30 Jul

IO N IPT SC R SU B

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Mystery surrounds Libya general’s murder

No: 15165

SHAABAN 29, 1432 AH

Egypt Islamists rally in show of strength

England collapse against India in second Test

150 Fils

44 7Qaeda chief 8 wants Saudi leaders dead Saudi rulers slammed as ‘apostates’

DUBAI: Al-Qaeda’s military leader in Yemen called for Saudi rulers to be killed as “apostates,” in an audio tape released yesterday, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

“To the scholars ... of the family of Saud ... I say to you, your King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and his crown prince, his interior minister and his son Mohammed, are considered by us to be apostates and must be killed,” said Qassim Al-Rimi. In the almost seven-minute tape, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander said Saudi authorities had arrested a group of women who had protested outside the interior ministry on February 5 to call for the release of relatives.

“In the north of the country and its south there are wounded women who are requesting the release of their sons and daughters from the prisons of oppression,” said Rimi, according to the English translation provided by SITE. Saudi authorities “tricked them by putting them into buses in order to meet the criminal (Deputy Interior Minister Prince) Mohammed bin Nayef in order to release their captives, then they dragged them to prisons to remain there for more than 10 days,” he said.

Witnesses said in February that women, men and children asked to meet with ministry officials to call for the release of family members. Those detained were arrested in 2003-2004 at the height of a security sweep against Al-Qaeda suspects during a wave of attacks on oil installations and foreign targets in the Gulf kingdom. “Here we say to our sisters and mothers, we promise you that we will achieve victory for your chastity and purity, and that any hand that was extended at you should be cut off,” said Rimi.— AFP

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SAAR: Bahraini women shout anti-government slogans during a protest march that drew tens of thousands of opposition supporters yesterday in Saar, Bahrain, passing in front of a billboard for a summer cultural festival. — AP

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Bahrain’s opposition slams dialogue report DUBAI: Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition formation slammed the national dialogue’s recommendations submitted to King Hamad, saying they do not represent its demands or the will of the people.

The conclusions of the dialogue carried “none of our demands” and “the dialogue does not represent the will of the people,” the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq) said in a statement posted on its page on social networking website Facebook. Al-Wefaq reiterated its demands for an “elected government,” an “elected parliament which has full legislative powers,” and a “fair and independent judicial system” in the Shiite-majority Gulf nation. The national dialogue, which began early this month, was aimed at discussing reforms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom which was rocked by Shiite-led protests from mid-February to mid-March. But the dialogue “might contribute in complicating the political crisis,” Al-Wefaq said.

50 dead in shipwreck KINSHASA: At least 50 people drowned and some 35 are reported missing after a boat accident on a river in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Equateur province government said yesterday. The vessel, which was wrecked late Tuesday, was carrying at least 200 passengers and “up to yesterday (Thursday) we counted 115 survivors and 50 bodies fished from the water with difficulty,” the government spokeswoman said.

“The others are certainly lost or were dragged down by the water.”

The large motorized barge, which was also carrying goods, collided during the night with another boat, which was empty, on the Tshuapa River, 115 kilometers east of the provincial capital Mbandaka, spokeswoman Rebecca Ebale Nguma said. “The boat’s manifesto indicated that 200 people were on board, but some of the survivors say there were about 350 people,” Nguma added.

Syria forces kill four protesters DAMASCUS: Security forces shot dead at least four civilians and wounded dozens more as thousands of Syrians gathered yesterday to call for regime change and to chide world powers for inaction in the face of a brutal crackdown. Responding to a call under the slogan “Your silence is killing us,” the protesters emerged from mosques in cities around the country, rights activists said. At least 50,000 people turned out in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor to honor four people killed there on Thursday, and an estimated 300,000 attended the funerals of three of them, said Sami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Security forces shot dead one young man as protesters there were returning to their homes, Abdel Rahman said. In Latakia, he said “a young man was killed and several others injured by gunfire from security forces who tried to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a square.”

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Imam suspensions issue escalates in Kuwait Govt’s weak stance under fire

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Islamic activist Mohammad Al-Awadhi recently visited Egypt’s Children’s Cancer Hospital. During the visit, hospital director Dr Sharif Abu Al-Naja lauded Kuwait’s contributions to the facility, which he said are amongst the largest donations received since it first opened in 2007. Also present during Al-Awadhi’s tour of the prestigious hospital was Dr Mansour Sarkhoush, Kuwait’s Medical Attache in Egypt.

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (MAIA) has suspended one imam permanently, and three others for periods ranging between three and six months after they addressed the unrest in Syria in recent ‘khutba’ sermons at their mosques. The suspensions were announced by a senior ministry insider speaking anonymously, who indicated that the three imams suspended temporarily include Nabil Al-Awadhi and Walid Al-Tarrad, whose suspensions were announced previously, triggering angry reactions, especially among Islamist MPs. In the wake of the latest reports, members of the parliamentary Development and Reform Bloc (DRB) have further escalated their criticism of Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Mohammad Al-Noumas, with MP Dr Faisal Al-Mislem submitting a number of parliamentary questions to the minister concerning the regulations used against the imams accused of violating the ministry’s so-called ‘mosques charter.’

Warning that he is willing to “hold [the minister] accountable” over the issue, Dr. Al-Mislem criticized the “government’s weak stance” on what he referred to as questionable activities by the Syrian ambassador to Kuwait. “[The ambassador] records seminars and

speeches, then uses them to make official complaints with the foreign ministry, as well as to file lawsuits threatening media outlets,” Al-Mislem claimed.

Another MP, Jamaan Al-Harbish, warned Al-Noumas against such “hasty decisions,” which the lawmaker alleged are “influenced by individuals within the ministry who try to put [the minister] at odds with the parliament”. Al-Harbish called upon Al-Noumas to “immediately end the unprecedented steps taken against imams who only spoke out against the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime against their people.” The MP further described the suspension of some imams as “clear partiality in favor of [Syria’s] Baath regime.”

On a separate issue, another parliamentarian, Dr. Daifullah Buramia, said that suspending work at the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port would be “an insult to Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people,” going as far as to demand that the Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait be expelled, and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Baghdad recalled.

Skepticism has been voiced by a number of Iraqi politicians over the major port project that Kuwait is building on the eastern coast of Boubyan Island, a number of kilometers away from Iraq’s sole outlet to the Arabian

Gulf where the administration in Baghdad plans to build a major port of its own.

Many lawmakers and activists in Iraq have demanded that Kuwait suspend work on the project in order to hold more discussions, while Kuwait insists that not only is the port being built within Kuwaiti borders, but that Baghdad had been consulted and made aware of the benefits that the new facility will bring to Iraq’s trade activity.

“The Kuwaiti government is at a crossroads: either protect the dignity of the Kuwaiti people and the sovereignty of their country, or slow down [on the project] and insult the dignity of the nation and its people,” said Buramia on Thursday.

The MP’s statement follows a recent news report in which a senior government official reportedly claimed that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense (MoD) has provided troops to guard the area around the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port site.

In Baghdad, Ali Al-Musawi, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s media consultant, insisted that his country “seeks to solve all problems through bilateral dialogue”, adding that “Baghdad sees cooperation with Kuwait as the only way to solve the [Mubarak Al-Kabeer port] issue.”

Health officials request GCC meeting on drug price unification KUWAIT: Senior Kuwaiti Ministry of Health (MoH) executives have reportedly requested an urgent meeting of the executive committee of GCC health ministers to discuss the unification of drug prices.

The move comes just after health minister Dr Helal Al-Sayer issued a directive on medicine prices for the next financial year, explained MoH Undersecretary Dr. Omar Al-Sayyed Omar, with the minister and other exec-

utives keen to unify the prescription drugs’ prices based on their cost on arrival in the GCC countries.

One MoH insider suggested that the problems faced by the ministry’s drugs and medical supplies division are a ‘time bomb’ that could explode at any time.

The insider said that the department is guilty of numerous transgressions, including poor stocktaking, overstocking of some materials, and apparently random purchasing and stocking deci-

GCC citizens flood Kuwait for free food

Info officials reject ‘too low’ payments KUWAIT: A group of Ministry of Information personnel has refused to accept the payments allocated by the Ministry of Finance for their work on helping organize the celebrations for the country’s major national anniversaries in February this year, insisting that the amount is too little compared to the efforts they made.

According to an information ministry insider, the disgruntled staff, members of the media team which worked during the national celebrations, are unhappy at the news that the allowances which they have been awaiting for their work will not exceed KD70 for managerial staff or KD30 for all others.

They are reportedly refusing the payments offered and holding out for more, especially since staff at other state bodies received considerably more for their work during the national celebrations. — Al-Jarida

KUWAIT: Kuwait is taking new measures in granting subsidized food free of charge to citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, in order to ensure that only those residents in Kuwait are taking advantage of the state’s generosity.

According to one senior official, tens of thousands of other GCC nationals have arrived in Kuwait since the government started giving away free food to Kuwaitis as directed by an Amiri grant coinciding with the major national anniversaries in February of this year, in order to obtain their share of free food before returning to their home countries.

The grant is open to all residents of Kuwait who are regularly entitled to purchasing basic food items at subsidized prices, which includes Kuwaitis, GCC nationals and, most recently, bedoon (stateless) residents.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official further indicated that the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) has reached agreement with the embassies of some other GCC countries on criteria for obtaining the free food which stipulate that any national of those countries wishing to do so must have stayed in Kuwait for three consecutive months before their Kuwaiti civil ID is renewed in order to qualify. — Al-Rai

sions. The insider explained that in the old days when a hospital or other medical facility requested 500 bottles or boxes of a certain drug, 350 would be delivered since this was felt to reflect the actual consumption rate; now, however, the insider continued, the opposite is the case, with an order for 500 items resulting in 1,000 of them being delivered in order to get rid of some of the massive stock surplus and to make space for new purchases. — Al-Anba

Deported Egyptian protesters demand apology KUWAIT: A group of Egyptian nationals who were deported from Kuwait last year after holding a gathering in support of potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammad ElBaradei, plan to hold a sit in in front of the Kuwaiti Embassy in Giza to protest at what they call Kuwait’s “lack of cooperation” with their demands, which include a formal apology as well as financial compensation for what they believe was “a wrong decision made in favor of the previous [Egyptian] regime.” The group were deported following their arrest last year for violating Kuwait’s public gatherings law which is especially strict in forbidding demonstrations held by non-Kuwaitis. “The deportation violates all international regulations and United Nations charters which protect the rights of expatriate labor forces,” said Mes’ed Hassan, one of the deportees, adding, “We haven’t done anything against Kuwait...our meeting was to discuss an internal issue of Egypt and we made sure that we didn’t violate the law.” Speaking in Cairo on Thursday, Hassan continued, “The Kuwaiti government favored the Egyptian regime at the time, and we demand a formal apology for the loss of our rights sustained as a result of the deportation.” He indicated that the deportees plan to stage a protest march today (Saturday), walking from Tahrir Square to the Kuwaiti embassy where they plan to hold the sit-in. — Al-Rai

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MAIA mosques dept ready for Ramadan Holy month to begin on Monday KUWAIT: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs’ (MAIA) mosques department has completed its preparations to welcome the holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Monday. Ramadan, the most important event of the Islamic calendar, is marked by Muslims worldwide.

In Kuwait, special preparations particularly suited to local tradition are in place, with the MAIA’s mosques department beginning work on its preparations early, explained Walid Al-Shuaib, the Assistant Undersecretary for Mosque Affairs.

The senior official added that the uniquely important nature of the holy month means that particularly intensive preparations are required in order to complement the special atmosphere of devotion and spirituality.

The ministry takes particular care over these preparations in order to maintain public confidence in its ability to organize the necessary activities and programs for the period, said AlShuaib, adding that the ministry

strives constantly to develop and improve the quality of its performance and to ensure that all the arrangements are made in a timely manner.

He explained that the first step in the preparations was to call a meeting of the heads of the mosque department various divisions in order to coordinate on the provision of projects, activities and services during the holy month.

The mosques department has been carrying out maintenance and refurbishment work on 130 mosques which required renovation work to ensure they will be ready for the larger than usual number of worshippers seen during Ramadan, he revealed, as well as providing them with all the necessary support to achieve their goals during this special month.

Al-Shuaib further revealed that the department also provided large numbers of copies of the Holy Quran and prayer rugs to mosques to ensure there are enough for the increased number of worshippers expected.

Meanwhile, the ministry department also has 77 large marquees ready to erect beside some of the smaller mosques which may have insufficient space for the large number of worshippers or no special prayer areas for women, as well as submitting licensing applications for the temporary structures to Kuwait Municipality to ensure that the marquees are fully legal. Al-Shuaib added that large quantities of drinking water and juice will be distributed during the last ten days of Ramadan, especially to those mosques selected as centers of continuous worship for the last ten days of Ramadan, believed to be the most important part of the holy month, when many people pray constantly.

On the activities and programs organized by the department for the holy month, the senior MAIA official said that the department planned to repeat a number of the extremely popular and successful events it had organized in recent years. —Annahar

KTS slams ministry’s publications of underachieving teachers’ names

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: The Kuwait Teachers Society (KTS) has condemned the education ministry’s publication of the names of those teachers given ‘weak’ grades during evaluations.

In a statement released yesterday, the KTS said that the identification of these teachers was an extraordinary step and an insult to teachers generally, noting drily that it was ‘interesting’ that this had taken place during the tenure of an education minister, Ahmad Al-Mulaifi, who trained and worked as a lawyer rather than as a teacher. The society demanded that an investigation be launched into the matter and those responsible be held to account.

The KTS also asked the minister to take a firm stance towards what it said were repeated insults towards Kuwaiti teachers in particular, which it claimed had risen to unprecedented levels since he came to office. The teaching body suggested that as a legal figure, Al-Mulaifi should know better than most that the publication of such details violates both legal and professional ethics and that such issues should be dealt with in a confidential manner in order to preserve the reputation and standing of the teachers in question.

The society asserted that it is examining “the legal and ethical violations perpetrated by the [education] ministry in publishing the names” of those teachers with poor evaluation results with a view to legal action. It added that the teachers in question numbered 60 out of a total of 39,000, and underlined that it would oppose any attempt to harm the status of the teaching profession or its noble mis-

sion. Meanwhile, on another issue, the American Forces Command in Iraq announced yesterday that the Iraqi Navy and Kuwait Coastguards had just successfully concluded a joint training exercise in the Arabian Gulf. The exercise aimed to implement a coordinated response to the problems caused by illegal fishing in the territorial waters of some Gulf countries.

A statement issued on behalf of the US Forces in Southern Iraq said, “Iraq’s Navy said that the Kuwaiti Coastguard carried out the first joint training exercise in the Arabian Gulf waters with direct supervision and coordination with the American Navy.”

US Navy Captain Aaron Hove said the joint exercises are the result of efforts by the American consultative and training mission to retrain Iraqi naval personnel and strengthen naval cooperation between Iraq and Kuwait. The exercise should contribute to resolving problems that arise between the two countries because of illegal fishing, he added.

On another subject, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) announced yesterday that it has received a new batch of mobile power generators through a local company allied with an international firm. The new generators will be on standby during the month of Ramadan when consumption levels are expected to increase.

The generators valued at KD9 million in total, are currently being stored in Sabhan.

One MEW insider said that the ministry has prepared a number of working teams to install the generators when required, with each team comprising engineers, technicians and drivers.

Viewers vote against teen soap during Ramadan KUWAIT: A local TV station has announced that it will not broadcast a teenage soap opera about the lives of pupils at a Kuwaiti girls’ school after the majority of participants in an online poll voted against the show being broadcast.

Ever since Al-Watan TV announced its intention to broadcast the series, ‘High School Girls,’ a Dubai TV production focusing on the lives and problems of pupils at a girls’ school, during the holy month of Ramadan, the decision has garnered strong reactions demanding that the popular channel reconsider its choice. More than one Islamist MP demanded that the show be scrapped, fearing that the image it portrays of Kuwaiti female high school pupils would damage the real-life image of pupils and teachers at such schools.

In order to settle the matter, the Al-Watan media company, which owns the TV channel as well as AlWatan and Al-Watan Daily newspapers, ran a survey on its official website asking visitors whether or not they wanted the show to be broadcast as part of the channel’s Ramadan lineup. The company vowed to comply with the public’s wishes whichever way the vote went.

After the poll results issued on Thursday showed only 33 percent of respondents in favor of broadcasting the show during Ramadan, with an overwhelming 67 percent opposing the idea, the channel announced the same afternoon that the teen soap would be withdrawn from its Ramadan lineup. — Al-Watan

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Minister, rector differ over plans for 1,000 more KU students Admission problems continue KUWAIT: Kuwait University is to accept only 8,000 of the 11,200 applicants who submitted applications for university places before last Wednesday’s deadline, said Education Minister Ahmad Al-Mulaifi on Thursday.

Although the number matches that announced by the university earlier this month, the minister subsequently vowed last week to find places for at least 1,000 more new students at Kuwait’s sole state university, which has been struggling with student overcapacity problems for some years.

Kuwaiti envoy attends Lima ceremony LIMA: Upon His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s instructions, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Brazil Yousef Ahmad Abdulsamad represented the State of Kuwait in a ceremony held at Peruvian congress, on the occasion of former military commander Ollanta Humala holding his new post as president of Peru.

During a reception ceremony, held at the presidential palace in the Peruvian capital of Lima, the Kuwaiti envoy relayed HH the Amir’s congratulatory wishes to the new pres-

ident, wishing him success and prosperity.

The envoy also delivered similar greetings from HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah.

The ceremony was attended by a number of Latin American leaders, dignitaries and heads of Peruvian government.

Kuwaiti embassy in Brazil is also assigned to Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Cooperative Republic of Guyana. —KUNA

Speaking at a press conference held directly after the latest meeting of the KU administrative board, Al-Mulaifi asserted that 1,000 additional applicants will be accepted at the university in the second semester of the upcoming academic year, whilst the remaining Kuwaiti applicants will be provided with other study opportunities, either through places at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training’s (PAAET’s) facilities, or with scholarships for Kuwait-based or overseas private universities.

KU Rector Dr Abdullatif Al-Badr cast doubt on the minister’s plan for the university to admit a further 1,000 students in the second semester of the upcoming academic year, however, insisting that the 8,000 successful applicants will be the only ones admitted to the university throughout the whole of the next term.

On another issue, Al-Mulaifi also indicated during the press conference that the ban on coeducation, which has been blamed by many for exacerbating problems at KU, will

remain in place since the government has not yet addressed the possibility of lifting it.

Meanwhile, education is not just books and information memorized to be reuttered or rewritten, but is the conversion of values into behavior and practices, AlMulaifi said.

In statements on the sidelines of a ceremony held by the Scientific Center to honor 70 volunteers in the summer program for 2011 Thursday night, Al-Mulaifi added that the next generation will be an active partner in developing and writing the history of this nation.

“This generation gives us hope and makes us look to the future with optimism and shoulder us a great responsibility in creating the contingent atmosphere for it to work,” the minister noted.

He described the volunteer program as a true manifestation to the values of citizenship and patriotism.

“This nation deserves a lot,” he said, adding that the challenges facing Kuwait are huge and need a lot for hard work.

VIVA observes Morocco’s Throne Day KUWAIT: Kuwait Telecommunications Company VIVA, is continuing its support to different nationalities in Kuwait by celebrating their national holidays. Today and tomorrow, VIVA is celebrating the Kingdom of Morocco’s Throne Day. VIVA is having a two day celebration where prepaid customers have the opportunity to call Morocco for 50fils per minute after the third minute on their calls. VIVA continues to remain active in the aim to raise awareness of important worldly events, and will promote the celebration of each country’s national celebrations.

Additionally, VIVA customers are open to explore the existing Local and International Prepaid bundle, which offers customers calling minutes as well as SMS text messages at the best prices to both local and international destinations. Customers also have the ability to subscribe to the International SMS Add-On, which consists of 100 SMS Text messages to any international number for 500 fils, and can subscribe to this offer by SMS Texting the word “On” to 240.

The persistent perusal of customer satisfaction, recognition of diversity, and adhering to each customer’s needs is what creates endless

possibility in the world of VIVA. To find out more about VIVA’s numerous competitive promotions, products and packages visit any of the twelve VIVA branches or visit our website at www.viva.com.kw.

VIVA is the newest, most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider in Kuwait.

Launched in December 2008, VIVA makes things Possible for our customers by transforming communication, information and entertainment experiences. The company has rapidly established an unrivalled position in the market through our customer and employee centric approach. VIVA’s quest is to be the mobile brand of choice for Kuwait by being transparent, engaging, energetic and fulfilling.

VIVA continues to take a considerable share of the market by offering an innovative range of best value products, services and content propositions; a state of the art, nationwide network and world-class service. VIVA offers Internet speed up to 21.6Mbps due to the implementation of the most advanced third generation (3G and HSDPA) network in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, performance and reliability.

‘Sky lantern campaign’ launched to raise awareness of bedoons’ plight KUWAIT: A group of bedoon (stateless) residents in Jahra was set yesterday evening to release a number of sky lanterns into the skies over the area in a gesture to draw public attention to the longstanding and continuing problems facing the country’s bedoon population.

The group issued invitations on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites asking people to come along and participate in the awareness-raising event, which was set to take place at 8:30 PM last night in the square separating Blocks 2 and 3

in the Taima area of Jahra.

During the event, the organizers planned to release a large number of sky lanterns - delicate airborne paper lanterns containing a small candle or fuel cell.

Participants were asked particularly to bring red, orange and yellow lanterns, which offer brighter illumination, or balloons if no lanterns were available, in order to ensure that as many people as possible turned up to the event in order to help draw attention to bedoons’ plight. —Al-Rai

KUWAIT: NBK Executive Manager Consumer Banking Group, Khalid Al-Subaie receives the honoring trophy from the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate.

NBK sponsors Fire Service exhibition KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has sponsored the exhibition of the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate that has been held in the Avenues Mall recently.

NBK Executive Manager Consumer Banking Group, Khalid Al-Subaie stated: “Sponsoring and participating in the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate Exhibition is consistent with our endeavor to support public events and to effectively raise public awareness of the role of the firefighting force, and to increase public awareness of the fire hazards in Kuwait and how to avoid them. AlSubaie also commended the members of the Firefighting Force for their courage in fighting

fires and risking their lives to ensure the safety of others.

Al-Subaie stressed that NBK has consistently endeavored to sponsor, support and participate in such events and functions taking into consideration the added value it brings to clients in addition to the opportunities it provide to discuss and present the latest products and financing solutions devised

by NBK. “NBK is well set to prominently showcase its unique suite of consumer products and exclusive financing offers and financing solutions that are tailored to meet clients’ needs”, Al-Subaie added.

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KFAED projects ‘great hope’ for Lebanon HAMMANA: Head of Hammana Municipality Habib Rizk lauded yesterday Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) support to improve the infrastructural projects in Lebanon, which are considered “great hope” for the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of Hammana’s annual festival, Rizk said that KFAED contributed in building many infrastructural

projects, worth of more than one million Kuwaiti Dinars, such as Hammana’s health center.

He expressed appreciation to the people and leadership of Kuwait, especially to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for their “unprecedented help and support for establishing many developmental projects

in Lebanon.”

On tourism, Rizk noted that the number of tourists to Hammana has dropped by 20 percent due to unrest in the Arab region and Lebanon.

However, he said that Hammana festival was attended by a large number of tourists, especially from Kuwait.

Hammana festival includes many art

and folkloric performances from various Arab countries, antique car shows and heritage paintings. It also includes stalls related to real estate, tourism, commerce and foodstuff sectors.

Hammana is located 33 km from Beirut.

It is considered a tourist destination for Lebanese and Arabs because of its mild weather and natural scenery. — KUNA

Bedoon trio in custody for forging Hajj visas Asian’s body found in Shuwaikh KUWAIT: Detectives in Taima have arrested three bedoon (stateless) men accused of forging visas for fellow bedoons hoping to travel to Saudi Arabia as pilgrims for the upcoming Hajj. Jahra police launched an investigation into the men’s activities after receiving a tip off from an informant, before arresting the ringleader who admitted responsibility for the crimes before leading detectives to his two accomplices. All three have been referred to the relevant authorities.

Murder investigation A murder investigation has been launched after the body of an Asian man whose face had been disfigured was discovered near Canada Dry Street in Shuwaikh. Police and paramedics were quickly at the location, with the man being pronounced dead at the scene of a fatal head trauma inflicted by his attacker. The body was removed for autopsy and detectives are following up leads in the case.

Three fatal ODs Three young men died of drug overdoses in separate incidents in the Capital, Farwaniya and Ahmadi on Thursday. Drug paraphernalia was discovered beside each of the bodies, with paramedics concluding that the deaths were caused by overdoses. All three bodies were removed for autopsy and investigations are underway into each of the deaths.

Child death A police investigation is underway into the tragic death of a young American boy who died in a freak accident at his family’s home in Salwa.

Emergency services personnel rushed to the scene on receiving a call from the boy’s distraught parents, who explained that the boy had been playing with a skipping rope in his room, which had apparently become entangled around his neck when he accidentally fell off his bed, choking him to death. The child was pronounced dead at the scene and the body was removed for autopsy. An investigation is underway to verify the family’s account of events.

Lethal fall Police have launched an investigation into whether or not foul play was

involved in the death of a young man who fell from a height at an apartment block in Hasawi. Emergency services personnel rushed to the scene after receiving a report from shocked residents of the building who discovered the man’s body lying on the ground near the entrance.

Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene of the fatal injuries he sustained in the fall, with investigations suggesting that he fell from an apartment in the fifth floor of the building. The body was removed for autopsy.

Fatal hit-and-run A young Kuwaiti motorist was arrested shortly after he fled the scene following an incident in which he hit and fatally injured an Asian pedestrian with his car whilst driving down a street in Khaitan. Although paramedics were quickly at the accident site, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses who saw the callous driver speed away after hitting the pedestrian with his vehicle managed to note the car’s license plate number, giving it to police who used it to trace the driver and arrest him. The motorist admitted to being responsible for the incident, telling police that he had panicked and fled after accidentally hitting the victim.

The investigation is continuing.

Toddler saved A toddler was saved in the nick of time by paramedics’ swift action after being swept out to sea by strong currents whilst paddling at a beach on Gulf Street during a day out with her family. Family members managed to rescue the unconscious two-year-old girl from the water, finding that she had stopped breathing, and paramedics were quickly at the scene, administering CPR to resuscitate the infant before rushing her to the Amiri Hospital to recover.

Hacker thief held A lengthy police investigation led to the arrest of a greedy computer hacker who stole KD50,000 in total by hacking into other people’s accounts and transferring the money to his own account. After receiving complaints from a number of Kuwaiti and expatriate residents of money being stolen

from their accounts, police computer specialists traced the account transfers to a young Kuwaiti man with a previous history of similar crimes.

After being arrested in a police operation in Hawally and taken into custody, the young man initially denied responsibility for his crimes, but on being confronted with the ‘evidence trail’ proving his guilt he admitted carrying them out. He is currently remanded in custody pending trial.

Kidnapper in custody Police have arrested an Iraqi man accused of abducting a learning disabled Kuwaiti woman and taking her to the United Arab Emirates. An investigation was launched after members of the woman’s family visited their local police station at Taima to report her missing.

Detectives found that the woman had left the country in the suspect’s company shortly after her disappearance from the family home. On being notified that the man was again in Kuwait but was about to board a plane about to leave for the UAE, police apprehended him at the airport minutes before he was set to board and took him for questioning.

The man subsequently told officers that two weeks after travelling to the UAE with the missing woman on May 24, he had travelled with her to Tunisia where they were married.

After this, he explained, they returned to Sharjah in the UAE where he left her with his sister before returning to Kuwait. Kuwaiti authorities are coordinating with their Emirati counterparts to ensure the woman’s return to Kuwait.

KIA weapons find Security officers at Kuwait International Airport apprehended an Egyptian man about to leave for his homeland after discovering the dismantled parts of an automatic weapon in his luggage. The 30-yearold man was stopped just as he was about to board the plane and taken into custody. After interviewing the man, police visited the apartment which he shares here, finding four more Egyptian men and numerous dismantled AK47 semiautomatic machine guns.

—Al-Rai, Al-Anba, Al-Shahed

KUWAIT: The house in Ferdous area in which fire broke out yesterday.

Two children die in fire

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Two children, aged three and five, died from the effects of smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at their parents’ home in Ferdous.

Although Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh firefighters were quickly at the apartment and immediately removed the two unconscious children from the living room where the blaze first broke out before both were rushed to hospital, paramedics were unable to resuscitate them and both were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Speaking after the tragic incident, Lieutenant Colonel Khalil Al-Amir, the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate’s (KFSD’s) Public Relations Director, urged all residents, both Kuwaitis and expatriates, never to leave their children alone, even with nannies.

In order to prevent such senseless tragedies from recurring, it is imperative for householders to install smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in their homes, he stressed, adding that a smoke detector gives householders and others in the home early warning of any blaze and that if caught early enough blazes can be tackled with fire extinguishers.

MPW to announce Doha Spur contractor shortly KUWAIT: The director of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Bridge project Abdulkarim Sultan revealed on Thursday that the Ministry of Public Works is set to announce the name of the company which won the contract to construct the ‘Doha Spur,’ one of the bridge’s most important central features.

Sultan said that 14 internationally renowned firms had submitted tenders for the KD260 million Doha Spur, which will include a sea bridge and a seven-kilometer land bridge, amongst other features. The senior ministry official added that the MPW has already obtained the approval of both the Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Bureau over the project’s execution. — Al-Anba

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Tens of thousands rally for unity in Egypt

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Norway holds first funeral after killings

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18 civilians killed in Helmand bomb

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Libya rebels’ military chief shot dead Anti-Gaddafi forces claim towns near Tunisian border

BENGHAZI: Tens of thousands of Libyans attend Friday prayers in the Libyan rebel-stronghold city of Benghazi yesterday.—AFP BENGHAZI: Libya’s rebel military commander was shot dead in an incident that remained shrouded in mystery, dealing a blow to Westernbacked forces laboring in a campaign to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

Rebels said Abdel Fattah Younes, long in the veteran Libyan leader’s inner circle before defecting in February, was shot by assailants on Thursday after he had been summoned from the battlefield for unspecified talks.

Some analysts thought Gaddafi agents may have killed him, others that his own side had done so, revealing deep divisions between Gaddafi defectors and those who never worked with him. Neither side in the conflict clarified the matter. The killing coincided with a new rebel offensive in the west and further international recognition for rebels, which they hope will help unfreeze billions of dollars in Libyan funds.

The rebels did not say who killed Younes or where, and said on

Thursday they did not yet have his body. But yesterday, weeping relatives and supporters brought his coffin into the main square of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to mourn him, and vowed allegiance to remaining rebel leaders. “We got the body yesterday here (in Benghazi), he had been shot with bullets and burned,” Younes’s nephew, Abdul Hakim, said, crying as he followed the coffin through the square. “He had called us at 10 o’clock (on Thursday morning) to say he was on his way here.”

Officials would not give details of why Younes was recalled on Thursday to Benghazi from the front line near the oil port of Brega for questioning. Rumours had circulated in Benghazi that he had held secret talks with the Gaddafi government. “If the rumours that General Younes was feeding information to Gaddafi were there then it would make sense that some rogue elements might attempt to assassinate him,” said Alan Fraser,

an analyst with London-based risk consultancy AKE. Rebel defense minister Omar Hariri told Reuters his death was still being investigated and his loss would be great. Ahead of Younes’s funeral in Benghazi on Friday, relatives vowed allegiance to the rebels’ political leader. “A message to Mustafa Abdel Jalil: We will walk with you all the way,” nephew Mohammed Younes told hundreds of mourners in the main square.

“Libya first, until God gives us victory or chooses us as martyrs.” Other family members were beside him.

Nephew Hakim said another coffin brought into the square by a crowd of men, some in military fatigue and some with rifles, held the body of one of two bodyguards killed with Younes. He gave no further details of what had happened to his uncle before the procession moved on. Analysts said it was hard to say if Younes had been killed by Gaddafi agents, as rebels have implied, or by his own side. The lat-

ter would show deep and damaging divisions within the rebel movement that could hamper their progress and embarrass their Western backers.

“It seems this was an assassination operation organised by Gaddafi’s men,” said London-based Libyan activist Shamis Ashour.

“There certainly was treason, a sleeping cell among the rebels.”

“The alternative, which is equally possible,” said another analyst, Shashank Joshi, “is summary execution by rebels, an internal act of decapitation by the rebels themselves.” Joshi, of London’s Royal United Services Institute, said this explanation would just highlight divisions in rebel ranks already known to exist, and would put a question mark on the rebels’ reliability as partners for Western states.

“All these things would humiliate governments that have supported the rebels. Particularly Britain, which came late to the fray, partly for reasons like this,” he said. Witnesses

said the killing was greeted with jubilation by Gaddafi’s supporters in the Libyan capital Tripoli. Younes, from eastern Libya where the rebels are strongest, was Gaddafi’s interior minister but swapped sides to become the military chief in the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC), whose political leader Jalil announced his death.

Jalil said the killers were still at large but added: “The head of the armed cell, to which the accusing finger points and a member of which carried out this individual cowardly crime, has been arrested.”

He gave no details. Younes, who was involved in the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, was not trusted by all rebel leaders due to his previous role in cracking down on dissidents.

His death is likely to be a serious setback to a movement that has won the backing of some 30 nations, most recently Britain and Portugal, but has struggled to advance on the battlefield.— Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Ultraconservative Muslims join protesters in Egypt Rally marked by a growing rift in movement CAIRO: Ultraconservative Muslims turned out in force yesterday as tens of thousands filled Cairo’s central Tahrir Square in a rally marked by a growing rift in the protest movement. South of the capital, gunmen fired on a car carrying Christians, killing two. While the motive was unknown, similar events have sparked religious violence in the past.

In one of the largest crowds to fill the square since the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, Salafis chanted for the implementation of strict Islamic law - spurring accusations that they violated an agreement to keep the rally free from divisive issues. The decision by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organized political force, and other Islamist groups to participate significantly boosted the

in an effort to limit what they fear will be outsized Islamist influence on the new document should religious groups win a large share of the parliament. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has accepted the idea.

Islamists oppose it, saying nothing should restrict the right of the new elected parliament to oversee the process of drafting the document. While opposing the measure, Muslim Brotherhood mem-

CAIRO: An Egyptian demonstrator waves a national flag on top of a street light in downtown Cairo’s Tahrir square yesterday. Tens of thousands packed Cairo’s Tahrir Square, with Islamist groups dominating the protest meant to show unity during a fragile transition from ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime. —AFP turnout. These groups stayed away from recent demonstrations that sought to keep up pressure on the military council that took power after Mubarak’s fall, leading to smaller crowds.

But the Islamists’ participation also highlighted the growing rift between them and liberal activists. Some Islamist groups rallied their members to the square to oppose the adoption of a set of guidelines for drafting a new constitution after parliamentary elections later this year. Liberal parties endorse the measure

bers did not press the issue yesterday due to an agreement between organizers to avoid divisive issues. Crowds of ultraconservative Salafis, however, gave a common protests chant an Islamic twist sparking criticisms from others who said the chants violated an agreement to avoid divisive issues.

Instead of “Peaceful, peaceful,” which demonstrators have chanted during confrontations with security forces, they repeated “Islamic, Islamic.” And instead of “The people want to topple the

regime” - a chant made famous in Tunisia and adopted across the region - they yelled, “The people want to implement Sharia,” or Islamic law.

Salafis are ultraconservatives, close to Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi interpretation of Islam and more radical than the Brotherhood. They seek to emulate the austerity of Islam’s early days and oppose a wide range of practices like intermingling of the sexes that they view as “unIslamic.” Many also reject all forms of Western cultural influence. Violence broke out elsewhere in Egypt. Gunmen fired on a car carrying five Christians in the province of Minya south of Cairo, killing two and injuring two, a military official said. It was the second killing in two weeks in the predominantly Christian village of Roman.

Christian residents gathered in front of the hospital where the bodies were taken as the word spread, although the official said the attackers had not been captured and the reason for the shooting was not known. In the Sinai city of alArish, hard-line Salafis fired rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons in the air during protests, injuring a small boy, according to an intelligence official. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media.

In the southern city of Assiut, deputy police chief Yosri el-Jammasi said Salafist protesters beat up a group of protesters from the Communist party trying to join their demonstration. At one point, some in the crowd yelled back at a speaker who criticized the idea of constitutional guidelines. All protesters agree on a number of other key demands, including the end of military trials for civilians, a clear schedule for the transition to civilian rule and swift trials for former regime officials and those accused of killing protesters during the uprising, which left about 850 people dead.

The rally comes a day after Egypt’s Justice Ministry said Mubarak, along with his two sons, his former security chief and seven others, will be tried at a Cairo convention center. —AP

BEIRUT: A combo of handout pictures obtained yesterday from the website of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon shows four Hezbollah suspects indicted in the assassination case of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, (from top LR) Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Assad Hassan Sabra, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Salim Jamil Ayyash. —AFP

Lebanon tribunal names suspects in Hariri killing AMSTERDAM/BEIRUT: The UN -backed Lebanon tribunal released yesterday the names, photographs and details of four men wanted for the assassination of statesman Rafik al-Hariri in a bid to speed up their arrest. Lebanon received the indictments and four arrest warrants from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) last month. While the suspects were not named then, Lebanese officials said the accused were members of the Shiite militant movement Hezbollah.

Hezbollah accuses the tribunal of being a tool of the United States and Israel and denies any link to the 2005 assassination.

There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah. Earlier this month, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the authorities would never arrest members of the Shi’ite militant group. He dismissed the accusations as unfounded and a failed attempt to sow strife and bring down Lebanon’s new Hezbollah-backed government. “They cannot find them or arrest them in 30 days or 60 days, or in a year, two years, 30 years or 300 years,” Nasrallah said at the time.

Under the court proceedings, Lebanese officials have 30 days to make arrests after receiving indictments. Hezbollah, both a Shi’ite political movement and guerrilla army, said it had nothing to do with the huge explosion on the Beirut seafront which killed Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who served several terms as prime minister, and 22 others in February 2005. The suspects named were Mustafa Amine Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah figure and brother-in-law of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyeh, as well as Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra. Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen ordered the lifting of confidentiality on the full names, aliases, biographical information, photographs and charges against the individuals named in the indictment, the tribunal said in a statement. —Reuters

US hikers in Iran face new hearing on spying charge TEHRAN: Two American hikers detained in Iran on spying charges face a new hearing on Sunday, coinciding with the second anniversary of their arrest, an ordeal which their lawyer hopes will have a happy ending. Shane Bauer, aged 28 and Josh Fattal, 29, were arrested with Sarah Shourd, 32, on the unmarked border between Iran and Iraq on July 31, 2009. Iran has accused the three of “spying and illegally entering the country.” They have pleaded not guilty to spying charges, saying they were hiking in Iraq’s northern province of Kurdistan when they innocently strayed into Iran across the unmarked border.

Washington has vehemently denied Tehran’s charges and has pressed for their release.

Shourd is being tried in absentia after she returned to the United States following her release on humanitarian and medical grounds in September 2010, for which bail of about 500,000 dollars was paid.

“Since the hearing date coincides with the two year anniversary of their arrest, and it is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, I am hopeful that this case has a happy ending,” their lawyer Masoud Shafii told AFP on Wednesday referring to the Muslim fasting month when compassion, the spirit of caring and sharing is advocated.

“I believe that they are innocent; the espionage charges have no relevance. Even if the court does not accept my defence, the two years

they’ve spent behind bars is punishment enough,” he added referring to the illegal entry charge. The trial has been hit by a number of delays since November 6, 2010, when it was postponed to February 6, 2011 over what was termed “an error in the judicial proceedings.”

Another hearing scheduled for May 11 this year was cancelled after Fattal and Bauer were not brought before the court, Shafii said at the time. Shourd, who did not attend the February 6 hearing, told AFP in Washington that she will not return to Iran to join the other two in the dock. She said she had sent Iran’s revolutionary court a five-page evaluation by a clinical forensic psychologist, who concluded she was at high risk of psychological problems if she returned to

face espionage charges.

Shafii said he has met Bauer and Fattal only twice, the last time on February 6, 2011 when they appeared in court for the first hearing. “I still have not met them (for) the lawyer-client meeting that I have requested. They told me that they will inform me and I am still pursuing it,” he said. Iran in late May implicitly rejected a US State Department request to grant better access to the two by allowing Swiss diplomats to see them. Switzerland represents US interests in the absence of Washington having diplomatic relations with Iran.

Swiss embassy officials also insist they have been unable to meet the detained hikers since October 2010. —AFP

international

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Tensions flare in Yemen capital after heavy fighting Troops, armored vehicles deployed around Sanaa SANAA: Yemen opposition forces deployed armored vehicles across streets freshly lined with sandbags in the capital Sanaa as tens of thousands gathered for prayers and protests both for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s three-decade rule.

BAGHDAD: Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr attend Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood in Baghdad, yesterday.—AP

Iraq PM due before MPs as US troop talks cancelled BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is due to make a rare appearance before Iraq’s parliament today to push a plan for downsizing a bloated government that critics accuse of inaction. An aide to Maliki, meanwhile, said a meeting of political leaders to discuss the looming issue of whether US troops should stay in Iraq beyond a year-end withdrawal deadline had been cancelled, although American officials have urged counterparts in Baghdad for an early decision.

“Nuri Al-Maliki will be at parliament tomorrow to explain how he intends to reduce the number of ministers, and also to present a new program for the government,” Ali Mussawi, a media advisor to the premier, said yesterday. Maliki’s 46member cabinet, which he hopes to slash to 30 ministers, is the biggest in Iraq’s history, and was only approved in December after protracted horse-trading that followed March 2010 elections in which no party gained a clear majority.

The prime minister sent a letter to MPs outlining his proposals on July 13, noting that the size of the government had become “a burden” on government work and the country’s budget as it seeks to rebuild from three decades of war and sanctions. His plans require dramatically cutting the number of ministers of state and firing three cabinet ministers.

Iraq’s government has been criticized for inaction on key issues to do with rebuilding the country after 30 years of war and sanctions, with nationwide protests since February railing against official corruption and ineptitude. The inaction has also affected the issue of whether or not some US forces will be asked to stay beyond 2011. Mussawi said that a meeting of political leaders to debate whether or not any American soldiers should stay on, originally scheduled for today, was indefinitely delayed.—AFP

Iran shelling of Kurd rebels kills Iraqi boy ARBIL: A 10-year-old Iraqi Kurd has been killed in shelling by Tehran’s forces of Iranian Kurdish separatist bases in north Iraq, an official said yesterday. The boy was the third Iraqi to be killed in artillery bombardments as part of ongoing clashes between Iran and the rebel Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) which began two weeks ago.

“Mohammed Antar Zerrar, who is 10 years old, was killed on Thursday evening at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) by Iranian shelling of the village of Battas,” Maghdid Aref Ahmed, the mayor of the nearby border town of Haj Omran in Iraqi Kurdistan, told journalists. On Monday, two villagers in the town of Sidakan, also in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, were killed by Iranian shelling.

Overall, since Iran launched an offensive against PJAK bases on July 16, three Iraqis have been killed and 11 wounded, officials have said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday the fighting has displaced hundreds of villagers in the border regions of northern Iraq. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday demanded that Iran stop the shelling, saying they damage ties between the two neighboring states.

“We again demand that the Iranian government stop its continuing shelling” of the separatist PJAK “because this is not constructive for Iraq-Iranian relations and damages ties,” he told reporters. “The shelling has continued (off-and-on) for five years, but this time the duration has been longer than previous instances,” he added. —AFP

General Ali Mohsen, a top military commander who defected to the opposition in March, sent troops and armored vehicles to guard “Change Square”, where protesters have camped for months. At the “Friday of Patience” rally, a cleric urged calm: “We will remain steadfast and preserve the peacefulness of our revolution until this regime falls.”

Protesters have grown increasingly frustrated that their mass movement has yet to shake loose the 69-year old president’s grip on power, even when he was forced to go to Riyadh for medical treatment after June bomb attack on his palace.

He has vowed to return to oversee a national dialogue and elections but the opposition accuses him of stalling tactics. A second cleric, speaking to Saleh supporters, said the government should have dealt more harshly with the opposition. “Now they (the opposition) are sending down tanks and troops, they’ve abandoned their loyalty to the president and are dividing the streets,” he said.

“The president has made a mistake by indulging them.”

On Thursday activists said security forces opened fire on protesters in Taiz, 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, provoking an ambush by opposition gunmen on Yemeni forces during which dozens were hurt and at least one soldier was killed. Fighting also erupted between government troops and proopposition tribesmen on Thursday in

the town of Arhab, 40 km north of the capital, where the government launched an air strike after gunmen tried to seize its strategic Soma base.

The government said pro-opposition

Impoverished Yemen has been hit with sporadic violence as six months of daily mass protests drag on. Many fear clashes could quickly escalate in a country where half the population’s 23 million

SANAA: Supporters of Yemen’s President Ali Abduallah Saleh gather at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier where images of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-aziz Al Saud, center right, and Yemen’s President Ali Abduallah Saleh, center left and far right, hang during a rally in support of them in Sanaa, Yemen yesterday.—AP fighters were trying to take its base to lay the ground for capturing Sanaa’s international airport. Tribesmen in Arhab denied the charges.

own a gun and that Yemen could become a failed state on the doorstep of Saudi Arabia, home to the world’s biggest oil reserves. —Reuters

US accuses Iran of having ‘secret deal’ with Al-Qaeda WASHINGTON: The Obama administration accused Iran on Thursday of entering into a “secret deal” with an AlQaeda offshoot that provides money and recruits for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Treasury Department designated six members of the unit as terrorists subject to US sanctions.

The announcement was made despite disagreements in the US intelligence community about the extent of direct links between the Iranian government and Al-Qaeda, officials said.

Most analysts agree there is a murky relationship between the two and at least some cooperation. Thursday’s allegations go further. Treasury said its exposure of the clandestine agreement would disrupt Al-Qaeda operations by shedding light on Iran’s role as a “critical transit point” for money and extremists reaching Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“This network serves as the core pipeline through which Al-Qaeda moves money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to

South Asia,” a statement said. Treasury said a branch headed by Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil was operating in Iran with the Tehran government’s blessing, funneling funds collected from across the Arab world to Al-Qaeda’s senior leaders in Pakistan. Khalil, the department said, has operated within Iran’s borders for six years.

Also targeted by the sanctions is Atiyah Abd Al-Rahman, appointed by Osama bin Laden as Al-Qaeda’s envoy in Iran after serving as a commander in Pakistan’s tribal areas. As an emissary, Al- Rahman is allowed to travel in and out of Iran with the permission of government officials, the statement claimed. The sanctions block any assets the individuals might have held in the United States and bans Americans from doing any business with them.

No Iranian officials were cited for complicity in terrorism. The others targeted were Umid Muhammadi, described as a crucial planner for AlQaeda in Iraq’s attacks; Salim Hasan Khalifa Rashid Al-Kuwari and Abdallah

Ghanim Mafuz Muslim Al-Khawar, Qatar-based financial supporters who have helped extremists travel across the region; and Ali Hassan Ali Al-Ajmi, a Kuwait-based fundraiser for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. David S Cohen, Treasury’s point man for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Iran entered a “secret deal with Al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory.” He provided no details of that agreement but said the sanctions seek to disrupt Al-Qaeda’s work in Iraq and deny the terrorist group’s leadership much-needed support.

“Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world today,” Cohen said in a statement. “We are illuminating yet another aspect of Iran’s unmatched support for terrorism.” The action comes a day after the top US commander for special operations forces said Al-Qaeda is bloodied and “nearing its end,” even as he warned that the next generation of militants could keep special operations fighting for a decade to come. —AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

British hacking scandal deepens as inquiry opens LONDON: The phone-hacking scandal that stunned Britain and rocked Rupert Murdoch’s media empire deepened yesterday with claims that the mother of another murdered girl was targeted as an inquiry into the affair opened. Lord Justice Brian Leveson, the judge appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron to lead the probe, said Thursday the inquiry would start by looking at media ethics and press regulation and vowed that he will order witnesses to testify.

The first public hearings would be held in September, he announced. But just hours after Leveson spoke, the mother of a murdered girl on whose behalf the Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid had campaigned relentlessly said she may have been targeted by a private investigator working for the now-defunct paper.

Sara Payne, the mother of eight-year-old Sarah Payne who was killed by a paedophile in 2000, was “absolutely devastated” after police told her that her voicemail might have been hacked by the paper. News of the World had provided her with a mobile phone for the past 11 years, former editor Rebekah Brooks said. Brooks worked with Sara Payne to campaign for tougher child protection laws during her 2000-2003 editorship of News of the World. Brooks earlier this month quit as head of News International, Murdoch’s British newspaper publishing arm, and was arrested by Scotland Yard on suspicion of phonehacking. Brooks said in a statement that the latest allegations were “abhorrent” and “particularly upsetting” because Payne was a “dear friend”.

A News International spokesman said: “News International takes this matter very seriously and is deeply concerned, like everyone.” The scandal erupted earlier this month after it emerged that News of the World, which has since been shut down, had hacked into the voicemails of Milly Dowler, a missing 13-year-old girl who was later found murdered. It has since caused the resignations of two top British police officers, involved Cameron after he hired another former editor of the paper as his press chief, and threatened the stability of Murdoch’s global media empire.

In a partial boost, board members at British satellite broadcaster BSkyB backed Murdoch’s son James to stay on as chairman, a source close to the pay-TV giant told AFP. “The role of the chairman was discussed at some length today and ultimately James Murdoch received the unanimous support of the board,” the source said after a board meeting. British MP Tom Watson, who quizzed the Murdochs at a recent media committee hearing, said he will ask the group to “immediately invite” James back to answer allegations made by former News of the World editor Colin Myler that he gave false evidence.

Rupert Murdoch’s US-based News Corporation was forced to drop its bid for the 61 percent of shares it does not own in BSkyB earlier this month because of the hacking scandal. At the first hearing of the hacking inquiry on Thursday, Leveson said the first stage would focus on the “relationship between the press and the public, and the related issue of press regulation.”

Sitting at a cramped table alongside the six other panel members at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, the bespectacled judge said he was entitled to compel witnesses to give evidence on phone-hacking.

“I intend to exercise those powers as soon as possible,” he said. Evidence will be given under oath, an inquiry spokesman told AFP. Leveson said the inquiry would turn to press relationships with the police and politicians later on. He added that it could be difficult to meet Cameron’s 12-month deadline for an initial report. The judge urged editors, journalists and proprietors across Britain’s media industry not to “close ranks and suggest that the problem is, or was, local to a group of journalists then operating at the News of the World”.

The scandal has threatened to spread out to other papers, with former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, now a top presenter with US television network CNN, issuing a fresh denial on Wednesday that he used any stories knowingly obtained by hacking. In his opening remarks Leveson sought to quash claims about his own links to Murdoch’s empire after it emerged that the judge previously had social connections with the tycoon’s son-in-law, the public relations guru Matthew Freud. The scandal has refused to go away since the jailing in 2007 of the News of the World’s former royal editor Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator in whose notes Sara Payne’s details were found. Police eventually reopened the inquiry in January 2011 and discovered that up to 4,000 people may have had their phones hacked. Ten people have been arrested so far.—AFP

MOGADISHU: African Union peacekeepers from Uganda take position near southeastern Mogadishu’s Ali-Kamin junction where they engaged heavy fighting with Al-Qaeda inspired Shebab insurgent fighters yesterday.—AFP

AU forces gain ground against Somali militants More resistance than expected MOGADISHU: African Union and Somali forces traded barrages of fire at a new front line in Mogadishu yesterday, as the AU troops gained new territory against insurgents who may try to disrupt food distributions to famine victims. A battlefield commander, Col Paul Lokech, told The Associated Press on a trip near the front line that a Pakistani fighter was commanding the Al-Shabab troops that AU forces were battling nearby, and that the militants were “active.” Al-Shabab counts hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks.

Speaking of the Pakistani, Lockech said: “Don’t worry, I’ll get him.”

Mortar fire and guns rang out nearby, as the militants put up more resistance than the AU forces had expected.

“They’re worried about the ground they’ve lost,” Lokech said. The African Union and Somali troops have been fighting a concerted offensive against

Al- Shabab all year, and have gained a large swath of new territory in Mogadishu. But the fight took on a new importance in recent days as tens of thousands of famine refugees began squatting in squalid, hunger-filled refugee camps here.

The drought and the famine it’s caused in Somalia have affected more than 11 million people, including 2.2 million Somalis who live in al-Shabab controlled territory in south-central Somalia where aid groups can’t deliver food.

A second UN plane landed in Mogadishu yesterday with more than 20 tons of nutritional supplements on board. A Kuwait Air Force transport plane also landed in the capital and offloaded sacks of food. The World Food Program said with its second delivery yesterday it has airlifted nearly 31 tons of ready-to-use food into Mogadishu. A

WFP plane with 10 tons of peanut butter landed Wednesday in Mogadishu, the first of several planned airlifts in coming weeks.

The AU offensive that began Thursday has seen AU troops move up the east side of Mogadishu’s largest market - Bakara. The troops now control three sides of the market - the west, south and east - and AU force spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said yesterday that the gains mean that tactically speaking the AU essentially controls the market.

Forces are now moving toward the city’s large sports stadium, from which al-Shabab fires artillery, Ankunda said.

Putting a face on the young conscripts that fight for ragtag force that is alShabab, three militant fighters surrendered to AU forces and were being questioned yesterday. The three are teenagers: ages 14, 15 and 17.—AP

Spain PM calls Nov election, 4 months early MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced an early general election in November, four months early than scheduled, looking to capitalise on a slight upturn in opinion poll ratings. “I believe the moment has arrived to announce a general election ... which will be held on November 20,” Zapatero told a news conference yesterday. Political commentators had widely speculated that the Socialists could take advantage of improved poll ratings and an uptick in summer employment data to call an early election.

The conservative opposition under Mariano Rajoy is widely expected to win the vote, but analysts say the only question is by what margin.

Spanish debt has been in the firing

line in financial markets on the heels of a review for a possible downgrade from credit rating agency Moody’s, which cited weak growth and out of control regional spending as key challenges for the euro zone’s fourth largest economy. “I’m not convinced an election alone, even if it creates a fairly stable new government, will calm down markets. What we’ve seen in the last 18 months is that there are events that have a short-term impact on the markets,” said David Bach, an economist at IE business school. “The markets will probably respond positively initially until they realise there might not be an alternative plan as people had hoped for.”

Unpopular Zapatero has been considered a weak leader since he decid-

ed not to run again earlier this year, and the Socialists badly lost a May regional election. Former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba was subsequently named the Socialist candidate.

A survey by the Centre of Socialogical Investigations conducted July 4 to 11 gave the Socialists, lead by Rubalcaba, had an approval rating of 36 percent compared to the Popular Party’s 43.1 percent. The poll results showed the Socialists had narrowed the PP’s lead by 3 percentage points from the previous poll in April and since Rubalcaba announced he would run for the prime minister post.

According to the poll, 81.5 of those surveyed had little of no confidence in Zapatero. — Reuters

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INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Norway holds first funeral after killings Breivik interrogated for second time OSLO: Norway began burying yesterday the 76 people killed in twin attacks exactly one week before, as police said psychiatrists would assess the mental health of perpetrator Anders Behring Breivik. Police said prosecutors had appointed two psychiatrists to determine if Behring Breivik, 32, is criminally responsible for the July 22 shooting spree at a youth camp and a car bomb blast in Oslo.

“The bullets hit our young, but they also struck an entire nation,” Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at a commemoration ceremony in the capital, calling the massacre “an attack on democracy.” Flags flew at half-mast across the country of five million, including at the suspect’s high-security prison, as formal grieving began for the victims. Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere attended the first funeral, of Bano Rashid, who was originally from Kurdistan, in the town of Nesodden, near the capital.

Rashid, a Labour Party youth activist among the 68 killed on the island of Utoeya as they attended a party summer camp, had written frequently about the evils of racism and discrimination. Her younger sister escaped the massacre on the island, and her mother told NTB: “The answer must not be hatred, but even more love.” Another shooting victim, 19year-old Ismail Haji Ahmed, was being buried at Hamar, in Norway’s south-west, TV2 reported.

Behring Breivik was brought to police headquarters in an armoured car early yesterday from Ila high security prison where he is being held in solitary confinement. The windows were covered to prevent photographers seeing inside. He was questioned over statements he made during a first interrogation following his arrest on Utoeya. The far-right extremist admitted carrying out the attacks when questioned last Saturday, but stopped short of entering a guilty plea for actions that his lawyer said he deemed “cruel” but “necessary”. He had said in a 1,500-word tract published on the Internet before the attacks that he was trying to change the policies of western European governments who were encouraging Muslim immigration. On Monday a judge remanded him in custody for an initial period of eight weeks, but prosecutors have said it will take months to gather evidence and he will not be brought to trial until next year at the earliest.

In Oslo, Stoltenberg led a minute’s silence before delivering a speech to hundreds of members of his governing Labour Party. “An attack against political engagement is an attack on our democracy.” The crowd at the ceremony held aloft red roses, the Labour Party emblem, in a tribute to the victims.

“Today, it is exactly one week since Norway was struck by evil,” the premier said. “Now, the time has come to commemorate those who died.” In “a massacre planned in minute detail and perpetrated in cold blood,” the party’s youth, including some of its brightest talents, were mown down “with their lives in front of them. Everything has been taken from them.”

Stoltenberg also spoke for the seriously wounded in hospital, and those “who carry invisible scars, but who bleed and who are still bleeding.” He said: “To our young socialists, I say this: you are not alone. Our movement is the shoulder on which you can cry, the backbone that will carry you forward and the hand you can hold.” The leader of the party’s youth wing, Eskil Pedersen told the audience: “We will not remember our dead with grief, we will remember them with a smile.”

Pedersen, who was on the island at the time of the shootings, said: “We will forever be known as the July 22 generation.”

Stoltenberg and Olso’s Lutheran bishop Ole Christian Kvarme later attended a ceremony in an Oslo mosque, where a prayer of mourning was recited, television pictures showed.

Behring Breivik’s lawyer meanwhile told the daily Aftenposten he was planning to hit other targets. “There were several projects of different scale for that Friday,” Geir Lippestad was quoted as saying. “Things happened that day, which I don’t want to go into (here), which meant events unfolded differently from what he had planned,” Lippestad added.

Police investigator John Frederiksen said they had inspected a dozen sites to see if there was any kind of threat but found nothing. —AFP

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Mexico homicides rose 23 percent in 2010 MEXICO CITY: The number of homicides in Mexico rose by nearly a quarter last year compared to the year before as the drug war intensified across the country, Mexican statisticians said Thursday. The National Institute of Statistics and Geography recorded 24,374 homicides over the course of last year, a 23 percent increase from 19,803 in 2009. Last year’s figure represented 22 killings for every 100,000 residents in the country.

Many but not all of the homicides were committed by organized crime organizations, the institute told The Associated Press. Violence has risen in many Mexican regions as a result of

drug trafficking and other organized criminal activity. President Felipe Calderon’s office has said that more than 15,000 homicides in 2010 were attributed to organized crime.

According to the statistics institute, the US -bordering state of Chihuahua saw the highest number of homicides with 4,747. Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, registered 2,505. Sinaloa is the headquarters of the Sinaoloa cartel, while Chihuahua includes the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez. Those two states are among the most affected by drug violence, and together they accounted for 29 percent of Mexico’s homicides.

Delaware man executed for woman’s 1992 ax slaying Delaware: A 38-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with an ax during a burglary nearly two decades ago was executed early yesterday morning, the state of Delaware’s first execution since 2005. Robert Jackson III was put to death by lethal injection at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna and pronounced dead at 12:12 am. Before he was executed, he was asked if he wanted to say any last words. Jackson lifted his head, searched the window between the execution chamber and the witnesses, and asked if the two children of his victim Elizabeth Girardi were watching.

“Are the Girardis in there? Christopher and Claudia, if you are in there, I’ve never faulted you for your anger. I would have been mad myself,” he said before denying he had killed their mother. He suggesting that his accomplice in the burglary, Anthony Lachette, had actually committed the murder. “Tony’s laughing his ass off right now because you’re about to watch an innocent man die. This isn’t justice,” he said before putting his head back down and closing his eyes. When the execution began, Jackson started making a snoring sound, his lips sputtered and his breath began to quicken. Prison officials closed the curtain between the execution chamber and witnesses after about four minutes to check whether he was conscious, calling out twice, “Inmate Jackson, can you hear me?” There was no response.

When the curtain reopened a minute later, Jackson made no more movements or sounds. From start to finish, the execution took about 10 minutes. The execution came after Gov Jack Markell late Thursday turned down a request for a reprieve. Earlier in the night, the US Supreme Court denied a request for a stay of execution. A small group gathered outside to protest against the death penalty.

This marked the first time Delaware included pentobarbital as one of three drugs used to carry out an execution.

Delaware switched to the drug after a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental, the previous drug the state used to sedate an inmate before administering two other deathcausing drugs. Eight other states have already used pentobarbital to carry out executions according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Jackson’s execution followed a series of legal challenges that stretched into the hours before he was executed. His lawyers had argued that Jackson should be allowed to challenge the state’s switch to pentobarbital as an execution drug, saying it posed a risk of pain and suffering. The courts sided with attorneys for the state of Delaware, however.

They said it was time to execute Jackson, who was convicted in the 1992 killing of 47-year-old Hockessin resident Elizabeth Girardi.

“In a perfect world, none of this would have happened,” said Girardi’s daughter Claudia Desaulniers before the execution, which she and her brother Christopher were to attend as witnesses. Desaulniers, who was 15 when her mother died, said she thinks about her mother every day, calling her a “loving person.” She said even now she is startled at unexpected noises in her home, like a floor creaking, worried she might be the victim of a crime. —AP

The institute cautioned that its information was preliminary and said it awaited definitive results that are to be released in September. In the northern state of Zacatecas, prosecutors said a town mayor was found shot to death lying alongside a slain local farm union official Thursday, a day after they were kidnapped by gunmen. The dead mayor, Fortino Cortes Sandoval, headed the city government in Florencia de Benito Juarez. Last week, soldiers killed six suspected cartel hitmen during a firefight on a highway linking Sandoval’s city with the Teulada municipality.

A dozen mayors have been killed in

Mexico since last year, many of them victims of violence related to drug cartels. Two metric tons of marijuana were seized by authorities in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the US border at Arizona, along with weapons and a vehicle, the Defense Department reported. No further details were available.

And military officials reported the seizure of 22 tons of ethyl phenylacetate in the port of Manzanillo in Colima state that had been shipped from Shekou, China. The chemical is used in the production of methamphetamine.—AP

Chavez turns 57 vowing to stay in power until 2031 Venezuelan prez to start cancer treatment CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sang, danced and said he intends to stay in power for two more decades as he celebrated his 57th birthday looking ahead to months of cancer treatment.

Chavez rallied a crowd of cheering supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace on Thursday, waving a large Venezuelan flag and briefly wrapping himself in it. He said he expects to lose his hair soon as a result of chemotherapy and that a long process of treatment lies ahead.

“This is going to be various months all of this year, but I’m going to continue in charge of my government functions,” Chavez said. He mixed serious statements about his upcoming treatment with the ecstatic rallying cries of a leader already in pre-campaign mode ahead of the 2012 election. “Next year, we will win the presidential elections once again! Strength, unity!” Chavez said.

Setting a goal he has never before reached, he said: “We’re going for 10 million votes next year!” The crowd chanted: “Oh, no! Chavez won’t go!” Chavez sang and danced briefly with one his daughters on the balcony while a band below played folk music. He saluted to the crowd and blew kisses, standing next to three grandchildren. His supporters sang while atop a giant birthday cake sparkling candles burned.

“I invite you all to celebrate my 77th,” Chavez said. “I had said I’d leave in 2021.

Well, I’m not going away in 2021 or anything. Maybe in 2031.” The leftist leader has been in office since 1999 and is seeking re-election next year to another sixyear term. A poll released last week said Chavez’s public approval rating remains at 50 percent and hasn’t significantly varied since his cancer diagnosis. Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. He hasn’t said what type of cancer he has been diagnosed with or specified where exactly it was located, saying only that it was in his pelvic region.

He underwent his first phase of chemotherapy in Cuba last week and said the treatment aims to ensure that no malignant cells reappear. “Soon surely my hair will start to fall out - inevitable,” Chavez said. “They will apply new doses of chemotherapy in the coming days.” When

CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez wraps himself with a Venezuelan flag at a balcony of Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday.—AP patients undergo such surgery to remove a tumor, “there’s always a concern of microscopic cells, or individual cells left behind even though all of the physical tumor is removed,” said Dr. Jeffrey Crawford, chief of medical oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

“The role of chemotherapy is to go through the body and attack any remaining cells that may have been laying dormant or hidden,” said Crawford, who is not involved in the president’s treatment.

Crawford said it’s not possible to draw conclusions about Chavez’s treatment based on the president’s account that his hair will fall out because that’s often the case with many chemotherapy regimes.

But based on Chavez’s comments, he

added, “I think the best-case scenario would probably be three to four months of chemo.” Chavez said he should be finished with the most difficult phases of his treatment by December, when he hopes to host a summit of Latin American leaders in Caracas.

“At the end of the year, I should have passed this hard, careful, very, very strict phase,” Chavez said in a telephone conversation aired on television Thursday morning. He said he sent letters inviting Latin American and Caribbean leaders to the summit in Caracas on Dec. 9. That meeting had originally been scheduled for July 5-6 but was postponed due to Chavez’s illness. Around the country, the president’s supporters held a series of televised events honoring his birthday. —AP

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18 civilians killed in Helmand bomb UN figures show civilian deaths up KANDAHAR: Eighteen civilians died when a roadside bomb destroyed their minivan in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province yesterday, a day after a Taleban attack in Uruzgan killed 21 people. The latest bomb blast came as UN figures show civilian deaths are up 15 percent in the first half of this year, reaching record levels in the long war between insurgents and the Kabul government that is backed by NATO-led troops.

MUMBAI: In this undated handout file photograph released by Mumbai Police on December 1, 2008, shows arrested Islamist militant Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman also known as Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab - seen lying on a bed at an undisclosed location in Mumbai. —AFP

Mumbai attacks gunman appeals death sentence NEW DELHI: The lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead has filed a case at the Indian Supreme Court asking for his death sentence to be overturned, a court source said yesterday. The source said Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab had sent an appeal against his conviction and sentence via jail authorities in Mumbai, where he has been held since the attacks, which has been lodged with the court’s secretary general.

“He filed the appeal through the Arthur Road jail authorities,” the source said, asking not to be named. Pakistani national Kasab, one of 10 Islamist gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai for nearly three days, was convicted by a trial court in the Indian commercial and entertainment capital in May 2010. The first appeal by the 23-year-old school drop-out from a poor farming area in Pakistan’s Punjab state failed in February, when the state high court confirmed his death sentence.

Lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who prosecuted the case in Mumbai, confirmed to AFP that “he (Kasab) has made the appeal proposal to the Supreme Court” without giving further details. No one was immediately available for comment at the high security Arthur Road jail in south Mumbai, where Kasab is being held in solitary confinement.

One of Kasab’s legal team for his appeal to the Bombay High Court in February, Farhana Shah, said that it was likely that her former client would be appointed a lawyer from the legal aid bench in New Delhi.

India has the death sentence, which is carried out by hanging, for the “rarest of the rare” criminal offences. Kasab was found guilty of a string of crimes including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai. During the trial, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eye-witness, CCTV and other evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades in the bloodiest episode of the November 26 attacks at Mumbai’s main railway station. A number of senior police officers, including the head of the Maharashtra state anti-terrorism squad, were killed as the gunmen fled the scene of carnage. Three luxury hotels, a popular tourist restaurant and a Jewish centre were also targeted by the other gunmen. If the Supreme Court upholds the verdict and sentence, Kasab can appeal for clemency to India’s president Pratibha Patil as a last resort.

Executions are rare in India. Instead, hundreds of convicts sit on death row awaiting a final decision on their pleas for clemency. Afzal Guru, who was convicted of conspiring with the gunmen who attacked India’s parliament in 2001, killing 10 people, has been on death row for nearly a decade. His appeal against his death sentence was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2006. —AFP

Afghan General Sayed Malook said the vehicle was in Nahri Sarraj district, travelling to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah 35 kilometers (20 miles) away, when it was hit. “The reports that I’ve received from the scene indicate that all 18 people in the vehicle have been killed,” said deputy police chief Kamaluddin Shirzai. “We have been able to identify the bodies of one woman and three men so far,” he said.

The Helmand governor’s office gave a lower toll of 16, but said the area was heavily mined, making it difficult to access the crash site and verify all casualties. Two women and two children were among the dead. In a separate incident in Helmand yesterday, one person was killed and four others wounded when their tractor hit an improvised bomb in the Garmser district, officials said. Cheap and easy to make, improvised explosive devices or IEDs are the Taleban ‘s favored weapon, responsible for the majority of civilian and security forces’ deaths in the nearly 10-year war.

A spokesman for the rebel group said they were unaware of yesterday’s bombs. The United Nations says civilian deaths from IEDs, the single largest killer of non-combatants, increased 17 percent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2010. More than 1,400 Afghan civilians have been killed in the conflict this year, according to a recently released UN report. According to the UN, insurgents are responsible for 80 percent of civilian casualties, with 14 percent caused by NATO and Afghan forces and the rest unknown.

The UN said earlier this month that increased fighting in the south and

KANDAHAR: An Afghan National Army soldier carries his wounded colleague to a medevac helicopter from the US Army’s Task Force Lift “Dust Off”, Charlie Company 1-52, following a roadside bomb attack on the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan yesterday. —AP southeast, and the spread of the insurgency to parts of the west and north, meant “civilians experienced a downward spiral in protection”. Shirzai said four policeman were also killed and another wounded in fighting with insurgents overnight near where yesterday’s bomb went off, though it was not clear if the two incidents were connected.

“The gunfight erupted after a police patrol was ambushed by armed insurgents,” he said. “The clash went on for over an hour.” The latest deaths came a day after coordinated bomb and suicide attacks in the neighboring province of Uruzgan killed 21 people. The Taleban

India top court bans iron ore mining after fraud NEW DELHI: India’s top court halted the extraction of iron ore in a southern state where some of the country’s biggest deposits are found after revelations about a $3.6-billion mining fraud. “We are of the view that mining operations in Bellary have to be suspended,” Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said yesterday, referring to an area in the state of Karnataka.

Justice Kapadia also sought details from the environment ministry about the damage in Bellary, where companies have been accused of conniving with government officials to mine ore illegally.

A corruption ombudsman said Wednesday that the fraud had cost the state 160.8 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) from 2006 to 2010 and he recommended that the state chief minister B S Yeddyurappa be prosecuted.

Yeddyurappa, whom the ombudsman accused of accepting $2 million in illicit payments from a mining company and selling a piece of land at an inflated price, has since offered to resign. The Supreme Court also banned the transportation of ore from Bellary, lawyers said.

Iron ore is used in steel-making and much of the illicit mineral mined in Bellary is thought to have been shipped to China and other east Asian countries. The mining scam has become a political battlefield between the national ruling party Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Karnataka is governed by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been backing an anti-graft campaign against India’s scandal-ridden government in New Delhi. —AFP

targeted an official’s compound and a militia commander’s base, and set off a motorcycle bomb at a nearby police headquarters, triggering five hours of fighting with security forces.

Australia, which has 1,550 soldiers in Uruzgan, yesterday condemned the attacks. “Hard-line elements of the insurgency continue to pursue their campaign through violence and attempted targeted killings,” said Major General Angus Campbell, commander of Australian troops deployed to the region. “Yesterday they paid a heavy price for their ambitions with all insurgents killed while failing to achieve their mission.” —AFP

Pakistan Taleban say they have Swiss hostages PESHAWAR: Pakistan Taleban militants yesterday said they were holding a Swiss couple kidnapped a month ago while on holiday in the remote province of Baluchistan. Wali-ur Rehman, deputy head of the Tehreek-i-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), did not provide proof that the group had the pair but said they were in good health and demanded they be exchanged for a Pakistani scientist jailed in the US. Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, were abducted on July 1 while driving in Baluchistan, a sparselypopulated southwestern province bordering Iran and Afghanistan that attracts few tourists due to separatist violence and Taleban activity. —AFP

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S Korea lodges protest with Japan in islands row Neighbors facing renewed escalation in territorial dispute SEOUL: South Korea summoned the Japanese ambassador yesterday to protest over a planned visit by four Tokyo lawmakers to a location near islands claimed by both countries, an official said. Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-Shin told envoy Masatoshi Muto that authorities would turn the four legislators back when they arrive at Seoul’s Gimpo airport, Yonhap news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.

The neighbors are facing a renewed escalation in a decades-old territorial row over the Seoul-controlled Dokdo islands in the Sea of Japan (East Sea),

have announced a plan to visit Ulleung island, the closest South Korean territory to Dokdo.

“Such a visit will be of no help to

SEOUL: South Korean protestors hold portraits of four lawmakers of Japan’s opposition Liberal Democratic Party during a rally against a planned visit of the lawmakers in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul yesterday. —AFP which are known as Takeshima in Japan.

The four lawmakers at the centre of the dispute, from Japan’s conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party,

bilateral relations and we want them to restrain themselves,” the unnamed South Korean foreign ministry official reportedly said. “Their move seriously

Indonesia rejects outrage over lynch mob sentences JAKARTA: Indonesia yesterday dismissed expressions of outrage and disbelief over the perceived light sentences handed down to Islamic extremists who killed three minority sect members in a mob frenzy. The United States and the European Union expressed strong misgivings while local rights groups and international watchdogs issued condemnations and calls for action to address rising intolerance in the mainly Muslim country.

But religious affairs ministry spokesman Zubaidi said the sentences of three to six months for the men accused of leading the murderous assault on the Ahmadiyah sect members in February were the result of a fair trial.

“As an executive body, we cannot interfere in the legal system. We believe in the law enforcers. They have the right to come up with the sentences,” he told AFP. “Whether the sentences are light or harsh, how it’s perceived is relative.”

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, often held up by the United States and others as a champion of pluralism and democracy, made no comment on the sentences. Foreign ministry officials were unavailable to comment. Human rights activists said prosecutors and the court in Serang had been influenced by Islamic leaders to play down the gravity of the crime. They say violence against minorities is going

unchecked in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, and criticise Yudhoyono for failing to defend the nation’s pluralist, moderate traditions.

But Zubaidi said the court was independent and its decisions could not be questioned. “I don’t see that there has been any pressures from anyone. On the matter of intervention, I believe there was none,” he said. The violence against the Ahmadiyah sect members in Cikeusik, western Java, was one of the most horrific in a long line of attacks on the minority group in Indonesia in recent years.

Ahmadiyah, unlike mainstream Muslims, do not believe Mohammed was the last prophet and are regarded as heretics and blasphemers by conservatives in countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan. A secretly filmed video of the Cikeusik rampage sparked international concern when it appeared online within days of the attack.

The sentences were less than prosecutors had sought and well below the maximum penalty of 12 years. The state advised the court that the Ahmadiyah provoked the attack by refusing to flee the mob. Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old who repeatedly smashed a victim’s skull with a stone, was sentenced to three months in jail for assault causing death, public incitement and destruction of property. —AFP

damages bilateral relations and hurts (South Korean) people’s sentiment and greatly undermines diplomatic efforts to enhance bilateral relations.” A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the ambassador had been called in but said she had no further information.

In Tokyo, a secretary of Yoshitaka Shindo, one of the four Japanese legislators, told AFP: “We have no intention of changing our plan to visit South Korea starting on Monday. “We are aware that South Korea is trying to bar our lawmakers from entering the country, but we have no comment as it is an action by the South Korean government.” Shindo said in a video message on his website: “South Korea has illegally and militarily occupied part of what is undoubtedly our territory. We don’t intend to fight there. We want to express our feeling of anger to the South Korean people.”

The latest row began when flag carrier Korean Air mounted a test flight of its new A380 aircraft over Dokdo in June.

Tokyo in response ordered public servants not to use Korean Air for a month.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, at a cabinet meeting Tuesday, ordered officials to advise Tokyo that Seoul “cannot guarantee the lawmakers’ safety” and to urge them to cancel the visit, a presidential spokesman said. —AFP

Islamic militants beheaded troops: Navy MANILA: Islamist militants in the southern Philippines beheaded two marines in a brutal knife attack during a major clash that left five other soldiers dead and 26 wounded, a military spokesman said yesterday. The Al Qaedalinked Abu Sayyaf severed the heads of two of the seven dead marines in Thursday’s clash, navy spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Omar Tonsay told reporters in Manila.

“I can confirm two,” Tonsay said when asked if any of the dead marines were beheaded.

“Definitely this is a form of barbarism.” Military spokesmen in the south also raised the number of wounded soldiers from the clash on the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo island to 26, from the 21 initially reported.

Eleven of the wounded were flown to a military hospital in the southern port of Zamboanga yesterday along with their dead comrades, said the regional military spokesman there, Lieutenant-Colonel Randolf Cabangbang. —AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan delivers a speech during his press conference at his official residence in Tokyo yesterday. Kan was due to outline a long-term plan to scale back nuclear power and boost renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. —AFP

Japan PM calls for careful cutback on nuke energy TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan yesterday called for a long-term and careful effort to scale back the nation’s reliance on nuclear power over the next four decades and make more use of solar energy and other renewable power sources. Responding to concerns raised by Japan’s March 11 tsunami, Kan called for investment in renewables, a re-examination of the national policy promoting the private development of nuclear power and a reworking of the control regional power companies have over their markets.

His broad-brush announcement calls for a “planned and gradual” reduction of nuclear dependence by 2050 and is an attempt to unify the government’s stance on nuclear policy. “We aim for a society that does not depend on nuclear power,” Kan said. “It is very important for us to have a meaningful debate on this issue.”

Kan has already said he intends to step down as soon as the country’s recovery is on track, and his government is deeply divided over what approach it should take toward nuclear power.

Earlier this month, he said he would like to see his country completely phase out nuclear power in light of the crisis at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. But he was opposed in that stance by members of his own Cabinet and slammed by the opposition as irresponsible.

He later clarified that his remarks reflected only his “personal opinion.” The plan announced yesterday has the basic support of his Cabinet. Resource-poor Japan has long pursued an aggressive nuclear power policy. Before the disaster it relied on nuclear for about a third of its electricity and was aiming to increase that share to about one-half by 2030. Amid a public outcry over nuclear safety, Kan has led a rethinking of that policy.

Public opinion toward nuclear energy has been harsh since the earthquake and tsunami touched off fires, explosions and meltdowns at the Fukushima facility. Some 80,000 residents near the plant were evacuated, and a 12-mile (20-kilometer) ring around it remains off-limits. Powerful segments of government and industry, however, argue that nuclear is necessary for Japan’s economy, that it is relatively safe and clean despite the recent dissater and that alternative energy sources are too expensive to make up the difference.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that runs the plant, says although the worst of the crisis has subsided, it will likely take years to conduct the cleanup and repairs. The Fukushima Daiichi reactors will not be operational again. Currently, 35 of Japan’s 54 reactors are idle, causing electricity shortages amid sweltering heat. The government has ordered safety checks on all reactors after the disaster - the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. With the loss of the Fukushima plant, which used to supply power to Tokyo areas, companies, factories and shopping malls are making government-ordered cutbacks in the amount of energy they use. —AP

Chinese media slam US over debt battle

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India to make oil payment to Iran via Turkey: Minister

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James Murdoch remains BSkyB chairman

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

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IAG bucks industry trend with profit swing in H1

NEW YORK: President Barack Obama is seen on four television screens in the booth of Julio Carmona (left) of Morgan Stanley, and Robert Moran (right) of Credit Suisse, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. — AP

Obama hopeful amid new recession jitters Sluggish US economic growth sinks dollar NEW YORK: The dollar fell broadly yesterday on signs of a sharp slowdown in US economic growth and the increasing possibility of a debt default that could hurt the economy further.

The government said that the US economy grew at a tepid 1.3 percent annual rate from April through last month, after growing a scant 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year. It’s the weakest six months for the economy since the recession ended in June 2009.

“The Federal Reserve can’t help but look at these numbers and wonder if it ending asset purchases last month was premature,” wrote foreign-exchange brokerage GFT’s currency analyst Kathy Lien. “The dollar is looking less and less attractive.”

The Fed’s bond-buying program, which ended in June, was meant to lower interest rates and promote lending and economic

growth. Lower interest rates tend to weaken a currency, however. A new bond-buying program to support the struggling economy could make the dollar even less appealing to investors.

President Barack Obama says there are multiple ways to resolve an impasse in Congress that threatens to put the US in default next week, but it has to be bipartisan and it has to happen fast. The president urged Democrats and Republicans in the Senate yesterday to come together on a plan to raise the country’s borrowing authority that can pass the House and that he can sign.

He spoke at the White House as a bill by Republican House Speaker John Boehner to lift the debt ceiling and slash spending remained unexpectedly stalled after Boehner failed to muster the necessary votes. Obama said,

“We’re almost out of time.” Republicans were set to try again and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced plans to move forward on a rival measure ahead of the Tuesday deadline to act or face unprecedented default.

The US is edging closer to a possible default, which economists say would further damage the already weak economy. The Obama administration has said there must be a deal no later than Aug. 2 to let the government borrow more money.

In morning trading yesterday in New York, the dollar sank to a four-month low of 76.99 Japanese yen and a record low against of 0.7860 Swiss franc Late on Thursday, the dollar had been worth 77.88 yen and 0.8016 Swiss franc. Traders consider the yen and franc to be safe bets. The dollar is also a traditional safehaven currency, but its debt woes have made

it less appealing.

The dollar has fallen nearly 19 percent against the franc this year. It’s trading at its lowest point against the yen since the world’s major central banks intervened to weaken the Japanese currency in March. Back in March, the dollar had fallen to a post-World War II low of 76.32 yen in the aftermath of the devastating Japanese earthquake.

UBS analyst Chris Walker said the Japanese finance minister suggested that the government could move to curb the yen’s rise.

The euro rose to $1.4359 from $1.4311 late Thursday. Before the release of the US economy report, the euro had been sliding on worries about Europe’s debt crisis. The British pound rose to $1.6408 from $1.6344, while the dollar rose to 95.73 Canadian cents from 95.06 Canadian cents. —AP

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Investors become more positive on Ireland DUBLIN/LONDON: Ireland’s insistence that it is different from Greece and the rest of the euro zone periphery appears finally to be striking a chord among investors.

Irish sovereign debt prices staged an impressive rally this week in spite of growing bond market volatility elsewhere in the euro zone, which was hit by doubt over the effectiveness of the latest bailout plan for Athens and concern about the ability of Italy and Spain to weather the storm.

While Madrid and Rome have only come under heavy market pressure over the past several weeks, Dublin is a veteran of the regional debt crisis, and its long-running efforts to tackle its banking and fiscal problems-together with a relaxation of the terms of its 85 billion euro ($122 billion) international bailout-are encouraging investors to take a second look.

“I think there is a re-rating by the market of Ireland,” said Fergal O’Leary, head of capital markets at Glas Securities in Dublin. “There is a growing feeling among international guys that Ireland has faced up to its problems, it is doing what it needs to do.”

Unlike fellow bailout recipients Greece and Portugal, Ireland is meeting its budget deficit targets and has been singled out for praise by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for its determination to get its annual deficit, still the largest in the euro zone as a proportion of gross domestic product, under control.

Although Ireland is mid-way through an unprecedented eight-year cycle of austerity, social unrest is almost non-existent and unlike Greece and Portugal, Ireland is expected to return to economic growth this year because of a vibrant export sector and the flexibility of its economy. — Reuters

Rosneft net rises on stronger output MOSCOW: Higher oil prices and output helped Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft post an 11 percent increase in second quarter net profits to $2.8 billion.

The company also said yesterday that average crude oil production of the Moscow-based company went up from 2.37 million barrels a day to a record of 2.40 million barrels, boosted by strong output at the Vankor and Verkhnechorsk fields in Eastern Siberia.

The firm, which is owned 75 percent by the Russian government, was dealt a temporary blow in the second quarter as its deal with BP broke down after months of negotiations and high-profile patronage. Rosneft and BP agreed in January to swap shares worth $16 billion and jointly develop the Russian sector of the Arctic passed Tuesday.

But BP’s Russian partners blocked the deal in court. Rosneft is now looking for new partners to work in the Arctic. The Russian government has recently announced plans to privatize some of its stake, although it will retain a majority stake in the oil producer. — AP

Chinese media slam US over debt battle America’s global leadership shaky BEIJING: Chinese media attacked the United States over its debt wrangling yesterday, warning that lawmakers could depress the value of the dollar, fuel global inflation and plunge the world into another recession.

The United States must raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2 or risk defaulting on its repayment obligations, a move that would send seismic shocks through the global economy. A default could hurt the US dollar and trigger a “torrential flood” of liquidity into the global economy, fuelling inflation in emerging economies such as China, the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said yesterday.

China is by far the top holder of US debt with holdings at $1.16 trillion in May, according to the latest US data, and has raised concerns about its investment in the past.

The Chinese government has so far made no official comment on the latest crisis, but Xinhua is controlled by the state and its commentary is sure to have been officially sanctioned.

A US default could send the world into a recession “much nastier” than the 2008 crisis, Xinhua said on Thursday, urging lawmakers to finish “their political jockeying” and “restore international investor confidence”. “The potential collateral damage is way too heavy,” Xinhua said, adding it was time for Washington to “revisit the time-tested common sense that one should live within one’s means”.

In a separate report, Xinhua said lawmakers on both sides of the debate were “wasting precious time on fingerpointing, public showdowns and tough backdoor bargains” to get the best deal for their parties. America’s debt crisis and economic malaise are shaking confidence its global leadership. Many governments see Washington’s paralysis as political theater ahead of a presidential

NEW DELHI: A man checks the authenticity of a US banknote at a currency exchange counter in New Delhi yesterday. — AP election and wonder how American hardliners can be allowed to hold up a deal and bring a globalized economy to the brink.

International bankers are concerned that a US default would cause a crash of the dollar, the world’s reserve currency, battering economies from Asia to Africa and possibly sparking political unrest.

Already, US trade partners are worried about depending too heavily on one country and looking to diversify, just as China is expanding into Latin America and other markets historically dominated by the US. Officials interviewed around the world said the United States at the moment is failing to lead by word, deed and example. “You can’t put your house in order being the global economic power?” Ishrat Husain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, asked

rhetorically. “How can you expect others to do that?” “The turmoil we’re seeing will pose the question of the (role of the) US dollar in the international monetary system in a much more acute form than we’ve seen before,” said Said Nasser Saidi, a former Lebanese trade minister and chief economist for Dubai’s government-run Dubai International Financial Center. China, the largest foreign holder of US Treasury debt, has appealed for Washington to act responsibly and protect investors.

The Chinese government has stayed silent on the strategic implications of the US financial struggles, perhaps because it is torn between its ambitions and economic necessity.

Beijing wants Washington to reduce its military presence in Asia and has called for a global currency to replace the dollar. — Agencies

Two Aug-loading Saudi fuel oil lots sold into East Asia

ALGIERS: A man stands by a stand at Ali Mellah market in Algiers. Faced with crumbling regimes across the Arab world, Algeria has dramatically boosted its grain imports to contain social unrest ahead of Ramadan, when food prices traditionally shoot up. — AFP

SINGAPORE: Two fuel cargoes, both for first-half August loading from Saudi Arabia, were sold unexpectedly to East Asian buyers, at higher price levels amid tightening supplies, traders said yesterday.

The cargoes had been expected to stay in the Middle East, amid an unexpected shortage of exports from Iran for July- and August-loadings, which had squeezed both markets, particularly for on-specification 380-centistoke (cst) cargoes.

“It is a surprise that the two cargoes were won by players who are expected to consume them to Singapore, instead of the Middle East, as had been the case of the last four offers from Saudi Arabia,” a Middle East-based trader said.

“The price levels at which the cargoes were awarded are rather high, and based on current market economics, out of money, unless the two winners have cheaper-than-market freight or if bunker premiums improve dramatically.”

Apart from the Iranian inflows, supplies from Kuwait, which has averaged 100,000 tons a month for this year, have also dried up, with no August-

arrival cargoes seen so far. Kuwait Petroleum Co has diverted some of its supplies to neighboring Pakistan, which has seen an upsurge in demand this year and is mainly supplied from the Middle East, exporting at least one 65,000-ton parcel a month since June.

The first parcel, up to 90,000 tons of high 700-cst viscosity fuel oil offered by ExxonMobil, for Aug. 1517 loading from the joint-venture Samref refinery in Yanbu, was sold to European trader Glencore at a discount of about $20.00 a ton to Singapore spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, up from minus $24.00-$25.00 previously, traders said.

The other lot, 95,000 tons of A961 180-cst, offered by Saudi Aramco, for Aug. 5-7 lifting from Ras Tanura, was sold to France’s Totsa at a premium of $3.00-$4.00 a ton to spot quotes, FOB, up from $2.00-$3.00 previously, traders said. A third parcel has been offered by Aramco — 90,000 tons of 700cst from Yanbu, for Aug. 22-24 loading, FOB, with offers expected by next Monday, and a deal a day later. — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

India to make oil payment to Iran via Turkey: Minister MRPL pays first installment to Iran oil firm

MIAMI: A Chevron logo at a gas station in Miami.

Chevron Corp said yesterday, profits jumped 43 percent in the second quarter as higher oil and gasoline prices made up for a decline in crude production. —AP

Chevron profit jumps 43 in Q2 NEW YORK: Chevron says profit jumped 43 percent in the second quarter as higher oil and gasoline prices made up for a decline in oil production. The San Ramon, California, oil giant on Friday reported earnings of $7.7 billion, or $3.85 per share, for the three months ended June 30. That compares with $5.4 billion, or $2.70 per share, in the yearago period. Revenue increased 31 percent to $66.7 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of $3.51 per share, according to FactSet. The results at Chevron Corp. mirror similar big gains for other major oil companies. In the second quarter, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s earnings rose 41 percent to $10.7 billion while Royal Dutch Shellís profit nearly doubled to $8.7 billion. —AP

NEW DELHI: India is making its first payment to Iran through Turkey for billions of dollars in unpaid crude oil bills as it seeks to avert a cut-off in fuel shipments, the oil minister said yesterday. Tehran warned late last month it would halt exports to India from next month unless the payments dispute was resolved.

India’s state-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd has made a small payment in euros to National Iranian Oil Co for oil through Turkey’s Halkbank, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

India and Iran have been trying to find a way to make payments for a total 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude after the Reserve Bank of India stopped use of a clearing mechanism in December 2010 under US pressure.

MRPL, which runs a 236,400 bpd coastal refinery in southern India, is Iran’s top Indian client, buying about 150,000 bpd of oil from the Islamic Republic. MRPL owes Iran $2.9 billion for oil purchases, Managing Director U

K Basu said earlier this week. Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said New Delhi expects to pay via Turkey the first tranche of arrears to Iran, which supplies 12 percent of energy-hungry India’s crude needs. However, Reddy told reporters in New Delhi “we can’t fix time frames” in response to queries about when an alternate payment mechanism would be finalized to pay the bills which total at least $5 billion.

India is Iran’s second largest client after China and absorbs about 20 percent of its crude exports. But Indian firms have been struggling for more than six months to pay Tehran due to international banking sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic over its nuclear program. Reddy added he was hopeful Iran would continue to supply crude to India in August, but added New Delhi has already lined up alternative arrangements with other crude suppliers as a contingency measure.

The Financial Times quoted a senior Iranian oil official earlier this week as saying Tehran would continue

crude exports as the two countries were seeking to work out payment methods through new accounts and barter deals.

Rupee accounts could help pay the cost of Iran’s imports from India which include steel, food and electronic goods, the Financial Times said.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia agreed to sell three million barrels of extra crude oil to India to offset a possible supply cut, the Press Trust of India reported.

Annual trade between India and Iran stands at an estimated $12 billion, with India purchasing about 400,000 barrels of Iranian crude per day. The Financial Times said if payment was arranged through barter deals, it would be the first time since the 198088 Iran-Iraq war that the Islamic republic had used such a means to be paid for its oil exports.

Reddy said earlier this month alternative supplies were being arranged from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq as well as from Latin America. — Agencies

Russia faces oil battle as Iraqi output grows LONDON: Five large Iraqi oil cargoes are heading to Europe this and next month in a rare development that is the opening shot in a pricing war with rival Russia and could help to bring down high oil prices.

The exports of Iraqi Basra oil, an unaccustomed guest in Europe, were triggered by a US oil stocks release in June and a strengthening of Russian crude values, traders and analysts said, adding they would have longer-term implications.

As Iraq is building export facilities and ramping up production, it could often compete with rival OPEC members and Russia, the world’s top oil producer, for market share. “For us Iraq is absolutely one of the best parts of the global oil supply story for the next 2-5 years,” said Nic Brown from Natixis. “Iraqi exports are being constrained at the minute by the lack of export capacity but once new facilities come on stream, including in November this year, it has the scope to improve substantially.”

Iraqi production has been gradually climbing in the past months to reach 2.7 million barrels per day versus 2.5 million last year as multi-billion joint projects with international majors begin to pay.

Infrastructure and other constraints has led it to reconsider plans to expand output to 12 million bpd by 2017, which would rival that of the world’s biggest conventional oil reserves holder Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia already has

capacity of some 12 million bpd and its production is close to 10 million bpd, while Russia is producing at record rates above 10 million bpd.

Even the pared-back Iraqi additions will be a huge increase and could reach 6-8 million bpd within the next 5 years, compared with global demand of roughly 90 million bpd.

Iraqi exports flow from two ports-Kirkuk crude flows mostly to Europe from the Turkish port of Ceyhan while Basra, shipped from the port of the same name in the Middle East Gulf, is exported more often to Asia and North America.

But as export capacity additions come onstream mainly in Basra, some traders said Europe’s dominant supplier Russia would face more and more pressure on its Urals crude, which is of a similar quality to Iraqi oil, in the months to come.

That became evident this month when firms including ExxonMobil , Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil and trading house Gunvor booked up to 9 million barrels of Basra for shipment into Europe’s Mediterranean and north. The tankers included four supertankers which can carry up to 2 million and one million-barrel Suezmax.

“We haven’t seen so much Basra in Europe for a long time. It all happened because Urals has gone too strong. People started looking around and Basra was very competitive in June,” said a trader with one of the majors. — Reuters

GUAHATI: A customer walks out carrying goods from an electronics market in Gauhati yesterday.

The Indian rupee ended almost flat against the US dollar in a volatile trading session on Thursday, weighed down by falling shares, a sluggish euro and demand for dollars from oil importers, according to news agencies. — AP

Oil below $97 as US debt limit deadline nears NEW YORK: Oil prices fell below $97 a barrel yesterday as US leaders failed to agree to lift the government debt limit just days from a deadline, leaving investors to consider worst-case scenarios if a default occurs.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for September delivery was down 78 cents to $96.66 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 4 cents to settle at $97.44 on Thursday. In London, Brent crude fell 39 cents to $116.97 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Investors are closely watching negotiations among US lawmakers ahead of Aug 2, when the government will run out of money to pay its obligations unless its $14.3 trillion debt limit is raised.

Most analysts say a US debt default is still very unlikely, but if it happened would devastate the economy. Credit Suisse estimated Thursday that a default would likely trigger a 5 percent contraction of US gross domestic product. Crude has traded near $97 for the last few days as investors wait for an outcome of the debt limit talks.

“Crude prices are generally in a holding pattern ahead of further guidance regarding the debt ceiling agreement or lack thereof,” energy consultant Ritterbusch and Associates said.

“A difficult trading environment still lies ahead until the US debt situation acquires some clarity.”

For commodity analyst Edward Meir of MF Global, there had not yet been a “decisive move” either up or down in commodities early yesterday. — AP

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

James Murdoch remains BSkyB chairman: TV firm Annual profits surge 23%

HONG KONG: The logo of AIA, the Asian unit of US insurer AIG, is seen in Hong Kong. Shares in Asian insurance giant AIA touched a record high in Hong Kong yesterday as the firm said net profit in the first six months of its fiscal year rose by a quarter. —AFP

AIA shares hit record high on soaring profits HONG KONG: Shares in Asian insurance giant AIA touched a record high in Hong Kong yesterday as the firm said net profit in the first six months of its fiscal year rose by a quarter. The stock, which was listed in the teeming financial hub following a monster $20.5 billion share sale last year, hit HK$29 ($3.72) in early trade before closing at HK$28.65, up 3.43 percent on the day.

That close was about 46 percent above AIA’s HK$19.68 initial public offering price. On Friday, the firm reported a $1.31 billion net profit in the six months to May 31, a 24 percent year on year increase, while it said the value of its new business rose 32 percent to $399 million.

“AIA’s strong performance across all of our key financial performance measures demonstrates the excellent progress we have made in executing our growth strategy,” said Mark Tucker, the firm’s chief executive.

“There is much more to come,” he added. The rosy results come after AIA said earlier this year that its net profit in 2010 rose 54 percent over 2009 to $2.7 billion. AIA raised $20.5 billion in October, marking the world’s third-biggest initial public offering at the time.

Some of the cash was earmarked for helping its then parent, troubled US insurer American International Group, pay off a $182 billion US government bailout it received at the height of the global financial crisis.

Once the world’s largest insurer, AIG received the massive government cash injection as it teetered on the brink of collapse in 2008 and threatened to take down a number of large banks with it.

AIG was forced to look at floating its Asian unit in Hong Kong after the collapse of a proposed $35.5 billion sale to British insurer Prudential. —AFP

Uganda’s inflation jump likely to spur rate rise KAMPALA: The jump in Uganda’s year-on-year inflation rate in July is likely to spur an increase in the central bank’s key interest rate next month as pressure mounts on the east African nation to tame surging prices, analysts said yesterday.

The year-on-year inflation rate in east Africa’s third largest economy climbed to an 18-year high of 18.7 percent from a revised 15.7 percent in June, according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

The inflation rate was last higher in February 1993 when it stood at 24.9 percent, the statistics office said. The monthly headline index rose 2.2 percent in July compared with 0.1 percent rise in June. The core inflation rate also jumped to 15.6 percent from 12.2 percent in June.

On July 6, the BOU launched a key Central Bank Rate (CBR) and shifted the focus of its monetary policy to targeting inflation from monitoring the amount of money in circulation.

The central bank said it would target 5 percent core inflation in the “medium term” without giving a specific time frame, and it set its new central bank rate (CBR) at 13 percent for July. —Reuters

LONDON: British pay-TV giant BSkyB said yesterday that James Murdoch will remain chairman despite the phone-hacking row at main shareholder News Corp, as the broadcaster revealed a 23-percent jump in profits. The firm also announced a £750-million ($1.2-billion, 854-million-euro) share buyback and hiked its shareholder dividend to calm the waters after the scandal forced Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. this month to scrap a takeover bid for BSkyB. The crisis had sparked calls for Rupert’s son James to resign the chairmanship of BSkyB, but the company’s board gave him their unanimous support at a meeting late on Thursday.

“Following the withdrawal of the News Corporation proposal, the board will return to normal processes. James Murdoch remains chairman,” BSkyB said in an annual results statement yesterday.

Operating profits soared to £1.073 billion in the 12 months to June, compared with £872 million in the group’s previous financial year, BSkyB said in the statement. That was in line with market expectations.

BSkyB, which broadcasts live English Premier League football and blockbuster movies, added that it now has 10.3 million household subscribers, a proportion of whom pay monthly fees to access its Internet broadband and telephone services. “This has been a year of outstanding operational and financial results for Sky,” said James Murdoch in the statement.

“It is to the credit of Sky’s first-class LONDON: News International Chairman and Chief Executive and management team that the company BSkyB Chairman James Murdoch arriving for work in east London. has continued to deliver throughout British pay-TV giant BSkyB said yesterday that James Murdoch will the offer period that ended earlier this month. He added: “We are pleased to remain chairman. —AFP announce both a 20 percent increase in the ordinary dividend and our intention cent of BSkyB shares that it did not tered with a foam pie.

Two former News of the World to return £750 million to shareholders already own on July 13. News Corp had in June 2010 bid £7.8 billion ($12.5 bil- e x e c u t i v e s h a v e a c c u s e d J a m e s through a share buy-back program.”

It ramped up its shareholder divi- lion, 8.6 billion euros) for the 60.9 per- Murdoch of misleading the commitdend by a fifth to 23.28 pence per cent of BSkyB it did not already own. tee over how much he knew about share. The scandal erupted earlier this But BSkyB rejected the 700-pence-per- the extent of hacking at the paper when he authorized a key payout to a month when it emerged that the News share offer.

But the scandal has refused to go victim in 2008. The BSkyB chairmanof the World, News Corp.’s marketleading British Sunday tabloid newspa- away and the pressure remains on who is also number three at News per, had hacked the voicemail mes- News Corp., and on James Murdoch in Corp. and head of its European and sages of murdered 13-year-old school- particular. A lawmaker is pressing for Asian activities, as well as chairman of James Murdoch to be recalled by a i t s B r i t i s h n e w s p a p e r a r m N e w s girl Milly Dowler.

Rupert Murdoch shut down the parliamentary committee in front of International-says he stands by his paper on July 7 but faced with intense which he and his father answered testimony. A judge-led inquiry into political and public pressure News questions on the hacking scandal-and t h e s c a n d a l f o r m a l l y o p e n e d o n Corp called off its bid for the 61 per- at which Rupert Murdoch was splat- Thursday in Britain. —AFP

Vodafone pays out $3.3bn from Verizon windfall LONDON: Vodafone shareholders will get $3.3 billion from a long-awaited Verizon Wireless dividend, raising hopes for regular payouts from the US company after a six-year drought. Shares in Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile phone operator by revenue, rose as much as 5.7 percent yesterday after Verizon Wireless said it would pay $10 billion to the British company and coowner Verizon Communications .

“Verizon’s attempt to squeeze Vodafone has resoundingly failed, they now have no choice but to pay the cash,” analyst Robin Bienenstock at bro-

kerage Bernstein said, predicting regular dividends.

Vodafone has not received a payout from Verizon Wireless, in which it holds 45 percent, since 2005, partly because Verizon had hoped to force Vodafone out of the joint venture by not paying a dividend, say analysts. The development is the latest victory in a campaign

by Chief Executive Vittorio Colao’s campaign to make Vodafone’s sprawling portfolio more effective.

In the last year, Vodafone has resolved several shared-ownership issues, including buying Essar out of an

Indian joint venture for $5.46 billion and selling a stake in China Mobile for $6.5 billion.

Newbury, England-based Vodafone said its shareholders would receive 2 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) from its $4.5 billion share of the windfall via a special 4 pence-a-share dividend to be paid in February, with the balance used to pay down debt. Shares in Vodafone were up 4.5 percent, or 7.2 pence, at 172.6 pence by 1033 GMT, having earlier risen as high as 174.9 pence to levels not seen since May. It was the biggest gainer on Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index . —Reuters

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IAG bucks industry trend with profit swing in H1 Rising fuel costs still a concern

NEW YORK: A money trader works in front of a currency rate indicator showing the yen-dollar exchange rate at a money market brokerage company in Tokyo yesterday. The dollar fell to 77.72 yen in Asia from 77.88 yen late Thursday in New York. —AP

China could help fund Greek bond buybacks ATHENS: China could provide loans to Greece to fund government bond buybacks in the secondary market to help cut the country’s debt burden, a Greek finance ministry official told Reuters yesterday. “There are signs that China is interested in taking part in the new funding scheme for Greece,” said the official who declined to be named.

The official did not elaborate but referred to a meeting Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos had with China’s IMF representative in Washington earlier this week. China has made a major investment in Greece’s main port in Piraeus and offered to buy Greek government bonds when Athens resumes issuance, according to comments by its Premier Wen Jiabao, during a visit to Athens last year. Wen said China had already bought Greek bonds previously.

The Chinese government faces domestic political pressure to invest the country’s foreign reserves conservatively after China incurred losses on overseas financial investments during the global credit crisis.

Greece secured a second bailout at an emergency summit of leaders of the 17-nation euro-zone last week, with 109 billion euros ($157 billion) of government money plus a contribution by private sector bondholders that may total as much as 50 billion euros by mid-2014.

In addition to the private sector’s involvement, the summit decided to help Greece cut its debt mountain through a bond buyback program funded by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) rescue mechanism.

On Thursday, Venizelos told lawmakers during a briefing of parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee that, along with EU/IMF aid and private sector participation in a rescue package, a third nation could form another funding pillar for debt buybacks, without naming China.

“A third nation allows the formation of a third pylon that could fund the debt buyback mechanism in the secondary market,” Venizelos told lawmakers. —Reuters

EBRD board recommends North Africa lending LONDON: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s board recommended extending the bank’s lending mandate to the southern and eastern Mediterranean, encompassing countries affected by political unrest earlier this year.

The EBRD agreed in May at its annual meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to begin the process of expanding lending to North Africa, following requests from members Egypt and Morocco to receive funds. The board has also recommended Tunisia become a member of the bank and a letter of interest has been received from Jordan, the EBRD said in a statement yesterday. Tunisia asked to become both a member and a recipient of funds, the EBRD said last month. The board of directors’ recommendations, along with other resolutions aimed at ensuring a swift start to activities in the region, will go to the EBRD’s board of governors. The governors will have two months to decide whether to adopt them and after that some proposals will need to be ratified by shareholders. —Reuters

LONDON: International Airlines Group, formed by the merger of BA and Iberia, defied the gloom in the airline sector by swinging to a profit in the first half and predicting full-year earnings growth. Europe’s second-biggest airline group by value behind Lufthansa said yesterday pretax profit in the six months to the end of last month rose to 39 million euros ($55.7 million) from a loss of 419 million euros on revenues 17.9 percent higher at 7.8 billion euros. IAG’s Chief Executive Willie Walsh told reporters he expected the group to deliver “significant growth in operating profit this year” despite soaring fuel prices.

Earlier this week IAG’s European rivals Air France and Lufthansa reported results battered by high fuel costs and said capacity would not grow as quickly as previously planned over the winter. In the US, shares in Delta Air Lines fell to a year low after it said fuel costs grew at a higher rate than revenue.“Looking at the financial reports of some of our competitors, at first glance it would appear that we are doing slightly better ... because we are working harder,” said Walsh.

“There’s very little we can do about fuel costs but what we can do is try and manage our controllable costs in the non-fuel areas and I think we’ve done that well.” The airline managed to shave 5.6 percent off its non-fuel costs during the period, helping offset some of the 34.8 percent rise in fuel costs.

It expects its second half fuel costs to come in at around 2.8 billion euros, taking its annual bill to about 5.2 billion euros, up from 3.9 billion euros last year.

Shares in IAG in London, which have fallen 18 percent in 2011, were up 0.3 percent at 233.2 pence by 0745 GMT, valuing the business at around 4.3 billion pounds. “These are good results at the upper end of expectations but the yearago period was depressed by the ash cloud crisis and strikes at BA,” said Charles Stanley analyst Douglas McNeill.

“We remain skeptical that throughthe-cycle profitability is improving, and continue to rate the stock a ‘hold’ with some downside risk.” IAG, whose traffic rose 15.7 percent in the second quarter, said its long haul business remained stable, with strength in the premium sector,

but that the short haul European market remains highly competitive.

“The environment in London is somewhat better than the rest of Europe,” said Walsh, who added that the deadlock over raising the US debt ceiling had created “uncertainty that everyone could do without” but said IAG’s transatlantic business was performing well.

“The joint venture (between BA, Iberia and American Airlines ) is gaining premium market share from pretty much everyone out there.”

While air travel has picked up after the 2008/2009 global downturn, fuel costs, political unrest and a drop in traffic caused by the March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami are causing headaches for airlines across the world. —Reuters

Japan industrial output rises for third month TOKYO: Japan’s industrial production rose for the third straight month last month as companies led by automakers continued to revive output amid an ongoing recovery of supply chains after the March 11 tsunami.

Japan’s output rose 3.9 percent in June from the previous month, data showed yesterday, albeit slower than a 4.3 percent gain expected in a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires.

The ministry forecast output to rise 2.2 percent in July, better than an earlier estimate of a 0.5 percent gain, and 2.0 percent in August, although analysts warn that summer power consumption curbs add uncertainty to estimates. “Industrial Production is on a recovery trend after the Great East Japan Earthquake,” the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Leading the rise were gains in automobile production and electronics parts and devices, the ministry said. “We had already expected a rise for the June industrial output, but the ministry’s expectations for July have improved, which is reassuring” amid power constraint concerns, said Taro Saito, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

The Japanese government has ordered major firms to cut peak electricity use by 15 percent between July and September, as most of the nation’s nuclear reactors remain offline in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima plant. The June figure nevertheless marked a slower pace of growth than May, which saw output rise 6.2 percent.

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that tore into Japan’s northeast coast, leaving 20,000 dead or missing while sparking meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japanese production tumbled by a record amount in the quake’s aftermath as

TKOYO: Mazda Motor Corp’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Kiyoshi Ozaki speaks on this year’s first quarter financial results during a press conference in Tokyo yesterday.

Mazda reported its third straight quarter of red ink yesterday after vehicle production was hurt by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. —AP companies shut plants amid power shortages and a scramble for key components, with supply chains broken.

As consumers slashed spending amid a mood of self-restraint following the disasters, the economy tipped into a technical recession in the first quarter. Further data Friday showed that Japanese consumers remained cautious as household spending fell 4.2 percent last month, a steeper decline than market expectations of a 2.0 percent drop.

It had plunged 8.5 percent in March while

the pace of decline eased in April and May by 3.0 percent and 1.9 percent.

Other data yesterday showed Japan’s core consumer prices rose 0.4 percent last month from a year earlier, slightly less than market expectations of a 0.5 percent gain.

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food prices, rose for the third consecutive month after gaining in April for the first time in more than two years, but analysts expect an eventual return to deflation. —AFP

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Moody’s threatens Spain rating cut, worried by regions MADRID: Rating agency Moody’s put Spain on review for a possible downgrade yesterday, adding to concerns that a Greek rescue package has done little to halt the spread of Europe’s debt crisis.

Moody’s move to place the Aa2 government bond rating on review cited concerns over growth and said funding costs would continue to be high in the wake of euro-zone leaders’ bolder moves to curb the Greek crisis last week. That added to a sense that Spain - and Italy - are still firmly in the firing line, and the euro and Spanish bond prices fell in response.

Particular focus rested on Spain’s regional governments, many of whom are struggling with burgeoning debt loads after a decade of reckless spending.

Analysts fear control over regions’ debt loads is slipping out of the central government’s grasp.

Regional authorities will miss their collective budget deficit target by up to 0.75 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Moody’s said, hampering the central government’s program of austerity to reduce the overall shortfall. “Regional governments’ finances may prove difficult to control due to structural spending pressures, particularly in the healthcare sector,” Moody’s said in a release.

International investors are concerned the euro zone’s fourth largest economy, hamstrung by anaemic growth rates and high unemployment, will fail to put its fiscal house in order and need a Greek-style bailout.

Nerves about that have sent bond yields to their highest level in over a decade.

Moody’s current rating for Spain is in line with fellow rating agency S&P’s AA setting, while Fitch Ratings has the country one notch higher at AA+.

The euro fell more than 40 pips against the dollar in response and Spanish bond yields rose. Spain’s cost of borrowing over ten years is now 6.11 percent compared to the 7 percent level broadly seen as unsustainable for the euro-zone governments at risk in the crisis. The country’s rating remains at a high investment grade, far above those of Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

But while Moody’s said any cut for Spain would likely be limited to one notch, it said the Greek package had signalled a clear shift in risk for bondholders across the euro-zone. — Reuters

MADRID: Unemployed workers wait outside a government job centre in Madrid yesterday. Spain’s battered economy suffered more bad news as Moody’s threatened to downgrade the country’s rating and that of four major banks, while the unemployment rate remained the highest in the industrialized world. —AFP

Euro-zone inflation unexpectedly falls ECB may refrain from jacking up rates LONDON: Inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro unexpectedly fell this month, official figures showed yesterday, raising speculation that the European Central Bank may not need to raise interest rates as quickly as markets have been predicting.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said consumer prices in the euro-zone rose by 2.5 percent in the year to July.

That’s still above the ECB’s target of keeping inflation just below 2 percent, but down on market expectations for an unchanged reading of 2.7 percent.

Despite the debt crisis that has engulfed the euro-zone and signs of waning economic activity, the markets have been pricing in another interest rate increase from the ECB in September.

The bank has already raised its main interest rate a quarter of a percentage point on two occasions this year to 1.5 percent from the record low of 1 percent to get inflation back to target. Rate-setters have been worried that above-target inflation following a marked rise in energy and commodity costs may feed through into wages, setting off a wage-price inflation spiral.

“July’s figures came as something

BERLIN: Customers crowd in front of a shop offering its summer sales in Berlin yesterday. Summer sale has started in Germany and customers can expect up to 70 percent discounts on consumer goods. —AP of a pleasant surprise and provide some support for our view that the ECB may not raise interest rates again over the coming months,” said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

Eurostat did not offer any explanation why inflation fell. Further details will emerge in the middle of next

EDF outlines investment to power earnings growth PARIS: EDF posted first-half earnings boosted by greater availability at its nuclear power plants in France and the UK, and predicted more growth on heavy investment in the French utility’s energy portfolio. The world’s biggest producer of nuclear power also predicted between 13 billion euros ($18.6 billion) and 15 billion euros of investment in 2015 as it tries to lift power output capacity from 150 gigawatts to 200 by 2020. That would see it leapfrog GDF Suez as the world’s biggest electricity supplier.

State-controlled EDF, which operates France’s 58 nuclear reactors, forecast average core earnings growth of 4-6 percent and an average annual net profit rise of between 5 and 10 percent between 2011 and 2015.

But its shares fell 1.57 percent to 26.58 euros by 1018 GMT as some analysts questioned the credibility of the group’s medium-term guidance due to the lack of visibility of state-set electricity tariffs in France, EDF’s core market.

The European utilities sector was down 1.6 percent. EDF’s core earnings rose to 8.62 billion euros from 8.14 billion in the first half of 2010, on sales up 2.5 percent to 33.46 billion. Recurring net income increased to 2.63 billion euros from

2.36 billion in the year-ago period.

This result, which Chairman Henri Proglio said was achieved “despite an uncertain environment”, beat the average forecasts in a Reuters poll of analysts for EBITDA of 8.58 billion euros and sales of 33.51 billion.

“We met our growth target with an excellent performance in nuclear production ... It is true that last year was marked by plant shutdowns,” Chairman Henri Proglio told a press and analysts conference, referring to unexpected outages at some of its nuclear reactors in France in 2010.

Based on the first-half data, EDF now expects to raise 2011 nuclear power production to between 411 and 418 terawatt/hour, from a goal of 408-415 TWh, it said, cautioning this forecast assumed 10-year inspection visits went as expected.

EDF made few comments on its export ambitions in the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan, and changes that the word’s worst nuclear incident in 25 years had wrought on the industry. Its nuclear reactor supplier Areva posted this week sharply lower half-year earnings hit by order cancellations postFukushima, and the group reduced by 11 percent its estimate for nuclear builds worldwide. — Reuters

month when it publishes a more comprehensive report. Loynes suggested that a sharp fall in Italian inflation may have been responsible for the surprise decline.

The euro was steady after the report, possibly because investors are more focused on developments in the US debate to raise the debt ceiling. — AP

Italy minister admits ‘mistakes’, won’t quit ROME: Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti yesterday dismissed speculation he would resign though admitted making a mistake by using a luxury Rome apartment belonging to a former aide being investigated for corruption.

“I have a job that is very difficult and involves a lot of effort, and I want to continue doing it, as best I can, in the interest of my country,” Tremonti told Italian television, appearing both apologetic and defiant. “Yes, I have made mistakes, the only excuse is that I’ve worked a lot,” he said.

Widely seen as the guarantor of Italy’s financial stability, Tremonti has faced growing pressure over the apartment, adding to market jitters that the country could be next in the firing line as the euro zone’s debt crisis widens.

The luxury apartment occupied by Tremonti until a few weeks ago was made available by Marco Milanese, a former aide being investigated by Naples magistrates for graft and influence-peddling.

The minister’s weekly cash payments of 1,000 euros for its use since 2008 — way below its market value-raised eyebrows among Italian media commentators and the opposition, who questioned whether the payments were a way of dodging tax.

A mood of growing anger against a wealthy political class seen as wringing sacrifices from a long suffering public to balance the budget, has also weighed against the minister. — Reuters

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Cutting-edge ballet rocks Russia’s Bolshoi Page 25

Lebanon’s last Arabic scribes struggle in IT age Page 24

A model presents a creation

by Colombian brand Leonisa during the Colombiamoda fashion show in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia. — AFP

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Robert Pattinson

bites fan’s baby

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he British actor - who is best known for playing vampire Edward Cullen in the ‘Twilight Saga’ film series - was left perplexed during filming on the first movie when a female supporter handed over her three-month-old child to meet the cast. He recalled: “My favorite moment from the whole thing was when we doing the first one and there were people waiting by the perimeter fence and this woman handed over her threemonth-old baby to the AD [assistant director] to meet us.

“The AD didn’t know what to do with it, so he was like, ‘I think she wants you to sign the baby or something?’ and then we realized she wanted pictures with the baby. “I didn’t understand the reality of the thing at the time, that people would see the pictures, so there’s a picture of me on the Internet somewhere biting this baby.”

Despite his revelation, Robert - who is dating his ‘Twilight Saga’ co-star Kristen Stewart - insists he didn’t make physical contact with the infant and only pretended to bite when posing for the picture. He added: “I didn’t actually, like, touch it. It’s a funny picture. The baby was so small its entire head fit in my mouth.”

Orlando Bloom’s baby’s head ‘smells amazing’

Katie Price to paint her £1m Bugatti Veyron pink

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he actor became a father for the first time when his model wife Miranda Kerr gave birth to their son Flynn six months ago and he admits he can’t get enough of fatherhood, especially his boy’s intoxicating scent. He said: “My baby is amazing, even his head smells amazing. His breath, the whole thing, you could eat him!

He’s a big, beautiful boy. He’s great.” Orlando and his young family divide their time between Los Angeles and London, and although the 34-year-old actor loves both cities he admits the interest in his private life can be overwhelming - especially in Hollywood. He told the Daily Record newspaper: “It’s good in LA but I kind of live in London as well. Most of the time I keep it very quiet as I like to be at home and not in the eye of it all. “You can’t avoid it sometimes in LA unfortunately - I try my best but it’s very difficult. “When I’m in the UK, and I’m here more than people would think, I tend to keep a very low profile. I just enjoy being home with my family and mates and stuff.”

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he reality TV star brought the rare vehicle - one of only 300 of its type in the world - to customizer Afzal Kahn at Project Kahn in Bradford, North England, so it can be modified to match her collection of other pink vehicles, which include a Range Rover, Volkswagen Beetle, horse box and 125cc scooter, at a cost of £80,000. She tweeted: “Just left Afzal Kahn. Getting this Bugatti and he is doing it in pink.

Can’t wait.” A source said: “She will anger petrol-heads word-wide by turning such a beautiful, iconic machine bright pink. But at least it will match her other cars.” The garish color won’t be confined to the outside of the vehicle,

with Katie also planning a revamp of the interior. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Katie knows a bit about cars and so does her boyfriend Leandro Penna. She can afford any vehicle and, on his advice, went for the Bugatti.

“Simon Cowell has the same one in Los Angeles so Katie has decided to customize hers. It will be pink pretty much everywhere - a pink leather steering wheel, head rests, alloys and a baby pink, Swarovski crystal-studded leather gear stick.

“There’s also a remote control key fob which will flash pink when she locks or unlocks the car. Katie bought it to celebrate her latest book success.”

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SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Lady Gaga collaborates on photo book Denise Richards wants to grow her family

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Lindsay Lohan

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escribed as a “visual dialogue” between the pop star and acclaimed photographer Terry Richardson - who has taken over 100,000 pictures of the ‘Poker Face’ hitmaker - ‘Lady Gaga’ will be released on November 22 and features an introduction written by the eccentric singer herself. Announcing the book, Grand Central Publishing said: “The book will showcase over 350 color and black and white photographs taken during the 10 month period in which Richardson followed Lady Gaga and had complete access to her everyday life, with nothing being off limits. “Beginning with Lollapalooza in August 2010 to the February 2011 Grammy Awards which had 26.66 million viewers, (the highest viewership in over a decade) to the final shows of her ‘Monster Ball’ tour which averaged an attendance of 90,000 people each day, Richardson brilliantly captures the intimate, random, behindthe-scenes moments of Lady Gaga in both her professional and personal life.”

Meanwhile, Gaga has spoken of how an intimate moment watching her grandmother as her grandfather lay dying inspired her hit ‘Edge of Glory’. She said: “I remember feeling so sad, but they both sort of acknowledged that they won at life because they won at love with each other.” She recalled in an interview with KIIS-FM DJ Jojo: “For some reason I was able to express what my father was not about to express ... what was so hard, was for my dad to watch my grandpa be on the edge to watch him cross over, but not be there yet.” The singer also spoke of how much she loved Amy Winehouse, who died suddenly aged 27. She said: “I didn’t know Amy Winehouse, but I just loved her so much. “I was such a huge fan, and I was a go-go dancer in New York when she was really big. So Amy gave me hope.”

settles unpaid bill

he actress - who already had two children, Sam, seven, and six-year-old Lola, with exhusband Charlie Sheen - was thrilled when she was able to take six-week-old Eloise home last month after a lengthy adoption process because she wanted another child so much. Her friend Ali Landry said: “She’s been trying for a while, and she sort of kept it a secret for a really long time, but she loves being a mom and she really wanted to grow her family. She’s not in a relationship, and I’m sure, like all women, we’re like we’re getting older and that clock is ticking.” Despite not having

a man around, Ali says Denise, 40, is getting a lot of help from her friends and family. She revealed to E! Online: “She has plenty of support. She’s so lucky to have her family and her sister. She has a great support system of friends, and it’s just great.” Denise is also pleased she has another daughter because she’s already had experience raising girls. Ali added: “It’s just one of those things, Denise is a girl, she has girls, so she knows girls. There is definitely a lot of drama with girls, speaking for myself with mine, but it’s gonna be incredible.”

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arlier this week, it was reported Stephen Clark had taken legal action against the troubled actress alleging she had failed to pay for a sound system and its instillation into her Californian home, but he has now cancelled the lawsuit after she handed over the cash for his work. Stephen - who had sued for $1,180 - told gossip website TMZ: “She paid and I cancelled the small claims file. “Lindsay is actually really nice and I think my invoice got mixed up or something ... It’s all good now!” Stephen had been seeking $1,180 from the actress. The case was the latest in a string of problems for Lindsay, who had the equipment installed while she was under house arrest. The ‘Mean Girls’ actress was freed on 29th June after serving 35 days of house arrest for the theft of a necklace from an upmarket boutique and for violating the terms of probation set for her 2007 conviction for driving under the influence (DUI). Last week, Lindsay who has also started 480 hours of community service at the Los Angeles Downtown Women’s centre as part of her sentence - appeared in court for a progress hearing, where she was ordered to find an individual therapist. However, during the hearing, the 25-year-old actress’ lawyer insisted she hadn’t been able to have the mandatory psychological treatment due to “financial issues”.

David Beckham hates leaving family T

he soccer star has returned to work and travelled to New Jersey earlier this week for a MLS All Stars game against his old team Manchester United where he admitted he was counting the hours until he could be reunited with his wife Victoria, their two-week-old daughter Harper Seven and sons Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, eight,

and six-year-old Cruz. He said: “We have been so lucky with her, and it was hard leaving them all the other day. “It’s always hard leaving my family.

Having a two-week-old daughter and leaving her, and leaving the boys and wife Victoria, it was difficult. I can’t wait to get back and to hold her and kiss her.” David - who described his daughter as

“absolutely fabulous” - is thrilled with how well his sons have coped with the new addition to their household and is hopeful they will show her the same affection in years to come. He added to UsMagazine.com: “The boys won’t put her down.

They won’t leave her alone, so I hope they are like that in 20 years.” —Bang Showbiz

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Lebanon’s last

Arabic scribes struggle in IT age

Lebanese Arabic-language calligrapher Salah AlHafi, 80, teaches calligraphy to his grandson Omar at his workshop in Beirut. — AFP photos Lebanese Arabic-language calligrapher Salah Al-Hafi inspects a finished page of the Holy Quran which he wrote at his workshop in Beirut.

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ebanon’s few remaining Arabic calligraphers, whose elegant script and interweaving words transport one to another era, are working to preserve an art form struggling to compete with new technology. “The computer is a wonderful tool but in no way can it replace an artist or produce masterpieces,” says Mahmoud Bayoun, one of the country’s best-known calligraphers, whose works have been displayed in the United States and Iran. The 75-year-old, who learned the skill as a teenager, today uses his talent to draw up menus for the Lebanese presidency for official functions or write condolences and congratulatory messages on behalf of the prime minister. Bayoun says the longest letter he has written was from late premier Rafiq Hariri to Syria’s then president, Hafez Al-Assad, on the occasion of a national holiday.

Hariri was assassinated in 2005 in a massive seaside bombing in Beirut that many Lebanese blamed on Syria, which denies involvement. Assad died in 2000 and was succeeded by his son Bashar. “The letter was four pages long and written in a very elegant style,” recalls Bayoun, as he sits in his central Beirut office, surrounded by some of his works. He also keeps busy transcribing the Holy Quran as a hobby. The painstaking work requires more than three years to complete each time, and Bayoun is now working on his third edition of the Muslim holy book.

“It’s very different from the work I do for commercial purposes,” he says. “When I copy the Holy Quran, I immerse myself both spiritually and physically.” But despite his passion for penmanship, Bayoun is well aware that his is a dying skill that cannot compete with lasersharp computers. “Calligraphy today has become more of a visual art than a useful tool and we are trying hard to preserve it,” Bayoun told AFP. The art of Arabic scriptwriting was heavily influenced by Islam as, according to tradition, the Holy Quran was verbally revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) and was later transcribed. The Holy Quran subsequently inspired generations of

Lebanese Arabic-language calligrapher Mahmud Ba’ayun works at his workshop. calligraphers who, with their brush pens made of reeds, piously endeavored to reproduce the words using different styles.

‘Pushed aside by computers’ Calligraphy also became a major form of artistic expression in Islam as Muslims disapprove of art that represents humans, especially in religious contexts. There are various styles of calligraphy, including the geometric Kufic form with an emphasis on horizontal lines and the cursive Naskhi. Diwani script, considered the most elegant, was developed during the reign of the Ottoman Turks. It is the only style that cannot be reproduced on computers, experts say. Although Lebanon has no calligraphic treasures such as those exposed in mosques in North Africa or Andalusia, it did produce some of the best-known masters of calligraphy including Kamel el-Baba (1905-

Salah Al-Hafi inspects his work.

1991) and Nassib Makarem (1889-1991).

“There are less than 10 authentic calligraphers in Lebanon today,” Bayoun says. One of them is Salah Al-Hafi, 80, who proudly recalls the day Kamel El-Baba noticed his work. “You know before, you could earn a good living as a calligrapher,” he says, sitting in his modest apartment in Beirut’s working-class neighborhood of Basta. “But today we have been pushed aside by computers.” His calligraphy can still be seen on numerous commemorative plaques dating back to Lebanon’s independence in 1943 and beyond, or on gravestones and flower ribbons. “I work a lot during election time,” he says wryly, referring to the numerous banners aimed at wooing voters in the politically divided country. Bayoun says his dream is to open a centre to teach calligraphy to new generations but he lacks the means to do so. Lebanon has no dedicated calligraphy schools, whereas Iran has 200 such establishments, Iraq 100 and Egypt 36. For now, Hafi says, he is focusing on his freelance work and sometimes gives calligraphy lessons at an art institute in Beirut. “We must not allow this art form to disappear,” he says. — AFP

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An interior view shows the main hall at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on July 22, 2011. After years of closure for renovation, the main stage of the world famous ballet theatre will open its doors to the public at the end of October. — AFP

Cutting-edge ballet rocks Russia’s Bolshoi A

modern ballet with music by cult US rock band The White Stripes has wowed Bolshoi Theatre audiences, helping the company shake off a conservative image as it plans a return to its historic home.

“Chroma”, British choreographer Wayne McGregor’s 2006 exploration of the influence of psychology on movement, is a sharp contrast to the 19th-century narrative ballets that have been the staple of the Bolshoi repertoire.

Set to a pulsating, dissonant score of orchestrations of White Stripes songs as well as original music by British composer Joby Talbot, “Chroma” demands from its 10 performers a whole new vocabulary of dance. Legs are flung out in extensions at all angles, arms whirled through the air and dancers intertwined in intricate couplings. The set resembles a gigantic white box with an open back whose color changes throughout the show.

With no tutu or pair of tights in sight, the dancers wear thin drapes that merge with their own bodies in a world that inhabits a different universe to the ritual formality of “The Sleeping Beauty” or “Don Quixote”. But the Moscow dancers and audiences have embraced the work’s stark modernity, earning the ballet’s creative team a rousing reception at the July 21 premiere. “For the Bolshoi

Ballet, ‘Chroma’ is a breakthrough into a new era,” wrote the ballet critic of the Kommersant newspaper Tatyana Kuznetsova. “The troupe has jumped into the 21st century.” McGregor, who came to Moscow to rehearse the dancers, expressed amazement at their abilities and is now set to choreograph a new version of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” specially for the Bolshoi in 2013.

“It’s a fantastic time for the Bolshoi to be experimenting with very modern choreography,” said McGregor. “They have these incredible dancers who can really do anything, so why not explore it.” “The dancers have great proportions, amazing limbs and they can do extraordinary things with their bodies-they have a real kind of elasticity which is something that I really love.” Artem Ovcharenko, one of the soloists in Chroma, said: “You hear the first chords of that music standing in the wings. You start to burn, you want to get on stage and to dance to this.”

The success of “Chroma” has come at a crucial time for the Bolshoi company which has in recent years been accused of being held back by its own traditions and being afraid of experimentation. It is on October 28 finally to resume performances in its historic theatre which closed in July 2005 for urgent

restoration whose completion was embarrassingly put back year after year. In the interim, the company has performed on its New Stage theatre nearby, whose smaller proportions have frustrated some of its stars.

Tradition not dead The Bolshoi Ballet-run for three decades from its Soviet heyday until 1995 by the authoritarian Yuri Grigorovich-has endured a rocky time since the 2008 departure of modernizing director Alexei Ratmansky.

Ratmansky left allegedly because he fell out with the pro-Grigorovich old guard and the company appeared to tread water after his departure. This year a top candidate to become the new artistic director became embroiled in a dark campaign to smear him using pornographic images. But the Bolshoi then scored a coup by appointing as ballet director ex-dancer Sergei Filin, who had turned Moscow’s Stanislavsky Musical Theatre into a rival of its more famous counterpart by promoting innovative dance.

Along with “Chroma”, there is a new freshness in the repertoire of the Bolshoi, which has also taken on its first ballet by iconic US choreographer William Forsythe. The one-act “Chroma” is coupled in a thrilling evening of

dance with the 1978 “Symphony of Psalms”

by Jiri Kylian, another new Bolshoi acquisition, and “Rubies” by George Balanchine, the Russian-born US dancemaker who is only now being re-discovered in his homeland after his death in 1983. “Five years ago it was hard to imagine that the Bolshoi would ever present Forsythe, Kylian or McGregor,” wrote critic Anna Galaida in the daily Vedomosti.

“Now we have had premieres by all of these stars at the Bolshoi in one season.”

Meanwhile, the Bolshoi boasts possibly the most sought-after young dancers in ballet in Ivan Vasiliev and Natalya Osipova, a real-life couple who have dazzled the world with their heart-stopping jumps and dizzying spins. Filin said the dancers had initially been nervous of the difficulties of McGregor’s choreography but said he had now given the company whole new possibilities. “We got even more than a McGregor ballet. We got artists who are capable of working and delivering a very great result.” Traditions, however, are not entirely dead at the Bolshoi. According to the theatre’s general director Anatoly Iksanov, the first full-length ballet to go on show at the reopened theatre is to be “The Sleeping Beauty” in an updated production of Grigorovich’s Soviet-era version. — AFP

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Review

‘Crazy Stupid Love’

Review

not so crazy or stupid

‘Cowboys & Aliens’ F turns mash-up to mush

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he genre mash-up of “Cowboys & Aliens” is more a mush-up, an action yarn aiming to be both science fiction and Old West adventure but doing neither all that well. The filmmakers - and there are a lot of them, among them director Jon Favreau, 11 producers or executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, plus half a dozen credited writers - start with a title that lays out a simple but cool premise: invaders from the skies shooting it out with guys on horseback. For all the talent involved, they wound up keeping the story too simple, almost simple-minded, leaving a terrific cast led by Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford stuck in a sketchy, sometimes poky tale where you get cowboys occasionally fighting aliens and not much more.

Based on a graphic novel from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, also a producer on the movie, “Cowboys & Aliens” has Craig doing the stony-faced lone rider thing to such stoic extremes it borders on blandness. Ford is similarly constricted in a stereotyped role as the tyrannical overlord of a Western town, though his unfailing charisma does imbue some spirit into his under-developed character. Really, the only clever thing about “Cowboys & Aliens” is the basic idea itself. The Western trappings are mostly dull, the aliens and sci-fi elements are unimaginative, and cramming them together is not enough to make them interesting. As the story opens in 1875, Craig’s amnesiac Jake Lonergan wanders into the dusty New Mexico town of Absolution with no clue to his identity and bearing a strange metal bracelet on his wrist.

Within minutes, he begins running afoul of the town’s leaders, crossing the cowardly son (Paul Dano) of local cattle baron Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), then tussling with the sheriff (Keith Carradine) and his deputies. Just as it looks as though we’re in for a showdown among a band of greedy thugs and decent townfolk in need of a hero, space craft swoop in and start snatching people right off the streets. Six-shooters are like firing blanks at the speedy ships, but Jake’s wristband comes to life, and he gradually learns how to use it as a weapon to fight back against what the villagers initially assume are demons.

Dolarhyde leads Jake and a posse in pursuit of the creatures, accompanied by the mysterious gun-toting Ella (Olivia Wilde), who knows more about these beings than she lets on. Director Favreau slipped from fresh and flamboyant on “Iron Man” to lame and listless on its sequel, and there’s more of the latter on “Cowboys & Aliens.” The posse creeps along through close encounters with outlaws and Apaches and has more abduction run-ins with the aliens. Yet other than seeing the two blended together, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done far better in many Westerns and science-fiction flicks. The aliens are anonymous monsters, and the human folk are mostly cardboard types like those you’ll find in any old Western. —AP

or a movie that intends to be rooted in a recognizable and insightful reality, “Crazy Stupid Love” features an awful lot of moments that clang in a contrived, feel-good manner. Because you see, it’s simultaneously trying to charm us. Sometimes, it achieves that goal. At the same time, it also has its share of moments that hit just the perfect, poignant note, with some laughs that arise from a place of honesty. When you assemble a cast that includes Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, you’re already on the right track. Because “Crazy Stupid Love” also aims to be a romantic comedy of substance and intelligence. Sometimes, it achieves that goal, too.

That’s what’s frustrating here - the unevenness of it all. The relationship between Carell and Jonah Bobo as his 13-year-old son has a pleasing openness, for example, but eventually the two are at the center of a cringe-inducing climax: the kind of painfully public, cathartic monologue that only happens in movies in general and in this genre specifically. Then there’s the romance between Gosling and Stone, which has both terrific, flirty sparks and some sweet, quiet moments as they reveal themselves to each other. But then a trip to meet her family results in a knock-down, drag-out brawl - a scene of immature rage and physicality that comes out of nowhere and doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie.

The break-up that kicks off “Crazy Stupid Love” also comes out of nowhere, at least from the perspective of Carell’s character, Cal. A nebbishy 40-something, Cal thought he was enjoying a nice life with his high school sweetheart, Emily (Moore), and their two kids. But at the film’s start, Emily announces over dinner that she wants a divorce, then proceeds to inform Cal that she’s slept with someone else: a smarmy co-worker played briefly and rather unconvincingly by Kevin Bacon.

Cal moves out, then goes to a local bar night after night to drown his sorrows and bore fellow patrons with his tale of woe; the place is stylish, trendy and filled with gorgeous young women,

which wouldn’t seem to be Cal’s speed, but whatever. A fellow regular who does have a way with the ladies, Gosling’s Jacob Palmer, spots Cal, feels sorry for him and offers to take him under his wing.

Gosling is charismatic as hell in the role - and gets a rare chance to show his comic abilities as an expensively dressed trust-fund kid whose entire raison d’etre is picking up chicks. A sequence in which he and Carell go to the mall provides an amusing twist on the obligatory trying-on-clothes montage. But it’s hard to believe Jacob would ever give Cal the time of day, much less go out of his way to give this middle-aged nerd an extreme makeover; Carell, who’s also a producer here, does bring his everyman pathos to the role, and it’s good to see him do some rare dramatic work.

Jacob is thrown off his game by the one woman at the bar who won’t give in so easily to his cheesy one-liners: Stone’s Hannah, an aspiring lawyer. They have such different vibes but they’re so great together, they almost make you wish the whole thing was about them. Stone is just vibrant - every emotion flashes across her face so vividly. Moore, meanwhile, is also capable of expressiveness and depth, but she can’t do much with a character who’s barely developed on the page. You don’t have a sense of who Emily is or what her marriage to Cal was like so it’s hard to gauge the depth of their loss.

One strong scene at their son’s parent-teacher conference begins to hint at it, and makes you long for more.

“Crazy Stupid Love” comes from directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote “Bad Santa” and wrote and directed “I Love You, Phillip Morris.” It never has the daring or liveliness that marked either of those earlier films; it feels too calculated and safe. (The script is from Dan Fogelman, whose previous films include the animated “Cars” and “Tangled.”) It never gets crazy or stupid enough to make you truly fall in love with it. “Crazy Stupid Love,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language. Running time: 118 minutes. Two stars out of four. — AP

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Marvel artist Kirby’s heirs lose copyright claim A

federal judge ruled on Thursday that influential comic book artist Jack Kirby’s creations such as the Fantastic Four and the Hulk belong to Marvel Entertainment, and not his heirs. The decision in New York

by US District Judge Colleen McMahon scuttles a copyright claim by Kirby’s heirs that threatened to undermine everything from Marvel’s movie projects to its integration into parent company Walt Disney Co. “I conclude that there are no genuine issues of material fact, and that the Kirby Works were indeed works for hire within the meaning of the Copyright Act of 1909,” McMahon wrote in her 50-page ruling. Jack Kirby, who died in 1994, is an iconic comic book artist whose role in the rise of Marvel is nearly on-par with the company’s former editor and writer Stan Lee. Kirby helped create such characters as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, Captain America and Thor.

Kirby’s heirs in 2009 laid claim to

In this image, the character Iron Man is shown in a scene from “Iron Man 2.” — AP copyrights for work he created from 1958 to 1963, when he had no written contract with Marvel and he drew up many of his most popular characters.

During that five-year period, Kirby cocreated such Marvel comic book titles

as “The Fantastic Four,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Avengers.” Marvel sued the Kirby heirs after failing to reach a negotiated settlement with them over their copyright claims, which led to the ruling by McMahon on Thursday that

found the rights to the characters belongs to Marvel.

McMahon said in her ruling that the case was not about whether Kirby and other artists “were treated ‘fairly’ by companies that grew rich off the fruit of their labor.” Instead, the case was simply about the law, McMahon wrote, and the judge pointed to a pair of 1970s written agreements between Kirby and Marvel that she said bolstered the company’s position that it owns characters Kirby helped create.

Marc Toberoff, an attorney for the Kirby heirs, said he plans an appeal of the decision. “We knew when we took this on that it would not be easy given the arcane and contradictory state of ‘work for hire’ case law under the 1909 Copyright Act,” he said. In 2009, Marvel was bought by Disney for $4 billion. In the past decade, Marvel has seen its characters such as Spider-Man and Iron Man soar in movies. Its latest release “Thor” has earned over $447 million at worldwide box offices. — Reuters

Hollywood monkeys around this summer M

Actress Freida Pinto arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California July 28, 2011. — AFP

ovies have been messing with apes since a Hollywood director captured and chained that great gorilla on Skull Island and brought him to Broadway in 1933’s “King Kong.” The reason, of course, is as plain as the image in the mirror. Apes and monkeys: They’re like us, but they’re not us. That’s the fascination. And it’s a great starting point for all kinds of storytelling, be it comic or cautionary. This summer, movies have served up quite a bit of both, offering a barrel full of monkeys that, at the risk of offending Bonzo and Mighty Joe Young, eclipses all previous comers, not to mention the rumbling robots, pirates and wizards currently littering the multiplex. Monkeys and apes are everywhere, from Crystal, the crazy capuchin seen in “The Hangover II” to the bromance between Kevin James and the Nick Nolte-voiced silverback gorilla in “Zookeeper.”

Then there’s this story of human hubris: Scientists perform experiments on a young chimp and, afterward, abandon it, leaving the animal caught halfway between man and monkey. It’s the premise of not one, but two summer movies: the upcoming reboot “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and the Sundance Film Festival documentary sensation, “Project Nim,” which chronicles a Columbia University professor’s radical attempt in the 1970s to teach a chimpanzee sign language by raising it as a human child.

“They’re science-fiction and we’re science-fact,” says “Project Nim” producer Simon Chinn, whose film is currently

expanding its North American run. “The fascination in our movie comes from watching the similarities between chimps and humans, yes,” Chinn adds. “But if there’s any lesson to take from the film, it’s that, while there may be a lot of overlap, chimps are very distinct and should be left to live among their own kind.” Or risk, in the case of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” a primate rebellion that its makers liken to the classic Roman slave revolt epic “Spartacus.”

What separates this “Apes” movie from the 1968 Charlton Heston sci-fi adventure, its sequels and the 2001 Tim Burton remake is both its present-day earth setting and its point of view. “The ape is the star of the film,” says 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman.

“The movie starts out relatively conventionally, but, after something unfortunate happens and the ape is put in a ‘sanctuary,’ which to the ape is just jail, the movie stays with the ape. The rest of the movie is his story, told from his perspective.” “The key,” adds “Apes” director Rupert Wyatt, “is in the telling for you to understand whose side we’re on. And it’s not the Romans.”

Maybe that’s OK. Humans have a “deep, intrinsic attraction to primates,” says San Diego Zoo animal care manager Greg Vicino, that goes beyond the mutual owning of opposable thumbs. Like people, monkeys and apes (how to tell the difference: most monkeys have tails) maintain intense relationships through sophisticated social behavior. —AP

Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma waves during the ‘Vogue Beauty Awards 2011’ ceremony in Mumbai late July 28, 2011. —AFP

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Yale program a melting

pot of elites A

Tunisian cyber dissident and a Russian blogger may not appear to have much in common, but they were brought together at Yale University in a program drawing elites from around the globe. Established 10 years ago, Yale’s “World Fellows” initiative has lured a diverse group of mid-career professionals deemed to be “emerging leaders” to the prestigious Ivy League school northeast of New York.

Each year, 14-18 people earn the right to spend a semester on the leafy campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Fellows-whose fees and living expenses are fully funded by the university-take classes but also offer guest lectures to undergraduates and meet with students to share their experiences.

Program veterans include prominent Chinese HIV/AIDS activist Wan Yanhai, who is now living in the United States due to fears for his safety; Lebanese gallery owner Saleh Barakat; and Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Maria Corina Machado. “We receive 3,800 applications from the six regions of the world,” program director Michael Cappello, an expert on infectious diseases, told AFP. “Selection is a four-month process. The criteria are flexible-the most important criterion is our belief that in the next five to 10 years, the candidate will have a national impact as a leader in some field.”

Russian blogger Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption whistleblower, took classes on corporate law but also gave lectures about his homeland.

Tunisian cyber-activist Fares Mabrouk said he came to Yale to learn how to launch a “democracy think tank” in his country, but also took a music appreciation course. “People who will be leaders need to better understand the world globally,” Cappello said. Valerie Rose Belanger, the program’s director of partnerships, added: “These are brilliant people in various fields, and the most important thing is they would never have met.”

She said the fellows become “role models” for the regular students, who are eager to meet people “who take risks and are practitioners... not academicians as we are here.” Mabrouk lived at Yale late last year, returning to Tunisia in December 2010 just before the eruption of the popular revolution that would topple President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and spark uprisings across the Arab world. “I made friends from India, Indonesia, from all over-they wrote to me during the revolution, and we’re still in contact,” said Mabrouk, who is now working with a group of bloggers ahead of October polls to elect a constituent assembly.

For some fellows like Wan, the United States becomes their adopted homeland; for others like Mabrouk, a stay at Yale marks a professional turning point. In 2007, after his time as a World Fellow, Barakat-who had owned a gallery since 1991 — organized Lebanon’s first-ever pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale contemporary art festival. He has also worked with the Tate Modern in London and opened a second gallery.

Turkey’s Hakan Altinay launched a project on global civics instruction-what started as a news article became a book translated into several languages. A documentary is in the works. And Machado, elected to Venezuela’s national assembly in 2010, has been tipped as a potential candidate to battle Hugo Chavez for the presidency in 2012. — AFP

Models present creations by Italy’s brand Leitmotiv during the Colombiamoda fashion show on July 28, 2011, in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia.

— AFP photos

Colombia Fashion Week

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Comics Fest and Game Fair

Participants wearing cosplay outfit featuring as animation characters blow bubbles on the first day of the annual Comics Festival and Game Fair in Hong Kong yesterday. — AP photos

Potter fans

Indonesian get some relief at last

L

ong-suffering Indonesian movie fans flocked to cinemas yesterday to see Harry Potter’s last stand, following the lifting of a boycott of the country by US studios over a tax dispute. Three weeks after “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” debuted in London on July 7, the concluding chapter of the wildly popular series came to Southeast Asia’s biggest country. For some the wait was almost too much to bear. “Oh my God, all these months of waiting is like going through childbirth, it’s just so painful,” said Febry Lumbantoruan, a 30-year-old human resources officer, referring to the Hollywood boycott going back to February.

“The baby is finally born and I’m just elated,” he added after managing to secure two tickets for a Friday show of the Potter movie. Ignatius Hellanda, an 18-year-old student, rushed to buy his tickets on Wednesday as soon as they went on sale. “It was an unbelievable feeling holding them in my hands,” he said. After Harry Potter, Indonesians can

expect to catch up on “Transformers” and “Kung Fu Panda 2”, other high-profile victims of the boycott.

The Potter movies have a devoted following in Indonesia, where thousands of fans play the wizard sport of Quidditch on Twitter, enrol themselves in wizard schools and cast charms and spells on one another on Facebook. Angry Potter fans spewed curses on the government earlier this month when it was announced the film would not be screened in Indonesia due to the row between Jakarta and Hollywood over royalty payments. The more desperate reached for their Firebolts and headed to neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia to watch it.

In place since February, the boycott by the Motion Picture Association of America has denied Indonesian movie-goers blockbusters including “Black Swan”, “True Grit” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”. Cinema takings plunged up to 70 percent as theatres filled the gap

with local fare and offerings from the bottom of the rejects bin from years past. Indonesian Cinema Companies Union head Djonny Sjafruddin said the studios agreed to end the boycott after reaching a deal with the government on a new tax policy last month. “The problem has been resolved and the boycott is over. Now everyone can start watching Hollywood films again,” he told AFP. “It’s a relief to us. We don’t need to close shop after all.” The rush for coveted Harry Potter tickets caused movie chain 21Cineplex’s website to crash on Wednesday. On its Indonesian premiere day, long lines were spotted in a central Jakarta cinema where screenings of the movie started every hour.

A 22-year old moviegoer, Dara Gendys, said after purchasing her tickets that she came to cinema with her 12-year old brother with a sense of contentment. “It’s like a breath of fresh air to finally see a Hollywood blockbuster playing here again.

During the ban I was confined to watch Thai movies in cinemas,” she said. — AFP

A

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Years

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Egypt’s revolution not just about tweeting: Bloggers CAIRO: Six months after they launched a revolution that ousted the regime, Egyptian bloggers have acknowledged that it takes more than a Facebook page on the Internet to overthrow a dictator.

“The Internet played a key role but it was not the only tool. The revolution really belongs to the people,” said Wael Abbas, a veteran Egyptian blogger who has been posting his thoughts in cyberspace since 2004. The 18-day revolution that brought an end to the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak and his regime was largely played on the street, but bloggers do not underestimate the importance of Facebook and Twitter. “The Internet helped to speed up things,” said Hossam Al-Hamalawy, who is known in cyberspace by the nickname “3arabawy” or the Arab. “But the revolution would have taken place without it,” he said.

It is true that bloggers used the Internet to mobilise thousands of people, but Egypt’s was not only a “Facebook Revolution” or a “Twitter Revolution,” bloggers like Hamalawy say. Millions who have no Internet access nevertheless swarmed the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other Egyptian cities to vent their rage through rallies and strikes.

“For days the Internet was cut off and yet the revolution did not stop,” said Rami Rauf, a 24-year-old blogger, of the Mubarak regime cutting access to the Internet and mobile phone connections. On January 25, following in the footsteps of the revolution in Tunisia that overthrew an autocratic regime, bloggers in Egypt turned to social networks to mobilise thousands of people.

The venue was Tahrir (Liberation) Square in central Cairo.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters swarmed the square around the clock for 18 consecutive days until they shook the Mubarak regime so hard they forced it into submission. One of those who administered a Facebook page that helped spark the uprising against Mubarak was Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who became a national hero after he was arrested by the former regime’s security forces.

The 30-year-old gave an emotional television interview shortly after he was released from 12 days in police custody that is credited with re-energising the protest movement just as it appeared to be losing steam. Opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, banned during Mubarak’s reign, joined the bandwagon of the uprising after monitoring streams of Twitter messages.

But Hamalawy is adamant that “it takes more to oust a dictator than a Facebook page.” “One must explain the profound reasons behind the revolution,” he said. The 18 days of popular street protests that unseated Mubarak have their roots well planted in a movement called “Kefaya” (“enough” in Arabic) which emerged in 2004. Kefaya launched the first protests, bloggers say.

And they insist that Egypt’s prominent bloggers, those whose words served as the motor that led to change, were militants on the ground striving for democracy even before they turned their focus to technology. “The strength of Egyptian bloggers lies in the fact that we have one foot in cyberspace and the other on the ground,” said Hamalawy.

Under Mubarak’s rule the media was controlled by the government. The Internet proved a “tool for freedom,” Rauf said. By the end of 2010, days before the Arab Spring began to bloom, Egypt had 23 million regular Internet users out of a population of 85 million. After the demise of the Mubarak regime, “it is no longer necessary as before to turn to the Internet,” says Amr Gharbeya. “Now we can count on the strength of the street” and the power of the people to protest and make their voices heard, said the 32-year-old.

But as the transition from Mubarak’s regime to full democracy inches its way forward, with the country now ruled by an interim military council, bloggers say they are more determined than ever to “inform” their fellow Egyptians.

The country is hoping for legislative and presidential polls later this year, and organisers of the revolt are demanding that the current rulers on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces push harder to punish Mubarak and his cronies. Many ex-regime cabinet ministers are facing trial and the country is holding its breath for August 3, when Mubarak, 83, and his two sons Alaa and Gamal are due to go on trial on murder and corruption charges.

The media “is still controlled by businessmen or people from the old regime,” said Abbas. “The Internet is still a useful tool to spread messages.” — AFP

LOS ANGELES: In this June 7, 2011 file photo, Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd., discusses their new gaming console the Wii U during a news conference at the E3 Gaming Convention in Los Angeles. Nintendo’s earnings for the April-June quarter are likely to be lackluster, underscoring how sharply the company’s fortunes have turned since the days when the Wii seemed to be an unstoppable retail force. — AP

Nintendo product flops as outlook crumbles Gamers criticise lack of 3DS content TOKYO: Nintendo’s shocking profit battered its shares as much as 20 percent, underscoring deep challenges for an iconic brand struggling to win back users flocking to other gadgets.

The plunge wiped off $5 billion from Nintendo’s market value after the company said profits would fall to their lowest in 27 years as it braced for losses from its latest 3D gadget.

Brokers cut the company’s forecasts, a day after it swung to a quarterly loss and slashed prices of its 3Dcapable handheld games device by about a third. With sales of its DS and Wii fading, Nintendo was relying on the new 3D model to revive profits and fend off renewed competition from motion-gaming peripherals of Sony Corp and Microsoft . Many casual gamers are also flocking to devices such as Apple’s blockbuster iPhone and iPad. “They are standing on the edge,” said Yuuki Sakurai, CEO and president of Fukoku Capital Management in Tokyo. “When I ride on the trains I see people using their smartphones to play games and people don’t want to overlap their spending on other devices,” he said.

The Kyoto-based company must consider providing games to these new platforms rather than focusing on new hardware, Sakurai said. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata took a 50 percent pay cut, and other executives took 20-30 percent cuts to take responsibility for the poor performance. The company also reduced sales forecasts for its Wii home games con-

sole and the previous generation DS handheld device. “We needed to do something extremely daring to change the situation, so we decided on the price-cut,” said Iwata, a former game designer, who launched the Wii and expanded the gaming population, toppling Sony from the industry’s top spot.

Nintendo’s shares fell as much 20 percent yesterday to 11,100 yen, its lowest intraday level since May 2004.

They ended down 12.2 percent on the day, for a drop this year of nearly 50 percent. Speaking to reporters in Osaka on Thursday, Iwata acknowledged sales of the much-anticipated 3DS had lost momentum shortly after the launch earlier this year.

“However, by cutting the price before you get economies of scale, of course you make losses on the hardware,” he said. Nintendo sold only 710,000 units of the 3DS in April-June, compared with 3.6 million in the month following its launch, and a tiny fraction of the 16 million unit target for the year to March 2012.

The Wii sold only 1.56 million units, half the figure in the same period last year. The device took the industry by storm five years ago by replacing button clicking with motion control, attracting a new wave of gamers that expanded the market. Nintendo cut its annual operating profit forecast after market hours on Thursday to 35 billion yen from an initial forecast of 175 billion yen. The new estimate is far short of the previous consensus of 154.9 billion yen based on 24 analysts’

forecasts ahead of the results.

JP Morgan cut its rating on the company behind the Super Mario franchise to “underweight” from “overweight”, saying the current situation was worse than feared and the outlook uncertain. “The timing of the 3DS hardware price cut is surprising, given the major in-house software releases... We believe the 3DS will be a heavy weight on earnings over the medium term. The lack of a share buyback announcement is also disappointing,” analyst Hiroshi Kamide said in a report.

Nintendo has been criticised for being too centred on hardware as the market increasingly shifts to a battleground over software, with games played over Internet networks linking millions of players. “The software wasn’t terribly compelling,” said Ricardo Torres, editor-in-chief of gamespot.com. “There wasn’t enough to do with it,” he said.

Japan’s electronic companies have been hit by weak consumer spending in North America and Europe. US consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s economic activity, is expected to have decelerated sharply in the second quarter of 2011 to the weakest level since the end of the 2007-09 recession two years ago.

Shares of Sony Corp also fell yesterday, a day after the Japanese consumer electronics group slashed its outlook for TV sales and cut its fullyear net profit forecast to 60 billion yen from 80 billion yen. — Reuters

technology

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Apple and Samsung overtake Nokia in smartphone market Apple is world’s largest smartphone vendor HONG KONG: Apple and Samsung have overtaken long-time leader Nokia for the top two spots in the global smartphone market, a report said yesterday, underscoring the Finnish handset maker’s ongoing struggles. US-based research firm Strategy Analytics said the US and Korean smartphone makers outpaced Nokia in the second quarter, with the sector posting record quarterly shipments of 110 million units, or a 76.3 percent year-on-year rise.

HONG KONG: Children play the latest video games at the 13th Ani-Com game fair in Hong Kong yesterday. —AFP

No sexy girls, China tells online game fair SHANGHAI: Hemlines are a little longer at this year’s annual online gaming fair in Shanghai, as companies take to heart a government directive against “vulgarity”, a Chinese newspaper reported yesterday. The ChinaJoy Expo, an annual online game showcase, is wellknown for its “spicy girls” who dress up in hot pants and bras to dance and pose at company booths. But a recent government crackdown on “vulgarity” in the online games sector is forcing the girls to cover up, the Shanghai Daily said.

“The length of my dress is longer than before,” said Zhou, a model who has been a ChinaJoy showgirl twice. The new policy prohibits costumes that show more than two-thirds of a showgirl’s back and bans the girls from sticking printed logos on “sensitive positions” like over their breasts, the paper reported. Some online games companies feared the change would lessen the attractiveness of the expo given that the girls are as much a draw for men as are the games on display, reported the paper.

“To be honest, I came here largely for spicy girls,” said Xaiver Du, a college student and online gaming fan. “I’m satisfied with the female models for this year’s ChinaJoy ... I care more about them rather than only sexy clothing,” Du said. The government frequently launches campaigns against what it sees as obscene and base behaviourincluding once banning “sexually provocative sounds” on televisionbut to little apparent effect. Scantily-clad women promoting drinks are a feature of many bars in cosmopolitan Shanghai and capital city Beijing, and pornography is widely available online and on pirated DVDs. —Reuters

“Just four years after the release of the original iPhone, Apple has become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume,” the report said. The US company’s global market share grew to 18.5 percent, up from 13.5 percent last year, and propelling it to top spot in the smartphone market, Research Analytics said.

“Apple’s growth remained strong as it expanded distribution worldwide, particularly in China and Asia,” it added.

Samsung’s smartphone market share in the second quarter jumped to 17.5 percent from five percent a year earlier, making its the world’s second-biggest smartphone producer, the report added.

Nokia’s market share meanwhile slumped to 15.2 percent from 38.1 percent during the second quarter last year, it said. “This is a tough year for the company,” Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson told AFP yesterday. In terms of volume, Samsung sold 19.2 million smartphones in the second quarter, a whopping 519 percent increase from the second quarter in 2010.

Apple took the top slot with 20.3 million smartphones sold, with Nokia surrendering the lead for the first time with just 16.7 million smartphone sales. Last week, Nokia reported only its second quarterly loss since 1998 with a shortfall of 368 million euros ($525 million), compared with a net profit of 227 million euros one year earlier.

On Wednesday, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Nokia’s debt by two notches, citing the firm’s lost mar-

ket share. Moody’s also said it was giving the new rating a negative outlook, meaning that it might lower it further.

“We’re in a transition, but it’s a necessary

launched a radical strategic shift which included abandoning Nokia’s smartphone platform Symbian in favour of a tie-in with Microsoft. While admitting

MUNICH: File photo taken on March 25, 2011 shows an Apple logo displayed in the southern German city of Munich. In a report released yesterday, Apple and Samsung have overtaken long-time leader Nokia for the top two spots in the global smartphone market, underscoring the Finnish handset maker’s ongoing struggles. —AFP one to put down the foundation for a stronger Nokia,” Dawson said.

Nokia’s fortunes have been in a tailspin since February, when chief executive Stephen Elop, who had run the company for less than half a year,

that the transition would be a rocky one, Nokia is gambling its future on the hope that in 2012, they can begin clawing back lost market share when the first Microsoft phones begin shipping in volume. —AFP

NASA’s Juno to circle Jupiter for ‘planetary recipe’ WASHINGTON: The US space agency plans to launch next week a solar-powered spacecraft called Juno that will journey to the gassy planet of Jupiter in search of how the huge, stormy giant was formed.

The $1.1 billion unmanned orbiter is scheduled for launch on August 5 — the start of a five-year odyssey toward the solar system’s most massive planet in the hopes that it will be able to circle Jupiter for a period of a year. With its fiery red eye and a mass greater than all the objects in the universe combined, Jupiter is intriguing to astronomers because it is believed to be the first planet that took shape around the Sun. “After the sun formed, it got the majority of the leftovers,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator and scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “And that is why it is very interesting to us-if we want to go back in time and understand where we came from and how the planets were made, Jupiter holds this secret,” he said.

“So we want to know that ingredient list. What we are really after is discovering the recipe for making planets.” Juno aims to get closer to Jupiter than any other NASA spacecraft and will be the first to undertake a polar orbit of the planet, said Bolton.

In 1989, NASA launched Galileo, an orbiter and probe that entered the planet’s orbit in 1995 and plunged into Jupiter in 2003, ending its life. Other NASA spacecraft-including Voyager 1 and 2, Ulysses and New Horizons-have done flybys of the fifth planet from the Sun. “We are getting closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft has gone in orbiting Jupiter. We are only 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) above the cloud tops,” Bolton told reporters this week.

“And we are actually dipping down beneath the radiation belts which is a very important thing for us because those radiation belts are the the most hazardous region in the solar system other than going right to the Sun itself.”

Its trip to Jupiter will not be a direct shot, according to Jan Chodas, Juno project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “We launch from Earth in August, we swing out past the orbit of Mars, we do a couple of deep space maneuvers to fire the engine,” Chodas told reporters.

Juno then heads back toward Earth, “and we do a flyby of Earth of about 500 kilometers in October 2013, and then we slingshot ourselves out towards Jupiter arriving in July 2016,” she said. When it gets there Juno will make use of a series of instruments, some of which were provided by European space agency partners Italy, Belgium and France, to learn about the workings of the planet and what is inside.

Two key experiments are to gauge how much water is in Jupiter and whether the planet “has a core of heavy elements at the center, or whether it is just gas all the way down,” said Bolton. Scientists also

hope to learn more about Jupiter’s magnetic fields and its big red knot, a storm that has been raging for more than 300 years.

“One of the fundamental questions is how deep are the roots to that red spot? How does it maintain itself for so long?” Bolton wondered. Back in 2003, when plans for Juno were being crafted, NASA briefly considered using some sort of nuclear fuel to power the spacecraft, but engineers decided it would be quicker and less risky to go with solar, he said.

Jim Green, director of the planetary science division at NASA headquarters in Washington, said Juno is part of a series of new planetary science missions, to be followed by Grail which is headed to the Moon in September and the Mars Science Laboratory set to take off in November.

“These missions are designed to tackle some of the toughest questions in planetary science, all about our origin and the evolution of the solar system,” said Green. —AFP

TV listings

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

07:00 FIA European Drag Racing 2008 08:00 IFMXF 2010 09:40 Tread BMX 11:20 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

13:00 Fight Girls 13:50 Mantracker 14:40 Gumball 3000: 2008 16:20 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

17:10 Carpocalypse 18:00 Mantracker 18:50 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

19:40 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

20:30 Fight Girls 21:20 Carpocalypse 22:10 Mantracker 22:35 Mantracker 23:00 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

23:25 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

23:50 Wrestling With Reality

00:45 Dogs 101 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 Last Chance Highway 03:30 Whale Wars 04:25 Up Close and Dangerous 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Must Love Cats 07:00 Lemur Street 07:25 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 08:15 The Really Wild Show 08:40 Natural Born Hunters 09:10New Breed Vets with Steve Irwin 10:05 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 11:55 Crocodile Hunter 12:50 Trophy Cats 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Animal ER 19:15 E-Vets: The Interns 20:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 21:05 Killer Crocs 22:00 Natural World 22:55 I’m Alive 23:50 Speed of Life

00:00 Lead Balloon 00:30 The Weakest Link 01:20 Paradox 02:10 Robin Hood 02:55 The Cup 03:25 Doctors 03:55 2 Point 4 Children 04:30 Tweenies 04:50 Balamory 05:10 Tikkabilla 05:40 Charlie And Lola 05:50 Tweenies 06:10 Balamory 06:30 Tikkabilla 07:00 Tweenies 07:20 Balamory 07:40 Tikkabilla 08:10 Charlie And Lola 08:20 Tweenies 08:40 Balamory 09:00 Tikkabilla 09:30 Charlie And Lola 09:45 2 Point 4 Children 10:45 How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin 11:35 Robin Hood 12:20 Eastenders 14:20 The Weakest Link 15:10 Charles At 60 - The Passionate Prince 16:40 Robin Hood 17:30 The Weakest Link 18:15 Doctor Who Confidential 18:30 Holby City 20:10 Robin Hood 21:00 How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin 21:50 Live At The Apollo 22:35 Green Green Grass 23:20 Doctor Who

00:10 01:00 01:50 02:40 03:05 04:00 07:00 11:45 13:20 15:00 16:05 21:10 22:10 23:05

Come Dine With Me New Scandinavian Cooking Masterchef Australia The Naked Chef Britain’s Dream Homes Daily Cooks Challenge Saturday Kitchen Masterchef: The Professionals Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic USA Antiques Roadshow Antiques Roadshow

00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:30 11:25

Dirty Jobs Miami Ink Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters How It’s Made How Does It Work?

Dirty Jobs Street Customs Berlin Twist The Throttle Ultimate Car Build-Off Science Of The Movies The Future Of...

Mythbusters

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW ON OSN ACTION HD 12:20 Auction Kings 14:35 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 15:30 Sea City: Building The Impossible 16:25 Ultimate Car Build-Off 17:20 Mythbusters 18:15 Man vs Fish With Matt Watson 19:10 Man, Woman, Wild 20:05 Ultimate Survival 21:00 Taking On Tyson 21:55 Flying Wild Alaska 22:50 Man vs Fish With Matt Watson 23:45 Your Worst Animal Nightmares

00:05 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:25 04:15 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 07:58 08:26 08:55 09:45 10:35 12:15 13:55 14:45 14:48 15:15 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50

Weird Or What?

Mighty Ships The Tech Show 2012 Apocalypse Junkyard Mega-Wars How Does That Work?

Mighty Ships One Step Beyond Weird Connections Sci-Fi Saved My Life Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Brainiac Prototype This Future Weapons Stephen Hawking’s Universe Mission Critical: Hubble Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Bang Goes The Theory The Gadget Show Prototype This The Future Of...

18:40 Inside The Space Shuttle 19:30 Last Flight Of The Shuttle Mission 20:20 The Gadget Show 21:10 Sci-Fi Science 21:35 The Tech Show 22:00 Da Vinci’s Machines

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:25 06:45 07:10 07:30 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 12:25 12:50 13:40 14:25 15:15 15:25 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:50 18:20 19:10

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperors New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Fish Hooks Sonny With A Chance Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas & Ferb Good Luck Charlie Cars Good Luck Charlie Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Hannah Montana Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Fish Hooks Shake It Up Cars

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Behind The Scenes 01:25 20 Hottest Women Of The Web 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kourtney And Kim Take New York 10:15 Khloe And Lamar 11:10 THS 13:05 30 Best And Worst Beach Bodies 15:00 THS 16:55 Extreme Close-Up 17:25 Fashion Police 17:55 E! News 18:55 Khloe And Lamar 19:55 E! Investigates 20:55 The Soup 21:25 The Dance Scene 22:25 E! News 23:25 E!es 23:55 The Soup

00:40 01:30 02:20 03:10 04:00 05:40 06:30 2008

X Games 15 2009 World Combat League Carpocalypse M1 Selection 2010 Summer Dew Tour 2010 World Combat League FIA European Drag Racing

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

00:00 Hooked 01:00 Crocs Of Katuma 01:55 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 02:50 Catching Giants 03:45 Predator CSI 04:40 Japan’s Hidden Secret 05:35 Wild Russia 06:30 Hooked 07:25 Fish Warrior 08:20 Built For The Kill 09:15 Kalahari 10:10 Animal Autopsy 11:05 I, Predator 12:00 Monster Fish of The Congo 13:00 Fish Warrior 14:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 15:00 How Big Can It Get 16:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 17:00 How Big Can It Get 18:00 Predator CSI 19:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 20:00 How Big Can It Get 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 How Big Can It Get 23:00 Predator CSI

00:00 Hooked 01:00 Crocs Of Katuma 01:55 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 02:50 Catching Giants 03:45 Predator CSI 04:40 Japan’s Hidden Secret 05:35 Wild Russia 06:30 Hooked 07:25 Fish Warrior 08:20 Built For The Kill 09:15 Kalahari 10:10 Animal Autopsy 11:05 I, Predator 12:00 Monster Fish of The Congo 13:00 Fish Warrior 14:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 15:00 How Big Can It Get 16:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 17:00 How Big Can It Get 18:00 Predator CSI 19:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 20:00 How Big Can It Get 21:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 22:00 How Big Can It Get 23:00 Predator CSI

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 03:00 03:45 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:15 08:30 09:00 09:15 09:30 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 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00

Backstory World Sport The Situation Room World Report World Business Today CNN Marketplace Africa Piers Morgan Tonight Anderson Cooper 360 World Sport Inside Africa World Report Backstory World Report CNN Marketplace Africa The Boss World Report CNN Marketplace Middle East Icon World Sport Earth’s Frontiers Talk Asia African Voices Inside Africa The Boss World Report World Sport Piers Morgan Tonight World Report Earth’s Frontiers Going Green International Desk African Voices Icon World Sport Talk Asia Inside Africa International Desk The Boss World Report Earth’s Frontiers Piers Morgan Tonight Going Greenv

00:00 Mirrors 2-PG15 02:00 Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground-18 04:00 Clive Barker’s Book Of Blood-18 06:00 The Day After Tomorrow-PG 08:15 Heaven’s Fall-PG15 10:00 Annihilation Earth-PG15 12:00 The Bodyguard 2-PG15 14:00 Heaven’s Fall-PG15 16:00 Blue Crush-PG15 18:00 The Bodyguard 2-PG15 20:00 Midnight Meat Train-18 22:00 Tracker-PG15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 PG 09:00 11:00 FAM

Bustin’ Down The Door-PG15 Charlie And Boots-PG15 Mee Shee-PG Batman: Under The Red HoodCharlie And Boots-PG15 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea-

TV listings

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011 13:00 14:45 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

MacHEADS-PG15 The Sunset Limited-PG15 Who Is Clark Rockefeller-PG Green Zone-PG15 Harry Brown-18 Whiteout-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:00 Family Guy 02:30 Party Down 03:00 10 Things I Hate About You 03:30 The Office 04:00 Yes Dear 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Coach 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Yes Dear 08:30 10 Things I Hate About You 09:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 09:30 Modern Family 10:00 Outsourced 10:30 Seinfeld 11:00 Coach 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Yes Dear 13:00 The Office 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 14:00 Seinfeld 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 Outsourced 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Coach 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 10 Things I Hate About You 18:30 Hot In Cleveland 19:00 Hot In Cleveland 19:30 How I Met Your Mother 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

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

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

21:00 Our Family Wedding-PG15 23:00 The Slammin’ Salmon-18 01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

El Mariachi-PG15 Killshot-18 Mirrors 2-PG15 I, Robot-PG15 Bad Girls-PG15 Unbreakable-PG15 Signs-PG15 Bad Girls-PG15 Phone Booth-PG15 Orphan-18 Tracker-PG15 The Evil Dead-R

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

Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 My One And Only-PG15 From Justin To Kelly-PG Daddy Day Care-PG My Bollywood Bride-PG15 Black Sheep-PG15 Hope Springs-PG15 Harold-PG15 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 Land Of The Lost-PG15 I Love You, Man-18 Van Wilder: Freshman Year-R

01:00 The Shape Of Things-PG15 03:00 Where The Wild Things Are-PG 05:00 Revenge Of The Bridesmaids PG15 07:00 All About Steve-PG15 09:00 Iron Man 2-PG15 11:15 Someone Like You-PG15 13:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel-FAM 15:00 Surrogates-PG15 17:00 Iron Man 2-PG15 19:15 Calvin Marshall-PG15

00:00 Little Match Girl-PG 02:00 Nativity!-PG 04:00 Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakko’s Wakko-PG 06:00 Little Match Girl-PG 08:00 Treasure Island-PG 10:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 12:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 14:00 The Nutty Professor-FAM 16:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 18:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 20:00 Aliens In The Attic-FAM 22:00 The Nutty Professor-FAM

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:30 07:00 10:00 10:30 12:30 13:00 20:00 20:30 21:30

NRL Premiership Super League AFL Premiership Total Rugby Live AFL Premiership Total Rugby Live Tri Nations ICC Cricket World Live Test Cricket ICC Cricket World Trans World Sport Live Super League

00:00 04:30 06:30 07:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 12:30

PGA European Tour Rugby Union ICC Criket World Super League Trans World Sport NRL Full Time Live NRL Premiership Live NRL Premiership

14:30 15:30 19:30 21:30

Trans World Sport Live PGA European Tour Rugby Union AFL Premiership

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 14:30 15:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE NXT Powerboats UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Extra Live NRL Premiership V8 Supercars Extra WWE Bottom Line Live Rugby Union Live Rugby Union Powerboats WWE Bottom Line WWE SmackDown

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:25 03:20 05:10 05:35 06:05 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:50 13:45 14:45 15:40

Jerseylicious Fashion Avenue Big Boutique How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Homes With Style Area Clean House Big Boutique Clean House Giuliana And Bill Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Bridalplasty

Off The Map Big Love The Good Guys Drop Dead Diva Strong Medicine Good Morning America Psych One Tree Hill The Good Guys My Generation The View Off The Map Drop Dead Diva My Generation Live Good Morning America Strong Medicine The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. C.S.I. New York Justified Private Practice Psych

Smallville The Good Guys Drop Dead Diva Big Love Off The Map The Gates Smallville Sons Of Tucson Look-A-Like Persons Unknown The Good Guys Off The Map Drop Dead Diva Sons Of Tucson Look-A-Like Persons Unknown Smallville 8 Simple Rules ...

Persons Unknown C.S.I. C.S.I. New York Justified Lie To Me Detroit 1-8-7

I, ROBOT ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

16:35 17:30 18:25 19:25 20:20 21:15 21:40 22:10 23:05

Jerseylicious Ruby How Do I Look?

Clean House Ruby: My Naked Truth Fashion Police Clean House Comes Clean Jerseylicious Top 10

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

Al Capone Dinosaur Secrets How The Earth Was Made Bedlam The Search For Burke And Hare Jack The Ripper Al Capone Dinosaur Secrets How The Earth Was Made The Real Face Of Jesus?

Jack The Ripper Al Capone Dinosaur Secrets How The Earth Was Made The Real Face Of Jesus?

Jack The Ripper Al Capone Dinosaur Secrets How The Earth Was Made The Plague Ancient Discoveries

02:10 Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia 04:00 The Red Shoe Diaries-18 05:50 The Ranch 07:20 Ninja Vengeance-PG 08:45 Killing Mr. Griffin-PG 10:15 Mystery Date-PG 11:50 Seven Hours To Judgement-PG 13:20 Road Rage-PG 14:45 Escape Clause-PG 16:25 Arena-PG 18:00 Another Pretty Face-PG 19:25 Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM 19:40 Avanti-PG

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy 01:20 Courage The Cowardly Dog 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd n Eddy 02:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Chowder 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 Samurai Jack 04:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Skunk Fu! 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 07:25 Chowder 08:15 Hero 108 09:05 Angelo Rules 10:00 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 10:55 The Powerpuff Girls 11:45 Adventure Time 12:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 13:25 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 14:15 Skunk Fu! 15:05 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 15:50 Ben 10 16:35 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 17:15 Ed, Edd n Eddy 17:40 Chowder 18:05 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 18:30 Eliot Kid 18:55 Chop Socky Chooks 19:20 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 19:45 Camp Lazlo 20:10 Squirrel Boy 20:35 Cow And Chicken 21:00 Courage The Cowardly Dog 21:25 The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy 21:50 Robotboy 22:00 Adventure Time 22:25 Hero 108 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 23:40 Chowder

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

00:30 Ghost Lab 01:20 A Haunting 02:10 Serial Killers 03:00 True Crime With Aphrodite Jones 03:50 Dr G: Medical Examiner 04:45 Amsterdam Vice 05:15 Ghost Lab 06:10 Mystery Diagnosis 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 Murder Shift 08:40 Mystery ER 09:30 Real Emergency Calls 09:55 Street Patrol 10:20 Disappeared 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 On The Case With Paula Zahn 12:50 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 13:40 Mystery ER 14:30 Real Emergency Calls 14:55 Street Patrol 15:20 Disappeared 16:10 Forensic Detectives 17:00 Murder Shift 17:50 FBI Files 18:40 Mystery ER 19:30 Street Patrol 19:55 Real Emergency Calls 20:20 On The Case With Paula Zahn 21:10 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 22:00 Ghost Lab 22:50 The Haunted 23:40 A Haunting

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

Trabant Trek Word Travels Globe Trekker Special Culinary Asia Indian Times Globe Trekker Trabant Trek Word Travels Top Travel Top Travel Globe Trekker Flavours Of Mexico Indian Times Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rivers Of The World Globe Trekker First Class South Africa Journey Into Wine- Australia Hollywood And Vines Travel Today Globe Trekker Indian Times People Of The Sea Exotic Lives Globe Trekker

what’s on

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Frontliners Kuwait meets new Indian ambassador

Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA In order to inform that 23rd of October 2011, will be Argentine national election where all Argentinean citizen residents permanently in Kuwait can vote only if they are registered at the Electoral Register of the Argentine Embassy. The procedure of inscription ended on 25 of April 2011. To register it is necessary that Argentinean citizens should come personally at the Argentinean Embassy (Block 6, street 42, villa 57, Mishref) and present the DNI and four personal photos (size 4x4, face should be front on white background). For further information, contact us on 25379211.

F

rontliners team Kuwait had the privilege of being the first to meet the new Indian Ambassador Satish Chand Mehta.

Writer N.C. Mohandoss the Founder, Secretary - K. Mathi and Jayabalan met the new Indian ambassador to welcome him and to convey the hearty greetings and best wishes of Frontliners and the Indian community in Kuwait. The ambassador appreciated the social and workers welfare activities being undertaken by the Frontliners team.

Patriotism, service-attitude and kindness seem to have been traits inherited

by Indian Ambassador Mehta. He feels that every Indian can do something for the betterment of their nation and Kuwait.

Satish C Mehta assures with all hum-

Embassy

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bleness and sincerity ìI feel that I have been given this position so that I could approach people’s problem with necessary compassion and to redress it in the

shortest possible time. I am here to serve, in every sense, our communityî.

We can consider ourselves as truly fortunate to have him as our ambassador.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy encourages all Australians to register their presence in Kuwait through Smartraveller Online (see link below).

Australians who are registered are asked to update their details. The information provided will assist us in contacting you in an emergency. www.smartraveller.gov.au Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas to Australia online at www.immi.gov.au.

This usually takes two working days. All others visa applications are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre Tel. 22971110. Witnessing and certifying documents are by appointment only, please contact the Embassy on 2232 2422. The Australian Embassy is open from 8.00am to 4.00pm, Sunday to Thursday.

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CSK mourn deaths of 44 Mirsarai students

C

hittagong Samity Kuwait arranged dua and milad Mahfil Thursday night at Gulshan Hotel Hall Room for the deaths of 44 students in a road accident in Mirsarai, Chittagong a few days ago. The students of Abu Torab Bahumukhi School, Abu Torab Government Primary School, Abu Torab Senior Madrasa, Abu Torab Fazil Madrasa and Prof Kamal Uddin Chowdhury College died when a truck carrying back about 70 children from a football match fell into a roadside ditch.

The condolence meeting was hosted by Mohd Musa Literature N Publication Secretary of Chittagong Samity Kuwait and host address the gathering, followed by the reciting from Holy Quran by Al Amin Chowdhury Swapan. Haji Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury President of Chittagong Samity addressed the gathering and vote of thanks and gratitude. In this condolence gathering were present Omar Faruk Nahid, Abdul Manna Sandipi, Abdul Kader Mulla and many representing Bangladeshi community

with other guest from various part of Kuwait were present in this mehfil and share the shock and sorrow of the people of Mirsarai bearing heartfelt condolence and urge everyone to assist the bereaved families in every possible way and also send condolence from this prayer mehfil on behalf of Chittagong Samity Kuwait to the families of the victims, teacher of Abu Torab School and the affected college and grief-stricken villagers. The dua and Milad Mehfil was conducted by A.K.Azad Noor and concluded by prayers for the victims’ souls.

Goan drama in Kuwait

A

fter a long gap, Goans and Konkani speaking people in Kuwait will be entertained with an excellent Konkani Drama “MOTHER’S DAY” on Friday 30th September 2011. This drama is written and directed by the well known Goan playwright Milagres de Chandor and it will be staged at Jabriya, Near Mubarak hospital, Beside Blood Bank, Jabriya, Kuwait, starting at 3.30 pm. The entire cast is coming from Goa as shown in the picture.

Aware Arabic courses

“T

he AWARE Management is glad to announce that Ramadan Arabic language courses will begin on August 7th till September 15th, 2011. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers & those working in the private business sector.

AWARE Arabic courses highlight ● Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics ● Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic ● Combine language learning with cultural insights ● Taught in multi-nationality group settings ● Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information, call 25335260 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same dates above. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930 - 1630 Application forms remain available online from the UKBAs’ website: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or from the Visa Application Centre’s website: www.vfs-ukkw.com. And also, from the UK Visa Application Centre located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building), Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City. For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com E-mail:info@vfs-uk-kw.com Telephone:22971170. The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates.

For information on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home.

The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form.

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what’s on

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

AUK graduation ceremony 2011

T

he Graduation Ceremony of the Class of 2011 at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) took place at Kuwait International Fairgrounds (KIF) at 10 am on June 16. The ceremony commenced with the Kuwaiti national anthem and a recitation of the Holy Quran. Graduates then began to march towards the stage waving to their friends and families as they took their seats.

AUK President Winfred Thompson then welcomed students, and their families to the ceremony as well as AUK Chair Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah along with several board members and numerous dignitaries and diplomats.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Thompson addressed how the region and the Arab world are at the cusp of a new chapter in history, facing uncertain times and an unknown future, but “What I can hope-and even, I think, predict-is that your education at AUK will help you to better face the challenges of your life, fulfill your plans for the future, and

reward the hopes and dreams of your parents and your families”.

The President then introduced the keynote speaker, Dr Naif Al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti clinical psychologist and creator of THE 99, the first group of comic superheroes born of an Islamic archetype. Dr Naif’s speech focused on three major points, education and innovation, balancing one’s life and entrepreneurship, all told through personal anecdotes. Dr Naif explored the reality of our present situation in the Arab world and encouraged graduates to work towards a better future. “I have spent the last two years trying to balance my life out. I am still a work in progress. You too will be works in progress your whole life. Working too much was my drug and I numbed myself. I implore you, don’t let complacency be yours. We need you to create jobs, not just consume them. You are the future.” He concluded his speech on an inspiration note, letting the graduates know that “anything is possible;

anything at all.”

Vice President of Administrative and Student Affairs Dr. Carol Ross-Scott then introduced the Class of 2011 Valedictorian, Laila Al-Daghestani. Laila rose to the podium to deliver her speech, which was both moving and insightful. She spoke of the uncertainty of the future and the challenges that lay ahead for her and her fellow graduates saying, “Graduation is about so much more than a simple ceremony; it is a rite of passage. At this turning point, we come to the end of a long and trying journey, and we brace ourselves for the entirely new and infinitely more challenging one that lies ahead.

It is our job, as the generation soon to be handed the reins of leadership, to bring upon progress to our world. To do that we must find the right path leading towards a better tomorrow.” Laila, on behalf of the Class of 2011, ended her speech by thanking parents, families, professors, teachers, advisors and friends that have helped the gradu-

ates in their journey.

Laila is graduating with a BA degree in Communication and Media and a minor in History, and has earned the highest cumulative grade point average of this graduating class.

Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Nizar Hamzeh recommended the conferral of degrees to President Thompson who then conferred upon the 471 graduates their respective degrees. Graduates were then presented with their bachelor’s degree diploma by President Thompson, Dr. Naif AlMutawa and Dr. Nizar Hamzeh, and in keeping with the academic tradition, the graduates were asked to move their tassels from right to left, thereby marking their official graduation from AUK. The ceremony also included the traditional cutting of the Class of 2011 cake, and professional photography was provided for all graduates and their families and friends.

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health & science

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Poisonous hemlock hitting the heights in Britain LONDON: The poisonous plant that famously finished off Socrates is sprouting to record sizes in Britain this year, prompting experts to issue health warnings.

Hemlock, long a key ingredient in European witchcraft potions and traditional medicines, is thriving thanks to an extended spell of hot weather mixed with recent heavy rains.

Hemlock contains the alkaloid coniine, a neurotoxin which causes respiratory paralysis and is fatal to humans and animals. The

plant is famous for its role in the execution of Greek philosopher Socrates, who was put on trial for impiety and corrupting the minds of young Athenians in 399 BC, and was eventually sentenced to death by drinking a cup of liquid containing hemlock. Now Britain is seeing record growth of the plant, particularly in urban environments and areas of high pollution, such as roadsides, where the plants thrive. “We are noticing a lot more hemlock this year-the combination of conditions has meant there

has been a particularly good climate for the plant,” said Dominic Price, a botanist for the UK charity Plantlife.

“Hemlock plants are normally around 11/2 metres (5 feet) tall, but many are a good two metres tall this year and people are seeing more and more plants of this size,” he told Reuters. The plant, which emits a musty, mouse-like odour in the sunlight, has dome-shaped clumps of white flowers and large stems with red or purple blotches. Cases of hemlock poisoning are rare in

the UK, but the plant poses a problem since it resembles the harmless cow parsley, which is also found along roadsides and near hedgerows. Whilst exposure may not necessarily result in death, it could make you very ill, warns Price.

“We would certainly advise people not to touch or eat it, and to wash their hands afterwards if they handle it,” Price said. “The giveaway is the red blotches: a general rule with plants is that red spots are nature’s way of telling you it is harmful.” — Reuters

Bill Gates, Barcelona on same side against polio Disease once crippled children worldwide

LA REUNION: This undated handout picture shows French centenarian woman Marie Isabelle Diaz, 113, in the French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean where she lives with her daughter, 73. French newspaper La Dep’che du Midi declared on July 27 that Marie Isabelle Diaz, born on February 22, 1898, is France’s oldest woman. — AFP

Circumcision ban pulled from San Francisco ballot SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge ruled that a proposal to ban male circumcision in San Francisco should not be put to a referendum later this year, despite having secured the necessary support.

The ballot initiative, which made the November ballot after “intactivist” supporters gathered the required 7,000 signatures this spring, would have made the circumcision of minors a misdemeanor except in cases of medical necessity. But judge Loretta Giorgi ruled in favor of a coalition of religious groups, doctors and families who claimed the proposed ban violated a state law that prohibits local governments from regulating medical procedures. She ruled it would “serve no legitimate purpose” for an “expressly preempted” ban to remain on the ballot, and ordered the city to remove it.

Proponents of the initiative have vowed to appeal, though they may not have the legal right to do so. Lloyd Schofield, 59, who has been at the helm of the San Francisco effort, says circumcision is essentially culturally accepted genital mutilation, and should be a matter of individual, not parental, choice. The measure would have made circumcision of a minor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Schofield appeared in court Thursday along with fellow advocates who held signs with slogans such as, “My ..... is not your property” and “Respect the rights of the child.”

Both pro- and anti-circumcision advocates make health claims, but the medical research does not firmly support either position.

The American Academy of Pediatrics holds that there are both benefits and risks to infant circumcision, and recommends that parents make the choice for themselves.

Circumcision is a central rite of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths, and leaders from the two communities joined together to protect the ritual, which they believe fulfills a commandment issued by God. “The measure was divisive and was hostile to Muslims and Jews,” said Abby Porth of the Jewish Community Relations Council. “This was a confirmation of the values that we both share and an opportunity to do something positive together.” — AFP

WASHINGTON: Barcelona took on what could be its toughest rival ever, teaming up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to try to eradicate polio. Flanked by players Andres Iniesta and Seydou Keita, the club’s manager Josep Guardiola and Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates announced a threeyear partnership against the crippling disease in Washington, with vaccination a key part of the fight.

“Just as football is a universal sport with the power to transform lives, vaccines are a universal tool with the power to save lives,” Guardiola said.

The disease once crippled children worldwide and killed 350,000 children in 1988.

That was the year that a global effort was kicked off to try to make the disease only the second after smallpox to be eradicated, and today there are just four countries-Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan-where polio transmission has never been stopped.

“We have the chance to score a big win against polio, but we need loud and passionate voices to join the fight,” Gates said at the launch. “FC Barcelona’s commitment to using sport for social good will help us rally support for vaccines and end polio

WASHINGTON: Bill Gates (C), Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation along with Sandro Rosell i Feliu (L-rear), President, FC Barcelona and Josep Guardiola(R-rear), Manager, FC Barcelona, pose for photos after a press conference to announce a partnership between Club Barcelona and the Gates Foundation at the Newseum in Washington. — AFP once and for all,” he said.

Barcelona will mobilize its fanbase, including 18 million Facebook fans, in the fight against polio. “When fans yell ‘Finish it!’ it can be very powerful.

We’d like to take that same energy and help finish polio once and for all,” said Guardiola. The partnership allows

the Gates Foundation to use images and video of Barcelona to support polio awareness efforts.

The two parties will use their own financial resources to fund marketing and promotional activities and will not be compensated for their partnership efforts. — AFP

Football prompts most heat-related hospital visits ATLANTA: With most of United States in the midst of a hot summer, new research shows that football leads to more non-fatal, heat-related emergency room visits than any other activity. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of 66 hospitals from 2001-2009 found showed that nearly one-fourth of all emergency rooms visits for a heat illness were attributed to football.

The second most common activity likely to lead to a hospital visit was exercise, including walking, jogging and calisthenics, which accounted for 20.4 percent of the estimated 5,946 annual visits.

For males between the ages of 15-19, football was linked to 57 percent of the non-fatal emergency room visits for heat illnesses, according to the study. More than 90 percent of patients were treated at emergency rooms and released. The CDC said the study only covered non-fatal emergency room treatment and is “an underestimate of all heat illnesses.” In 2010, two high school football players

died of heat stroke, according to a study for the American Football Coaches Association. “All heat illnesses are preventable.” said the CDC, which recommended that coaches schedule frequent rest breaks and encourage athletes to drink lots of fluids. Summer sports practices should start slow and gradually increase in frequency and intensity, allowing athletes to acclimate to the heat, the study said.

Athletes spend much of the summer in air-conditioned houses and gyms, said Bob Colgate, assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations.

“They’re just not acclimated to the climate and all of a sudden you bring them out into it,” Colgate said. “It’s a bit of a shock to the body.” The federation also stresses the importance of making sure athletes drink plenty of water during workouts. In its guidelines to coaches and players, the organization notes that athletes generally do not voluntarily drink enough water to prevent dehydration during physical activity. — Reuters

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CLASSIFIEDS Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., celebrated the first Father’s Day 101 years ago on June 19, 1910. She wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children. Smart was born in June.

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

“It’s special time for daddy when mom works for a few months ... Brad (Pitt) is such a great dad. When I’m working, he’s putting in the extra dad time, and that’s special for their relationship, too.”

— Actress Angelina Jolie in People magazine.

— www.almanac.com

Tornado victims pick up the pieces

M

FATHER’S DAY PHOTO CRAFTS Need something great for Dad’s special day this year?

Here are three crafts that will help you create the perfect gift and use all those digital photos hiding on your hard drive. They’re picture-perfect activities for you to do with your mom or siblings.

— Disney FamilyFun magazine

M

FAMILY TREE

Turn pictures of your family into a graceful work of art made of wire and a wooden block.

Paint a 2-inch wooden cube (we used a different shade of blue for each face). Use a pushpin to create holes (we made 13) into an end-grain side. Cut 18-gauge wire in a range of lengths from 12 to 18 inches, one for each hole.

Tightly coil one end of each wire length around a pen twice, making sure the two loops of wire are touching. Dip the opposite end of the wire in a small dish of tacky glue, then push it into a hole in the block.

(If the wire doesn’t fit, widen the holes by wiggling the pushpin a bit.)

Trim photos into small circles, then adhere them to circles of colored paper with tacky glue or a glue stick.

Slide the photo circles onto the wire coils.

CAMERA CARD

This photogenic Father’s Day card takes aim at the hearts of shutterbug fathers everywhere.

First, paint the inside and sides of a clean, wide jar lid (such as the lid from a peanut butter jar) with black acrylic paint and let it dry. Cut a photo to fit the inside of the lid, and attach it with glue dots or double-sided tape. Fold a half-sheet of black card stock in half, and cut two sections from the folded edge, as shown. Add simple camera details with a silver paint marker, then adhere the jar lid to the front of the card. Inside, write a camera-related message: “You’re a picture perfect dad!” or “Dad, you always make us smile.” frame

A PUSHY PAIR

These clever bookends capture kids in the act of helping keep their library tidy.

Start by enlisting a family member or two to take part in a photo shoot.

Have them push or lean against a wall or tree, making sure you get their body inside the frame. Take photos of them facing both left and right. Print out the two best shots and place them into unfinished

wood frames. (Ours are for 4by 6-inch photos.)

To create the stand for each frame, have an adult cut two lengths from a one-by-four wood board using the measurements of the frame, as shown.

Nail the two pieces into an L shape. Use wood glue to attach the frame to the front of the “L.” Clamp the pieces together or place a weight on the frame until the glue dries. Cover the borders of the frame’s glass with painter’s tape, then paint the wood and frames. For added grip, place self-adhesive bumpers on the bottoms of the bookends.

P H OTO S C O U R T E S Y O F D I S N E Y FA M I LY F U N M A G A Z I N E

On the evening of May 22 , a powerful tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Mo., creating a devastating path of destruction. Twenty minutes before the tornado touched down, warning sirens sounded, and residents scrambled to find cover or leave town. But for many, 20 minutes was not enough time.

The tornado destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, injured 750 people and, as of May 31, killed 142 people.

A MIGHTY TORNADO

Joplin’s tornado was the country’s eighth deadliest since record-keeping began in 1840.

The National Weather Service said the twister was an EF5, the highest rating possible on a scale of tornado power and intensity.

Bill Davis, the lead forecaster on a National Weather Service team, said only an unusually powerful tornado could destroy so many sturdy buildings, including a hospital, a bank and a Pepsi bottling plant.

ACCOMMODATION

What to do if you’re ... in a vehicle, mobile home • Leave vehicle, mobile home and seek shelter in a nearby building or lie flat in a depression on the ground • Do not seek shelter under a highway overpass as it can act like a wind tunnel; if driving, do not try to outrun a tornado, drive at a 90-degree angle away from storm’s path

outdoors • Find a ditch or depression in the ground, lie flat and cover head with hands; watch for flying debris, which can be deadly

indoors • Go to basement or lowest floor; find an interior room, hallway or stairwell; put as many walls as possible between you and the outside • Stay under a sturdy piece of furniture; protect head with your arms or a sports helmet • Move away from windows; keep them closed to prevent dangerous debris and high winds from entering and causing more damage Source: U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, NPR

Room available for an executive bachelor with Malayalee family in Farwaniya near Gazali Street. Contact: 66790833.

(C 3547) 27-8-2011 Furnished sharing accommodation available in a 2 bedroom, C-A/C apartment in Farwaniya good location, for decent working lady.

Contact: 66235897.

(C 3546) 26-7-2011

© 2011 MCT

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

With four school buildings destroyed, class has been canceled for all Joplin students for the rest of the school year. But officials have vowed to be ready for the new school year to begin on Aug. 17, as scheduled.

The district is working to determine which buildings can be used. Some Joplin students may be sent to attend school in other districts. “We definitely have a deadline, and we’re looking to make that happen,” Superintendent C.J. Huff told The Joplin Globe.

As residents turned their attention to recovery efforts, violent weather struck the Midwest again.

More tornados tore through parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas, killing at least 14 people.

And on June 1 a twister hit central and western Massachusetts, leaving at least four dead.

With so many communities devastated by the recent twisters, many wonder how they can lend a hand. The American Red Cross has set up a donation page that allows you to give directly to tornado relief. For more information, visit — Suzanne Zimbler www.redcross.org. © 2011 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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

Sharing accommodation available opposite Khaitan Jamiya in a flat from 1st August, for RC Goan or Mangalorean family.

Contact: 99453500.

(C 3543) Sharing accommodation available at New Riggae.

Please contact: 65026013/ 69901960. (C 3544) 25-7-2011 Accommodation available in 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom C-A/C apartment for a decent couple, executive bachelor or working lady in Mahboula, close to Gulf Road. Contact: 66216713.

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Great mesh hat for summer while at the beach, hanging out with your friends, or whatever you are up to this summer.

The cool bird design is hand-drawn, so no two are alike.

It comes in green and brown and is adjustable.

You can get one for $12. See more at http:// poseidonstandup.com.

— Merrie Leininger, MCT

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

SITUATION WANTED

“ANT” APPEARS 17 TIMES

School’s almost out (or maybe you’re one of the lucky ones and you’re already out), and you have a full three steamy months in front of you without a care.

Celebrate the fact that you don’t have to get a haircut for a while with this mesh hat from Poseidon Standup Boards.

“The Bird” Mesh Hat will keep the sun out of your face

FOR SALE

Important tips to protect yourself during a tornado

I am looking for a part time job morning or evening.

Experienced in all office administrative work with computer knowledge.

Contact: 60988705.

(C 3545) 26-7-2011

Room available for an executive bachelor with Malayalee family in Farwaniya near Gazali Street. Contact: 66790833.

(C 3547) 28-7-2011 Toyota Rav4 - Jeep 2007, 4 doors, full options, white color, 4 cylinder, KD 3,900/-.

Contact: 55323839.

(C 3539) Honda City 2009, white color, full automatic, 16000km, KD 2,300/-. Contact: 65085629.

(C 3540) Volvo S60 2001, light green metallic, run 190,000km, very good condition, price KD 900 only. Contact: 99881982.

(C 3541)

SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family is looking to hire a part-time driver.

Please Contact: 99774658.

(C 3548) 28-7-2011

MATRIMONIAL Proposal invited for a middleclass RC girl, fair, 26, 5.4”, GNM going to work with Ministry of Health soon, presently living in Kuwait, from professionally qualified RC boys from Kuwait, working with reputed company, with good family background. Contact: jinsjos@yahoo.co.in or jinsjos@kuwaittimes.net 30-7-2011

information SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

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

Arrival Flights on Saturday 30/7/2011 Flt Route 1540 CAIRO 407 BEIRUT 637 FRANKFURT 576 GOA / CHENNAI 447 AMSTERDAM 216 KARACHI 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 240 SIALKOT / ISLAMABAD 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 615 CAIRO 401 BEIRUT 413 BEIRUT 7780 SOFIA 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 44 DHAKA 164 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 785 JEDDAH 356 MASHAD 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 534 CAIRO 153 ISTANBUL 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 552 DAMASCUS 561 AMMAN 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 549 SOHAG / SHARM EL SHEIKH 133 DOHA 107 GENEVA / LONDON 1107 GENEVA / LONDON 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 3406 MASHAD 165 ROME / PARIS 6131 DOHA 541 CAIRO 776 JEDDAH 238 AMMAN 712 NAJAF / BAGHDAD 6808 SHIRAZ 501 BEIRUT 624 SOHAG 3854 DUBAI 176 DUBAI 702 RIYADH 5065 MASHAD 611 CAIRO 641 AMMAN 58 DUBAI 622 ASSIUT 982 BAHRAIN 673 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 789 MEDINAH 746 JEDDAH 617 DOHA 178 DUBAI 505 JEDDAH 773 RIYADH 512 SHARM EL SHEIKH 141 DOHA 5381 AMMAN 538 CAIRO 792 HONG KONG 6792 MASHAD 82 BAGHDAD 304 ABU DHABI

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

QTR SYR UAE GFA ABY JZR JZR SVA FDB KAC ALK JZR KAC IRA JAI FDB KNE KAC JZR KAC OMA MEA SIA MSR KAC DHX KLM KAC UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR MSR KAC UAL MSR

135 342 858 216 128 184 266 511 64 613 228 134 283 604 571 62 790 331 268 351 648 403 457 619 543 373 445 677 860 218 381 102 137 301 205 188 554 607 411 981 613

DOHA DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI / COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA ISFAHAN MUMBAI DUBAI JEDDAH TRIVANDRUM BEIRUT COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DUBAI / MUSCAT DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LUXOR BANGKOK / MANILA WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO

Airlines RJA PIA THY ETH PIA UAE DHX ETD MSR FDB MEA MEA GFA QTR LZB JZR THY BBC JZR JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FCX JZR KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY

Departure Flights on Saturday 30/7/2011 Flt Route 642 AMMAN 215 KARACHI 772 ISTANBUL 620 ADDIS ABABA 239 SIALKOT 853 DUBAI 370 BAHRAIN 305 ABU DHABI 614 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 400 BEIRUT 412 BEIRUT 211 BAHRAIN 138 DOHA 7779 SOFIA / BOURGAS 529 ASSIUT 770 ISTANBUL 43 DHAKA 241 AMMAN 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA / BANGKOK 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA / KUALA LUMPUR 201 BAHRAIN 1541 CAIRO 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 53 DUBAI 284 DHAKA 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 132 DOHA 125 SHARJAH

17:45 18:00 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:40 19:00 19:10 19:10 19:30 20:05 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:20 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:00 23:10 23:15 23:40 23:40 23:50 Time 0:05 0:25 1:15 1:45 2:15 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 3:15 3:20 3:25 3:35 4:10 4:50 4:55 5:15 6:10 6:15 6:30 6:35 7:00 7:10 7:15 7:20 7:50 7:55 8:10 8:20 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10

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

301 213 3407 6130 165 711 6807 3853 623 201 5066 672 610 703 982 640 621 57 786 357 140 562 5380 500 551 745 257 792 134 535 6791 118 303 857 341 154 178 215 510 777 239 127 550 63 227 177 104 502 542 618 607 674 774 572 458 975 790 93 61 789 647 179 402 788 618 372 445 859 217 136 981 614 135 606 513 185 612 636 393 539

ABU DHABI BAHRAIN MASHAD DOHA DUBAI BAGHDAD / NAJAF SHIRAZ DUBAI SOHAG DAMASCUS MASHAD DUBAI CAIRO MEDINAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN ASSIUT DUBAI JEDDAH MASHAD DOHA AMMAN AMMAN JEDDAH DAMASCUS JEDDAH BEIRUT LUXEMBOURG DOHA CAIRO MASHAD NEW YORK ABU DHABI DUBAI DAMASCUS ISTANBUL GENEVA / FRANKFURT BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH AMMAN SHARJAH SOHAG / SHARM EL SHEIKH DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI DUBAI LONDON BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA MASHAD DUBAI RIYADH MUMBAI SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI CHENNAI / GOA MEDINAH KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI JEDDAH MUSCAT DUBAI BEIRUT JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN LUXOR SHARM EL SHEIKH DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT KOZHIKODE / COCHIN CAIRO

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

9:30 9:35 10:20 10:25 11:10 11:20 11:35 12:00 12:10 12:45 12:50 13:15 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:10 14:15 14:20 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 15:10 15:15 15:15 15:50 16:00 16:15 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:00 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:25 17:35 17:40 17:50 17:55 18:00 18:00 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:05 19:25 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:00 20:00 20:10 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:25 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:15 23:30

C R O S S W O R D

3 9 4

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday始s Solution

ACROSS 1. A unit of pressure.

4. A port in western Israel on the Mediterranean.

9. An extravagantly enthusiastic review.

13. The 17th letter of the Greek alphabet.

14. A projecting bay window corbeled or cantilevered out from a wall.

15. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

16. Being one more than nine.

17. An enveloping or covering membrane or layer of body tissue.

18. Become gelatinous.

19. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

21. A literary language of Chinese Turkestan (named for one of the sons of Genghis Khan).

23. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

24. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

26. A heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances.

27. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

29. Used of a single unit or thing.

34. In the Arabian Nights a hero who tells of the fantastic adventures he had in his voyages.

36. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

38. Offering little or no hope.

41. A fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate.

42. A joke that seems extremely funny.

45. Food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing.

49. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

52. (Scotland) A small loaf or roll of soft bread.

53. A Hindu prince or king in India.

54. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

55. A cleansing agent made from the salts of vegetable or animal fats.

58. Someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault.

59. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds.

61. A resource.

62. Acute lung injury characterized by coughing and rales.

63. A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence.

64. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

65. A state in southeastern United States.

DOWN 1. An honorary arts degree.

2. A case or sheath especially a pollen sac or moss capsule.

3. An island northwest of Wales.

4. A brief (and hurriedly handwritten) note.

5. Wild sheep of northern Africa.

6. The cardinal number that is the sum of four and one.

7. South American shrub having edible greenish plumlike fruit.

8. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

9. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.

10. Assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing.

11. A sails-shaped constellation in the southern hemisphere near Carina.

12. (Norse mythology) Goddess of old age who defeated Thor in a wrestling match.

20. Any of numerous low-growing cushion-forming plants of the genus Draba having rosette-forming leaves and terminal racemes of small flowers with scapose or leafy stems.

22. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

25. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses.

28. Again but in a new or different way.

30. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north.

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

32. United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters.

33. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

35. The United Nations agency concerned with the interests of labor.

37. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

39. Tall feather palm of northern Brazil with hard-shelled nuts yielding valuable oil and a kind of vegetable ivory.

40. (botany) Having a leafless flower stalk growing directly from the ground.

41. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

43. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

44. American Revolutionary patriot.

46. An island of central Hawaii.

47. A genus of Platalea.

48. (Irish) Chief god of the Tuatha De Danann.

50. Dearly loved.

51. In bed.

56. An associate degree in applied science.

57. A syndrome that occurs in many women from 2 to 14 days before the onset of menstruation.

60. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Extras

Mourinho appeals ban NYON: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is appearing before UEFA’s appeal panel to challenge his five-match ban from Champions League matches.

Mourinho accused UEFA and its referees of a long-standing conspiracy to help rival Barcelona after his team lost 2-0 in a semifinal first-leg match in April. He was also sent from the dugout during the game. UEFA’s disciplinary body said the Portuguese coach made “inappropriate” comments. Mourinho is currently banned from entering the stadium and communicating with players and coaches at Madrid’s next three group-stage matches. He was banned for the return leg in Barcelona and another match of his ban was suspended for three years.

Galatasaray rout Liverpool ISTANBUL: Former Liverpool striker Milan Baros scored twice to lead Turkish side Galatasaray to a 3-0 win over the English giants in a pre-season friendly on Thursday. Baros hit a volley beyond Alexander Doni after eight minutes before converting with a close-range header just before half-time. Former Bolton player Johan Elmander added the third seven minutes from time. “I think they looked a bit sharper than us at the start of the game. But the players worked hard and they’ll benefit from the effort they put in,” said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish who fielded a young side which included the likes of John Flanagan, Jack Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey, and Martin Kelly. “It won’t do us any harm for the season ahead, but we’ve got to get ourselves a bit sharper, a bit more clued up and lively when we’re not in possession of the ball,” Dalglish told liverpoolfc.tv.

Bolton sign Burnley duo LONDON: Bolton manager Owen Coyle returned to his former club Burnley to make a double swoop for Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears yesterday. Coyle, who quit Burnley to take charge at the Reebok Stadium in 2010, was granted permission to speak to winger Eagles and full-back Mears at the end of last week and has tied up both signings after personal terms were agreed. The deals, believed to be worth a combined £3 million ($4.8 million) complete a busy week for Coyle, who also landed midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker on a free transfer from Aston Villa. “Both Chris and Tyrone are top players and have shown that they have the ability to compete successfully at the highest level,” Coyle told Bolton’s website.

Blackburn accept Kalinic bid HONG KONG: Blackburn Rovers have accepted a bid for striker Nikola Kalinic from Ukrainian side Dnipro, manager Steve Kean said yesterday, but are closing in on signing Serbian midfielder Radosav Petrovic. The Premier League club are awaiting a work permit to complete the signing of 6ft 4inch Petrovic from Partizan Belgrade, after fighting off interest from Italian sides Roma and Fiorentina. Kean said he wanted to expand the squad further as Rovers look to improve on last season’s 15th place, and was hopeful of holding on to Chris Samba, despite the defender being linked with a move to Arsenal.

AFC puts off presidential vote to 2012 KUALA LUMPUR: Asian football bosses yesterday decided against holding immediate elections to replace disgraced former chief Mohamed bin Hammam, who was banned for life by FIFA over corruption. Despite calls from some members including Japan and Jordan for an immediate vote, interim Asian Football Confederation (AFC) head Zhang Jilong of China managed to convince an executive meeting to put off elections until May 2012.

Zhang has led the AFC on a caretaker basis since last month, after bin Hammam was banned over a vote-buying scandal, and chaired a special executive meeting at AFC headquarters near Kuala Lumpur.

Afterwards the AFC said its legal committee had ruled that a meeting to elect a new president could only be called once the office had been vacant for more than a year. “This means that an extraordinary congress for this pur-

pose could not be convened until after 30 May, 2012,” the AFC said in a statement. On Tuesday, Japan Football Association president Junji Ogura said an immediate election was vital after bin Hammam was banned from the sport. FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin alHussein of Jordan had also pressed for the replacement of Qatari bin Hammam. Zhang made an impassioned appeal urging the Asian football chiefs to work towards promoting the game and safeguarding its interests.

He also called on the members to join hands and face the current challenges confronting the Asian game “like a concerned and united family.” “Today I will speak to you from the heart. Today I will address you not only as the acting president of AFC and the chairman of this executive committee but also as a very concerned fan and supporter of Asian football,” Zhang said. “Football is the No 1 sport in

Asia. It is followed by millions of people and today everybody is looking to us for leadership and assurance. Our fans and sponsors want to be reassured that Asian football will not be affected by this great misfortune.”

Peter Velappan, AFC general secretary for 30 years said, said yesterday’s meeting took almost six hours to complete, with members discussing the issue of presidential elections extensively. “I would have favored a decision to have an election for a new president,” he said. Last Saturday FIFA’s ethics committee banned bin Hammam from all football-related activity at national and international level after being found guilty of graft during the world ruling body’s presidential elections in June.

The 62-year-old was found guilty of using cash-stuffed envelopes to try to buy votes in his bid to topple powerful president Sepp Blatter. — AFP

New Chelsea boss tries to rejuvenate ageing squad HONG KONG: New Chelsea boss Andre VillasBoas says he is looking to the club’s teenagers to make the leap to the first team this season as he looks to rejuvenate his ageing squad. The former Porto manager singled out 18-year-old midfielder Josh McEachran, 16-year-old centre back Nathaniel Chalobah and 17-year-old goalkeeper Jamal Blackman as candidates to move up from Chelsea’s youth development scheme.

“For all these young boys, the biggest step they have to do as they finish their reserve-team time is to make the step to the first team,” Villas-Boas said. “We can look into the future with a couple of them making the step straight into the first team without having to go out on loan.”

The 33-year-old Portuguese manager is faced with the task of bringing fresh blood into one of the oldest squads in the English top flight, after his own transfer last month. “The squad is one of the oldest in the premiership,” Villas-Boas said. “We respect them and are happy enough with the quality that we have to challenge for the title. But we are also looking in the future.” McEachran in particular seems to have a solid future ahead of him, having featured in all three of Chelsea’s pre-season matches in Asia so far.

Villas-Boas said he will play again on Saturday, when Chelsea take on Aston Villa in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy. McEachran prefers the attacking midfield role that Frank Lampard has made his own, but he has vowed to fight for a place in the squad, wherever that may be. “I prefer playing higher up but if Andre sees me as deeper I’ll be happy to be there-I just want to play,” McEachran said. “I just want to get more minutes this year, whether it’s out on loan-but obviously I want to stay at Chelsea.”

The Oxford-born player, who made his Chelsea debut at the start of last season, says he felt intimidated when he first broke into the team but now feels comfortable in the side. Chelsea have said they will add two more players before the season starts. Tottenham playmaker Luka Modric and Palermo midfielder Javier Pastore have both been linked with moves to Stamford Bridge. “The players we have shown interest in are also of a young age,” Villas-Boas said. “So they are also looking into the future of this club.

You might see similar moves in the future from us.” With two weeks to go until the start of the Premier League season, Villas-Boas is still working out what his strongest line-up will be. He says he will only make the final call on his first team for the match at Stoke after the final two matches of the pre-season. — AFP

HONG KONG: Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge (second from left) celebrates with fellow team members after scoring a goal against Kitchee during the Asia Trophy soccer tournament in Hong Kong on Wednesday, July 27, 2011. Chelsea won 4-0. — AP

Malaysia FA apologizes to Benayoun, Chelsea KUALA LUMPUR: The Football Association of Malaysia yesterday apologized to Chelsea’s Israeli player Yossi Benayoun and his club for any anti-Semitic abuse suffered by the midfielder in the country last week. “From our initial observations, if such an incident took place, it would have involved a small section of spectators at the match and this surely does not reflect the feelings of the majority of fans in this football loving country,” it said in a statement. “The FA of Malaysia would like to strongly register that we do not condone any form of racism in football. If such an incident did happen, we would like to apologize to the player concerned, and also to Chelsea FC,” it added.

The qualified apology comes after the FA of Malaysia received a complaint from Chelsea over alleged racist abuse targeted

at Benayoun during a friendly match with the Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur on July 21. The midfielder was booed and jeered whenever he touched the ball in the 1-0 win against Malaysia in the capital of the Muslim-majority country. Benayoun was the first Israeli to play in Malaysia, which strongly supports the Palestinians and does not recognise Israel, maintaining no diplomatic ties with the country. Some 60 percent of Malaysia’s population is Muslim.

A statement on Chelsea’s website read: “Notwithstanding most fans behaving appropriately on the night, we believe Yossi was subjected to antiSemitic abuse by a number of supporters at the game. “Such behavior is offensive, totally unacceptable and has no place in football. —AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011

Champions Lille reinforce for new season PARIS: Lille stunned French football with last season’s surprise league and cup double but they have shed their “modest” tag after a string of recent signings which make them wellequipped for further success this term.

Ivory Coast forward Gervinho, one of their most consistent performers last season, has left for Arsenal and Yohan Cabaye for Newcastle United but Lille’s ability to cling onto highly-rated Belgian winger Eden Hazard is probably more crucial to their hopes in the coming months.

Dimitri Payet has arrived from St Etienne to replace Gervinho and last term’s Ligue 1 top scorer Moussa Sow will be aiming to show he is not just the one-season wonder some pundits expect. Defender Laurent Bonnart, midfielder Benoit Pedretti, defender David Rozehnal and reserve keeper

Vincent Enyeama are also among the new faces on board ahead of the first match of the league campaign at Nancy on Saturday Aug. 6.

Wednesday’s 5-4 Champions Trophy defeat by Olympique Marseille after Lille were 3-1 up with five minutes to play has done little to dim optimism in north-east France.

“The new recruits are feeling good, there is good humor and the culture of hard work is as important as ever,” coach Rudi Garcia told reporters. “I even feel that the new players were a bit surprised by the way the group interacts. They already have many friends. We feel we can find the continuity of last season, the euphoria at least. I think a determined mindset is an important element, it was one of the keys to our success last year.” The signings will help Lille cope with the pres-

English football needs a shakeup to tackle debts LONDON: Sweeping changes must be made to English football to address financial instability, levels of debt and to secure the domestic game’s future, according to a parliamentary report published yesterday. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the Football Association should lead the way in shaking up soccer although the FA also needed urgent reform of its own.

“No one doubts the success of the Premier League in revitalizing English football,” said committee chairman John Whittingdale. “But it has been accompanied by serious financial problems throughout the football league pyramid. “Significant changes need to be made to the way the game is run to secure the future of England’s unique football heritage and the economic and community benefits it provides,” added the Member of Parliament.

Whittingdale said a new-look FA should galvanize the process of change. “The FA is the organization for the job but it has some way to go getting its own house in order before it can tackle the problems in the game and address the future,” he explained. “We need a reformed FA to oversee and underpin a rigorous and consistent club licensing system and robust rules on club ownership which should be transparent to supporters.”

Whittingdale warned legislation could be introduced if English football was unable to clean up its act on its own.

LAST RESORT “Almost all our recommendations could be achieved without legislation, through co-operation and agreement between the football authorities, and we urge them to respond positively with an agreed strategy and timetable for change,” he said. “Legislation should be considered only as a last resort in the absence of substantive progress.” Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance, published last month, said operating profit margins in the Premier League had reduced from 16 percent to four percent over the lifetime of the competition.

Figures also showed the net debt of top-flight clubs a year ago was 2.6 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) and that more than 50 percent of division one, two and three clubs had gone into administration since the Premier League was founded in 1992. Among the committee’s recommendations are: Imposing a rigorous and consistent formal licensing model to promote sustainable forward-looking business plans and underpin self-regulation measures introduced by the Premier League and the Football League, and financial fair play regulations being introduced by UEFA. A strong fit and proper persons test (for ownership) consistently applied, with a presumption against selling the ground unless it is in the club’s interest. — Reuters

sures of Champions League football as well as the defence of their title and news they can stay at their small home ground for European games is a boost ahead of the opening of their new stadium next year.

PSG INVEST Paris St Germain could rival Lille having been bought by Qatari investors and having recruited former AC and Inter Milan coach Leonardo as sporting director. It will take time for the under-achieving capital club to spend their newfound wealth but the early purchase of AS Roma and France playmaker Jeremy Menez is a bold statement of intent.

Marseille, who won the 2010 title, managed to keep coach Didier Deschamps but the likes of Gabriel Heinze have departed and quality replacements have been hard to find with Girondins Bordeaux and France midfielder Alou

Diarra their standout signing. “I am satisfied in terms of the pre-season work done and the attitude. Even if everything is not yet perfect, the players are ready and willing,” Deschamps said.

The once mighty superpower of French soccer, Olympique Lyon, have also been relatively quiet in the transfer market with new coach Remi Garde already boasting a good side on paper who failed to show their potential on the field last season under the departed Claude Puel. No team outside the big four is expected to challenge at the top with Stade Rennes’ early form last term ebbing away through the campaign.

Ambitious Evian have made the most eye-catching signing of the promoted clubs, bringing France striker Sidney Govou back to Ligue 1, a division still reeling from Monaco’s shock relegation last season. — Reuters

Spain favorite in U20 WCup MEDELLIN: Spain will be the favorite to add another World Cup to its trophy case - this time the Under-20 version when the tournament began yesterday.

Ghana, which upset Brazil two years ago in the final in Egypt, has failed to qualify this time around. But six-time champion Argentina is back after missing out in 2009 and will be among the contenders with four-time winner Brazil, France and a long list of challengers in a strong 24team field. Some players are already with big European clubs. Juan Manuel Iturbe just moved to Porto in Portugal, while teammate Erik Lamela is joining Roma from Argentine side River Plate.

But new talent is bound to be uncovered in the 31/2-week tournament. The biggest concern for many teams may be dealing with the “thin air factor,” with six of the eight venues at altitude.

Cartagena and Barranquilla are at sea level on the Caribbean. The other six venues are at altitude: Bogota (2,600 meters/8,600 feet), Manizales (2,150 meters/7,100 feet), Medellin (1,500 meters/5,000 feet), Armenia (1,500 meters/5,000 feet), Pereira (1,400 meters/4,600 feet) and Cali (1,000 meters/3,300 feet).

“We trained at altitude before arriving in Colombia,” France coach Francis Smerecki said. “In Bogota, we have been finding out some things and the players are getting used to it.” Studies have suggested that a free kick from 20 meters (yards) will reach the goal about 5 percent faster than at sea level. Most players probably need several weeks to adjust, although some countries like Mexico may need less time since many cities in the country are at similar altitudes. Spain will be led by three players already with giant European clubs: Dani Pacheco (Liverpool), Sergio Canales (Real Madrid) and Oriol Romeu, who will move from Barcelona to Chelsea pending agreement of personal terms.

“Playing in the tournament is great, and winning it would be incredible,” said Canales, who is expected to miss the opening match against Costa Rica because of a leg injury Spain coach Julen Lopetegui closed some of his practices leading up the opener and prohibited taking photos. “There are no easy

BARRANQUILLA: Brazil’s U20 team coach Ney Franco (left) and Brazil’s U20 player Oscar attend a joint news conference in Barranquilla, Colombia. Brazil faced Egypt in a group E U20 World Cup soccer match yesterday. — AP groups in the tournament,” Lopetegui said, “and every game will be an adventure.”

Brazil will be without two of its stars, striker Neymar and midfielder Lucas, who led the team to the South American championship earlier in the year. They were released from the competition because they played in the Copa America for the senior team. Brazil coach Ney Franco also will be without striker Roberto Firmino, who was not released by German club Hoffenheim.

But the majority of the team has been together for a bit. “We are at an advanced stage because these players have already played together,” Franco said.

Brazil’s young stars include Philippe Coutinho and Casemiro. “I hope to play my game and end up as champions,” Inter Milan midfielder Coutinho said.

“My game is to help out in midfield and find space to pass to the forwards.”

Argentina has won five of the past eight Under-20 titles, guided by stars like Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero. Iturbe is under some pressure by being hailed by some as the next Messi. Coach Walter Perazzo will also have Lamela, Facundo Ferreyra, Roberto Pereyra and Adrian Cirigliano.

Perazzo’s job could also be on the

line if Argentina does not reach the final four. This would be another blow to the country’s football image following a poor performance by the senior team in the Copa America, which led to the firing of coach Sergio Batista.

“The phrase pressure is used a lot,” Perazzo said Thursday. “We have to play this World Cup and enjoy the fiesta of football. We know that in top competitions, these kind of shake-ups are likely to take place. One never knows when, but one has to know how to handle it and separate yourself from the negative stuff.”

England will be missing some of its top players due to commitments with their club teams, including Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere. The tournament is outside the FIFA calendar and conflicts with the start of the English league season. “We don’t have mandatory release of the players, which means there are a number of players who won’t be released by their clubs,” England coach Brian Eastick said. “So we accept that.

Even if we did have mandatory release, we would still have to be sympathetic to some of the clubs and their players who are playing first-team football at the top level.” England is in one of the toughest groups, with Mexico, Argentina and North Korea its opponents. — AP

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RIO DE JANEIRO: View of the stage, where the Preliminary draw for the FIFA World Cup 2014 will be held in Rio de Janeiro today. — AFP

WCup draw will signal new era for England RIO DE JANEIRO: England coach Fabio Capello is due to attend today’s World Cup preliminary draw in Rio de Janeiro, but given that the Italian will have taken his leave by 2014, the 1966 champions stand on the cusp of a new era. Capello will stand down after next year’s European Championships and it will be left to a new man, as yet unidentified, to pick up the thread when the World Cup returns to Brazil for the first time since 1950 - when England famously lost to the United States. A new Three Lions regime will at least have the advantage of being seeded as England are currently rated the fourth-best side in Europe and sixth in the world.

That advantage will not be enjoyed by 1998 champions France, whose recent slide down the FIFA rankings below the likes of Norway and Greece means Les Bleus will not be seeded. The European arrangements will comprise nine groups with all group winners advancing to the finals automatically with the eight best runners-up going into two-legged playoffs. The four winners of those contests will also advance.

With the demotion of Laurent Blanc’s French into pot two they could actually end up in the same group as Capello’s men, as could the likes of Russia and Sweden.

Even pot three sides such as the Czech Republic or even 1974 nemesis Poland, now a pot four also-ran, could trip England up. Recent campaigns have seen a leveling off of quality between the top sides and relative newcomers to the international stage, such as Montenegro, who are pushing England hard in their Euro 2012 qualifiers and who are now only two places below France in the rankings after vaulting into FIFA’s top twenty.

On the bright side for England, they cannot meet reigning champions Spain or the other seeds Holland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Greece. Even if they do not manage to win their group, the French will take comfort from the fact that last time out they managed to squeak into the 2010 finals in South Africa via the playoffs, thanks to Thierry Henry’s handball which helped them to eliminate Republic of Ireland.

Yet France are still paying the price for last year’s disastrous World Cup showing, having crashed out in the group phase amid a player revolt sparked by the sending home of striker Nicolas Anelka for launching a foul-mouthed tirade at then coach Raymond Domenech. The European qualifiers will start on September 7 and end in October 2013, ahead of the playoffs, which will take place on November 15 and 19. FIFA will ensure that politics does not intrude onto the qualifying scene by keeping apart squabbling neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as Russia and Georgia.

UEFA policy is to ensure that those teams are not placed in the same group. Capello aside, a total of 38 coaches are expected to attend today’s draw, including Brazil’s Luiz Menezes and Vicente del Bosque, who led Spain to glory last year.

Organizers on Wednesday officially confirmed the dates for the event which will start on June 12 with the final on July 13.

The trophy match is due to be held at Rio’s Maracana stadium - although FIFA insisted Thursday that the choice is subject to pending formal ratification at the world body’s executive committee meeting in October. The giant arena previously hosted the deciding match of the World Cup in 1950, when hosts Brazil were stunned 2-1 by Uruguay. — AFP

All eyes on Rio as 2014 WCup comes into view RIO DE JANEIRO: The first major World Cup milestone on the road from Soccer City to “Soccer Country” will be reached on Saturday when the draw for the preliminary round of the 2014 finals takes place in the home of fivetimes world champions Brazil. Little more than a year since Spain beat Netherlands in the World Cup final in Johannesburg, the world champions’ name will go into one of the dozens of Perspex bowls to be used as they discover who they will face in the defense of their trophy. A total of 824 matches will take place before the identity of the 31 nations joining hosts Brazil in the finals will be revealed by November 2013.

The days when the draw consisted of middle-aged men in suits sitting at a desk pulling balls out of velvet bags are long gone of course and Saturday’s 100-minute ceremony has cost more than $30 million and will be broadcast live around the globe. It will take place in a specially constructed auditorium at Marina da Gloria not far from the Sugar Loaf mountain because there was no other suitable building in Rio available to house more than 1,000 attending dignitaries.

“All the planning for this event began over a year ago and it has taken two months to set everything up. We are hoping to put on a great event that makes Brazil proud and shows the world we are ready to host the World Cup,” Joana Havelange, the director of the local organizing committee and the grand-daughter of former FIFA president Joao Havelange, told reporters. Ten former and current Brazilian

international players including World Cup winner Ronaldo and current young hopes Neymar and Ganso will assist with the draw for five of FIFA’s six confederations.

There will be no draw for the South American confederation, whose nine contenders will play each other in a single league system, seeking to make, for them, the relatively short trip to Brazil in three years time.

FIFA’s secretary general Jerome Valcke, who will conduct the draw ceremony, highlighted that the proceedings are more than just a showbiz extravaganza. “Due to political sensitivities, Georgia and Russia and also Azerbaijan and Armenia will not be in the same group and if they are drawn together we will change the order,” he said. All the draws will be based on FIFA’s current world rankings which could produce some intriguing battles, especially in Europe where former world champions France are among the second-seeded teams and could face the likes of the world champions, England, Germany or Italy, who they met in the 2006 final.

Vicente del Bosque, who guided Spain to success in South Africa last year, Laurent Blanc of France, Guus Hiddink of Turkey, Fabio Capello of England and naturally, Mario Menezes of Brazil, are a few of the 38 national coaches attending the draw. While some preliminary qualifiers have already taken place, the competition will begin properly later this year and be completed by November 2013. FIFA said on Wednesday the finals will be staged from June 12 to July 13 in 2014. — Reuters

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England collapse in second Test NOTTINGHAM: India’s seamers reduced England to 124 for eight at tea on the first day of the second Test at Trent Bridge here yesterday as they looked to level the series. India, albeit in helpful, overcast conditions, took six wickets for 55 runs in 24 overs after lunch as they ripped through England’s top order. Stuart Broad (six not out) and Graeme Swann (nought not out) were unbeaten on their Nottinghamshire home ground. England, 69 for two at lunch, lost four wickets for 15 runs in a dramatic slump at the start of the second session, with Praveen Kumar striking twice in four balls.

Five balls after lunch, Kevin Pietersen, on 29, was squared up by fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, in for the injured Zaheer Khan, and third slip Suresh Raina held the edge to leave England 73 for three. Kumar had rocked England with his command of swing while taking a Testbest five for 106 in the hosts’ 196-run series-opening victory at Lord’s. The medium-pacer had England captain Andrew Strauss, who’d ‘got in’, out for 32, when the left-hander’s full-blooded drive flew to Raina, who held an excellent catch.

And that same over saw 85 for four become 85 for five when a full-length outswinger to left-hander Eoin Morgan pitched in line and had the former Ireland international lbw for nought. Matt Prior had frustrated India with an unbeaten century after England had collapsed to 62 for five in their second innings at Lord’s.

But yesterday he managed just one before, playing at a ball from Sreesanth that left him, the wicketkeeper nicked

NOTTINGHAM: England’s Stuart Broad bowls during the first day of the second cricket test match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, central England yesterday. — AFP straight to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

England, in the face of some high-class swing and seam bowling, had lost three wickets for three runs in 23 balls to be 88 for six. Tim Bresnan, replacing injured fast bowler Chris Tremlett, was undone on 11 by a ball from Ishant Sharma that nipped away. Ian Bell, the last of England’s frontline batsmen, was dropped on 22 by Dravid but he got himself out for 31 when he flat-footedly cut at Sharma and was caught behind by India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. England came into this match knowing they would replace India at the top of the ICC’s Test rankings if they won this four-match series 2-0 or better. But during the last decade India have fought back to either win or

SCOREBOARD NOTTINGHAM: Scoreboard at close of England’s first innings on the first day of the second Test against at Trent Bridge here on yesterday: England 1st Innings A. Strauss c Raina b Kumar A. Cook lbw b Sharma J. Trott c Laxman b Sreesanth K. Pietersen c Raina b Sreesanth I. Bell c Dhoni b Sharma E. Morgan lbw b Kumar M. Prior c Dravid b Sreesanth T. Bresnan c Dravid b Sharma S. Broad c Tendulkar b Harbhajan G. Swann c Mukund b Kumar

All Blacks primed for rattled ‘Boks’ WELLINGTON: The All Blacks are relishing the prospect of facing a rattled Springboks team when the arch rivals put their World Cup build-ups on opposite tacks in their Tri-Nations clash today. The lop-sided nature of the rival line-ups gives the All Blacks an ideal opportunity to fine-tune a new game plan while the Springboks focus on blooding depth in their squad. More than half the All Blacks run-on side, led by skipper Richie McCaw, could expect to be in the frame of an “A” team, but the “B” strength Springboks have only four starting players with eight or more caps.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry, faced with the burden of an expectant New Zealand public demanding a World Cup win, has revealed he is experimenting with new ideas that even his most senior players have never tried before. “They’ve been playing for 20 years, so to change something that old is sometimes quite difficult. “I thought we were about 50 percent in Dunedin,” he said of the muddling 60-14 performance against Fiji last week. “It would be nice to play about 65-70 percent (against the Springboks). Get an improvement on last week.

The opposition will be a lot stronger, but that will be good.” McCaw added that while the World Cup was the highlight of the year, it was important for the All Blacks to dominate their Tri-Nations matches. “You get this job right first,” he said after leading the team through their captain’s run yesterday. “Certainly the excitement of what’s coming (in six weeks) is there.

But, you can’t hold back. The attitude of this team is

square series after losing the first Test.

And although they were without leftarm quick Zaheer due to the hamstring injury that had cut short his participation at Lord’s, Dhoni fielded first. Sharma made the breakthrough when he had Alastair Cook lbw for two. Sreesanth struck with his fourth ball when Jonathan Trott, on four, drove at an outswinger and edged to Venkatsai Laxman at second slip.

Pietersen, who made a man-of-the-match winning 202 not out at Lord’s, survived a huge lbw shout from Kumar on 17, after walking across his stumps. Kumar, risking disciplinary action, angrily questioned South African umpire Marais Erasmus’s decision-there are no lbw reviews this series because of Indian objections to balltracking technology-at the end of the over before being pulled away by team-mate Harbhajan Singh. — AFP

you never do that and I’ve never gone on a rugby field holding anything back.” In the Springboks camp, with most of their leading players at home recovering from injury, captain John Smit’s biggest concern was lifting morale after their 39-20 drubbing

by Australia last week.

Their spirits were not helped by reports from South Africa that the so-called injured players were at a secret World Cup training camp, although this has been vehemently denied by the team management. “We were hoping to come here in better spirits but having performed so poorly (against Australia) in the things that we trained so hard on, it was a hard defeat to digest,” he said. “My biggest challenge has been to try and get the guys to keep renewing their own self belief in what they can do and what got them here. “With all that’s been read and said it’s very difficult to keep renewing that belief in themselves and in each other.”

The Springboks are particularly light on experience in the forwards where, among the loose trio, Danie Rossouw has 55 Test caps while Jean Deysel and Deon Stegmann have seven between them.

Gerhard Mostert is on debut, his locking partner Alistair Hargreaves has played three Tests and props Werner Kruger and Dean Greyling have played one Test each. It allows the All Blacks to experiment with Adam Thomson starting in the back row while interchanging roles with openside flanker McCaw. And 65-Test lock Ali Williams continues his comeback after missing two years through injury. — AFP

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J. Anderson not out 6 Extras (b2, lb8, w3) 13 Total (all out, 68.4 overs, 324 mins) 221 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Cook), 2-23 (Trott), 373 (Pietersen), 4-85 (Strauss), 5-85 (Morgan), 6-88 (Prior), 7-117 (Bresnan), 8-124 (Bell), 9-197 (Swann), 10-221 (Broad) Bowling: Kumar 22-8-45-3 (1w); Sharma 22-4-66-3 (2w); Sreesanth 19-1-77-3; Harbhajan 4.4-0-22-1; Yuvraj 1-0-1-0.

‘Asia is rising’: Japan’s coach TOKYO: Japan coach John Kirwan says Asia is emerging as a major force in world rugby, helped by the staging of the 2011 and 2019 World Cups in its own backyard and the sport’s return to the Olympics. “I sensed a different level of enthusiasm among the children and it feels significant,” said the former All Black turned coach, who took part in this year’s Asian Rugby Football Union coaching tour to teach youngsters.

“Having two of the next three World Cups in this part of the world and the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympics will help ensure more Asian kids are exposed to rugby,” he said in a press release from the tour’s organizers. Kirwan, a hero in New Zealand’s inaugural 1987 World Cup victory, is preparing the Brave Blossoms for the 2011 World Cup starting in September in his homeland.

Japan will host the premier rugby union event in 2019, as the first Asian country to do so, after the 2015 edition in England.

“Once we start the cycle for the 2016 Olympics next year, the level of investment in the sport is going to be beyond anything the sport has seen in this region,” Kirwan said, referring to the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. “China has included rugby sevens in its National Games because of the Olympics, so imagine how much more the sport is going to grow as that kind of investment and involvement increases over the next 10 years,” he continued. “You have to believe many other Asian nations will emerge as forces in world rugby in the next decade or so.” Kirwan, who was appointed Japan coach before the 2007 World Cup in France, piloted the side to its first Pacific Nations Cup title two weeks ago after they clinched a fourth straight Asian Five Nations title in May. Despite their regional domination Japan have just one victory in six World Cup campaigns-a 52-8 win against Zimbabwe in 1991. — AFP

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Big-name moves in flurry of NFL trades NEW YORK: The New England Patriots acquired Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco in a couple of big moves on Thursday among a flurry of trades by NFL teams seeking to make up for time lost in the labor lockout.

Reggie Bush moved from New Orleans to Miami and the Kevin Kolb saga ended as expected, with a trade from Philadelphia to Arizona. Day 3 of the compressed, postlockout offseason also included more contract agreements and plenty of cuts, which teams were finally allowed to start announcing. Among the players getting released were Vince Young by Tennessee, Nate Clements by San Francisco, and Jake Delhomme by Cleveland.

In the first dramatic example of how the new labor deal’s rookie salary system will affect elite players, No 2 overall draft pick Von Miller got $21 million guaranteed over four years from Denver. The No 2 pick in 2010, Detroit defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, signed a five-year deal worth $40 million guaranteed and as much as $68 million overall. The man widely regarded as the best available player in free agency, Nnamdi Asomugha, was yet to pick a team. But another top cornerback, Johnathan Joseph, agreed to terms with Houston, according to a person with knowledge of the deal, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the signing hadn’t been announced.

New England coach Bob Belichick has had success reining in outspoken players such as receiver Randy Moss, and now the Patroits boss gets two more guys who fit that description in defensive tackle Haynesworth and receiver Ochocinco. All the Patriots gave up for Haynesworth was a 2013 fifth-round pick. By shipping the defensive tackle to New England, Washington rid itself of a two-year distraction and fiasco of a free-agent signing - Haynesworth was guaranteed a then-record $41 million in the seven-year, $100 million contract he got in the early hours of free agency in 2009. On the same day, he infamously declared: “You’re not going to remember Albert Haynesworth as a bust.”

He played in only 20 games for Washington, making 61/2 sacks, and was in constant legal trouble away from the field. Last season, he feuded with coach Mike Shanahan and was suspended for the final four games for conduct detrimental to the club. A person with knowledge of the Ochocinco deal told the AP he agreed to a new three-year contract with New England. It was not known what Cincinnati received in return. In the Kolb deal, Philadelphia received cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 second-round draft pick from Arizona, which was in need of a starting quarterback. Kolb had lost the Eagles’ No 1 quarterback job to Michael Vick and wanted a chance to lead a team.

Kolb, who turns 27 next month, reportedly will get a $63 million, five-year contract with Arizona. RodgersCromartie, who went to the Pro Bowl in 2009, will play opposite four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel in Philadelphia, shoring up a pass defense that struggled last season. Miami finalized the trade for Bush by negotiating a new two-year contract for nearly $10 million with the running back. New Orleans gets reserve safety Jonathon Amaya in the swap, which also involves an exchange of draft picks. “Change is never easy but I look forward to building something special in Miami and can’t wait to embark on this new journey!” Bush wrote on Twitter. —AP

STANFORD: Serena Williams, of the United States, returns to Maria Kirilenko, of Russia, during the Bank of the West tennis tournament in Stanford, Calif on Thursday, July 28, 2011. Williams won the match 62, 3-6, 6-2. —AP

Azarenka out, Serena advances at Stanford Serena sets up Sharapova showdown STANFORD: Serena Williams booked a marquee quarter-final against Maria Sharapova on Thursday as top seed and defending champion Victoria Azarenka was sent packing at the $721,000 WTA Stanford tournament.

New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic, ranked 121st in the world, stunned Azarenka 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. She notched her first victory over a top-20 opponent and reached her second quarter-final of a season in which she has won 24 of her last 28 matches. Belarus’ Azarenka, ranked fourth in the world, arrived in Stanford for this hardcourt US Open tuneup off a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon. She may have been a little rusty after the first-round bye given to the top four seeds.

Williams had no such luxury, despite

her 13 Grand Slam titles. The US star’s ranking has plunged in the wake of her 11-month layoff due to illness and injury and she is unseeded in this event.

Playing her third WTA event since her return, Williams lined up a clash with second-seeded Sharapova with a 6-2, 36, 6-2 victory over Russian Maria Kirilenko. Erakovic next faces eighthseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

“Coming in I knew I had to be the aggressor and try to dictate the pace,” Erakovic said. “I knew the court and I felt like I was hitting the ball well.” The 23-year-old Croatian-born Erakovic qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon and won her first-round match there. She also qualified for the French Open.

It’s a welcome resurgence for a play-

er who missed six months with a hip injury in 2009 and came back on the lower-level ITF circuit, where she has won a dozen titles. “I went into a slump just before the injury and was beginning to question whether this tennis thing was for me,” Erakovic admitted.

“The injury made me realize how much I love tennis and that’s when I committed myself. Coming back I feel like I can compete with the best.” In other early matches, Japan’s Ayumui Morita booked a quarter-final berth against French third seed Marion Bartoli. Morita defeated qualifier Urszula Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Fourth-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur was due to open her campaign with a secondround clash with Germany’s Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki. —AFP

Fish a sluggish start, books quarterfinals LOS ANGELES: Top-seeded American Mardy Fish shook off a sluggish start to beat Gilles Muller 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the $619,500 ATP Los Angeles hardcourt tournament. Fish, ranked ninth in the world, was playing his first match since winning his sixth career title with a victory over John Isner in the Atlanta final on Sunday. “I came out a tad flat,” said Fish, who dropped his serve in the second game and said his ability to immediately break back was key.

The first set went with serve from there, and Fish built momentum heading into the tiebreaker

when he closed out the 12th game with two straight aces. Once he had sped through the tiebreaker, Muller offered little resistance. “He’s a guy that plays very well ahead, or equal,” Fish said.

“Getting up a set, I knew he was going to be upset after playing a pretty good first set and losing it.” In the second set, Fish took a 3-0 lead then broke Muller for a 5-1 lead, advancing in the next game on his second match point when Muller sent a forehand wide.

In yesterday’s quarter-finals Fish will face eighth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia. Kunitsyn

defeated tenacious American Ryan Sweeting 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6). After Sweeting saved one match point in the tiebreaker, Kunitsyn set up another with an angled forehand volley for 7-6, sealing the victory just as the match clock ticked past two hours. Fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci roared into the quarter-finals downing Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-0, 6-1 in 51 minutes. Like Fish, Bellucci enjoyed a first-round bye. But the 34thranked Brazilian wasted no time, winning the opening set of the second-round match in 28 minutes. Falla won the first game of the second set,

but Bellucci then re-asserted himself to wrap up the contest between two South American left-handers who are playing doubles together here.

Bellucci next faces American Alex Bogomolov, who upset seventh-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3. Yesterday’s other two quarterfinals were set on Wednesday. Second-seeded Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro will take on Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis and 19-year-old American Ryan Harrison will play Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, won the title in Los Angeles in 2008. —AFP

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India’s Singh holds the Irish Open lead KILLARNEY: India’s Jeev Milkha Singh recovered from a poor start to maintain his position on top of the leaderboard in the second round of the Irish Open yesterday. Singh matched the lowest round of his career in the first round on Thursday when an eight under par 63 put marquee names Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell in the shade. The 39-year-old son of a former Olympic sprinter hit an eagle and six birdies on Thursday, but found it harder to continue that inspired form 24 hours later.

Although Singh couldn’t repeat his opening round heroics, he still remains in first place after a one under par round of 70 put him two strokes ahead of England’s Simon Wakefield and Raphael Jacquelin of France, who are tied in second on seven under par for the tournament. Singh quickly set the tone for an erratic round as his first drive landed in the hazard beside Lough Leane.

He bogeyed the first hole and the 418 yard fourth, but then found enough composure to birdie the second, with a fine putt from eight feet, and also the seventh and the short tenth.

Meanwhile, Wakefield came on strong late in his round and birdied the 16th and 17th to reach seven under. Just one further back was 22-yearold Northern Irish amateur Paul Cutler, who has done his hopes of a Walker Cup cap in September no harm at all with rounds of 69 and 67. Cutler’s goal was to make the cut, but now he was being asked about his chance of emulating friend Shane Lowry, who won the title as an amateur only two years ago. “I think it would be silly to think I can win it,” he said, but when pressed on whether he thought he could he replied: “Yeah, why not?”

Clarke-playing for the first time since his British Open triumph at Sandwich two weeks ago-is not certain to make the cut after a hattrick of bogeys from the 11th saw him card a round of 74 which left him one over par after two rounds. Padraig Harrington seems certain to crash out as he finished with a round of 72 after Thursday’s 73, leaving him three over par for the tournament. US Open champion McIlroy, out of sorts at the British Open, remained one under par for the tournament after five holes of his second round.— AFP

KILLARNEY: India’s Jeev Milkha Singh (right) Ireland’s Paul McGinley (left) and France’s Raphael Jacquelin walk off the fourth tee box during round two of the Irish Open Golf Championship yesterday. — AP

Immelman grabs Greenbrier lead WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS: South Africa’s Trevor Immelman fired a six-under par 64 on Thursday to grab a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the $6 million Greenbrier Classic. Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, made all his moves relative to par on evennumbered holes to claim a one-stroke lead over Australian Steven Bowditch and Americans Billy Mayfair, Derek Lamely, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland. “It’s always nice to get off to a good start and get things going, see some putts go in the hole,” Immelman said. “It just builds your confidence. From there you just try and keep it going and stay out of your own way. “Fortunately enough I was able to do that today.”

Immelman, who began on the back nine, opened with a birdie and followed with birdies on 12 and 14, then answered his lone bogey of the day at 16 with a birdie on the par-3 18th.

He also birdied the fourth, sixth and par-3 eighth. “I’m excited with the 64,” Immelman

said. “Any time you shoot a number like that it’s exciting. That’s why you put all the hard work in.” Immelman is coming off wrist surgery and trying to recapture the form that made him a major champion three years ago.

“This year, my wrist has been pretty good.

Hasn’t bothered me at all,” said Immelman.

“So I’ve been able to get back to some of the stuff I used to do four or five years ago. “For the most part, this year I’ve just been working on those old feels and trying to get some consistency back. I’ve seen some signs of some good play and some good shots at the right time. I’m just trying to stay patient with it.”

Immelman admitted he was frustrated and impatient at times as he fought through the injury. “It’s been a frustrating couple years not being able to swing the way I want to swing and practice the way I want to practice,” he said. “For the most part this year I’ve been able to get back to working on the things I used to work on back then. I’ve definitely seen signs of

improvement. You know, albeit slow progress, there has been progress. “I just keep trying to reminded myself that I’m 31 and I got a long way ahead of me. Just trying to stay patient and keep things going. “After the surgery it was five months before I could putt and six months before I could hit. At that point you’re still doing all the rehab to try and get the wrist to be able to do what it used to do.

“It’s just frustration because I know I’ve got better golf in me. I’ve proved it to myself. So when you’re out there shooting mediocre scores and struggling to make cuts and stuff like that, mentally it’s not ideal.”

Bowditch birdied three of the first four holes, took a bogey at the par-3 eighth but followed with birdies at the par-5 12th and 17th and the par-4 14th. “It was nice out there,” Bowditch said. “I drove the ball pretty good out there. Missed a couple fairways, but I hit it nice and got off to a good start. That’s really good to get rolling around here.” —AFP

Woods eyes Firestone for PGA Tour return MIAMI: Tiger Woods, who has missed the last two majors because of leg injuries, will return to competition at next week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, the former world number one said on Thursday. A seven-times winner of the event at Firestone Country Club, Woods has not played tournament golf since he pulled out of the Players Championship in May after completing just nine holes. “I’m excited to get back out there,” the 35year-old American said on his official website (http://web.tigerwoods.com/index).

He posted on his Twitter account: “Feeling fit and ready to tee it up at Firestone next week. Excited to get back out there!”

While enjoying remarkable success in 11 appearances at Firestone, Woods tied for 78th last year, the first time he had ever finished outside the top four at the elite WGC event. However, he will have to shake off plenty of rust when he tees off in next Thursday’s opening round. According to his website, he has only recently resumed hitting practice balls- on the advice of his doctors.

Woods, a 14-times major champion, hurt his left knee ligaments and Achilles tendon during the Masters in April and has not competed since he withdrew from the Players Championship at Sawgrass on May 12. He later said he made a mistake in deciding to play that tournament five weeks after hurting himself at the Masters, adding that if he had not competed there he would have been fit enough for the next two majors.

MAJOR MISSES Woods, who has not won a major since the 2008 US Open nor any tournament worldwide since 2009, ended up pulling out of the June 16-19 US Open at Congressional and the July 14-17 British Open at Royal St George’s. “I learned my lesson at the Players,” Woods said last month. “I’ll come back when I’m 100 percent. I don’t know when that will be. But I’m getting stronger and more explosive.” Woods has recovered from four knee surgeries over the years. This time, he did not have to go under the knife. “We’re in the gym every day, most of the time two times, sometimes three times a day, and it’s the whole chain,” he said. “It’s not just the leg, it’s the whole body. Got to keep everything going.

“We’re testing it every day to see what it feels like ... and push it as far as the leg will go. And each day it’s gotten better. We haven’t had any setbacks, which has been good.” Woods, whose world ranking has slipped to 21st, has also been trying to rebuild his golf swing and his private life following the breakup of his marriage after he confessed to a string of affairs. In addition, he will have a new caddie at next week’s Bridgestone Invitational, having fired his long-time bagman Steve Williams before last month’s AT&T National. New Zealander Williams, who had been a regular caddie for Woods since 1999, has recently been carrying the bag for Australia’s Adam Scott. — Reuters

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VIVA Kuwait seals historic Man Utd sponsorship deal

By Islam Al-Sharaa

Abdolaziz Al Balool

Wataniya Telecom sponsors Water Sport Championship KUWAIT: Wataniya has always stepped forward to support the local community and has left no stone unturned with regards to promotion of all athletic activities amongst the youth. In line with its corporate social responsibility strategy Wataniya sponsored the 21st GCC Water Sport Championship in collaboration with the Kuwait Swimming Association. The purpose of the sponsorship was to motivate and encourage the participation of Kuwait’s youth in sports activities and to represent Kuwait at regional and international sports events.

The regional competition took place at Al-Arabi and Al-Kuwait Olympic pool clubs in Kuwait from 26th till today.

On behalf of Wataniya Telecom, Abdolaziz Al Balool Public Relations Director said, “As a local operator we feel like it’s our duty to promote and offer our support for such nationalistic events. Our previous records of sports sponsorships demonstrate Wataniya Telecom’s commitment to its society and our sponsorship of 21st GCC Water Sports Championship is merely another initiative undertaken to assure our customers and people of Kuwait that we will always be there to support our sports and education sectors.”

Bringing together teams from all across the GCC, the Kuwait Swimming Association which is a member of FINA, the worldwide recognized association, aims to promote water sports in Kuwait in a healthy and competitive environment. By organizing the 21st GCC Water Sport Championship they have put Kuwait’s name on the frontline of the regional athletic sports division.

F1: Teams shocked at new TV deal, calendar BUDAPEST: A shock new television deal for Formula One in Britain and a heavily-revised new-look 20-race calendar for 2012 caused a major stir among the teams in the paddock at the Hungaroring yesterday. On the eve of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the unexpected announcements left many paddock observers flabbergasted and several team leaders intent on calling a meeting with F1 commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.

McLaren team Chief Martin Whitmarsh said: “It’s an interesting proposal, but we need to discuss the whole thing and be given a lot more detail. I am sure we will be meeting to talk it through with Bernie.” In the shock announcement yesterday morning, Ecclestone made clear that for the first time in the modern era the sport would not be entirely available to a freeto-air broadcaster. His plan is for coverage of all the F1 races in 2012 and beyond to be shared between the BBC and Sky, a move that will see Sky offering all the races on its subscription channels and the BBC broadcasting only half of the races.

The plan has prompted outrage among the sport’s fans, who are upset at no longer being able to see F1 on free television, as has traditionally be the case. Whitmarsh said: “As I understand it, the BBC are covering half the Grands Prix, and Sky are doing every practice session and everything else. It’s interesting. “I don’t think anyone should be immediately reacting to say this is good, bad, or indifferent.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti telecommunications firm VIVA, held a press conference at the 360 Mall on Thursday to announce its official five-season sponsorship agreement with the 2011 Premier League champions, Manchester United Football Club, bringing local Red Devil fans closer to Old Trafford. Manchester United recently broke the Premier League trophies record by securing its nineteenth title, making it the most successful football club ever in the history of English football.

Announcing the sponsorship deal, VIVA Kuwait CEO Salman Al-Badran said “VIVA is honored to embark on this historic partnership with Manchester United, and very excited to kick off the 2011-2012 season with an entertaining agenda full of promotions, activities and surprises for VIVA customers, football fans and, most importantly, Manchester United fans.” Referring to the surprises in store, Al-Badran hinted that “customers and fans can expect VIVA to provide subscribers with a number of opportunities to win unique experiences during the coming season, including all-inclusive trips to great games at Old Trafford.”

“We will be launching a variety of new promotions and products and services, as well as offering gifts, hosting entertaining games, initiating interactive competitions, and setting up mall events to provide our customers with chances to watch the Red Devils on their home turf,” Al-Badran said. Nick Humphreys, Relationship Director at Manchester United, added “The mobile phone industry sits at the cutting edge of technological development. VIVA has some truly innovative ideas for communication with the fans of the club, which will provide an exclusive collection of Manchester United-related content directly to VIVA subscribers.”

During the press conference, members of the audience, which included representatives of local media and selected customers, were happily surprised when VIVA CEO Salman Al-Badran and Manchester United Club Ambassador and former player Bryan Robson kicked off the first “Go To Manchester” event, presenting two lucky winners with tickets to the season’s first home game at the Theatre of Dreams.

Mr. Robson, a true Manchester United

KUWAIT: (From right) Nick Humpreys, Man United Relationship Director; Bryan Robson, Man United former player; Salman AlBadran, Viva CEO; Omar Al-Houti, Viva Corporate Communication Manager and Mohammad Ibrahim seen during a press conference on Thursday. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

legend, concluded, “There is no doubt about the passion for football in the Middle East. It is wonderful to see the club take advantage of these partnerships to communicate with fans in Kuwait and the world and bring them closer to Old Trafford stadium”. VIVA and Manchester United have managed to engage in a great start to a promising and successful, five- season sponsorship deal. To find out more about the new sponsorship, please visit our website at: www.viva.com.kw.

The Kuwait Times also got to pose a

question to Bryan Robson, asking him what teams he believes could challenge Man U for the title this year, with Robson suggesting that Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and less probably Tottenham and Liverpool, could do so.

Asked who he believes will replace Paul Scholes after his retirement, Robson said that Samir Nasri would be the best choice, but added that there is a strong competition to buy the best players in the field. “If we can’t bring him there are other promising players who can replace Scholes,” he concluded.

Schlecks eye San Sebastian Classic SAN SEBASTIAN: Andy and Frank Schleck will headline the San Sebastian Classic today in the absence of newlycrowned Tour de France champion Cadel Evans. The Luxembourg brothers, who finished second and third respectively in the Tour de France behind the Australian, are among the challengers in the one-day race which also includes Belgian Philippe Gilbert and Spaniard Samuel Sanchez, sixth in France.

Spaniard Alberto Contador, fifth in the Tour de France, will skip the San Sebastian race, but other contenders in the 31st edition will be reigning world

champion Thor Hushovd, last year’s winner Luis Leon Sanchez, Oscar Freire and Joaquim Rodriguez. Italy’s Damiano Cunego and France’s Sylvain Chavanel are also possible challengers.

The one-day race which starts and finishes in the streets of the Guipuzcoa capital is exactly the same as last year covering 234km and featuring six climbs including the category one Jaizkibel which the riders must mount twice. “Last year’s course proved to be a success so we decided to stick with it again,” race organizer Jaime Ugarte said.

This fact gives reigning champion

Leon Sanchez, 27, reason to feel confident despite finishing just 57th in the Tour de France where he won stage nine. “It’s a route that suited me well last year. The start is quite fluid but then the race becomes leg breaking,” he explained. “I think I’m in good condition physically despite the Tour which was quite testing. “But with rivals of the caliber of Samuel Sanchez and Philippe Gilbert, the level looks set to be high. And of course there are also the Schleck brothers.” Belgian Gilbert is always a force to be reckoned with in one-day races with Samuel Sanchez strong in mountainous races. —AFP

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SHANGHAI: US men’s team members (from left) Ryan Lochte, Richard Berens, Peter Vanderkaay and Michael Phelps listen to their national anthem during an award ceremony yesterday. (Inset) Ryan Lochte dives to win the men’s 200m Backstroke final. — AP

Golden Lochte gives US relay record Phelps floats into 100 butterfly semis, Cavic out SHANGHAI: Ryan Lochte locked up two more gold medals at the swimming world championships yesterday, raising his victory total to four with at least one more event to go. The American led from start to finish in the 200meter backstroke, then rallied the US past France in the anchor leg to win the 4x200 freestyle relay. “When Ryan is hot right now you don’t want anyone else on the end of the relay,” said Ricky Berens, who swam the third leg for the Americans.

Michael Phelps led off the relay, leaving the US third behind Paul Biedermann of Germany and Yannick Agnel of France. Peter Vanderkaay then put the Americans in front at the halfway mark, but France led at 600 meters before Lochte passed Fabien Gilot with only one lap to go. “They were talking about me swimming the last leg,” Vanderkaay recounted. “I said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want Ryan on that?’ He doesn’t surprise me anymore.”

Earlier in the meet, Lochte won the 200 free

and 200 individual medley - relegating Phelps to silver twice. He also set a world record in the 200 IM - the only world mark in swimming since high-tech bodysuits were banned 19 months ago. Lochte has five medals in all, having also got a bronze in the 4x100 free relay on the opening night of what has turned out to be a stellar competition for the American. He’ll also be favored in the 400 IM and could swim the medley relay on the final night of competition Sunday. Phelps, who swam the leadoff in the relay, has two golds, two silvers and one bronze.

Meanwhile, American Rebecca Soni won the 200 breaststroke to go with her 100 title from Tuesday. Also, Jeanette Ottesen and Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus finished in a dead heat for gold in the women’s 100 freestyle, both clocking 53.45 seconds. Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands touched third in 53.66 and Francesca Halsall of Britain and Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands tied for fourth in 53.72. It was the second time in

these championships that there was a dead heat for gold, after Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius of France shared the top spot on the podium in the men’s 100 backstroke Tuesday.

World record holder Britta Steffen dropped out after finishing 16th in morning heats Thursday. The German swept both the 50 and 100 free at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the last worlds in Rome two years ago. Daniel Gyurta of Hungary overtook Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan on the final lap to defend his title in the men’s 200 breaststroke.

Gyurta clocked 2:08.41, while Kitajima, who was on a world-record pace with 50 meters to go, took the silver in 2:08.63. Christian vom Lehn of Germany earned the bronze in 2:09.06.

In the 200 back, Lochte hardly celebrated after hitting the wall in 1:52.96, more than a second in front of silver medalist Ryosuke Irie of Japan, while another American, Tyler Clary, took bronze. Aaron Peirsol, the American who dominated this event for much of the last

decade, recently retired. His world record of 1:51.92 still stands. Soni was being tapped for a world record in the 200 breast but struggled in the second half of the race, touching in 2:21.47 to hold off a late comeback from Yuliya Efimova of Russia. Efimova took silver in 2:22.22 and Martha McCabe of Canada grabbed bronze in 2:24.81. “It felt great the first 100 and then I was trying to hold on at the end,” Soni said. “I ran out of gas.”

Annamay Pierse of Canada, who set the world record of 2:20.12 in Rome, finished eighth. Soni finished fourth in 2009 when her race strategy failed. “I try to put that in the past,” she said. “I proved I can win the gold medal.” In the men’s 50 free semifinals, Brazilians Bruno Fratus and Cesar Cielo went 12, with American Nathan Adrian third, while French standout Alain Bernard just made the final eight. “It’s going to be better to have my Brazilian teammate by my side,” Cielo said. “I think he’s hands-down the favorite for the gold tomorrow.” —AP