suite Life On Deck Zeke And Luther Phineas And Ferb Kick Buttowski Pokemon American Dragon Aaron Stone Kid Vs Kat Phineas And Ferb I’m In The Band The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Shreducation Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:15 01:10 02:05 02:30 03:00 04:45 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:50 07:15 09:00 09:25 09:50 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:30 12:25 13:15 14:10 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:30 17:55 18:20 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:30 22:55 23:20

25 Most Stylish Sexiest Battle of the Hollywood Hotties Streets of Hollywood THS Behind the Scenes E! News The Daily 10 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated Kourtney & Khlo√© Take Miami 20 Acts of Love Gone Wrong E! News The Daily 10 Behind the Scenes Pretty Wild Keeping Up with the Kardashians Kendra E!ES THS Behind the Scenes Holly’s World E! News The Daily 10 Keeping Up with the Kardashians Pretty Wild THS Kendra Chelsea Lately Kourtney & Khlo√© Take Miami E! News The Daily 10 Chelsea Lately Kendra Kourtney & Khlo√© Take Miami Pretty Wild Dr 90210 Wildest TV Show Moments Reality Hell E!ES

00:20 Mantracker 01:10 Fantasy Factory 02:00 Crossing Borders 02:50 Tread Bmx 03:40 Untracked 04:30 I-Ex 06:00 Uci Nissan Mountain Bike World Cup 2008 08:30 Rebel Events 2009: European Skateboard Champs 08:55 Gumball 3000:2008 09:45 Fantasy Factory 10:35 Mantracker 11:25 Tread Bmx 12:15 Untracked 13:05 Gumball 3000:2008 13:55 Fantasy Factory 14:45 Uci Nissan Mountain Bike World Cup 2008 17:15 Rebel Events 2009: European Skateboard Champs 17:40 Mantracker 18:30 Fantasy Factory 19:20 Gumball 3000:2008 20:10 Untracked 21:00 Mantracker 21:50 Gumball 3000:2008 22:40 Tread Bmx 23:30 Untracked

00:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 00:30 Unwrapped 01:00 Chopped 02:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 02:30 Guy’s Big Bite 03:00 Food Network Challenge 04:00 Paula’s Best Dishes 04:25 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 04:50 Guy’s Big Bite 05:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 05:40 Everyday Italian 06:05 30 Minute Meals 06:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 07:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 07:30 Barefoot Contessa 08:00 Unwrapped 08:30 Paula’s Party 09:30 Guy’s Big Bite 10:00 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 10:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 11:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 11:30 Everyday Italian 12:00 30 Minute Meals 12:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 13:00 Iron Chef America 14:00 Barefoot Contessa 14:30 Unwrapped 15:00 Paula’s Best Dishes 15:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 16:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 16:30 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 17:00 Chopped 18:00 Barefoot Contessa 18:30 Everyday Italian 19:00 Food Network Challenge 20:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 20:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

21:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

Iron Chef America 30 Minute Meals Tyler’s Ultimate Chopped

01:00 Nationwide Tour Highlights: Soboba Golf Classic 02:00 Big Ten Women’s Volleyball Illinois at Wisconsin 04:00 Big Ten Women’s Volleyball Michigan at Penn State 06:00 Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour 08:00 ARCA Racing Series: Kansas 150 Kansas City, KS 10:00 Golf Central International 10:30 Champions Tour Highlights Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn 11:30 Major League Soccer FC Dallas v Chicago Fire 14:30 Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour 16:30 NFL Replay Teams TBA 18:00 Prime/Time Boxing 20:00 Golf Channel - TBA 22:00 Golf Central International 22:30 Golf Channel - TBA 23:00 Inside the PGA Tour 23:30 MLB: Divisional Playoffs - Teams TBA, all times/dates tentative, check local listings

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

Solved Forensic Detectives Amsterdam Vice Dr G: Medical Examiner Real Emergency Calls Forensic Detectives FBI Files Final Days of an Icon Solved Forensic Detectives Life or Death: Medical Mysteries Real Emergency Calls Undercover On the Run Forensic Detectives FBI Files Final Days of an Icon Solved Forensic Detectives Life or Death: Medical Mysteries Real Emergency Calls Undercover On the Run I Almost Got Away With It Murder Shift Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting FBI Files I Almost Got Away With It

03:00 03:25 03:45 04:10 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:05 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:10 08:30 08:55 09:20 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:00 11:25 11:50 12:15 12:40 13:05 13:10 13:15 13:40 14:05 14:30 14:50 15:15 15:20 15:35 16:00 16:20 16:45 17:10 17:30 18:00 18:25 18:50 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:00

Dennis The Menace Beverly Hills Teen Club Pelswick Boo and Me Fat Dog Mendoza The Fairly OddParents The Beach Crew Cyberchase Birdz The Beach Crew Heathcliff Ned’s Newt New Adventures of Madeline Rupert Babar Max and Ruby Corduroy Rupert New Adventures of Madeline Ned’s Newt Corduroy Max and Ruby Babar Rupert Ned’s Newt Beverly Hills Teen Club Sabrina The Animated Series The Beach Crew Boo and Me New Adventures of Ocean Girl Dino Squad The Future is Wild Rescue Heroes Even Stevens The Beach Crew Boo and Me Fat Dog Mendoza Sonic Underground Dino Squad The Future is Wild Rescue Heroes Ace Lightning Even Stevens Sabrina The Animated Series Tales from the Cryptkeeper Rescue Heroes Ace Lightning New Adventures of Ocean Girl Sabrina The Animated Series Sonic Underground Fat Dog Mendoza Tales from the Cryptkeeper Fat Dog Mendoza Marathon

00:00 01:35 03:05 04:35 06:10 07:50 09:25 11:05 12:45 14:25 15:45 17:30 19:00 20:50 22:20

SFW Retroactive Number One Fan Canadian Bacon Bojangles Cornbread, Earl And Me Captive Hearts Madison The Mechanic Strictly Business Paper Lion Late For Dinner Brannigan The Whales Of August The Perez Family

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

Boondocks Free Radio Life & times of Tim Tonight Show with Jay Leno Yes Dear Frasier The Drew Carey Show Late night with Jimmy Fallon Two and half men Yes Dear Frasier The Drew Carey Show Will & Grace The Office Everybody Loves Raymond Frasier Tonight Show with Jay Leno Two and half men Yes Dear Frasier Community The Office The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Colbert Report The Drew Carey Show Late night with Jimmy Fallon Two and half men Will & Grace Modern family Tonight Show with Jay Leno The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Colbert Report State of the Union Free Radio Life & times of Tim Modern family

Heaven On Earth on Super Movies 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

Two and half men The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Late night with Jimmy Fallon

04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:40 05:50 06:00 06:25 06:50 Pooh 07:15 07:40 08:05 08:30 08:55 09:20 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:00 11:25 11:45 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 Pooh 14:35 14:45 15:10 15:35 16:00 Pooh 16:25 16:40 16:50

Lazytown Imagination Movers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny New Adventures of Winnie the Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Lazytown My Friends Tigger and Pooh Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Little Einsteins JO JO’S CIRCUS Higglytown Heroes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Special Agent Oso My Friends Tigger and Pooh Imagination Movers Little Einsteins Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse New Adventures of Winnie the Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse New Adventures of Winnie the Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction

01:15 Ponyo -FAM 03:00 Stevie-PG15 05:00 Transformers : Revenge Of The Fallen-PG15 07:30 Smart People-PG15 09:00 Ocean’s Thirteen-PG15 11:00 Shine A Light-PG15 13:15 Transformers : Revenge Of The Fallen-PG15 15:45 Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs-PG 17:15 I Love You, Man-18 19:00 The Boys Are Back In Town-PG 21:00 Killshot-18 23:00 Cold Souls-PG15

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

Xxx-PG15 Star Trek 10 : Nemesis-PG15 Midnight Bayou-PG15 Polar Storm-PG15 Mutant Chronicles-PG15 The Flash-PG Polar Storm-PG15 The Betrayed-PG15 Dark Island-PG15 Lakeview Terrace-PG15 Knife Edge-18 Dark Island-PG15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Pretty In Pink-PG15 Legally Blondes-PG Dirty Work-PG15 A Plumm Summer-PG15 Mystery Men-PG15 Paul Blart Mall Cop-PG15 Tadpole-PG15 Bob Roberts-PG15 Soul Men-18 Lesbian Vampire Killers-18 Christmas At The Riviera-PG Bob Roberts-PG15

01:00 Atom Nine Adventures-PG 03:00 The Missing Lynx-PG 05:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale-FAM

07:00 Atom Nine Adventures-PG 09:00 Felix 2-FAM 11:00 Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins-FAM 13:00 Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakko’s Wakko-PG 15:00 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-PG15 17:00 Dark Crystal-PG 19:00 Felix 2-FAM 21:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale-FAM 23:00 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies-PG15

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

Mercy The View What’s Good For you Emmerdale Coronation Street Mercy “8” Simple rules Yes Dear What’s Good For you Mercy The View Emmerdale Coronation Street “8” Simple rules Yes Dear Ugly Betty Ugly Betty Look alike Look alike The View Emmerdale Coronation Street Burn Notice Happy Town CSI Miami The View Look alike Look alike Burn Notice Happy Town “8” Simple rules Yes Dear

01:00 Masters Football 04:00 Rugby Union ITM CUP 06:00 FEI Equestrain World 06:30 NRL Premiership 08:30 World Hockey 09:00 World Sport 09:30 Masters Football 12:30 Triatholn 13:30 Sea Master 14:00 World Hockey 14:30 FEI Equestrain World 15:00 World Pool Masters 16:00 NRL Full Time 16:30 European Tour Weekly 17:00 AFL Highlights 18:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 Aviva Premiership 21:00 Sea Master 21:30 World Hockey

04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 09:00 09:30 10:30 12:30 13:30 15:30 16:30 17:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

World Pool Masters NRL Full Time Sea Master World Hockey ICC Cricket World Aviva Premiership Futbol Mundial AFL Highlights Super League World Match Racing Tour NRL Premiership Triathlon Sea Master Scottish Premier League Triathlon World Pool Masters Currie Cup

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

UFC Unleashed Red Bull X-Fighters UFC All Access UFC Unleashed WWE Vintage Collection Red Bull X-Fighters V8 Supercars Extra

07:00 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

V8 Supercars Championship Le Mans Series Highlights Le Mans Series Magazine V8 Supercars Extra WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Championship Le Mans Series Highlights WWE NXT WWE Smackdown UFC Wired UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter Le Mans Series Magazine Planet Power Boats UFC Unleashed

00:30 Heaven On Earth-PG15 02:15 Captain Drake-PG 04:00 April Showers-PG15 06:00 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs-FAM 08:00 For The Love Of Grace-PG 10:00 Meet Dave-PG 12:00 Marley And Me-PG15 14:00 Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs-FAM 16:00 Bride Wars-PG15 18:00 Enid-PG15 20:00 Duplicity-18 22:15 Vicky Cristina Barcelona-PG15

00:00 Battle Of Britain 00:55 Battle 360 01:50 World War II: Lost Films 02:40 Conspiracy?

03:30 Man Moment Machine 04:20 Evolve 05:10 Ice Road Truckers, 3 06:00 Battle Of Britain 06:55 Battle 360 07:50 World War II: Lost Films 08:40 Conspiracy?

09:30 Man Moment Machine 10:20 Evolve 11:10 Ice Road Truckers, 3 12:00 Battle Of Britain 12:55 Battle 360 13:50 World War II: Lost Films 14:40 Conspiracy?

15:30 Man Moment Machine 16:20 Evolve 17:10 Ice Road Truckers, 3 18:00 Clash Of The Gods 18:55 Battles B.C. 19:50 Russia: Land Of The Tsars 20:40 Declassified 21:30 Conspiracy?

22:20 Day After Roswell 23:10 Cities Of The Underworld: Jerusalem

00:00 Great Scenic Railways - 175 Years 00:30 Top Travel 01:00 Word Travels 01:30 Culture Shock 02:00 Globe Trekker 03:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 04:00 Journey Into Wine- Australia 04:30 Feast India 05:00 Globe Trekker Special 06:00 Travel Oz 06:30 Grannies On Safari 07:00 Short History of Convict Australia 08:00 Feast India 08:30 Opening Soon 09:00 Great Drives 09:30 Skier’s World 10:00 Globe Trekker 11:00 Journey Into Wine- Australia 11:30 The Thirsty Traveler 12:00 Flavours of Chile 12:30 Grannies On Safari 13:00 Short History of Convict Australia 14:00 Globe Trekker 15:00 Travel Oz 15:30 Journey Into Wine- Australia 16:00 Feast India 16:30 Opening Soon 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Hollywood and Vines 18:30 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 19:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 20:00 Planet Food 21:00 Globe Trekker 22:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 23:00 Hollywood and Vines 23:30 Sophie Grigson In The Orient

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

33 ACCOMMODATION One furnished independent room with separate bathroom is available for a non smoking executive bachelor to share with another bachelor at a spacious 2 bedroom C-A/C apartment in Farwaniya (facing 6th Ring Road - Opp to Sears) Contact: 66629551.

(C 2722) 5-10-2010 Sharing accommodation available for two decent bachelor or a small family near Amiri Hospital, Sharq.

Pls Contact: 97929183 / 99387111.

One independent room with separate bathroom available for 1 or 2 decent executive bachelors. W+E free sat + Kitchen facility C-A/C new building, from 1st October, near Shara Aman Street, Opp Appolo hospital, Salmiya - Call: 99761807.

(C 2714) 4-10-2010 Sharing accommodation available for couple/small family, 2 bedroom flat in Hawally near Jabriya bridge, front side of AlBahar Center. Contact: 97672748 / 99593486.

(C 2717) Two rooms two bathrooms, hall and telephone, near Pakistan International School college, Khaitan. Tel: 24747294 / 94956342.

3-10-2010 Sharing accommodation available for Indian working lady in a double bedroom flat in Salmiya. Contact: 25635450 / 99838117.

(C 2709)

FOR SALE Pool table with all the accessories for sale. Tel: 99792777. (C 2727) 6-10-2010 2006 Model Subaru (date of purchase June 2007), excellent condition, 48000 km, light use. Price KD 2650 (non-negotiable). Tel: 99669220. (C 2718) 3-10-2010

SITUATION WANTED

A qualified full time / part time accountant with 20 years of experience in Kuwait available for accounting, finance management, budgeting, auditing, costing, banking, jobs and up finalization. Please Call: 66467800 (C 2728) 6-10-2010 Accountant with good experience in Kuwait with good knowledge of all Accounts / Finance functions and business planning and support, looks for suitable job. Tel: 66126258.

(C 2723) I need full / Part time job as Accountant. 4 years experience in Kuwait, B.Com + MBA, Kuwaiti driving license, good oracle reporting and software skills, can handle field work like bank and payment collection etc.

Please call: 55355954.

(C 2724) 5-10-2010

professionally qualified, girl of Marthomite/ C.S.I/Jacobite. Contact: 24331735 after 5 pm.

(C 2720) 3-10-2010 SITUATION VACANT

Looking for housemaid for family capable of cooking and experience in applying continental recipes. Tel: 99366629.

Email: jobcv10@hotmail.com (C 2721) 4-10-2010

No: 14871

MATRIMONIAL Seeking alliance for Muslim girl 27/149, MBA (Mkt. & Finc.) C.F.A level-1 candidate, working in Kuwait p ro f q u a l i fi e d (M.Te ch / MBA) grooms settled abroad are invited. Email: abdulksahib@hotmail.com (2726) 5-10-2010 Invite proposal from staff nurses (MoH), for Christian Orthodox boy 29/170 cm, w o r k i n g i n s t a ff n u r s e (MoH), Ambulance Dept., from Pathanamthittia (Dist.). Contact: E-mail: shajicgnr@yahoo.com (C 2719) Jacobite boy, upper middle class, Masters from USA, 28/5-10, well placed in USA, prefer god fearing,

FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161

FLIGHT SCHEDULE

In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Arrival Flights on Wednesday 06/10/2010 Airlines Flt Route Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Wataniya Airways 434 Bahrain Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Turkish 772 Istanbul Egypt Air 614 Cairo Jazeera 267 Beirut DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Air Arabia Egypt 553 Alexandria Falcon 201 Dubai Jazeera 503 Luxor Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Jazeera 527 Alexandria British 157 London Jazeera 529 Assiut Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 352 Cochin Kuwait 284 Dhaka Kuwait 344 Chennai Kuwait 362 Colombo Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Qatari 132 Doha Iran Air 603 Shiraz Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Iran Aseman 6791 Mashad Falcon 203 Dubai Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Middle East 404 Beirut Jazeera 165 Dubai Mahan Air 5066 Mashad Egypt Air 623 Sohag Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai Oman Air 645 Muscat Saudia 508 Riyadh United 982 Washington DC Dulles Jordanian 800 Amman Egypt Air 621 Assiut Wataniya Airways 4002 Cairo fly Dubai 057 Dubai Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Kuwait 562 Amman Saudia 3502 Jeddah Kuwait 552 Damascus Cargolux 792 Luxembourg Nas Air 745 Jeddah

Time 00:30 00:50 01:05 01:05 01:15 02:05 02:10 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:20 03:40 05:25 05:50 06:15 06:20 06:30 06:40 07:20 07:50 07:55 08:00 08:05 08:10 08:20 08:20 08:25 08:40 09:00 09:20 09:20 10:55 10:30 10:45 10:50 11:15 12:20 12:30 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:30 13:35 13:35 13:40 13:45 13:50 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:50 14:55

Jazeera Qatari Kuwait Kuwait Nas Air Wataniya Airways Etihad Rovos Emirates Gulf Air Saudia Arabia Jazeera Jazeera Wataniya Airways SriLankan Wataniya Airways Yemenia Kuwait Wataniya Airways Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Indian Wataniya Airways fly Dubai Wataniya Airways Middle East Rovos Jet A/W Wataniya Airways DHL Gulf Air Jazeera Emirates Qatari United Jazeera Lufthansa Jazeera Jazeera Shaheen Air Kuwait India Express KLM Pakistan Wataniya Airways Egypt Air

525 134 546 544 703 104 303 061 857 215 510 125 239 493 432 227 304 824 166 106 502 542 786 497 618 614 774 674 102 575 202 061 186 402 081 572 404 372 217 459 859 136 981 449 636 185 429 441 548 393 0447 215 108 606

Alexandria Doha Alexandria Cairo Riyadh Dubai Abu Dhabi Baghdad Dubai Bahrain Riyadh Sharjah Amman Jeddah Damascus Colombo/Dubai Cairo Sanaa/Doha Paris/Rome Dubai Beirut Cairo Jeddah Riyadh Doha Bahrain Riyadh Dubai New York/London Chennai/Goa Jeddah Dubai Bahrain Beirut Baghdad Mumbai Beirut Bahrain Bahrain Damascus Dubai Doha Bahrain Doha Frankfurt Dubai Bahrain Lahore/Karachi Luxor Kozhikode/Cochin Amsterdam/Bahrain Karachi Dubai Luxor

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

Departure Flights on Wednesday 06/10/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 528 Assiut Indian 994 Mumbai/Chennai Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Pakistan 206 Lahore Turkish 773 Istanbul Egypt Air 615 Cairo DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi Air Arabia Egypt 554 Alexandria Qatari 139 Doha Wataniya Airways 4001 Cairo Jazeera 164 Dubai Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Jazeera 524 Alexandria British 156 London Kuwait 545 Alexandria fly Dubai 054 Dubai Kuwait 543 Cairo Kuwait 177 Frankfurt/Geneva Kuwait 671 Dubai Kuwait 117 New York Kuwait 551 Damascus Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 561 Amman Arabia 122 Sharjah Emirates 856 Dubai Qatari 133 Doha Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Iran Air 602 Shiraz Iran Aseman 6792 Mashad Gulf Air 214 Baghdad Falcon 204 Baghdad Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo Middle East 405 Beirut Rovos 062 Najaf/Baghdad Kuwait 541 Cairo Jazeera 238 Amman Jazeera 492 Jeddah Kuwait 103 London Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 624 Sohag Mahan Air 5065 Mashad Egypt Air 611 Cairo Oman Air 646 Muscat Jordanian 801 Amman Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai

Time 00:05 00:50 00:50 01:10 02:15 03:05 03:15 03:45 04:00 04:20 05:00 07:00 07:05 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:35 08:40 08:45 08:55 09:00 10:00 09:10 09:10 09:15 09:20 09:40 10:00 10:05 10:20 11:55 11:35 11:45 11:50 11:50 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:15 12:30 13:00 13:30 13:30 13:40 13:55 14:15 14:30 14:30

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

Wataniya Airways fly Dubai Egypt Air Saudia United Wataniya Airways Jazeera Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait Nas Air Jazeera Kuwait Qatari Cargolux Kuwait Nas Air Rovos Wataniya Airways Etihad Gulf Air Wataniya Airways Emirates Arabia Jazeera Saudia Jazeera SriLankan Wataniya Airways Jazeera Kuwait Jazeera Kuwait fly Dubai Kuwait Middle East Jet A/W Wataniya Airways Gulf Air DHL Kuwait Emirates Falcon Qatari Kuwait Kuwait Jazeera United Jazeera Kuwait

201 058 622 509 982 403 496 3503 617 547 746 458 773 135 792 613 704 082 185 304 216 305 858 126 184 511 448 228 107 428 283 266 361 062 331 403 571 187 218 373 675 860 102 137 203 301 526 981 502 415

Jeddah Dubai Assiut Medinah Bahrain Beirut Riyadh Jeddah Doha Sharm El Sheikh/Luxor Jeddah Damascus Riyadh Doha Hong Kong Bahrain Medinah Baghdad Bahrain Abu Dhabi Bahrain Cairo Dubai Sharjah Dubai Riyadh Doha Dubai/Colombo Dubai Bahrain Dhaka Beirut Colombo Dubai Trivandrum Beirut Mumbai Bahrain Bahrain Bahrain Dubai Dubai Bahrain Doha Lahore Mumbai Alexandria Washington DC Dulles Luxor Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta

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

SPECTRUM

34

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Calvin

CROSSWORD 101

Aries (March 21-April 19) Faith, optimism and the

desire to explore all kinds of new horizons are some of the focal points in your life today. Just hearing from a co-worker who may be in another country or another state has your heart skipping a few beats just thinking of the next vacation or the opportunity to travel within the company. Travel, education and other ways to stretch your horizons open new doors of opportunity. Religious, philosophical and cultural matters are likely to have special appeal as well. This is a rewarding day in that much can be accomplished. If you get ahead of yourself you might be able to knock off a little early toward the end of the week and do a little camping or find a weekend job that will help create a little traveling money.

Travel creates a sort of renewal.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) If you need a loan, today is

a good day to request one. Positive results come from your investments and earning potential—a raise is in the works. There is a need to be the center of attention and perhaps a need to give and to be in control. You know that you would make a good manager and you wait your time until it happens, soon. This can be an expansive, creative and even romantic phase—a time you will look back on with pride. You may find yourself being put to good use by your friends this afternoon.

You will use your common sense to move forward and help others to do the same. Marriage, contracts and partnerships are seen as keys to success and happiness for you now; and they have plenty of lessons to teach you.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. (Roman mythology) Goddess of abundance and fertility.

4. (usually plural) The state of having reflex spasms of the diaphragm accompanied by a rapid closure of the glottis producing an audible sound.

10. The act of hauling something (as a vehicle) by means of a hitch or rope.

13. Committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite political candidates.

14. A card game for 2 players.

15. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

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

17. A native or inhabitant of Nubia.

18. The basic unit of money in Albania.

19. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (1879-1958).

21. A Russian river.

22. Genus of tropical plants with creeping rootstocks and small umbellate flowers.

24. Injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation.

26. An inactive volcano in Sicily.

29. A small ball with a hole through the middle.

34. Title for the former hereditary monarch of Iran.

35. (used of count nouns) Every one considered individually.

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

39. Subtly skillful handling of a situation.

42. United States tennis player who was the first Black to win United States and English singles championships (1943-1993).

43. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

46. Lighter consisting of a thin piece of wood or cardboard tipped with combustible chemical.

50. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

51. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily one-seeded fruits.

55. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.

58. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

59. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

60. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.

62. A unit of force equal to the force exerted by gravity.

63. A boy or man.

64. A drug (trade names Atarax and Vistaril) used as a tranquilizer to treat anxiety and motion sickness.

65. Not divisible by two.

DOWN 1. A translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color.

2. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

3. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

4. A reddish brown dye used especially on hair.

5. A hospital unit staffed and equipped to provide intensive care.

6. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

7. Baby bed with high sides.

8. A reptile genus of Iguanidae.

9. The cardinal number that is the sum of four and one.

10. A fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate.

11. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

12. Flightless New Zealand rail of thievish disposition having short wings each with a spur used in fighting.

20. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

23. A state in northwestern North America.

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

27. A bachelor's degree in theology.

28. Tag the base runner to get him out.

30. Liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid.

31. (football) Of advancing the ball by throwing it.

32. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

33. Widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its fragrant flowers and colorful fruits.

36. Not only so, but.

38. The cry made by sheep.

40. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

41. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.

42. Support resembling the rib of an animal.

44. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

45. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers.

47. The table in Christian churches where communion is given.

48. A unit of magnetic flux density equal to one weber per square meter.

49. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

52. The villain in William Shakespeare's tragedy who tricked Othello into murdering his wife.

53. In bed.

54. Advanced in years.

56. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.

57. An audiotape recording of sound.

58. A master's degree in business.

61. An edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) If professional advice is needed you will have positive results. Challenges provide you with choices to either move in a new direction or work to overcome the challenge. This is a good time to be creative and secure the positive. Your current situation may demand some reevaluation or otherwise challenge your ideas. It may be difficult to communicate what you mean to others at this time. This is of short duration. You may find this a crucial time during which—depending upon what age this takes place—you learn to overcome difficulties and reach new highs of determination and accomplishment. This will bring about great discipline and a concentration or focus. You will find new opportunities will open up to show off your skills and help others.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) If you want to begin a new work or personal project, today and tomorrow are good times. You appreciate an imaginative approach and may value joint or unconventional ideas. Thinking you may need some health improvement, consider a hair analysis to discover which nutritional foods would be most important and beneficial for you personally. Physical complaints can be helped through proper supplements. You will naturally lose weight as you go along with a healthy program. A need to be the center of attention takes hold in your life.

There is a special feeling to give or volunteer your time to a worthy cause.

This can be an expansive, creative and even romantic phase, a time you will look back on with pride and fondness. Your efforts are positive.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Today is a great day to be with others and to work together. You may be sought after as just the person for a particular job. You feel an urge to organize and make things legal. You follow the rules and expect others to do the same. Perhaps you have not felt rewarded for your hard work or someone else has had control of where you want to work. Today is your turn. Later today, volunteer work, charity, community improvements all have instant payback for the effort one exerts—and you consider being more active in this. Bigger and better is the theme when it comes to creativity, romance and self-expression. Taking chances in these areas of your life pays off well now. On the way home from work, you stop and pick up dinner and a movie.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You have contact with many people today and are privy to stimulating information— professional and personal. You have no trouble putting your feelings into words; in fact, you may have to exercise some control over your tongue. Gossip would not be a good choice but a new understanding about someone is a good feeling.

Reflection this afternoon will also gain you better insight. If you are a detective, it wonít take you very long to line up all the clues by dates and come up with the right answer. You might find something for your own investment while shopping with a friend or family member this afternoon.

This could mean you find yourself at a special sale or auction. You are the one that gets to pick up the kid tonight; smiles are forecasted.

Libra (September 23-October 22) “Do not confuse me with the facts,” is your motto now, as you tend to lose sight of the details in favor of seeing the underlying connections that link them together. This can make the way you think and communicate very inspired and inspiring, but it can also lead to confused decision making and difficulties in making yourself understood by others. Circumstances could dictate your taking action— much can be accomplished with your guidance. A need to be the center of attention takes hold and there is a craving to give and to be appreciated for your gifts. This can be an expansive, creative and even romantic phase—a time you will look back on with pride and fondness. You may be able to enjoy and feel especially kind towards a friend or loved one.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The good life and all

that is fine and luxurious are what many of us try to achieve.

You may have plans but you will find they will need adjusting from time to time in order to see the end result more clearly in your mindís eye. You could enjoy making your own way and finding solutions to whatever problems you have. Ideas and thoughts will have greater meaning and form. This is a good time to make adjustments; perhaps a part-time job or an investment will help. Investments can be good, well-built furniture that needs a new coat of varnish or some slight repair. The re-sale value could double in price. Some issue that needs to be brought to the attention of the city council may be in discussion around your house tonight; you have ideas.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) There are good practical job-related thoughts. You have the ability to communicate with superiors or describe what you see. Others may want you to speak for them. You are appreciated for your ability to quickly step in and accomplish what is needed. Everything may be pouring in at once and it’s all good news. Your career direction gets some encouragement and life’s problems should find easy solutions. You may benefit from an older person or one in authority. If you live by yourself, you might consider the company of an animal or create some relaxing space, perhaps for reading or just meditation.

You could fill this area with a beautiful fish tank or perhaps install lighting that you could change according to mood.

Yesterday’s Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Work

and career should be a primary focus at this time. An opportunity to make good decisions, and to make clear choices, is yours. You will prosper by pursuing your dreams of how life could be. Don’t be afraid to project your image and make those dreams real. Ideas of group cooperation could further your career. A group meeting may give you the opportunity to speak up and show off your talent to be expressive and have good ideas. You are at your most practical and what happens now may have a lasting effect on your life direction. A change in financial status is possible and can lead in unexpected directions. There are new spending patterns, perhaps focused on high-tech interests. You need extra sleep and wholesome meals at this time.

Yesterday’s Solution

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Your work or career is in real harmony with the rest of your life. You could gain from observing the more experienced as well as the young people today. Experience combined with new vision will motivate you forward into new horizons. You will enjoy creating new goals. Suggestions and proposals may be accepted from the company in which you work. Perhaps some monetary rewards can be expected as your proposals may save the company much money. You will have some good opportunities to move forward in your career. Community problems come to your attention this afternoon and changes here are possible as well. This may involve transportation situations: school buses, city buses, parking, etc. Plan ahead and gather support.

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321

Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn

0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228

Word Sleuth Solution

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Emotional seriousness, a sober orientation and a practical awareness of time management are keynotes of your deepest feelings. There is a tendency to be too strict with yourself. You may insist that whatever does not contribute to security and other long-term goals is trivial. Obtaining and exchanging information takes on more emotional significance. Making decisions based on the facts will bring you much recognition. Be prepared—this could be a busy day. The positive results will depend on your actions. You attract money just now. You may have insights with regard to your living situation or life circumstances and now is a good time to discuss any changes or ideas with your loved ones. Your loved ones see and value your unique qualities.

INFORMATION

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada’a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons:

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290 Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines

22433377 24379900 177 22924455 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)

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36

SPECTRUM

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

J

ennifer Aniston has been named the Most Eligible Single Woman In The World. The former ‘Friends’ actress - who was married to Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt for five years before divorcing in 2005 - topped the poll conducted by Vanity Fair magazine and TV show ‘60 Minutes’ claiming 29 per cent of the vote. The 41-year-old actress - currently single despite recently being linked to former boyfriend John Mayer and Hard Rock heir Harry Morton - narrowly beat ‘Monster’s Ball’ star Halle Berry to the title in the telephone poll of 906 Americans. Halle - who recently split from model Gabriel Aubry, the father of her two-year-old daughter Nahla - received 21

per cent of the vote. Tiger Wood’s ex-wife Elin Nordegren, who recently received a rumored $60 million divorce settlement from the cheating golfer, came third with 15 per cent, while 88-year-old comedienne Betty White - who has been single since her husband Allen Ludden passed away in 1981 - came fourth with 11 per cent.

Eccentric singer Lady Gaga received five per cent of the vote, even though she is reportedly planning to marry her boyfriend Luc Carl in a British Castle in December. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Elena Kagan came last with four per cent.

R

obert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were spotted enjoying a romantic meal in Hollywood on Saturday . The ‘Twilight Saga’ co-stars - who are believed to have been dating since meeting on the set of first movie in the vampire franchise in 2008 - surprised diners with their affectionate display at Soho House restaurant. An onlooker said: “They were staring at each other throughout dinner and kept stealing quick kisses from one another during the night.

Rob’s arm was around her for most of dinner and they kept looking at each other and giggling throughout the evening. They are definitely into each other.” The source added that despite being joined by a large group of friends, the pair didn’t leave each other’s sides all night, while a smitten Robert - who plays vampire Edward Cullen opposite Kristen’s Bella Swan - only had eyes for his girlfriend. The onlooker added to E! News: “They were by each other’s sides the entire night. After dinner, Rob, Kristen and their friends moved to the patio where the group was smoking and the guys were drinking. Everyone was laughing and having a good time together, but you could tell Rob was doting on Kristen and making sure she was comfortable. They were next to each other everywhere the group went.” The pair will begin filming ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn’ - the final part of the vampire series - in November.

T

he ‘Life As We Know It’ actress has managed to not smoke a real tobacco-filled cigarette in six months thanks to the devices, which help ease nicotine craves, and now believes that smoking “sucks”. She said: “I use an electronic cigarette. I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s helping me not to actually smoke real cigarettes. You feel like you are smoking, and you get to exhale but it’s just water vapour and not nicotine. I’ve been doing it for six months.

Smoking sucks!” The 31-year-old beauty - who has 20-month-old adopted daughter Naleigh with husband Josh Kelley -wants to set a good example to her child by not smoking, as she believes it’s a “stupid thing”.

She said: “The one thing I would say to my kid is, ‘It’s not just that it’s bad for you. Do you want to spend the rest of your life fighting a stupid addiction

A

ngelina Jolie has enlisted her children at a school in Budapest. The actress has taken her six kids Maddox, nine, Pax, six, Zahara, five, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - with her to the Hungarian capital where she is working on her directorial film debut.

Angelina doesn’t want her older children to miss any school work so has found an “elite” education centre which they will attend for the duration of their stay. A source told People: “Angelina has enlisted her children into an elite French-American school that they will attend from next week on. The school has a kindergarten, too, where Zahara and Shiloh will

J

to a stupid thing that doesn’t even really give you a good buzz?’ “ Discussing her husband Josh - who she married in 2007 - she admits he finds it difficult to watch her undertake kissing scenes on films and would not come on the set of ‘Life As We Know It’ when she had to get passionate with her co-star Josh Duhamel. She added to Parade magazine: “Actually, he and Josh Duhamel are good friends, but he would never come to the set when Josh and had to like kiss or make out. It does make him uncomfortable because he’s not an actor, he’s a musician. “He always says to me, ‘How would you feel if I had to make out with some girl in a video?’ And I’m like, ‘If you have to do it, you have to do it. But I wouldn’t want you to come home and tell me what a great kisser she is and I should try her technique.’ “

attend.” The 35-year-old star decided to take the kids with her because her partner Brad Pitt is in Boston shooting his latest movie ‘Moneyball’.

Angelina is keen for her multi-cultural family to experience all of the delights of Budapest and has been happily meeting the locals when she isn’t on set. The source added: “She came over to everyone in the vicinity, shook everyone’s hands and introduced herself, as if they didn’t know who she was.” Angelina adopted Maddox from Cambodia, Pax from Vietnam and Zahara from Ethiopia, while Shiloh was born in Namibia and delivered twins Knox and Vivienne in Nice, France.

ohnny Depp has snubbed British food on the set of his latest movie. The 47-year-old actor - who is currently filming ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ in the UK capital - reportedly blasted the culinary treats he was offered, including sausage and mash, jacket potato and salad, spinach and ricotta ravioli and chicken curry, as “just awful” and asked to be served takeaway noodles instead from Japanese chain Wagamama. A source told The Sun newspaper: “He was really annoyed, said he needed something decent to survive and kept on about noodles.” The star, who lives in France, was also overheard complaining that British workers were slower at set changes on the movie than their American counterparts. It was recently revealed that Johnny - who lives in France with long-term partner Vanessa Paradis and their children Lily-Rose, 11, and eight-year-old Jack - travels to work on the film by sailing a luxury yacht named The Jolly Roger down the River Thames every day. A source explained: Johnny chose to charter a boat for the week because it’s the easiest and quickest way to get there. “He’s been flying in from his home in France some mornings and hopping on the yacht at Battersea. He’s been enjoying the views from the water.”

A

my Winehouse agreed to design a 17-item clothing range for Fred Perry so she could create pieces which would fit her. The petite singer is a big fan of the British fashion house’s garments, but after losing weight and becoming a UK size six - US size 2 found they no longer fitted her. She told Britain’s Glamour magazine: “When I started eating right, I lost quite a lot of weight. Everyone thinks it was because my eating habits got a lot better and I came to my natural weight. “Fred Perry is my be-all and end-all. I’ve always loved it, always worn it, it feels like a living dream. I’m not really skinny but I’m tiny and I couldn’t get anything because they didn’t do a size 6.” It was recently claimed Amy had been receiving tips for her fashion line from actress Mischa Barton after they enjoyed a night out in London pub The Hawley Arms together. A source said at the time: “The pair were certainly new best friends for the night and were inseparable at The Hawley. They were chatting and giggling like school kids over drinks and talking fashion non-stop. “Amy has designed a range for Fred Perry so was bending Mischa’s ear about style and Mischa was gushing about how much she loved Amy’s music.”

— Bang Showbiz

SPECTRUM

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

37

Music & Movies

Facebook movie paints

unflattering portrait of Zuckerberg

Dated May 26, 2010 filed photo shows Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a press conference at the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg may finally have a reason to add a ‘dislike’ button. —AFP

By Chris Lefkow

F

acebook’s Mark Zuckerberg may finally have a reason to add a “dislike” button. “The Social Network,” the movie about the origins of Facebook, paints an unflattering portrait of the billionaire co-founder of the massively popular site, portraying him as a status-obsessed, socially dysfunctional schemer. In an interview with The New Yorker magazine last month, Zuckerberg said he had no plans to go see the film, which was written by “The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher of “Fight Club” fame.

But The New York Times and others reported that Facebook staff, including Zuckerberg, attended a showing of the movie at a theater near Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California, on opening night on Friday.

“We thought this particular movie might be amusing,” a Facebook spokesman, Larry Yu, told the Times.

It’s hard to imagine that Zuckerberg was amused. The Facebook co-founder comes off as admirable in his singleminded defense of his creation but also untrustworthy and disloyal to his Harvard classmate and friend, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

In an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey ahead of the release, the 26-year-old Zuckerberg dismissed the movie as a work of fiction and said his life is just “not that dramatic.”

“The last six years have been a lot of coding and focus and hard work, but maybe it will be fun to remember it as partying and all this crazy drama,” he said. “The Social Network,” which stars Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg and pop star Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker, Zuckerberg’s mentor, topped the box office on its opening weekend in North America, raking in nearly 23 million dollars.

The movie is based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben

Mezrich and its take on the murky creation of Facebook. “The Social Network” opens with a 19-year-old Zuckerberg being dumped by his girlfriend and taking refuge at his dorm room computer, setting in motion the disputed events leading to the creation of Facebook. Twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were upper classmen at the time and their version of the story is they enlisted Zuckerberg to write software code for a date-finding website called Harvard Connection.

The Winklevosses, handsome world-class rowers from a wealthy blue-blood family, accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea and launching Facebook in February 2004 instead of holding up his end of the deal. The movie revolves around a lawsuit settled in 2008 with the Winklevosses and Saverin, Zuckerberg’s former friend and Facebook co-founder, and much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the legal transcripts. The twins are now appealing the settlement, which reportedly involved 20 million dollars in cash and a load of future stock options which Facebook valued at 45 million dollars. Saverin reportedly received a settlement in Facebook shares which tops one billion dollars at its current valuation.

David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect,” said the movie is “compelling” but a “pastiche-an amalgam of fact and fiction” and others have also taken issue with its version of the story. Technology blogger Kara Swisher, who has interviewed Zuckerberg numerous times, said the “dour and wary” character depicted in the movie is “nothing like the real thing.”

“Sure, Zuckerberg has been diffident, has treated some friends shabbily (even recently) and has even been borderline disingenuous once or twice with me,” she said. “But that’s not that different from a lot of people I cover in tech.” —AFP

In this Oct 4, 2010 photo, jazz great Sonny Rollins plays his tune during his concert in Tokyo. Rollins is back this week on an 80th birthday tour in this nation long known for its love of jazz. —AP

Tony Curtis buried after Vegas funeral

By Oskar Garcia

A

ctor Tony Curtis was buried Monday with a melange of his favorite possessions-a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, an iPhone and a copy of his favorite novel, “Anthony Adverse,” a book that inspired his celebrity name and launched a robust film career that spanned decades and genres. The 85-yearold Oscar-nominated actor who starred in such films as “The Defiant Ones” and “Some Like It Hot” died Wednesday at his home in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, after suffering cardiac arrest. More than 400 celebrities, fans, friends and family members gathered to say goodbye at a public funeral Monday in Las Vegas.

A montage of Curtis’ famous film roles opened the sometimes solemn, sometimes mirthful service attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Jamie Lee Curtis, porn star Ron Jeremy and Vera Goulet, widow of Broadway singer Robert Goulet.

The crowd laughed as an animated Curtis appeared in a scene from the television series “The Flintstones” and sparred with actor Kirk Douglas in “Spartacus.” Friends and fans lined up outside Palm Mortuary & Cemetery well before the funeral, with more than a dozen photographers and television journalists watching the scene. Inside, seven colorful paintings and three black-and-white drawings by Curtis stood on easels, while a photo of the young, dark-haired actor was

projected on a screen.

The coffin was draped with an American flag. Jamie Lee Curtis, Curtis’ daughter from his first marriage with “Psycho” actress Janet Leigh, teared up as she described a man who was, she said, “a little meshuga” — Yiddish for crazy-but always full of life. “All of us got something from him. I, of course, got his desperate need for attention,” she joked. The father and daughter were estranged for a long period but eventually reconciled.

Curtis took pride in his daughter’s on-screen credits, which include “Perfect,” “Halloween,” “True Lies” and the new comedy “You Again.” Rabbi Mel Hecht called

Schwarzenegger to the front of the room for an impromptu farewell.

The Austria native recalled Curtis as a generous mentor who encouraged Schwarzenegger’s budding Hollywood career when others told him his foreign accent and name were too much of a handicap.

Curtis, whose native Bronx accent initially earned him similar criticism, could sympathize.

“You are going to make it,” Schwarzenegger recalled Curtis telling him. “Don’t pay any attention to those guys. I heard the same thing when I came here.”

Schwarzenegger said Curtis refused to feel old. “I mean, who has the guts to take off their clothes

Jamie Lee Curtis walks by the casket of her father, Tony Curtis, after speaking at his funeral Monday, Oct 4, 2010, in Las Vegas. —AP

“D

In this April 17, 2006 file photo, John McTiernan, director of such hit movies as ‘Die Hard’ and ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,’ leaves federal court in Los Angeles. — AP

gator who represented many Hollywood stars. McTiernan, 59, was also fined $100,000 at the conclusion of the long-running case which stemmed from him hiring convicted sleuth Anthony Pellicano to wiretap a film producer after they both worked on the 2002 movie “Rollerball.”

McTiernan’s attorney Oliver Diaz said in a statement that the movie director was a victim of “prosecutorial vindictiveness” and planned to appeal his conviction. The film director initially lied to the FBI about his involvement with Pellicano, pleaded guilty in 2006, and then asked to withdraw his guilty plea saying he had received poor legal advice.

In 2009, he was indicted by a grand jury and pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements and one count of perjury.

“The defendant doesn’t think the law applies to him, and the court has no reason to believe he will not violate the law again when it suits him,” US District judge Dale S Fischer said on Monday, before sentencing McTiernan. Pellicano was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and wiretapping in 2008 and is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence. Diaz claimed that McTiernan had not been read his rights when first speaking with the FBI, nor being told he was the subject of an investigation.

“Mr McTiernan was forced to plead guilty to a crime most people don’t even know is a crime,” Diaz said. “Records in this case show that nearly every one contacted by this (FBI) agent denied knowledge of Pellicano’s activities, making statements similar to Mr McTiernan’s.” McTiernan, whose other movies include “The Hunt for Red October” and the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”, did not address the court at Monday’s sentencing hearing. —Reuters

burial and then a reception for more than 100 invited guests at the Luxor hotel-casino on the L as Vegas Strip.

Jill Curtis, who Curtis affectionately called Jillie, told The Associated Press her husband would have approved of the festive goodbye. “Tony didn’t like funerals,” she said. “He didn’t want to make it funeral-y, more like a celebration.” Known for his transformation from a pigeonholed pretty boy in the late 1940s and early ‘50s to a serious actor, Curtis reshaped himself over decades of work and made himself impossible to typecast. The metamorphosis was completed in 1957’s “Sweet Smell of Success,” in which he played a sleazy press agent manipulated by a ruthless newspaper columnist (Burt Lancaster).

In person, Curtis loved giving friends and fans extra touches that made their face-to-face moments more memorable, longtime friend and pallbearer Gene Kilroy told the AP. “He had a certain way of making everybody feel like they were Spartacus,” Kilroy said. Kilroy, an executive at Luxor, said billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, actor Kirk Douglas and singer Phyllis McGuire were among seven honorary pallbearers. Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in 1925, the son of Hungarian Jews who emigrated to the United States after World War I. His father, Manny Schwartz, yearned to be an actor, but work was hard to find with his heavy accent. He instead became a tailor, relocating the family repeatedly as he sought work. —AP

British comic actor Norman Wisdom dies aged 95

By Sam Reeves

B

‘Die Hard’ director Mc Tiernan gets year in prison ie Hard” director John McTiernan was sentenced to one year in prison on Monday for perjury and lying to officials in a wiretapping case involving a former private investi-

at the age of 80?” Schwarzenegger said, recalling Curtis’ naked photo shoot in Vanity Fair in 2005. Curtis’ sixth wife, Jill Curtis, eulogized her husband of 12 years. She recalled how he easily dismissed their 45year age difference when friends asked if he was worried about keeping up with a younger wife. “Well, if she dies, she dies,” she said her husband would deadpan in reply.

She recalled his simple loves: Krispy Kreme doughnuts, his dog and white clothes. She urged family and friends to dwell not on his death, but on his extraordinary life.

“He was, as one fan put it, a oncein-a-lifetime man,” she said.

The funeral was followed by the

Faith Evans busy with music, TV ventures

F

aith Evans is a pragmatistwhile she’s hard at work promoting her new album, she’s also outlining a book, promoting a line of hair-care products, shooting a pilot for a reality show and developing a TV sitcom.

“Music is still the huge love of my life,” Evans says. “It’s a fun business, but the checks don’t come as regularly. And when they do, they’re not always the same amount,” she adds with a laugh.

“I’m taking advantage of all the revenue streams I can.”

Those streams also include Prolific Music Group, Evans’ imprint through which she will release her sixth album, “Something About Faith,” distributed by eOne Music. The Oct 5 project marks the singer’s return after a five-year hiatus and 15 years since her first album, “Faith.” Anthemic love ballad

“Gone Already” is the new set’s lead single, which is No. 39 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Evans, a former Al B Sure! and Christopher Williams backup singer, launched her career in 1995 when she became the first female artist signed to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment.

The Grammy Award winner and widow of hip-hop icon the Notorious BIG recorded three platinum albums- including “Keep the Faith” and “Faithfully”-before seguing to Capitol in 2003 for two more albums: gold-certified “The First Lady” and “A Faithful Christmas.”

Personnel changes at Capitol and a fourth pregnancy prompted Evans’ five-year break and the launch of her other pursuits. Jump-starting her nonmusical endeavors was her best-selling 2008 autobiography, “Keep the Faith.”—Reuters

ritish comic actor Norman Wisdom, famous for his slapstick film roles in his trademark cloth cap and ill-fitting jacket, died Monday at the age of 95, his family said.

Wisdom passed away in a nursing home on the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea off Britain’s northwest coast, after suffering a series of strokes in recent months. His family paid tribute to a “much loved father and grandfather.”

“Over the last six months Norman has sustained a series of strokes causing a general decline in both his physical and mental health,” said a family statement.

His condition rapidly declined over the past few days and he died at 6:46 pm (17:46 GMT), they said.

Wisdom rose to stardom with a series of films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as “A Stitch in Time” and “Trouble in Store”, which usually involved his cheery clothcapped “Gump” character as an underdog battling adversity. He appeared in 19 films and 32 television comedy series and the actor’s extraordinary comic talents prompted Charlie Chaplin to call Wisdom his “favorite clown.”

The diminutive star had a poverty-stricken childhood but rose to become one of the country’s best-loved comics and received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. Although his audience was mainly British, he was a cult

figure in Albania where he was the only Western actor whose films were allowed in the country during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.

Tributes poured in for the actor late Monday.

Johnny Mans, his agent for more than 30 years, told the BBC: “It’s absolutely devastating. I thought he’d go on until he was at least 100 and get his telegram from the Queen. “He was not only a

said Day. “Of all the artists I’ve ever worked with, he’s been the closest. It’s a sad day.”

He admitted the star could be “unpredictable”, adding: “Whatever he said, you had to look for the tongue in the cheek to see if he was serious.” Born Norman Wisden on February 4, 1915, he had a tough upbringing in London.

His parents, a chauffeur and a dressmaker, divorced when

British comedian Norman Wisdom points out to American film actress Shirley MacLaine, the Duke of Edinburgh’s name on a record sleeve, at a record launch in London, in this Dec 2, 1961 file photo. —AP client, he was my best friend.” Phil Day, who had been Sir Norman’s publicist since 1969, paid tribute to him as a “lovely man.” “He never turned down any request. He never threw a tantrum. He was 100 percent professional all of the time,”

he was nine and he was brought up by his father. But money was often so short that Wisdom was forced to steal food. He left school at 13 and took a job as an errand boy and it was when he joined the army that he started acting. —AFP

SPECTRUM

38

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Fashion

Summer comes to Paris with Ungaro garden

By Emma Charlton

S

ummer came to town on Monday as Emanuel Ungaro’s new British designer threw a garden party in Paris, showcasing a high-society look that was all flowers, glitter and delicate lacework. Giles Deacon skipped the catwalk in favor of a live display, with models sipping champagne around a montage of flower-covered old cars-Beetles and a yellow camper van-with giant butterflies poking out the top. A whiff of the 1920s filled the vast glass venue, as models showed off black cocktail dresses of see-thru lace embroidery, with dangling crystal earrings and hair in a single rolled plait over the forehead.

Shiny black tweed shorts were paired with a longer jacket and sparkling black heels, while day-side there were short, embroidered dresses in pastel salmon or turquoise.

Fish-net tights for all, flowery or polka-dotted stilettos, puffed-out ostrich feathers on a head-dress, skirt or jacket, and the occasional pair of ornamental sunglasses finished off the look. For his first ready-to-wear line for the Paris fashion house, where he took over this summer, Deacon said he wanted to “reinterpret the sensuous, soft, vivaciousness that Mr Ungaro was known for.”

Intricate lace-work and embroidery provided the starting point, he said, and the garden party setting was a way to let “people see the workmanship, up front and close.” “I wanted it to be good fun, colorful-something a

For the office there were pastel suits that paired high-waisted pants with little polo tops, and for summer weekends McCartney offered roomy, navy silk trousers that created the illusion of denim.

Waistcoats covered the chest entirely, but left the back nude for what the designer dubbed an “understated sexiness”. And for cocktail time there were slinky silk all-in-ones that ended in a pleated skirt, or ample trousers slit right up the thigh.

McCartney’s summery citrus prints found an echo at French house Leonard where an elegant floral print theme was spelled out again and again on flowing dresses and skirts in pink, turqoise and yellow against navy or cream.

Sleeveless silk or jersey jumpsuits had deep V-necks at front and back, flowing into wide pants that swished on the floor, with maxi-dresses offering a variation on the look. Slinky, kimono-style navy pants were paired with silk cream tops, while a sandcolored raffia jacket was cinched at the waist with a rope belt, over a cream pencil skirt for a more urban look.

McCartney’s fellow Briton Hannah MacGibbon imagined her models as ballerinas, as she unveiled her new collection for Chloe, with pale-hued, chic dresses and pleated skirts, and camel drapes and minimalist overcoats.

White dresses in crepe or fluid jersey stopped at the knee, cinched with a simple knot at the waist, while pleated models reached down to midcalf. Hair was pulled into tight chignons as models stepped out in leotard-like tops scooped low in the

bit quirky.” In an extra twist, Deacon had career and non-professional models of different ages mingling on the indoor lawn-chatting to guests and plucking the odd macaroon from trays passed around the room. “I design for women. I’m not intent on designing for infants,” explained the designer, who called on personal friends including the fashion director of Vogue Japan, Anna Dello Russo, to model for him.

Deacon’s offbeat casting was the latest example of a trend seen at Balenciaga where Nicolas Ghesquiere hired non-professionals and a pregnant Miranda Kerr, and Jean Paul Gaultier who used plus-sized models.

At Stella McCartney, it was the British designer herself-heavily pregnant with her fourth child-who set the tone for a line based on denim and citrus prints, blowing a summery breeze through what was a wet, rainy day outside.

A denim effect was tailored into bermuda shorts, polo shirts and wide pants that fell below the knee, while a bright-colored fruit print was splashed into a long, white pleated silk skirt.

back. A dress was slit down the back and up the legs, revealing a pair of shorts just as mini-shorts and skirts were overlaid with petticoats in tulle or the finest of mousselines. —AFP

See n `ext pa ge for more pi ctur es..

party

Models present creations by British designer Giles Deacon for Emmanuel Ungaro during the Spring/Summ er 2011 ready-to-wear collection show on October 4, 2010 in Paris.

—AFP photos

British designer Giles Deacon stands among models as he acknowledges the public after the Emmanuel Ungaro Spring/Summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection show on October 4, 2010 in Paris.

SPECTRUM

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

39

Fashion

at Yves Saint Laurent

By Emma Charlton

Seriously sexy

R

azor-sharp tailoring versus playful big bows, sturdy fabrics versus ultra-fine silks: designer Stefano Pilati walked a line between stern and sexy with his summer look for Yves Saint Laurent on Monday. Top model Claudia Schiffer and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood were among the celebrities who took their places under the ornate ceilings of a private Paris mansion as the venerable house unveiled its ready-to-wear look for summer 2011. Giant bows sat at the nape or across the back, there were reefer jackets and jumpsuits, rawlooking fabrics and see-thru mousselines as Pilati reworked several of the late couturier’s classic motifs.

Saint Laurent’s classic colors-black, white, sand-also ruled the palette, along with touches of rich orange or bronze green, for a look both sensual and slightly austere.

Lips glossed carmine red and hair scraped back into tight chignons, the models strode confidently in platform shoes and office-ready sleeveless skirt-and-jacket suits in black or white. Bouncy, frilled skirts came in magenta, blue and orange on black, while a deep orange blouse had bouffant sleeves and a see-thru panel across the shoulder-blades, offsetting a black A-line skirt and wedge shoes.

For evening there was a sheer, frilled turquoise dress, a deep blue silk jumpsuit with shimmering jodphur-like pants, or pantsuits like reworked tuxedos which had a light, skittish feel. A far cry from Saint Laurent’s bourgeois chic, a trio of British designers blew a summery breeze into town earlier, with Giles Deacon showcasing a look for Emanuel Ungaro that was all flowers, glitter and delicate lacework. Deacon skipped the catwalk in favor of a garden party display, with models sipping champagne around a montage of flowercovered old cars-Beetles and a

British musician Paul McCartney and US Nancy Shevell arrive for the Spring/Summer 2011 ready-towear collection show of McCartney’s daughter, British designer Stella McCartney, on October 4, 2010 in Paris.

yellow camper van-with giant butterflies poking out the top.

A whiff of the 1920s filled the vast glass venue, as models showed off black cocktail dresses of see-thru lace embroidery. Shiny black tweed shorts were paired with a longer jacket and sparkling black heels, while day-side there were short, embroidered dresses in pastel salmon or turquoise. Fish-net tights for all, dangling crystal earrings, polka-dotted stilettos, puffed-out ostrich feathers on a head-dress, skirt or jacket, and the odd pair of ornamental sunglasses finished off the look.

For his first ready-to-wear

and non-professional models of different ages mingling on the indoor lawn-chatting to guests and nibbling at the odd macaroon. “I design for women. I’m not intent on designing for infants,” he explained. Ungaro’s offbeat casting was the latest example of a trend seen at Balenciaga where Nicolas Ghesquiere hired non-professionals and a

navy silk pants that fell below the knee, while the bright-colored fruit print was splashed into a long, white pleated silk skirt.

For the office there were pastel suits that paired highwaisted pants with little polo tops. Waistcoats covered the chest entirely, but left the back nude for what the designer dubbed an “understated sexiness”. And fellow Briton Hannah MacGibbon imagined her models as ballerinas, as she unveiled her new collection for Chloe, built around pale-hued chic dresses and pleated skirts, and drapes and minimalist overcoats in camel.

Models present creations by Italian designer Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent during the Spring/Summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection show on October 4, 2010 in Paris. —AFP photos

line for the house, where he took over this summer, Deacon said he wanted to “reinterpret the sensuous, soft, vivaciousness that Mr Ungaro was known for.”

Intricate lace-work and embroidery provided the starting point, he said, and the garden party setting was a way to let “people see the workmanship, up front and close.”

“I wanted it to be good fun, colorful-something a bit quirky.” Deacon had career

pregnant Miranda Kerr, and Jean Paul Gaultier who used plussized models. At Stella McCartney, it was the British designer herself-heavily pregnant with her fourth child-who set the tone for a line based on denim and citrus prints. Her denim effect was tailored into bermuda shorts, polo shirts or roomy,

White dresses in crepe or fluid jersey stopped at the knee, cinched with a simple knot at the waist, while pleated models reached down to mid-calf. Hair was pulled into tight chignons as models stepped out in leotard-like tops scooped low in the back.

A dress was slit down the back and up the legs, revealing a pair of shorts just as mini-shorts and skirts were overlaid with petticoats in tulle or the finest of summer mousselines. —AFP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Safir Marina Hotel welcomes brides and grooms to

second wedding exhibition KUWAIT: Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait hosted its second wedding exhibition this year at The Salwa Sabah Al -Ahmed Theatre and Hall.

The exhibition which featured Kuwait’s leading suppliers and services necessary for a perfect wedding saw a large number of visitors. All brides and grooms to-be explored the exciting offers from haute couture fashion, venue decor, accessories, floral designs, wedding cakes, jewellery to photography and chocolatier’s.

The exhibition which was held from 29th September to 1st October was open to the public from 10.00 am till 10.00 pm. It featured more than 20 professional Kuwaiti exhibitors displaying their outstanding collection of beautiful bridal must-haves, including elegant Haute Couture; stylish accessories and make-up; Kushas and essential decorations; in addition to a striking selection of flower arrangements; chocolates and cakes; DJs; plus light and sound.

Extraordinary packages for exciting honeymoon trips top the list as well. Visitors flocked to seek advice and gather inspiration from the demonstrations that took place throughout the day.

Customized wedding packages, including astounding Royal Suites and embellished wedding cakes with a personalized touch to reflect every couple’s unique taste were also available. The exhibition provided a great opportunity for suppliers involved in the wedding industry, they showcased their latest products and services and met prospective clients. Brides-to-be as well as women who enjoy fashion and beauty, had the opportunity to shop for everything they needed for their wedding celebration.

Jan Verduyn, General Manager of Safir Marina Hotel Kuwait said “We are heartened by the positive response received once again this season from the residents who came in large numbers. We are always eager to help couples with distinctive packages that plat formed absolutely everything for a perfect wedding allowing them to select all their necessities for their big day with total peace of mind.”

The Salwa Sabah Al -Ahmed Theatre and Hall with its magnificent seaside location and spacious car park is fully equipped with the latest technologies and facilities and can accommodate upto 1500 people.

In this publicity image provided by Warner Home Video, an artwork for a new movie “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown” is shown. —AP

As ‘Peanuts’ turn 60,

Schulz family plans future G

ood grief, Charlie Brown. The world has certainly changed since the Peanuts were born.

In 60 years, the US sent a man to the moon, survived the Cold War and now has one of the worst economic funks in decades. All that time, Charles Schulz’s imaginary gang has been a fixture of newspaper funny pages and grainy holiday TV specials.

Now, his family is working to keep Snoopy, Lucy and the rest alive for generations to come. A handful of new projects is in the works. The first new animated film in five years is set for release next spring called “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.” ABC just signed on for five more years of airing Charlie Brown holiday specials.

A new social media game began on Facebook and Twitter last month to “Countdown to the Great Pumpkin,” and the comic strip has made its way to a popular gaming website for millions of children. Jean Schulz, center, widow of Charles

Schulz, rubs noses with Snoopy, in front of a portrait of Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz, by photographer Yousuf Karsh, Friday, Oct 1, 2010, National Portrait Gallery in Washington, during a ceremony where the portrait was presented to the gallery. Estrellita Karsh, wife of the photographer is at right.

The character “Snoopy” plays at kicking an imaginary football next to cartoons and a portrait of Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz, by photographer Yousuf Karsh, during the portrait’s installation in the National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, on Friday, Oct 1, 2010. The enduring appeal is no surprise, said Lee Mendelson, who produced the Peanuts films with Schulz for more than 40 years. Schulz had said “there’s always going to be a market for innocence in this country,” Mendelson said Friday as a photograph of Schulz at his drawing board was hung at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in recogni-

tion of his impact on the nation.

Schulz died in 2000.

“The innocence and the humor that he brought, I think, helped us as a nation through many bad times,” Mendelson said. Peanuts comics, which first appeared in 1950 in the St Paul Pioneer Press, still appear in 2,200 newspapers in 75 different countries. Newspaper publisher E W Scripps Co sold the licensing unit that controls “Peanuts” and other comics in April to Iconix Brand Group Inc - a licensing company partially owned by the Schulz family - for $175 million.

Jeannie Schulz, the cartoonist’s widow, said she often hears from people at the Charles M Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif, about how well the characters reflect their own feelings. That may be a key to the Peanuts’ longevity, she said. “Reading Peanuts got people through really tough times in their childhoods,” she said. “I think it’s mirroring their feelings that life is tough, knowing somebody else is in the same boat as they -

and yet having hope.”

A new book out later this month called “The Peanuts Collection” will trace the comic strip’s history and how it evolved over time. Jeannie Schulz said the genius came from her husband’s commonsense, Midwest upbringing as the son of a barber in Minnesota who learned to tell stories in his own way. Schulz taught Sunday school and was proud to be a dad. He had an introverted take on the world, and yet was observant of everything around him, she said. “Until people change. Until they take a pill to become perfect people and all have perfectly balanced personalities ... I think he’s given them a touchstone,” she said. “He’s given them something to let them know that they’re all right.” Fantagraphics Books Inc is producing a series of volumes - each with two years worth of Peanuts comics - to let fans read the strip every day. On Oct 14, the Peanuts cast also will launch a new “Great Pumpkin Island” on Poptropica, a

popular game website for millions of tweens who may be less familiar with Charlie Brown and his friends. And the Peanuts gang has come to life online with Flash-animated comics.

Next year’s film will feature new animations created by a team involving Charles Schulz’s son, Craig, and “Pearls Before Swine” cartoonist Stephan Pastis. Even with the more modern trappings, though, the animations have maintained their simplistic roots. Jeannie Schulz has said in the past that computer-generated “Peanuts” characters just wouldn’t quite look right.

Before establishing a permanent place in Washington with the portrait unveiled last week, Schulz brought his characters to the Smithsonian in 1985 for a visit for a TV series called “This is America, Charlie Brown.”

Lucy marveled at seeing a comic strip with their names on a museum wall, and Charlie Brown found his name and Snoopy’s on the Apollo 10 capsules at the space museum. —AP

Street kids inspire art to fund youth programs

By Ashleigh Patterson

T

Jon Stewart lampoons fired CNN host Rick Sanchez

J

on Stewart gleefully struck back at the former CNN host who was fired after calling him a bigot. In his opening spot on Monday night’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart told his Comedy Central audience that, after taping last Thursday’s edition, he had heard Rick Sanchez interviewed on a radio program. “I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot,” Sanchez was heard declaring

This undated photo from the biography section of CNN’s website, shows former CNN news anchor Rick Sanchez.—AP in the taped replay. “Omigod!”

Stewart glowed from his anchor desk.

“Rick Sanchez knows my name!”

Stewart replayed another excerpt from the radio interview where Sanchez sneered, “I’m so glad that (Stewart) grew up in a suburban middle-class New Jersey home with

everything that you could ever imagine.”

Grinning slyly, Stewart said Sanchez “really nailed what it was like growing up in central Jersey in the early ‘70s, the fortunate son of a single mother in the education field.”

Then, after playing back the portion of the interview where Sanchez questioned whether Jews should be considered an oppressed minority, Stewart, who is Jewish, acknowledged that had made him angry. He was angry, he explained, because “The Daily Show,” which doesn’t tape on Fridays, couldn’t make sport of Sanchez’s outbursts until Monday — “and there’s no way this cat survives the weekend at CNN.” Stewart was right, of course.

By Friday afternoon, CNN had announced Sanchez was “no longer with the company.” Sanchez, who was born in Cuba and had worked at CNN since 2004, was host of the two-hour “Rick’s List” on CNN’s afternoon lineup. He had done a prime-time version of that show in recent months but lost that time slot as CNN prepared to launch a new show featuring former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and columnist Kathleen Parker. It premiered Monday.

Several times in the past, Stewart had poked fun on the air at Sanchez and what Stewart called “his extremely pokeable show.” Another poke on Monday: Stewart played cleverly edited clips of Steve Carell as foolish boss Michael Scott from “The Office” interspersed with strikingly similar real-life clips of Sanchez chatting up CNN co-workers. “Carell is leaving ‘The Office’ (after this season), NBC is looking to replace him,” trilled Stewart. “Sanchez is available!” —AP

“The Malvagna Triptych”, 1513-1515 by the Netherlandish artists Jan Gossart and Gerard David on display in the exhibition “Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance” October 4, 2010 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The first major exhibition in 45 years devoted to Gossart (ca 1478-1532) who is most often credited with successfully assimilating Italian Renaissance style into northern European art of the early 16th century. —AFP

Filipino flight safety demo is YouTube hit

By Jim Gomez

F

light attendants for a low-cost Philippine airline who dance to Lady Gaga to keep passengers from snoozing through an in-flight safety demonstration are the latest YouTube sensation. A video of stewardesses performing a choreographed routine aboard a Cebu Pacific flight last week to demonstrate safety procedures has received more than 6.5 million hits after being posted on the popular video sharing website. The Manila-based airline, known for holding party games and singing contests on its low-fare domestic and Asian flights, said Tuesday it resorted to dancing stewardesses to draw more passenger attention to its in-flight safety reminders.

“People hardly pay attention to the safety demo on the ground,” Cebu Pacific Vice President for marketing Candice Iyog said. “The airline was very thrilled with the outcome.” Three stewardesses in pastel shirts and khaki skirts danced

away to Lady Gaga’s hit “Just Dance” along a narrow A-320 passenger cabin aisle last Thursday to teach passengers emergency procedures in case of severe turbulence or a water landing.

A passenger on the one-hour flight from Manila to southern Butuan province recorded the spectacle and uploaded it to YouTube. The video drew acclaim and criticisms. “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest was impressed and included the video on his website.

But a group of flight attendants from the flag-carrier Philippine Airlines frowned on the in-flight show, saying it was demeaning and undignified. Leftwing legislator Teddy Casino said that while the dance routine may have captured passenger attention “it was obviously difficult to intently listen and hear the safety instructions because of the loud music.” But the airline was elated and has decided to continue the flight show. “We’d like to spread the culture of fun-and safety,” Iyog told The Associated

Press. Crew members do regular preflight safety demonstrations-then follow up with the musical version when the plane reaches cruising altitude, she said.

In the video, the flight crew members are shown dancing animatedly while donning yellow life vests and oxygen masks and blowing emergency whistles. They turn around and spread their arms to point to emergency exits.

At show’s end, the passengers erupt into applause. It is not the first time an unusual Philippine dance routine has proved a hit on the Internet. Several years ago, the central Cebu provincial prison warden organized hundreds of inmates to dance to Michael Jackson’s songs. Prison officials and organizers said the project was part of efforts to increase attendance at exercise sessions and help prepare inmates for release.

Since it first appeared in 2007, the jail dance video has recorded 44.5 million hits and turned the little-known jail into a tourist attraction. — AP

hirty six photographs from a unique collaboration between award-winning photographers and young street survivors will be sold at auction this month to help fund educational programs for youth workers. The third annual Drawn to Develop auction in Toronto on Oct 14 will feature original prints and mixed-media images.

Profits from the sale will go to Street Kids International a nonprofit agency based in Toronto and London that provides financial literacy programs, advocacy and health education. The sale includes original works by Yuri Dojc, one of Canada’s most celebrated photographers, Raphael Mazzucco, Walter Chin and others.

“We’re working up to getting the right audience in the room in order for the bidding price for the prints to be even close to their value,” said Jo Cutajar, co-creator and executive director of Drawn to Develop. Organizers hope to double the amount from last year when the auction raised nearly $35,000. “Bidding wars are always expected,” said Teiji Ishi, the photographer who produced the highest-selling print for two consecutive years.

Creative collaboration Drawn to Develop invites professional photographers and photojournalists to create one original image inspired by the hand-made drawings by young people who have worked with Street Kids International in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal. “We get a picture, drawn by a youth from somewhere around the world and it comes with a quote about where they’re from, a little bit about their story and why they drew the picture. That’s pretty much all we get,” Ishi explained.

There are no restrictions on how the drawings are interpreted by the photographers, who pay for production costs, including set design, staging, staffing and image processing. Despite the high price tag, Drawn to Develop gets an enthusiastic response from photographers in Canada and abroad.

“It hits you pretty deep and it’s not something that you can just ignore. Usually it takes getting the actual drawing for the photographers to be really engaged. We have so many photographers who have emailed me saying, “Can I come on board for next year?’ but we’re capped out,” he said. Proceeds from the auction are earmarked for innovative projects.

“Street Kids’ approach is not a personal aid approach where each kid is given $5 or something of that nature,” Cutajar said. “Instead, they create programs to educate youth workers around the world so that those youth workers are better equipped to teach the kids that they’re working with.” Training programs focus on entrepreneurship, savings strategies and identifying sources of capital. Last summer the program started in mineral-rich Sierra Leone where it explored alternative ways for youth miners to generate income. “We train the trainer,” said Aruna Aysola, director of fund development and communications at Street Kids International, which has helped more than 2 million children in about 60 countries since 1988. “What makes our programs unique is they are almost like mini MBA’s,” Aysola added. — Reuters