26 Aug

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

40 PAGES

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010

US troops head home, hope Iraq on track

RAmADAn 16, 1431 AH

Iraq vs Iran

By B adrya Dar wish

W

hile Iran is over-busy building its arsenal, the Arab world is busy with trivial matters. Every country in the region has its own trivial issues to worry about and discuss. While one of the issues is whether women in Saudi Arabia could leave the country without the consent of their husband or their guardian, other countries are preoccupied with Ramadan soap opera series.

In Kuwait, the latest news fad is if a Kuwaiti man could be given a big amount of money to marry two Kuwaiti women. The latter piece of the news came from MP AlDuwaisan who proposed an increase of the marriage grant from KD4,000 to KD8,000.

The suggestion had it that another KD8,000 will be given for the marriage to a second wife etc etc. Leave alone the delay of the project for the fourth refinery and the development plan.

On the other side, there is no month that passes without an announcement from Iran that they have launched a new rocket which is more enhanced than the one before. For instance, the latest reports have it that Iran has developed a series of advanced enhanced rockets, underwater submarines or naval ships. Now that Iran has completely developed its nuclear plant, we — in this region — are worried and complaining that if we hibernate, other nations should also take a nap with us and should not advance.

Leave nuclear development to Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India and Korea and just sit and complain and contemplate how would the Bushehr reactor affect us because of its proximity. This is now the talk of the town. How safe is it? Is Israel going to hit it or are we going to lose our land over it or no? Are they going to use Kuwait and our land as a launchpad? I assure you guys, Israel will not hit any nuclear power plant in Iran.

It is a historical fact that Israel hit Iraq’s nuclear power plant in the past but that is another story. Iran is something else. If US didn’t accept the nuclear reactor to be used for ‘peaceful means,’ the Bushehr plant would have remained only on paper. The reality is different though. So, we can all relax in the Arab world, spend our money left, right and centre, watch endless TV series and just grudge achievements of other countries. On the way from home to the newspaper, I heard on the BBC that Egypt announced plans to build a nuclear plant near Alexandria mainly for electricity purposes. Hooray! It was high time guys!

Egypt picks site for its nuke plant

Braga shock Sevilla in Champions League playoffs

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Kuwait, Iraq to share border oilfields KUWAIT: Kuwait and Iraq have reached an initial agreement on sharing border oilfields and to allow an international oil company to develop them, Kuwait’s oil minister said yesterday. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told reporters the agreement called for an international oil company

to drill for oil in those fields for both countries, adding no company had been chosen yet.

He said both countries had agreed on the pact in principle.

“We have signed it from Kuwait’s side. They (Iraqis) will be signing it maybe this week or next week,” he said. When Iraq invad-

ed its small Gulf Arab neighbor 20 years ago, Baghdad accused Kuwait of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from these fields through horizontal drilling.

Kuwait denied the charge. The pact will serve “to avoid any future claims that one of these countries ... is over utilizing” the

joint fields, Sheikh Ahmad said.

Several fields straddle the desert border that was demarcated by the United Nations after the 1991 Gulf War that liberated Kuwait. Kuwait resumed ties with Iraq since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein, who ordered the inva-

sion of Kuwait. Sheikh Ahmad said he was satisfied with current oil prices. “We do appreciate what is happening in the international market and the international economy and we are satisfied with the current prices,” he said, adding he expected prices to “pick up” partly because of

Tahous blasts interior, finance ministers

T

his article provides useful advice on how to avoid some common problems encountered in Ramadan. If followed, it would enable one to fast comfortably and enjoy fully the spiritual benefits of Ramadan. During the holy month of Ramadan, our diet should not differ very much from our normal diet and should be as simple as possible. The diet should be such that we maintain our normal weight, neither losing nor gaining. However, if one is overweight, Ramadan is an ideal time to normalize one’s weight. In view of the long hours of fasting, we should consume slow digesting foods including fiber-containing foods rather than fast-digesting foods. Slowdigesting foods last up to 8 hours, while fast-digesting foods last for only 3 to 4 hours.

Slow-digesting foods are foods that contain grains and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour, unpolished rice, etc. (called complex carbohydrates).

Continued on Page 1 4

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

03:49 03:59 05:22 11:50 15:24 18:17 19:38

Photo shows a close-up of the sky around the star HD 10180. —AP

By B Izzak

ramadan kareem

By Dr Farouk Haffejee

high demand in winter.

US crude was trading above $71 yesterday. The minister said the country’s highest oil policy body, the Supreme Petroleum Council, will “finalize” a muchdelayed plan to build a 615,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Continued on Page 14

Israeli ‘entered’ Kuwait with Austrian passport

Have a nice R ama dan!

How to avoid some common problems -I

150 FILS

Tehran test-fires latest ‘Fateh-110’

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conspiracy theories

nO: 14832

SUKKAR: Pakistanis displaced by floods reach out for milk during an aid distribution at a temporary camp in Sukkar, Sindh Province yesterday. (See Page 11)

62 die in Iraq Suicide bombers hit 10 cities BAGHDAD: Suicide bombers and other attackers killed at least 62 people in coordinated attacks on Iraqi security forces throughout the country yesterday, less than a week before US troops formally end combat operations. The trail of bloodshed started in the capital Baghdad before stretching to the north and south of the country, hitting 10 cities and towns in quick succession in tactics that bore the hallmark of Al-Qaeda.

Some 250 people were also wounded, security officials said, as a total of 14 car bombs wrought havoc for police and sol-

diers whose ability to protect the country is under close scrutiny as US forces withdraw. In the worst attack, a car bomb at a passport office in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, killed 20 people, including 15 police, and wounded 90 others, most of them police, Lieutenant Ali Hussein said.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in the northeastern suburb of Qahira, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, security and medical officials said.

Continued on Page 14

KUWAIT: Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled AlSabah said yesterday that no one has ever entered Kuwait with Israeli passport and that the controversial journalist who said he entered Kuwait had used an Austrian passport. “The Kuwaiti authorities have never and will never allow in the future any Israeli to enter the country” the minister told reporters af ter a meeting with the National Assembly interior and defense committee.

The minister said that committee members have been informed that the ministry deals with “nationality and not religion” of people. A large number of European nationals including Austrians can enter Kuwait by taking entry visas at the airport. The issue of the Israeli journalist was raised last week after he published a report on Kuwait in an Israeli newspaper claiming that he visited Kuwait without saying how.

The minister also said he explained to the committee an incident in 2005 in which an immigration officer entered by mistake the country code for Israel for two foreign visitors. He said that the issue was investigated and the employee reprimanded Continued on Page 14

Smallest planet spotted GENEVA: Scientists say they’ve identified a sun-like star with as many as seven different planets - including one that might be the smallest ever found outside the solar system. If confirmed, the planetary system around HD 10180, a star more than 100 light years distant, would be the richest ever discovered. One astronomer says it’s part of a growing body of evidence that the universe is full of planets - and that a bunch of them could be similar to our own.

“The really nice thing about finding systems like this is that it shows that there are many more out there,” said Alan Boss, of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science, who wasn’t involved with the find.

“Mother Nature really had fun making planets.”

Although most of the planets identified are large - about 13 to 25 times the mass of our Continued on Page 14

24 nails inside maid’s body COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan housemaid has returned home from Saudi Arabia with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer, officials said yesterday. A government minister said police were investigating a complaint from L T Ariyawathi, 49, that her Saudi employer tortured her and drove nails into her body as punishment. “We are conducting an investigation and we will coordinate with Saudi authorities to have the suspects arrested,” Economic Development Minister L akshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters.

The woman travelled to Saudi Arabia in March and returned home last week, complaining of abuse by her employer. Abeywardena said Continued on Page 14

Sri Lankan maid narrates Saudi ordeal

BATTICOLOA: A Sri Lankan housemaid (left), who returned from Saudi Arabia with 24 nails inside her body, talks to a nurse while receiving treatment at a hospital yesterday. (Inset) An X-ray film shows nails driven into the hand of the Sri Lankan housemaid. — AFP

Saudi supermarket breaks taboo KUT: Bodies are caught in the debris of destroyed vehicles following a car bomb outside a passport office in the city of Kut, 160 kilometers southeast of Baghdad yesterday. —AFP

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s leading supermarket chain has broken the country’s strict taboo on women working in public with a pilot program of women cashiers, a company official said. Panda hypermarkets has put 16 Saudi women to work at one store in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to test the concept in a country

where Islamic conservatives have prevented women from working in gendermixed environments.

“The women, compared to men, are really hard workers,” Panda spokesman Tarik Ismail said. “If everything goes okay, then we will expand the program (in) the kingdom,” he said on Tuesday.

Ismail said the company has been quiet about the move due to the sensitivity of the issue. A conservative Islamic educator has already called for a boycott of Panda due to the mixing, but it is not yet clear whether that has had any impact.

Continued on Page 14

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NATIONAL

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Teachers optimistic, hopeful of change

Extended school day to benefit education

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: A number of teachers and other Ministry of Educa tion (MoE) employees ha ve expressed optimism a t the MoE’s decision to extend the school day by 25 minutes. They w ere hopeful that such a move will prove beneficial to both students and teachers alike.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace yesterday Iranian Presidential Advisor Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie who handed His Highness a written letter on bilateral relations from President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The letter also focused on the recent developments within the region and the world. The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of the Amiri Diwan Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah.

local spotlight

Govt grant for a new wife

By Muna Al-Fuzai

M

P Faisal AlDuwaisan h a s announced a proposed draft law to provide Kuwaiti male citizens with a grant in case they decide to marry a second wife!

Of course, he claimed that this suggestion, in case it is passed, will be applicable only if certain conditions are met. They will be subject to the approval of the first wife and—or the man should be a widower or a divorcee. He stated that his idea would help put end to the difficulties that many girls who find it difficult to find spouses face.

I honestly do not see much wisdom or point in such an idea. Kuwait already suf-

fers from a high divorce rate and marriage troubles, especially among young married couples. When such an idea is adopted, I cannot understand its viability in real life, especially in terms of seeking the first wife’s approval! In that case, we only add fuel to the fire. The act will bring more trouble because no woman with any sense will agree to her husband marrying for the second time, while she remains his legally wedded wife! The options here are that she will either ask for divorce or refuse to agree to this request! So, obtaining the wife’s approval can only be done under coercion or if the woman wants to use the offer to get rid of the man at a later stage.

In case of divorced men, I hope that this grant would be a nominal sum. This is not a loan amount provided to buy a new car. It relates to the family and there are many responsibilities that are part of marriage - like children. The government granting men money to marry for the second or even the tenth time simply means

the government is not willing to solve any one’s troubles. The divorce rate would still increase. It will be worse still when the new wives bring more children and this mean added responsibility. Some men use this grant as an excuse to change spouses like changing clothes!

One of the unusual terms that this proposed marriage grant involves is that the new wife must be over forty years of age!

Why 40 and not 30? How many smart woman would accept to marry a man who got rid of his first wife for KD 4,000 or even forced her into making fake statements about her approval of the second marriage? Not unless, she is really desperate.

I wish to see more MPs come up with draft laws to help newly married couple and help families by granting them loans or grants to build own houses. I feel that the latest suggestion in a way encourages single girls to connect with married men! muna @kuw aittimes.net

. “Teachers have always expressed their frustration at the fact that the school day is barely long enough to cover the assigned material each day,” said one official who spoke to the Kuwait Times on the condition of anonymity. “While there are some protests, we are optimistic that teachers will cooperate with the minister’s decisions. The proposal has been on the table for quite a while and it’s very positive to see that they have finally taken it into consideration.”

Fatma, a primary school English language teacher, said that the extension of school hours should have happened long ago. “Many parents wish that their kids would stay in

school until 3:00 or 4:00 PM so that they can finish all their homework there. I find it better, not just for the kids and parents, but also for the teachers,” she said. “By spending more time in school, a student has more opportunity to seek knowledge.

It also helps to broaden the horizon of a child and encourages him or her to participate in extracurricular activities,” she explained.

Fatma said that as an English teacher she is expected to teach kids four skills; reading, writing, listening and speaking, all within a 45-minute period for each lesson. “It’s difficult, common sense says that to get a better outcome from schooling you must extend the working hours

so that you can start improving the quality of teaching,” she added.

Hanan, a Kuwaiti Arabic teacher at a girls’ high school, said that more hours will bring more benefits but must be accompanied by more pay. “We all need some sort of incentive.

The situation is especially bad for non-Kuwaiti teachers. If the ministry wants to make them work longer hours they should pay them well,” she said.

She added that while some teachers disapprove of this decision it is accepted worldwide that a school day shouldn’t end before 3:00 PM. “Teachers should be role models for kids.

They should be examples of dedication. I’m surprised that

the Kuwait Teachers Association published such a negative response to this constructive step,” Hanan exclaimed.

Earlier this week, the Kuwait Teachers Association (KTA) criticized a decision made by the Council of Undersecretaries at the MoE during a meeting with the Minister of Education to extend the school day, news reports said. In a statement, the association claimed that the minister is creating instability to the education sector. According to the organization, the step adopted by the ministry demonstrates that officials lack an understanding of the academic environment.

No Israelis allowed to enter Kuwait

By A Saleh KUWAIT: “Kuwait will not allow any Israeli to enter Kuwait,” said interior minister Sheikh Jaber AlKhalid Al-Sabah yesterday, following a meeting of the parliamentary interior and defense committees to discuss the subject of the Israeli journalist who recently visited the country.

The ministries indicated that the journalist, Eldad Beck of Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, a dual Israeli-German citizen, had entered Kuwait on a German passport.

Following the meeting, interior ministry committee chairman Askar Al-Enezi said that the minister had informed the parliamentary committee members that the customs officer responsible for processing Beck’s passport on his arrival in Kuwait had been suitably penalized.

Judiciary slur KUWAIT: MP Dr. Walid AlTabtabae could face prison over accusations that he defamed the integrity of Kuwait’s judicial system. According to Public Prosecution Department insiders, the department has completed an indictment report laying out the charges against the MP. In the report, Al-Tabtabae is accused of insulting the Kuwaiti judiciary by questioning their integrity and neutrality following the issuing of a court order sentencing the Secretary General of the National Democratic Alliance Khalid AlFadhalah to three months’ imprisonment and a KD 150 fine after he was found guilty of defamation against His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace yesterday the new Deputy Chief of the Army Staff Lt Gen Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah. The meeting was attended by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Sheikh Khaled previously held the rank of Major General in the Army.

kuwait digest

What is the hijab?

By Dr Abdellatif Al-S uraikh

I

was happy for this year’s Holy Ramadan for two reasons; first was for the arrival of the month of blessings and the second because my eldest daughter decided to wear the hijab along with the arrival of this year’s Ramadan.

She made the decision of her own free will and I wish the same for all Muslim women. I decided to celebrate this occasion with my family, to encourage her and others.

I sat with her and her younger sisters to discuss the importance of the hijab and its philosophy in Islam. I first asked them what the hijab is and they responded that it is a covering of the whole body, not just the hair. They said that only a woman’s face and hands should appear.

I then asked them if they knew why women are asked to wear the hijab. They responded that women wear the hijab so that men cannot see women at their best and to avoid inappropriate looks. I found myself pleased with their answers.

I asked them what they thought about the

hijab when it is used cosmetically, when they are bright, multi-colored and puffed up in the back as though they are hiding a balloon, or with their hair showing a bit in the front. I asked them what they thought about women who wear the hijab but show their necks, or wear bright makeup so they can attract others, not only men but women as well.

They said that what I described was not a hijab.

I also asked them what they thought about women who wear tight jeans and clothes, women who squeeze themselves into outfits that show off their bodies but claim that it is ok because they are wearing the hijab.

They told me that the hijab is what they described to me earlier, a covering of a woman’s body from head to toe except for her face and hands. A woman who wears a hijab should not wear it for attention. They added that women should not wear tight clothes that reveal as much as they cover.

I thanked God for their understanding of the hijab. — Al-Rai

Gulf Bank participates in Iftar banquets KUWAIT: The Gulf Bank will sponsor the ‘Man Fattara Sa\eman’ project to organize Iftar meals at various mosques in Kuwait during the Holy Month of Ramadan. These projects are organized by Mabarrat Al-Rahma Al-Khayriyyah, which aims at providing Iftar meals to underprivileged families of all nationalities throughout Kuwait. The Gulf Bank’s sponsorship provided Iftar meals to more than 2,000 needy people.

The Bank also supported the ‘Eqra wa Ertaqi’ project, an initiative that aims to develop and increase awareness on reading the Holy Quran. The project includes reading competitions as well as classes for people to memorize the Holy Quran.

These aim at republishing and restoring old Holy Quran books.

Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager of Board Affairs commented, “Ramadan is a time for sharing and giving to those in need. It motivates us as a bank when we are involved in projects like this, which touches and changes the lives of many families.”

Previous projects organized

by Al-Mabarrah include ‘Man Fattara Saeman’ project which

KUWAIT: Fahad Khaled Al-Oweihan, General Manager of Mabarrat AlRahma Al- Khayriyyah receives a cheque from Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager of Board Affairs at Gulf Bank. the Gulf Bank sponsored last year and managed to provide Iftar meals to 2,000 people in need of all nationalities throughout the holy month. In addition to ‘Barrid Alaihom’ project, an

initiative that was aimed to provide needy families with fridges and air conditioning units to cool off the summer heat.

The Gulf Bank encourages institutions, organizations as

well as individuals to contribute to the society by leading effective, socially responsible campaigns, not only during the Holy Month but throughout the entire year.

nATionAl

Thursday, August 26, 2010

3 Pakistan crisis hits market

Fish and shrimp demand to pick up shortly: Vendors

By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: Demand for seafood is expected to pick up following the first two weeks of Ramadan, according to local vendors. Abu Majed, a salesman at Al-Wataniya Fisheries Company, explained that seafood prices differ during the holy month of Ramadan. The majority of seafood imported According to Abu Majed, the most popular varieties of fish imported from Pakistan are Zubaidi, Naqror, Shoom, Shem and Sebete.

He added that from his experience, demand for fish during Ramadan is lower than usual.

Calling the current fish market

“sleepy,” he says that fish is off the menu locally in this period, especially during the first two weeks of Ramadan.

He said that Kuwaitis start buying shrimps and fish again after the 15th day of Ramadan because they “get tired of eating chicken and meat

to Kuwait usually comes from Pakistan because its markets offer the most popular varieties locally, Abu Majed explained. However, he continued, the current crisis in Pakistan has affected fish exports from the nation, with the resulting shortage leading to increases in seafood prices locally: “When the supply outstrips demand, the price of fish will fall,” he added.

every day.”

His customers prefer buying shrimps and the aforementioned varieties of fish, as well as Hamour, with the biggest sellers during Ramadan being shrimp and Hamour.

Abu Majed explained that this is slightly different to the

first ten days of Ramadan when the most popular varieties of fish are Nuwaibi, Shem and Zubaidi.

He added, “The shrimp-fishing season in Kuwait starts from the first day of Ramadan, so all the shrimps at the market now are Kuwaiti shrimps.

He said that the price of a basket of small and mediumsized shrimps currently stands at around KD 47-50 while the price per basket of jumbo-sized shrimps has reached KD 90 to 110, while most of the imported shrimp sold in Kuwait comes from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Cabinet approval for Iranians slam Kuwait paper new police hospital on sleeper cells reports

KUWAIT: The cabinet has announced that it will be allocating 90,000 square meters of land owned by the Ministry of Health for the construction of a specialist hospital for police, which will also provide medical services to Ministry of Interior (MoI) employees and their families.

The hospital will be similar to the existing military hospital, which is affiliated to the defense ministry, reported Al-Rai. The Ministry of Public Works announced the construction of the new facility on Tuesday, with Assistant Undersecretary for Construction Projects Engineering Hussam AlTahous further indicating that it will be built in the Sabah Medical Zone, opposite the

MoH headquarters.

Work is underway to coordinate with the Municipal Council in order to ensure that it will grant permission for the project to go ahead since it is the body authorized to transfer ownership of any site from one directorate’s control to another’s.

Al-Tahous said that the Ministry of Municipality Affairs will begin contacting the relevant consultancy firms once it receives the municipal council’s confirmation, along with the necessary documents.

Al-Tahous also revealed that the MPW will make use of the experience gleaned from previous successful projects of this nature, including the Jaber Hospital, in carrying out the new project.

KUWAIT: An Iranian paper has slammed Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas, insisting that the information contained in its recent articles about Bahraini reports of terrorist sleeper cells in Kuwait was totally fabricated.

The highly critical article in Iranian Arabic language daily Kayhan Al-Arabi began by accusing the Kuwaiti paper, which has covered the sleeper cell story since first breaking it in Kuwait, of being a “paid newspaper directed by the powerobsessed worldwide system led by America to spread tensions and turmoil between Iran and its neighbors.”

The article went on to say that the “fabricated” reports carried in Al-Qabas were motivated by other regional nations’ envy of Iran’s success in launching the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which also coincided with the successful experimental launch of its ‘Qalam-1’ missile.

“The exceptional Iranian achievements have motivated the woeful forces of evil to utilize their controlled media outlets in spreading rumors that

damage Iran’s relationship with Bahrain and other neighboring countries,” the article continued.

The Iranian paper also claimed that similar incidents had led to catastrophic outcomes for Kuwait in the past: “The support given by some filthy parties in the Kuwaiti press to Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran war eventually backfired and led to Kuwait suffering disastrous consequences,” it asserted, in reference to the 199091 Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

The Kayhan Al-Arabi article also raised the subject of reports published in Al-Qabas several months ago, which alleged that undercover Iranian sleeper cells had been discovered in Kuwait, “which later investigations revealed to be absolutely false.”

In conclusion the Iranian newspaper article asserted that the people of the Gulf region “are able to distinguish between good and malicious types of journalism,” adding that these people have faith in “Iran’s integrity and good neighborliness.”

Banks able to finance development projects

KUWAIT: Ahmad Yousuf Abdelhadi Al-Mailam held an Iftar recently at Al-Mailam Diwan. It was attended by dignitaries and diplomats. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Women react negatively to proposed second wife loan

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: According to local laws, when a Kuwaiti man marries a Kuwaiti women as his first wife he will receive a matrimonial loan from the government. Such a loan is not given to the man if it is his second marriage, regardless of his marital status.

MP Faisal Al-Duweisan recently submitted a proposed law to the Parliament calling for the approval of a matrimonial loan of KD 4,000 for a Kuwaiti man taking a second wife as long as she too is a Kuwaiti. The law came with a few conditions, including that the second wife-to-be be a widow, divorced, never married, and older than 40-years-of-age or that the first wife agree to the marriage and co-signs the marriage contract. Additionally, the first loan must be paid back already.

Most women have reacted negatively to the proposal and have described it as unacceptable. “Of course I’m against this idea,” said Fatma, a 29-year-old Kuwaiti, to the Kuwait Times. “This will only encourage men to get married again. I know there are certain conditions but they will always find ways to overcome the law and get the loan without the approval of the first wife.”

Some men consider it reasonable. “I’m for increasing the existing matrimonial loan first, from KD 4,000 to KD 8,000,” said Adel,

a 23-year-old Kuwaiti. The second matrimonial could be useful. For instance, my cousin just divorced his wife and has a lot of debt to pay. He is still paying for the apartment, car and many other things he bought for his wife in installments. He has no chance of getting married anytime soon in such a financial condition. A second matrimonial loan would definitely help him out and he could get married again. I think that the second matrimonial loan should be only KD 4,000 though.”

Some women agree with the proposal.

“The number of unmarried women in Kuwait is increasing and this proposal could be a solution to the problem. I agree with giving the man a matrimonial loan for his second marriage. It’s better than just ignoring that married men are spending time with single girls. Such a loan would encourage them to get married. For me it’s better if he got married, I don’t care what the age of his second wife is. My feelings would not be hurt,” said Manal, a 41-year-old married Kuwaiti.

Others think the proposal could be used by some just for financial gain. “I think that many men would marry women to get the money and then just split it with them. I think many will exploit this law and that the second matrimonial loan will become a business decision,” said Saleem, a 45-year-old Syrian.

Govt defends appointment

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: The government has defended its right to appoint whoever it deems suitable as director of the new disability affairs authority.

In a statement delivered on the government’s behalf

by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr. Mohammad AlAfasi, it asserted that the appointment of Dr. Jassem Al-Tammar as Director General of the new body was the prerogative of the executive authority.

Dr. Al-Tammar is a Kuwaiti citizen, whose capability the nation is proud of, said the statement, and any judgment on his abilities should be reserved until after his work has been seen.

Speaking after attending a meeting of the new authority’s governing committee, Dr. Al-Afasi said that the disability rights legislation would be implemented by appointing a board of directors to the authority next week.

In the meantime, MP

Aseel Al-Awadhi demanded that Dr. Al-Tammar should apologize to the disabled and their families for describing the building used to house the new authority as “handicapped” as a justification for demanding the construction of a new headquarters building.

Al-Awadhi said that Dr. Al-Tammar was apparently unaware of the insensitivity in the phrase which he employed in a negative way, which she said had offended the disabled and their families.

KUWAIT: A banking insider asserted on Monday that local banks will be able to finance the projects contained in the development plan, pointing out that they have financed all the major state projects since the 1991 liberation.

Responding to concerns expressed by local firms that it will be difficult for local banks to provide the necessary funding, the insider told Al-Jarida that in the few cases in which the banks have turned down funding applications, they did so due to worries over the contractors’ ability, inefficiency or lack of qualifications after carrying out extensive evaluations.

On the obstacles facing the development plan’s implementation, the banking insider said that a primary concern is the limited number of contractors with the sufficient financial security, experience and expertise.

Local banks have the required abilities to meet the financial demands of the development projects without the government having to pump liquidity into the banking sector, the insider stated, pointing out that the annual costs of the development plan amount to approximately KD 7.5 billion, requiring financing of between KD 1 billion and KD 2 billion.

in the news Expats visa transfer KUWAIT: Any expatriate wishing to transfer their residency without their sponsor’s approval will need to obtain a letter from the immigration department indicating that there are no criminal charges or cases of absenteeism filed against them under a new ruling before being able to do so, under a new ruling. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has notified the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) of the new ruling, reported AlAnba. It comes after the MSAL previously approved the transfer of a number of expatriates’ visas only to discover that charges had been filed against them.

$14m for Pakistan aid KUWAIT: A three-day televised charity appeal by the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) to raise money for the victims of the Pakistan floods has raised $14 million, which will be used to help those afflicted by the disaster. The floods have affected 20 million people in total, with over four million people being left homeless, while the death toll to date stands at over 2,000, according to the Ambassador of Pakistan in Kuwait, Iftikhar Aziz, who noted that the troubled nation needs at least $500 million to overcome the tragedy. Al-Watan TV has launched a similar fundraising campaign, also in cooperation with the IICO to collect donations for those affected by the disastrous situation in Pakistan.

Naseem building lots KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Housing Welfare has set the price of the units of land in Al-Naseem allocated for the construction of new homes for Kuwaitis at KD 6,250 each. Those citizens on the housing waiting list chosen to receive the units will be contacted with confirmation following the end of Ramadan, reported Al-Rai. The land in Al-Naseem is now wholly owned by the PAHW, meaning that it is no longer considered state property.

Infrastructure and maintenance work currently being carried out there by the Ministry of Public Works is set for completion by the end of summer 2011, with the citizens chosen to receive the lots to take delivery of them one year after their planning documents are finalized.

Generator breakdown KUWAIT: A breakdown of the generators feeding the pumping units at the water distribution complex in Doha resulted in the water supply being cut off to a number of homes in Firdous and Ardiya for one hour. On learning of the problem, the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) sent emergency maintenance personnel to the scene, quickly restoring the water supply to the affected homes, reported Al-Rai.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) held a Girgian celebration for the disabled at its premises in Shuwaikh on Tuesday night.

NATIONAL

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad hosts annual ghabqa

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs, State Minister for Housing Affairs and State Minister for Development Affairs (second right) with Speaker of the House Jassem AlKhorafi (second left), Sheikh Duaij Al-Khalifa (left) and KUNA journalist Muna Shashter (right).

Some of the guests pictured alongside Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad during the ghabqa.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad is seen greeting Waleed Al-Muddaf, Editor-inChief of Al-Qabas daily.

KUWAIT: Sheikh Ahmad AlFahad Al-Sabah, Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs, State Minister for Housing Affairs and State Minister for Development Affairs hosted his annual ghabqa in Arraya on Tuesday. The event was attended by dignitaries, diplomats, MPs, state officials, guests from the artistic guild in Kuwait and journalists. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Abu Tbaila (a traditional drummer who woke people up for the Suhoor meal) is pictured with a group of children dressed in Girgian outfits.

Guests pictured alongside Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad during the ghabqa.

Guests at the annual ghabqa are pictured during the event.

16 The Caliph (Khalifa) who said I am in charge of you but I am not the best of you was. ....

Umar Abu Bakr Usman

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

NATIONAL

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Patience in Ramadan

P

atience from the Islamic perspective means: Holding back oneself from anxiety and anger. It also means abstaining from inflicting harm or injury on oneself as an expression of disapproval of whatever happened to him. In the Oxford Concise English Dictionary, it means: The capacity to tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming angry or upset. Total peaceful submission to the Will of God can help you achieve this.

According to Islam, patience is divided into three broad categories (1) Patience in executing righteous deeds such as prayer, fasting, etc. (2) Patience in abstaining from evil and (3) Patience and perseverance during calamities and hardships.

In this article, I will shed light on the patience in carrying out acts of worship and patience in enduring hardships and tribulations.

1- Patience in executing acts of worship is very important because carrying out such acts is not easy as people may think.

Sometimes, some insomniacs find it difficult to wake up early in the morning for prayer. It was narrated by Jundub bin Sufyan that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "He who offers the dawn (Fajer) prayer will come under the protection of God." (Sahih Muslim). Also people in sound health and mind find it difficult to fast and rather come up with flimsy excuses for not doing so. Abstinence from food, drinks, smoking and conjugal rites from dawn to sunset is only easy for those who exercise patience.

Muslims are trained to fast at a young age and usually have enough self-discipline and self-control to fast all day for 30 days by the age of ten. Parents who discourage their children from fasting under flimsy

excuses that they are still young should utilize this opportunity of Ramadan and instill in them self-discipline and good manners as well as determination that they need for both their physical and spiritual growth.

2- Patiently persevering whenever we are afflicted with calamities We all undergo tests in this transitory life. Although life in this world is temporal, it is the most important of all the phases of life because it determines your position in the hereafter. If you performed good deeds in this life, then your destiny will be eternal bliss. But if you indulged in an unrestrained, luxurious life violating human rights and ignoring God's commandments, then you will suffer if you die before repenting. God has promised those who patiently persevere good tidings of entering Paradise, blessings descending from Him, unrestricted Mercy, guidance to the straight path and many other rewards.

The aforementioned privileges are manifest in the following verse: "Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives and the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere; who say, when afflicted with calamities: "To God we belong and unto Him is our return." - They are those on whom (descend) blessings from their Lord and Mercy. And they are the ones that receive guidance." (2: 155 - 158) Whenever we are afflicted with any calamity or catastrophe in the form of losing our wealth or our dear ones or else, we should consider the following facts: a. That your relatives and wealth are all possessions of God because He is the one who created them and thereafter entrusted you with the responsibility of taking care of them. Therefore, when He decides to take

away someone's life or wealth or any other blessing, no one should complain - God's case no appeal. b. This world and all in it are transitory and our final destination is the hereafter. So we should benefit from this worldly life by carrying out acts of devotion, which would determine our destiny after we die. c. Reflecting back on the adversities and catastrophes that befell prophets and messengers (Peace be upon them all) such as Zackariah, Yahya (John, the Baptist), Jacob and Muhammad.

Although all the messengers and prophets of God suffered a lot of trials and tribulations, no one flinched an inch from his faith. God says: "How many of the prophets fought (in God's way), and with them (fought) large bands of godly men?

But they never lost heart if they met with disaster in God's way, nor did they weaken (in will) nor give in. And Allah loves those who are firm and steadfast." (3: 146) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) set an example for all in being patient when afflicted with calamities, trials and tribulations.

His father passed away before he was born and at the tender age of six his mother died. Then at the age of eight, his grandfather - who took charge of him after his mother's death - also died. You can imagine how tragic life it was for him to live as an orphan right away from the day he was born!

After being appointed a prophet, he started another phase of a tragic life. After the tragic death of his paternal uncle Abu Talib and wife Khadija (in a year that was characterized as the year of sadness), the polytheists of Makkah stepped up a malicious campaign of torture, humiliation, slander, etc. Recognizing that the people of

Makkah continued to be obstinate, he decided to try other towns. He set out to Ta'if, about 90 miles away from Makkah towards eastern Saudi Arabia, anticipating that its inhabitants would be more receptive than the obstinate hard-hearted pagans of Makkah. No sooner had he arrived in Ta'if than his expectations were dashed. People there started insulting him and pelting him with stones so much so that he bled profusely. Eventually, he took refuge under a palm tree and started invoking God for succor. Thereafter God sent the angel in charge of mountains and rain to ask him whether he wished Him (God) to retaliate on his behalf by enveloping them between two mountains. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) rather raised up his hands and asked for mercy on behalf of those pagans.

Surprised, the angel exclaimed: "The Lord who named you most kind and merciful (9: 18)," indeed said the truth.

The tender heart of the teacher (Muhammad) was grieved that any among his flock should rush headlong to ruin. He watched ardently over them and whenever any of them showed signs of Faith, his kindness and mercy surrounded them and thus rejoiced over them. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) urges us to patiently persevere whenever we are afflicted with any adversity. The rewards God showers on us are commensurate with the intensity of the problems we endure. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: "God rewards His servants according to the intensity of the calamity they endure. And when God loves His people, He tests them. If they patiently persevere, His love to them would increase. But if they resent the test, then His wrath would be incumbent on them."

(Reported by Imam Al-Tirmidi)

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Sabah held an Iftar banquet on Tuesday honoring the members of the constituent authority of the Arab-International Relations Council. The banquet was attended by the chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee and the Director of the Kuwaiti Diplomatic Institute as well as its members, along with members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee, ambassadors and editors-in-chief of local newspapers.

Hill and Knowlton celebrates Ramadan with local media KUWAIT: Hill and Knowlton, the leading international communications consultancy, which provides public relations counsel to local, multinational and global businesses, hosted a ghabqa for local media at the Al-Corniche Club, Resort and Spa in Kuwait to celebrate the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan.

In addition to celebrating the holy month, Hill and Knowlton also took the opportunity to mark the consultancy's 25th anniversary in the Middle East. The company's operations, which were founded in 1985 in Bahrain, today includes 14 wholly-owned and affiliate offices across the GCC, the Levant, North Africa and Turkey.

Hill and Knowlton's Kuwait office has been open since 1995 and has provided communications consultancy to a wide range of clients across various industry sectors, including banking, finance, aviation, retail, real estate development, oil and petrochemicals, telecommunications and technology.

Ciaran Baker, Senior Consultant at Hill and Knowlton Kuwait said, "This is a special time of the year where Ramadan is celebrated in many forms. The Hill and Knowlton team in Kuwait has come together to celebrate this night with our friends and partners in the field of journalism and to show our appreciation for the support the consultancy has received over the past years.

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NATIONAL

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Charges for unanswered calls

Roaming travelers accrue surprising phone bills

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Ibtisam came back from a two-week holiday in Egypt only to find a shockingly exorbitant phone bill. Ibtisam made only two phone calls during her sojourn abroad and picked up a KD 200 bill for the pleasure of staying in touch with friends.

One of her major mishaps, she admits, is not asking the phone company about their roaming costs. Ibtisam is not alone in her phone-bill misery. When traveling abroad with a cell phone on, customers admit to finding themselves in a precarious situation and having to pay an unexpectedly high bill. First and foremost, a cell phone user should be conscious of roaming charges and of those charges that accrue while connecting to the Internet.

Lethal 'cradle cap remedy' kills baby KUWAIT: The toxic substance which recently killed a Kuwaiti infant and seriously poisoned several members of his family was composed of the same biological compounds used in creating nerve gases, as well as in manufacturing pesticides.

The baby's parents, who were unaware of the substances' lethal toxicity, had apparently put a diluted quantity of it on the child's head to help relieve a mild skin condition, since a less lethal form of the substance had historically been used as a traditional remedy for such conditions, reported Al-Watan.

Dr. Marzouq Al-Azmi, the head of the pediatric emergency unit at Al-Razi Hospital, said that although the hospital had been able to save the lives of the other family members exposed to the substance when they were rushed there from the family's home in Jaber Al-Ali, they had been unable to revive the baby.

Finger freed Firefighters from the Kuwait Fire Service Department (KFSD) cut a ring off of the finger of a citizen in his 30s. The ring was stuck on his finger and he was unable to remove it without assistance.

He went to the Farwaniya Fire Department where they cut if off with special equipment.

Players threat Members of the board of a sports club called police because some of the players, as well as some officials, threatened to attack board members because they did not receive their salaries. Police responded to the scene as a precaution.

Drug abuser Authorities arrested a citizen in his 30's for taking drugs in front of a mosque in Hawally. He was referred to the proper authorities.

Sexual assault A bedoon woman living with her husband and son in an apartment was approached by the owner of the house who asked her to get closer to his wife so they can strengthen their relationship. The truth of the matter was that he was living alone because his wife left him. The woman unknowingly went with her four-year-old son to the house where she was sexually assaulted by the landlord. She reported the incident to nearby authorities and the suspect was arrested.

Beggar arrested Jahra police arrested a female Arab expat in Taima for begging for money, reported Al-Watan. She explained that she needed the money to renew her residency. She was referred to the proper authorities.

"I paid a KD 200 bill for just one month," Ibtisam said. Claiming that she made just two short phone calls during her trip, she said that when she came back and complained about the bill to the telecommunication company she was informed that she had a high bill because of her roaming charges.

She also discovered a catch in the company's pricing. "I found out that I was charged for all the incoming calls, even those that I didn't answer. I was charged just for having my cell phone ring," she lamented.

She experienced a "similar injustice" from another telecommunication provider she is subscribed to. "I paid KD 37 for sending just one SMS message. This is impossible. This means that I have to switch my phone off when travelling or change it to a prepaid plan," she continued.

After she challenged the telecommunication company, she said she was advised to pay a 500 fil fee to activate a service that will

guarantee she is not charged for incoming calls that she does not answer.

A customer support employee in one of Kuwait's telecommunication companies, however, denied knowing about this service.

He also explained that it was impossible for a customer to have been charged for unanswered calls.

However, he went on to explain that "the client could have been charged for incoming calls even if she didn't answer them because it depends on the telecommunication exchange in each country. Unfortunately, we don't have a list of these countries and it's not possible to submit a claim against this system. Even if your mobile phone was switched off, you can still be charged if certain telecommunication exchanges are registered on your phone," the employee explained.

Internet browsing has led to the skyrocketing of phone bills while travelling

abroad. Manal, who traveled to Lebanon and Dubai for two weeks learned it the hard way.

Upon returning from her holiday she had to pay a KD 600 bill for the past month. "I was told it was for using the Internet while abroad," she said.

Not knowing that there are charges for using the Internet is not an excuse for incurring a large bill. According to an employee in a call center at one of the local telecommunication companies, service providers charge 6 fils per kilobit, regardless of whether the client is using the Internet or not. The problem occurs most often with iPhone and BlackBerry phone users, the employee said. "These smart phones switch to the Internet automatically."

"To avoid this, a client has to either disconnect the service from our company or switch off their Internet service while roaming," he said noting, "our company is not responsible for such inconveniences."

kuwait digest

Charity for Pakistani flood victims

By Iqbal Al-Ahmad

A

n area of land the size of Italy has been completely submerged by the Pakistan floods, killing residents, destroying homes and properties and leaving the survivors struggling to stay alive.

The devastation has left 3.5 million children at risk of fatal diseases from the widespread pollution of the remaining water and the lack of medical care, with medical personnel having difficulties accessing the affected areas at present.

According to the United Nations' estimates, around 800,000 people in

Pakistan are currently in dire need of clean food and water, as well as tents for shelter.

Among the 20 million worst affected by the disaster in Pakistan, only 700,000 have so far received any humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, several obstacles stand in the way of raising the amount given in aid, including the reluctance of many people to donate through fear that their donations may make their way to extremists rather than those in need.

In past years, a number of well-intentioned people have fallen victim to fundraisers who, rather than using the money given to them to help the needy,

used it instead to finance religious and political organizations. These days, however, people are better aware of how they can ensure that the donations they give can reach those who actually need it, which is via government-supervised groups or international organizations, including the UN and its affiliated bodies. In this holy month of Ramadan, more people than usual customarily become eager to give money to those in need worldwide. Let's ensure that the donations we give during this month will be used to alleviate the suffering of the children of Pakistan by choosing trusted bodies to donate through. — Al-Qabas

US embassy enquires about dual citizenship KUWAIT: The American Embassy in Kuwait has begun acting to address the issue of Kuwaiti dual citizens with American citizenship, who are bound to face problems since the local regulations forbid any Kuwaiti citizen from holding dual nationality.

In a bid to understand the legal situation of US-Kuwaiti nationals, US embassy staff recently met with legal expert and Kuwait University professor Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi, asking him a number of questions about the issue. A principal question was why the Kuwaiti judicial system has never been required to discuss the dual citizenship matter previously.

The members further asked whether the Kuwaiti regulations allows citizens to acquire American nationality and keep it or not, and enquired about cases in which a dual citizen can be forced to give up their Kuwaiti citizenship if they wish to retain their American nationality.

In addition, they asked about the possible means of objecting to or appealing any decision to grant or withdraw Kuwaiti citizenships, while also enquiring about the relationship between the Kuwaiti legal system and international treaties concerning citizenship and human rights.

The embassy officials also enquired as to whether there are any conditions under which a Kuwaiti citizen can hold an additional nationality.

In his response to their queries, Dr. Al-Wasmi indicated that the dual citizenship issue is very complex from the legal standpoint, and is connected to several legal systems. He further noted that the American legal system also bans dual citizenship in certain cases.

Meanwhile, Dr. Al-Wasmi admitted that Kuwait will eventually see lawsuits being filed over the citizenship issue due to the fact that the country is a signatory to several international human rights agreements, through which it is obliged to allow citizens to seek the law in protecting their internationally protected civil rights.

This development comes as the parliamentary human rights committee begins discussion of the naturalization issue with the interior ministry, primarily focusing on the granting of Kuwaiti citizenship to 14 non-Kuwaiti martyrs who were recognized by the Martyrs' Office.

The meeting will be attended by the interior minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, and representatives from the Martyrs' Office and the Supreme Council of Citizenship. — Al-Watan

CB facing dilemma over projects funding law

NBK hosts Girgian for Zeina customers at Baroue KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait(NBK) the leading bank in Kuwait and highest rated in the Middle East held a Girgian event at Baroue, located in the Avenues Mall on Monday. It was held for the bank's Zeina customers.

All NBK customers are eligible to receive a 25 percentage discount on the day of the event at Baroue, "All our valued Zeina account holders were invited to celebrate Girgian with us at the Baroue Children's store located in the Avenues Mall," said NBK Zeina

Account Manager, Dima Nuseibah. He added, "a number of activities were organized for our younger clients including the participation of Zeina and Jamoul, mini raffles, face painting and much more." Towards the end of the evening, each child was given a spe-

cially packed Girgian gift from NBK. The Zeina account provides children between the ages from birth to 11 years old with their first bank account, to learn about savings and banking with the help of their parents. Zeina Friends Club was the first club in

Kuwait to be established in 1994 for young children. Zeina Account holders can also participate in other fun events that are held year round, as well as benefit from many special seasonal offers that are specially designed for them.

KUWAIT: The Central Bank of Kuwait (CB), the body entrusted with devising the funding strategy for the projects included in the government's development plan and preparing draft legislation on it, is currently in limbo between some MPs' attempts to politicize the issue and local banks' more technical approach.

"Any new law will create a case of dual legislation, since further guidelines don't seem necessary given the existence of the currency and credit law, and the stimulus package, which can be amended if necessary by the CB," said one finance insider.

Meanwhile, several experts in the field have pointed out that the CB is facing a massive dilemma, having been asked to devise a strategy to finance the

shareholding companies being set up to implement the development projects, which it can know nothing about since they haven't yet been created.

"How can funding criteria be drawn up for a company that doesn't yet exist, and which nobody knows anything about the working processes of or the risks involved?" asked one financial specialist.

It is also feared that attempts to politicize the issue may result in a greatly truncated law, which would lack several of the conditions already recommended by the CB, reported Al-Qabas. Similar problems arose previously with the stimulus package, which resulted in the legislation governing it being radically altered to that proposed by the Central Bank.

INTERNATIONAL

Thursday, August 26, 2010

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US soldiers head home, hope Iraq on track CAMP ADDER, Iraq: Over “midnight chow” just hours before leaving Iraq, US soldiers had no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead for the Baghdad government. They said they hoped the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and the combat mission that ends on Aug 31 were not in vain and that Iraq was on the right track to stability. “I just don’t want to have been here for nothing. As I came over here I want it to be for something,” said Staff Sergeant Robert Vaught, a convoy commander from the 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry regiment at an air base in southern Iraq.

US soldiers returning home said it was hard for the US public to imagine what they had gone through and seen on the ground in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. More than 4,400 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since 2003, while at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians have also died. At the end of this month, the US military will hand over security fully to the Iraqi armed forces after a 71/2-year combat mission, cutting down to 50,000 soldiers who will assist their Iraqi counterparts but no longer lead the fight.

Vaught believed Iraqi forces had improved sufficiently to deal with continuing bloodshed, but still faced a tough job. Overall

violence has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian slaughter in 2006/07, but Sunni Islamist-led insurgents still carry out attacks and Iraq is a fragile place. “I would say the Iraqis have improved a lot,” said Vaught, sitting with fellow soldiers in the canteen at Camp Adder, a large base that served as a logistical hub for the withdrawal of tens of thousands of soldiers and mountains of military gear.

“Obviously they still need a lot of work but the only way to get that experience is to go through hardships,” he said, before departing Iraq. “If I had to guess I’d say they’ll probably experience more than they

Somalia gunfight kills six civilians MOGADISHU; Renewed clashes erupted yesterday between government troops and Islamist rebels in Mogadishu, killing six civilians a day after the insurgents mowed down 33 people, including four MPs in a hotel raid. Government soldiers backed by African Union forces exchanged heavy artillery fire on several fronts in the south and north of the war-torn Somali capital, with civilians yet again bearing the brunt of the violence. “I saw the dead bodies of six civilians killed this morning.

Four of them died in one place and the others died separately in Yaqshid neighbourhood,” a witness, Muhidin Ali, told AFP. Mogadishu ambulance service officials said they had picked up around 18 injured civilians.

Both sides claimed the upper hand in yesterday’s fighting, which had largely subsided by early afternoon. Government security official Colonel Mohamed Adan told AFP: “The government forces are advancing towards the enemy lines. They (the enemy) lost many fighters,” but did not give an exact figure.

The Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels, who claimed responsibility for the carnage on Tuesday in Mogadishu’s Mona Hotel, also said they were victorious. “Our fighters moved ahead this morning and there were clashes around several defensive positions of the apostate government and the African invading Christians supporting them,” said Sheik Abdiaziz Abu-Muscab, Shebab’s military operations spokesman. “Thanks to Allah, we have killed many soldiers and the Mujahideen fighters are now in full control of their last strongholds.”

He said the government were controlling only one of the four main roads in Mogadishu “and with the assistance of Allah’s power, our fighters cut off that road today and the enemy cannot move between their positions.”

Spokesman of the peacekeeping force, AMISOM, Major Ba-Hoku Barigye confirmed the clash-

es but denied Shebab’s claim. “We are still in our positions and neither government forces nor the African peacekeepers lost their positions. “We will stand firm and protect the right side, there is no cause for alarm as the situation is under control,” Barigye said. He condemned the attack on the “soft target” of the Mona hotel in which 33 people, among them four lawmakers were killed, Somalia’s information ministry said, revising a previous toll of six dead MPs. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed also condemned the “assault on a hotel filled with fasting innocent civilians”, observing the Moslem holy month of Ramadan, a statement from his office said. He said the attack “will only redouble the Somali people’s resistance against this transient menace”. Tuesday’s fighting also claimed the life of journalist Barkhat Awale, who was hit by a stray bullet while helping a technician fix transmission equipment on a rooftop, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the international community to work to protect human life and rights in Somalia where some 65 civilians have been killed since violence erupted Monday. “I hope with the help of the international community, no effort will be spared to re-establish respect for life and human rights,” said the pope. Since launching an offensive in May 2009, the Shebab have waged near-daily battles to topple Sharif’s government, and have greatly reduced the part of Mogadishu under his control. They have also repeatedly targetted the AMISOM peacekeeping forces comprising some 6,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops, accusing them of occupying the country and killing civilians. The radical militants said they were responsible for the July 11 suicide bombing of two sites in the Ugandan capital that left at least 76 people dead, which they said was to avenge Uganda’s role in the AMISOM. —AFP

have already once the full pullout takes place and that is something they have to tackle themselves,” he said.

Sergeant First Class James Bartels, who bought some US flags in the camp shop as a souvenir for his family home, also believed Iraq was improving despite the violence.

“One thing I do know is the opinion of those who have been here the first time, the second time, the third time (is that) the changes are dramatic,” Bartels said. Others take heart that violence in Iraq has fallen.

Tensions have been stoked by the failure of political leaders to agree on a new government since an inconclusive election in

March, and by a stream of suicide bombings and other attacks by insurgents trying to exploit the political vacuum ahead of the end of the U.S. combat mission.

But in overall terms, fighting has ebbed substantially. “Iraq is much different now,” said battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Scott Smith. “It seems the Iraqis enjoy the hope of democracy, they understand it. The ability when you’re not happy with government decisions to express that thought and not go to jail for it,” Smith said, after serving six months in Iraq. Iraq’s leaders have not yet resolved a number of politically explosive issues, such as tensions

between majority Arabs and minority Kurds, and reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites. Nor have they been able to form a new government five months after the national election that produced no outright winner.

But truck commander Sergeant Barry Curtis had no regrets. “I think we got them out. I think we got them on their feet ... I just hope they will be successful in their own freedom,” Curtis said, speaking after packing up his belongings for the move out of Iraq. “I don’t regret any of my time spent over here on any of my three tours. I think we’ve done a good job.” — Reuters

Settlers warn PM could face ‘day of judgment’ Israel’s FM says no extending settlement slowdown

JERUSALEM: Israeli settlers warned yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will face his “day of judgment” if he caves in to pressure to further limit settlement construction in the West Bank. “This is not a time to mince words as this is literally a day of judgment for our prime minister and government,” said Naftali Bennett, head of Yesha, the The issue of settlements is one of the thorniest in the Middle East peace process and is expected to figure prominently at the new round of direct IsraeliPalestinian peace negotiations starting in Washington on Sept 2.

The Palestinians initially insisted they would not sit at the negotiating table without guarantees the moratorium on building permits be extended. But no such guarantee has been made public in statements from the US administration and the Middle East peace Quartet when they announced the new round of negotiations.

Netanyahu faces Palestinian and international calls for a freeze on settlement construction. But the leader of a centre-right ruling coalition is also under strong pressure, including from within his own Likud party, to clear the way for construction of more settler homes in the West Bank. And Bennett insisted Netanyahu “needs to appreciate that we will stand firm on our commitments to

strengthen and expand the communities and we cannot bend to any international pressure.

“These upcoming negotiations promise to be another futile display of diplomacy but we must not allow citizens of Israel to become the scapegoats in this process,” he said.

Far-right Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also played down the prospects of the talks, suggesting the one-year target set by the United States is unrealistic.

“The peace process is unlikely to end within the next year, as disagreements between the two sides are too deep,” the online edition of the Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying.

Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu party is a major partner in the governing coalition, also told Israel Radio he realized that resuming settlement construction would antagonize both the US and the Palestinians. But he said that maintaining tight restrictions on building would “punish” tens of

main association of settlers in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

Yesha warned in a letter to Netanyahu of “serious diplomatic and political implications” if he reneges on his promise to resume issuing building permits for settler homes when a partial, 10-month moratorium ends on September 26.

AZMOT: A picture taken from this West Bank Palestinian village shows in the background the Israeli settlement of Allon Moreh yesterday. —AFP thousands of people in the settlements. “We don’t need to create unnecessary conflicts but we don’t need to punish and we don’t need to fold either,” he said.

Lieberman suggested that Israel resume construction in major settlement blocs that Israel

expects to retain under a future peace deal, while limiting construction elsewhere. Some 80 percent of the nearly 300,000 West Bank settlers live in these blocs, which are concentrated along the boundary with Israel.

Past proposals have suggested

that Israel “swap” an equal amount of territory in exchange for the settlements.

Lieberman added that he had doubts about the Palestinians’ intentions at the talks. “They are not coming out of true good will to make peace, they are coming because they were forced to come,” he said. “I think everyone should lower expectations.” The roughly 120 Jewish settlements that dot the West Bank have long been a sore point in Mideast peacemaking. Israel began settling the territory soon after capturing it along with Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The Palestinians say the settlements, interspersed among some 2.4 million Palestinians, are gobbling up land they want for a future state. A similar relaunch of US-brokered negotiations in 2007 produced no visible results by the time the talks collapsed when Israel’s military launched a devastating 22day offensive on the Gaza Strip just over a year later.—Agencies

international

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thursday, august 26, 2010

In Kyrgyzstan, nationalism rises from the ashes

BISHKEK: Rising nationalism in Kyrgyzstan promoting Kyrgyz at the expense of minority Uzbeks is stoking fears of new unrest, just 10 weeks after the exSoviet state was rocked by its deadliest ethnic violence. Political activists have been distributing photographs of mangled ethnic Kyrgyz bodies at rallies with themes like instituting ethnic quotas for government workers or barring the deployment of an international police force. Whether the weak interim government will be able to quell the surge of nationalism is a growing concern for Kyrgyzstan’s foreign partners ahead of parliamentary elections in October.

“It’s something everyone is watching because this is a new threat, a new stream,

this nationalism. Where it goes, I don’t think anybody knows,” a senior western diplomat told AFP under condition of anonymity. “Is it in the interest of the leadership in October to have an ultra-nationalist theme in the government? I don’t think so.... Can they control it? I don’t know,” he added.

Kyrgyzstan has struggled since protests sparked by rising utility prices and the perceived corruption of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April led to days of street riots which toppled his authoritarian government.

Hope that an interim government led by career diplomat Roza Otunbayeva would stabilize Kyrgyzstan was dashed in June when the south exploded in four days of bloody clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that

left hundreds dead. New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch has accused government forces of being complicit in attacks on Uzbeks, whose community bore the brunt of the violence.

But this is not the way things are seen by Melis Myrzakmatov, the mayor of Osh city where the violence was centred and whose popularity has surged as he has embraced an increasingly combative public persona. A self-described nationalist known for his earthy speaking style and less-thanconciliatory attitude towards his city’s large Uzbek population, Myrzakmatov has recast the June events as a struggle for national survival. “Uzbeks encroached on the sovereignty of Kyrgyzstan,” he told leading

Russian daily Kommersant this month. “We offered resistance,” he added.

Kyrgyzstan’s modern borders were drawn up in the early days of the Soviet Union. Southern cities like Osh were largely ethnic Uzbek until near the end of the Soviet era when nomadic Kyrgyz from surrounding mountain regions began pouring into the cities. For nearly two decades following similar ethnic clashes in 1990, Uzbeks were largely sidelined from political life but prospered as merchants and traders. Now many Uzbeks complain that they have been pushed to the brink by discrimination in jobhiring and are without their businesses, many of which were torched in the unrest.

“The government tries to maintain a

facade that the situation is returning to normal,” the International Crisis Group said in a report released Tuesday. “In fact the Osh authorities are pursuing a punitive antiUzbek policy that could well trigger more violence - and in the view of many observers, Kyrgyz and international, may be intended to do just that.” Legions of billboards have sprouted up across Bishkek in recent weeks, slick adverts for the more than 50 political parties seeking seats in the country’s newly emboldened parliament.

But their surfaces are devoid of Uzbek faces, despite their comprising 15 percent of the population. In one such poster on Bishkek’s central Chui Street, a young ethnic Kyrgyz girl, her hair in braids and the

open sky behind her signifying land ready to be claimed, peers down from above the slogan “I Believe in You”. Why not have the face of an ethnic Uzbek girl alongside hers, or indeed on any single one of the posters, a local journalist was asked. “If there were Uzbek faces on them, people would just come along and tear them down,” she answered. Paul Quinn-Judge, Bishkekbased Central Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group, described the situation as “extremely worrying”. “Not just because of the elections, but because what might happen in the months to come before and after the elections, and the impact this is going to have on Kyrgyz society if this is not checked,” he said. —AFP

Mauritanian troops foil attack on army barracks Would-be suicide bomber shot dead NOUAKCHOTT: A suicide bomber attacked a military barracks in eastern Mauritania early yesterday but was foiled by troops who fired on his vehicle, which then exploded, a senior military official told AFP. The would-be bomber tried to ram his four-wheel drive vehicle into the barracks before soldiers fired on the vehicle, sparking a “big explosion”

which caused heavy damage, the official said. “He headed toward the barracks, ignoring warning shots by the military, but fortunately the fire prevented him from moving forward and he had to detonate his bomb at the entrance to the barracks at a time when there were only three men on duty,” the source said.

LONDON: A florist delivers a pot of flower as a British Community Police Support Officer stands guard outside a house in central London, near the headquarters of MI6, where a man believed to be a British spy was found dead in a flat yesterday. — AP

Body of suspected British spy found LONDON: Detectives searching for a missing British spy said yesterday they had launched a murder investigation after a body matching the man’s description was discovered stuffed in a bag in his apartment near the headquarters of the MI6 spy agency.

British authorities who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation said the body of the man in his 30s was found in the bathroom Monday.

Scotland Yard refused to say whether there were signs of a struggle or how the man may have been killed, but said suicide had been ruled out. An autopsy and formal identification was expected later yesterday.

The man had been working for MI6 on temporary assignment from GCHQ, Britain’s eavesdropping agency, said several British officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They all declined to say exactly what work the man was doing or how long he had been employed with the government, but officials said initial indications did not suggest his death was related to his job, or national security issues. Neighbor Rob

Mills, a 35-year-old who lives two doors away from where the body was found, said people in the expensive London neighborhood of Pimlico knew little about the victim or his work. “It’s not like you’d tell your neighbors if you were a spy,” he said.

Police cordoned off the area yesterday and were restricting access to residents, some of whom said they were told by investigators that the man could have been killed two weeks ago. Scotland Yard refused to confirm. “His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed,” said neighbor Laura Houghton, 30. “I could never tell if anyone was in. It was strange that we never saw him come and go.” Houghton said the man was friendly and spoke with a Welsh accent.

Britain has been known as a den of spy activity since the Cold War. About 2,500 British intelligence specialists work for MI6, around 5,200 for GCHQ and 3,500 for the country’s domestic security agency, MI5. The Russians are thought to have hundreds of agents in London. In 2006, the

world was gripped by the story of the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who wasted away in a London hospital after ingesting a radioactive substance. On his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning.

His death harkened back to the notorious 1978 killing of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov who died of blood poisoning after he was stabbed with an umbrella at a London bus stop. The tip of the umbrella was said to contain poison.

The largest spy swap since the Cold War made headlines last month when four people convicted of betraying Moscow for the West were pardoned in exchange for 10 Russian agents who had infiltrated suburban America. Two of them were flown to Britain. Last month, a 21-year-old was arrested in connection with a parcel bomb being sent to MI6’s fortress-like headquarters near the River Thames but authorities said yesterday it appeared that incident was unrelated to the discovery of the body.— AP

White cliffs to feature on new UK passport LONDON: Britain is to start issuing new-look passports featuring some of its most famous natural features like the white cliffs of Dover and Ben Nevis.

Other scenes to adorn the inside pages will include the Gower Peninsula in Wales and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The new passports, to be introduced from October, will also include enhanced security features and replace an ePassport which was brought in four years ago to comply with the US Visa Waiver Programme. “The new design is part of our strategy to stay ahead of criminals who look to fraudulently alter or copy passports,” said Sarah Rapson, Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service.

The holder’s personal details

will now appear on the second page, bringing UK passports into line with those of many other countries, which the government said would speed travellers’ passage through border controls. Other new security measures include moving the chip that stores the holder’s details to the inside of the passport cover so it is no longer visible and adding a transparent covering which includes several holograms.

The new passport images will also stretch across two pages instead of one. “Through its combination of physical and electronic security features, the UK passport remains one of the most secure and trusted documents in the world, meeting rigorous international standards,” Rapson said. —Reuters

LONDON: A handout photo released by Britain’s Home Office yesterday shows the newly designed British passport that will be introduced from Oct 2010.— AFP

The bomber was killed and three soldiers “slightly injured” by the blast that damaged the gate of the barracks and the houses and shops nearby. The driver of the vehicle, which bore Malian license plates was “torn to shreds, almost unidentifiable, but he had a clear complexion”. The incident in Nema, some 1,200 km east of the capital Nouakchott and close to the border with Mali, happened shortly after midnight.

The senior military official, speaking on condition on anonymity, attributed the foiled attack to Osama Bin Laden’s terror network’s North African offshoot, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A second vehicle that was reportedly seen in Nema earlier along with the car that exploded, was being sought by police who have cordoned off the area around the barracks, according to local sources interviewed by AFP. The army has been placed on alert throughout the country, particularly in “contact zones” with AQIM, bordering Mali, where the oganisation has several bases. The failed attack comes a month after the Mauritanian army launched an offensive on AQIM bases over the border in Mali to pre-empt a strike on military bases at home. French forces joined in one attack on July 22 in a bid to free 78-year-old French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was later executed by AQIM. Seven AQIM militia were killed in that raid, and the Al-Qaeda group has threatened Mauritania and France with reprisals.

Earlier this week, the group released two Spanish hostages held captive in the Sahara for nine months after securing the release of the kidnap mastermind and a reported ransom.

Key to the hostages freedom was Mauritania’s extradition to Mali of the convicted mastermind of the Spaniards’ kidnapping, who sold his captives on to Al-Qaeda. Omar Sid Ahmed Ould Hamma, a 52-year-old also known as Omar the Sahrawi, told AFP he was a free man in Mali.

Mauritanian security forces have regularly been targeted in attacks, which forced the cancellation in 2008 of the Dakar Rally that has since been held in South America. AQIM has previously claimed responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker shot dead in June last year in a Nouakchott street.

Mauritania’s first suicide bombing occurred in August last year when an attacker detonated a belt packed with explosives outside the French embassy in Nouakchott. Two French policemen and a Mauritanian citizen were injured.

Four French tourists were killed by suspected Islamic extremists in Dec 2007.

Shocked by these killings and the recent execution of Germaneau, France has pledged increased security cooperation in the region.

Ministers from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger met in March to discuss increased cooperation against the growing threat of AQIM and the group’s apparent ease of movement throughout the vast semidesert Sahel region. —AFP

CANBERRA: Independent members of parliament, Rob Oakeshott (center), Tony Windsor (left) and Bob Katter walk on the grounds of parliament yesterday. —AP

Australia ‘kingmakers’ urge new era after poll CANBERRA: Australia’s “kingmaker” MPs called yesterday for a new era of consensual politics, sweeping aside a century-old adversarial system, after disillusioned voters snubbed both major parties at weekend polls. The three MPs, expected to decide Australia’s next government in the first hung parliament since 1940, dismissed the traditional model pitting Labor against the Liberal/National coalition as “two dogs barking”. Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter, an unlikely trio representing rural areas, laid out the ambitious plans ahead of talks with caretaker prime minister Julia Gillard and coalition chief Tony Abbott.

Spoiled ballots were up sharply in Saturday’s election and the environment-focused Greens won a record share of the vote as electors turned away from the dominant parties after lacklustre campaigning with few new initiatives. “One of the things we’ve done in this country is probably create one of the worst examples of the Westminster system, where it’s actually become too confrontational,” Windsor told the National Press Club in Canberra. “There’s an expectation, and even within the media, that it will be the two dogs barking, and that’s what the reporting is made of.”

The independents have been thrust into the spotlight after Australia’s closest election in decades failed to give either Gillard’s Labor or the coalition a majority, leaving them relying on unallied MPs. The Australian Electoral Commission’s running tally gave Labor 71 seats and the coalition 72, both short of the 76 needed for a majority, with counting set to continue into next week. The Greens won one seat, their first at national polls, while a fourth independent appears to have been elected in Tasmania. Three seats are undecided with the ballot coming down to postal and absentee votes.

“The people of Australia have spoken and they’ve decided that other people are going to have a say

here. It’s no longer a Coles-Woolworths democracy,” Katter told journalists, referring to Australia’s supermarket duopoly. The independents signalled their intent by demanding a surprise meeting with the heads of Australia’s Treasury and finance department to work out a detailed cost analysis of pre-election promises by both parties.

The request was part of a seven-point “wishlist” presented to Gillard and Abbott which set September 3 as the start date for formal negotiations and called for a formal written agreement to serve a full threeyear term. Parliamentary reform and changes to political donations, electoral funding and truth in advertising laws were also on the list. Gillard said she had responded “positively” to the requests, describing her commitment to serving a full term as “unequivocal” and offering to set a date for the next election right now.

She also expressed full support for reform, and promised to draft a “practical way forward” on the issues by next Monday. Australia’s stocks closed 1.4 percent lower due to the political uncertainty and broader concerns about deteriorating global conditions. Windsor had warned he would not support either party if he did not see enough “goodwill”, potentially sending Australia’s 14 million voters back to the polls in a matter of months.

Katter, a renegade known for his forthright style, wants greater protection for banana and sugarcane farmers, while Windsor wants better water supplies in his parched electorate and Oakeshott favours carbon trading to ease pollution. But all three have expressed a desire for stable government and better broadband Internet, which could favour Labor and its project to wire 93 percent of homes with high-speed fibre-optic cable. “I’ve bought and sold cattle for a large portion of my life, and I’d like to think I could drive a deal,” Katter said. — AFP

Killing in Nigeria oil hub sparks fears of poll unrest LAGOS: A former militant accused of helping rig elections in Nigeria in 2007 is believed to have been shot dead, police said yesterday, sparking fears of unrest ahead of upcoming polls. Soboma George, also a notorious ex-gangster in Nigeria’s oil hub of Port Harcourt, had signed up to a government amnesty deal only months ago. His suspected killing has likewise led to concerns over the amnesty, which has been credited with bringing relative peace to the oilproducing Niger Delta after years of attacks and kidnappings.

“A man was shot and his body taken away by his assailants. All fingers point to Soboma George,” Rivers state police spokeswoman Rita Abbey told AFP. She said witnesses said that George, the leader of the banned Outlaws group which had terrorised Port Harcourt before the recent amnesty, was the man killed on Tuesday. “Although the police have not seen his corpse we believe he was the one,” Abbey said. She said the man was killed along with a woman as he made his way out of a football field.

Another woman who was seriously wounded in the attack was being treated in hospital.

George was accused of mobilising his followers to help intimidate voters and rig elections in 2007. The next polls are expected in January. He had also been a commander in the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, known as MEND, the country’s most prominent militant group that claimed dozens of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations in recent years. MEND has said it was fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue.

But this isn’t the first time the oil-rich region plagued by gangs and militant attacks thought Soboma died. In 2007, investigators believed George died during a gangland war, burned to death inside a

building. However, he later emerged alive. Locals say he routinely moves through the city in extravagant armored cars without being stopped by police, even though he escaped prison in 2005 while awaiting trial on a murder charge.

George was among more than 20,000 fighters who accepted the amnesty granted by late president Umaru Yar’Adua for Niger Delta “oil rebels” after surrendering their arms between August and October last year. He was among former militants who last year met with Yar’Adua and vice president Goodluck Jonathan - who is now Nigeria’s president - to discuss the situation in the region. “It is a drawback to the peace process, especially for a young man who had embraced the peace, laid down his guns in the interests of the people of the Niger Delta,” said Kingsley Kuku, who represents ex-militants on a presidential amnesty implementation committee.

“The killing will erode the trust and confidence of the people in the peace process.” There have already been warnings that violence could increase ahead of presidential, legislative and state elections slated for January. Jonathan is from the Niger Delta, and he faces pressure to bring an end to the unrest that has played havoc with oil production in the region. He is widely expected to run in the elections, but has not declared his candidacy. “It shows that despite the public display of arms surrender by the militants, there are still a lot of weapons in the region,” said Anyakwee Nsirimovu, head of the Port Harcourtbased Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. “The implication is ominous at a time we are talking of free and fair elections in Nigeria ... What this means is that these gangsters with guns everywhere will be ready tools in the hands of politicians to foment trouble during the elections.”—Agencies

international

8

thursday, august 26, 2010

In Kyrgyzstan, nationalism rises from the ashes

BISHKEK: Rising nationalism in Kyrgyzstan promoting Kyrgyz at the expense of minority Uzbeks is stoking fears of new unrest, just 10 weeks after the exSoviet state was rocked by its deadliest ethnic violence. Political activists have been distributing photographs of mangled ethnic Kyrgyz bodies at rallies with themes like instituting ethnic quotas for government workers or barring the deployment of an international police force. Whether the weak interim government will be able to quell the surge of nationalism is a growing concern for Kyrgyzstan’s foreign partners ahead of parliamentary elections in October.

“It’s something everyone is watching because this is a new threat, a new stream,

this nationalism. Where it goes, I don’t think anybody knows,” a senior western diplomat told AFP under condition of anonymity. “Is it in the interest of the leadership in October to have an ultra-nationalist theme in the government? I don’t think so.... Can they control it? I don’t know,” he added.

Kyrgyzstan has struggled since protests sparked by rising utility prices and the perceived corruption of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April led to days of street riots which toppled his authoritarian government.

Hope that an interim government led by career diplomat Roza Otunbayeva would stabilize Kyrgyzstan was dashed in June when the south exploded in four days of bloody clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that

left hundreds dead. New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch has accused government forces of being complicit in attacks on Uzbeks, whose community bore the brunt of the violence.

But this is not the way things are seen by Melis Myrzakmatov, the mayor of Osh city where the violence was centred and whose popularity has surged as he has embraced an increasingly combative public persona. A self-described nationalist known for his earthy speaking style and less-thanconciliatory attitude towards his city’s large Uzbek population, Myrzakmatov has recast the June events as a struggle for national survival. “Uzbeks encroached on the sovereignty of Kyrgyzstan,” he told leading

Russian daily Kommersant this month. “We offered resistance,” he added.

Kyrgyzstan’s modern borders were drawn up in the early days of the Soviet Union. Southern cities like Osh were largely ethnic Uzbek until near the end of the Soviet era when nomadic Kyrgyz from surrounding mountain regions began pouring into the cities. For nearly two decades following similar ethnic clashes in 1990, Uzbeks were largely sidelined from political life but prospered as merchants and traders. Now many Uzbeks complain that they have been pushed to the brink by discrimination in jobhiring and are without their businesses, many of which were torched in the unrest.

“The government tries to maintain a

facade that the situation is returning to normal,” the International Crisis Group said in a report released Tuesday. “In fact the Osh authorities are pursuing a punitive antiUzbek policy that could well trigger more violence - and in the view of many observers, Kyrgyz and international, may be intended to do just that.” Legions of billboards have sprouted up across Bishkek in recent weeks, slick adverts for the more than 50 political parties seeking seats in the country’s newly emboldened parliament.

But their surfaces are devoid of Uzbek faces, despite their comprising 15 percent of the population. In one such poster on Bishkek’s central Chui Street, a young ethnic Kyrgyz girl, her hair in braids and the

open sky behind her signifying land ready to be claimed, peers down from above the slogan “I Believe in You”. Why not have the face of an ethnic Uzbek girl alongside hers, or indeed on any single one of the posters, a local journalist was asked. “If there were Uzbek faces on them, people would just come along and tear them down,” she answered. Paul Quinn-Judge, Bishkekbased Central Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group, described the situation as “extremely worrying”. “Not just because of the elections, but because what might happen in the months to come before and after the elections, and the impact this is going to have on Kyrgyz society if this is not checked,” he said. —AFP

Mauritanian troops foil attack on army barracks Would-be suicide bomber shot dead NOUAKCHOTT: A suicide bomber attacked a military barracks in eastern Mauritania early yesterday but was foiled by troops who fired on his vehicle, which then exploded, a senior military official told AFP. The would-be bomber tried to ram his four-wheel drive vehicle into the barracks before soldiers fired on the vehicle, sparking a “big explosion”

which caused heavy damage, the official said. “He headed toward the barracks, ignoring warning shots by the military, but fortunately the fire prevented him from moving forward and he had to detonate his bomb at the entrance to the barracks at a time when there were only three men on duty,” the source said.

LONDON: A florist delivers a pot of flower as a British Community Police Support Officer stands guard outside a house in central London, near the headquarters of MI6, where a man believed to be a British spy was found dead in a flat yesterday. — AP

Body of suspected British spy found LONDON: Detectives searching for a missing British spy said yesterday they had launched a murder investigation after a body matching the man’s description was discovered stuffed in a bag in his apartment near the headquarters of the MI6 spy agency.

British authorities who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation said the body of the man in his 30s was found in the bathroom Monday.

Scotland Yard refused to say whether there were signs of a struggle or how the man may have been killed, but said suicide had been ruled out. An autopsy and formal identification was expected later yesterday.

The man had been working for MI6 on temporary assignment from GCHQ, Britain’s eavesdropping agency, said several British officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They all declined to say exactly what work the man was doing or how long he had been employed with the government, but officials said initial indications did not suggest his death was related to his job, or national security issues. Neighbor Rob

Mills, a 35-year-old who lives two doors away from where the body was found, said people in the expensive London neighborhood of Pimlico knew little about the victim or his work. “It’s not like you’d tell your neighbors if you were a spy,” he said.

Police cordoned off the area yesterday and were restricting access to residents, some of whom said they were told by investigators that the man could have been killed two weeks ago. Scotland Yard refused to confirm. “His windows were always shut and curtains were often closed,” said neighbor Laura Houghton, 30. “I could never tell if anyone was in. It was strange that we never saw him come and go.” Houghton said the man was friendly and spoke with a Welsh accent.

Britain has been known as a den of spy activity since the Cold War. About 2,500 British intelligence specialists work for MI6, around 5,200 for GCHQ and 3,500 for the country’s domestic security agency, MI5. The Russians are thought to have hundreds of agents in London. In 2006, the

world was gripped by the story of the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who wasted away in a London hospital after ingesting a radioactive substance. On his deathbed, Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the poisoning.

His death harkened back to the notorious 1978 killing of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov who died of blood poisoning after he was stabbed with an umbrella at a London bus stop. The tip of the umbrella was said to contain poison.

The largest spy swap since the Cold War made headlines last month when four people convicted of betraying Moscow for the West were pardoned in exchange for 10 Russian agents who had infiltrated suburban America. Two of them were flown to Britain. Last month, a 21-year-old was arrested in connection with a parcel bomb being sent to MI6’s fortress-like headquarters near the River Thames but authorities said yesterday it appeared that incident was unrelated to the discovery of the body.— AP

White cliffs to feature on new UK passport LONDON: Britain is to start issuing new-look passports featuring some of its most famous natural features like the white cliffs of Dover and Ben Nevis.

Other scenes to adorn the inside pages will include the Gower Peninsula in Wales and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The new passports, to be introduced from October, will also include enhanced security features and replace an ePassport which was brought in four years ago to comply with the US Visa Waiver Programme. “The new design is part of our strategy to stay ahead of criminals who look to fraudulently alter or copy passports,” said Sarah Rapson, Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service.

The holder’s personal details

will now appear on the second page, bringing UK passports into line with those of many other countries, which the government said would speed travellers’ passage through border controls. Other new security measures include moving the chip that stores the holder’s details to the inside of the passport cover so it is no longer visible and adding a transparent covering which includes several holograms.

The new passport images will also stretch across two pages instead of one. “Through its combination of physical and electronic security features, the UK passport remains one of the most secure and trusted documents in the world, meeting rigorous international standards,” Rapson said. —Reuters

LONDON: A handout photo released by Britain’s Home Office yesterday shows the newly designed British passport that will be introduced from Oct 2010.— AFP

The bomber was killed and three soldiers “slightly injured” by the blast that damaged the gate of the barracks and the houses and shops nearby. The driver of the vehicle, which bore Malian license plates was “torn to shreds, almost unidentifiable, but he had a clear complexion”. The incident in Nema, some 1,200 km east of the capital Nouakchott and close to the border with Mali, happened shortly after midnight.

The senior military official, speaking on condition on anonymity, attributed the foiled attack to Osama Bin Laden’s terror network’s North African offshoot, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A second vehicle that was reportedly seen in Nema earlier along with the car that exploded, was being sought by police who have cordoned off the area around the barracks, according to local sources interviewed by AFP. The army has been placed on alert throughout the country, particularly in “contact zones” with AQIM, bordering Mali, where the oganisation has several bases. The failed attack comes a month after the Mauritanian army launched an offensive on AQIM bases over the border in Mali to pre-empt a strike on military bases at home. French forces joined in one attack on July 22 in a bid to free 78-year-old French hostage Michel Germaneau, who was later executed by AQIM. Seven AQIM militia were killed in that raid, and the Al-Qaeda group has threatened Mauritania and France with reprisals.

Earlier this week, the group released two Spanish hostages held captive in the Sahara for nine months after securing the release of the kidnap mastermind and a reported ransom.

Key to the hostages freedom was Mauritania’s extradition to Mali of the convicted mastermind of the Spaniards’ kidnapping, who sold his captives on to Al-Qaeda. Omar Sid Ahmed Ould Hamma, a 52-year-old also known as Omar the Sahrawi, told AFP he was a free man in Mali.

Mauritanian security forces have regularly been targeted in attacks, which forced the cancellation in 2008 of the Dakar Rally that has since been held in South America. AQIM has previously claimed responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker shot dead in June last year in a Nouakchott street.

Mauritania’s first suicide bombing occurred in August last year when an attacker detonated a belt packed with explosives outside the French embassy in Nouakchott. Two French policemen and a Mauritanian citizen were injured.

Four French tourists were killed by suspected Islamic extremists in Dec 2007.

Shocked by these killings and the recent execution of Germaneau, France has pledged increased security cooperation in the region.

Ministers from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger met in March to discuss increased cooperation against the growing threat of AQIM and the group’s apparent ease of movement throughout the vast semidesert Sahel region. —AFP

CANBERRA: Independent members of parliament, Rob Oakeshott (center), Tony Windsor (left) and Bob Katter walk on the grounds of parliament yesterday. —AP

Australia ‘kingmakers’ urge new era after poll CANBERRA: Australia’s “kingmaker” MPs called yesterday for a new era of consensual politics, sweeping aside a century-old adversarial system, after disillusioned voters snubbed both major parties at weekend polls. The three MPs, expected to decide Australia’s next government in the first hung parliament since 1940, dismissed the traditional model pitting Labor against the Liberal/National coalition as “two dogs barking”. Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter, an unlikely trio representing rural areas, laid out the ambitious plans ahead of talks with caretaker prime minister Julia Gillard and coalition chief Tony Abbott.

Spoiled ballots were up sharply in Saturday’s election and the environment-focused Greens won a record share of the vote as electors turned away from the dominant parties after lacklustre campaigning with few new initiatives. “One of the things we’ve done in this country is probably create one of the worst examples of the Westminster system, where it’s actually become too confrontational,” Windsor told the National Press Club in Canberra. “There’s an expectation, and even within the media, that it will be the two dogs barking, and that’s what the reporting is made of.”

The independents have been thrust into the spotlight after Australia’s closest election in decades failed to give either Gillard’s Labor or the coalition a majority, leaving them relying on unallied MPs. The Australian Electoral Commission’s running tally gave Labor 71 seats and the coalition 72, both short of the 76 needed for a majority, with counting set to continue into next week. The Greens won one seat, their first at national polls, while a fourth independent appears to have been elected in Tasmania. Three seats are undecided with the ballot coming down to postal and absentee votes.

“The people of Australia have spoken and they’ve decided that other people are going to have a say

here. It’s no longer a Coles-Woolworths democracy,” Katter told journalists, referring to Australia’s supermarket duopoly. The independents signalled their intent by demanding a surprise meeting with the heads of Australia’s Treasury and finance department to work out a detailed cost analysis of pre-election promises by both parties.

The request was part of a seven-point “wishlist” presented to Gillard and Abbott which set September 3 as the start date for formal negotiations and called for a formal written agreement to serve a full threeyear term. Parliamentary reform and changes to political donations, electoral funding and truth in advertising laws were also on the list. Gillard said she had responded “positively” to the requests, describing her commitment to serving a full term as “unequivocal” and offering to set a date for the next election right now.

She also expressed full support for reform, and promised to draft a “practical way forward” on the issues by next Monday. Australia’s stocks closed 1.4 percent lower due to the political uncertainty and broader concerns about deteriorating global conditions. Windsor had warned he would not support either party if he did not see enough “goodwill”, potentially sending Australia’s 14 million voters back to the polls in a matter of months.

Katter, a renegade known for his forthright style, wants greater protection for banana and sugarcane farmers, while Windsor wants better water supplies in his parched electorate and Oakeshott favours carbon trading to ease pollution. But all three have expressed a desire for stable government and better broadband Internet, which could favour Labor and its project to wire 93 percent of homes with high-speed fibre-optic cable. “I’ve bought and sold cattle for a large portion of my life, and I’d like to think I could drive a deal,” Katter said. — AFP

Killing in Nigeria oil hub sparks fears of poll unrest LAGOS: A former militant accused of helping rig elections in Nigeria in 2007 is believed to have been shot dead, police said yesterday, sparking fears of unrest ahead of upcoming polls. Soboma George, also a notorious ex-gangster in Nigeria’s oil hub of Port Harcourt, had signed up to a government amnesty deal only months ago. His suspected killing has likewise led to concerns over the amnesty, which has been credited with bringing relative peace to the oilproducing Niger Delta after years of attacks and kidnappings.

“A man was shot and his body taken away by his assailants. All fingers point to Soboma George,” Rivers state police spokeswoman Rita Abbey told AFP. She said witnesses said that George, the leader of the banned Outlaws group which had terrorised Port Harcourt before the recent amnesty, was the man killed on Tuesday. “Although the police have not seen his corpse we believe he was the one,” Abbey said. She said the man was killed along with a woman as he made his way out of a football field.

Another woman who was seriously wounded in the attack was being treated in hospital.

George was accused of mobilising his followers to help intimidate voters and rig elections in 2007. The next polls are expected in January. He had also been a commander in the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, known as MEND, the country’s most prominent militant group that claimed dozens of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations in recent years. MEND has said it was fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue.

But this isn’t the first time the oil-rich region plagued by gangs and militant attacks thought Soboma died. In 2007, investigators believed George died during a gangland war, burned to death inside a

building. However, he later emerged alive. Locals say he routinely moves through the city in extravagant armored cars without being stopped by police, even though he escaped prison in 2005 while awaiting trial on a murder charge.

George was among more than 20,000 fighters who accepted the amnesty granted by late president Umaru Yar’Adua for Niger Delta “oil rebels” after surrendering their arms between August and October last year. He was among former militants who last year met with Yar’Adua and vice president Goodluck Jonathan - who is now Nigeria’s president - to discuss the situation in the region. “It is a drawback to the peace process, especially for a young man who had embraced the peace, laid down his guns in the interests of the people of the Niger Delta,” said Kingsley Kuku, who represents ex-militants on a presidential amnesty implementation committee.

“The killing will erode the trust and confidence of the people in the peace process.” There have already been warnings that violence could increase ahead of presidential, legislative and state elections slated for January. Jonathan is from the Niger Delta, and he faces pressure to bring an end to the unrest that has played havoc with oil production in the region. He is widely expected to run in the elections, but has not declared his candidacy. “It shows that despite the public display of arms surrender by the militants, there are still a lot of weapons in the region,” said Anyakwee Nsirimovu, head of the Port Harcourtbased Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. “The implication is ominous at a time we are talking of free and fair elections in Nigeria ... What this means is that these gangsters with guns everywhere will be ready tools in the hands of politicians to foment trouble during the elections.”—Agencies

InTernATIOnAL

Thursday, August 26, 2010

9

Argentine president moves to control newsprint BUENOS AIRES: Argentina's president moved Tuesday to take over the nation's only newsprint maker, saying two leading newspapers illegally conspired with dictators to control the company three decades ago and then used it to drive competing media out of business. President Cristina Fernandez said the courts should decide whether the Grupo Clarin and La Nacion media companies should be charged with crimes against humanity - specifically whether the newsprint company was illegally expropriated by the newspapers and the military junta.

The companies, with which Fernandez has been feuding for two years, deny any illegality in the acquisition of the newsprint maker, or other crimes. They accuse Fernandez of baldly trying to control the essential material needed to guarantee freedom of expression in Argentina, a position

supported by the Inter-American Press Association and other press freedom groups. Speaking in a national broadcast, Fernandez said she was defending those rights. She accused Grupo Clarin and La Nacion of using the newsprint company, Papel Prensa SA, to impose media monopolies on Argentina, stifling other viewpoints by refusing to sell paper at fair prices to competitors.

She showed a headline from the opposition Clarin newspaper saying "Who controls Papel Prensa controls the written word," and said she couldn't agree more. "Papel Prensa is the only company that produces newsprint in this country," Fernandez said, "and it's a vertically integrated monopoly. It determines who it sells to, how much it sells and at what price. And so yes, whoever controls it controls the written word in the Republic of Argentina." Fernandez present-

ed the conclusions of a government investigation of Papel Prensa's history and economic activities - some 23,000 pages in all, stacked in large piles on a table beside her podium - and said her human rights secretary would send it to the justice system for consideration of rights charges against owners of the two media companies. She further said she would propose legislation declaring newsprint supply to be a matter of national interest, subject to government regulation that guarantees equal and fair distribution to all of Argentina's newspapers. Papel Prensa sells newsprint to more than 130 clients across the country.

And she said the executive branch would invest to develop enough newsprint domestically to supply all the country's needs.

"This product should not be imported," she said. Since the 1976-83 dictatorship, Papel Prensa has been jointly owned in roughly

three equal shares between Clarin, La Nacion and Argentina's government - now Fernandez's leftist administration that is pushing prosecutions of crimes against humanity committed by the military junta.

Human rights groups, which have a prominent role in the Fernandez government, accuse La Nacion and Clarin of being conspicuously silent about "dirty war" crimes committed against leftists and other opponents of the dictatorship.

Fernandez said the newspapers obtained Papel Prensa through a forced sale in 1976 at a time when the military junta was doing all it could to destroy the company's owner, David Graiver, a prominent banker who was secretly supporting the leftist Montonero guerrillas at the time. Graiver died in a suspicious plane crash, sending his company into bankruptcy and leaving his widow, Lidia Papaleo, and parents to face the dictators.

"And five days after she signed (the papers selling the company), she was detained. And during her detention, she was raped, tortured, beaten in the head. The same luck was suffered by her in-laws and other members of their company," the president said.

"They had been forced to sell - and their detention was delayed so that the buyers could claim they obtained the company in good faith."

The owners of La Nacion and Clarin have denied participating in any crime against humanity, saying that Papaleo freely sold the company to emerge from bankruptcy before beginning her long jail term and that she never formally alleged any forced sale or fraud after Argentina recovered its democracy. "Never, in 27 years of democracy, has Papel Prensa faced an administrative or judicial question about its origin," they said in a joint statement Tuesday before Fernandez's

broadcast.

The brother of Graiver's widow said that she did not plan to comment Tuesday, but that she supports the allegation the newspaper groups conspired with the junta to seize the company. Osvaldo Papaleo said in a radio interviews that his sister hadn't come forward previously out of fear and feels this is the first government to promise her protection. Attorney Alberto Gonzalez Arzac, who helped prepare the report displayed by Fernandez, opened the national address by declaring that the Graivers "suffered death threats, illegal pressure, kidnappings, illegal detention in clandestine places, the seizure of their property and torture." "It has been conclusively verified that the newspapers acted illegally as participants in the transfer of stock, and shows that the truth about Papel Prensa has surfaced in an undeniable manner," he said. — AP

Democrat Meek wins Florida primary race for Senate

McCain wins primary as incumbents face upstarts COPIAPO, Chile: A letter retrieved from trapped miner Mario Gomez, addressed to his wife Lilianette Ramirez, sits on display next to Gomez’ photograph outside the collapsed San Jose mine on Tuesday. – AP

Trapped Chile miners rally around leaders to survive COPIAPO, Chile: Trapped deep beneath the earth, their fate uncertain, the 33 men awaiting rescue at a caved-in Chilean mine have rallied around leaders, including their eldest colleague, 63-year-old Mario Gomez, now a symbol of their resilience. Gomez became an instant hero here after penning the all-capitals, red ink note that gave Chile its first sign that the miners were still alive. "All 33 of us are well inside the shelter," said the note, which was carried to the surface by a drill bit August 22, after two weeks of silence, and was greeted with screams of joy and tears of relief from desperate relatives.

Deep in the collapsed mine, where the men are thought to have taken refuge inside a living roomsized shelter, Gomez is believed to be acting as a mentor and leader to a group that ranges in age from 63 to just 19. Gino Erazo, a miner who worked with Gomez and knows him well, said morale inside the San Jose mine, which caved in August 2, would depend on his old colleague. "He is like a father taking care of his children," he told AFP. Claudio Campillay said his father-in-law Gomez "knows an enormous amount". "They have great respect for his work," he said of the company that owns the mine. "Before he came to work here, they solicited him for months because they knew him."

Gomez's wife Liliana described her husband as a "workaholic" and a life-long miner, who began learning the trade at the age of 12 by his father's side. "I know that he will be their pillar down there," she said. Liliana added that her husband

had sent her an uncharacteristically emotional letter alongside the note he dispatched to the surface announcing the well-being of the miners. "It said that he loves me. I've never received words from him like that, even when we were engaged, he has never been a romantic," she said. "He's a shy, taciturn person, not the type to express his feelings."

As a leader, Gomez was likely to be supported

by Luis Urzua, the shift manager at the time of the cave-in, colleagues and experts said. The pair will have to work to maintain morale and peace among a diverse group of men that spans generations.

Most of the men are between 40 and 63, but eight are in their twenties, and 19-year-old Jimmy Sandez has not even graduated from high school.

The men are Chileans, with the exception of Carlos Mamani, a 24-year-old Bolivian who had worked in the copper and gold mine for just five days before the accident.

Chile's Ministry of Health said Tuesday that two of miners have some medical expertise and would be sent thermometers and blood pressure machines to monitor the health of their colleagues. "This is obviously an immense asset in this situation," Minister Jaime Manalich told reporters. But the roles of calming influences like Gomez and Urzua will also be crucial, according to experts on confinement in extreme conditions.

Michael Siffre, a French scientist and caving expert, told AFP that leaders would emerge to help regulate the group's daily lives and mediate the type of disputes likely to emerge among men trapped for long periods together. —AFP

72 bodies found at Mexican ranch MONTERREY, Mexico: Mexican marines found 72 bodies at a remote ranch near the US border, the navy said yesterday, the biggest single haul of bodies in a worsening drug war.

Marines found the 58 men and 14 women on Tuesday at the ranch outside a town near the Gulf of Mexico in Tamaulipas state, some 150 km from the Texas border, after a firefight with drug hitmen in which three assailants and a marine died, a spokesman for the navy said. A man with a gunshot wound led the navy to the area after calling on marines for help at a checkpoint, and troops came under fire as they neared the ranch, the navy said in a statement.

Marines seized weapons and vehicles at the ranch, but declined to say how long the bodies had been there or how they were killed.

The number of dead is the largest single find in Mexico's 31/2 year assault on the cartels, and follows the discovery of 55 bodies in Guerrero state on the Pacific in May and 51 bodies on the outskirts of Monterrey near Texas in July. Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico's bloodiest drug flashpoint's since the start of the year as rival hitmen from the Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas,

fight over smuggling routes into the United States. Hitmen killed a popular candidate for elections in the state in June, Mexico's worst political killing in 16 years.

The operation, which included military air support, netted one "underage suspect," but the rest of the gunmen who were not killed managed to escape.

The military seized 21 rifles, about 6,600 rounds of ammunition, and four trucks including one bearing Ministry of Defense markings, the navy said. Mass graves have been turning up with increasing frequency in Mexico's drug war. On June 7, 55 bodies were uncovered in a mass grave outside a mine in the southern state of Guerrero, the largest find of its kind in Mexico. On July 23, 51 bodies were found in a residential area on the outskirts of Monterrey, the capital of the northern state of Nuevo Leon. President Felipe Calderon warned on Tuesday that more bloodshed will likely occur as his government continues its campaign to defeat violent drug cartels. More than 28,000 people in Mexico have died in drug violence since Calderon launched his drug fight when he took office in late 2006, worrying investors and Washington. — Agencies

PHOENIX: US Senator John McCain claimed victory in an Arizona primary, easily fending off a challenge seen as a test of the country's anti-incumbent mood as Americans decide in November who controls Congress. The fourterm senator and defeated Republican presidential nominee was well ahead

of congressman and conservative talkshow host J D Hayworth when he gave his victory speech late Tuesday, but his rival waged a serious enough campaign to force the once-moderate McCain to beat a hasty path to the right.

In 10 weeks he squares off against a Democratic challenger. "We all know that this election is not over. We have more than two more months of hard campaigning ahead of us, and I'm sure we will face a spirited challenge from the Democratic Party's nominee," McCain told supporters. Describing the upcoming election as "consequential," McCain said he was "convinced that Republicans will win in November, and we will regain our majorities in both the Senate and the House."

The race was among several primary contests from Florida to Alaska being examined for signs of whether anger at Washington - including mounting frustration with President Barack Obama - will unseat incumbents hoping to win their party's nomination to run for various political offices in the mid-term elections. Several races were pitting oldguard Washington politicians against insurgent candidates, often with significantly more radical views.

In Florida, voters handed victory in the Democratic Senate primary to former congressman Kendrick Meek, who was supported by both Obama and former president Bill Clinton. He staved off a charge by Jeff Greene, a billionaire realestate investor running as an outsider who spent an estimated 20 million dollars on his campaign, suggesting that insurgent challengers could not overcome establishment candidates across the board.

But they did on two key fronts.

Florida's Republican primary was easily won by Marco Rubio, a hardliner whose challenge prompted the one-time frontrunner for the nomination - Governor Charlie Crist - to drop out of the race and register as an independent. Crist's fate had underlined fears among many Republicans that the conservative Tea Party movement, which embraced Rubio, would help oust moderate Republicans from power.

In Florida's governor's race, TeaParty-touted novice Rick Scott, another outsider who spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money, narrowly defeated Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican primary.

"This is a man who took on the entire establishment, and what he had was the people," Scott's political director, Arlene DiBenigno, told the Miami Herald.

People "are tired of the same old thing," she said.

But established politicians handily prevailed in most of the contests despite discontent with Washington. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer cruised to an easy primary victory, defying those who wrote her off as unelectable after a state fiscal crisis by winning massive support for a

PHOENIX: Sen John McCain waves to supporters at an election victory party Tuesday. – AP Rubio insisted Tuesday that Floridians - and Americans in general saw his positions of lower taxes, less government spending, a stronger private sector and US military supremacy as anything but fringe stances. "Our positions are mainstream positions," he told Fox News after his victory. But Florida Democrat Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, while acknowledging that her party would likely lose some seats in the House and Senate but maintain their majorities, said mainstream America was not embracing "far-right" movements. "The Tea Party is essentially strangling the Republican Party," she told CNN. "That's the trend that we're going to be talking about in the 2010 elections."

tough bill targeting illegal immigrants. In the state of Vermont, Senator Patrick Leahy, a 36-year incumbent, easily won the Democratic primary.

But in Alaksa, 10-year Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was locked in a fierce primary battle with upstart Tea Party favorite Joe Miller. With about half of precincts reporting, Miller - backed by Republican dynamo Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee on the 2008 McCain ticket - was enjoying a 52-48 percent advantage over Murkowski. In Arizona, Ben Quayle, the 33-year-old son of former vice president Dan Quayle, was leading a field of 10 Republicans vying for nomination in a Phoenix congressional race. His victory would mark a return to national politics for his family. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

10

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hostage blunders latest black mark on Philippine police MANILA: Blunders in the deadly end of the Philippine’s hostage crisis are just the latest black mark for its police force, which has long been hounded by accusations of torture, murder, corruption and ineptitude.

The bloody conclusion to Monday’s hijacking highlighted a myriad of problems within the much-maligned force of 135,000, according to human rights advocates, the Philippine media and security experts.

“There is something wrong with the national police. It is viewed more as a source of livelihood for the policemen rather than an institution to protect law and order,” human rights lawyer Harry Roque told AFP. The latest tragedy began when an expoliceman hijacked a busload of Hong Kong

tourists, demanding to be reinstated after he was sacked for extortion. After muddled attempts to negotiate his surrender, the rogue policeman began shooting, prompting the police to storm the bus. But it still took more than an hour before they penetrated the vehicle and killed the hostage-taker.

The poor response left eight Hong Kong tourists dead, the police force admitting to making mistakes and a public aghast at how poorly the security personnel performed.

“Someone should have the sense of honour to say: ‘This is a blunder, this is a national shame. I should resign,’ but nobody does,” said Manila-based Augustus Esmeralda, president of Ace and Associates security consultancy firm. The police said in a state-

ment that its mistakes included poor negotiations tactics with hijacker Rolando Mendoza, inadequate equipment for the commandos, allowing the media to roam around the hostage site and bad crowd control. Four policemen who led the bungled assault were yesterday suspended pending an inquiry.

But national police spokesman Superintendent Agrimero Cruz insisted the tidal wave of anger directed at the force was “unfair”. “They are all in the gallery, watching,” he said of the critics. “They should try being in the line of fire and let us see how they react.” Nevertheless, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who is in charge of the police, conceded that the hostage crisis

highlighted many deep-rooted problems, such as lack of proper equipment, training and resources. “It’s a combination of all these factors. All the inadequacies came together,” Robredo told reporters.

Philippine media outlets have also been critical, saying the crisis exposed many of the shortcomings within the force. “(The hostage-taker’s) caper gives added urgency to the need for a thorough housecleaning in the Philippine National Police,” the Philippine Star newspaper said in its editorial yesterday. Roque said one of the force’s biggest problems was corruption. There have been many accounts of prospective recruits paying bribes to join the service, and paying again to get important posts with

the express intention of using their positions to make money, Roque said.

Aside from the corruption, the practice leads to incompetent policemen getting promoted, he said.

“It all ties together,” Roque said. The police force was already under fire a week before the hostage crisis, over a video showing policemen torturing a naked man in a Manila police station. Eleven policemen were suspended after the video was aired on television. Human rights lawyers also say the problem of police shooting suspects deliberately is a major concern, with the practice so prevalent that it has its own term - “rub out”.

The national human rights commission is

currently investigating the case of a car thief who apparently died in custody after what police said was a shootout in Manila this month. Initial tests indicated the suspect had not been armed. Over 60 policemen are also accused of complicity in the massacre of 57 people in the southern province of Maguindanao in November last year in the worst case of political violence in the country’s history.

Human Rights Watch’s representative in the Philippines, Jessica Evans, said there was a “culture of impunity” among uniformed men who feel they are not accountable. “A police force that feels it can break the law and not be accountable is going to have problems in general,” she said.— AFP

Philippines probes botched bus rescue Police officers suspended • Survivors, deceased return to HK MANILA: Commanders of a botched rescue of a hijacked Philippine tourist bus have been ordered on leave and weapons from the raid tested to determine responsibility for the deaths of eight hostages, police said yesterday.

President Benigno Aquino said the SWAT team’s slow-motion attempts to

storm the bus, broadcast live around the world by TV networks, had left him exasperated, but defended his management of the crisis. “There was an expectation that the appropriate forces would be utilised for this, who have been trained,” Aquino told reporters. “This thing shouldn’t have happened.”

HONG KONG: A mother cries over the body of her son, a hostage crisis victim repatriated on a charter flight from Manila, at the airport in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP

HK Filipinos fear hostage backlash HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Filipino community, which includes legions of vulnerable household helpers, yesterday voiced fears of retribution following the bloody end to a hostage drama in Manila. The main Filipino labour union said there had been at least one sacking of a maid by a Hong Kong employer angry over the siege in which an ex-policeman seized a busload of Hong Kong tourists on Monday. The hijacking triggered a 12hour standoff that ended in a bloodbath following a chaotic assault on the bus by Philippine police, leaving eight Hong Kong tourists dead. “This (sacking) is directly related to this incident,” Eman Villanueva, vice chairman of the Filipino Migrant

Workers’ Union, told a news conference without giving further details.

There are as many as 200,000 Filipinos living in the southern Chinese city, the vast majority of them female maids working for low wages, and some have complained of being threatened or harassed, labour groups said. “(Helpers) can be sacked without explanation under Hong Kong labour law,” Elizabeth Tang, chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, told reporters. “That’s why we’re worried about people venting their anger and frustration against domestic helpers.”

Several protests have been held at the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong since

Monday, with some angry activists shouting at diplomatic staff. About 70,000 people have signed on to a Facebook page set up by the Hong Kong government for citizens to mourn the hostage victims. Many of the messages are respectful. But the Internet is also awash with abuse of Filipinos. “I have already told my Filipino maid to find another job. I have decided to hire a local Hong Kong granny or a new immigrant from mainland China to be my domestic helper,” Angel Hong wrote on the Facebook memorial page. Raine Can wrote: “I will never again go to the Philippines. I will also ask my children and grandchildren not to go to this country!!!” — AFP

Arms dealer’s extradition delayed BANGKOK: Thailand said yesterday that the extradition to the United States of an alleged Russian arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death” has been delayed because of legal complications. Police had said on Tuesday that Viktor Bout, who faces terrorism charges, would be escorted from jail yesterday by 50 commandos to a Bangkok airport, where US authorities have sent a private jet to fly him out. But Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the extradition - which is strongly opposed by Russia - would not take place yesterday after all. “There are several steps in the legal process,” he told reporters.

“The US must understand that not all the legal procedures have been completed yet and ... there should not be any kind of pressure,” he added. “It’s got nothing to do with how long the plane is parked there.” Bout, said to have inspired the Hollywood film “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage, has been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest after a Bangkok sting operation involving US agents posing as Colombian rebels.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the United States on charges including conspiracy to kill US nationals and to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.

Bout rejects the charges and says that he ran a legitimate air cargo business. He was visited yesterday by his wife, Alla, who criticised the extradition plan. “I am worried because I am losing my husband. I do not know for how many years, maybe for all my life,” she told AFP outside the prison. “It is a purely human

Viktor Bout thing. He means a lot to me because he is my life. I am not interested in other questions, because I know my husband is right, and I don’t know how long this show trial, this kangaroo court, will last in America.”

A Thai appeals court on Friday ordered the extradition of the 43-year-old former Soviet air force pilot, who is said to speak six languages and go by at least seven different aliases. But the process has been held up because of new charges of money-laundering and fraud announced by US prosecutors in February this year, with another court hearing in Thailand set for Oct 4. Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister in charge of national security,

said the Thai Criminal Court would have to drop proceedings relating to the new US charges before he can be handed over to the United States. “There are new charges that the United States filed and they are still in court, so the prosecutor has to seek court approval to drop them and we don’t know what the court’s decision will be,” he told reporters.

He confirmed that the United States had already sent an aircraft which was waiting to pick up Bout, but he said Thailand would not be influenced by outside pressure. “The government will not put our country at risk to play a game of international politics. There is no benefit for our country to gamble with the fate of only one man,” he said. Washington, which has described Bout as “one of the world’s most prolific arms traffickers,” had lobbied hard for his extradition, summoning the Thai ambassador last week to emphasise it was of “the highest priority”. “We look forward to seeing him in a US court,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Tuesday.

Moscow for its part has voiced “extreme disappointment” about the planned extradition, saying the decision was politically motivated. Bout allegedly agreed to supply millions of dollars of weapons to undercover US agents in Thailand posing as rebels from Colombia’s Marxist FARC group, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation. US prosecutors allege he agreed to the sale with the understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack United States helicopters. — AFP

The kidnapper, a disgruntled ex-policeman, was shot dead by police and eight of the hostages were also killed - either by the gunman or in the rescue prompting anger in China and Hong Kong and demands for a thorough investigation. The crisis is seen as an early test of Aquino’s leadership, which was questioned before his election win in May given a lacklustre political career, and his low profile during the crisis - Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said he could not get his call returned on Monday - has drawn criticism.

Aquino, who rang Tsang on Tuesday, had said he had monitored the situation but was also dealing other issues. He also said he had been advised not to be seen reacting to the hostagetaker, and had thought it best to leave experts to handle the crisis.

“You had others who were grandstanding, others who became talking heads without the necessary knowledge, without even thinking through the impact of their statements, and I wanted to set an example to everybody,” Aquino said.

Yesterday was declared a day of mourning in the Philippines, and the survivors, relatives of the victims, and the victims’ bodies were returning to Hong Kong on an evening flight. One of the injured will remain in intensive care in Manila and another will be transported home on a medivac plane, said Hong Kong Undersecretary for Security T K Lai. The rest flew home aboard a chartered Cathay Pacific plane together with the eight coffins, which were loaded onto the aircraft after a Buddhist ceremony and a send-off by a Philippine navy honor guard.

Police said three of the dead were Canadian citizens. Hong Kong had said they were residents of the territory. Thousands of Hong Kong residents sought alternate nationality before the former British territory was returned to China’s control in 1997.

All 200 members of the SWAT team have been ordered to submit their weapons for ballistic testing, Philippine National Police spokesman Agrimero Cruz told a news briefing. “We don’t see any fault yet on the part of the SWAT team leaders but they were ordered relieved administratively so they cannot influence the outcome of the investigation.

That’s a standard practice,” Cruz said. Chief Superintendent Rodolofo Magtibay, the head of police in the area of the capital where the bloody siege took place, had taken responsibility and also offered to stand aside, Cruz said.

Authorities have also been criticized for failing to prevent Mendoza’s brother, Gregorio, who is also a policeman, from intervening in the negotiations.

“He wasn’t even cleared when he entered the scene,” Aquino said of Gregorio, who has been charged with obstruction of justice. “When he entered, they discovered he was armed.” Police officials said Gregorio urged his brother not to continue the talks unless authorities returned Gregorio’s firearm, which was confiscated from him during the standoff. Gregorio then threw a tantrum in front of TV cameras, which were broadcasting the daylong drama live, apparently prompting his brother to start shooting.—Agencies

PYONGYANG: Former US President Jimmy Carter (front right) shakes hands with North Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan at the airport yesterday. — AP

Carter arrives in North Korea on rescue mission SEOUL: Former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea yesterday on what is believed to be a mission to win the release of an American serving eight years of hard labour in the communist state. Carter, on a rare trip by a Western dignitary, was greeted at an official ceremony at Pyongyang airport by North Korean vice foreign minister and nuclear envoy Kim KyeGwan, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The Nobel peace laureate may leave Pyongyang today with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an African-American who was jailed in April for illegally crossing into the North from China, the South’s Munhwa Ilbo newspaper reported.

Kim Yong-Nam, the North’s number two leader and nominal head of state, had a “cordial” talk with Carter before arranging a reception for his party at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse, KCNA said. Washington has neither confirmed nor denied reports of Carter’s mission, which comes at a time of high tensions on the peninsula following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March with the loss of 46 lives.

Carter, now 86, made a landmark visit to Pyongyang in 1994 when the United States came close to war with North Korea over its nuclear program. He helped defuse the crisis through talks with then-leader Kim Il-Sung. “This visit will help defuse tensions and create an atmosphere conducive to resuming dialogue between the North and the United States,” Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. Carter’s trip comes as China is pushing to resume stalled six-party talks on dismantling the North’s nuclear program. Chinese nuclear envoy Wu Dawei will visit Seoul today after making a trip to Pyongyang last week. The North quit the talks,

also involving South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, in April 2009 in protest at the UN’s condemnation of an apparent long-range missile test. Carter is said to be travelling as a private citizen, similar to the mission by former president Bill Clinton last year when he secured the release of Americans Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two television journalists who were jailed after wandering across the North Korean border with China. Carter’s private jet flew into Pyongyang after making a brief stop at a US military base in Japan for refuelling, Yonhap said, adding that he was accompanied by his wife and Carter Center president John Hardman.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said Tuesday he would not comment “on anything that could have a negative impact on any private humanitarian mission that might be happening”.

“We obviously think that Mr Gomes should be released. There will be more information on that in the future.” The United States has repeatedly voiced concern about the health of Gomes, whom two American doctors and a US consular official visited earlier this month in a Pyongyang hospital.

They were unable to secure his release.

Gomes, a 30-year-old former English teacher in South Korea and reportedly a devout Christian, was arrested in January. He was sentenced in April and fined the equivalent of $700,000. His motivation for entering North Korea remains unclear. In Seoul, Gomes had joined rallies denouncing the North’s dismal human rights record. KCNA said in July that Gomes had tried to commit suicide and was being treated in a hospital. He was “driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the US government that has not taken any measure for his freedom,” it said. —AFP

Safety questions swirl after China plane crash BEIJING: Investigators yesterday sifted through the charred wreckage of a Brazilian-made Chinese airliner for clues on why it crashed while trying to land in heavy fog, killing 42 people and injuring 54. The government promised a thorough but speedy probe into China’s first major air disaster in nearly six years, amid reports of past technical problems with the model of jet involved - a twin-engine ERJ-190 made

by Brazil’s Embraer. Survivors of the crash in a remote part of northeast China late Tuesday described terrifying jolts before the Henan Airlines domestic flight slammed into the ground, leaving a long trail of crumpled metal burning in the dark.

The black box flight data recorders were recovered near Lindu airport in the northeast city of Yichun where the Henan ERJ-190, which was carrying 91 passengers and five crew, crashed. The Beijing Youth Daily reported that a bigger airline, China Southern, suspended all night flights in and out of Lindu airport in Sept 2009 - just days after the facility opened for business - because of safety concerns. An official from the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) said the black boxes would be sent to Beijing for analysis, but added it was “hard to say” when the results would be available.

Officials were hoping to glean information from the recorders and from the plane’s captain, who survived the crash but was so far unable to speak due to severe facial injuries, Xinhua news agency reported.

The city’s Communist party chief Xu Zhaojun said the captain had communicated with air traffic controllers shortly before the crash, saying he could “see lights on the runway and was ready for landing,” Xinhua reported. Lindu airport - located in a forested

area about nine kilometres outside Yichun - was closed yesterday and all Henan Airlines flights grounded for the day, Xinhua said. “The plane really started to jolt in a scary way - the plane jolted five or six times very strongly,” one male survivor told China Central Television from his hospital bed, describing scenes of panic as passengers tried to escape. A second male survivor interviewed by CCTV - his head bandaged and his nose bloodied also said he felt a “big jolt” as the plane was coming in to land and heard “big crashes - bam bam bam”.

Rescuers yesterday transferred the victims’ bodies wrapped in silver bags to funeral homes for identification, Xinhua said. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited the survivors in local hospitals, many of whom reportedly suffered broken bones, and “demanded a quick investigation” into the cause of the crash, Xinhua said. State television said a preliminary probe had ruled out any intentional wrongdoing, as well as any mid-air explosions or fires.

Provincial police said visibility was less than 300 m at the time of the crash due to heavy fog.

Xinhua said Chinese carriers using ERJ-190s had previously reported technical problems, and that the CAAC called a workshop in June 2009 to discuss the issues. Notes from the meeting - which involved Kunpeng Airlines, as Henan Airlines was previously known -showed that broken turbine plates and flight control system errors were among the problems, Xinhua said. Henan Airlines has grounded three of the four other ERJ-190s it operates on other routes until further notice, China National Radio said, adding that the crashed plane was only two years old. —AFP

InTernATIOnAL

Thursday, August 26, 2010

11

Myanmar parties struggle for candidates in 'sham' vote PAKOKKU, Myanmar: With undercover police lurking nearby, breakaway opposition leader Than Nyein pleaded in vain with local democracy activists to contest army-ruled Myanmar's first election in 20 years.

Standing up to the junta is fraught with risk, and with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi supporting a boycott, a splintered opposition is struggling to find enough people willing to stand for parliament in the Nov 7 vote. "If we want to see change sooner, we have to build confidence between (the ruling generals) and us," said Than Nyein, chairman of the National Democratic Force (NDF), formed by ex-members of Suu Kyi's nowdefunct party.

"We have to see them and talk," he told a group of supporters of Suu Kyi, who has said

she would "never accept" her party registering for the upcoming vote because the election laws were "unjust".

Than Nyein failed to persuade his audience, who vowed to stay loyal to the Nobel Peace laureate. "We respect you, but we have different opinions," said Hlaing Aye, who was among those elected in 1990 under Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide opposition victory that was voided by the junta. "We would like to maintain unity within the NLD. The important thing is to keep a family spirit among us," added Hlaing Aye, chairman of the NLD branch in the town of Pakokku in central Myanmar.

Suu Kyi's backing of a boycott has led to a split in the opposition between those who

support her defiant stance and others who see the vote as the only hope for progress in the autocratic nation. The November election has been widely condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at cementing army rule. One quarter of the parliamentary seats are reserved for the military whatever the outcome.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero General Aung San, has spent much of the past 20 years in detention and is barred from standing in the vote because she is a serving prisoner. As a result of her party's boycott, it has been abolished by the junta. Adding to the reborn opposition's woes, it faces time constraints, intimidation and financial challenges - candidates must pay a fee of about 500 dollars,

the equivalent of several months' wages for most people.

Than Nyein said the NDF had so far recruited about 100 candidates, though 498 seats are available in the two-chamber national parliament, not to mention the places on offer in planned regional legislatures. "Our priority is to nominate candidates," Than Nyein told AFP during a fiveday trip around the country to search for people willing to stand, with plain-clothes police following close behind. It has been more than two years since Myanmar's junta first announced plans to hold elections sometime in 2010, but the regime only gave the NDF permission to participate last month.

After finally announcing the date of the

polls, the authorities gave parties little more than two weeks to register candidates by Aug 30. So far 42 parties have been given permission to run, but many constituencies are expected to be won uncontested by the junta's main proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

"The opposition parties are facing serious barriers at the moment," said a Western diplomat in Yangon who did not want to be named. "You've got a combination of financial and time constraints as well as unfair pressure. They're also up against the juggernaut of the USDP, which is a government party with unlimited financing as far as we can make out."

The USDP, headed by Prime Minister Thein Sein, has its roots in the Union

Solidarity and Development Association, a pro-junta organisation with up to 27 million members, many of them coerced to join, according to rights groups. At least one opposition party, The Democratic Party (Myanmar), has complained of intimidation of its members by security personnel, as well as financial difficulties.

"The election commission law has so many restrictions," said senior party member Than Than Nu, whose father was Myanmar's first prime minister after the country was liberated from British rule in 1948. "Because the security officials pressure the people, they dare not come forward to stand," she told AFP, adding that her party expects to put forward about 100 candidates, though it had hoped for 1,000. — AFP

Afghan policeman shot after killing three Spaniards

Afghans protest against Spanish after shootout SHAHADKOT, Pakistan: In this picture taken Tuesday, Pakistani residents stand on their property which is surrounded by floodwaters near Thul in Sindh province. – AP

Pakistan rich and famous lead private flood efforts ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's rich and famous are leading a groundswell of private aid for the 20 million victims of the country's worst ever floods amid rising distrust of the government's own efforts. Circumventing an administration maligned as corrupt and bogged down in bureaucracy and infighting, Pakistan's private donors are turning to cricketers, pop stars and business leaders to help the desperate and displaced. An official prime minister's relief fund had collected $17.5 million by Saturday. In contrast, Pakistan's best-known charity, the "Edhi Foundation", will spend more than 35.5 million dollars of private donations, said its founder, 82-year-old Abdul Sattar Edhi.

As Pakistan faces a critical risk of yet more flooding in the next couple of days in its fertile southern plains, many of those who have escaped the barrage of water are handing over cash and supplies to wellknown popular figures. Pakistani teenagers' favourite, pop singer Shahzad Roy, said he was forced to act when donations came flooding his way from those wanting to help without going through official channels. So far his team have distributed 5,000 litres of milk, 40,000 litres of water, 4,000 ready meals and installed water purification systems in camps set up to house the five million made homeless by the month-long disaster, he said. "There has been a huge response from the public. I receive calls to collect relief goods every second. I don't know why the government isn't receiving aid," said the 31-year-old pinup. The cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan staged a five-hour televised phone-in on Sunday with private TV network "Geo" that raised 65 million rupees ($760,000) and was attended by Pakistan's leading showbiz stars. "We will establish a supply line

of hundreds and thousands of trucks to the affected areas," said 57-year-old Khan. "I take responsibility for all the donations. Not a single penny will be misused," he said, in a thinly-veiled jab at the government's reputation for financial mismanagement.

The National Disaster Management Authority, in charge of relief operations, said that most wanted to give directly, with many dropping off blankets, clothes and even cash at roadside collection points in major cities. "People and private organisations have shown a willingness to provide relief goods worth millions of rupees, but the majority of them want to distribute it themselves," said Idrees Masood, the agency's director.

Flood survivors camping out in miserable conditions under the increasing threat of water-borne disease have staged spontaneous demonstrations, shutting some highways in protest at what they see as a lacklustre official response. Pakistan's media has added to the furore, with chat shows and newspaper editorials highlighting the anger triggered when President Asif Ali Zardari failed to return from an expensive European trip at the height of the crisis.

The business community has also chosen to handle its own relief efforts.

In the southern city of Karachi, the local Chamber of Commerce has set up its own relief champ housing 5,000 people and funded with $120,000 so far, its president Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad told AFP. In the eastern Punjab, Lahore Chamber of Commerce has donated food and drinking water worth nearly 240,000 dollars, while its equivalent business body in the capital Islamabad said it would construct 100 village shelters for the homeless. — AFP

Violent politics wreck Bangladesh campus life DHAKA: History student Abubakar Siddique, 21, was in his dormitory room on Dhaka University's campus in February when a sharp object flew through a window and dealt him a deadly blow on the back of the head. Siddique, a farm labourer's son who dreamt of being a teacher, was one of 10 students to have died in savage clashes between rival student groups since late 2008, and hundreds more have been injured. "A huge fight broke out in the dining hall, the police arrived and were firing teargas to break it up," said student Shafiqul Islam, a childhood friend of Siddique, describing the night he was fatally injured. "I don't know what killed him - a teargas shell, a brick maybe. He wasn't involved in student politics, he just worked hard, he wanted to be top of the class," said Islam.

Bangladesh has a long and often proud history of student politics. Dhaka University, the country's largest and most respected institute with some 30,000 students, was at the heart of the struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

But now at the university, everything from getting a dorm bed to enrolling in a decent course is run by student political bodies. "Student politics has become so polluted in Bangladesh that it is now working against the students' interests," Serajul Islam Choudhury, professor emeritus at Dhaka University, told AFP. "There is no idealism, this is about greed. Student political leaders make money from extortion, from selling tenders, they control the student accommodation, the canteen," he said.

All three of Bangladesh's main political parties have strong student wings, which they fund and allegedly arm with swords and even old guns. In return for providing a ready reserve of young rioters when needed, the political parties allow their respective student wings to make money from their control of the university education system, Choudhury said. Following the Awami League's Dec 2008 landslide election victory, their student wing - the Chhatra league - has been fighting to reassert its supremacy on campus.

The clash that killed Siddique started when

rival factions of the Chhatra League began attacking each other, police said. All the student wings have the power to shut down Dhaka University's campus if they call a strike, and can cancel examinations - which delays the graduation of tens of thousands of students. Now, Chhatra League leaders act like "gangsters" on campus, students say, eating at campus canteens for free, keeping the best student accommodation for themselves and harassing professors or students who oppose them.

Many of the student leaders are in their 30s and 40s, and they continue to enrol in the same courses without ever graduating. "Sometimes I feel like a stray dog, many Chhatra League leaders live alone in a four-bed dorm room," said one Dhaka University student, who requested anonymity to avoid reprisals. "We must pick sides in order to access basic services." The student, who reads political science, said he only got accommodation when he agreed to join JCD, the student wing of then-ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

After a year living in a small mosque alongside another 70 students, he was then forced to change allegiance when the Chhatra League took control of the campus to get a place in a five-bed dorm room. "Often, we come to class but the main gates to the lecture hall will be barred to stop us attending classes - then we have to participate in their political programs," he said. "I dreamed of coming to university, I was so happy, I felt so lucky to be accepted but when I got here my dream just shattered," he said. Some 90 percent of Dhaka University's students come from the countryside and need help with accommodation and living costs in Dhaka, vice chancellor Arefin Siddique told AFP. "It is very detrimental to their studies if they have nowhere to sleep, no decent meals, if their classes are cancelled, if they are forced to pick a side - or worst, if they become a victim of this violence," he said. The university administration was working to improve service delivery for students, he said, but it was a slow process.— AFP

HERAT: Hundreds of angry Afghans tried to storm a small NATO base in the far northwest yesterday after a shootout left three Spaniards and an Afghan police trainee dead, officials said. The Afghan policeman killed two Spanish paramilitary police officers and a Spanish interpreter during a training session at the base in the province of Badghis before he was himself shot dead, Afghan and Spanish authorities said.

Hundreds of Afghan men then tried to over-run the Spanishadministered base in protest at the killing of the local officer, in an incident that left more than two dozen men injured, police and doctors said.

"We have 25 people admitted to our hospitals. Some of them suffer from bullet wounds, others from injuries caused by rocks and sticks," Abdul Aziz Tareq, the provincial public health chief said. Television footage showed crowds of angry men in turbans and shalwar kameez throwing rocks at the front gate of the base. "In a class, one of the students apparently opened fire on the two Civil Guard policemen and the interpreter, who was also Spanish, and killed all three," Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told local radio. "The security forces in turn repulsed the attack, fired on the assailant and killed him."

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to which the officers were assigned, said two of its service members, along with a civilian and an Afghan police officer were killed in what it called a "shooting incident".

"The cause of the shooting incident is still unclear," it said in a statement. Citing "reports" it said an Afghan police officer had fired at his trainers before he was killed in return fire.

Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, a police spokesman for western Afghanistan, told AFP that the shooting erupted after an argument between the Spanish and Afghan police during the training session. He said hundreds of residents tried to storm the base in the provincial capital Qal-i-Naw in protest at the death of the trainee, before Afghan police, the army and Western troops dispersed the crowd. "Three youths were injured during the demonstrations," he said. ISAF issued a statement saying that "a demonstration occurred near the camp where the shooting happened".

Afghan police officers and army soldiers have been behind several attacks in recent months in which they have targeted their Western counterparts. In July an Afghan police officer killed three British Gurkhas in the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency. After killing the Gurkhas the officer fled amid reports suggesting he had joined the Taleban, though this could not be confirmed.

Spain currently has 1,555 troops serving in ISAF, part of a 141,000-strong US-led NATO force deployed in Afghanistan to battle a Taliban-led insurgency nearing the end of its ninth year. With the latest deaths the number of NATO-led and US soldiers killed in Afghan violence this year reached to 462, excluding the Spanish civilian interpreter. The Spanish contingent runs a US-led civilmilitary operation known as a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the poverty-stricken province. — AFP

HERAT: An Afghan family rides on a motorbike in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday. – AP

Nepal struggles amid political turmoil KATHMANDU: A power battle that has left Nepal's political system in limbo for months has also frozen efforts to solidify peace, write a constitution and push ahead with development in this desperately poor nation. With no one in charge, plans to build badly needed rural roads, increase electricity generation in power-starved cities and move ahead on constructing Nepal's first rail line have all sat untouched. Demands for new police officers to help fight rising crime have also gone unfilled.

"People are suffering. The monsoon rain has washed away roads, but repairs are not being done," said Sita Sharma, a government office worker in Katmandu, the capital.

Since resigning in June, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and his cabinet have been running a caretaker administration, attending to little more than the most urgent functions of government.

None of the political parties has a majority in parliament. The former insurgents in the Maoist party say they should form the government since they have the most seats,

but they have been unable to forge a coalition with the Marxist party or the Nepali Congress Party. On Monday, parliament failed in its fifth attempt to elect a new prime minister. The political standoff has led many to lose faith with the leaders they backed during 2006 street protests that ousted a centuries-old monarchy and turned this Himalayan nation into a republic.

"They were supposed to bring the nation out of misery, instead they are so busy trying to grab power while the nation slides toward more chaos," said Ram Shrestha, an engineer. The government is unable to do much more than pay government workers and continue work on established projects, because the annual budget has been delayed by the political paralysis, said Bal Krishna Khad, a minister in the caretaker government.

"Development work has come to a complete halt," said Shreekant Regmi, an independent analyst, who fears the deadlock could turn the country into a failed state.

Nepal is in desperate need of new infra-

structure. Katmandu endures hours of electricity cuts every day, because the hydroelectric power plants cannot meet demand.

Residents get drinking water for only two hours every three days from a governmentrun utility.

Tulsi Sitaula, a top official at the transport ministry, says a program to repair hundreds of roads and highways and to build new ones has fallen victim to the dispute. The peace process, which brought the Maoist insurgents into mainstream politics in 2006, has also stalled. Thousands of former rebels are still living in UN-run camps, awaiting a government decision to integrate them into the national army or try to return them to civilian life. Lawmakers also failed to meet a May 2010 dateline to write a new constitution aimed at cementing the peace. After giving themselves a one-year extension, they have made little progress. Businesses are hesitant to invest, because they have no indication what the future government's financial policies will be, said Kebal Raymajhi, a business executive. — AP

India points to rise of 'saffron terror' NEW DELHI: India's home minister warned yesterday that Hindu extremists posed an increasing risk to national security, dubbing the threat as "saffron terror". The colour saffron is associated with Hindu nationalism in India, and some rightwing groups have been linked to militant attacks in the north and west of the country.

However, most major recent attacks, including those in Mumbai in 2008 during which 166 people died, have been blamed on Islamists. "We have recently uncovered a new phenomenon of 'saffron terror' and I ask you to be vigilant," P Chidambaram told an annual meeting of police chiefs in New Delhi.

Hardline regional parties like the Shiv Sena, which is based in Mumbai, vow to defend Hindu rights in India, but deny they are behind any violent militant activity.

Chidambaram also warned that the government faced a lengthy battle to defeat India's worsening Maoist insurgency in eastern and central states. Maoist attacks have risen with scores of police and soldiers killed in ambushes since Chidambaram launched a nationwide security offensive last year.

"The people of India understand that the conflict will be a long-drawn one, that patience is the key, that mistakes will be made and that the security forces need material and moral support," he said. India has almost doubled its homeland security budget to 405 billion rupees (nine billion dollars) since 2008-2009, he added. The Maoist rebels say they fight against federal and state authorities on behalf of landless tribal groups and poor farmers who have been left behind by economic development. — AFP

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri women shout anti-India slogans at the funeral of Umar Qayoom, 13, yesterday. – AFP

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US struggles with image in Pakistan

By Foster Klug

US

efforts to help Pakistani flood victims will give America's image there a boost, but not much of one. The US reputation in a country the Obama administration sees as crucial to defeating the Taleban and Al-Qaeda already is so tarnished that even millions of dollars from Washington and the work of US soldiers and diplomats probably will do little to change the thinking of most Pakistanis. After all, US flood aid is a small portion of the billions of American dollars that have been shipped to Pakistan since the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States.

All that money, apparently, has done little to impress. A recent Pew Foundation poll found nearly six in 10 Pakistanis viewed the United States as an enemy; only one in 10 called it a partner. Still, the Obama administration does not have the option of doing nothing. The US interest in helping goes beyond easing the suffering of the more than 17 million people affected by the floods. Washington also wants Pakistan's weak civilian government to succeed so that it does not lose ground to the aid work of Muslim charity groups associated with militants.

Making sure the pro-US government looks good, or at least competent, is important to the

Obama administration as it encourages Pakistan in its fight against militants operating along the border with Afghanistan, where the United States is fighting a 9-year-old war. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said Tuesday during a visit to Pakistan that the country will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding.

The Pakistan government says about $800 million in international emergency aid has been committed or pledged so far. But there are worries internationally about how the money will be spent by the government, which has a reputation for inefficiency and corruption.

Robert Hathaway, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Asia program, warns against expecting US aid to immediately turn around the deep distrust many Pakistanis feel toward America. "This relationship has a lot of baggage, and it will take an incredible amount of hard work over many years really to rebuild," Hathaway said.

Many in Pakistan see the United States as interested more in killing insurgents than in helping the country's poor.

Past US support for former Gen Pervez Musharraf and other military rulers has fueled a perception that Washington cares little about Pakistan's democracy. —AP

Somalia's attack tests peacemakers' resolve

By William Maclean

T

he presence of foreign troops in Somalia allows Al-Qaeda-linked militants to pose as nationalist champions with a mandate for the kind of devastating attacks Mogadishu witnessed on Tuesday. So say critics of African Union (AU) peackeepers, who argue the outside world should disengage militarily from a nation whose fractious clans often close ranks against outsiders. A pullout would deprive the Al-Qaeda-linked AlShabaab of a foreign enemy whose presence has earned the group recruits and financial support at home and in the large Somali diaspora. In the withdrawal's wake, the Islamist group would soon be destroyed by rival clans rushing to resume a long power struggle in the Horn of Africa nation, which has lacked a government for two decades, these Western and Somali commentators say.

Critics of the 6,300-strong AU peacekeeping force aired these arguments again following Tuesday's audacious al Shabaab attack on a hotel in Mogadishu that killed at least 31 people. The force's defenders tend to reply that these assertions are simplistic, and that Al Shabaab, which has succeeded in recruiting hundreds of foreign fighters and imposed a harsh version of Islamic rule, will not be so easily quashed. They note it holds central and southern swathes of the country and many districts of the capital, and is a sometimes astute player of Somalia's complex clan politics.

NO MILITARY SOLUTION The attack was the second major operation in as many months by the group, following a bomb attack on the Ugandan capital Kampala last month that killed more than 70 people and was the first by Somalia's Islamist rebels on foreign soil. Critics argue that the AU- and Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) the troops are there to defend is simply not worth it. It is widely seen as corrupt, incompetent and lacking both legitimacy and popular support.

Bronwyn Bruton, a governance specialist with the US Council on Foreign Relations, calls the approach "constructive disengagement" and says there is no military solution. "Attempts to meddle only make things worse," she said. She and other critics say the TFG is a lost cause, and lament an agreement by African leaders to send an extra 4,000 peacekeepers to Somalia in the wake of the Kampala blasts.

"More danger and disaster looms," said another critic, Abdi Samatar, of the University of Minnesota. He said a bigger AU force would help if there was a legitimate and competent government but this was not on the cards for now.

"The agenda of increasing boots on the ground may have the unintended effect of increasing support for Shabaab," said Laura Hammond of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. The AU's supporters reply that pulling out troops will not automatically make AlShabaab go away. —Reuters

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

Pakistan cotton crop failure hands opportunity to India

By Salil Panchal

P

akistan's devastating floods may have destroyed up to a fifth of the country's cotton crop, analysts say, handing an opportunity to exporters in neighboring India who are eyeing the shortfall. Indian producers will seek to take advantage of a government decision last week to lift a ban on exports to help meet demand from Pakistan's textile industry. The restriction was imposed in April to keep domestic prices down. Armed with a bumper crop after a good monsoon, Indian groups are expected to begin exporting to Pakistan from October.

"We are 100 percent ready to meet Pakistan's appetite," said Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India, whose members include more than 400 leading cotton growers, ginners and exporters.

Pakistan's textile sector, which accounts for 60 percent of the country's exports, is likely to be hit due to damage to the cotton crop, which could be 20 percent below usual, according to analysts. "Large fields of cotton have been washed away by the floods," said Ibrahim Mughal, analyst with Pakistan's independent Agri Forum organization.

"We will be short of about three million bales, which will burden our already fragile economy by at least one billion dollars," Mughal said. The worst natural disaster in the country's history has already affected 20 million people in nearly a month of flooding and left 1,500 dead by official count.

Five million people have been made

homeless across the country, but that figure could surge if the swollen Indus river, whose fast-moving waters are piling pressure on sagging embankments, continues to fill up.

The flooding in Pakistan may result in agricultural losses of nearly three billion dollars, its agriculture ministry has said, with the main farming region of Punjab particularly damaged. "We have been importing cotton from India for the past few years now and should do the same now when we face a huge crisis," said A B Shahid, an independent economist based in Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the main importers of cotton from India, which is the second largest producer of the crop worldwide after China.

Some mills are already calling for "regulated" exports, however, fearing a spurt in demand from Pakistan could send prices soaring in India. "India should export only surplus. If the government does not regulate exports, the situation may get out of hand," said IG Duria, corporate general manager with the Punjab-based Vardhman group, a leading mill. Cotton prices are at a peak for the year, up by 12 percent in August compared to levels last month. Analysts forecast India will produce nearly 32 million bales of cotton in 2010-11, against 28 million bales in 2009-10. Farm output is expected to rise in India owing to plentiful monsoon rains-a great relief to hundreds of millions of Indian farmers who struggled with the weakest rains in 37 years in 2009.

Indian inflation, after hitting double figures earlier this year because of high food prices, is now in decline, but

is still the highest of the Group of 20 nations at 9.97 percent. "Exports may be capped if September rains hurt the crop," said Mehul Agrawal, agri-commodities analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Sharekhan. Earlier this

month, India offered five million dollars in flood aid to Pakistan, which Islamabad said was a "very welcome initiative". India and Pakistan have taken steps to improve a problematic relationship that was strained by the

2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which India blamed on militants from Pakistan. The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since partition of the subcontinent after the end of British rule in 1947. — AFP

Vedanta row puts environment in India policy focus

By Krittivas Mukherjee

I

ndia's decision to reject UK-based Vedanta's plans to mine bauxite points to tighter enforcement of environment laws, a commitment to playing by the rules rather than a political campaign against mega-corporations. In a landmark decision on Tuesday, the environment ministry blocked Vedanta's mining project in eastern Orissa state because the forest-hills it would have destroyed are intertwined with the lives and livelihoods of local primitive tribes. It was a stunning victory for a four-year-long global campaign for the Dongria Kondh tribe against a giant mining firm that has been pitchforked into India's debate over environmental laws.

It also infused life into the environment ministry with its maverick minister, Jairam Ramesh, whose tussle with his cabinet colleagues on clearing forests for mining and roads underlines India's struggle for sustainable growth. "What Jairam Ramesh is doing is saying if you have to do business here play it by the rule, no sidetracking environment, no backdoor, which is a good thing," said R K Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund. "The clear signal to overseas investors is that you can not take environmental clearance for granted.

Things will not be done as they used to be in the past. This is course correction." Commentators point out that thousands of factories get built in India every year and the government has clearly encouraged industrial projects - evidence analysts say that the ruling Congress party is not anti-development.

HERO OR VILLAIN? Ramesh's stand in a country focused on development and raring to take the global high table has meant he is also scoffed at by some as an inflexible "green fundamentalist". For years, the environmental ministry was seen as rubber-stamping projects. But Ramesh has scrapped or delayed clearance for some

100 mining projects, including those backed by South Korea's POSCO, drawing protests that he is hurting development in a nation short of power and raw materials. A second airport in Mumbai is caught in the environment debate as are dozens of road and dam projects.

Ramesh has also cracked down on illegal mining, often done with help from local politicians, and brought more accountability in a sector that had minimal environmental regulations. Underlying all this is a realization in India that enforcing environmental rules does not have to hurt growth, can boost the idea of a rule of law and make government policies transparent. "This not a problem typical to India, it is a developing country phenomenon; Brazil has realised, Australia faced this." said Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, an independent political economist. Government sources say POSCO could be given permission for its $12 billion steel mill in Orissa in 2 months because its problems were not quite the same as Vedanta's.

POLITICAL DIVIDEND Mining lobbies have accused Ramesh of witch-hunting multinational corporations, saying he is going after projects in states not controlled by the Congress ruling party. Orissa is one of these non-Congress states and its chief minister, Naveen Patnaik reacted to the scrapping of the Vedanta project by saying: "I hope there was no politics (involved)." And as if anticipating such charges, Ramesh, while rejecting the proposal on Tuesday, said: "There is no emotion, no politics, no prejudice ... I have taken the decision in a purely legal approach. That these laws are being violated."

But in India, saving the environment is a political issue.

Years of uncontrolled mining has pushed tribal people off their forest land, alienating them and fuelling insurgencies that feed off a perceived neglect of the poor. —Reuters

Mother Teresa remembered, 100 years on

By Sailendra Sil

T

he Indian city of Kolkata will mark today the memory of a diminutive nun, born 100 years ago and half a world away, who became a global symbol of compassion for her work with the sick and destitute.

Mother Teresa, the "Angel of Mercy," a Nobel peace prize winner and Roman Catholic saint-inwaiting, was born on August 26, 1910 to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje in Macedonia. As Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she arrived in India in 1929 and two years later took her first religious vows as a nun and adopted the name under which she would achieve worldwide recognition.

Today's anniversary will be marked in Kolkata, New Delhi, eastern Europe and even New York City's Times Square, where giant billboards will glow blue and white-the color of the habit worn by the Missionaries of Charity order which she founded. Special memorial prayers will be said in Kolkata and Indian Railways will launch a new "Mother Teresa Express Train" with the coaches painted in blue.

The city is also inaugurating a Mother Teresa international film festival with documentaries and biopics depicting her life and work. Mother Teresa began her missionary work with the poor in

WEST BENGAL: A nun belonging to the Missionaries of Charity stands beside a portrait of Mother Teresa holding photo cards to distribute among the participants during a special mass to mark the beginning of Mother Teresa's birth centenary celebration at a cathedral dedicated to Mother Teresa at Baruipur. —AFP Kolkata in 1948 and the teeming east Indian metropolis remained her base until her death in September 1997.

Her grave in her order's headquarters in Kolkata has since become a pilgrimage site.

For all the reverence with which

her name and memory are treated, Mother Teresa was not without her critics.

One her most vocal detractors was the British-born author Christopher Hitchens who, in a 1994 documentary called "Hell's Angel," accused her of being a

political opportunist who failed those in her care and contributed to the misery of the poor with her strident opposition to contraception and abortion. Questions have also been raised over the Missionaries of Charity's finances, as well as conditions in

the order's hospices where there has been resistance to introducing modern hygiene methods.

The Archbishop of Kolkata, Lucas Sircar, said the sisters had struggled over the past decade.

"Mother Teresa had the charisma and compassion to carry the order all over the world," Sircar said. "When she was alive, everything was under her control.

After her death, the void was felt everywhere," he said. Luigi Vaghi, an Italian volunteer who came to work in Nirmal Hriday, the first home Mother Teresa set up in Kolkata to nurse the sick and dying, said he had left after becoming disillusioned.

"She talked of compassion, love and mercy. These virtues are missing in the home," Vaghi said, without elaborating.

Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003, after being fast-tracked by the Vatican, but her elevation to sainthood is still awaiting proof of a medical miracle.

During the beatification process, the Vatican called on Hitchens to play the ancient role of "devil's advocate" and present arguments against her being blessed. A series of Mother Teresa's letters published in 2007 also caused some consternation among her admirers as it became clear that she had suffered crises of faith for most of her life and even doubted God's

existence.

"Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear," she wrote to one confidant, Reverend Michael Van Der Peet, in 1979.

Anniversary events have also been planned today in the three neighboring Balkan states of Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo-all of which lay claim to a slice of the Mother Teresa legend. The Macedonian parliament will hold a special session in her honor today, while blue and white flags and portraits of Mother Teresa have been erected in the Albanian capital Tirana.

Kosovo, with its majority Albanian population, was the birthplace of Mother Teresa's mother, and President Fatmir Sejdiu has proclaimed 2010 to be "Mother Teresa Year". Last year, India flatly rejected a demand by the Albanian government for the return of the Mother Teresa's remains so that she could be buried next to her sister and mother in Tirana.

"Mother Teresa was an Indian citizen and she is resting in her own country," the Indian foreign ministry said. She was granted Indian citizenship in 1951 and received a state funeral after her death.—AFP

analysis

Thursday, august 26, 2010

13

South Africa strike strains Zuma's alliances

By Griffin Shea

S

outh Africa's weeklong public service strike has strained President Jacob Zuma's ties with leftist allies who helped propel him to power, intensifying debate on jobs and economic policy. The strike by more than one million public workers has shuttered schools and left hospitals with skeleton staffs, with the military and ordinary volunteers called in to keep health services running. Workers show no sign of letting up in their demands for an 8.6 percent wage increase, more than double the rate of inflation, over the government offer for seven percent. For Zuma, the wage dispute is particularly thorny. The strike is backed by the main labor alliance Cosatu, which supported his rise to the presidency and is part of the governing alliance with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party.

But since out-maneuvering former president Thabo Mbeki from the ANC leadership in 2007 at a party conference in the town of Polokwane, Zuma has brought little change to the former leader's pro-business policies, a fact that grates the unions. "Of course the strike is political. It is workers making political statements," Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi told a union meeting last week.

"Two years after Polokwane,

BEIJING: South Africa President Jacob Zuma (left) pours water into a glass as a Chinese wait staff tries to help him during a news conference in Beijing yesterday. Zuma said his country wants to be considered among the leaders of the developing world, along with the so-called BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. — AP we have nothing to celebrate. We lost more than 1.1 million jobs.

As a result, 5.5 million South Africans have been pushed into poverty." Cosatu has also lashed out at communist party boss Blade Nzimande, accusing him of ignoring the plight of the

poor since joining Zuma's cabinet. The communist party replied that the unions were whining like "hungry babies".

"The alliance is extremely fractious. There's a battle for supremacy within the alliance," said Daniel Silke, an independent political ana-

lyst. "It's an issue about future economic policy in the country. We are seeing increasing debate within the ANC about how best to secure higher growth, how best to secure higher employment." South Africa's official unemployment rate is at 25.3 percent but the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said last month that a high number of discouraged job seekers not reflected in the official data, meaning the number could be more than 30 percent.

Among black youths, the rate is 50 percent, according

to the OECD. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says government wants to focus on creating new jobs, especially for the youth, rather than handing big raises to current workers. To create enough jobs to dent unemployment, Gordhan says South Africa needs 7.0 percent annual growth for the next two decades. The rate in the second quarter was 3.2 percent, despite a boost from the football World Cup. "Unemployment remains our greatest political and economic risk going forward," said labor market analyst Andrew Levy.

Cosatu argues that higher wages are the best way to close the gaping divide between rich and poor in South Africa, one of the world's least equal societies.

But government has threatened to implement its wage offer unilaterally, saying the cost of meeting union demands would force painful budget cuts in a country already struggling to provide basic services.

If Zuma alienates organized labor, Levy said he could risk losing a key support base with jockeying already underway to influence the ANC's next leadership conference in 2012.

"Whether or not the unions would be sufficient to turn that vote somewhere else-where would it go?

There's no contender in the wings," said Levy. "We still have to see a vehicle formed to convey that political dissent." — AFP

Diamond industry must end illicit trading

By Aaron Gray-Block

T

he diamond industry, under scrutiny after supermodel Naomi Campbell's war crimes testimony and a crisis in Zimbabwe, must take decisive measures to avoid a potential return of conflict diamonds, campaigners say. The sale of diamonds funded wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola for years.

Under mounting public pressure to clean up its act at the end of the 1990s, the industry set up a global certification scheme in 2003 to eradicate conflict diamonds.

Although it reduced the number of conflict diamonds to less than 1 percent of global volumes from about 15 percent, lobby groups say there are still holes in the system in Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast, and Venezuela is not part of the scheme. "Weaknesses in implementation, lack of political will among member governments and imperfect oversight and enforcement mean that problems still persist," said Elly Harrowell at Global Witness, which campaigns against the trade in

illegal diamonds.

"No one can be 100 percent sure that they are buying a 'conflict free' diamond." Conflict or "blood diamonds" are gems mined in war zones.

Human rights worries in Zimbabwe have sharpened tension in the industry, with state security forces accused of killing hundreds of the more than 30,000 illegal diggers who descended on its Marange diamond fields in 2006. A compromise deal in July averted a crisis in the Kimberley Process-the global certification scheme that monitors diamond trades-and allowed for a resumption in diamond sales from the Marange fields, one of the largest finds in history.

Nadim Kara, at Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), which monitors the Kimberley Process, said the real test was still to come in Zimbabwe. "In a way there is political will from some countries to keep Zimbabwe's heels to the fire, but that political will is being sapped by the incredible economic potential," he said. Kara said much hinged on a review in September and

PAC wants to see evidence of clear instructions being given to the military and police not to engage in illegal mining or smuggling and the granting of mining concessions to ordinary Zimbabweans. Some jewelers, however, are still worried. "We are very conscious and aware of the situation and it is something we take very seriously and are in discussions about the best way forward," said Simon Rainer, chief executive of the British Jewelers' Association.

URGENT REFORMS Appearing as a witness at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague, British supermodel Campbell said she received "dirty looking pebbles" from two men during a charity trip to South Africa in 1997.

Campaigners welcomed her testimony, arguing the industry is still plagued by the trade in illicit diamonds, but some experts have cast doubt on the blood diamond trade and argue the Kimberley Process cannot possibly trace every gem.

In an opinion article to the Wall

Street Journal, independent rough diamond consultant Jack Jolis said diamonds and war in Africa were not related, and certainly not more so than any other commercial commodity found on the continent. "Most African diamonds are produced in places that are reasonably-to-perfectly peaceful (such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) whereas there are murderous African conflicts that rage elsewhere without the slightest 'assistance' from diamonds (such as Rwanda, Uganda and Sudan)," Jolis wrote. And diamonds are not the only commodity misused.

A UN report estimates that in the past 60 years, at least 40 percent of civil wars were connected to natural resources such as timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil or control of scarce resources such as fertile land and water. World Diamond Council president Eli Izhakoff said the flow of illicit diamonds was now less than 0.2 percent of global volumes. "I think that's a wonderful thing. Virtually today there are no conflict diamonds traded," Izhakoff said. But New York-

based diamond trading company Rapaport urged its members this month against trading in Zimbabwe diamonds, warning any breach would result in expulsion from its network.

"There is no guarantee that diamonds with KP certifications are free of associations with human rights violations," it said.

Campaigners also say illicit diamonds-diamonds traded without certification-are making a comeback in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Venezuela and, together with the World Diamond Council, are calling for urgent reform of the Kimberley Process. The proposals are to be discussed at a meeting in November and include introducing majority voting to avoid vetoes to the current consensus-decision making, full-time staffing, improved monitoring and publication of its reports and actions.

And unless reform is made, PAC's Kara said the lack of accountability and follow-up risked a return to the problematic past. "Conflict diamonds are just around the corner," he warned. — Reuters

China steps up push for wider use of yuan overseas

By Allison Jackson

C

hina is stepping up efforts to increase overseas use of the yuan as the nation seeks to reduce its exposure to the US dollar and allow its currency to take on a greater global role, analysts say.

Since the financial crisis, the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves has been diversifying its investments away from dollars and pushing both investors and companies to use the yuan to stem the inflow of greenbacks.

"The 2008 credit crisis ... underscored to China that settling in yuan would reduce the country's exposure to the type of US dollar-liquidity shock that was an important reason for the subsequent collapse in trade," Royal Bank of Scotland analysts Ben Simpfendorfer and Erik Lueth said in a note. Despite the global success of Chinese exporters, the yuan plays only a minor international role because it cannot be freely exchanged for other currencies. And official controls make it difficult to move the yuan in and out of China.

While top leaders want to see the yuan adopted as a global reserve currency to reflect China's growing economic and political clout, analysts say they will stop short of relinquishing control amid fears that could destabilize the economy-and result in the yuan strengthening against the dollar too quickly.

"They are petrified about inflows and outflows-it's still the Asian financial crisis mentality," said a Beijing-based analyst who

HUAIBE: A Chinese bank worker counts US Dollars alongside stacks of 100-yuan notes in Huaibei, central China's Anhui province. — AFP asked not to be named.

Simpfendorfer agreed. "I think (the reforms) are moving much faster than people expected but it will slow down at the point at which China believes it is producing volatile capital flows," he said.

In the past two years, China has pushed for greater use of the yuan abroad, signing currency swap arrangements with several nations and launching trials

for yuan trade settlement with a number of mainly Southeast Asian countries.

In the latest move, authorities said last week they would further open China's interbank bond market to foreign investors, in the hope of encouraging more companies to use the yuan instead of the dollar to settle trade deals. Analysts said the move would give overseas companies an incentive to

accept yuan as payment for goods sold to China, and encourage the development of yuandenominated financial products in Hong Kong.

China's "qualified foreign institutional investor" programlaunched in 2003 to allow foreigners to invest in yuandenominated equities-has allowed limited access to the interbank bond market since 2005. "The more yuan you get

outside the country and the more the yuan is issued as a settlement currency, the more you can talk about reducing your currency risk and your dependence on any individual currency," said the Beijing analyst.

Earlier this year, China announced that banks based in Hong Kong the laboratory for Beijing's experiments in freeing up the currency-would be allowed to transfer yuan among

themselves for corporate customers, opening the door to the sale of yuan-denominated financial products.

Fast food giant McDonald's has become the first non-financial firm to take advantage of this measure, announcing last week that it would issue almost 30 million dollars' worth of yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. But while China is stepping up yuan reforms, the measures "stop short of full liberalization and are not the 'big bang' reforms often argued (for)", Simpfendorfer and Lueth said. Obstacles stand in the way of the yuan becoming an international currency to rival the dollar, euro or yen-most notably Beijing's reluctance to give a freer hand to speculators by letting the yuan become fully convertible.

Another hurdle is the yuan's scarcity overseas owing to China's ballooning trade surplus with the world. "It is very difficult to accumulate a position in the yuan-it is very difficult to earn enough of it because it is constantly being sucked back into China," said Patrick Chovanec, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing. China has the world's largest foreign currency reserves, worth 2.45 trillion dollars, including 843.7 billion dollars invested in US Treasury debt at the end of June, US data show. But China has more than doubled its holdings of South Korean government bonds in the past six months, and is acquiring more Japanese debt. — AFP

focus

Gaza to be the ghost at Mideast talks banquet

By Douglas Hamilton

I

t's the proverbial elephant in the room, the ghost at the banquet, the specter no one wants to acknowledge. Even if Israel and the Palestinians can scale a mountain of skepticism and reach a peace treaty in the next 12 months, 40 percent of Palestinians would be part of it in name only, because they live in the Gaza Strip. Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers say they will never give Israel what it most wants from a Middle East deal, which is recognition of the Jewish state and a legitimate place in the Middle East.

They see their Fatah rivals in the West Bank, who will be negotiating with Israel over the coming year, as appeasers and traitors to the 2.5 million Palestinians in their charge.

Hamas will not attend the talks.

A settlement to "establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza", as key texts have put it for 20 years, would start life with a fictional element.

As things stand now, about 1.7 million Palestinians would be excluded from statehood. But no-one wants to drown new hopes at birth, so this unwelcome fact is ignored as direct peace talks resume under US auspices with a Washington summit banquet on Sept 1.

In a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton agreeing to the talks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made no mention of Gazaa territory separated not only by geography from the West Bank he administers but also by a deep ideological divide. All Abbas wrote was: "We note that a state with provisional borders is not an option for the Palestinian people." Asked by Israeli television recently how he would square the circle, Abbas said: "We will solve the problem of Gaza and Hamas." But he did not say how.

Last week he told reporters: "If we reached a peace agreement tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to implement it without ending this split."

SECOND ELEPHANT This not the only elephant in the room. Israel is also divided over the wisdom of accepting a Palestinian state. Any peace deal would involve Israeli concessions that would be opposed by a substantial bloc of what analyst George Friedman of Stratfor describes as a "caustic and churning" political system that tends towards paralysis. Nearly any faction in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's six-party coalition could derail an agreement, Friedman said. "There has not been an Israeli leader since Menachem Begin who could negotiate with confidence in his position."

In 2005 Ariel Sharon, later felled by a stroke, overcame opposition to win coalition backing for Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, forcing Jewish settlers out in scenes that provoked national anguish. Should Netanyahu make a deal with Abbas, it would involve even bigger settler withdrawals or evictions. But with cabinet backing, possibly endorsed by a general election, Israel could hope for peaceful implementation of an eventual treaty. But just how Abbas could implement his side of a bargain that would legally apply to Gaza is another question. It is now a territory over which he has almost no control, from which Fatah forces were expelled by Hamas gunmen in 2007.

In a speech in Damascus on Tuesday, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Abbas was too weak to cut a just peace with Israel. "If the talks succeed they will succeed to Israeli standards and liquidate the Palestinian cause. They'll give us parts of 1967 lands. —Reuters

Japan hamstrung by yen's strength

By David Watkins

P

ressure is on Japan to conjure bolder economic policy to remedy the woes threatening its fragile recovery, but Tokyo is hamstrung when it comes to countering the yen's ascent, analysts say. On Tuesday the yen surged to a 15-year high against the dollar and a nine-year high against the euro, pushing the Nikkei index below 9,000 and into bear market territory, sparking fears of another slowdown. But analysts question what authorities can do to control a currency whose strength is more a story of dollar weakness and threatens the export sector Japan depends on to drive its slowing recovery.

"Japanese authorities have no effective means to stop the surging yen," said Hiroshi Watanabe, economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research. He added the impact on Japan Inc. would be more severe than when the yen was last at such heights in 1995, with the financial crisis leaving less room for cost-cutting to offset profits eroded by the unit's strength. Despite crawling out of a severe year-long recession in 2009, Japan's fragile recovery remains beset by slowing growth, deflation, high public debt, weak domestic demand, softening exports and the strong currency. All of which poses a challenge for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government and its agenda focused on cutting the industrialized world's biggest public debt, at nearly 200 percent of GDP. Many want further stimulus for an economy beset by stagnant employment and mired in deflation, as falling prices prompt consumers to defer purchases and dissuades corporate capital spending. But "what the Japanese government can do is limited due to the tough fiscal conditions", said Koichi Haji, senior analyst at NLI Research Institute. "There is a real fear that the Japanese economy is approaching standstill or a further plunge."

Contrary to Japan's weakness, the yen is seen as a safe haven in times of financial uncertainty as investors unwind risky positions in the dollar and euro on jitters over their respective economies' health. On Tuesday the yen surged to 83.58 to the dollar, its strongest since 1995, and is expected to remain supported by doubts over the US

recovery. Its strength is partly a result of Japan's surplus in its current account because of its exports of cars, electronics and other goods. Meanwhile, years of low interest rates saw investors borrow in yen and sell to buy higher yielding assets in a so-called "carry trade" that pushed down the yen.

But with falling inflation in the US, the low-interest benefits have been reduced, prompting the carry trade to unwind and lifting the yen. Japanese deflation is also a factor, analysts say.

"Funds are not going out of Japan. In times of deflation, cash is the safest asset, making people want to keep yen," said Satoru Ogasawara, Credit Suisse strategist. But for every one-yen rise in the currency's value against the dollar, Japan's exporters can lose tens of billions of yen earned overseas when repatriated. Shipments of cars, gadgets and components have helped offset weaker domestic demand but risks remain as world leaders tighten fiscal policy to help rebalance a global economy knocked off its axis by the financial crisis.

Japan's growth slowed in the second quarter to an annualized 0.4 percent, down from 4.4 percent in the previous three months with the economy outpaced by China on nominal terms. Markets have called for stronger government pressure on the central bank to do more to counter the yen's rise, such as further monetary easing. "The market is now demanding the government and the Bank of Japan should act simultaneously," said Susumu Kato, chief economist at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.

But the central bank has long kept its key rate at a rock-bottom 0.1 percent, and analysts say it has little room for further maneuver.

Weeks of government rhetoric about an "undesirable" yen strength intended to boost speculation that it will intervene in forex markets for the first time since 2004, but has failed to mask Tokyo's inaction. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda hardened his tone yesterday, warning of "appropriate action" amid criticism Tokyo has been too passive. "Verbal warnings do not work anymore and may be wrongly translated as Japanese authorities' toleration of the current situation," said Kato. —AFP

NEWS

14

Iran test-fires new ‘Fateh-110’ TEHRAN: Iran showed off an improved domestically made missile yesterday, the latest in a string of announcements about new military hardware it hopes will dissuade enemies from attacking. The United States and Israel both say they do not rule out bombing Iran to prevent it getting nuclear weapons. Tehran, which started fuelling its first nuclear power station on Saturday, says its atomic program is peaceful.

State television showed a test-firing of the nine-meter-long missile it said was a new version of the Fateh-110 weapon with an improved range of 250 km and better precision than previous models. In recent days Iran has also publicized new mini-submarines, armed speed boats and a prototype long-range bomber drone. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said neighboring countries had nothing to fear from Tehran’s

improved defenses.

He criticized Washington’s decision this month to sell the latest Patriot interceptor missiles to Kuwait to counter a potential Iranian threat. Just across the Gulf, Kuwait could be in range of the upgraded Fateh110. “America is seeking to create a climate of fear about Iran by installing new (weapons) systems in the region, but there is no necessity for these systems,” Vahidi said.

Many of Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbors are concerned about the Shiite state’s increasing clout in the region and the prospect that it might acquire nuclear weapons.

Kuwait has expressed safety concerns about Iran’s Bushehr power plant which most analysts say does not increase Iran’s chances of getting a nuclear weapon. Vahidi reiterated Iran’s offer of support to the Lebanese military, initially suggested after

a deadly cross-border clash with Israel.

“Lebanon and the Lebanese army is our friend and if there were to be a request we are ready to help them,” Vahidi was quoted as saying by the students news agency ISNA. The offer from Iran, which supports Lebanon’s militant Shiite group Hezbollah, could fuel Western fears that Tehran is increasing its influence near Israel’s northern border. Concern about Iran’s nuclear program centre on its uranium enrichment program and its missile capabilities.

Iran has long-range missiles including the Shahab 3 and the Sejil which could be used to hit Israel and regional US bases.

Tehran is still awaiting the delayed delivery of Russian S-300 air defense missile systems. The United States and Israel oppose Iran getting the systems as they could help it withstand any future air strikes against its nuclear sites. — Reuters

Uneasy calm in Beirut after deadly clash BEIRUT: Lebanese soldiers were deployed in force yesterday in tension-gripped Beirut ahead of the funerals of three people killed in a clash between the Shiite movement Hezbollah and a Sunni group. The clash between Hezbollah and AlAhbash broke out late Tuesday in mainly Muslim west Beirut’s district of Burj Abi Haidar, a stronghold of parliament speaker Nabih Berri’s Shiite Amal movement which is allied with Hezbollah.

The Lebanese cabinet was to discuss the incident in a scheduled meeting later yesterday.

Bullet casings and broken glass covered the streets of Burj Abi Haidar on the morning after the fighting, as shopkeepers swept away rubble from their stores and most local residents stayed indoors. Cars parked in the vicinity were also badly damaged. Supporters of the two movements-both close to Damascus- used shoulderlaunched rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns in four hours of fighting that erupted at about 7 pm (1600 GMT) and also left 10 people wounded.

Two victims have been identified as Hezbollah members Mohammed Fawaz, the Shiite party’s representative to Burj Abi Haidar, and Ali Jawad. The third victim was named as Ahmed Omayrat of Al-Ahbash.

Witnesses said the clash began as an argument between Fawaz and supporters of the Sunni group over a parking space near a mosque popular among Al-

How to avoid some common problems -I Continued from Page 1 - Fast-burning foods are foods that contain sugar, white flour, etc. (called refined carbohydrates). - Fiber-containing foods are bran-containing foods, whole wheat, grains and seeds, vegetables like green beans, peas, sem (papry), marrow, mealies, spinach, and other herbs like methie, the leaves of beetroot (ironrich), fruit with skin, dried fruit especially dried apricots, figs and prunes, almonds, etc.

The foods eaten should be well balanced, containing foods from each food group, i.e. fruits, vegetables, meat/chicken/fish, bread/cereals

and dairy products. Fried foods are unhealthy and should be limited. They cause indigestion, heartburn, and weight problems.

AVO ID - Fried and fatty foods. - Foods containing too much sugar. - Over-eating especially during the meal before Dawn (sehri. or suhur) - Too much tea during the meal before Dawn (sehri. or suhur). Tea makes you pass more urine taking with it valuable mineral salts that your body would need during the day. - Smoking cigarettes. If you cannot give up smoking, cut down gradually starting a few weeks before Ramadan. Smoking is unhealthy and one should stop completely.

E AT- Complex carbohydrates during the meal before Dawn (sehri. or suhur) so that the food lasts longer making you less hungry. Haleem is an excellent source of protein and is a slow-burning food. - Dates are excellent source of sugar, fiber, carbohydrates, potassium and magnesium. - Almonds are rich in protein and fiber with less fat. - Bananas are a good source of potassium, magnesium and carbohydrates.

D R IN K- As much water or fruit juices as possible between iftar (Breaking fasting) and bedtime so that your body may adjust fluid levels in time.

attacks. A separate car bomb in Baghdad killed two police and wounded seven civilians in the centre of the city, while two other policemen were shot dead in Al-Amel, a southern district, the interior ministry official said. In the north of the country, a car bomb in the ethnically divided, oil-rich hub of Kirkuk killed one person and wounded 11, said Colonel Adel Zain Al-Abideen, the city’s acting chief of police. A car bomb in Mosul, meanwhile, Iraq’s second city in the far north, killed four civilians, police said.

In Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded as a police patrol passed, killing three civilians.

When troops arrived to investigate, a second bomb exploded, wounding six soldiers. In western Iraq, three people, two of them police, were killed and 16 wounded in two car bombs, one of them at a police checkpoint in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, a security official said. And in Fallujah, also in Anbar, two soldiers were killed by a suicide car bomber who targeted a checkpoint. The police and army are often the target of attack by armed groups in Iraq.

America now has 49,700 troops in the

country-less than a third of the peak figure of around 170,000 during the US military “surge” of 2007, during a brutal ShiiteSunni sectarian war that cost thousands of lives. Washington is just five days away from formally declaring its combat mission over at the end of the month. Tens of thousands of US soldiers have been withdrawn in recent months and the last American unit designated as a “combat brigade” left Iraq and crossed into neighboring Kuwait on August 19. The remaining troops will be deployed on an “advise and assist” mission until all US forces leave the country at the end of 2011.

July was the bloodiest month in Iraq since May 2008, according to government officials, who said 535 people were killed.

US military officials disputed the statistics.

In the southern city of Basra, 12 people, including four police, were wounded by a parked car bomb near a police station, a security official said. And near Karbala, a holy Shiite city south of Baghdad, 29 people, including policemen, were wounded by a car bomb that targeted a police station, a local security official said. — Agencies

62 die in Iraq Continued from Page 1 The attack in the mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhood took place at around 8 am, according to an interior ministry official who gave the toll. “The victims include policemen and civilians,” he said. A doctor at Medical City Hospital said they had received the bodies of two women, two children and two police officers, and that 44 other people were receiving treatment.

A spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, and with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election. No one from the Iraqi police or army was available to comment yesterday’s violence.

The US Army announced on Tuesday that troop levels were below 50,000 in line with President Barack Obama’s directives as part of a “responsible drawdown” of troops, seven years on from the invasion which ousted Saddam Hussein.

The reduction has raised fears that AlQaeda linked insurgents will step up their

Kuwait, Iraq to share border oilfields Continued from Page 1

KFAR FILA: Hezbollah supporters carry the coffin of Hezbollah official Ali Al-Jawad, who died in clashes on Tuesday night in Beirut, during his funeral procession, in the southern village of Kfar Fila, Lebanon yesterday. — AP Ahbash supporters. The interMuslim violence near the mosque broke out at around the time of “iftar,” the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Jawad was to be buried in his hometown of Kfar Fila in southern Lebanon yesterday afternoon and Omayrat in Burj Abi Haidar, while Fawaz’s funeral was planned for the next day. In northern Lebanon, a 26-year-old woman was wounded as two grenade explosions shook the

Egypt announces site of nuke plant CAIRO: Egypt announced yesterday it would build its planned nuclear powerplant on the Mediterranean coast of El-Dabaa which it hopes will start production in 2019, the state news agency MENA reported.

Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said President Hosni Mubarak had decided in a meeting that the reactor would be located in El-Dabaa, on the coast west of the port city of Alexandria.

The meeting was “extremely important and represents a transition on the path to implement a strategic program to ensure power supplies and peaceful uses for nuclear energy,” the agency quoted Awad as saying.

An electricity and energy ministry spokesman said the government hopes the powerplant would be linked to the national grid in 2019. He said the ministry would open an international tender for the plant which will be decided by the end of this year. “We hope it will be up in 2019,” said Aktham Abu El-Ela. “You know we have a crisis when it comes conventional fuel. This will be a stable source of energy,” he said. Electricity minister Hassan Younis had earlier estimated it would cost about four billion dollars (3.1 billion euros) for a 1,000 megawatt powerplant.

Egypt has already used several foreign companies as consultants, including French nuclear reactor producer Areva and US giant Westinghouse Electric Co. Ela said the Dabaa plant would be followed by three other reactors, tentatively scheduled to start production in 2025. On a

Thursday, August 26, 2010

visit to Cairo in June, Yukiya Amano, head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said the nuclear watchdog was ready to assist Egypt, which signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty in 1981. Egypt first started its atomic program in the 1980s but froze it after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine.

Mubarak had in March ratified a law to regulate nuclear activities as the country of 80 million moves away from conventional fuels amid a growing strain on its power grid and depleting oil reserves. The electricity ministry said in June the country would open its first solar energy plant by the end of this year, which he said will be among four in the world with a 140 megawatt capacity. It has also begun operating wind farms, with the target of producing 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020, 12 percent of it from wind.

Egypt would be the fourth Middle Eastern country with a nuclear powerplant. The United Arab Emirates awarded a South Korean power equipment manufacturer Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction a 20 billion dollar contract last December to build four 1,400-megawatt reactors by 2020.

Israel has a nuclear plant to produce energy, and widely acknowledged to have an undeclared arsenal of nuclear bombs. Iran, which denies strong suspicions that it is seeking a nuclear bomb, is set to start operating its nuclear powerplant by the end of the year. — AFP

port city of Tripoli overnight, just hours after the clash in Beirut, a security official said.

The woman was in stable condition.Tuesday’s clashes marked the worst violence to grip Beirut since May 2008, when 100 people were killed in battles between supporters of a Hezbollah-led alliance and those of Lebanon’s pro-Western Sunni Prime Minister, Saad Hariri.

Hezbollah and Al-Ahbash, which describes itself as a charity promoting Islamic culture, said in a joint statement that Tuesday’s

“regrettable incident was isolated and did not have any political or confessional basis.”

The Lebanese press yesterday expressed surprise the latest round of violence pitted supporters of two groups with similar political views against each other.

“The use of medium-range weapons in religious centers, shops and homes shows that the pot is ready to boil over at any moment, even if the incident was described as personal,” warned An-Nahar, close to a Hariri-led alliance. —AFP

NDP backs Mubarak Son a ‘potential’ candidate CAIRO: There is a consensus in Egypt’s ruling party backing Hosni Mubarak, 82, to run for the presidency again in 2011, but his youngest son could be among possible future candidates, party officials said. Mubarak, in power since 1981 and the subject of persistent rumors about his health, has not said if he will seek a new term.

If he does not, the most common view is that his politician son, 46, would be backed by the establishment to run.

Both the president and his son, Gamal, deny any such plan and official say the president is healthy. But official reports highlighting Gamal’s initiatives in the ruling party and a public poster campaign backing him-which the party denies endorsing-have helped to fuel talk. “The name of Gamal Mubarak is one among others to contest the coming presidential election in 2011 as the conditions established by the law apply to him as well as others,” the ruling party’s media head, Ali El Din Hillal said. “But until now, the only proposed party candidate for the presidency is President Hosni Mubarak, and there is no discussion about any other name now as it will be premature.” The remarks echo a line often used by officials about Gamal’s eligibility, saying he has the same rights as others. However, such comments are being scrutinized more closely as the election looms, and after persistent rumors about Mubarak’s health since he had gallbladder surgery in March.

The ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) secretary-general said there was a consensus in the party backing the president for another term, the official state news agency reported. “We are just waiting for the decision of the president himself,” Safwat Sherif said.

Authorities have repeatedly dismissed reports about a deterioration in Mubarak’s health as categorically false. Whenever speculation emerges, they point to his return to a regular schedule of public meetings since his operation. — Reuters

Kuwait’s Jazeera cancels premium on rights issue KUWAIT: Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways said yesterday it was cancelling a premium on a planned rights issue and it expects support from its shareholders and lenders to provide liquidity. Jazeera said in a statement its board of directors had recommended cancelling the 50 fils premium. The firm was planning to issue 200 million shares at 150 fils each, including the premium, to raise its capital by 91 percent to KD 42 million ($145.5 million).

There are 1,000 fils to the dinar. The airline, which started operations in 2005, said in a sepa-

rate statement to the stock exchange yesterday that a part of its auditors report was mistakenly dropped from its results announcement Aug 12. That part said the company’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets, and its “management expects that its plans and work strategies ... in addition to financial support from shareholders and lenders will provide the needed liquidity to meet its dues.”

Jazeera made a loss of 4.7 million dinars in the second quarter of this year. It made a loss of 1.26 million dinars in the year-earlier period. —Reuters

24 nails inside maid’s body Continued from Page 1 doctors who examined the woman found the nails inside her body and she was currently being treated at a local hospital.

Some of the nails are about two inches long, according to pictures of the X-rays

published in the local press, and were driven beneath the skin of Ariyawathi’s hands, feet and legs.

According to Sri L anka’s Foreign Employment Bureau, around 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70 percent are women.

Most are employed as housemaids in

the Middle East, while smaller numbers work in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Complaints of harassment are made regularly and the government has made it compulsory for migrant workers to register with local authorities, to ensure they can be provided with consular services if they encounter problems. — AFP

Kuwait. He declined to say whether “finalize” meant the final approval of the $15 billion project that was scrapped last year on opposition from several lawmakers who questioned the tender process.

OPEC member Kuwait is the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Oil Minister said yesterday he was “satisfied” with the

current world price of crude and predicted it would rise in the fourth quarter. “We do appreciate what’s happening in the international market and the international economy, and we are satisfied with the current oil price,” the minister told reporters outside parliament.

Sheikh Ahmad said he expected crude prices to “pick up” in the fourth quarter. World prices languished under 72 dollars a barrel yesterday, with the

market hit by concerns about weak demand ahead of the release of key energy data from top consumer the United States. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, fell 13 cents to 71.50 dollars per barrel. The contract had earlier touched 71.32 dollars-last seen at the start of June. Brent North Sea crude for October rose one cent to 72.39 dollars a barrel in midday London trade. — Agencies

Israeli ‘entered’ Kuwait with Austrian passport Continued from Page 1 and after that the Israel code was deleted from the system. The ministry of interior denied in a statement two days ago that any Israeli had entered Kuwait.

Commenting on the issue, MP Faisal AlMuslim said that the minister’s account totally contradicted the interior ministry statement two days ago and as a result ‘we asked the minister for a detailed statement to explain the issue and demanded that the ministry provides the committee with the documents’.

Meanwhile the head of the National Assembly committee for alien practices MP Mohammad Hayef said that there are 54,000 drug addicts in Kuwait and warned that the interior ministry is not in total control of the issue of combating drugs. Hayef also warned that there are drug traffickers running the trade while behind bars and urged the interior ministry to deal strictly with the issue.

In another development, Information and Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told the assembly’s education committee yesterday that the government accepts in principle the setting up of an authority for the Audi-Visual services in the country. The head of the committee MP Salwa Al-Jassar said after the meeting that the minister asked for time for the government to consider all matters related to the proposed authority and that a key meeting to finalize the issue will be held on October 3. The minister also asked that all amend-

ments proposed by MPs and editors of newspapers to the audio-visual law should be delayed until that meeting. The audiovisual law controls and monitors private television and radio stations.

In another development, opposition MP Khaled Al-Tahous yesterday called on the prime minister to make a limited change in his cabinet that would include sacking the ministers of interior and finance ahead of the start of the next assembly session on October 26. Tahous said that the performance of the two ministers has been below the mark and qualified personalities need to be included in the cabinet. The two ministers have also been issuing contradictory statements, he said.

Tahous is a member of the opposition Popular Action Bloc which has been targeting Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber AlKhaled Al-Sabah and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. The Bloc has twice grilled the interior minister and has repeatedly warned it would grill the finance minister on alleged charges of corruption and mismanagement. Tahous also called on the Minister of Social Affairs and L abor Mohammad Al-Afasi to take action against some officials in the ministry who are interfering in the affairs of the trade unions.

He stressed on the need to comply with international labor laws and expressed concern that the situation of trade unions in Kuwait could become as worse as the sports positions. Tahous also cast doubts over the interior ministry’s denial that no Israelis have entered Kuwait, saying that in

the past the ministry denied things that later turned out to be correct. But National Assembly speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi declined to comment on the issue saying that the interior minister is due to attend a meeting for the assembly’s interior and defense and he can be asked questions on the issue.

Speaking to reporters, Khorafi said he was pleased at the coordination between ministers over the implementation of mega projects under the four-year development plan. The speaker said that the implementation aspects of the development plan is the jurisdiction of the government and not the national assembly, in reference to many statements by MPs over the method of funding.Khorafi said that the “ball is now in the government’s court and we hope that procedures of implementing the plan will not be delayed. A major controversy has erupted over the funding of key projects under the four-year plan which envisages the spending of more than KD30 billion.

The dispute is about the method of funding and the way local banks should contribute.

In the meantime, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Afasi yesterday defended the appointment of Jassem Al-Tammar as director general for the authority of disabled saying the appointment of “senior officials is the sole authority of the government”. The appointment of Tammar, the husband of MP Salwa AlJassar, was strongly criticized by several MPs who charged it was the result of a political deal.

Saudi supermarket breaks taboo Continued from Page 1 Operating more than 100 retail stores across the country, the United Azizia Panda Co, owned by publicly listed foods giant Savola, already employs women sales clerks in its hypermarket in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

But inside Saudi Arabia, Islamic conservatives have for decades enforced a prohibition against unrelated men and women mixing in the workplace. The result is that nearly all retail sales are conducted by men.

A Jeddah University business professor, Reem Asaad, has been campaigning since 2008 to force the labor ministry to allow women sales clerks in lingerie shops, but with little success. The cau-

tion in the test suggests how sensitive and revolutionary the idea is, in a country that bans women from driving and forces them to cover up in shroud-like black abayas and face-covering veils when in public. The test was permitted by the local labor office in Jeddah, the relatively progressive Saudi city where the kingdom’s ultra-conservative rules on women are more loosely enforced.

Inside the HyperPanda market in the Roshan mall in a wealthy area of Jeddah, the female cashiers are sectioned off in check-out lanes “reserved for women and families.”

That models Saudi restaurants, which have separate sections for men and for women and families. Unlike their male counterpar ts, the new

cashiers are not in Panda uniforms, instead wearing abayas and veils. Ismail stresses that the company has mainly hired “needy” women those who lack other sources of income. “We want to help them,” he said.

Still, Ismail said the company plans to expand the program nationwide, if the labor ministry gives the go-ahead.

“We are waiting for permission.” But opposition to Panda’s move has already materialized. Last week, Sheikh Yussef al-Ahmad, a professor at Riyadh’s Imam University known for his strident opposition to gender mixing, called on a television program to boycott Panda. Ahmad said mixing was against Islamic tenets and an aspect of the westernization of Islamic culture. — AFP

Smallest planet spotted Continued from Page 1 home - those behind the discovery, announced Tuesday at an international conference in France, say they’re nearly certain they’ve identified one only 1.4 times the size of Earth.

That would be the smallest planet ever spotted outside of those which orbit our own sun. Scientists have been spotting planets beyond our solar system for the past 15-odd years, and they’ve now catalogued some 450. But most finds have been limited to one or two or three planets, usually gargantuan balls of gas similar to Jupiter or Saturn. But at up to seven planets, the new discovery is almost as rich as our own solar system, which counts eight. Christophe Lovis of Geneva University, one of the scientists

behind the find, said the first five were most comparable to Neptune.

“They are made essentially of rocks and ice. They have a solid core. But on top of that is a layer of gas, of hydrogen and helium most likely,” he said. “They are probably not habitable.” The sixth is possibly a Saturn-like planet, while the seventh, the smallest, would be so close to its star that its “year” would take just over a day. Lovis and his team haven’t been able to observe the planets directly, which is typical. Few planets can be seen against the blazing light given off by their much more massive parent stars.

The European Southern Observatory compares the challenge to “spotting a dim candle in front of a raging forest fire.”

So the scientists used the observatory’s 3.6 meter telescope at La Silla, Chile, to

study the star itself. Over six years, they took 190 measurements, checking it for the telltale wobbling caused by the gravitational forces of nearby planets. Boss noted that the method was “biased toward finding the big guys” because the greater the planet, the greater its gravity and the more it made its parent star wobble.

But he said the discovery showed that finding smaller planets was still possible.

“This field has gone from zero to close to 500 planets in just 15 years,” he said.

“Fifteen years we did not know about the big guys. Earth-like planets are going to be quite commonplace.” The find was made by researchers from Switzerland, France, Germany, and Portugal and has been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.— AP

SPORTS

Thursday, August 26, 2010

15

MLB results/standings Major League results and standings on Tuesday: Oakland 5, Cleveland 0; Detroit 9, Kansas City 1; Chicago Cubs 5,Washington 4; Houston 4, Philadelphia 2 (16 innings); Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3; NY Yankees 11, Toronto 5; NY Mets 6, Florida 5; Texas 4, Minnesota 3; La Rbn Afa Csa Lby Reulb Rsp Rwsa Rna Spr Rnp Dnp Psp Rmr Rtr_Tns 3 Spo Base Us Ca Rslt Spo Gen Table 346 Sge67o093 AMERICAN L EAGUE EASTERN DIVISION W L PCT NY Yankees 78 48 .619 Tampa Bay 78 48 .619 Boston 72 54 .571 Toronto 65 60 .520 Baltimore 44 82 .349

GB 6 12.5 34

CENTRAL DIVISION Minnesota 72 54 .571 Chicago White Sox 68 57 .544 Detroit 63 63 .500 Kansas City 53 73 .421 Cleveland 50 75 .400

3.5 9 19 21.5

WESTERN DIVISION 71 54 .568 62 62 .500 62 65 .488 49 76 .392

8.5 10 22

NATIONAL LEAGUE EASTERN DIVISION Atlanta 73 53 .579 Philadelphia 70 55 .560 NY Mets 63 62 .504 Florida 62 62 .500 Washington 53 73 .421

2.5 9.5 10 20

Cincinnati St. Louis Milwaukee Houston Chicago Cubs Pittsburgh

CENTRAL DIVISION 72 54 .571 68 55 .553 59 66 .472 56 69 .448 53 74 .417 42 84 .333

2.5 12.5 15.5 19.5 30

San Diego San Francisco Colorado LA Dodgers Arizona

WESTERN DIVISION 75 49 .605 71 56 .559 65 60 .520 64 62 .508 49 77 .389

5.5 10.5 12 27

Texas Oakland LA Angels Seattle

PHILADELPHIA: Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez, playing first base beats Houston Astros Michael Bourn to the bag for an out during a baseball game. Houston won 4-2 .—AP

Giants rout Reds again, Rockies pound Braves SAN FRANCISCO: The series between San Francisco and Cincinnati is looking like anything but a clash of National League pennant contenders, as the Giants hammered the Reds 16-5 on Tuesday to make it back-toback routs.

Pablo Sandoval homered and drove in four runs, and Buster Posey hit a three-run homer for San Francisco. The Giants have 27 runs in two games against the NL Central leaders, notched their highest score for the season, and moved into a tie with Philadelphia in the wild-card race.

Rockies 5, Braves 2 In Denver, Jorge De La Rosa pitched seven effective innings to steer Colorado past Atlanta. De La Rosa (5-4) had his best outing since missing nearly three months with a torn finger tendon.

He allowed two runs, struck out seven,

and walked just one, earning his second win since coming off the disabled list.

Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez hit his 26th home run of the season as the Rockies edged within five games of the wild-card spot.

Astros 4, Phillies 2 In Philadelphia, Houston’s win over Philadelphia lasted 16 innings and over 5 hours. Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt was forced to play left field after the ejection of Ryan Howard in the 14th inning, and with no position players left.

In so doing, he became the first Phillies pitcher in 39 years to play a field position.

Oswalt caught a routine fly ball, earning an ovation from the dwindling number of fans who remained.

The Astros loaded the bases in the 16th with one out off David Herndon (1-3). Chris

Johnson reached base on an infield single for one run and Tommy Manzella added a runscoring fielder’s choice.

The Phillies got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning as Houston walked two batters to bring up Oswalt, who grounded out to end the game. Philadelphia had trailed 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Jimmy Rollins tied the game with a solo homer.

Mets 6, Marlins 5 In New York, Luis Castillo hit a gameending single with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting New York over Florida.

Castillo, a late-inning replacement, looped a hit to the opposite field off Will Ohman (0-2) to drive in the winning run and help the Mets move into third place in the NL East.

New York blew a two-run lead in the

eighth but recoverd in the bottom of the ninth. An infield single was followed by a fly out, and a broken-bat single was then followed by a strike out, bringing up Castillo.

Mets reliever Hisanori Takahashi (8-6) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

Padres 5, D’backs 0 In San Diego, Will Venable and Chris Denorfia each hit two-run homers to lift NL West-leading San Diego over the last-placed Arizona.

Padres starter Clayton Richard combined with four relievers to shut out the Diamondbacks. With an NL-best 75-49 record, the Padres matched their win total from last year.

San Diego is beginning a stretch when it will play 16 of 20 games at home, with the away series also against Arizona.

ARLINGTON: Josh Hamilton hit his 29th home run of the season to help the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Tuesday in a clash of American League divisional leaders.

Michael Young made up for two errors with the tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning off Carl Pavano (15-9), putting the AL West leaders ahead to stay and ruining Pavano’s sixth complete game of the season.

Texas’ Darren Oliver (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings to take the win and hard-throwing rookie Neftali Feliz worked the ninth for his 32nd save.

Yankees 11, Blue Jays 5

Rays 10, Angels 3 In Anaheim, Evan Longoria homered and drove in another run as Tampa Bay thrashed Los

Pirates 4, Cardinals 3 In Pittsburgh, rookie Neil Walker drove in three runs and last-place Pittsburgh hung on to edge St. Louis. The Cardinals, down 4-2 when the ninth started, scored once then loaded the bases, but Pirates closer Evan Meek got two batters to pop up in suc-

cessions. It was only his second save in eight opportunities.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright (178) was prevented from becoming the majors’ first 18-game winner, despite leading 2-0 in the sixth. The Cardinals lost their first game in four.

Cubs 5, Nationals 4 In Washington, Alfonso Soriano and Tyler Colvin homered as Chicago overcame Washington. Carlos Zambrano (5-6) continued his resurgence since rejoining the Chicago rotation.

He yielded one run, walked only one and struck out eight over 7 1-3 innings — his longest outing of the year. In four starts since returning from the bullpen, Zambrano is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. The Nationals have lost three straight games and dropped a season-worst 20 games under .500.—AP

Rondo pull out gives US team final roster

Rangers defeat Twins 4-3

In Toronto, Curtis Granderson hit a three-run homer to lift New York to a win over Toronto. Marcus Thames added a two-run drive and three other Yankees hit solo blasts as the Yankees stayed equal top of the AL East.

Thames and Granderson both had three hits among 17 for New York _ one shot of its season high.

Yankees starter Dustin Moseley (4-2) allowed two runs in six innings, while Blue Jays starter Marc Rzepczynski (1-2) left after a four-run, three-homer third. He allowed six runs in three innings, his shortest career start.

Dodgers 5, Brewers 3 In Milwaukee, Rod Barajas made a smashing debut for Los Angeles with a three-run homer that was enough to beat Milwaukee.

Barajas, who arrived from the Mets on Sunday, started his Dodgers career with consecutive doubles before his game-changing shot in the sixth.

LA starter Ted Lilly, who arrived in a July trade, won his fifth straight decision. He had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 17 when he allowed a run in the second.

ARLINGTON: Minnesota Twins Alexi Casilla (12) and Michael Cuddyer (5) catch Texas Rangers’ Elvis Andrus (1) in a rundown between first and second bases during the third inning.—AP Angeles to keep pace with the Yankees.

Longoria hit his 19th homer in the third inning, extending the Rays’ lead to 5-1. His RBI double with two outs in the seventh made it 7-2. Matt Joyce also homered as Tampa Bay notched a fourth straight win.

Rookie Wade Davis (10-9) became the fifth Rays starter with 10 or more victories, making them the only major league team to boast such a staff. Davis, who came off the disabled list before the game, allowed two runs in 5 1-3 innings, striking out five.

Tigers 9, Royals 1 In Detroit, Rick Porcello pitched seven scoreless innings to guide Detroit to a comfortable win over Kansas City. Porcello (6-11) retired the first 12 batters in order before a single leading off the fifth. He walked only one.

Ryan Raburn homered for the Tigers, who have won five straight. Royals starter Kyle Davies (6-8) gave up seven runs in 4 2-3 innings, walking three.

Athletics 5, Indians 0 In Cleveland, Gio Gonzalez extended Oakland’s strong streak of pitching with seven scoreless innings against

Cleveland. Gonzalez (11-8) became the 22nd consecutive Oakland starter to work at least six innings. The Athletics staff has allowed five runs or fewer in all those games, the longest streak by an AL team since the 1989 California Angels.

Oakland starters have a 2.01 ERA and limited opponents to a .198 batting average since July 31, but the Athletics are only 11-11 over that stretch.

Jeff Larish had a two-run homer off Indians starter Fausto Carmona (11-12). Cleveland was shut out for the 11th time, tying Seattle for most in the AL Oakland has four of the shutouts

against the Indians.

White Sox 7, Orioles 5 In Chicago, Gordon Beckham hit a three-run homer in the seventh as Chicago downed Baltimore.

A.J. Pierzynski opened the bottom of seventh with a single off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie. One out later, Mark Teahen’s double moved Pierzynski to third.

Beckham followed with his homer to break a 2-2 tie.

Chicago starter Gavin Floyd (9-10) pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs.

Guthrie (7-13) was tagged for six runs in 6 2-3 innings.—AP

NEW YORK: Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo has withdrawn from the U.S. national team for family reasons, clearing the way for the final world championship roster to be set, USA Basketball said on Tuesday.

“Rajon came to us and said he was going to withdraw from the team, that he had some family matters to attend to and some things to take care of before the NBA season,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in a statement.

Rondo had started two exhibition games but did not play in Sunday’s contest against Spain.

With Rondo’s withdrawal, the team was able to finalize their roster to 12 players before the world championships get underway in Turkey on Aug. 28.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant leads the team. Other forwards are Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies), Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers) and Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers).

Joining Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets) at guard are Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

Centers are Tyson Chandler(Dallas Mavericks), Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers).

Meanwhile, the Charlotte Bobcats have signed center Kwame Brown, reuniting the former first overall draft pick

Rajon Rondo with team owner and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, the Bobcats said on Tuesday.

Jordan, then a Washington Wizards executive, had made Brown the number one NBA draft pick in 2001. But Brown never lived up to his potential as a top pick and was traded in 2005.

After stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis

Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons, the 28-year-old will get another chance to play for Jordan, who is the Bobcats’ majority owner.

Brown averaged 3.3 points and 3.7 rebounds with the Pistons last season, well off the career-highs he set in each category in the 2003-04 season when he averaged 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds while playing for the Wizards.—Reuters

SPORTS

16

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Johnson has no regrets, eyes major title PARAMUS: Dustin Johnson said he would dust himself off and try all over again after winning a major amount of sympathy and confidence following his bittersweet PGA Championship this month.

Johnson was poised to join a three-way playoff at Whistling Straits when he walked off the last green until informed he had been handed a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a sand hazard on the 72nd hole of the championship.

The long-hitting, 26-year-old from South Carolina had hit his tee shot well beyond the ropes right of the fairway and, with spectators crowded around his ball, he thought his wayward drive had settled on trampled

down dirt.

“The PGA was just an unfortunate situation,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Barclays tournament, the opening event of the US PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs.

“It wasn’t hard to get over, because there’s a lot of good things that I can take out of that week. I played really well coming down the stretch, making birdies when I needed to. So there’s nothing bad that I can take from that week.”

Johnson said the shock of missing out on the playoff won by Germany’s Martin Kaymer over American Bubba Watson was eased by the outpouring of sympathy and

support he received, and a restful week spent fishing.

“I’ve had a lot of good phone calls and a lot of good text messages from my peers and friends,” he said. “And so I’m very happy the way I’ve handled it and the way it’s been received.”

Johnson also came frustratingly close to notching his first major victory at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he held a three-stroke lead going into the final round before shooting 82, but he believes a major triumph is just a matter of time.

“There’s nothing that I can really get down on myself about that (PGA) week, because I did everything that I wanted to

do,” said Johnson. “I had a chance to win coming down the stretch on Sunday. I played well coming down the stretch.

“If I keep playing like I’m playing, there’s no doubt that I think that I’m going to be contending in a lot of majors. I think and I believe in myself that I can get it done.”

Johnson chalked up his mistake to a learning experience, like the one at Pebble Beach. “I was very patient. I need to be patient,” he said about his demeanour at the PGA. “I took things from the US Open and used them during the final round of the PGA. “And it worked. And I was there with a chance to win.”

Meanwhile, European Ryder Cup captain

Colin Montgomerie believes it will be almost impossible to choose his three wildcards on Sunday.

The top nine players in the points table after the final round of this week’s Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland will automatically make the team for the Oct. 1-3 match against the United States at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Montgomerie will then complete his 12man lineup with three wildcard selections and his job has been made more difficult by Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Justin Rose electing to play in the United States this week.

“This isn’t difficult, it’s more or less

impossible,” Europe’s captain told Sky Sports News on Tuesday. “It is most unfortunate I am going to have to leave out world stars. “I am going to have to leave out players that feel they can help the European Tour cause.”

Triple major winner Harrington, world number nine Casey, 10th-ranked Donald and number 22 Rose are all outside the top nine in the Ryder Cup points table.

“It is a bit like (England soccer manager) Fabio Capello having to leave out (Arsenal winger) Theo Walcott I suppose,” added Montgomerie. “He could only take 23 (to the World Cup in June), I can only take 12. — Reuters

Woods’ ex-wife Elin went ‘through hell’

WINDERMERE: In this undated photo provided by People Magazine, Elin Nordegren is shown on the cover of People magazine’s Sept. 6, 2010 issue. Tiger Woods’ ex-wife said she has “been through hell” since her husband’s infidelity surfaced but she never hit him, according to an interview released yesterday. — AP

Ibragimov scores TKO over Singh HOLLYWOOD: Timur Ibragimov of Uzbekistan scored a 10th-round technical knockout over India’s Gurchuran Singh in a bout between 1996 Olympians on Tuesday.

The heavyweight bout was fought at a dull pace until the ninth round, when Ibragimov hurt Singh with a right to the head and followed with two more that sent Singh to the

canvas.

Singh answered the bell for the 10th round, but Ibragimov maintained the pressure and dropped Singh again with another right to the head.

Ibragimov landed a series of jabs and hurt Singh with additional rights to the head.

Referee Frank Santore spared a tiring Singh from additional harm and stopped the bout at 1:45 of the round.

Ibragimov is now 29-2-1 with 16 KOs and has won eight straight fights since consecutive losses against Calvin Brock and Tony Thompson in 2006 and 2007.

Ibragimov and Singh (20-1) clinched repeatedly and threw punches at a very sporadic rate during the early rounds.

Ibragimov caught Singh with a solid right to the head early in the second round but didn’t

follow up with any telling shots.

Later in the round, Singh connected with a solid threepuch combination to the head.

In the sixth, Ibragimov and Singh opened up briefly and exchanged combinations to the head. Although they resumed to their clinching tactics, Ibragimov connected with a solid right to the head just before the bell. — AP

WINDERMERE: Tiger Woods’ ex-wife Elin Nordegren said she has “been through hell” since her husband’s infidelity surfaced but she never hit him, according to an interview released yesterday.

Nordegren told People magazine she and Woods tried for months to reconcile the relationship. In the end, a marriage “without trust and love” wasn’t good for anyone, she said.

In November outside their Florida home, Woods drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree, setting off shocking revelations that sports’ biggest star had been cheating on his wife through multiple affairs. The couple officially divorced Monday. Nordegren told People that she never hit Woods on the night of the car crash.

“There was never any violence inside or outside our home,” she said. “The speculation that I would have used a golf club to hit him is just truly ridiculous.” Nordegren said Woods left the house that night and when he didn’t return after a while, she got worried and went to look for him. She said that’s when she found him in the car.

“I did everything I could to get him out of the locked car,” she said. “To think anything else is absolutely wrong.” The magazine said the interview was conducted over four visits lasting a total of 19 hours at the rented Windermere, Florida, home where she now lives with their two children.

“I’ve been through hell,” the Swedish-born Nordegren said.

“It’s hard to think you have this life, and then all of a sudden — was it a lie? You’re struggling because it wasn’t real. But I survived. It was hard, but it didn’t kill me.”

In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show yesterday morning, People magazine reporter Sandra Sobieraj Westfall said Nordegren and her team approached the publication.

Westfall said Nordegren wanted people to know three things: she’s not violent and never hit Woods; she had no idea this was going on; and it was a real marriage for her.

Claudia DiRomualdo, the magazine’s public relations director, said no one received payment for the story.

Nordegren and Woods were married Oct. 5, 2004, in Barbados and have a 3-year-old daughter, Sam, and an 18month-old son, Charlie.

In the interview, Nordegren would not disclose the amount of the divorce settlement but did say “money can’t buy happiness or put my family back together.”

“I’m so embarrassed that I never suspected — not a one.

For the past 3 1/2 years, when all this was going on, I was home a lot more with pregnancies, then the children and my school.” Woods, who was playing a pro-am round at The Barclays in Paramus, New Jersey, early yesterday, hasn’t commented on the couple’s divorce.

Shortly before 8 a.m., when the People magazine story broke, his agent, Mark Steinberg, stepped outside the ropes of the first fairway and was on the phone for the next 10 minutes, as was Woods’ spokesman, Glenn Greenspan.

Nordegren said she would eventually forgive Woods, but that she is still working on it.

“Forgiveness takes time,” she said. “It is the last step of the grieving process.” —AP

FRANKFURT: Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine poses for photographers prior to a press conference in Going, Austria. WBC Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his title against Samuel Peter of Nigeria in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sept. 11, 2010. —AP

Injured Kessler pulls out of Super Six tournament COPENHAGEN: Danish boxer Mikkel Kessler pulled out of the Super Six tournament because of an eye injury yesterday, but said he would not be forced to retire.

Kessler said his eyes had been “bothering me for some time” but he would continue training. “I have a few problems when I go down the stairs and when I close one eye, I don’t see double,” Kessler said.

“It means that I had to give up my big dream, but I am not throwing the towel in the ring.”

Promoter Kalle Sauerland said it was “not bad news but it is a bomb shell.” Christian Meyer, the managing director of promoters Team Sauerland, said a medical check on Kessler in Germany on Tuesday “confirmed what was recorded by other specialists.”

Meyer added: “The doctor confirmed that only a proper rest — so not much of a treatment — simply rest from boxing activity would lead to a full recovery.” Kessler said his sight had bothered him before and after the April 24 bout against Britain’s Carl Froch that enabled him to claim the WBC super middleweight title.

It was not clear what caused the eye injury but Danish media speculated that it could stem from Kessler’s Nov. 22 Super Six bout against Andre

Ward. The American claimed the WBA super middleweight title from Kessler in a bout that had to be stopped early, leaving the ex-champion’s camp complaining of dirty tactics. A ringside physician stopped the fight midway through the 11th round after looking at a growing cut on Kessler’s face, which was caused by a head butt.

In his professional career, Kessler has a record of 43-2 and 32 knockouts. Yesterday’s announcement means next month’s bout between Kessler and American fighter Allan Green in Denmark has been called off.

Sauerland said he had “a verbal agreement” for a fight next year between the 31-year-old Kessler and the winner of the Super Six. No date was announced. The Super Six tournament gives six of the best 168-pound boxers in the world three fights each, with points awarded.

The four fighters with the most points advance to semifinals, with a championship bout next year.

Ward is the only fighter to win his first two bouts — including one against Kessler — and leads the tournament with four points. Arthur Abraham has the only knockout and is second with three points, while Froch is tied with Kessler and Andre Dirrell with two points each. Late substitute Green has zero. — AP

‘Team America’ Dallas on an expansion drive CALIFORNIA: A few hectares of dirt on a vacant block near the 101 freeway have been transformed by American sporting mega-brand the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys are in the Californian town of Oxnard for pre-season training, bringing celebrity to a place where the glamour of the NFL is normally only seen on TV. Posing for photo opps in between running through their complex play-book, the Cowboys are eager to build on their huge commercial success by further broadening their fan base. Linebacker Victor Burns works the fenceline, wrapping his chunky arms around anyone who wants a photo with him as Cowboys fever hits the town of 180,000 just north of Los Angeles.

Such attention to marketing has helped make Dallas the most financially successful NFL franchise according to Forbes magazine, with annual revenue of $280 million and an estimated worth of $1.65 billion.

Cowboys defensive coach Dave Campo recalled how during the 1970s and 1980s the team would show up at coaching conventions and put on lavish spreads for assembled coaches as a way of developing a national recruiting pipeline.

“No one else was doing that,” Campo, who was coaching college football teams dur-

ing those years of Cowboys expansion, told Reuters.

The Cowboys were winning games, as well, then Conference championships, then Super Bowls-two in the 1970s, three in the 90s.

“When you’re successful all the kids like you,” added Campo while preparing the team for their Sept. 12 season opener with the Washington Redskins. “Then the kids grow up and there’s Dallas Cowboy fans all over the world because of that.” Dallas’s hi-tech new stadium, opened opened 11 months ago at a cost $1.2 billion underlines the opulence of a

club which calls itself “America’s Team”.

Here in Oxnard, Cowboys fans can buy a square foot of artificial turf from the storied team’s former Texas Stadium for just $20 at a makeshift stall selling team merchandise. A plastic seat from the same venue signed by Super Bowlwinning quarterback and favorite son Roger Staubach fetches $200, or $425 framed, with a piece of the same stadium turf. With fanatical fans across the United States, the Cowboys players said they feel at home even when they are away. — Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO: 49ers tight end Nate Byham (82) is hit by Minnesota Vikings safety Tyrell Johnson (25) in the third quarter of an NFL preseason football game. — AP

17

SPORTS

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Webber in control as F1 returns from break MADRID: Mark Webber will be looking to build on his win in Hungary and stretch his overall lead in the championship as Formula One’s summer break comes to a close with the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Red Bull driver has won two of the last three races to lead McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by four points in the standings with 161 points. Teammate Sebastian Vettel is third with 151 points, Jenson Button of McLaren is on 147 and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso is next with 141.

Webber has rallied around problems within the team to overhaul Hamilton and Vettel, taking advantage of the championship’s fastest car to show he’s a capable

No. 1 for Red Bull.

Red Bull has been the pace setter all season but Webber has been able to turn that into points better than Vettel. The Australian driver expects the car to maintain its season-long edge at one of F1’s most iconic races in the rural Ardennes countryside.

“I expect we can do well there. Whether it’s as well as I did in Budapest is a question for everyone,” Webber said. “But I know our team is ready.”

All drivers are looking forward to tackling high speed corners like Eau Rouge and Pouhon come Sunday’s 44-lap race. Vettel is worried about whether Red Bull can com-

mand in the straights, however.

“Our weakness will be the long straights and, with uphill sections too, we know it won’t be easy for us,” the German driver said. “But I am optimistic for the race.”

McLaren will be keen to rebound from the disappointment of Hungary, where Hamilton failed to finish due to a gearbox problem and Button was eighth. McLaren hasn’t won a race since Hamilton triumphed in Canada.

“We know that we have some catchingup do to _ it’s still important that we regain the momentum we’d reached earlier this season,” Button said. “While I don’t think these two European races will be pivotal to

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

Alonso chases four in a row for Ferrari LONDON: Fernando Alonso will be chasing Ferrari’s fourth Belgian Grand Prix victory in a row on Sunday while hoping that Mark Webber again fails to shine at Spa-Francorchamps.

Championship leader Webber, winner four times for Red Bull in 12 races so far this season, has yet to stand on the Formula One podium at Spa despite ranking the fast Ardennes circuit as a favourite.

Alonso, runner-up at the previous race in Hungary and the controversial winner in Germany before that, when Ferrari were deemed to have used banned “team orders”, needs maximum points to close the 20-point gap between him and the Australian.

Even then, the brakes could still be slammed on his title challenge by the FIA at a meeting in Paris on September 8, when the sport’s governing body will decide whether to mete out further punishment on Ferrari and their drivers after a $100,000 fine.

Yet Spain’s double world champion remains optimistic at a venue that has rewarded his team with five wins in the last seven years-two of them to now-departed Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

“It only took us two normal races to be fully back in contention for the title,” Alonso said during the summer break after Hungary.

“We are now on the right road. The car is much improved and so that makes me more optimistic and has seen the whole team grow in confidence.

“In Spa, we will have a few more things and we

hope they help us progress still more.”

Alonso’s Brazilian team mate, Felipe Massa, won at Spa in 2008 after Hamilton was demoted from first to third for cutting a chicane. He said his team was in good shape.

“Fortunately, in the last few races, we showed that we have returned to being very competitive, even better than we had expected,” Massa said in a blog on the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com).

Massa and former team mate Michael Schumacher are the only two current drivers to have won previously at Spa, but the great German, who made his F1 debut in Belgium with Jordan in 1991, has no chance of repeating the feat this time. The seven times champion will start this race with a 10-place penalty on the starting grid after almost driving Brazilian Rubens Barrichello into a wall in a 300kph battle in Hungary for 10th place. “Spa has always been my favourite racetrack and so, for that reason alone, I am really looking forward to going back and racing there,” Schumacher said in a Mercedes team preview. “It has been ages since I have last been there.

“Our weekend will obviously be handicapped by my grid penalty, and consequently it will be difficult to expect special things from the race,” added the 41-year-old, making a comeback this season after three years out.

“On the other hand, every racing kilometre is important and welcome because we can learn from it with regards to our car. I will definitely try to make the best out of the weekend.”—Reuters

London Irish appoint Dermody as captain LONDON: Former New Zealand prop Clarke Dermody has been appointed as captain of Premiership club London Irish. Dermody has become a key figure with the Exiles since joining in October 2007 and takes the skipper’s armband from Bob Casey.

The 30-year-old, who has eight All Blacks caps and previously played for New Zealand Super 14 franchise the Highlanders, believes his leadership can help Irish fulfil their potential.

“I have experienced captaincy playing in New Zealand and it is something I enjoy doing,” he said.

“We have a very talented squad again this season and I am confident that we will be able to fulfil our potential.” London Irish head coach Toby Booth has no doubts Dermody’s experience will be a major asset as captain and he said: “Clarke is a natural captain with a wealth of leadership experience at provincial and Super 14 level in New Zealand. “He is hugely respected within the squad and always leads by example out on the pitch.”

Casey led the Exiles into their first Premiership Grand Final appearance, against Leicester in 2009, and Booth insisted the veteran lock still has a key role to play at the club.

“I would like to thank Bob for his fine captaincy in the past three seasons and stress the important role that players of his experience have on the continued development of our squad,” Booth said.

“The physical nature of Premiership rugby encourages the need for leaders all over the pitch and teams can no longer rely on one leader.

“Clarke will be our figurehead but the contribution of Bob and our other senior players will be paramount to our success on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, racing-Metro number eight Sebastien Chabal has slammed the French league and the requirements of television for allowing a punishing fixture list that sees French clubs embarking on a series of three league games in the space of nine days. The third round of the Top 14 takes place on Friday. The fourth is then being played next Wednesday with the fifth on Sunday September 5.

Clarke Dermody “I find this stupid,” Chabal told AFP. “It would be better to play matches when the internationals are on. In England, they do that a lot and it doesn’t detract from the standard of the championship.

“Television and the league (NLP) don’t consider the health of the players when they draw up the fixture list. They don’t give a toss for the health of the players.”

Chabal also hit out at the poor preparation time given to the French national side. “To maintain some consistency, you must train regularly together, something that all the top international sides do,” he said. “We must be the only country in the top five who prepare each season the way we do, that is five days or a week before each match and the rest of the time we don’t see each other. “We have some big questions to ask. The rugby federation, the NLR, television, they all want their share of the cake but it isn’t big enough for everybody.—AFP

the title fight, it will be harder to introduce bigger upgrades to the car at the end-ofseason fly-aways so it’s important for the whole team that we score well in both events.”

With the Italian GP closing the European leg of the calendar on Sept. 12, points will be important now as drivers and team crews return refreshed from a fourweek break.

Button took part in a triathlon while Alonso spent his time biking in the Asturian hills, and Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali is hopeful the Italians will return inspired and ready to reap the momentum that has seen Alonso gain in the

standings. “The Belgian track is possibly the most appealing of the entire season,” Alonso said. “I have a good feeling following on from the positive results obtained in Germany and Hungary.”

Points will be even more valuable to Ferrari now since it risks being docked or losing all of its points from Alonso and Felipe Massa’s 1-2 finish in Germany after Massa gave way for Alonso on team orders.

Governing body FIA will hear the case and decide whether to impose a sanction on Sept. 8. Rubens Barrichello will suit up for race No. 300 — a record — with Williams.

“I took my first pole there and have won at Spa while racing in the lower categories

so I’m looking forward to it,” the 38-yearold Brazilian driver, who has won 11 times since his debut in 1993, said. “It feels great to reach this milestone.”

Force India is not expecting a repeat of last year when Giancarlo Fisichella took pole and then finished behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari for the Indian team’s best-ever result.

“We have to look at what we are doing now rather than to the past,” driver Adrian Sutil said. “I’m pretty confident that we’ve got a car that will still suit the track very well.” Practice starts Friday, with a third session Saturday morning before qualifying.—AP

Lin heads towards a Chinese showdown

PARIS: Lin Dan, bidding to become the first player ever to win four world singles titles, moved smoothly into the last 16 with another masterfully taken win.

The man regarded by many as the greatest of all time was able to play at cruising pace and then move through the gears as he overcame Henri Hurskainen, the world number 49 from Sweden, 21-13, 21-15.

Lin was able to give himself court time by coaxing the shuttle around and develop his ability to control it in difficult, fast conditions - yet still grab quick points when he wanted to.

When Hurskainen displayed several different attacking options to recover from a threepoint deficit to 15-15 in the second game, Lin fashioned a long, lung-testing rally in which he moved his opponent all round the court.

That had the desired effect of draining the spirited Hurskainen’s resources, enabling Lin to take six successive points and the match.

“It was not an easy match because I had never met him before, and I didn’t know what his level was,” Lin said. “After winning the first game I lost my patience a little in the second.”

But Hurskainen had a different view. “I was happy with the way I played and yet I always felt like I was a step behind,” he said.

“He has to be the greatest player of all time.”

It moved Lin closer to a rematch with his compatriot Bao Chunlai, the man who surprisingly ended his defence of the AllEngland Open title in Birmingham in March. Bao was due to play David Snider of Canada. “We know each other very well,” said Lin. “Now I shall have a rest and then continue my preparation.”

In the same half of the draw there was a scare for Taufik Hidayat, a former winner of the World and Olympic titles. The fifth-seeded Indonesian had to dig deep in the second game before surviving 19-21, 21-19, 21-19 against Hsieh Yu Tsin, the world number 24 from Taiwan.

“I felt under pressure after the first set but then felt I found my rhythm,” said Taufik. “But the guy scared me when it was 19-14 and he came back to 19-all.

“I knew I had to win this somehow, and once I had got the second I felt I had broken the resistance of my opponent.”

With Simon Santoso, the eighth seed, withdrawing with a bad back and giving a walk-over to another Taiwanese player, Hsueh Hsuan Yi, it left Hidayat as the only Indonesian men’s singles player left. Earlier Sony dwi Kuncoro had also pulled out with an injury.

Later there was an on court surprise, when Kenichi Tago, who became the first Japanese men’s singles player to reach an All-England final in almost half a century, was beaten.

The 12th seed was unable to control the shuttle well enough on the big points at the end of each game and went down 22-20, 21-19 to the improving world number 29 from Thailand, Tanongsak Saensomboonsak.

For a while it seemed there might be an even bigger surprise in the women’s singles, when Saina Nehwal, the second-seeded Indian, struggled in her opening encounter.

“I hadn’t played a tournament for seven weeks, and as it was also the world championships I was more nervous than usual,” Nehwal admitted after her 20-22, 21-15, 21-8 win over Chen Hsiao Huan of Taiwan. —AFP

PARIS: Dan Lin of China returns a shot during the World Badminton Championships in Paris. —AP

Kim Yu-na leaves coach Orser NEW YORK: Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na has split from her coach, Brian Orser, in a move that has taken many by surprise — Orser included.

Kim said Orser knows why the two are no longer working together, and was “flabbergasted” and “upset” that he would say otherwise.

Orser said Tuesday that Kim’s mother, Park Mi-hee, told him Aug. 2 that he was no longer Kim’s coach but gave no reason for the decision. When Orser and fellow coach Tracy Wilson met with Kim last week, Orser said even the skater seemed confused by the events.

But in a posting on Cyworld, a South Korean social networking site similar to Facebook, Kim said her relationship with Orser had been “awkward” for the last few months, and that it was ultimately her decision to leave.

“Do you think it’s really true that my mother decided on her own to part ways with the coach? I’m no longer a child,” wrote Kim, who turns 20 on Sept. 5. “He was my coach, and whether we stay on or part ways, it was my final decision, and this is what I decided to do, with discretion, after consulting with my mother.”

Kim’s management agency, AT Sports, confirmed that the posting, written in Korean, were made by Kim. AT Sports also confirmed the skater had posted an angry tweet in English directed at Orser, which was quickly deleted. AT Sports did not explain why.

Kim is still training at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, where she has worked with Orser since 2006.

But she has been “more or less” working without a coach since May, AT Sports said, and they have no plans for a new one.

Kim announced last month that she is skipping the Grand Prix series and will focus instead on the world championships.

Kim and Orser have always had a friendly relationship — he’s even made appearances in some of her commercials — but

Orser said he noticed a change when the skater returned from South Korea in May. Kim had said after the world championships that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue competing, and Orser said he and Wilson tried to give her space to decide.

Wildly popular in South Korea — her nickname is “Queen Yu-na” — she ranked fifth on Forbes.com’s list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes this month with earnings of $9.7 million the past year.

But when Kim announced her plans for the season, she did it without informing Orser first.

He then got a call from ShaeLynn Bourne, who said she had been asked to choreograph Kim’s short program.

Kim’s programs are usually choreographed by David Wilson, who works with Orser and Tracy Wilson.

“I immediately started emailing them,” Orser said. “I was in the dark and felt I deserved to have some clarity. ... I was a little embarrassed, to be honest with you, that I didn’t know any of this stuff.”

But Kim said “everyone involved in this, including coach Brian Orser” knows the reasons

behind the split. “If you knew about the process that we went through, you will understand how shocked and flabbergasted we felt when we saw Orser’s interviews,” Kim wrote. “... But I don’t want to talk about the process we went through, and there’s no need to do so. This is strictly our issue.”

Orser said he held off announcing the split in hopes Kim and her camp would have a change of heart.

He decided to make the separation public Monday because he didn’t want it to become a distraction for his other skaters, including up-and-coming Americans Adam Rippon and Christina Gao. “What’s happening now would happen at some point. I didn’t want it to happen when I was at a competition with Adam or Christina,” Orser said.

“That’s not fair to them.”

Kim began working with Orser in 2006. Orser, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, became her full-time coach in 2007, and Kim flourished under his guidance. After finishing third at the 2008 worlds, she won all but two competitions the next two seasons, often in record fashion.

She overwhelmed the competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, oblivious to the pressure that came with being the biggest favorite to win gold since Katarina Witt in 1988. She shattered her own world record for total score by 18 points, and also topped her marks for the short program and free skate.

“It’s disappointing because it involves Yu-na,” Orser said. “I love her and I’ve been working with her and we’ve grown together and she’s flourished under this team that we had. So I’m saddened we weren’t able to get through it.

“Now it’s done. We all move forward,” he added. “I want the best for Yu-na.” In a statement released by AT Sports, Kim thanked Orser for helping her become Olympic champion and wished him well in the future.

But her posting had a far more bitter tone.

“It’s unbearable to let people believe lies and let criticisms fall on those who are innocent,” she wrote.

“Why something that could have ended well had to end up being so hurtful like this to each other ... I just really want it to stop.”—AP

SEOUL: A picture of South Korean Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kim Yu-na is displayed at a news agency building in Seoul. —AP

SPORTS

18

Thursday, August 26, 2010

World title can cap spectacular year for Spain MADRID: Spain’s reign as kings of the sports world this year can be assured by retaining their title at the upcoming basketball world championship.

The country’s national football team finally won the World Cup last month, shortly after tennis star Rafael Nadal completed his second French Open-Wimbledon double in three years and Alberto Contador won his third Tour de France title in four years.

Now, the pressure is on the basketball team, which will have to play without star center Pau Gasol, who has

decided to take a break from competition. The tournament starts Saturday in Turkey, and Spain will be the team to beat. “They’re a great team, whoever plays,” Gasol said.

“They’re preparing very well and I hope they can emulate that in the tournament. It’ll be tough but they look prepared to keep winning more titles.”

The Los Angeles Laker center’s absence coupled with strong teams from the United States, Argentina and Greece will not make the task easy for the European champions.

“Spain’s got a great team. They’re

as good as anybody,” United States coach Mike Krzyzewski said last week. “But any team with Pau is better.” The Spanish are trying to become only the third country to win back-toback world basketball titles.

Yugoslavia was the last team to do it, in 1998-2002, while Brazil managed it in 1959-63. But maybe even bigger is what Spain has done all over the world this year.

The country’s first World Cup victory in South Africa made it only the third nation to be world and European champions simultaneously, while No.

1-ranked Nadal has taken his major total to eight since his first French Open victory in 2005. Nadal, who won the Olympic singles gold in Beijing two years ago, also helped Spain to Davis Cup victories in 2004, ‘08 and ‘09.

Nadal now has a chance to become only the seventh player to record a career Grand Slam, and if he reaches the US Open final on Sept. 12 it could set up another super Sunday in Spain if the basketball team also delivers.

Contador’s three Tour de France titles have made it five straight

Spanish winners of cycling’s biggest prize, and Fernando Alonso put Spain in the Formula One spotlight with back-to-back world championships in 2005-06 and is in the thick of this season’s race.

In Turkey, things will be tough without Gasol, but the team has already shown it can survive without him — the big man missed the 70-47 final victory over Greece in Japan four years ago because of injury, when brother Marc filled in.

The bulk of that team will return this time, including Jorge Garbajosa,

Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez, while newcomers Ricky Rubio, Sergio Llull and Fran Vazquez have provided further depth to the European champions.

“The core of the group is good, defensively strong, united as always,” Gasol said. “Some days better than others but if we maintain this connection we have, we’ll get there.” But Spain will also be without another NBA player, Jose Manuel Calderon, because the Toronto Raptors point guard tore a muscle in his left leg during an 86-85 exhibition loss to the

United States on Sunday.

Spain had won all eight of its warmup matches — including beating Argentina, Brazil and Lithuania — before that. With Calderon out, Rubio will run the show for Spain. The 19year-old point guard has been impressive since helping Spain win the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

“We’ve shown we’re the two definite favorites to win the worlds,” Garbajosa, a former Raptors forward, said of the Spain and the United States. —AP

Kumar, Sehwag help India stroll into final

DAMBULLA: India’s Praveen Kumar celebrates the dismissal of New Zealand’s Martin Guptill (unseen) during their tri-nation series one-day international cricket match. —AP

DAMBULLA: Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag celebrates his century during the tri-nation series one-day international cricket match against New Zealand. —AP

Scoreboard DAMBULLA: Scoreboard at the end of the one-day tri-series match between India and New Zealand in Dambulla yesterday, India beat New Zealand by 105 runs.

India innings D. Karthik c Hopkins b Mills 0 V. Sehwag c Watling b McCullum 110 V. Kohli c Hopkins b Southee 8 Y. Singh c Hopkins b McKay 6 S. Raina c Williamson b Southee 1 M.S. Dhoni c Hopkins b McCullum 38 R. Jadeja c Taylor b Southee 17 P. Kumar c Mills b Southee 6 A. Nehra c&b McCullum 0 I. Sharma not out 8 M. Patel c McKay b Mills 7 Extras: (b-1, lb-5, nb-2, w-14) 22, Total: (all out; 46.3 overs) 223, Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-27 3-61 4-66 5-173 6-199 7-199 8-207, 9-207 10-223.

Bowling: Mills 8.3-1-42-2 (w-1, nb-2), Southee 10-249-4 (w-3), McKay 8-1-31-1 (w-4), Styris 6-0-37-0 (w-2), McCullum 10-0-35-3 (w-1), Williamson 4-0-

23-0 (w-3).

New Zealand innings B.J. Watling b Nehra 2 M. Guptill lbw b Kumar 0 R. Taylor c Dhoni b Kumar 8 G. Elliott lbw b Patel 11 S. Styris b Kumar 1 K. Williamson b Sharma 13 G. Hopkins lbw b Patel 0 N. McCullum c Karthik b Patel 5 K. Mills c Kumar b Nehra 52 T. Southee c Kumar b Jadeja 10 A. McKay not out 3 Extras: (lb-5, w-8) 13 Total: (all out; 30.1 overs) 118 Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-6 3-14 4-22 5-41 6-42 7-52 853 9-80 10-118 Bowling: Kumar 8-2-34-3 (w-2), Nehra 6.1-1-10-2 (w-3), Patel 7-1-21-3 (w-3), Sharma 6-1-27-1, Jadeja 3-0-21-1.

DAMBULLA: Praveen Kumar grabbed three early wickets and Virender Sehwag smashed a superb century as India entered the tri-series final with an emphatic 105-run win over New Zealand yesterday.

India, with 10 points from four matches, will clash with Sri Lanka (11 from four) in the final on Saturday. New Zealand finished their league engagements with seven points.

Paceman Kumar finished with 3-34 as New Zealand, chasing a 224-run target, were shot out for 118 in 30.1 overs-their lowest total against India in oneday internationals.

India were indebted to manof-the-match Sehwag for posting a competitive total as the hardhitting opener cracked one six and 16 fours in a 93-ball 110 for his 13th one-day hundred.

“He (Sehwag) is the only batsman who seems to be middling the ball well,” said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“It was really good to bat with him.

“In the second half of the game, the bowlers did the job for us. We give Praveen the new ball because he has a good control over his swing. Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel also did a good job.”

India virtually wrapped up the match when they sent New Zealand struggling at 22-4 in the ninth over, with Kumar taking three wickets.

Tail-ender Kyle Mills hammered an entertaining 52 for his second half-century in one-dayers, but his knock came too late to stop India from the winning the match.

Mills hit three sixes and seven fours in his 35-ball knock.

Kane Williamson (13), Grant Elliott (11) and Tim Southee (10) were the others to reach doublefigures in New Zealand’s disappointing batting performance.

Fast bowlers Patel (3-21) and Nehra (2-10) were India’s other main wicket-takers. “The way Sehwag batted, it took the game away from us,” said New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor.

“They then bowled full and straight and made us make tough decisions. The ball has been swinging all through the tournament.”

New Zealand paceman Southee (4-49) and off-spinner Nathan McCullum (3-35) earlier shared seven wickets to bowl India out for a modest total despite Sehwag’s century.

India were tottering at 66-4 in 13 overs after electing to bat when Sehwag propped up the innings with a 107-run stand for the fifth wicket with Dhoni (38).

Southee, Mills and Andy McKay tested the Indian batsmen with pace and bounce in their lively opening spells to help New Zealand seize the early initiative. Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina all failed to reach doublefigures.

Southee took two wickets while Mills and McKay grabbed one apiece before Sehwag and Dhoni steadied the innings with their sensible knocks.

Although wickets fell at regular intervals from one end, Sehwag kept playing attacking strokes from the other and raced to his half-century off 41 balls when he hit seamer Scott Styris through the covers for his ninth four.

Sehwag then hit McCullum for a straight six and a four through the covers off successive deliveries. He took 46 more balls to complete his century, with a single off spinner Williamson. The Indian opener fell playing shots, caught at deep mid-wicket by Bradley-John Watling off McCullum in the 33rd over. —AFP

Hockey boss warns NHL to stay out of Europe

LONDON: England captain Andrew Strauss takes part in a cricket training session at Lord’s cricket ground in London. —AP

We have a point to prove, says Strauss LONDON: England will undergo another searching examination at the hands of an increasingly potent Pakistan attack in the final Test starting at Lord’s today.

Pakistan, who drew 1-1 with Australia earlier in the season, can level the four-match series 2-2 if they win at Lord’s after twice exposing the England batting in their third-test victory at the Oval last week.

England captain Andrew Strauss accepted yesterday his side was guilty of mistakes in the third test, and said he and his team mates “want to put those right this week”.

“I think there is a really nice determined atmosphere about the group because we feel we may have a point to prove again, and that’s a good state of mind to be in,” Strauss told Sky television.

Inevitably, the series is being viewed in the context of England’s Ashes defence starting in Brisbane on Nov. 25, although conditions in Australia will bear no resemblance to the autumnal weather predicted for Lord’s in the last test of the summer.

England’s priority will be to win at a venue where they have won or drawn nine consecutive tests since losing to Australia in 2005.

The weather throughout the current series has

favoured the bowlers, and Pakistan’s attack looks at the moment to be the best balanced in world cricket. Mohammad Asif’s late movement from a probing length has delighted the connoisseurs of swing and seam and evoked comparisons with Australian Terry Aldermann and New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee, who both proved deadly in English conditions.

His new-ball partner, Mohammad Amir, still only 18, combines high pace with reverse swing, while a second left-armer, Wahab Riaz, displayed speed and disconcerting bounce in his debut at the Oval.

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal completes the attack with a doosra that none of the English top order has consistently picked. Strauss said England had made a concerted effort to address their batting problems.

“It was disappointing the way we played at the Oval, there were mistakes we made as a batting unit,” he said. “You do have to put it into context and the context has been that some of the wickets have been hard to bat on, the Oval probably less so.

“We sat down and chatted about it and I think it’s a case of bringing the game back to its simplest form, and that is backing your game plan, reacting well to the conditions and what the bowlers are doing, and earning the right to get on top of the opposition bowling.” —Reuters

TORONTO: The National Hockey League should forget about any idea to expand into Europe, the head of the International Ice Hockey Federation said on Tuesday at the World Hockey Summit.

Speaking to a gathering of some of ice hockey’s top brass, IIHF president Rene Fasel blasted the idea of the NHL setting up operations in Europe and told the league to stay away and that he would never allow it to happen.

“Try to come, good luck,” Fasel said during a question and answer session at the four-day summit in Toronto. “This is our territory and I will fight like hell to not allow anybody to come from abroad.”

The NHL has long flirted with the idea of one day adding a European division to the league, with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly calling it a dream that could become reality within the next 10 years.

But while the NHL has repeatedly stated the stability of its 30 teams is its main priority, the league has been working hard at growing its European presence.

This year a record six NHL teams will open the season with a pair of games each in Europe, bringing games to Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic.

Fasel said culture differences between North America and Europe were a big reason why the National Football League’s European League is now defunct.

He also said if the National Basketball Association thought expanding into Europe would be successful then the league would have tried it by now.

“There are 500 million people in the European community, different languages, different cultures, different view of sport. It’s different,” said Fasel.

“Let us do the job in Europe and in the end let us come together. Keep our identity in Europe, you keep your identity here.”

Europe is becoming the new battleground for ice hockey with the IIHF eager to create a Champions League style competition that soccer has developed with massive success.

Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League and the NHL are also looking for a piece of the European pie, including players and fans.

Fasel, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee executive board, said his dream is for a “European league where we have five, six teams from Sweden and the KHL together with the Finns, the Germans, the Swiss and then try to have a European champion and then having the European champion play the Stanley Cup winner.

“That would be music for the hockey fans.” —Reuters

Stosur needs tiebreaker to advance at Pilot Pen NEW HAVEN: Australia’s Samantha Stosur needed three sets and a tiebreaker to beat Sara Errani of Italy 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (4) at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament. The second-seeded woman cruised through the first set, but was broken twice in the second.

Errani was serving for the match, up 5-4 and 40-15 in the third, before Stosur rallied, saving four match points. “I just tried to hang in there and eventually got through that game, and once I won that then I knew that I was in a good spot,” Stosur said.

Stosur, who didn’t play in Cincinnati or Montreal because of an injury to her right arm, said she was a little nervous about how it

would hold up under match conditions. “I actually hadn’t hit more than about 30 serves in any practice session yet, so it was a good test for it tonight, and it was all good,” she said. In the men’s draw, top-seeded Marcos Baghdatis fought through strong winds and a half hour of rain delays for a 6-2, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev in his opening match.

The Cypriot, who made it to the semifinals last week in Cincinnati and the finals earlier this month in Washington said he’s playing some of his best tennis heading into next week’s U.S. Open.

“It’s been a good summer for me, but I came to play here and I came to win the tournament,” he said. —AP

Samantha Stosur in action at the Pilot Pen tournament

Thursday, August 26, 2010

SPORTS

19

Dodgy turf costs Anderlecht $25 million in Europe LONDON: It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home — just as long as it doesn’t have a dodgy penalty spot in front of one of the goals.

The field at Anderlecht’s Constant Vanden Stock Stadium did and it cost the Belgian champions about euro 20 million ($25 million).

The soft ground around the painted white spot gave way three times during a penalty shootout at the end of Anderlecht’s Champions League playoff against Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday.

The ball flew over the bar each of those times, taking with it Anderlecht’s hopes of qualifying for club football’s biggest tournament. “The pitch was very bad around the penalty spot, but that naturally doesn’t make it an excuse,” said Mbark Boussoufa, who missed Anderlecht’s crucial fifth and final kick. “We should be able to control our nerves in such moments, but unfortunately we haven’t been able to do it.” Partizan won the shootout 3-2 and will be in today’s draw for the Champions League while Anderlecht drops into the less prestigious, and less

lucrative, Europa League.

The Serbian side should pick up close to euro20 million in prize money, broadcast revenue and other income just by participating in the group stage of the Champions League. “I can’t remember ever having missed a spot kick before,” Boussoufa said.

“It’s a huge blow that I failed to find the net at such a crucial time.” Having fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and take the two-legged match to a shootout, Anderlecht might have felt the hard work was done.

But Matias Suarez was under pressure

immediately after Cleo put Partizan ahead with the first penalty. The Argentine forward ran in at an angle to set himself up for a right-foot shot but the ground gave way as he kicked, sending the ball over the bar by about 5 meters (yards).

Suarez stared in disbelief at the disappearing ball before glaring accusingly at the rogue spot of turf. His miss set the tone for the rest of the shootout, with right-footed players unable to keep their kicks down unless they took a straight run up or put their foot behind the ball instead of under it.

Anderlecht goalkeeper Silvio Proto saved Partizan’s second kick before Lucas Biglia’s kick went the same way as Suarez’s — off the bump in the ground and way over the bar. Partizan moved ahead 2-0 before Proto’s second save helped Anderlecht get back to 2-2.

Vojslav Stankovic’s left-foot shot then left Boussoufa needing to score. Under pressure, the Moroccan midfielder took a typical slanted run up and hoofed the ball right-footed as high as Suarez did.

UEFA said yesterday that the match offi-

cials had passed the field as fit for play before the game, so there was no reason for the incidents to be mentioned in the referee’s match report.

Anderlecht coach Ariel Jacobs said his team should simply have won the match in regular time so the players didn’t have to deal with the additional pressure of a shootout. “If you take a penalty, it’s the responsibility of the entire team, not just whoever misses,” Jacobs said. “If there was something wrong with the penalty spot, it was the same for both sides.”—AP

No surprises in Spain: It’s Real v Barca again

MOSCOW: Switzerland’s FC Lausanne players are seen during a training session at Lokomotiv stadium. FC Lausanne will play their Europa League soccer match against Lokomotiv Moscow today. —AP

Key players out for Liverpool LONDON: Captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres are among the key players missing for Liverpool as the English side battles to make it into the group stage of the Europa League today.

The five-time European champions head to Turkey for the second leg of their qualifying playoff against Trabzonspor protecting a narrow 1-0 lead from the first match.

Gerrard has a back problem, Torres will not be risked as he builds up his fitness after recent injury problems while Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodriguez are also out.

Holding midfielder Javier Mascherano is missing while he is the subject of a bid from Barcelona.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson can recall new signing Joe Cole from domestic suspension but is expecting his makeshift side to be put under heavy pressure by Trabzonspor.

“We missed a golden opportunity to kill

the game off at Anfield and now we’ve got it all to do,” Hodgson said. “It’s going to be a very tough ask for the players in a difficult place.

“They are one of the two or three best teams in Turkey at the moment and Turkish football is of a very high standard.

Everyone who’s been to Trabzon tells me it’s a remarkably difficult place to play.”

Former European champions PSV Eindhoven and Juventus will also be under pressure in the second legs of their playoffs. Sibir Novosibirsk caused the biggest shock in the first legs by beating PSV, which won the European Cup in 1988, 1-0 in Russia.

The Dutch side is without Francisco Rodriguez, who was sent off in the first leg, and said it would not play Ibrahim Afellay so the midfielder would not be cup-tied ahead of a possible move.

“It was a very difficult decision,” PSV

technical director Marcel Brands said. “But I think it’s in everybody’s best interest that Ibrahim doesn’t play today.”

Juventus, which is more used to playing in the Champions League rather than Europe’s second-tier competition, will not be taking qualification for granted after only beating Sturm Graz 2-1 in Austria in the first leg.

Elsewhere, Rapid Vienna aims to knock English side Aston Villa out of the tournament in the qualifying rounds for the second straight year. The matchup is delicately poised at 1-1 after the first leg in Vienna.

Manchester City hosts FC Timisoara with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, and both FC Porto and Palermo hold healthy 3-0 cushions ahead of second leg matches against Genk and NK Maribor, respectively. Turkish team Fenerbahce is 1-0 down after the first leg at PAOK Thessaloniki.—AP

Gourcuff to start Lyon spell with family reunion PARIS: Olympique Lyon’s new signing Yoann Gourcuff will see a familiar face when he lines up for his first Ligue 1 match with the seven-times champions at Lorient on Saturday (1700 GMT). Sitting on the Lorient bench will be coach Christian Gourcuff, Yoann’s father.

“It’s true that destiny does strange things sometimes,” Gourcuff, who joined Lyon from Girondins Bordeaux in a deal worth 22 million euros ($27.8 million), told reporters. “Playing against my father will be a bit bizarre.”

The France playmaker, the most spectacular Ligue 1 signing during the transfer window, warned Lyon fans not to expect too much from him.

“I don’t see myself as the Messiah or a great conductor,” said the discreet, almost shy 24-year-old.

“Football is a team sport and my qualities are to help the team play. I’ll be part of the group and will try to blend in as well as possible.” Lyon badly need midfield inspiration after picking up just four points from their first three games.

Champions Olympique Marseille have also made a slow start and have been busy in the transfer market before their visit to Bordeaux on Sunday (1900).

The club breathed a collective sigh of relief on Tuesday with the news that striker Loic Remy had been cleared to play despite a heart problem. The 23-year-old had been diagnosed with a heart defect last week after joining from Nice on a five-year contract.

“You’re not in the best conditions when you’re told your career could be over but now I feel relieved,” Remy told a news conference. “It’s taken a weight off my mind and I’m ready to play on Sunday.”

Marseille coach Didier Deschamps might have to wait a bit before fielding his other reinforcement, France striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, who joined from Toulouse and is recovering from an ankle injury.

Gignac, who was born near Marseille, was delighted with the move. “My blood is blue and white,” he told reporters. “I have plenty of pictures of me as a kid wearing the Marseille shirt.”—Reuters

SWEDEN: Sweden’s Josefine Oqvist runs over Wales’ Jessica Fishlock during the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer match in Vaxjo. —AP

MADRID: Saturday’s kickoff in the Spanish league may attract greater attention following Spain’s World Cup triumph, but one detail seems unlikely to change — the season will again come down to a duel between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Last season’s revamped ‘galactico’ experiment failed to deliver Madrid any silverware, so president Florentino Perez turned his attention to the coach and replaced Manuel Pellegrini with the self-proclaimed ‘Special One,’ Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho’s record is tried and tested and the Portuguese coach is expected to at least end a record four-game losing streak against Barcelona and ensure a party at Plaza Cibeles for the first time since a league triumph in 2008.

Mourinho, who won Champions League titles for Inter Milan and FC Porto as well as five trophies with Chelsea, appears the man to match Madrid’s ambition.

“I want to make history,” Mourinho said. “I’ll never say ‘enough’.” A year after spending over euro 250 million ($343 million) on players, Madrid has invested a quarter of that this summer, with Benfica winger Angel Di Maria the biggest expenditure at euro 25 million ($31.7 million). Germany playmaker Mesut Oezil and Mourinho favorite Ricardo Carvalho of Chelsea have also arrived.

With Kaka out until at least December, Oezil and teenage midfielder Sergio Canales are the most likely fill-ins to complement Cristiano Ronaldo, who not only leads the attack but a new Madrid era, following the exits of Raul Gonzalez and Jose Maria “Guti” Gutierrez. Only goalkeeper Iker Casillas remains from one of the most successful periods of Madrid’s history.

While Mourinho has had to implement his system from scratch, Barcelona’s dismantling of Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup shows it has not skipped a beat. Barcelona now has eight players from the World Cup-winning team after David Villa’s euro 40 million ($51 million) move from Valencia.

The Spain striker had no trouble fitting in with the two-time defending league champion’s in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Sevilla, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick to show Argentina’s South Africa campaign was a distant memory.

“It won’t take him long to fit in,” midfielder Sergio Busquets said.

“The philosophy of Barcelona and the national team are very similar.”

Barcelona supporters are hopeful coach Pep Guardiola can harvest more talent from the team’s academy as the departures of Yaya Toure, Rafael Marquez and Dmytro Chygrynskiy have left vacancies that are most likely to be filled from within as the club endures tough economic times.

Striker Bojan Krkic will get more playing time which could leave Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench, and the sulking Sweden striker could prove to be a big problem for the Catalan club’s harmony.

However with Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta orchestrating the attack, the season is likely to come down to the two “clasico” matches: Nov. 28 at the Camp Nou and Apr. 17 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“For the good of football let’s hope the league doesn’t come down to only two teams,” Busquets said.

“It’s true that Barca and Real Madrid are two of the best teams in the league due to the quality of their squads, so the title fight could be fierce.”

Looking at the best of the rest, it’s hard to pinpoint any team with a chance of being in the race come Christmas. Brazil striker Luis Fabiano leads a largely unchanged Sevilla lineup that finished fourth last season — 36 points off Barcelona — and should reach the Champions League places. But the 5-3 aggregate loss to Barcelona in the Supercup demonstrated the gulf between Barcelona and the rest.—AP

SPAIN: FC Barcelona’s Carles Puyol holds up the La Liga 2009-2010 season Trophy before his friendly match against AC Milan at the Camp Nou stadium yesterday. —AP

FIFA ends probe into North Korean football ZURICH: FIFA ended a probe into North Korean football yesterday after accepting an explanation from Pyongyang that the national team coach and players were not disciplined after losing all three matches at the World Cup. FIFA said it received a letter from the North Korean football federation to answer its request for details about the unconfirmed allegations.

“With all of the information at hand, and having checked all of its sources, FIFA has decided to close the matter,” the governing body of football said in a statement. FIFA president Sepp Blatter opened the investigation two weeks ago after Radio Free Asia reported that coach Kim Jong Hun and his players were mistreated after returning home from South Africa in June.

Blatter said FIFA wanted to know more about “allegations made by the media that the coach and some players have been condemned or punished.”

In its reply, North Korean football officials said “there were no sanctions to the coach and that the

reports on this matter were baseless.”

FIFA said the federation “asssures that Kim Jong Hun ... and all the other members of the national team are training as usual and that the members of the team will soon take part in the Asian Games.”

FIFA also sought clarification on how the federation elected a new president in June, and was satisfied that the poll was not affected by results at the World Cup. Governments are prohibited from interfering in football business under threat of FIFA suspending teams, referees and officials from taking part in international matches and meetings, and freezing funds. North Korea was due to collect $8 million (§6.3 million) in prize money from competing at the World Cup. North Korea lost just 2-1 to Brazil in its opening match in South Africa before slumping to a 70 loss against Portugal and 3-0 against Ivory Coast. It is scheduled to play at the Asian Games in November in Guangzhou, China.—AP

Boastful Zambians need to find form JOHANNESBURG: Zambian club Zanaco need to recover from a poor start to the African Confederation Cup group phase when they host Harras al-Hodoud of Egypt Saturday.

Coach Wedson Nyirenda boasted after a play-off victory over Enyimba of Nigeria that his team would go on to win the second-tier Pan-African club competition.

But a 1-0 defeat at FUS Rabat of Morocco two weeks ago in probably the least intimidating of three Group B away assignments left the bank club bottom of the table after the opening series of matches.

Harras, a paramilitary club from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, also failed to match expectations with a side that struck 18 goals in three other home cup ties held 0-0 by Tunisian visitors CS Sfaxien.

Zanaco want to recapture the form that saw them score four goals by half-time against two-time African champions Enyimba at Sunset Stadium in the Zambian capital.

Eugene Shamakamba triggered the rout with a second-minute goal and Mathews Macha, Ignatius Lwipa and Winston Kalengo also netted in the best performance by a Zambian club in Africa for many a

year. Former Zambia striker Nyirenda is being less boastful as he plots the downfall of Hodoud, experienced Confederation Cup campaigners making their third consecutive group-phase appearance.

“It is not going to be an easy game as Harras are experienced but home advantage means a lot and we must kick start our campaign,” he told Zambian reporters.

Hodoud proved poor travellers in three qualifiers this year, drawing in Ethiopia but losing in Tanzania and Botswana and the knowledge that only maximum points will suffice could give Zanaco the edge.

Sfaxien, whose back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008 make them the only club to successfully defend the Confederation Cup, should prove too strong for spirited but limited FUS in Sfax later Saturday.

Al-Hilal of Sudan made a superb start to Group A by winning 2-1 at Al-Ittihad of Libya and will be favoured to triumph again when Niger armed forces club AS FAN play in sauna-like Omdurman Sunday.

Djoliba, hoping to become the second Malian winners of the Confederation Cup after the shock triumph of Stade Malien last year, forced a goalless draw at AS FAN and home advantage gives them the edge over Ittihad in Bamako. —AFP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Silence on Semenya opens door to ignorance PARIS: Happily, Caster Semenya is racing again. About time, too. But the 800-meter world champion cannot outrun the questions, some of them legitimate, about how and why medical experts cleared her to compete as a woman.

The decision by track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, to give out nothing more than a terse, uninformative 56-word statement announcing the end of Semenya’s nearly yearlong gender-testing ordeal increasingly looks like a mistake.

It respected Semenya’s privacy, but it was too short to stop tongues wagging.

Although Semenya has competed sparingly since her ban was lifted in July — Semenya’s fourth race will be this Friday in Brussels, Belgium — the drumbeat of “she’s half a man” is starting up again and could get louder as her times improve, as they surely will as she returns to peak

form.

Such whispers are wrong and ugly and uncharitable, but they also are not surprising given how poorly this saga has been handled from the start and how little effort authorities have made to dispel the misunderstandings about Semenya’s case.

Kept in the dark, competitors lining up against and being beaten again by Semenya have been left to make uninformed guesses about the gender-testing process she was subjected to. Saying simply that doctors concluded that she can compete, as the IAAF did, is not enough.

Its silence and brush-offs from Semenya about what, if anything, doctors prescribed to enable her to compete again is keeping the door open for the type of intolerable ignorance voiced this past weekend by Diane Cummins. The Canadian runner should be made to wash out her mouth

with soap for her stupid insensitivity.

“Is she man, is she lady?” Cummins complained to the Daily Telegraph of London after she finished 1.21 seconds behind Semenya in Berlin on Sunday.

“Even if she is a female, she’s on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man,” the newspaper quoted Cummins as saying.

Clearly, Cummins doesn’t get it. That means other, more diplomatic competitors likely don’t, too. They need some help figuring out the complex and sensitive issues of gender and biology that are involved here. In truth, we all do. It would help if the IAAF took the lead instead of simply clamming up.

The public admission by NBA star

Magic Johnson in 1991 that he was living with HIV marked a step toward ending the shame that was associated with that disease.

Likewise, if Semenya has a rare birth defect that was at the root of the questions about her sex then surely it would be better if such things could be talked about instead of remaining largely taboo.

Handled correctly, with tact but also with more openness, is it possible that Semenya’s case could be used to generate wider acceptance and understanding for people with so-called “disorders of sexual development?” As it is, as Cummins’ comments showed, some people are still incapable of looking any further than Semenya’s muscular frame and thinking “man” _ even though that is mistaken and cruel.

It is unreasonable to expect Semenya

herself to become a Johnson-like advocate, at least not now. She is only 19. She comes from a poor village in South Africa and seemingly had no idea that she might be differently biologically from most other women until this whole affair blew up around her.

She needs to focus on herself and her promising career after the horrid 11 months that she spent being prodded, poked and debated over by doctors and public opinion.

But someone does need to speak up — either her lawyers, her manager or the IAAF. They don’t need to open up Semenya’s medical files to public scrutiny.

But it would help if they gave more information than simply, to cite the IAAF statement, “she can compete” and “please note that the medical details of the case remain confidential and the IAAF will make no fur-

ther comment.”

If Semenya does have a birth defect that doctors determined might have been giving her a competitive edge over other women, then perhaps that could be explained privately to those runners who race against her.

If she has since undergone hormone treatment to reduce or negate that advantage, then that should be explained, too.

The risk otherwise is that the doubts about Semenya will simply linger, which is unfair for her and those who race against her.

“It’s obviously a human rights issue but human rights affect everyone in the race, not just one person,” British runner Jemma Simpson told the Telegraph after finishing fourth in the Berlin race that Semenya won. “No way is it a personal issue but it’s a debate about what is right and fair for everyone.”—AP

Braga shock Sevilla BERNE: Sevilla, who reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season, were handed a shock playoff defeat by unfashionable Braga on Tuesday while Werder Bremen pulled off a spectacular escape act to oust Sampdoria.

Substitute Lima, 27, a Brazilian journeyman forward, came on to score a second-half hat-trick to give Braga a 4-3 win in Spain and send the Portuguese outfit into the group stage for the first time 53 on aggregate.

Champions League playoffs Werder, leading 3-1 from the first leg, went 3-0 down at Sampdoria before substitute Markus Rosenberg scored in the third minute of stoppage time to set up extra-time.

ITALY: Bremen’s Claudio Pizarro (center) celebrates after scoring during the Champions League, playoff, return leg soccer match between Sampdoria and Werder Bremen.—AP

Blackpool knocked out of League Cup LONDON: Blackpool suffered a shock defeat at MK Dons in the League Cup second round on Tuesday while West Ham United and Wigan Athletic recorded morale-boosting victories against lower league opposition.

Hammered 6-0 at Arsenal on Saturday having marked their return to the top flight the week before with a 4-0 win at Wigan, Blackpool lost 4-3 to League One (third division) MK Dons after extra time.

After two Premier League defeats and with matches against Manchester

United and Chelsea coming up soon, Avram Grant enjoyed his first victory in charge of West Ham. Scott Parker scored with virtually the last kick to earn a 1-0 home win over League Two Oxford United.

Wigan, reeling after conceding 10 goals in their opening two Premier League games, overcame Hartlepool United of League One 3-0 thanks to Jordi Gomez, Victor Moses and an own goal.

There were no other top-flight casualties, with Wolverhampton

Wanderers scoring late in extra-time to beat League Two Southend United 2-1.

Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers also went through.

Holders Manchester United and the other Premier League clubs competing in European competition are automatically through to the third round.

Lewis Guy was the match-winner for MK Dons after Blackpool had battled back from 3-1 down to force extratime.—Reuters

Ali Karimi of Iran

Karimi returns to practice TEHRAN: Iranian star footballer Ali Karimi, often dubbed the ‘Maradona of Asia’ and sacked by his club for not fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, will return to practice late yesterday, a report said.

Iran’s ILNA news agency said Karimi had agreed to pay the fine of around 40,000 dollars levied by his club, Steel Azin FC. Karimi would attend a training session scheduled later in the day, the agency said. “I respect the ruling of the club’s disciplinary committee,” ILNA quoted Karimi as saying.

The committee found Karimi guilty of disrespecting Iran’s football federation and the club’s supervisor as well as not

fasting during a training session on August 12, the club said on its website late Tuesday. He was sacked earlier this month for criticising Steel Azin FC’s managing director and former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mostafa Ajorlou. Speaking to state television, Steel Azin president Hossein Hedayati welcomed the move to reinstate Karimi as he hailed him as a “national treasure.”

Karimi, 31, had earlier denied any wrongdoing and insisted he has always heeded religious values, especially during Ramadan when devout Muslims abstain from all food and drink from dawn to dusk.

The Iranian national team’s second most capped player and third-highest scorer, Karimi had a two-year stint in the Bundesliga, scoring four goals in 50 appearances for Bayern Munich.

Ramadan started in Iran on August 12 and under Iranian laws all Muslims are required to observe the holy month, while those who do not fast, including non-Muslims, are expected to abstain from eating or drinking in public.

Muslims observe Ramadan by abstaining from food, drink, cigarettes and sex during daylight hours. Pregnant and menstruating women, the sick, travellers and pre-pubescent children are exempt from the fast.—AFP

Claudio Pizarro then netted as the Bundesliga team lost 3-2 on the night but qualified 5-4 on aggregate to leave Spain and Italy with only three teams in Europe’s top club competition.

There was further drama as Partizan Belgrade knocked out Anderlecht 3-2 on penalties after drawing 2-2 in Belgium where the visitors let slip a two-goal lead in the last half hour.

It is the second time Partizan have qualified for the group stage. The first was in 2003 when they defeated Newcastle United.

Swiss league champions Basel won 3-0 at Sheriff Tiraspol to complete a 4-0 aggregate win over the Moldovans while Hapoel Tel Aviv qualified for the first time with a 1-1 home draw against Salzburg clinching a 4-3 triumph overall.

It is the 10th season in a row Sheriff have failed to get through the qualifying stages while Salzburg, Austria’s biggestspending team, have fallen at the final hurdle four times in five seasons.

Braga snatched an away goal in the 32nd minute through Matheus, who also struck in the 1-0 first leg win. Sevilla had squandered a flurry of early chances with Brazil striker Luis Fabiano and Mali’s Frederic Kanoute the main culprits.

Lima, who played for a number of unfashionable Brazilian clubs before moving to Portugal last season to join Belenenses, doubled Braga’s lead in the 58th minute by slotting home Matheus’s pass. Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas hit back to make it 2-2 on the night, only for Lima to add two more goals in the last five minutes before Kanoute pulled one back for Sevilla in stoppage time.

Sampdoria, who grabbed an away goal in injury-time in Bremen last week, were quickly in the driving seat at home with Giampaolo Pazzini netting twice inside 13 minutes.

Substitute Antonio Cassano appeared to have sealed their win when he scored with a backheel five minutes from time but Rosenberg had other ideas as he struck with a low 20-metre shot with almost the last kick. Peru striker Pizarro was then on target from 25 metres to shatter the Italians, who reached the 1992 European Cup final on their only previous appearance in the competition.

“It hurts because we were winning 3-0 and should have dealt with it better,” Sampdoria captain Angelo Palombo told Sky television.

“It was a dream and would have meant lots of money to the club. I hope the squad stays together now.” Striker Cleo, another Brazilian who has made a bigger impact abroad than at home, scored twice in the first hour to put Partizan 2-0 ahead at Anderlecht, taking his tally in the tournament to eight after he was also on target last week.

Seventeen-year-old Romelu Lukaku pulled one back for the Belgians just after the hour and Guillaume Gillet levelled in the 71st minute with a dipping shot from outside the area.

However Partizan, the only Serbian team to have reached the group stage, weathered the storm and won on penalties.—Reuters

SPAIN: Sevilla’s Jesus Navas, controls the ball against Sporting Braga during their Champions League first leg play-off soccer match at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.—AP

England will win nothing with Capello — Mourinho LONDON: Jose Mourinho has insisted England will never win a major tournament while Fabio Capello is in charge of the national side.

Italian manager Capello has been under fire since England’s wretched campaign at this year’s World Cup in South Africa, where they exited the tournament at the last 16 stage.

“The problem is the manager,” Mourinho told Yesterday’s Daily Mirror.

“Capello will not work for England,” added Mourinho, who won two English Premier League titles while manager of Chelsea and last season guided Italian giants Inter Milan to a domestic and Champions League treble.

Portuguese boss Mourinho is now in charge of Real Madrid, where Capello was once the manager. And according to Mourinho, Capello’s deficiencies are well remembered in the Spanish capital.

“He has a one-track relationship with players,” Mourinho said. “Ask anyone here at Real Madrid. He can’t change. You cannot go around just shouting at players. They need to feel special.

“It is clear. Capello will not work for England. He does not know the players. They are

frightened of him and they can’t play for him.

“For me, it is a mess for England. Players need clear tactics. “They cannot be confused about what they have to do,” added Mourinho, known to remain close to several of the Chelsea players in the England squad, including John Terry and Frank Lampard.

“It is the manager’s fault.

And it is a big shame.” He also slammed Inter successor Rafael Benitez, saying the Spaniard’s stewardship of Liverpool had seen the north-west club become a progressively weaker force in the English game.

“It is very difficult for Roy

(Hodgson, the new Liverpool manager) to do it with Liverpool as, over the last few years, they have been getting worse, worse and worse,” Mourinho said in the Daily Telegraph.

“The Liverpool of 2004 was better than the Liverpool of 2005, 2005 was better than 2006 and 2006 better than 2007.

“And they arrive at a situation now where, but for Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres, if his head is there, it is very difficult for Roy to make Liverpool champions. “He needs time and it’s not easy because I don’t think they went in the right direction.”—AFP

Jose Mourinho celebrates in this file photo

Middle East among leading markets for corporate jets

Boeing supports ME community education drive

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Japan keeps intervention option open

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

www.kuwaittimes.net

Dubai World to sell assets to cut debt Company to appoint new managing director, CFO

DUBAI: Dubai World believes it can raise as much as $19.4 billion from selling key assets over eight years, or almost double the current price, if creditors back its restructuring, a document obtained by Reuters showed.

The struggling state-owned conglomerate, which needs to get creditors to agree to its proposal by Oct 1 in order to go forward with the plan and clean up its balance sheet, thinks sales right now would generate a maximum of $10.4 billion, according to the document, which was obtained yesterday.

As a further incentive to creditors burnt by the group’s ambitious expansion in boom times, it is offering bankers a “consent fee” of between $150,000 and $800,000 for agreeing to the proposed plan.

The plan, presented on July 22 to creditors at Dubai’s lavish Atlantis Hotel, details of which were also obtained by Reuters, stressed Dubai World’s capital structure was inappropriate and needed “urgent” restructuring. Total debt stood at $39.9 billion as of end-2009.

“DW (Dubai World) lender recoveries (will be) significantly enhanced if DW is given time to rebuild and realize value over a five to eight year horizon,” the document said.

Within the range of the money Dubai World said it may raise, it pegged a mid-point of $17.6 billion. “The $17.6 billion debt disposal plan is pretty ambitious and if DW cannot meet that there is increased likelihood of further support from the Dubai government which could be negative for Dubai sovereign risk,” said Okan Akin, corporate debt strategist at RBS in London.

Among the prized assets slated for sale are stakes in luxury retailer Barney’s, the Atlantis Hotel and casino operator MGM Resorts International, within the plan to raise up to $7.6 billion in five years.

The conglomerate identified ports operator DP World, Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Maritime City (DMC) and Dry Docks World as its “strategic assets” which may generate up to $11.8 billion in the next eight years. In a sign of the deep overhaul that Dubai World has committed to, the company will appoint a new managing director and chief financial officer.

However, Aidan Birkett, the officer-incharge of its restructuring will remain in place until December.

The document also showed Dubai developer Nakheel has $10.9 billion of bank debt and will receive key assets from parent company Dubai World after separation.

Market reaction was muted, with the cost of insuring five-year Dubai debt against default (CDS) edging four points higher to 460 basis points, Markit data showed.

Dubai World’s restructuring plans involves repayment over five to eight years, with interest of between 1 percent to 3.5 percent. The Dubai government has agreed to take a hit on its claims against the firm, leaving $14.4 billion in bank debt outstanding that the company said it will be able to repay.

Dubai World’s private equity arm, Istithmar which owns most of the overseas assets, is expected to raise a maximum of $4.5 billion over a five year period. A short-term disposal plan will generate as much as $2 billion, it said.

The total debt figure of $39.9 billion did not include $11 billion of Istithmar’s non-recourse asset level debt and $2 billion of Infinity debt.

D u b a i Wo r l d h a s p re v i o u s l y s a i d i t s I s t i t h m a r Wo r l d p o r t f o l i o a n d I n f i n i t y investment were ringfenced from its debt proposal agreed by a core group of bankers in May. —Reuters

Nakheel bank debt $10.5bn, to get assets

LEBANON: Andrea Thresher inspects a woodstove before putting the finishing doors and windows at the Woodstock Soapstone Co, Inc in Lebanon, N.H. The Commerce Department will release its monthly report on durable goods orders yesterday. —AP

US durable goods orders rise 0.3% WASHINGTON: Orders to US factories for big-ticket manufactured goods increased slightly in July, but businesses spent less as the economic recovery lost momentum.

Demand for durable goods rose 0.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department said yesterday. The overall increase was driven by a 75.9 percent increase in orders for commercial air-

planes.Without the volatile transportation sector, orders dropped 3.8 percent — the steepest decline since January.

Businesses spent less on equipment and machines. Orders for capital goods fell 8.0 percent.

Machinery and computers were especially hard-hit. Orders for machinery dropped 15 percent, the biggest decline on record for that category. The report

was grim compared to June’s results.

Overall orders in June declined by a revised 1.0 percent. But excluding transportation, orders rose 0.2 percent.

Spending by businesses increased 3.6 percent that month — a rare bright spot.

Factory orders are a key measure of the economic recovery. Manufacturers have helped to lead the rebound. They filled orders for businesses that were

building up stocks after whittling them down during the recession. But many companies are done restocking, cooling demand for factory goods.With unemployment still near double digits, consumers have not taken up the slack.

Durable goods are expected to last three years or more. The full survey of factory orders will be released next week. —AP

Chinese bestseller slams Goldman Sachs for crisis

Leaders warn on SE Asia’s rich-poor gap DANANG, Vietnam: Southeast Asian leaders warned yesterday of a widening gap between the booming region’s richest and poorest nations that could threaten its ambitious drive for an EU-style single market.

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have recorded high growth rates but their per capita gross domestic product remains the lowest among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“The danger of (a) widening development gap remains a major obstacle to ASEAN’s future development, especially given the context of expanded ASEAN economic integration,” Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in opening remarks to an annual meeting of the bloc’s trade and commerce ministers.

Emulating the European Union’s example, ASEAN wants to establish by 2015 a single market and manufacturing base of about 600 million people-a goal that has been spurred by intensifying competition from China and India.

The discrepancy between ASEAN’s rich and poor members “is quite wide” and could undermine efforts to create the single market, ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told reporters. —AFP

DUBAI: Dubai’s Nakheel has $10.9 billion of bank debt and will receive key assets from parent company Dubai World for its business plan after separation, a restructuring document showed yesterday.

The developer, which overstretched itself building islands in the shape of palms and other ambitious real estate, has $5.1 billion of trade creditor claims and $9.2 billion of customer liabilities, the document obtained by Reuters showed.

The government will also pump $7.3 billion of new equity and equitize a further $5.3 billion of claims to recapitalize Nakheel, it said.

“Certain assets and businesses required for Nakheel’s business plan will be transferred from Dubai World Group to Nakheel,” the document said.

Assets to be transferred are Nakheel Harbour & Tower land, land at its Waterfront development which forms the security for the 2011 sukuk (an Islamic bond), Dubai World’s 50 percent stake in its Al Mamzar joint venture, Dubai World’s 99 percent stake in Nakheel Leisure LLC, Coastal Communities Distribution FZE and Retailcorp Entertainment FZE, according to the document.

Nakheel said on Tuesday it has repaid approximately 2.5 billion dirhams ($681 million) to contractors in July. Under a restructuring proposal issued by Dubai World in March, Nakheel creditors would receive repayment through a mix of 40 percent cash and 60 percent tradeable security in the form of an Islamic bond.

The 40 percent is equivalent to 4 billion dirhams, a company spokesman told Reuters in July. —Reuters

MOSCOW: A concept car BMW Vision is displayed during Moscow’s International Auto Show in Moscow yesterday. —AP

UAE to draft debt issuance strategy DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will draft a strategy for future debt issues by the end of 2010 and plans to increase federal spending in the next three years, the Gulf state’s finance ministry said yesterday. The ministry also postponed a decision on 20 billion dirhams ($5.5 billion) left in a special liquidity facility, saying the oil exporter’s banks did not need any state help at the moment.

Younis al-Khouri, undersecretary and director general at the ministry, said the strategy would guide the federal debt management agency’s activities and would be issued simultaneously with a law governing public debt issuance.

“The public debt law, which is expected to be issued this year, is being presented at the moment to their highnesses rulers (of the emirates),” Khouri was quoted as saying on the ministry’s website www.mof.gov.ae.

The law would set the legal framework for issuing public debt and a federal committee has been set up to issue bonds and other public debt tools, he said.

The UAE, the world’s third-largest oil exporter, has not issued bonds at federal level so far, unlike the individual emirates, especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Khouri said in May a sovereign bond was

unlikely this year.

Oil-rich ‘AA’-rated Abu Dhabi has been rumored to be preparing new issues, while unrated Dubai is keeping its options open as it holds a non-deal roadshow in Asia this week.

Khouri said the UAE finance ministry had also started preparing the federal budget for the next three years, adding there would be no deficit despite an expected increase in spending.

“The (spending) rise will be covered through an expected increase in the state’s revenues coming from its financial investments and fees gathered by federal ministries,” he said. —Reuters

SHANGHAI: Goldman Sachs & Co, reviled in the US for its role in the financial crisis, is now getting hammered in the world’s No 2 economy with a sensationalist new book accusing the investment bank of trying to destroy China.

The “Goldman Sachs Conspiracy,” which has sold over 100,000 copies since it was released in June, reaching popular website Sina.com’s top-10 list, follows another by author Li Delin, “Eliminate All Competitors — How Goldman Sachs Wins Over the World,” published last year. Li, a financial journalist, appears to have hit pay dirt among Chinese readers with an appetite for the would-be exposes that get prominent display in downtown bookstores, such as “Who Killed Toyota: the Truth of America’s Attack” and “Currency War.” The nearly 300page, highly dramatized account covers much of the same ground as a widely cited piece by Matt Taibbi last year in the Rolling Stone magazine that portrayed the Wall Street institution as a “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Li’s book takes ample license in its attacks on Goldman Sachs. The company’s ultimate goal, he says in the first chapter, is to “kill China.” “Like a fox chewing a bone, Goldman Sachs knows the rules of the game and when to go for your neck,” it says. With the “cruel character of a Manchurian tiger, the group creeps around the world, like a veteran hunter stalking its prey, when it smells blood it pounces!” the chapter says.

Goldman Sachs’ office in Beijing refused to comment on the book and on others of its ilk.

The financial cataclysm of 2008 and ensuing global recession has resulted in a profusion of books dissecting the role of global investment banks including Goldman Sachs.

“It reads like a novel, rather than a real story,” said Peng Yunliang, a securities analyst. “Goldman Sachs has been at the eye of the storm and is seen as the culprit behind the mess. That’s clearly the most popular topic on the market,” he said. Goldman was sharply criticized, especially in the US, for its

A book titled “Goldman Sachs Conspiracy” is displayed yesterday in Chongqing, China. —AP high executive pay after it accepted a $10 billion government bailout during the financial crisis. It also received $13 billion from insurer American International Group Inc. after the government bailed that company out. The bank recently agreed to a record settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over civil fraud charges.

In China, the company’s business appears to have weathered well the market chaos elsewhere. The investment bank was an underwriter in the recent record-breaking $22.1 billion initial public offering by the Agricultural Bank of China, among other big deals.

Goldman also saw handsome gains from a $4.9 million investment in 2007 in a 12.5 percent stake in drug maker Shenzhen Hepalink, which later raised about $864 million in an IPO that catapulted the company’s little-known founders to become, at least on paper, the richest couple in China. Li, in an online chat, said the book was no exaggeration. “The real financial battle is even more dramatic than my book, according to my knowledge of the markets,” he said. “Goldman Sachs is the hand behind the financial crisis, maybe even its cause.” He soon plans to publish a third book about the company.

The conspiracy genre and dramatized accounts of scandals are popular in China, as in many markets. China’s government exerts strong control over the news media and broadcasters, but the book publishing industry has a bit freer leeway for commentary, particularly when the targets are not Communist Party officials. —AP

BUSINESS

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Middle East among leading markets for corporate jets

Celebrating a ‘Season of Giving’ with Damas ‘Gift because you want to, not because you have to’

Al-Jaber Aviation unveils Airbus 318 Elite Plus A Frost & Sullivan new s a nalysis states that the expected number of business jets to be delivered in the Middle East will be approximately 458 by 2018. Expanding their rea ch into the potentia l corporate jet market, Al-Ja ber

Aviation (AJA) announced the delivery of its first a ll-new Airbus 318 Elite Plus, which will join the Embraer Linea ge 1000 tha t w as introduced by AJA in Ma rch 2010 and Embraer Legacy 600 introduced in J une 2009.

A318 aircraft of Al-Jaber Aviation

NBK invites Thahabi customers for a night of luxury at Piaget and Korloff boutiques KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and highest rated in the Middle East hosted its Thahabi clients at the Piaget and Korloff boutiques for a night of luxury shopping at their newly opened boutiques at 360 Mall on the night of August 24.

“The event marked the launch of the new boutiques. Thahabi clients received the opportunity to view the new collections for a night of exclusive shopping.

Both boutiques were closed for the evening to exclusively host NBK clients who had the rare opportunity to make purchases at an exclusive discount on watch-

es, jewelry and accessories, in addition to special offer on their diamond jewelry and exclusive viewing of Piaget’s limited edition collection,” stated Adel Al-Jenaee, NBK’s Assistant General Manager, Consumer Banking Group.

“NBK continues to create special offers and services for its Thahabi clients as understanding the client and meeting their needs is one of our priorities,” stated AlJenae. Further adding “Giving exclusive deals is just another added service we provide our NBK clients”.

Thahabi is the Premier affluent package from NBK that has been awarded the Best

Premium Banking Service in the Middle East and offers customers personalized and ‘best in class’ products and services, delivered by professional Personal Banking Officers.

Furthermore, Thahabi customers also enjoy many banking related discounts, fee waivers and value-added lifestyle benefits.

Qualification for the Thahabi package is subject to meeting the minimum deposit criteria of KD. 30,000 in any of NBK accounts or Investment Funds and/or a minimum continuous monthly salary transfer of KD 1,500 call 1801801 or visit any branch for more information.

NBK Deputy General Manager, Consumer Banking Group, Abdulla Al-Najran Al-Tuwaijri, Adel AlJenaee, NBK’s Assistant General Manager, Consumer Banking Group with Abdulmohsin Behbahani from Behbahani Group and other officials.

Mohammed Al-Jaber, CEO of AJA, commented saying: “The Airbus 318 Elite plus is a valuable addition to our fleet and part of our expansion plan. The state-of-theart aircraft will offer travel for private aviation catering to families and companies. High-end travelers utilizing aircraft from the Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) family will benefit from separate cabinzones and freedom of movement.”

The addition of the A318 Elite Plus to the AJA fleet will further empower the company to tap into the niche market of private aviation across the Middle East. The Airbus 318 Elite Plus is the first of the six Airbus aircraft ordered by AJA. With a long haul capability, the A318 Elite Plus will be able to cater to requirements from Heads of States, Rulers, VIPs and those, who wish to fly in comfort to far destinations.

The new AJA Airbus A318 Elite plus was inspected, test flown and accepted on the 27th of July 2010, post which, it flew from Hamburg to Abu Dhabi.

Operational staff was fully trained on the new aircraft. The GCAA carried out a thorough AOC Operational Audit of AJA and the new Airbus 318 Elite Plus on August 3, 2010. Post the inspection, AJA procured the commercial license to selling the aircraft in the charter market.

The new Airbus 318 Elite Plus seats up to 19 passengers and can fly larger groups than traditional business jets thereby making it ideal for big companies, government delegations, and extended families. The aircraft also offers cargo capability.

The Airbus 318 Elite Plus is the newest Airbus Corporate Jet, and features a stylish and practical single-aisle cabin created by Lufthansa Technik. The Airbus ACJ is derived from the popular A319 aircraft and the Airbus Elite is derived from the A318 aircraft.

The cabin cross-section is almost twice as wide as that of traditional business jets - making it the new top-of-the-line in highend travel. The benefits to customers include robust long-lasting airframe and reliable systems and an advanced aerodynamic design powered by modern and efficient engines.

The ACJ Family comprises of A318 Elite, A319 ACJ and A320 Prestige. The benefits to pilots and mechanics include a modern and user-friendly cockpit with practical pull-out tables, modern fly-by-wire controls, Category 3B auto land as standard, centralized maintenance linked to every aircraft system, and large outwardopening cargo doors.

“For You, I’d bring the moon if I could.” This is the sentiment that launches the Damas Uhdeeki festival across the region, celebrating the feeling that we would do anything for the happiness of our dearest loved ones. Uhdeeki means “my gift for you” and Damas certainly has special gifts for every expression of appreciation, for a caring mother, precious daughter, dearest sister or darling wife. Thoughtful well-meant gifts are truly one of the highest forms of gratitude and what can be better than presenting a special piece to a dear one this season making it all the more special.

Through this campaign Damas reminds everyone to express their heart-felt sentiments by selecting this gift from a range of versatile products across all its outlets symbolizing one’s deepest sentiments for a special person in one’s life.

This Damas gift is a unique personal statement, symbolic of shared emotions and treasured memories. Special moments should always be celebrated and remembered and a Damas gift epitomizes that sentiment you have for your loved ones. Damas believes a gift that is motivated by the relationship has more value and is more personalized and becomes a joyful experience whereas when done under obligation, it becomes profoundly depressive.

Dhanji Dedhia, Marketing Director, Damas Jewellery, summed up the festival nicely, “After all, when we truly appreciate someone, we find every opportunity to show them, just for the joy of giving, and the pleasure of seeing their smile. It is not how much you give, but how much love you put into giving.

The essence of magnanimity is seen in the joy of sharing beautiful gifts and the privilege of lavishing your loved ones with them without any strings attached.

This festival encourages you to gift the one you hold closer to your heart, making it a wish and not an obligation.

Needless to say that, you will always find an appropriate & unique gift for that unique special person in your life at any of our Damas stores.”

Unique and Unusual Mothers’ Day Gifts For sentimental Mothers’ day gifts you need look no further than jewelry. A recent jewelry survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of moms wished to receive jewelry for Mothers’ Day this year.

When asked why they preferred jewelry for Mothers Day, they said that ‘jewelry is the gift that best says “I love you”. Jewelry, unlike any other gift, holds the greatest sentimental value.

Jewelry is the calorie-free Mothers’ Day gift that will keep giving day after day for many years to come.

Revealing survey finds “Jewelry is the gift that best says “I love you.”

Unique and Unusual Affordable Graduation Gifts For personalized graduation gifts you need look no further than jewelry. A recent jewelry survey revealed that the

overwhelming majority of graduates wished to receive jewelry for their graduation this year.

When asked why they preferred jewelry for graduates, they said that ‘jewelry is the gift that best says “I love you”.

Jewelry graduation gifts, unlike any other gift, holds the greatest sentimental value.

Roma ntic Gift Idea s Valentine’s Gifts For romantic Valentine’s day gifts you need look no further than jewelry.

A recent jewelry survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of ladies wished to receive jewelry for Valentine’s Day this year.

When asked why they preferred jewelry for Valentine’s Day, they said that ‘jewelry is the gift that best says “I love you”.’

Jewelry, unlike any other gift, holds the greatest sentimental value. And with jewelry, the sentimental value doesn’t fade within a few days like flowers do, nor add to the waist-line like chocolates will.

Jewelry is the calorie-free Valentine’s Day gift that will keep giving day after day for many years to come.

40th Birthday Gift Ideas, 30th Birthday Gift Ideas, 25th Birthday Gift Ideas, 21st Birthday gift ideas, 35th birthday gift ideas, 18th birthday gift ideas.

Whether you’re looking for a 40th, 30th, 25th, 21st, 35th or 18th birthday gift, Jewelry is the gift to choose. If you’re looking for a unique 40th birthday gift, you’re not alone, it’s one of those important gifts that holds a special significance in one’s life.

Jewelry, whether it be an elegant pair of pearl earrings, a sparkling pair of diamond earrings, a sentimental pendant or an exotic gemstone necklace is the ultimate 50th Birthday gift. These 40th birthday gift ideas will give you the inspiration you need to choose a wonderful 40th birthday gift.

Christma s Gifts for Her, Christmas Gifts for Him Meanwhile, the retailer has also brought to fore three dazzling pendants in diamonds, pearls and colored stones truly expressing the spirit of Ramadan.

These and many other special gifts by Damas reflect a special relationship which can be a source of true joy. These amazing pieces epitomize a life lived well and reveal Damas’ true face of a dynamic enterprise of modern glamour and luxury that is dedicated to excellence. Each gift comes wrapped in the beautiful red Damas gift box & golden ribbon - a coveted item in its right.

Given with double joy, a Damas gift is imbedded with sentimental value and cannot be weighed on a monetary scale.

So add sparkle in the eyes of a near and dear one by presenting a Damas gift this season and celebrate your special bond.

Take a stroll to the nearest Damas store, pick up a piece of your choice that echoes your emotions beautifully and create that incandescent gift-giving moment ever.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.283500 .441000 .3620000 .2770000 .2690000 .2520000 .0045000 .0020000 .0781670 .7615580 .4020000 .0750000 .7465750 .0045000 .0500000

.2935000 .450000 .3700000 .2850000 .2770000 .2600000 .0075000 .0035000 .0789530 .7692120 .4180000 .0790000 .7540780 .0072000 .0580000

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2877500 .4434150 .3641920 .2793920 .2713290 .0488950 .0384920 .2547300 .0369980 .2116120 .0034090 .0061610 .0025670 .0033750 .0041700 .0783820 .7636460 .4069560 .0767820 .7488440 .0063940

.2898500 .4465460 .3667640 .2813700 .2732510 .0492410 .0387640 .2565290 .0372600 .2131100 .0034330 .0062050 .0025850 .0033990 .0041990 .0788820 .7685150 .4098380 .0772720 .7536190 .0064390

US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals

TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2898500 .4465460 .2813700 .0772720

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees

3.447 6.163

Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

3.370 2.561 3.889 213.030 37.185 4.165 6.384 9.171 0.296 0.310 GCC COUNTRIES 77.119 79.461 751.350 768.110 78.753

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 53.400 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 50.749 Yemen Riyal 1.236 Tunisian Dinar 194.670 Jordanian Dinar 408.390 Lebanese Lira 194.000 Syrian Lier 6.176 Morocco Dirham 33.458 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 289.080 Euro 367.420 Sterling Pound 447.210 Canadian dollar 274.010 Turkish lire 189.310 Swiss Franc 281.750 Australian dollar 255.750 US Dollar Buying 287.845 GOLD 20 Gram 243000 10 Gram 12300 5 Gram 64.000

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash

SELL CASH 259.100 768.520 4.430 276.400 567.900 14.100 50.600 167.800 52.090 370.300

SELL DRAFT 257.600 768.520 4.162 274.900

213.800 50.781 368.800

Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

37.870 6.400 0.035 0.271 0.252 3.520 410.370 0.196 94.160 47.200 4.520 206.900 1.969 47.900 750.690 3.510 6.620 79.920 77.160 213.750 41.690 2.739 450.200 40.000 283.800 6.300 9.440 198.263 78.850 289.400 1.260

37.720 6.160 0.035

408.490 0.195 94.180 3.890 205.400 750.510 3.385 6.380 79.490 77.160 213.750 41.690 2.562 448.200 282.300 6.300 9.370 78.750 289.000

GOLD 1,328.250

10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 449.200 289.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees

Selling Rate 288.850 281.996 452.335 372.290 279.022 707.989 764.553 78.622 79.319 76.995 407.606 50.764 6.201 3.377

Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees

2.569 4.171 6.413 3.380 9.088 6.301 3.873

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 288.900 3.385 6.170 2.575 4.165 6.420 78.740 77.250 768.000 50.765 449.200 0.00003280 3.890 1.550 410.300 5.750 371.200 278.100

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000 US Dollar 288.600 Euro 368.000 Pound Sterling 446.000 Canadian Dollar 273.350 Japanese Yen 3.450 Indian Rupee 6.160 Egyptian Pound 50.720 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.563 Bangladesh Taka 4.153 Philippines Peso 6.372 Pakistan Rupee 3.375 Bahraini Dinar 768.000 UAE Dirham 78.600 Saudi Riyal 77.000 *Rates are subject to change

BUSINESS

Thursday, August 26, 2010

23

Kuwait real estate sales fall in July over seasonal factors KUWAIT: Rea l estate sales fell back sha rply in J uly, their first mea ningful drop for five months. There were 415 property tra nsa ctions (residentia l, com-

Air Arabia sees increasing demand for GCC destinations KUWAIT: Air Arabia, the first and largest lowcost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, announced yesterday that passenger traffic between Sharjah and other GCC destinations reached 551, 041 in the first half of 2010, an increase of 16.8 percent, compared to 471, 828 in the same period last year.

Air Arabia recorded an average seat load factor of 81.8 per cent during this period with a total of 83 flights per week from its hub in Sharjah to nine destinations in the GCC. Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia, said: “These encouraging results are a

demonstration of Air Arabia’s superior service and value-for-money offerings, further reinforcing the carrier’s ability to continuously deliver sustained growth. Based on strong business fundamentals, Air Arabia has embarked upon a phase of organic growth and we remain committed to providing affordable low-cost alternative to travel in the wider region.”

Air Arabia began operations from its third hub in Alexandria, Egypt in June and announced a fourth hub in Jordan in collaboration with Tantash Group, an Amman-based investment company.

Egypt’s SODIC returns to profit, posts strong sales CAIRO: Egyptian property developer SODIC said yesterday it returned to profit in the first half of 2010, after it recognized revenue from some of its 4 billion Egyptian pounds ($701 million) of contracted sales.

The firm, also known as Sixth of October Development and Investment Company, made a net profit of 51 million pounds in the first six months of 2010, compared to a previously-stated loss of 20.8 million a year earlier.

“We are finally reaping the

results of our strong performance over the last few years demonstrated by unrecognized contracted sales,” Managing Director Maher Maksoud said in a statement.

Many homebuyers in Egypt purchase houses before they are built, which can take as much as five years after they are sold.

SODIC, Egypt’s fourth biggest developer by market value, said it made about 1.5 billion pounds worth of sales so far this year.

The firm posted a first

quarter net loss of 10.9 million pounds, implying a second quarter profit of 61.6 million pounds according to Reuters calculations, ahead of an average estimate of 33.3 million pounds given by four analysts.

The firm sells mostly highend property on the outskirts of Cairo and aims for commercial leasing to bring in 400 million pounds a year by 2014. Shares in SODIC closed down 1.3 percent before the results were released, while the main index fell 1.6 percent. — Reuters

After four straight months of very solid sales, the fall in transactions in July comes as something of a surprise. But these sales numbers can be erratic and it is possible that the dip was driven by an unusually large seasonal effect, with activity falling away as the summer travel season began. The timing of the travel season might have shifted this year, with Kuwaitis holidaying earlier than usual in order to return before Ramadan. If so, sales activity should eventually bounce back, once the traditionally slow Ramadan period is over.

Sector-wise, the residential and apartment segments were the key drivers of July’s decline in sales. Activity in the commercial sector, by contrast, rose and had its best month this year (in sales value, KD 19.2m).

In KD value terms, sales fell less sharply, by 33% to KD 118 million from KD 175 million in June. The drop was alleviated by a relatively strong month in the commercial sector, where transactions are typically of a larger value than in the more commonly-traded residential and apartment segments. The total value of sales is still up 18% on its weak levels of July 2009.

Sales - residentia l There were 317 residential sales in July, down some 38% from 510 in June but up 3% on a year earlier. This segment has seen a healthy recovery from the lows of mid-2008. July’s drop was probably linked to the seasonal factors described above, rather than anything more long-lasting. In general, consumer confidence remains solid and lending conditions are more or less unchanged, suggesting little justification for a relapse in home sales. We estimate that land sales accounted for just over 40% of all residential transactions in July.

Sa les - investment The number of transactions in the investment segment saw

a huge fall in July to just 93, down 53% from June and down 4% on a year earlier. Sales had climbed spectacularly since the start of this year, however, so July’s fall does not leave them at especially low levels. And as in the residential segment activity was likely heavily depressed by the vacation timings. In value terms, sales fell to their lowest level for ten months, at KD 31 million. The average value of investment segment transactions stood at KD 330,000. Once again, we would expect overall sales levels to bounce back later this year.

Sa les - commercial The commercial segment was less affected by the summer season, seeing five sales, a slight improvement on the two seen in June. Those transactions were also of a healthy size, pushing the total value of sales to KD 19 million - the highest since November. Sales in this sector have seen no perceptible pattern over recent months, having ranged from a near record high to a near record low. There are hopes, however, that conditions in the sector will generally improve should the government push on with its four-year development program, which could boost the private sector’s demand for office space.

Sa vings and credit ba nk loans The NBK report concluded: July was also a weak month for loan approvals from the Savings and Credit Bank (SCB). There were 252 approvals in July, a drop of 7% from June and close to the low of 229 recorded in September 2009. In value terms, approvals even fell below last September’s dire levels, at KD 6.4 million.

July approvals were probably affected by seasonality. But in general, the level of approvals this year has been very low. So far in 2010, the value of approvals has been 50% below that seen for the same period a

mercia l a nd investment) registered at the Ministry of J ustice, dow n some 42% on June a nd uncha nged on a year ago.

NBK ECONOMIC REPORT

year earlier. The most marked weakness remains in the approvals for new construction segment; this fell to just 26 in

July, one of its lowest levels ever. Aside from the seasonal factors, this seems to suggest that the government’s acceler-

ated land distribution program a key determinant of SCB loan demand - is yet to kick into gear.

Boeing reaffirms support for ME Joyalukkas announces the final 100 winners of World Gold Fiesta initiative community education initiatives T

DUBAI: The Boeing Company, through its Global Corporate Citizenship program, continues to sponsor innovative community educational and environmental initiatives in the Middle East as part of its commitment to support the region’s development priorities.

During the past twelve months, Boeing has funded education programs and entrepreneurship training for more than 2,000 people across the region, principally through projects organized by top non-governmental organizations including INDEMAJ, INJAZ, Action Care and the Emirates Environment Group in the UAE, Qatar, Palestinian Territories and Jordan.

“At Boeing we believe that corporate citizenship should reflect the priorities of the communities in which we live and work. By supporting quality programs in education, entrepreneurship, child care and environmental awareness that deliver tangible results, we seek to give meaningful support to those who need it the most,” said Paul Kinscherff, president, Boeing Middle East.

“We want to help prepare students to meet current and future challenges and realize their dreams in a global competitive economy. By focusing training on parents and teachers we increase the

Paul Kinscherff, president, Boeing Middle East. impact and sustainability of the projects we support.”

Boeing partners with INJAZ in the PalestiniaTn Territories, Jordan and Qatar to provide leadership and entrepreneurship training. In 2009, nearly 2,000 students in the Palestinian Territories

benefited from Boeing-sponsored Entrepreneurship MasterClasses. In Jordan, the company is supporting an INJAZ initiative to give underprivileged students the opportunity to be mentored and network with private sector companies in the country. In Qatar, Boeing supports the INJAZ Leadership Course, which is designed to develop leadership skills among school students.

Boeing also supports the Action Care ‘Early Start’ program, which trains parents, teachers and caregivers in the UAE and Qatar in maximizing a child’s learning potential before formal education begins.

The company has also worked with INDEMAJ to set up Resource and Development Centers for schools in rural parts of the UAE and with the Emirates Environment Group to train teachers in environmental education.

Education is one of five focus areas where Boeing partners with community organizations around the globe, through its corporate citizenship initiatives, to help provide high-quality programs and opportunities for children, their families and education professionals. The other areas that comprise the barometer of a community’s vitality are: health and human services, arts and culture, environment and civic awareness.

Weak US data shakes markets once again LONDON: World stock markets fell again yesterday as worries over the global economic recovery continued to weigh on sentiment and after another disappointing piece of US economic data.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 59.90 points, or 1.2 percent, at 5,096.05 while Germany’s DAX fell 47.24 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,888.20. The CAC-40 in France was 51.49 points, or 1.5 percent, lower at 3,439.62.

Wall Street was also poised to open lower — Dow futures were down 63 points, or 0.6 percent, at 9,960 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 8.1 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,041.70.

Sentiment towards the US

open turned decidedly negative after durable goods data came in worse than anticipated. The Commerce Department said the sale of big-ticket items, such as aircraft, rose by only 0.3 percent in July from the previous month, way down on expectations of a 3 percent monthly rise.

Though big swings in commercial aircraft and defense sales make such statistics particularly volatile, investors were spooked about how paltry the monthly increase was. “Not only was this report weaker than expected, but it also exacerbated the markets’ current sense of heightened uncertainty,” said Michael Woolfolk, an analyst at Bank of New York Mellon.

The durable goods figures came ahead of another housing

report, which analysts said could have a major impact on the markets over the rest of the day. Figures Tuesday showing that existing home sales in the US tanked in July to their lowest level in 15 years hit sentiment hard, and at one stage the Dow dropped below the 10,000 mark for the first time since early July.

Because the US housing market was the catalyst behind the financial crisis and the ensuing global recession, its failure to stabilize is stoking renewed concerns about the sustainability of the US recovery and reigniting talk that the Federal Reserve will have to pump more money into the economy to stave off a double-dip recession.

Following the existing sales disappointment on Tuesday,

investors will be looking at the equivalent reading for new home sales during July. The consensus in the markets is they were unchanged at 330,000.

With US economic data consistently underperforming market forecasts, there are mounting expectations that the Fed will have to do more to get the US economy back on track, and all eyes will be on the central bank’s chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday when he outlines his latest thoughts in a speech at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Many analysts think that Bernanke will be compelled to introduce new measures, along with the Obama administration, which will help to restore confidence in the markets. —AFP

he Joyalukkas World Gold Fiesta, an initiative in association with World Gold Council, concluded with the announcement of the final set of 100 lucky winners. The initiative received an overwhelming response from customers around the Middle-East. The Fiesta featured unique Indian Bridal jewelry in Gold as well as exclusive collections of gold jewelry from Turkey and Singapore. This is the first time a jeweler has conducted this type of a unique initiative which gave customers the opportunity to view and buy exotic collections never seen before while giving them the opportunity to win gold. Superbrand

Joyalukkas gave away a total 2400 gm of gold in prizes to customers for every KD 50 spent at their showrooms during the promotion period.

“We are a Superbrand and we have received this stature because we undertake unique and customer friendly initiatives that please our valued customers. At Joyalukkas we continuously strive to innovate and excite our customers, we believe our customers are our strength and hence we should constantly launch initiatives to make their jewelry shopping experience better,” said Joy Alukkas, Chairman, Joyalukkas Group.

The final set of hundred winners will receive an 8 gm gold coin each and all winner details will be available on the Joyalukkas website i.e. www.joyalukkas.com. Joyalukkas is planning on refreshing their collections and designs in gold and diamond jewelry to meet the upcoming festival season.

The Joyalukkas jewelry retail chain is now a world-wide chain of 80 showrooms which includes the world’s largest jewelry showroom in Chennai and the Middle-East’s largest jewelry showroom in Dubai. It is one of the most rapidly expanding jewelry retail networks in the world.

24

BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

Lackluster trading at KSE amid gloomy sentiment KUWAIT: Kuwait’s equities returned to their bearish trend yesterday. Investor sentiments were gloomed with some negative news regarding Jazeera Airways Company. However, a healthy earnings report by Kuwait Investment Company kept the major indices from losing more points. Finally, the Banking sector kept its upward trend as Gulf Bank hit a 22month high.

Global General Index (GGI) shed 0.35 points (-0.17 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 201.66 points.

Furthermore, the Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index posted a loss of 8.80 points (-0.13 percent), to close at 6,673.3 points.

Market capitalization was down KD57.78mn yesterday to reach KD33.34bn.

Market breadth During yesterday’s session, 116 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 51 equities retreated versus 29 that advanced. A total of 132 stocks remained unchanged during the trading session.

Trading activities ended on a positive note as volume of shares traded on the exchange increased by 4.15 percent to reach 159.69mn shares, and value of shares traded increased by 9.04 percent to stand at KD36.37mn.

The Non Kuwaiti Sector was the volume leader, accounting for 26.35 percent of total shares and the Banking Sector was the value leader, with 51.32 percent of total traded value.

Gulf Finance House

Company was the volume leader, with a total traded volume of 37.36mn shares. Kuwait Finance House was the value leader, with a total traded value of KD5.05mn.

In terms of top gainers, Kuwait Investment Company was the prominent gainer for the day, adding 9.26 percent to close at KD0.118. On the other hand, The Jazeera Airways Co was the biggest decliner for the day, dropping by 6.73 percent and closed at KD0.097. Jazeera Airways proposed rejecting the decision issued by the shareholder meeting on May 13, 2010 on the 50 fils issue premi-

um. Accordingly, the carrier will lift capital by KD20mn to KD42mn through issuing 200 million shares at 100 fils each with no issue premium, to be paid in lump-sum. Shareholders of record one day prior to the capital call will be entitled to the capital hike that would be effected after getting a nod from the competent authorities and receiving the relevant Amiri decree.

Sector-wise Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, 3 sectors reported daily gains, while 5 sectors reported daily losses. Global Banking index added 0.56 per-

cent to its value reaching 326.66 points. Gulf Bank was sector’s prominent gainer adding 1.89 percent closing at KD0.540. Also, National Bank of Kuwait rose by 1.45 percent closing at KD1.400.

Global Real Estate Index followed, adding 0.53 percent.

From the sector’s components, Mabanee Company ended yesterday’s session up by 7.25 percent, to close at KD0.740.

Munshaat Real Estate Projects Co, rose by 4.94 percent closing at KD0.0425.

On the other side, Global Food Sector Index was a major loser shedding 2.09 percent of

its value. The retreat is attributed to the 2.53 percent decline in Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana).

Global Services Sector Index was the second biggest loser, closing down by 1.29 percent. The retreat is attributed to the 1.67 percent decline in Mobile Telecommunication Co (ZAIN). On the other hand, Global’s special indices closed in negative note Global High Yield Index ended the day up by 1.36 percent.

Kuwait’s exports to Japan rose 30.8 percent from a year earlier to JPY 74.93 billion ($889.5 million) in July, while imports from Japan jumped 41.5 percent to JPY 10.42 billion ($123.7 million), official data showed yesterday. As Kuwaiti export prices to Japan exceeded import prices, Kuwait ran a trade surplus with Japan for the 30th straight month in July at JPY 64.51 billion ($765.8 million), widening for the first time in two months, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.

Japan is Kuwait’s major trading partner, with two-way trade reaching $10.53 billion in 2009.

Corporate news Updating its previous announcement dated July 19, 2010 Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) declares that Combined Group Contracting Co (CGC) has signed a 48-month contract for tender No RFB/2091, which had been awarded earlier by Kuwait Oil Co. Under the KD 26,859,000 deal, CGC would undertake the construction of crude pipelines and related works south east of Kuwait.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Oil rises towards $72 on inventory drop LONDON: Crude bounced from a seven-week low yesterday as investors looked for relief in US oil inventory numbers due later in the day, heartened by separate Tuesday figures indicating a fall in crude stocks.

Analysts say Tuesday’s 1.8 million barrel drop in US crude inventories from the American Petroleum Institute could be confirmed by parallel data on stocks to be published at 1430 GMT by the US government’s Energy Information Administration.

Traders also said oil might have been oversold after a sharp fall in the price since early August.

“The API stats yesterday showed a drawdown in US crude inventories, which made people less convinced that the consensus for crude inventory building holds,” said Andy Sommer of energy trading firm EGL in Switzerland.

“I think people are now going into a wait-and-see stance for the EIA numbers.”

Sommer added: “With the price around $70, $72, $75, it will be harder especially for more expensive oil producers to produce economically, and that will provide a kind of floor for oil prices.”

US crude for October delivery was up 13 cents on the day to $71.76 a barrel by 1100 GMT. It recovered after trading as low as $71.32 earlier in the dayan exact repeat of Tuesday’s trough, which was the lowest intraday price since July 6.

October ICE Brent rose 25 cents to $72.63 a barrel. Oil markets rose despite a poor showing by equi-

ty markets, with the disconnect bucking a recent trend. Asian shares fell sharply yesterday, including a 1.7 percent decline in the Nikkei 225. European showed moderate falls.

Nevertheless, analysts say that oil currently needs major news such as the inventory figures to prevent a move in line with equities, since the two markets remain highly positively correlated.

US crude stocks posted a surprise drop in the week ended Aug. 20, according to a weekly report from the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday. Forecasts for yesterday’s EIA figures were for a 200,000-barrel gain, a Reuters poll showed.

But US gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose by almost 700,000 barrels last week, the API said, while inventories of distillate fuel, including diesel, increased by a larger-than-predicted 1.9 million barrels.

Last Wednesday, the EIA said US combined commercial stockpiles of crude and refined products in the week to Aug. 13 hit the highest level since weekly records began in 1990 and the highest since 1980 according to the agency’s monthly data.

Hurricane Danielle in the central Atlantic Ocean unexpectedly weakened again and was downgraded to a tropical storm, the US National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

Forecasters have revised down their expectations of the oil price both for this year and next, a Reuters poll revealed yesterday. —Reuters

Thai CB raises interest rate BANGKOK: Thailand’s central bank raised its interest rate by a quarter percentage point yesterday after Southeast Asia’s secondlargest economy grew at a blistering pace in the first half of the year.

The increase in the benchmark interest rate to 1.75 percent comes after a hike in July that was the first in two years. The rate was slashed 2.5 percentage points from late 2008 through April 2009 amid the global financial crisis.

Central banks in Asia

from Malaysia to India have been raising interest rates in the past few months to stem the threat of higher inflation as the regional economy rebounds from last year’s global recession.

Assistant Governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said Thailand’s economic growth in the first half was “beyond expectation,” helped by a rise in household spending and increased productivity that compensated for economic problems caused by political instability. Tourism also bounced back quickly

after visitor numbers dropped amid anti-government protests that paralyzed parts of the Thai capital Bangkok during April and May. Thailand’s 10.6 percent year-on-year GDP growth in the first half was the highest since 1997, though it reflected a comparison effect because the economy shrank a year earlier due to the global recession.

Inflation is not a threat now, but Paiboon expects it to rise next year as the economy expands and production costs increase. —AP

business

Thursday, August 26, 2010

25

German business morale hits 3-yr high, euro jumps BERLIN: German business morale rose to its highest in more than three years in August, an unexpected gain that boosted confidence Europe’s largest economy will keep growing even if others slip back into recession.

The Munich-based Ifo think tank said yesterday its business climate index rose to 106.7 from 106.2 in July, the third rise in a row and beating the mid-range forecast in a Reuters poll of 42 economists for a fall to 105.7.

“It’s incredible but it’s also wonderful the way things are going at the moment. It’s hard to imagine it going beyond this,” Andreas Scheuerle of Deka Bank said.

“The air is getting thin for any further increases in the business climate index.” The data, a fresh illustration of the extent to which the euro-zone relies on Germany as its engine of growth, drove the single currency to a session high against the dollar, while German Bund futures extended losses.

An Ifo index on current conditions rose to 108.2 from 106.8 in July but another on expectations fell to 105.2 from 105.6, in a further sign that growth would likely slow somewhat.

Ifo economist Klaus Abberger joined the ranks of those saying growth would not continue as strongly in the second half, saying Germany’s economy was in healthy shape but not immune if the United States were to slip back into recession or Asian growth were to slow.

“There is a growing confidence in the upturn and that’s having a positive effect on consumption,” he told Reuters. “The risks are from abroad.” Surging exports and a return to higher levels of consumer spending powered the German economy to growth of 2.2 percent in the second quarter this year, the highest rate in 20 years and generating a broad-based recovery.

Abberger said the German economy could post growth of 3 percent this year, in line with a forecast

from the Bundesbank last week. He expected domestic consumption to grow slightly over the full year.

France and some other euro zone countries had criticized Germany for relying too much on exports and not doing enough to stimulate domestic demand, from which its peers could benefit.

In contrast to Germany, France grew by just 0.6 percent in the second quarter and the French government last week cut its 2011 growth forecast to 2 percent. The euro

zone as a whole grew 1 percent while the Greek economy contracted sharply.

In the United States, the risks of a double-dip recession have risen in the last six months, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said on Tuesday.

Germany’s leading businesses are a good mirror for the country’s economic strength. Of the 30 companies in the blue-chip DAX index, 23 beat market expectations with their earnings in the quarter to end-

June and 12 hiked their outlooks.

Bellwether Siemens broke a streak of nearly two years of declining sales and raised its outlook in July, helped by rising emerging market demand and a weak euro. German flagship carrier Lufthansa said on Wednesday its business had developed strongly in recent months.

Companies are also hiring again.

Unemployment fell to 7.6 percent in July. The Ifo results are based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms. —Reuters

Japan keeps intervention option open to curb yen Japan political jockeying aggravates policy concerns TOKYO: Japan is not ruling out market intervention to curb the yen’s rise, government sources said yesterday, sending the strongest signal yet that the currency’s march towards all-time highs may spur Tokyo into action. Japanese officials have repeatedly tried to talk the yen

BERLIN: A man works on the construction of a scaffolding on Berlin’s Leipziger Platz. German business confidence has marked another surprise rise, the Ifo economic institute said yesterday. —AFP

Ireland stung by S&P cut, pressure grows over banks DUBLIN: Ireland’s government faced mounting pressure yesterday to put a final price on bailing out its banks after a credit rating cut from Standard & Poor’s pushed its borrowing costs higher.

After winning plaudits for moving quickly to tackle its deficit, Ireland is once again at the centre of European debt fears with investors demanding a whopping 340 basis point premium to hold Irish 10-year debt over German Bunds, the highest level since the Greek financial crisis gripped in May. S&P cut Ireland’s long-term rating by one notch to ‘AA-’ on fears of a substantially higher bill for supporting the banking sector and assigned a negative outlook, meaning another cut is more likely than not over the next one or two years.

Dublin hit back, saying S&P’s analysis was “flawed”. S&P hiked its estimate of the cost to the government of recapitalizing the banks at 45-50 billion euros ($63 billion), a figure dismissed by the country’s debt agency in highly unusual criticism.

“Exceptionally, we have taken issue with the rating agency. It’s something we don’t like to do but there comes a point when the analysis is not robust,” John Corrigan, the chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), told state broadcaster RTE. Investors were rattled nonetheless. “The banking situation is and should be No 1 priority for the government for the next couple of months,” said Dermot O’Leary, chief economist with Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin.

“The market is already pricing in another downgrade and probably another two down-

grades.”

Rating agencies have been steadily hacking away at Ireland’s credit rating and S&P is now on a par with Fitch and one notch below Moody’s, which cut its rating to Aa2 last month. Both Fitch and Moody’s have stable outlooks.

Ireland created a “bad bank” or National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) last year to purge its banking sector of soured property loans clocked up in a decade-long property binge.

But hopes of a quick and clean solution to the banking crisis have disappeared as the toxic nature of loans written by nationalized lender Anglo Irish Bank in particular have led to a steadily mounting bill.

Ireland’s central bank governor last week said the net cost to the taxpayer of dealing with Anglo Irish and two building societies could be up to 29 billion euros, representing nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product.

But a final figure will not be known until the end of the year, when NAMA is set to complete its purchase of loans from the banks.

The government has to push yet more unpopular spending cuts at the end of the year but with coalition frictions growing and its majority on a knife-edge, analysts say there is no guarantee the administration will make it through the year.

Although Ireland has raised virtually all of the 20 billion euros of long-term debt targeted for 2010, S&P’s cut and the lingering uncertainty over Anglo Irish will make it more difficult for the country’s banks to extend the maturity of their funding later this year and eventually wean themselves off a state guarantee on their debt. —Reuters

NEW DELHI: Suzuki Motorcycle India Chairman Katsumi Takata (left) and Sales and Marketing Vice-President Atul Gupta (right) pose with the newly unveiled Suzuki Slingshot motorcycle in New Delhi yesterday. —AFP

Swiss prepare to turn the page on UBS US tax saga GENEVA: Swiss banking giant UBS launched a global advertising campaign this week to spruce up its image as Switzerland seeks to close one of its most damaging tax evasion spats under a deal with the United States.

After being forced to water down its sacrosanct banking secrecy to help pull UBS out of trouble in the United States, the Swiss government was due to complete the disclosure of details on more than 4,000 American account holders in Switzerland to US authorities by

an August 26 deadline.

The US Internal Revenue Service warned in June it was ready to renew legal action if Switzerland failed to meet the terms of the August 2009 deal obliging UBS to provide the names of customers allegedly dodging American taxes.

While Bern was expected to complete a clean-up of its international image and turn the page, analysts and politicians said UBS, once the country’s biggest bank, would still face a rocky ride.

UBS “remains the bank that was caught with its hand in the jam pot,” said Roby Tschopp of the shareholders lobby group Actares.

Some 4,200 of the 4,450 names would have been handed over by today, with 200 spared because there is no evidence of fraud, according to the daily 24 Heures. Le Temps reported that 2,500 case files including account statements and bank email correspondence were sent to Washington at the end of July. —AFP

Government sources told Reuters intervention was possible and one said acting alone was always an option, echoing an earlier report in the Nikkei newspaper.

Still, investors remained skeptical whether intervention, unless coupled with bold monetary policy easing, would do much to stem a rise that took the yen to a 15-year high against the dollar and a nine-year peak against the euro on Tuesday, battering the Tokyo stock market.

“Even if we see a short-term bounce in dollar/yen, I still think the risk is that we head lower before all is said and done,” Robert Rennie, chief currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney told Reuters Insider television.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters he would respond appropriately as needed, an expression he has not used before in his efforts to curb a rally that threatens to make Japanese goods less competitive and erode exporters’ profits, the lone bright spot in the country’s fragile economy.

The sharp yen rise and resulting declines in Tokyo stocks have made it more likely that the Bank of Japan will further ease monetary policy before its scheduled rate review on Sept. 6-7, sources told Reuters.

The Nikkei average fell 1.7 percent yesterday to a 16month low. Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will leave today to attend the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s conference in Jackson Hole in the United States and return on Aug. 30.

His trip may make it less likely, but not impossible, that the BOJ would hold an emergency meeting while he’s away.

Speculators anyway doubt the Bank of Japan is ready for drastic steps, and say any more modest measures would likely have little lasting impact in braking the yen or spurring economic growth.

“If they really want to do something on the yen ... they have to create inflation expectations,” said Martin Schulz, a senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute.

“But I don’t think the BOJ would go in that direction.” The yen has risen nearly 10 percent against the dollar so far this year, with the US currency weighed down by doubts about the US recovery and falling Treasury yields, along with other global factors that Tokyo has little power to influence.

Japan has not intervened in the currency market since March 2004, when it ended a 15-month 35 trillion yen ($415.9 billion) selling spree aimed at rescuing an economic recovery.

The Nikkei newspaper said Japan’s finance ministry would consider intervening unilaterally if the yen rose by several yen to the dollar in a single day. The dollar sank as low as 83.58 yen at one point on Tuesday but rose to 84.32 yen yesterday, helped by the Nikkei report.

The euro fell as much as 2.2 percent to 105.44 yen on Tuesday. It was around 106.62 yen yesterday.

Adding to perceptions that policymakers will not act decisively, there is seeming disarray in the novice ruling Democratic Party as speculation simmers that Kan may face a challenge in a Sept. 14 party leadership vote. —Reuters

down recently amid concern that it could cripple an export-driven recovery, but markets have doubted they would risk going solo and all but ruled out a coordinated intervention with other Group of Seven countries.

TOKYO: A man watches the electronic stock indicator of a securities’ firm in Tokyo yesterday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 101.79 points, or 1.1 percent, to 8,893.35. —AP

Pakistan cotton crop failure hands opportunity to India MUMBAI: Pakistan’s devastating floods may have destroyed up to a fifth of the country’s cotton crop, analysts say, handing an opportunity to exporters in neighboring India who are eyeing the shortfall.

Indian producers will seek to take advantage of a government decision last week to lift a ban on exports to help meet demand from Pakistan’s textile industry.

The restriction was imposed in April to keep domestic prices down.

Armed with a bumper crop after a good monsoon, Indian groups are expected to begin exporting to Pakistan from October. “We are 100 percent ready to meet Pakistan’s appetite,” said Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India, whose members include more than 400 lead-

ing cotton growers, ginners and exporters.

Pakistan’s textile sector, which accounts for 60 percent of the country’s exports, is likely to be hit due to damage to the cotton crop, which could be 20 percent below usual, according to analysts.

“Large fields of cotton have been washed away by the floods,” said Ibrahim Mughal, analyst with Pakistan’s independent Agri Forum organization.

“We will be short of about three million bales, which will burden our already fragile economy by at least $1 billion,” Mughal said. The worst natural disaster in the country’s history has already affected 20 million people in nearly a month of flooding and left 1,500 dead by official count.

Five million people have

been made homeless across the country, but that figure could surge if the swollen Indus river, whose fast-moving waters are piling pressure on sagging embankments, continues to fill up.

The flooding in Pakistan may result in agricultural losses of nearly $3 billion, its agriculture ministry has said, with the main farming region of Punjab particularly damaged. “We have been importing cotton from India for the past few years now and should do the same now when we face a huge crisis,” said A B Shahid, an independent economist based in Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the main importers of cotton from India, which is the second largest producer of the crop worldwide after China.

Some mills are already calling for “regulated”

BADARKHA: Indian farm hands pluck cotton at a field in the village of Badarkha, some 30 km from Ahmedabad. India’s cotton producers are lining up export commitments to neighboring Pakistan, industry officials said, where vast agricultural belts has been devastated by recent floods. — AFP

exports, however, fearing a spurt in demand from Pakistan could send prices soaring in India.

“India should export only surplus. If the government does not regulate exports, the situation may get out of hand,” said I.G. Duria, corporate general manager with the Punjab-based Vardhman group, a leading mill. Cotton prices are at a peak for the year, up by 12 percent in August compared to levels last month.

Analysts forecast India will produce nearly 32 million bales of cotton in 201011, against 28 million bales in 2009-10. Farm output is expected to rise in India owing to plentiful monsoon rains-a great relief to hundreds of millions of Indian farmers who struggled with the weakest rains in 37 years in 2009.

Indian inflation, after hitting double figures earlier this year because of high food prices, is now in decline, but is still the highest of the Group of 20 nations at 9.97 percent.

“Exports may be capped if September rains hurt the crop,” said Mehul Agrawal, agri-commodities analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Sharekhan. Earlier this month, India offered $5 million in flood aid to Pakistan, which Islamabad said was a “very welcome initiative”.

India and Pakistan have taken steps to improve a problematic relationship that was strained by the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which India blamed on militants from Pakistan.

The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since partition of the subcontinent after the end of British rule in 1947. —AFP

26

BUSINESS

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Housing slump clouds US recovery prospects WASHINGTON: US home sales are plunging despite rock-bottom mortgage rates as high unemployment prevents people from buying houses and threatens to curtail economy recovery.

Existing-home sales plunged for the third straight month by a whopping 27.2 percent in July to levels unseen in more than a decade, an industry group said on Tuesday.

Sales of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums dropped to 3.83 million units from 5.26 million units in June, said the National

Association of Realtors (NAR).

The slide was more than double the 12.1 percent expected by most economists, with sales at the lowest level since 1999. “The disappointing US home sales data has investors worried that the global recovery is unraveling,” said Chris Lafakis, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

Single-family home salesaccounting for the bulk of transactions-were at the lowest in 15 years, the association said, providing the latest statistics on the housing sec-

tor, which was at the epicenter of the financial crisis that plunged the nation into recession in December 2007.

If sales do not improve, rising inventories-there are nearly four million unsold previously owned homes in the market-could eat further into prices.

“The first worry is that we are not seeing much response in demand to the historic drop in mortgage rates,” said Societe Generale analyst Aneta Markowska.

Thirty-year mortgage rates have

fallen to a record low 4.42 percent but mortgage applications for new purchases as of early August were sitting very close to cyclical lows.

“This inability to induce demand may be explained in part by poor employment prospects,” Markowska said. “If businesses scale back further on hiring plans, it would be hard to imagine any material improvement in housing demand.”

Unemployment at 9.5 percent is the biggest concern of President Barack Obama, whose Democratic Party faces the possibility it could

lose control of Congress in mid-term elections in November. The economy began growing since the middle of last year from recession but expansion has slowed, triggering worries of a double-dip recession.

The government is expected this week to significantly revise lower the US economic growth chalked up in the second quarter to 1.4 percent from 2.4 percent previously, most analysts said.

“Housing and employment continue to be major problems for the US recovery,” said analyst Andrew

Busch of BMO Capital Markets.

The sharp July home sales decline was payback for a May expiry of a government homebuyers’ tax credit incentive introduced to boost economic recovery.

“All of the action earlier this year appears to have been driven by the tax credit,” said Nigel Gault, chief US economist for IHS Global Insight.

Mortgage applications for purchase have been moving sideways since June even as mortgage rates plunged. “There’s no sign of any underlying recovery despite rock-

bottom interest rates,” Gault said.

“A sustained upturn will depend on an improvement in the jobs market, which at the moment is slowing down rather than gathering pace.”

No part of the country escaped the July home sales carnage. The best performing region-the US south-posted a nearly 20 percent drop. “It is not clear if the housing market hit a huge air pocket or crashed and burned but for now, this sector looks to be flat on its back,” said chief economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. —AFP

Leading minor seen hiking offer for fertilizer giant

BHP Billiton profits soar amid battle for Potash

LONDON: Chief Executive Officer of BHP Billiton, Marius Kloppers, poses for photographers during their company results announcement in London yesterday. —AFP

Indosat subscribers seen at 40m, mulls tower IPO JAKARTA: The number of subscribers for PT Indosat, Indonesia’s No 2 mobile phone operator, may hit 40 million by year end, based on the firm’s growth forecast, and putting it only just ahead of rival XL Axiata.

Indosat said yesterday it sees similar subscriber growth in the second half as in the first, which would put the year-end number at about 40 million, or up a fifth from 2009.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, is one of the world’s most crowded telecommunications markets with 11 operators fighting for customers in a population of 237 million.

Among the three main players in the mobile phone market, Indosat has 37.8 million subscribers, well behind PT Telkomsel, a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia with 88 million, but ahead of PT XL Axiata with 35 million.

“I’m pretty sure 40 million is a reachable target (for) subscribers by the end of the year,” said Harry Sasongko, Indosat’s chief executive. “We should have the same growth rate in the second half as in the first half in terms of subscribers.”

Indosat’s full-year net profit is forecast at 1.524 trillion rupiah, up 1.73 percent from 1.498 trillion rupiah in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Indosat, controlled by Doha-based Qatar Telecom, and XL are competing for second place, with XL recently giving full-year guidance for subscribers at 39 million.

Indosat, which has a market capitalization of $2.8 billion, also expects revenue in the second half to grow at the same pace as in the first half, when revenue grew 5.8 percent.

XL said in July that it expects revenue growth of up to 18 percent in 2010.

Indosat’s 2010 first-half profit fell 71.5 percent to 287 billion rupiah which it said was because of a stronger rupiah, depreciation, and an unrealized loss on its derivative position from hedging.

Sasongko also told Reuters that Indosat is still considering whether to keep or sell its tower assets. “We’re re-organizing ourselves and we think the towers should be put in one unit, we’re going to put it under one umbrella,” Sasongko said.

When asked if Indosat would consider listing the unit in an initial public offering, he said that was one option. “The possibility is always there, we need to look at the state of the tower business itself, also regulation and market situation,” Sasongko said.

Indosat has 17,372 base transceiver station (BTS) towers as of the first half of 2010. —Reuters

Serco sees opportunity in govt cuts as profit jumps LONDON: British outsourcing company Serco Plc posted a 21 percent increase in half-year pretax profit and said government spending cuts would boost sales in areas where outsourcers would be hired to achieve savings.

Serco, which runs prisons in Australia and London’s new cycle hire scheme, said yesterday pretax profit for the first half to June 30 was 101.4 million pounds, against 83.4 million last year.

Support services companies with significant exposure to government contracts are bracing for Downing Street’s October Spending Review, which will outline the extent of the coalition’s drive to cut public spending.

Serco said it and other companies used by the government were in talks with government officials about how to help achieve its cuts. “(The government) have called us in to say ‘where can we save money?’ We see Serco as a big partner to government, we still see them as a very strong customer, they see us as a very strong supplier,” Chief Executive Christopher Hyman told Reuters.

Areas such as prisons, where

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke wants to cut costs and reduce the number of offenders on short-term sentences, could provide Serco with more opportunities to bid for contracts.

Britain’s National Health Service is also under pressure to look to the private sector to make efficiencies. The coalition government’s decision to scrap Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), will hit Serco’s contracts with Business Link, the government’s free advice service for people starting businesses, the company said.

Hyman said plans to double the size of the Welfare to Work program which helps the jobless back into work, would offset any losses from winding down RDAs. “We continue to expect, in 2010, strong organic revenue growth and further progress towards our 2012 margin guidance, and, by the end of 2012, an increase in revenue to approximately 5 billion pounds,” the company said in a statement.

Hyman said the United States was the most likely target market for further acquisitions, especially in cyber security where the Department of Defense wants to increase investment. —Reuters

JAKARTA: Pedestrians walk past a state-own-bank advertisement in Jakarta on Tuesday offering luxury cars as a prize for its customers. Indonesia’s trade minister urged fellow countries in the ASEAN group to foster greater trade and investment in Southeast Asia as a guard against ìdouble-dipî recession. —AFP

LONDON: BHP Billiton revealed yesterday that annual profits more than doubled as the world’s biggest miner faces having to hike its $40 billion takeover offer for fertilizer giant Potash Corp.

BHP said its profits after tax soared to nearly $13 billion in 2009/2010 as commodity prices rebounded thanks to renewed demand for raw materials from emerging markets, notably China, amid global economic recovery.

The Anglo-Australian miner last week launched a mammoth hostile all-cash takeover bid for Canada’s Potash Corp which values the world’s largest fertilizer producer at $40 billion.

However Potash on Monday formally rejected the bid as “wholly inadequate” and said it was exploring other offers. A report Wednesday said Chinese energy giant Sinochem Group was “evaluating” the possibility of launching a rival bid.

BHP’s cash offer was pitched at $130 per Potash share and analysts expect the group will have to increase its offer to secure a deal. However the company has shown itself willing to walk away from mega deals after abandoning a hostile $150 billion bid for rival Rio Tinto in late 2008.

BHP Billiton’s chief executive Marius Kloppers, who had launched the pursuit of Rio Tinto, said yesterday that the company would apply discipline over Potash.

“I will be as disciplined on this bid as I have been,” Kloppers told reporters in a conference call.

BHP wants to buy Potash Corp to enable it to expand in the agricultural sector amid soaring wheat prices and strong food demand to meet the needs of the world’s growing population.

Potash is a fertilizer widely used in farming to replenish nutrients in soils and increase crop yields.

BHP meanwhile announced on Wednesday that its net profits for the 12 months to June rocketed to $12.722 billion (10.062 billion euros) from $5.877 billion in 2008/09.

Earnings would have been even higher had BHP not suffered $59 million charge owing to a deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the recent huge oil spill there.

“BHP Billiton delivered another strong set of results despite significant volatility in the macro economic environment,” the group said in its earnings statement.

“Record sales volumes were achieved in three of our major commodities as our focus on efficiency and productivity at all points in the cycle ensured we were well positioned to capitalize on the recovery in demand and prices,” it added. BHP Billiton said that revenue rose by 5.2 percent to $52.798 billion in 2009/10. The group’s share price was up 1.25 percent to 1,825.5 pence in early trade on London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was slightly higher.

BHP added that it remained cautious on the short term outlook for the global economy.

“After a period of rapid recovery in the developing world, economies such as Brazil and India have returned to full output and the focus has now shifted away from supporting growth, towards controlling inflation,” it said. It noted that commodity-hungry China had implemented “meaningful measures aimed at controlling rapid economic expansion and asset inflation”. —AFP

MIAMI: A for sale sign stands in front of a home on August 24, 2010 in Miami, Florida. The National Association of Realtors released the sales numbers for July, showing they fell by more than 27 percent. —AFP

Qantas boosts domestic flights as demand rises SYDNEY: Australia’s national airline Qantas yesterday said it would boost domestic flights by almost 10 percent in response to growing demand.

The carrier this month announced a 4.3 percent drop in annual net profit because of the global downturn, but chief executive Alan Joyce said conditions had improved enough to allow almost 200 additional flights nationwide. He said Jetstar, the group’s budget offshoot, would increase its domestic capacity by 30 percent this financial year, with a total 66,000 extra seats across the two brands per week.

“We are seeing improved demand domestically, and the introduction of these additional services and aircraft will see the Qantas Group well placed to meet this demand,” Joyce said.

“The changes will see around 65 additional return services for Qantas and around 120 return services for Jetstar introduced across

selected routes.”

Joyce said Qantas would bring seven new aircraft online, focusing on the high-traffic east coast routes, the long-haul Sydney to Perth flight and legs in the booming resources-rich state of Western Australia. A new service would also begin next year from Brisbane to the popular northwest tourist city of Broome.

“With Qantas and Jetstar, the Qantas Group has two strong and complementary brands to ensure we are able to respond to opportunities and changing market conditions,” Joyce said.

Qantas reported a 4.3 percent drop in annual net profit to 112 million dollars ($101 million) this month, steadying after an 88 percent dive a year earlier amid massive cost-cutting.

The group controls about two-thirds of the domestic market and some 30 percent of international passenger movements in Australia. —AFP

SYDNEY: The first Qantas Airbus A380 touching down at Sydney International Airport. Australia’s national airline Qantas said yesterday it would boost domestic flights by almost 10 percent in response to growing demand. —AFP

SIG sales stabilize as UK govt cuts blur outlook LONDON: Insulation and roofing group SIG said UK government austerity measures were a drag on its outlook despite an encouraging start to the second half after a fall in first-half pretax profit.

Sales across the group recovered in May and June-with sales per day in July up 4 percent yearon-year-after cold weather badly affected sales at the start of the year.

“We think that certainly over the last three to five months, things have been gradually improving,” Chief Executive Chris Davies said. However, there was a note of warning due to a faltering economic recovery and the British government’s program to slash public spending.

“SIG’s management remains cautious on how its markets will develop over the next few months ... based on the continuing macroeconomic uncertainty and concerns about the potential impact of government austerity

measures and credit availability,” Chairman Les Tench said in a statement yesterday. Shares in SIG were up 3.4 percent at 93.8 pence by 1006 GMT. “SIG is later cycle than many of its merchanting peers so it is encouraging that these results indicate steady monthly improvement,” said Andy Brown at Panmure Gordon.

A pick-up in residential markets has helped SIG, but a competitive pricing environment and weak non-residential construction market is still causing pain in the sector, hitting its UK interiors business in particular.

Irish building materials giant CRH warned on Tuesday that earnings would fall due to the faltering US economic recovery, knocking shares across the sector. In the United Kingdom, construction work declined during the second quarter, with surveyors turning more pessimistic on the outlook for the next 12 months, according to the RICS

UK Construction Market Survey.

SIG, which sells insulation and other construction materials, has a 5 to 6 percent group turnover exposure to public sector new build in the UK. Public sector work has propped up the building sector during the downturn in commercial activity, but this now looks under pressure as the government’s austerity measures kick in.

The scrapping of the UK’s Building Schools for the Future project will cost global building companies $9 billion alone in cancelled contracts. But CEO Davies said the commercial construction market was showing signs of life, with early signs, such as office refurbishment work, starting to come through.

“Gradually we’ll start to see the commercial sector come back and relieve some of the burden from the public sector,” he said. —Reuters

technology

thursday, August 26, 2010

27

1001 inventions: Science in Muslim lands ISTANBUL: For generations, the lore of “One Thousand and One Nights” helped shape Western notions about Muslim culture. The collection of tales described an exotic world of harems and flying carpets, Sinbad and monsters, Aladdin and the jinn, Ali Baba and the 40 thieves.

Now an exhibition about innovation in Muslim civilization seeks to highlight what organizers say is an overshadowed period of history, a “Golden Age” in which advances in engineering, medicine and architecture laid groundwork for Western progress from the Renaissance until modern times. In a play on the old stories, it is titled: “1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World.” The show seeks to be strictly academic, and shuns political or religious pronouncements. But the robust response of many young Muslims suggests a thirst for cultural pride against a contemporary backdrop of conflict and suspicion between the West

and Muslim countries. “Originally, it was aimed at the Western public,” said Salim Al-Hassani, organizer of the Britain-based exhibition and a professor of mechanical engineering at Manchester University.

“But we found that when people from the Muslim world, when they see it, they get fired up, especially the young people who are in search of identity.” It’s a slick production, with an introductory film featuring a Harry Potter-like fantasy sequence with Sir Ben Kingsley, the Oscar-winning actor, as a mysterious figure who dispels three skeptical students in a library of preconceptions about the past.

The centerpiece of the show is a replica of an elaborate “elephant” clock that symbolized a multicultural spirit and pioneered modern automation and robotics. It used Greek water-powered technology, and the figures of an Indian elephant, an Egyptian phoenix, a Persian carpet, Chinese dragons and men in Arabian

dress. It was designed 800 years ago by AlJazari, a Muslim engineer in what is today southeast Turkey. Other giants of innovation during the 1,000-year period that began in the seventh century were physician Al-Zahrawi, whose innovations shaped European surgery, and Fatima Al-Fihri, whose multi-subject institute of learning, with no gender restrictions, laid foundations for the modern university. “There is a perception that Islam was always backward and made no contribution to the world of science,” said visitor Sule Seda Tezer, who was especially pleased to note the high profile of women in the displays.

“The West has a phobia about Islam. I think there is an effort to break the phobia and build better ties between the East and West.” With 40,000 followers, the “1001 Inventions” Facebook page echoes her enthusiasm. “Come to Algeria!” and “we are waiting 4 u in Damascus” are among the posts. From Saudi Arabia, Abdull-

Kareem Andeejani wrote: “Will you ever come to open in Riyadh?

Please? I want to know more of my own history, I see it as highly important to look back in time, so that we can pick up what we have forgotten.” The exhibit has interactive features designed to attract children, and details research in optics, music and algebra from Muslim civilizations that once encompassed parts of Europe and ranged as far as China.

One curiosity is a replica of the flying machine of Abbas ibn Firnas, who constructed a winged framework near Cordoba in Spain and flew briefly before injuring himself.

Centuries later, Leonardo da Vinci worked on his own flying designs.

In Istanbul, at least 6,000 people a day _ up to twice that on weekends _ file daily into the exhibition tent in front of the former Byzantine church of Haghia Sophia, and near the fabled Blue Mosque, built

during the Ottoman Empire. The display coincides with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan; the tent stays open until 3 a.m. to welcome a nocturnal crowd. There is no admittance fee. The project was created by the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, an academic group based in Britain. Funding came from the Jameel Foundation, a British charity linked to Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., a Toyota car distributor based in Saudi Arabia.

The exhibition had a successful run at the Science Museum in London earlier this year, and will move to the New York Hall of Science after ending its sevenweek Istanbul stint on Oct. 5. It arrived hurriedly in Turkey after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saw it in London and said he was eager to host it.

“There was an attempt to impose a history that jumped from ancient Greece straight to the Renaissance period,” Erdogan said at the opening ceremony last

week. “Later on, some Western scientists made a praiseworthy effort to acknowledge the contributions of Islamic civilization to the history of science.” Erdogan leads an Islamic-oriented government that has cut away at the power of traditional elites with a strongly secular background. He has also sought to elevate the memory of the Ottoman Empire, whose attempts at Western-style reform failed to stem its collapse in the early 20th century.

Ehsan Masoud, author of “Science and Islam: A History” and editor of a research policy newsletter in Britain, said scientific innovation in Muslim lands began to decline as Islamic empires grew weak and poor, and Western colonial powers expanded.

“It’s fair to say that history is written by the victors,” Masoud said. “Quite understandably, Western nations are hardly going to start crediting the people they’ve defeated.” — AP

Apple to unveil iPod Touch with higher resolution screen

Apple talks with media giants to rent shows LOS ANGELES: Apple Inc is in talks w ith News Corp, Wa lt Disney and other media conglomerates to rent TV shows to viewers for 99 cents through iTunes, three sources with knowledge of the matter sa id. The industry

TOKYO: In a picture taken on August 19, 2010 an employee of Japan’s housing company Daiwa House checks the electronic display of the “Intelligent Toilet”, manufactured by Toto for Daiwa House at a showroom in Tokyo. In Japan, the global leader in high-tech toilet design, the latest restroom marvel should come with a health warning for hypochondriacs — it doubles as a medical lab that can really spoil your day. Japanese toilets have long and famously dominated the world of bathroom hygiene with their array of functions, from posterior shower jets to perfume bursts and noise-masking audio effects for the easily-embarrassed. — AFP

Bing powering Yahoo!

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Tuesday began handling all Yahoo! online searches in Canada and the United States as the technology firms combine forces to take on Google.

“This is a great milestone for Bing and Yahoo! and our customers,” Microsoft online services division senior vice president Satya Nadella said in a blog post.

“We are happy to report the transition has gone smoothly and we feel great about the progress our search alliance has been making over the summer.”

Searches at Yahoo! websites for pictures, video, and general Web content are being powered by Bing, which Microsoft launched in June of last year as a successor to Windows Live.

Yahoo! will control how results are presented and has vowed to give users relevant data customized to their tastes or interests.

“We are focused on creating rich, immersive experiences that foster serendipitous discovery for people across the Yahoo! network,” said senior vice president of Yahoo! Search Product Shashi Seth.

Yahoo! and Microsoft unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership a year ago that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft’s search engine on its own sites while providing the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers.

The next step is for Yahoo! to shift to

Microsoft adCenter platform for targeting ads served along with Internet query results.

“We continue to work hard on the migration to adCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall,” Nadella said.

“Our primary goal is to provide advertisers with a quality transition experience in 2010, while being mindful of the holiday season.”

Bing is to eventually power Internet searches at Yahoo! websites worldwide, but no timeline has been given for the global transition to be completed. Google continues to dominate the US Internet search market, handling 65.8 percent of queries in July, according to statistics from industry tracker comScore.

A chat forum below Seth’s post at the Yahoo! blog held a mixture of congratulations and sadness at the fact the pioneering Internet search firm was letting Bing do the work when it came to finding information on the Web. “This marks the end of the true Yahoo,” a visitor going by the name “Siklov” commented in the forum.

“Yahoo is officially not a search company anymore. They have ceased to exist in the universe they created. May we pay our respects with a moment of silence.”

Yahoo! executives maintain that the company is being shrewd by focusing on creative and insightful ways to present search results to users while letting Microsoft do the resource-intensive job of scouring the Internet for data. — Reuters

Dell launches $100 smart phone in US on AT&T ROUND ROCK: Dell Inc. said Tuesday its Aero smart phone is now on sale in the US for $99 with a two-year AT&T contract.

Dell has been selling similar phones in China and Brazil since late last year and has been promising a US version since January.

Dell, one of the world’s largest makers of personal computers, has been looking for ways to diversify its business as profit margins on traditional PCs have grown thinner and thinner. Dell also wants to stay relevant as more everyday computing tasks get done on smart phones instead of desktops and laptops.

The Dell Aero uses an older version of Google Inc.’s Android operating system than many competing phones on the market today. The Aero uses version 1.5, also called “cupcake,” while most phones now use version 1.6 or higher. Dell says it has done a significant amount of work adding features to the base Google system. The Aero has a 3.5-inch touch screen and a 5-megapixel camera, and it has photo and video editing functions built in.

Dell says the Aero can sync with Windows Media Player and music without copy protection from Apple Inc.’s iTunes. Dell has a second Android device for sale already through AT&T Inc. The Streak, which costs $300 with a two-year contract or $550 without, has a 5-inch (12.5-centimeter) screen. Dell is marketing it as a small tablet computer, but it can also be used as a phone. — AP

One of the three entertainment industry sources said that several media companies, including NBC and CBS, were not enamored with the plan because they believed it would undercut revenue they already earn through iTunes.

But some analysts say if the deal goes through, revenue raked in off iTunes is likely to dwarf the income networks earn through free, ad-supported content online from sites such as Hulu.

Representatives from Apple, Disney, News Corp, CBS<CBS.N> and General Electric Co’s <GE.N> NBC declined to comment. Disney owns ABC and News Corp runs the Fox network.Consumers currently can buy-for repeated viewing- whole episodes of popular TV shows like ABC’s “Lost” and NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” for about $1.99 an episode.

“Right now, we’re against it.

We don’t think it’s a good business model. Why cut your price?” the source said.

Apple is also set to unveil a new version of its iPod Touch with a higher resolution screen, according to Bloomberg, which broke the news of Apple’s network negotiations.

Fox and Disney’s ABC already provide episodes to video web site Hulu, a joint venture with NBC-which has offered streamed programs for free until recently, when it started charging customers for some content.

And all of the media companies also have existing content deals with cable and satellite companies. “In a sense, this rental model undercuts purchase, but it’s the way the world is going,” said Tom Adams, president of Screen Digest Inc. “All the free streaming options that have proliferated on the Internet have already brought to a halt the fast growth of the TV show sales business,” he said referring to the electronic sales of episodes on iTunes. He also noted that free, ad-supported streaming services were providing pennies per episode viewing to networks, while Apple’s plan could conceivably yield more if Apple offered to take the industrystandard 30-percent cut on any content rented.

Apple in 2007 debuted Apple TV, which plays computerbased video on television sets.

Its popularity has paled in comparison with devices like the iPhone and iPad. — Reuters

sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because negotiations were private, said the discussions w ere aimed at a llow ing view ers to rent netw ork programming off Apple’s iTunes store for 48 hours.

GENEVA: US army personnel and employees of the Geneva airport load the giant Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) of the European Particle Physics laboratory (CERN) on board a US Air Force C5 Galaxy transport plane at Geneva International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday. The 7.5ton (8.3 US-ton) device was built by scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, on the Swiss-French border. Lead scientist Sam Ting said yesterday the device will be docked to the International Space Station for 20 years to collect evidence of antimatter, dark matter and other phenomena. — AP

Germany to prevent Facebook checks BERLIN: Ever thought twice about posting a party picture on Facebook, fearing it could someday hurt your chance at a dream job?

A new German law is supposed to solve the problem by making it illegal for prospective employers to spy on applicants’ private postings.

The draft law on employee data security presented by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere yesterday is the government’s latest attempt to address privacy concerns about online services including social networks and Google “Street View”.

It is also a reaction to corporations checking on employee e-mails and filming sales clerks during coffee breaks — which has triggered public outrage in Germany. De Maiziere acknowledged that some of the new regulations — which have yet to be discussed and passed by parliament — might be complicated to enact.

For example, employers will still be allowed to run a search on the Web on

their applicants, de Maiziere said.

Anything out in public is fair game, as are postings on networks specifically created for business contacts, such as LinkedIn. In contrast, it will be illegal to become a Facebook friend with an applicant in order to check out private details, he said, adding that some people seem to be indiscriminate about whom they accept as a friend. “If an employer turns down an application with another reasoning it might be difficult to prove” that the negative answer was based on the Facebook postings, de Maiziere said.

A rejected job applicant who proves he or she was turned down based on violation of the new law could take the company to court and claim damages, he said.

The new law will also prevent clandestine video surveillance in the workplace, particularly in private spaces like lavatories or locker rooms, de Maiziere said.

An employer ignoring the new rule could be charged fines of up to §300,000 (about $379,000).

However, cameras will be allowed in

public spaces like supermarkets and some factories or warehouses, if employees know about them, he said.

“Overall, the new rules passed by the cabinet keep a good balance between employees’ interests on the hand and companies’ interests on the other,” de Maiziere said. The BDA employers’ federation called the draft is too imprecise in some points, adding that it thinks some of de Maiziere’s proposals would hinder the fight against corruption and crime.

The retailers’ association HDE said some of the regulations go much too far, and outlawing clandestine video surveillance would be wrong.

“Here we hope for changes in the government draft,” HDE said in a press release.

Germany’s data protection watchdog, Peter Schaar, applauded the government’s effort, calling it long overdue. It is “a substantial improvement on the status quo in dealing with employee’s data,” he said.

De Maiziere said he does not know yet when the law will go into effect. — AP

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood starts social networking site ROUND ROCK: Dell Aero smartphone accessories, AT&T partnership. This product image released by Dell Inc. on Aug 24,2010, shows the Dell Aero smart phone with accessories. Dell Inc. said Tuesday its Aero phone is now on sale in the US for $99 with a two-year AT&T contract. — AP

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s influential Islamist opposition movement, will launch its own social networking site next month to promote moderate Islam, an official said yesterday.

Ikhwanbook.com, which is already up, was created by the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo to “promote moderate Islam and clarify who we are,” said politburo member Mohammed Mursi.

The website, which has already

attracted 5,000 members on a trial basis, will be formally launched next month after more technical work on it, he said.

It is open to anyone, but will not allow “indecent” groups to be created.

The Brotherhood, the largest Islamist opposition movement in the Muslim world, was founded in Egypt in 1928. Despite a ban on religious parties, it controls a fifth of seats in the country’s parliament through independents.

Its members are regularly arrested

and charged with possessing literature belonging to a banned organisation. It advocates an Islamist state achieved through peaceful means.

“Technology is not banned for anyone,” said Mursi. “We use the Internet to ease communications between people and clarify who we are and what we want.”

The group has already launched other websites that mimic user-based sites such as YouTube and an online Brotherhood encyclopedia modelled on

Wikipedia. The website, however, has been criticised as limiting the group’s outreach. “It’s not like Facebook.

Facebook gives you more exposure,” said Abdelmoneim Mahmud, a journalist associated with reformists in the Brotherhood.

Websites like Facebook and Twitter have assumed an increasing role in the country’s vibrant opposition movement, with several demonstrations organised over the social networking sites this year. — AFP

health & scIence

28

thursday, august 26, 2010

Brazil taps small farmers for biofuels campaign, seeks to diversify crops GETULIO VARGAS: With its biofuels business increasingly dominated by giant corporations, Brazil is seeking to extend its biofuels sector to include farmers like Lucas Scariot, who makes around $10,000 per year from selling grain.

For the past three years, Scariot has sold soy beans at a premium over market prices to a biofuels company under a government program aimed at supporting small farms and creating jobs in the countryside while cutting fuel imports.

This year Scariot planted canola for the first time in a field he usually leaves fallow during the winter, diversifying the region’s soy-dependent agricultural base and providing a new raw material for local biodiesel production.

“It’s good for the farmer because it gives us additional value for our crops,” said Scariot, a 22-year-old farmer and agronomy student who along with his father works 20 hectares- equal to about nine Manhattan city blocks-of verdant and hilly land in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.

“And now we have incentives for new crops, because people are always talking about soy, soy, soy. We can’t just depend on that,” said Scariot, who also raises pigs and chickens at his farm house.

The program is meant to boost production of biodiesel, which can be used in heavy vehicles like trucks, and reduce diesel imports the way the 30-year sugar cane ethanol program has cut the use of motor gasoline.

Brazil’s government hopes backing small farmers will help avoid problems associated with its ethanol sector, including growing concentration in the hands of large agribusiness and notoriously bad labor conditions that have drawn global condemnation.

But efforts to use new raw materials, including untested crops such as castor bean plants, have sparked criticism that it is sinking millions of dollars into inefficient biofuels production that mostly benefits the politically well-connected.

The program offers tax breaks to 30 participating biofuels producers and helps

them get better financing arrangements.

Those companies in 2009 purchased raw materials from around 51,000 small farmers, a figure slated to reach 100,000 by the end of this year.

Those benefits attracted Oleoplan, a biodiesel producer with close to 800 million reais ($450 million) in annual sales, that now buys more than a third of its raw materials from small farmers like Scariot.

“The results have been fantastic,” Oleoplan’s director Domingos Costella said at the company’s headquarters, where a maze of machinery-clouded in the overpowering smell of soy — grinds up hundreds of tonnes of the crop, extracts its oils and mixes it with other chemicals to create fuel.

“This is a way for us to secure more raw material while still keeping the small farmer in mind.”

The company plans to nearly double fuel production by next year in part because of the additional supply.

As part of the arrangement, Oleoplan provides technical assistance to farmers or farming cooperatives to help them boost

crop yields and make more efficient use of fertilizer.

Brazil began biodiesel production in 2005 and in 2010 is expected to produce 2.4 billion liters (634 million gallons). This year it began requiring all fossil diesel to be sold with a minimum 5 percent biodiesel mix.

Biodiesel backers say hiking that rate would cut carbon emissions and reduce state oil company Petrobras’s imports of diesel and distillate fuels, which last year reached 78,000 barrels per day-more than 10 percent of its diesel output.

Petrobras has found new ways to refine vegetable-based oils together with diesel in its petroleum refineries.

While the country’s ethanol program has won praise, it is also targeted by critics who say it contributes to rising food prices and makes use of quasi-slave labor. Authorities hotly deny the first accusation but have acknowledged the second.

The government last year put Cosan, the world’s largest sugar and ethanol group, on a list of companies that put workers in slavelike conditions, though it was quickly

removed.

“We can create better jobs than the ones in the ethanol sector, and with biodiesel those jobs can go to family farmers,” said Arnoldo de Campos, coordinator of the program for the ministry of agricultural development.

The effort has faced furious criticism for falling into a common trap of biofuels innovation-betting on crops with hyped-up energy promise that ultimately fall short.

The program recruited thousands of family farmers to grow castor bean plants, which sprout spiky green seeds that advocates insisted could produce large amounts of oil and grow on degraded soil with little water.

But no producer participating in the program has been able to commercially produce biofuels from the crop. Critics say this is because production costs and yields are too high to justify using it for fuel.

As a result, Brazil’s largest biodiesel maker had to shut two plants in the poor northeast after months of supporting castor bean cultivation, sparking outrage among

farmers.

“We warned the government about the technical problems associated with turning castor beans into biodiesel, but the politicians just wouldn’t listen,” said Miguel Dabdoub, a chemistry professor at the University of Sao Paulo who has helped lead the development of Brazil’s biodiesel sector.

He says political leaders from Brazil’s northeast took advantage of the program to promote ill-advised schemes in much the same way the U.S. agriculture industry has used political clout to push for inefficient corn-based ethanol.

But he praises efforts to incorporate small farmers into biofuels production.

Glemir Valenca, 39, says his soy crop yields over the last two years have been the highest ever thanks to a combination of good weather and technical assistance from biodiesel producers.

“We’re getting more money for our crops and we’re getting advice so we can produce more,” he said. “It’s something that’s been really good for us.” — Reuters

Ruling stops promising area of research, NIH says

‘Stunned’ US government to appeal stem-cell ruling WASHINGTON: Stunned and disappointed Oba ma administration officials sa id yesterday they w ould a ppeal a federa l court ruling that tempora rily barred federa l funding of embryonic stem cell research. The administra tion will a sk the US Court of Appeals to lift the preliminary injunction issued on Monda y, J ustice Depa rtment spokesman Ma tthew Miller said.

Current research worth about $131 million can go ahead, but research proposals being evaluated for potential funding will be “pulled out of the stack,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said.

Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he was calling a hearing for today on the matter.

“This ruling should be appealed and I fully believe that it will be overturned.

Embryonic stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans who are suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases, and it must be allowed to proceed,” Harkin said in a statement.

Allowing federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research was one of the first acts of newly elected President Barack Obama last year, and exultant scientists applauded when he overturned predecessor George W. Bush’s limitations on the science.

Supporters of human embryonic stem cell research say it is HYDERABAD: A jaguar (Panthera onca) plays with a piece of wood inside an enclosure at the Nehru vital to carry it out alongside other types of stem cell Zoological park in Hyderabad, India, yesterday. — AP research to understand how to transform cells into desired tissue types and treat diseases ranging from juvenile diabetes to blindness.

LONDON: Britain recorded Opponents say it is wrong to Overall cases of chlamydia are affected by preventable said. Re-infection was also a almost half a million new destroy human embryos, even problem with one in 10 of were up by 7 percent, gonor- sexually transmitted infeccases of sexually transmitted days-old embryos to be discardthose aged 15-24 diagnosed rhoea diagnoses increased by tions,” said Nick Partridge, infections (STIs) last year, ed from fertility clinics. In his with an STI becoming re- 6 percent and genital herpes chief executive of sexual with teenagers and those aged ruling, Judge Royce Lamberth health charity the Terrence cases rose by 5 percent. infected within a year. under 25, especially young said legislation tacked onto the Hughes said better testing Higgins Trust.

“The numbers we’re seewomen, particularly affected, Health and Human Services “Until we improve sex ing in teenagers are of particu- accounted for some of the figures showed yesterday. spending authorization every lar concern as this suggests rises, but added they were education and give extra supHealth officials said the year, called the Dickey-Wicker teenagers are repeatedly also due to unsafe sexual port to young people they rise in STIs in young women amendment, bans federal fundwill continue to take avoidputting their own, as well as behaviour. was partly due to their relucing of all such research.

“It’s staggering that almost able risks with their sex others’, long term health at tance to insist on using con“Frankly, I was stunned, as half a million people each year lives.” — Reuters risk from STIs,” Hughes said. doms. was virtually everyone at NIH, Overall, 482,696 new STIs by the judicial decision yesterwere diagnosed in 2009, an day,” NIH’s Collins told increase of 12,000 cases from reporters in a telephone briefthe previous year, and contining. uing an upward trend seen “Human embryonic stem over the last decade, the cell research, done responsibly Health Protection Agency and ethically, is one of the most said. exciting opportunities to come Two-thirds of the new along in a long time. And in just STIs in women were diagthe last year, we have made so nosed in those aged 15 to 24, much progress in getting this with more than half of new area expanded.” cases for men falling in the Sean Tipton of the American same age group.

Society for Reproductive There were also high rates Medicine, which supports all of STI diagnoses among gay areas of stem cell research, said men. “These latest figures scientists would struggle to get show that poor sexual health money from private sources. is a serious problem among States such as California and the UK’s young adults and Massachusetts fund and men who have sex with men,” encourage embryonic stem cell said Dr Gwenda Hughes, head research but cannot come close of the HPA’s STI section. to matching the NIH purse.

“These figures also high“We are calling for an immelight the vulnerability of diate end to Dickey-Wicker,” young women. Many studies Tipton said in a telephone interhave shown that young adults view. “Do that and your probare more likely to have unsafe lem is solved,” Tipton added. sex and they lack the skills “This could be a great outand confidence to negotiate come for research freedom and safe sex.” for allowing scientists instead In women, 73 percent of of politicians to make decinew cases of gonorrhea and sions.” Congress has come 66 percent of new genital wart close in the past to passing cases were in those under 25, bills that would explicitly while 88 percent of female TEGUCIGALPA: A woman with hemorrhagic dengue rests on a camp bed encourage some types of chlamydia diagnoses were in while being treated at the Lions Club in Tegucigalpa on August 24. At least human embryonic stem cell this age bracket.

56 people have died from hemorrhagic dengue in Honduras so far this year, research, but many felt The peak age for an STI in Obama’s executive order while the Government has launched a campaign to fight Aedes Aegypti, the blunted the need for legislawomen is between 19 and 20, mosquito which transmits dengue fever. — AFP and 20 to 23 for men, the HPA tion. — Reuters

Almost half a million UK sex infections last year

GULF OF MEXICO: In this undated image provided by the journal Science, microbes degrade oil, indicated by the circle of dashes, in the deepwater plume from the BP oil spill in the Gulf, as documented in a study by Berkeley Lab researchers. The newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe, which is suddenly flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico, was discovered by scientists studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf following the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. — AP

New York most bedbug infested US city: Survey PHILADELPHIA: New York has more unwanted nocturnal guests than other urban areas and has been named the most bedbug infested city in the United States.

It surpassed Philadelphia, Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago, which rounded out the top five cities, according to extermination company Terminix, which compiled the list based on call volume to its offices around the country so far this year.

“In the past, offices might get a couple of calls a month for bedbug eradication,” said spokesman Clint Briscoe. “Now, some of them are getting several dozen a week.”

The company blamed international travel for the bugs’ return 60 years after they were thought to have been eradicated in the US But it said the appearance on its list of smaller cities shows the insects that live in furniture, clothing and luggage, are getting a grip on the US heartland.

“It’s the bedbug problems in cities like Dayton and Louisville that prove bedbugs are back and can pop up anywhere,” said Paul Curtis, the entomologist for the company, referring No. 8 and

No.13 on the list.

Briscoe said over the last three years the company’s commercial bedbug business has more than doubled, while calls from householders are significantly higher.

New York City Councilwoman Christine Quinn admitted last month that the Big Apple had been hit hard by the blood-sucking insects after the city announced it would spend $500,000 raising aware about the pests, which don’t carry disease but are difficult to eliminate.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has battled an outbreak at his Harlem office, along with lingerie outlet Victoria’s Secret, teen clothing store Hollister and countless hotels which have lost thousands of dollars in revenue fighting the bedbug. Terminix said the bugs tend to hitch a ride from one location to the next, so are particularly fond of hotels, airplanes and cruise ships.

People who suspect they have bedbugs were advised to check mattresses for dark blood spots, and to avoid picking up used mattresses or furniture left out on the street. — Reuters

KRONBERG: Female hippopotamus “Tana” enjoys her birthday cake made of salad, carrots and concentrated feed on August 25, 2010 at the Opel-Zoo in Kronberg near Frankfurt/M., western Germany. Tana, who celebrated her 50th birthday, is the oldest animal at the zoo and one of the oldest hippopotamuses in Europe. — AFP

Thursday, August 26, 2010

heAlTh & science

29

New evidence of vitamin D influence exerts over health LONDON: Vitamin D influences more than 200 genes, including some that play a role in serious autoimmune conditions and cancer, a study has shown.

The research, published on Monday, highlights the extent to which vitamin D protects against a wide range of diseases.

Scientists mapped 2,776 points where the vitamin interacts with elements of DNA, including those that make up genes.

The sites were unusually concentrated near genes associated with autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Crohn's disease, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.

They were also found close to genes for cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and bowel cancer.

The researchers showed that vitamin D had a significant impact on the activity of 229 specific genes, including ones previously associated with Crohn's disease and type 1 diabetes another autoimmune condition.

"Our study shows quite dramatically the wide-ranging influence that vitamin D exerts over our health," said Dr.

Andreas Heger, from the Medical Research Council Functional Genomics Unit at Oxford University, southern England.

Working in the laboratory, the scientists isolated fragments of DNA in cells to study the effects of exposure to calcitriol; the "active" form of vitamin D. Their findings are published today in the journal "Genome Research".

Vitamin D is chiefly made in the body as a result of the skin's exposure to sunlight.

A small number of foods also contain the vitamin, including oily fish and eggs, but 90 percent comes from being in the sun.

In many northern countries, a lack of sun can lead to vitamin D deficiency.

Over-zealous use of sunscreen can also prevent vitamin D production.

It is estimated that more than half the UK population do not get enough vitamin D, and worldwide, a billion people may be deficient in the vitamin.

Lack of vitamin D affects bone growth and development, leading to rickets in children and bone fractures in adults. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;KUNA

Al-Rashid Hospital invites Dr Olaf

Dr. Olaf Alrich Bodamer

KUWAIT: It is a pleasure for Al Rashid Hospital first pioneer in family care to invite Dr Olaf Alrich Bodamer, German Consultant Pediatrician.

Professor of Pediatrics in Great Ormond Street Hospital Professor of Pediatrics, Human Gentics in Baylor College. Professor of Pediatrics Gentics, Newborn Screening in Austrian University. He has excellent experience in diagnosis and treatment of all genetic diseases in children new born screening, developmental delay and muscle hypotonic. Also specialized in all neurological disease in children convulsions. Specific treatment for all metabolic disease and inborn error of metabolism.

Visit will start on 18/9/ till 30/9/ 2010. It will be organized with Dr. Hanan Hashmat Consultant Pediatrician.

Dr Hanan Hashmat

health & science

30

thursday, august 26, 2010

US FDA to give restaurants more time on calorie counts WASHINGTON: US health regulators plan to give restaurant companies more time to comply with new rules that require clear calorie and nutritional information on menus.

Under the healthcare law passed in March, restaurants must clearly post calories and other nutrition details on their menus. The rules target restaurants with 20 or more locations, as well as other retail food outlets, and would affect huge national

chains like McDonald’s Corp and Yum Brands Inc, the operator of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut fast-food chains.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has until March 2011 to put these rules into effect. But the agency said on Tuesday it would hold off on enforcing them for an unspecified time period so that companies could make the changes. It also asked for public comment on how long to refrain from enforcement.

Other companies likely to be affected by the new menu rules include Starbucks Corp <SBUX.O>, Olive Garden and Red Lobster owner Darden Restaurants Inc, and IHOP and Applebee’s parent DineEquity Inc. Consumer advocates and some public health experts praise menu disclosures as a way to help diners make better food choices and, hopefully, to help improve health in a nation where two out of three people are overweight or obese. “It’s going to help a lot

of people watch their waistlines and calories,” said Margo Wootan, a director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Some industry critics have argued that menu labeling rules particularly if they were to involve a patchwork of different state and local laws-would be a burden that would add operating costs. Dan Roehl, public affairs specialist for the National Restaurant Association, which often takes the lead on

regulatory issues, said the industry supports a national standard for disclosing nutrition information. “Once FDA completes the regulatory process, the industry will have all it needs to comply with the federal law ... It’s important for our members to know what they need to do,” Roehl said. Privately-held Subway for years has prominently displayed calorie counts in its restaurants. The sandwich chain also suggests ways for customers to reduce calories by eliminating richer

ingredients like cheese and mayonnaise.

Panera Bread Co in March began adding calorie counts to its menu boards ahead of the national requirements.

Nevertheless, most major chains have resisted posting such information without legislation and the threat of fines. Several states, counties and cities have proposed or passed laws requiring menu labeling, but only a handful-including New York Cityhave put them into effect. —Reuters

Salmonella vaccine might have prevented egg recall 80 percent of the hens have been vaccinated DES MOINES: Low-cost vaccines that may have helped prevent the kind of salmonella outbreak that has led to the recall of more than a half-billion eggs in the United States haven’t been given to half of the nation’s egglaying hens. The vaccines aren’t required in the US, although in Great Britain, officials say vaccinations have given them the safest egg supply

in Europe. A survey conducted by the European food safety agency in 2009 found that about 1 percent of British flocks had salmonella compared with about 60 percent to 70 percent of flocks elsewhere in Europe, said Amanda Cryer, spokeswoman for the British Egg Information Service.

SPARKS: Lilly Smith hand washes eggs that were collected at Springfield Farm, yesterday, in Sparks, Md. The farm in northern Baltimore County gets about 1,400 eggs each day from its 2,000 laying chickens, a cross between Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites. — AP

A treat for your skin and your dining table Ways to make youlook good

By Zeeba Rafiq What a beautiful thing it is to have a bowl of fresh fruit on your dining-room table. You may recall seeing such splendor at a friends house, or perhaps you have the good taste to provide your home with your own healthy decor.

Regardless, although fruits can turn a drab room into one that is both exciting and tasteful (no pun intended), it also gives a devoted wife and mother the hope that perhaps her children would be more encouraged to eat the fruit instead of the numerous and nameless candies and other junk foods (after Iftar of course). But it doesnt stop there... these fruits if not eaten in time can still be used for your beauty needs. As a proud Pakistani let me share with you one of my favorite fruits to put on MY dining table: the mango.

Mangoes are sweet smelling fruits that are rich in vitamins (particularly Vitamin E which is good for hormones, and Vitamin C to prevent internal hemorrhages), minerals and antioxidants. And they happen to be one of Pakistan’s most famous exports.

And it’s not hard to see why.

Mangoes can be eaten both ripe and not, but are abundant only in the summer. The enzymes in any mango are proven to treat scabs, irritation and protect skin from radical damage. Although both are perfectly acceptable to eat, ripe mangoes and unripe mangoes both contribute differently to the body: Ripe mangoes are known for toning heart muscles, stimulating the appetite and improving both

the skins texture and overall appearance. It is also antiscorbutic (it prevents scurvy) and diuretic (improves your metabolism).

People with liver disorders would benefit from it greatly. However one thing to keep in mind, eating ripe mangoes is high in calories.

So although it is recommended for those wishing to gain weight, stay away from eating it if you do not wish to do so.

Unripe mangoes are slightly different. It has a sufficient amount of beta-carotene allowing it to prevent Vitamin A deficiencies. As mentioned before they have potent antioxidants and anticancer properties.What is exciting is that Dermatologists use the very proponents in mangoes.

Beta-carotene is retailed skin care product to increase cell turnover, and enhance skin appearance by increasing skin suppleness.

Unripe mangoes also help in: treating acidity, bad digestion, and anemia. Eating unripe mangoes is also good for acquiring pectin which is a dietary fiber which prevents a jump in high glucose levels.

As if that’s not enough, you

don’t need to actually buy a mango to get healthy benefits (although you’d be missing out). Mango juice is also believed to be very helpful. It is said to improve memory, concentration and it is thought to prevent various mental illnesses.

Now with all that said, here is a recipe to use this exotic delicacy into rejuvenating skincare...oh and of course dessert!

Ingredients: 5 cups ripe mangoes, peeled and thinly sliced, or mixture of sliced mangoes and apples 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 cup softened butter 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup flour Preparati on: Mix sliced mangoes with 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, the nutmeg, and lemon juice. Place in a buttered 10 x 6 x 2 inch glass baking dish. Set aside. Combine butter and brown sugar until well blended. Cut in flour and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping evenly over mango slices. Cook in microwave oven 9 to 11 minutes on HIGH power, rotating a half turn after 5 minutes. Serve warm or cold, with whipped topping or ice cream, if desired Here are some recipes meant to be used as actual skincare.

Honey Face Mask Recipe (For All Skin Types) Honey retains moisture so your skin feels hydrated and fresh and is known for treating acne quite effectively.

Ingredients: 4 tablespoons finely chopped mango pulp 1-2 teaspoons honey 11/2 tablespoons almond oil Instructions: Place all ingredients in a bowl; mix well.

Apply on your clean face and neck. Leave the face mask on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off thoroughly with lukewarm water.

Good for all skin types.

Yogurt Fa ce Mask (For Dry Sensitive Skin) Dry skin tends to be prone to sensitivity and allergies, so this recipe is perfect for it. This facial soothes and nourishes even the most sensitive skin.

Ingredients: 1/2 ripe mango 3 tablespoons plain yogurt Instructions: Place mango pulp and yogurt in a food processor, and process until smooth.

Apply on your clean face.

Leave the face mask on for 15 minutes. Rinse off thoroughly with lukewarm water..

Olive Oil Home Facial Recipe (For All Skin Types) Ingredients: 1/2 ripe mango 1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oi 1 tablespoon starch Instructions: Puree mango in a food processor, and then add olive oil.

Transfer mixture to a small bowl.

Stir in starch, and mix well until you get a smooth paste.

Spread mask on your clean face and neck, and relax. Wash off completely after 15-20 minutes.

There’s been no push to require vaccination in the US, in part because it would cost farmers and in part because advocates have been more focused on more comprehensive food safety reforms, those watching the poultry industry said. But Darrell Trampel, a poultry veterinarian at Iowa State University, predicted vaccination will become more common after the recent outbreak.

“I think (vaccination) will move from hit and miss to being a standard,” Trampel said.

The salmonella vaccine prevents chickens from becoming infected and then passing the bacteria on to their eggs. It has been available in the US since 1992.

There are two forms. One is a spray that uses a live bacteria, and chickens inhale it. The other contains dead bacteria that’s injected.

Jewanna Porter, a spokeswoman for the Egg Safety Center, an industry group, said both forms provide good protection. The injected vaccine lasts longer, but veterinarians recommend both be updated.

In most cases, laying hens are vaccinated at between 10 and 16 weeks old, which is before they are put into production.

The US Food and Drug Administration said last month it doesn’t believe mandatory vaccination is necessary, but it supports farmers doing it voluntarily.

Doug Grian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the vaccine deserves additional study, but it would likely have only have limited effectiveness against a bacteria like salmonella, which has many different strains.

“It’s only going to be a BandAid on a much bigger problem,” he said.

It would be more effective to give the FDA additional authority to stop repeat offenders and pull contaminated products off shelves and to move away from big production facilities that ship across the nation and can quickly spread disease, Grian-Sherman said. The FDA has not yet determined how the hens in Iowa became infected, said Dr. Jeff Farrar, FDA’s associate commissioner for food protection.

Both farms involved in the recall vaccinated some of their chickens.

Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Hillandale Farms, said the company began purchasing vaccinated laying hens in September 2009. The company didn’t vaccinate older hens but replaced them with vaccinated ones as they went out of production, she said.

“So about 80 percent of the hens have been vaccinated,” DeYoung said.

Wright County Egg has vaccinated some hens since 2009, investing more than $570,000 in the effort, spokeswoman Hinda Mitchell said. She declined to offer details due to an FDA investigation but said young hens were vaccinated “when they are in our care.” In Great Britain, farmers use a vaccine that goes into the water hens drink. The British government began encouraging, but not requiring, vaccination after a salmonella scare in the late 1980s crippled its egg industry. There was a 60 percent drop in egg sales overnight, Cryer said. “Looking back, that scare was probably the best thing for the industry because we sorted out the problem, and we now have very high standards and there are no consumer concerns about safety,” she said.

At least 90 percent of eggs in Great Britain come from vaccinated hens. The other 10 percent come from very small farmers who may have vaccinated chickens but don’t sell to major retailers. — AP

Photo released on August 25, 2010 by Ohio State University shows a the panel illustrating the complexity of dynamical evolution in a typical collision between two equal-mass disk galaxies. The simulation follows dark matter, stars, gas, and supermassive black holes, but only the gas component is visualized. Brighter colors indicate regions of higher gas density and the time corresponding to each snapshot is given by the labels. — AFP

First mega black holes were born soon after ‘Big Bang’ PARIS: The first “supermassive” black holes were created relatively soon after the Big Bang that created the Universe, a finding which could rewrite theories about the formation of galaxies, scientists said yesterday. Ordinary black holes are entities of mass whose gravitational pull is so huge that not even light can escape them.

But they are dwarfs compared to so-called supermassive black holes, which are many orders of magnitude bigger. Since the first of these behemoths was spotted 12 years ago, astronomers have come to the conclusion that every galaxy, including the Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at its core, some of them with a mass billions of times that of our Sun. Supermassive black holes seem like a phenomenon straight out of sci-fi, for they gobble up stars and planets that edge close to their gravitational maw.

But this act may not be purely destructive. By drawing in and churning up interstellar gas, the black hole could also be a creative force, helping to generate new stars and solar systems, say astrophysicists.

In a study published in Nature, scientists co-led

by Lucio Mayer, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich, say the first supermassive black holes were created about a billion years after the blast that gave birth to the Universe some 14 billion years ago.

Their simulation, created by super computers, sees huge proto-galaxies that collide, merging into a packed, dense cloud of gas that then undergoes grav-

itational collapse and eventually forms a massive black hole. The paper challenges the standard theory whereby galaxies grow incrementally: that gravity pulls small masses together and this goes on to form larger structures step by step.

“Our result shows that big structures-both galaxies and massive black holes-build up quickly in the history of the Universe,” said co-author Stelios Kazantzidis of Ohio State University.

If so, the implications for cosmology could be farreaching. “For example, the standard idea, that a galaxy’s properties and the mass of its central black hole grow in parallel, will have to be revised,” Kazantzidis said. “In our model, the black hole grows much faster than the galaxy. So it could be that the black hole is not regulated at all by the growth of the galaxy. It could be that the galaxy is regulated by the growth of the black hole.” The computer simulation is based on recent findings that the first galaxies emerged sooner after the Big Bang than thought, and comprised stars that were much more massive than present-day stars — up to 300 times the mass of our Sun. It also factors in the belief that the merged galaxy would be far smaller, and denser, than in previous simulations. In the new scenario, gas and dust in the centre of the merged galaxy condensed to form a tight disk. The disk became unstable and the gas and dust contracted again, forming an even denser cloud that in the end spawed a supermassive black hole. — AFP

Japan to remove language barrier in nursing exams TOKYO: Japan will provide English translations in a professional nursing exam to remove a language hurdle for foreign applicants after almost all of them failed the test this year, officials said yesterday.

Hundreds of nurses and care-givers from Indonesia and the Philippines have been allowed to work temporarily in rapidly ageing Japan, but they have to pass the Japanese-language test if they hope to stay longer than a few years.

To respond to rising complaints that the tests are discriminatory, the health ministry has also decided to simplify the wording of some of the exam questions ahead of the next test in February, ministry officials said.

“We have decided to review the exams because they place an extra burden on foreign applicants,”

said Yoko Shimada of the ministry’s nursing section. “English translations will help foreign nurse applicants read and understand the national examinations well, and we consider it’s appropriate.”

Historically, Japan has imposed tight limits on immigration but has allowed several hundred certified nurses and caregivers from Indonesia and the Philippines into the country to help make up a shortage of health care workers.

Those who hope to stay longer than three years in the case of nurses, and four years in the case of caregivers, need to pass the exams, forcing them to quickly learn thousands of Japanese characters and medical terms. This year only three peopletwo Indonesian nurses and one from the Philippines-passed the test, while the other 251 applicants failed. — AFP

WHAT’S ON IN KUWAIT

Thursday, August 26, 2010

31

Scientific Center to hold Girgian festival

Embassy information

T

he Scientific Center is set to hold the annual Girgian festival tomorrow, Thursday Ramadan 16, 1431 AH. The event will be held between 9:00 pm and 11:30 pm, and features several programs and activities prepared especially for this traditional event, including a handicrafts competition program in which boys would have to decorate moneyboxes, while girls would have to dress dolls in traditional dress. At the end of the event, children will receive the Girgian treat inside bags provided by the center which the children would decorate themselves.

EMbASSy OF US

Saleh Ashour greets former MP Ahmad Lary.

Ahmad Lary and Abdulhusain Al-Sultan offer their greetings.

Ashour receives greetings from a clerk.

Ashour and Hassan Naseer with a couple of attendants.

Announcements Sept 17 Onam Fest 2010: ‘Vanithavedi Kuwait’ a leading women’s association will be celebrating Onam on Friday, Sept 17, 2010, from 9 am - 6 pm at the Indian Community School, Khaitan Branch, the program named as ‘OnamFest 2010’ will have the public meeting followed by various cultural programs. The traditional Onasadya will be served. For the successful conduct of Onam Fest 2010, a program committee has been formed. Dr Vasanthy Nair (general convenor), Valsamma George, Dr Mary (Joint Convenors), Prasanna Ramabhadran (Arts convenor), Tolly Prakash (Food convenor), Shiny Ajith (Raffle convenor), Sumathy Babu (Souvenir convenor), Valsa Sam (Publicity convenor), Syamala Narayanan, (Reception convenor), Sharlette Albert (Volunteer captain). For more details, contact: 24342807, 66428433, 66596625, 24331598.

Theater & Music All level music classes: ‘Treasure of Talents’ (est in 1992) music education program invites all level music classes on piano, theory of music, vocal, flute.

Academic Level teachers help prepare for international exams, children concerts, yearly ‘Treasure of Talents’ Festival and music competitions. Contact Prof Cezary, Tel. 25320427, 66549009 of Ms Yasmeene - Berlitz Institute Tel: 22542212.

22512533 or email: treasureoftalents@yahoo.com treasureoftalents@hotmail.com

EMBASSY OF INDIA

Ashour shares a group photo with a number of attendees.

MP Hassan Johour (left).

MP Saleh Ashour holds ghabqa MP Saleh Ashour held on behalf of the Justice and Pieace Assembly a ghabqa for the holy month of Ramadan, which took place recently at the Sheikha Mariyam hall in Al-Qadsiya. The event was attended by citizens from the first constituency and dignitaries from all over Kuwait.

✦✦✦ Call to classical music lovers: Are you a lover of music? Would you like to promote the traditional Indian classical music in Kuwait? If your answer is in the affirmative, please write ton more details to music_karnatic@yahoo.co. in (that is, music underscore karnatic) with your contact details or call 7978286.

SEPT 24 NSS Onam: Nair Service Society (NSS), Kuwait will celebrate Onam on Sept 24, at Cambridge School, Mangaf. South Indian film star and acclaimed dancer Lakshmi Gopalaswamy will perform during the function. Ajai Malhotra, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, will be the chief guest at the Onam celebration on September 24, which will be followed by a full day variety entertainment program depicting the rich heritage and art forms of Kerala. Muraleekrishnan P, President of Nair Service Society, Kuwait (NSS Kuwait) will preside over the function.The Ona-Sadhya (Onam Feast) will be served in the traditional Kerala style on banana leaf on September 24. Nair Service Society (NSS) Kuwait, is one of the largest Socio-Cultural Organization in Kuwait formed in year 2001 and now has more than 3000 Indians as members. For more information, contact Anish Nair, NSS Kuwait 9969-1431.

OCT 21 Rendezvous 2010: The Kuwait Chapter of the St. Aloysius College Alumni Association (SACAA KUWAIT) have announced that “Rendezvous” their hallmark event will be conducted on 21st October at Asia Asia Restaurant, Souk Al Watiya, Kuwait City from 8 pm onwards.

This year, SACAA Kuwait celebrates five years of its existence in Kuwait. SACAAKuwait has been synonymous with various fund raising initiatives through which they consistently supported various needs of their Alma Mater and its students back in Mangalore, India. Through Rendezvous2010, SACAA-Kuwait intends to help generate funds for the Poor Students Fund of St. Aloysius institutions where numerous needy students look forward to assistance to subsidize their costs. SACAA Kuwait calls upon all Aloysians, their families and also like minded people to join this noble cause and help make life a little better for those needy students back home. For entry passes and further information, kindly contact - 66731828, 66746425, 66181041, 94093275, 66699857, 66091962.

OCT 29 Onathanima tug of war: Thanima is conducting its annual Onam celebrations along with its celebrated tug of war competitions on October 29 at Central School compound, Abbasiya. Cultural procession, concert and other attractive cultural items will add glitter to the evening function in which many prominent personalities are expected to be present. Those teams wishing to participate in the tug of war competition, please contact 99865499 / 97253653 / 66071276 / 99703872.

The United States Department of State announces the increase in various visa fees to ensure sufficient resources to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas (NIVs). US law requires the Department to recover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas through the collection of the application fees. The increased fees are to take effect June 4, 2010. Under the new rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petitionbased visas will pay an application fee of $150, as each of the below categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists.

These categories include: H visa for temporary workers and trainees L visa for intra-company transferees O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors R visa for religious occupations The application fee for K visas for fiance(e)s of US citizens will be $350. The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors will be $390.

Kannur KKMCC conducts iftar & 64th Indian National Day

K

annur District Committee of Kuwait-Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre conducted annual Iftar program and celebrated 64th Indian Independence day on 21st August at ECHO Restaurant in Farwaniya. Sayid Nasir Thangal (Chairman) inaugurated the event. He added that in Ramadan, through increased devotion, Muslims feel closer to their Creator, ALLAHU subahanu wataala and recognize that everything we have in this life is a blessing from Him. He praised Kannur committee of KKMCC by standing today humbled by the task of doing relief and social works and at the same time expressing gratefulness for the trust the people have bestowed them.

Abdul Mohsin Al-Sadi, from Ministry of Justice, Kuwait was the Chief guest. He said that through family and community gatherings, Muslims strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, in their own communities and

throughout the world. He was delighted to see KKMCC has taken this initiative while spreading the spirit of love among different communities in Kuwait. He prayed “May Allah accept our fasting, forgive our sins, and guide us all to the Straight Path. May Allah bless us all during Ramadan, and throughout the year, with His forgiveness, mercy, and peace, and bring us all closer to Him and to each other”.

Ghalib Al-Mashoor in his presidential address said that KKMCC is proud to celebrate India’s 64th National day (15th August 2010) and conveyed belated greetings to the members. He added that “The prosperity of today”, India is witnessing are the fruit of the struggles made for the past 63 years, where people of India worked very hard and sincere. Majority of Indians love democratic system, and India’s model secularism and their disciplined works. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted,

but those who prefer work over leisure, or seek only hardships over the pleasures of riches and fame. Al-Mashoor added that India’ long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom cannot be destroyed by terrorism elements and fundamentalism, rather we prefer to respect the old risk-takers’ of our nation such as Mahatma Gandhi, Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, DR. P.J. Abdul Kalam. Our journey has never been one of the shortcuts or settling for less.

He added that Islam, the religion of 1.6 billion global Muslims taught us to love against hate and peace against war while sacrificing their own lives for the motherland.

In Islam its part of the belief that one should defend his nation being as Martyr.

Al-Mashoor expressed gratitude to UPA Government for their recent issuance of postal stamps in honor of our beloved leader Marhoom: Panakkad Sayid Mohamed Ali Shihab Thangal on

the occasion of Thangal’s first death anniversary. KKMCC treats “the stamp issuance event” as a great honor for Indian Union Muslim League Party as one of the leading political parties in India, in addition to Marhoom Thangal’s sincere services to the nation.

Sharafuddeen Kanneth, President National Council said that we are proud to see those moments where we cherished our love, independence and freedom from British rule.

Mohamed Arimbra (KKIC) said in his key note address that, Ramadan is a period of fasting, reflection, devotion, generosity and sacrifice observed by Muslims around the world. While major holidays of other faiths have largely become commercialized events, Ramadan retains its intense spiritual meaning.

Al-Haj M. Mohammed Meera Shah Fazil Baaqavi (President, Kuwait Tamil Islamic Society) said

that Ramadan is a month of selfregulation and self-training, with the hope that this training will last beyond the end of Ramadan.

Senior Members and Leaders of KKMCC National Council Aziz Thikkodi, Salam Valanchery, Osman Darimi (Vice President, ISLAMIC CENTRE), Siddeeque Valiyakath (President, FIMA) also delivered felicitation speeches.

Ibrahim Mir Khan (President, IMWA) who arrived late, also made compliments to KKMCC for conducting such a wonderful program.

The speakers thanked HH Sheikh Sabah Ahmed Al-Sabah, Amir of Kuwait, Government and people of Kuwait for treating Indians as the best community and prayed for Kuwait’s prosperity and security. The meeting started with recitation of Holy Quran by Nasir Ariyil. Haider K.C., General Secretary welcomed the guests.

Dinner was served. A huge crowd was present for iftar party.

KUWAIT: Members of the Christian Revival Fellowship in Kuwait welcoming Prof.M.Y. Yohannan and his wife Alice Yohannan at the Kuwait International Airport on their arrival on Tuesday. Prof Yohannan, former principal of St Peter’s College Kolencherry and founder president of CRF, will be giving message in CRF convention at EBA Hall, Abbasiya on Aug 25, 26 and 27.

The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week. Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays.

Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday.

The Embassy of India will remain closed on August 23 and September 2, 2010 on account of ‘Onam’ and ‘Janmashtami’ respectively.

EMbASSy OF bANGLADESH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow the following office hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday: 09:00 - 3:00 pm. Friday and Saturday: Weekly holidays.

EMBASSY OF turkEY The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey announces that Turkish language course will restart at the Embassy’s Tourism, Culture and Information Office 4 October 2010. The lessons will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. For further details and registration please contact. * The Embassy at Tel: 22531785 (only from 9 am to 3 pm) * Or fill the application form on http://kuweyt.befscnet.net and send it to the e-mail: Turkish_embassy_Kuwait@hotmail.com EMbASSy OF THAILAND All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulate General worldwide, including eligible foreigners who apply for Visa on arrival at designated checkpoints, will be exempted from tourist visa fees until 31 March 2011. Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa only.

TV PROGRAMS

32

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Orbit / Showtime Listings 22:50 Science of the Movies 23:40 Mighty Ships

00:00 The Unit 01:00 Lie to Me 02:00 Law & Order 03:00 Flash Forward 04:00 Dawson’s Creek 05:00 My Own Worst Enemy 06:00 The Closer 07:00 The Unit 08:00 Dawson’s Creek 09:00 Criminal Minds 10:00 Flash Forward 11:00 My Own Worst Enemy 12:00 The Closer 13:00 Criminal Minds 14:00 Flash Forward 15:00 Dawson’s Creek 16:00 Lie to Me 17:00 Law & Order 18:00 Dollhouse 19:00 The Closer 20:00 One Tree Hill 21:00 Warehouse 13 22:00 Criminal Minds 23:00 Grey’s Anatomy

00:45 Animal Cops Houston 01:40 Ultimate Air Jaws 02:35 Planet Earth 03:30 Untamed & Uncut 04:25 Cats of Claw Hill 04:50 Cats of Claw Hill 05:20 Animal Battlegrounds 05:45 Monkey Life 06:10 SSPCA: On the Wildside 06:35 Night 07:00 Animal Crackers 07:25 Meerkat Manor 07:50 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:15 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:45 Cats of Claw Hill 09:40 Animal Battlegrounds 10:05 How Not to Become Shark Bait 10:55 Monkey Life 11:20 Night 11:50 Animal Precinct 12:45 Vet on the Loose 13:10 Pet Rescue 13:40 Animal Cops Philadelphia 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:00 SSPCA: On the Wildside 15:30 Venom Hunter with Donald Schultz 16:25 All New Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Breed All About It 17:45 Breed All About It 18:15 Weird Creatures with Nick Baker 19:10 Lions of Crocodile River 20:10 Animal Cops Houston 21:05 Venom Hunter with Donald Schultz 22:00 Weird Creatures with Nick Baker 22:55 Animal Cops Philadelphia 23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:25 Lead Balloon 01:25 Mastermind 2006 01:50 The Weakest Link 02:40 Last Of The Summer Wine 03:05 Gigglebiz 03:24 Tweenies 03:40 Tellytales 03:50 Tikkabilla 04:20 Gigglebiz 04:35 Tweenies 04:55 Tikkabilla 05:30 Coast 06:30 Mastermind 2006 07:00 Gigglebiz 07:15 Tweenies 07:35 Tellytales 07:45 Tikkabilla 08:15 Gigglebiz 08:30 Tweenies 08:50 Tellytales 09:00 Tikkabilla 09:30 Mastermind 2006 11:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 12:00 The Weakest Link 12:45 Eastenders 13:15 Doctors 13:45 Mastermind 2006 14:15 Coast 15:15 Last Of The Summer Wine 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Eastenders 18:00 Casualty 19:35 Only Fools And Horses 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 The League Of Gentlemen 22:45 Lab Rats 23:15 Lab Rats

00:15 The Hairy Bakers 00:45 Glamour Puds 01:10 The Home Show 02:00 Cash In The Attic 02:50 Cash In The Attic 03:40 Come Dine With Me 04:30 The Restaurant UK 05:15 Cash In The Attic USA 05:50 10 Years Younger 07:00 The Restaurant UK 08:00 Living In The Sun 08:55 Bargain Hunt 09:45 Hidden Potential 10:05 Cash In The Attic USA 10:30 The Hairy Bakers 10:55 Glamour Puds 11:20 The Home Show 12:10 10 Years Younger 13:00 Come Dine With Me 13:50 Cash In The Attic 14:40 Living In The Sun 15:30 Bargain Hunt 16:15 The Hairy Bakers 16:45 Glamour Puds 17:00 The Home Show 17:50 10 Years Younger 18:55 Come Dine With Me 19:45 Boys’ Weekend 20:15 Indian Food Made Easy 20:45 Chuck’s Day Off 21:10 Cash In The Attic 21:55 Cash In The Attic 22:40 Come Dine With Me

01:00 Nearing Grace-18 03:00 In Tranzit-18 05:00 Saving God-PG15 07:00 Mes Stars Et Moi-PG15 09:00 Eavesdrop-PG 11:00 Edward Scissorhands-PG 13:00 Sunset Park-PG 15:00 Max And Co.-PG 17:00 Brassed Off-PG15 19:00 Reservation Road-PG15 21:00 Cass-18 23:00 Le Nouveau Protocole-PG15

00:40 Street Customs 2008 01:35 Dirty Jobs 02:30 Wreckreation Nation 03:25 Mega Machines 4 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How It’s Made 05:40 How Machines Work 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Mean Machines 07:25 Mega Machines 4 08:15 Street Customs 2008 09:10 Mythbusters 10:05 Ultimate Survival 11:00 Overhaulin’ 11:55 Border Security 12:25 How It’s Made 12:50 How Machines Work 13:20 Mythbusters 14:15 Miami Ink 15:10 Ultimate Survival 16:05 Dirty Jobs 17:00 Deadliest Catch 17:55 Mythbusters 18:50 Cake Boss 19:15 Border Security 19:40 The Gadget Show 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 How Machines Work 21:00 Destroyed in Seconds 21:55 Serial Killers 22:50 I Escaped Death 23:45 MacIntyre: World’s Toughest Towns

00:30 What’s That About?

01:20 Space Pioneer 02:10 Engineered 03:00 Beyond Tomorrow 03:50 Thunder Races 04:45 How Stuff’s Made 05:10 Weird Connections 05:40 Stunt Junkies 06:10 What’s That About?

07:00 Thunder Races 08:00 Ten Ways 09:00 Engineered 16:20 How Stuff’s Made 16:50 Junkyard Mega-Wars 17:45 Brainiac 18:40 Catch It Keep It 19:30 Science of the Movies 20:20 How It’s Made 21:10 Mega Builders 22:00 Catch It Keep It

00:15 Jonas 00:35 Jonas 01:00 Sonny With A Chance 01:25 Hannah Montana 01:50 Hannah Montana 02:15 Jonas 02:35 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 03:00 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 03:25 Fairly Odd Parents 03:50 Phineas And Ferb 04:15 Replacements 04:35 Suite Life On Deck 05:00 Hannah Montana 05:01 Kim Possible 05:50 A Kind Of Magic 06:15 Fairly Odd Parents 06:35 Replacements 07:00 Stitch 07:01 Fairly Odd Parents 07:50 Phineas And Ferb 08:15 Replacements 08:35 A Kind Of Magic 09:00 Jungle Junction 09:10 Special Agent Oso 09:35 Handy Manny 10:00 Imagination Movers 10:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:45 Jungle Junction 11:00 Fairly Odd Parents 11:25 Phineas And Ferb 11:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:15 Sonny With A Chance 12:40 Hannah Montana 13:00 Hannah Montana 13:25 Jonas 13:50 Sonny With A Chance 14:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 14:35 Fairly Odd Parents 15:00 Phineas And Ferb 15:25 Replacements 15:50 Suite Life On Deck 16:15 Hannah Montana 16:40 Kim Possible 17:05 A Kind Of Magic 17:30 Fairly Odd Parents 17:55 Replacements 18:15 Stitch 18:40 Wizards Of Waverly Place 19:00 Hannah Montana 19:25 Sonny With A Chance 19:45 Fairly Odd Parents 20:10 Phineas And Ferb 20:35 Suite Life On Deck 21:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:25 Hannah Montana 21:45 Jonas 22:10 Suite Life On Deck 22:35 Sonny With A Chance 23:00 Hannah Montana 23:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:15 Leave It To Lamas 00:40 Dr 90210 01:30 Wildest Tv Show Moments 01:55 Reality Hell 02:20 E!es 03:15 Extreme Hollywood 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Battle Of The Hollywood Hotties 05:30 Streets Of Hollywood 06:00 Beauty Queens Gone Wrong 07:45 Behind The Scenes 08:10 Behind The Scenes 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 Ths 12:00 Kendra 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Ths 19:40 Kendra: Here Comes Baby 20:30 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:20 Giuliana And Bill 21:45 Giuliana And Bill 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Chelsea Lately 23:25 Wildest Tv Show Moments 23:50 Pretty Wild

00:00 Cape Epic 01:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 02:00 Bmx Megatour 03:00 Fight Girls Series 2 04:00 Man’s Work 04:30 Man’s Work 05:00 I-Ex 05:30 I-Ex

Exterminators on Show Movies

06:00 I-Ex 08:00 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Vert 08:30 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Street/park 09:00 Asian X Games 2009 Skateboard Vert 09:30 Asian X Games 2009 Skateboard Street/park 10:00 Asian X Games 2009 Men/women Sport Climbing 10:30 Asian X Games 2009 Bmx Vert 11:00 Life & Films Of Alby Falzon, The 1 12:00 Man’s Work 12:30 Man’s Work 13:00 F.I.A European Drag Racing 14:00 Gumball 3000:2008 14:30 Gumball 3000:2008 15:00 Life & Films Of Alby Falzon, The 1 16:00 Man’s Work 16:30 Man’s Work 17:00 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Vert 17:30 Asian X Games 2009 Inline Street/park 18:00 Asian X Games 2009 Skateboard Vert 18:30 Asian X Games 2009 Skateboard Street/park 19:00 Asian X Games 2009 Men/women Sport Climbing 19:30 Asian X Games 2009 Bmx Vert 20:00 Man’s Work 20:30 Man’s Work 21:00 Life & Films Of Alby Falzon, The 1 22:00 Fight Girls Series 2 23:00 Bmx Megatour

00:00 Iron Chef America 01:00 30 Minute Meals 01:30 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 02:00 Guys Big Bite 03:00 Barefoot Contessa 03:30 Everyday Italian 04:00 30 Minute Meals 05:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 05:30 Guys Big Bite 06:00 Barefoot Contessa 07:00 Everyday Italian 07:25 Food Network Challenge 07:50 30 Minute Meals 08:15 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 08:40 Guys Big Bite 09:05 Barefoot Contessa 09:30 Everyday Italian 10:00 30 Minute Meals 10:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 11:00 Paula’s Party 11:30 Barefoot Contessa 12:30 Everyday Italian 13:00 30 Minute Meals 13:30 Guys Big Bite 14:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 14:30 Good Deal with Dave Lieberman 15:00 Food Network Challenge 15:30 Barefoot Contessa 16:00 Everyday Italian 17:00 Iron Chef America 17:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 18:00 Guys Big Bite 18:30 Chopped 19:00 30 Minute Meals 19:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:00 Food Network Challenge 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:30 Everyday Italian 22:00 Iron Chef America 23:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 23:30 Guys Big Bite

01:00 Golf Central International 01:30 The Golf Channel - TBA 03:00 MLB: Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers 04:00 Champions Tour Highlights JELDWEN Tradition 05:00 Women’s Professional Soccer FC Gold Pride at Chicago Red Stars 07:00 Major League Soccer FC Dallas v Chivas USA 10:00 2010 American Le Mans Series: Road America Elkhart Lake, WI 13:00 Golf Central International 13:30 Inside the PGA Tour 14:00 World of Athletics 14:30 Sport Central 15:00 The Big Ten’s Greatest Games: Football 1989 Holiday Bowl: Penn State v BYU 17:00 European Tour Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Rd. 1 Perthshire, Scotland 20:00 LPGA Tour: CN Canadian Women’s Open Rd. 1 Winnipeg, Canada 22:00 PGA Tour: The Barclays Rd. 1 Paramus, NJ

00:30 A Haunting 01:20 FBI Files 02:10 I Almost Got Away With It 03:05 Murder Shift 04:00 Forensic Detectives 04:55 Amsterdam Vice 05:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:10 Real Emergency Calls 06:35 Real Emergency Calls 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Fugitive Strike Force 09:30 Diagnosis: Unknown 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 Real Emergency Calls 12:25 Real Emergency Calls 12:50 On the Case with Paula Zahn 13:40 CSU 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Fugitive Strike Force 17:00 Diagnosis: Unknown 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 Real Emergency Calls 19:55 Real Emergency Calls 20:20 On the Case with Paula Zahn 21:10 CSU 22:00 Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases 22:50 Dr G: Medical Examiner 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:30 Word Travels 01:00 Bondi Rescue 01:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 02:30 Banged Up Abroad 03:30 Destination Extreme 04:00 Banged Up Abroad 05:00 Take Away My Takeaway 05:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 06:30 Word Travels 07:00 Bondi Rescue 07:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 08:30 Banged Up Abroad 09:30 Destination Extreme 10:00 Banged Up Abroad 11:00 Pressure Cook 11:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 12:30 Word Travels 13:00 Bondi Rescue 13:30 Bondi Rescue 14:00 The Best Job In The World 14:30 4Real 15:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 15:30 Destination Extreme 16:00 Banged Up Abroad 17:00 Pressure Cook 17:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less

Travelled 18:30 Word Travels 19:00 Bondi Rescue 19:30 Bondi Rescue 20:00 The Best Job In The World 20:30 4Real 21:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 21:30 Destination Extreme 22:00 Banged Up Abroad 23:00 Pressure Cook 23:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled

00:00 Community 00:30 Rita Rocks 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 01:30 The Colbert Report 02:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 03:00 Cleveland Show 03:30 Seinfeld 04:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 04:30 Family Biz 05:00 Just Shoot me!

05:30 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Eight Simple Rules 07:30 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Just Shoot me!

09:00 Family Biz 09:30 The Drew Carey show 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Will & Grace 11:00 Frasier 11:30 New Adventures of old Christine 12:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 13:00 The Drew Carey show 13:30 Just Shoot me!

14:00 Family Biz 14:30 Rita Rocks 15:00 Community 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 Seinfeld 18:30 Will & Grace 19:00 The League 19:30 Til death 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Will & Grace 22:30 The Ricky Gervais Show 23:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 23:30 New Adventures of old Christine

00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 10 Years Younger 01:30 Look A Like 02:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 03:00 The Monique Show 04:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 05:00 GMA (repeat) 07:00 GMA Health 07:30 What’s the Buzz 08:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

09:00 Never Trust a Skinny Cook 09:30 Huey’s cooking adventures 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 The View 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 What’s Good For You 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 GMA Health 16:30 What’s the Buzz 17:00 Never Trust a Skinny Cook 17:30 Huey’s cooking adventures 18:00 Look A Like 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

22:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 23:00 The Monique Show

07:00 Lazytown 07:25 Imagination Movers 07:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:15 Handy Manny 08:40 Jungle Junction 08:50 Special Agent OSO 09:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:25 Handy Manny 09:50 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 10:15 Little Einsteins 10:40 Special Agent OSO 11:05 Imagination Movers 11:30 Lazytown 11:55 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 12:20 Handy Manny 12:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:10 Little Einsteins 13:35 Jo Jo’s Circus 14:00 Higglytown Heroes 14:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:50 Special Agent OSO 15:05 My Friends Tigger And Pooh 15:30 Imagination Movers 15:55 Little Einsteins 16:20 Handy Manny 16:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 17:10 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 17:35 Special Agent OSO 17:45 Imagination Movers 18:10 Handy Manny 18:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:00 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 19:25 Handy Manny 19:35 Special Agent OSO 19:50 Jungle Junction

00:30 The Love Guru-18 02:00 Keith-PG15 04:00 Bottle Shock-PG15 06:00 Wild Child-PG15 08:00 Igor-PG 09:45 Gifted Hands-PG15 11:30 Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix-PG 14:00 Exterminators-PG15 16:00 Gifted Hands-PG15 17:45 Bedtime Stories-FAM 19:45 Star Trek-PG 22:00 G.i. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra-PG15

01:00 Street Fighter-PG 03:00 Mortal Kombat-PG 05:00 Rock Monster-PG15 07:00 Star Runners-PG 09:00 Jesse Stone Vi-PG15 11:00 Universal Soldier: The Return-18 13:00 Star Trek 10 : Nemesis-PG15 15:00 Jesse Stone Vi-PG15 17:00 Linewatch-18 19:00 Lara Croft : Tomb Raider-PG15 21:00 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life-PG15 23:00 Max Payne-PG15

00:00 Everything’s Gone Green-PG15 02:00 Blue State-PG15 04:00 Picture This-PG15 06:00 Chatterbox-PG

Into The Storm on Super Movies 08:00 Loins Of Punjab Presents-PG15 10:00 Fifty Pills-PG15 12:00 Son Of Rambow-PG 14:00 Bridal Fever-PG 16:00 Everything’s Gone Green-PG15 18:00 Corky Romano-PG15 20:00 The Foot Fist Way-PG15 22:00 Bob Roberts-18

00:00 Gulliver’s Travel-PG 02:00 Curious George: Follow That Monkey-PG 04:00 Pocahontas Ii: Winter Of The Rocky Mount-FAM 06:00 Robotech - The Shadow ChroniclesFAM 08:00 Barbie In A Mermaid Tale-FAM 10:00 Pocahontas Ii: Winter Of The Rocky Mount-FAM 12:00 Felix 1-FAM 14:00 Curious George: Follow That Monkey-PG 16:00 Magic Sport 2-PG 18:00 Bolt-FAM 20:00 The Good Witch-PG 22:00 Felix 1-FAM

00:00 Burn Notice 01:00 The Closer 02:00 CSI Miami 03:00 Ghost Whisperer 04:00 8 Simple rules 04:30 Rita Rocks 05:00 Without a trace 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 CSI Miami 08:00 8 Simple rules 08:30 Rita Rocks 09:00 Ghost Whisperer 10:00 Without a trace 11:00 CSI Miami 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 8 Simple rules 13:30 Rita Rocks 14:00 Burn Notice 15:00 The Closer 16:00 Without a trace 17:00 Smallville 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Huey’s Cooking Adventure 19:00 Heroes 20:00 The Closer 21:00 CSI Miami 22:00 Without a trace 23:00 Smallville

00:00 Triathlon 01:00 AFL Highlights 02:00 Super League 04:00 Futbol Mundial 04:30 European Tour Weekly 05:00 European Tour Ladies Highlights 06:00 AFL Highlights 07:00 Cricket ODI Highlights 09:00 Tri Nations 11:00 NRL Full Time 11:30 World Pool Masters 12:30 ICC Cricket World 13:00 Live Cricket Test Match 20:00 ICC Cricket World 20:30 World Sport 21:00 Total Rugby 21:30 Brazil League Highlights 22:00 Scottish Premier League

00:00 Triatholn 01:00 World Pool Masters 02:00 Cricket Highlights 04:00 ICC Cricket World 04:30 Brazil League Highlights 05:00 Currie Cup 07:00 World Pool Masters 08:00 SPL Highlights 08:30 FEI Equestrain World 09:00 Ladies European Tour Highlights 10:00 Cricket Highlights 12:00 NRL Full Time 12:30 NRL Premiership 14:30 Cricket Highlights 16:30 European Tour Weekly 17:00 Live PGA European Tour

20:00 Futbol Mundial 20:30 European Tour Weekly 21:00 World Sport 21:30 PGA European Tour

00:00 Le Mans Series Highlights 01:00 UAE National Race Day 01:30 Planet Power Boats 02:00 UFC 118 Countdown 03:00 UFC 117 Silva vs. Sonnin 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 WWE Vintage Collection 10:00 Red Bull X-Fighters 11:30 FIM World Cup 12:00 V8 Supercars Championship 13:00 V8 Supercars Championship 14:00 UAE National Race Day 14:30 Planet Power Boats 15:00 FIM World Cup 15:30 FIA GT1 World Championship 17:00 UFC 116 Lesnar v Carwin 20:00 WWE NXT 21:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 22:00 UFC 118 Countdown 23:00 UFC Unleashed

01:00 Suburban Girl-PG15 03:00 For The Love Of Grace-PG 05:00 Hoot-PG 07:00 Into The Storm-PG15 09:00 Take The Lead-PG 11:15 Babylon A.d-PG15 13:00 Martian Child-PG 15:00 Madagascar 2-PG 17:00 Take The Lead-PG 19:15 Beauty And The Briefcase-PG15 21:00 Ice Age: Dawn Of The DinosaursFAM 23:00 The Golden Compass-PG

00:00 The Screening Room 00:30 The Passage 02:10 They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

04:00 Only When I Laugh 06:00 The Screening Room 06:30 The Screening Room 07:00 The V.i.p.s 09:05 Silk Stockings 11:00 The Comedians 13:30 2010 15:30 Boys’ Night Out 17:20 High Society 19:05 Mutiny On The Bounty 22:00 A Man For All Seasons

00:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 01:20 Deep Sea Detectives 02:10 Pawn Stars 03:00 Pawn Stars 03:25 Hubble, 15 Years of Discovery 03:55 The Tech Effect 05:10 Nostradamus Effect 05:40 Conspiracy?

06:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 07:20 Deep Sea Detectives 08:10 Pawn Stars 09:00 Pawn Stars 09:25 Hubble, 15 Years of Discovery 09:55 The Tech Effect 11:10 Nostradamus Effect 11:40 Conspiracy?

12:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 13:20 Deep Sea Detectives 14:10 Pawn Stars 15:00 Pawn Stars 15:25 Hubble, 15 Years of Discovery 15:55 The Tech Effect 17:10 Nostradamus Effect 17:40 Conspiracy?

18:30 Dead Men’s Secrets 19:20 Deep Sea Detectives 20:10 Battle of Tripoli 21:00 Battles B.C.

01:05 Vampire’s Kiss 02:50 Ulee’s Gold

04:40 Bigger Than The Sky 06:25 A Dangerous Woman 08:05 Ski Patrol 09:35 Rich Kids 11:10 The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave 12:40 The Legend Of Johnny Lingo 14:10 Reckless 15:40 Getting Even With Dad 17:30 Jiminy Glick In Lala Wood 19:00 100 Films & A Funeral 20:25 Dreamchild 22:00 Mystery Date 23:40 Once Bitten

00:00 E!es 01:00 The Designers 01:30 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 02:00 How Do I Look?

03:00 Split Ends 04:00 The Designers 04:30 Style Her Famous 05:00 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look?

07:00 Style Star 07:30 Dress My Nest 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Style Her Famous 10:00 Fat Free Fiances 11:00 Peter Perfect 12:00 Ruby 12:30 Giuliana And Bill 13:00 Clean House 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 15:00 Dr 90210 16:00 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

17:00 Tacky House 18:00 Dallas Divas And Daughters 18:30 Dallas Divas And Daughters 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House 21:00 How Do I Look?

22:00 Jerseylicious 23:00 The Dish Presents: Weddings Gone Wild

01:00 Code 01:04 Latina 10 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:00 Code 05:04 Legend 06:00 Playlist 08:00 Code 08:04 Latina 10 08:45 Playlist 13:00 Code 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 14:00 Trace Video Mix 15:00 Playlist 16:00 Code 16:04 Rnb 10 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:00 Code 20:04 Sound System 10 20:45 Playlist 21:00 Guest Star 21:15 Playlist 22:00 Code Compilation 22:24 Playlist

00:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 01:00 Hollywood and Vines 01:30 Floyd Uncorked 02:00 Culinary Asia 03:00 Planet Food 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 06:00 Planet Food 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 $100 Taxi Ride 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Hollywood and Vines 09:30 Flavours of South Africa 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 PhotoXplorers 11:30 Essential

34

SPECTRUM

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Calvin

CROSSWORD 63

Aries (March 21-April 19) You could find yourself communicating techniques and methods to others today. You have a natural ability to see what is needed and you respond in a professional manor. You are in the mood to accomplish quite a lot--very little will sway you from your goals. Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions to opposing views are important assets in the office and in the home, particularly with young minds that seem totally motivated by their feelings. This afternoon you may try to clear away the cobwebs from these young minds. You may also help guide young people to see the difference between reality and fiction. There are new opportunities to either teach or take a class with a loved one in some creative learning.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You have a natural sense for communicating with others, especially those younger than you. Clear thoughts about the past may also be flowing in today. There is a growing selfconfidence. In summary, from this time forward, expect a more confident, outgoing attitude. A growing sense of direction and self-worth will find you reaching out and establishing yourself. Close personal ties to other people are an important area you navigate. This may mean that you have company visiting throughout this week and you look for different ideas on entertainment, food, etc. There is a greater than usual interest in relationships, social connections and the arts. Keep your balance; agree to a reasonable request by a family member--patience.

Pooch Cafe

ACROSS 1. An orange-brown antelope of southeast Africa.

4. Coming next after the ninth and just before the eleventh in position.

9. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

13. Used of a single unit or thing.

14. French poet (born in Romania) who was one of the cofounders of the Dada movement (1896-1963).

15. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

16. Not only so, but.

18. A strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

19. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

20. A city in northern India.

21. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

23. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

24. Unknown god.

25. A soft silvery metallic element.

27. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

29. Using speech rather than writing.

33. A spirit believed by Muslims to inhabit the earth and influence mankind by appearing in the form of humans or animals.

36. A unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns.

37. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

38. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

39. Payment due by the recipient on delivery.

41. A Russian river.

43. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

44. A small flat triangular bone in front of the knee that protects the knee joint.

47. A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material.

49. Wild plum of northeastern United States having dark purple fruits with yellow flesh.

53. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

56. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

58. The sister of your father or mother.

59. Any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc..

62. Used by northerners of Confederate soldiers.

63. Aromatic bulb used as seasoning.

64. Food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked.

67. Type genus of the Nepidae.

68. Rate of revolution of a motor.

69. Jordan's port.

70. Studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills).

DOWN 1. A small canoe consisting of a light frame made watertight with animal skins.

2. Lake in northwestern Russia near the border with Finland.

3. Massive plantigrade carnivorous or omnivorous mammals with long shaggy coats and strong claws.

4. (astronomy) A measure of time defined by Earth's orbital motion.

5. The second larges of the four main islands of Japan.

6. One of the most important fungi cultivated in Japan.

7. Someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold.

8. A bag used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women).

9. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of light-headedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months.

10. The sixth month of the civil year.

11. A small cake leavened with yeast.

12. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

17. Austrian composer who influenced the classical form of the symphony (17321809).

22. A city and port in northern Jutland.

26. (in Scotland or Ireland) A mountain or tall hill.

28. A river in northern England that flows southeast through West Yorkshire.

30. An uproarious party.

31. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

32. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

34. The first month of the year.

35. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

40. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

42. Type genus of the Balaenidae.

43. The sixth month of the civil year.

45. (Old Testament) The eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac.

46. Being ten more than one hundred forty.

48. An unskilled painter.

49. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

50. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

51. Not elegant or graceful in expression.

52. (Greek mythology) A Titan who was forced by Zeus to bear the sky on his shoulders.

54. The act of grasping.

55. Stems of beans and peas and potatoes and grasses collectively as used for thatching and bedding.

57. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

60. A master's degree in business.

61. (Judaism) Sacred chest where the ancient Hebrews kept the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments.

62. A blow that renders the opponent unconscious.

65. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

66. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)Planning ahead will work to your benefit today. Do not take chances or risks just now. Be satisfied with the ordinary. Novel ideas or insights could be more damaging than useful but those plans already made will be successful. There is plenty of hectic emotional energy, but you will be able to succeed if you think through your moves. Do not perform by quick response. Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions to opposing views will become more important than usual now. Someone is watching your problemsolving abilities. Perhaps it is time for an employee review--write your own. This evening, close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings--marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena.

Non Sequitur

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You appear quite charming today. Now is the perfect time to set dates, apply for a job or otherwise make yourself known. You are insightful--never shy about working with the most sensitive and vulnerable areas of the human psyche.

You love new and different ways of self-discovery and transformation. You may now be considering a different type of company to work for or you realize that this is the perfect time to apply for a change within your own company. Marriage, celebrations or a reunion is in the forecast soon. You strive for harmony and beauty now and may decide that this is the time to consider plans for redecorating your home or in planting new shrubbery or trees around your home. You want more wildlife.

Leo (July 23-August 22) This is a good day to use your active imagination and creativity when it comes to ideas and thinking. You show off your ability to put your thoughts into words and captivate any listener.

Gathering and exchanging information is important in developing your strategies. This is a mentally active day. A tremendous sense for taking care of business is upon you. This amounts to a passion and benefits you in all business situations. This evening you may find yourself in a group meeting, facing the concerns of homeowners or renters in the same area in which you live. Finding ways to help through land or housing improvements may be topics to consider. The weather may be nice enough to enjoy open windows this evening.

Zits

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Today morning may consist of reorganizing, making phone calls, contacts and appointments. This may prove to be a fairly productive day.

You can appreciate the difficulties of others and be understanding of the problems they may be having. You value a certain amount of self-sacrifice. You can discriminate between superficiality and the reality beneath them. A new cycle begins for you, signaling a greater than usual interest in relationships; social connections and the arts will be on a more intellectual level than in the past, most likely. If an unusual opportunity presents itself, consider it very carefully; it just may be the experience for which you have been waiting. This opportunity will probably be in utilizing your talent.

Libra (September 23-October 22) Expect a sense of support and good will from those around you. If it is your turn to make the presentation in some office meeting today, your co-worker friends will support you. Your family members know about your hard work and send you positive thoughts. Whatever your endeavors, you will have positive support. You will enjoy and value your own life situation today. A fun time with a friend at the noon break keeps your energy and confidence level high. This afternoon you enjoy working hard and being organized. You exercise your skill and discipline in anything that affects your career and reputation. There are breakthrough flashes of insight with tremendous originality and independence, which are typical now.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Circumstances can throw you into positions where you must use your mind and deal with communications, service or enclosed hidden interests. You may deal with education, psychology, spiritual enlightenment or teaching principles and techniques to others. Some of the planetary energies present now suggest that you are comfortable with established values. You know and understand more than you let on today--changes in the workplace will not surprise you. There are big changes throughout your life in matters of organization and responsibility. Make it a point to be thorough, to finish things and take care of all the loose ends that keep popping up. Close relationships take on more emotional depth. Romance is in the air tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) There is a tendency to be very strict with yourself when it comes to responsibilities and carrying out instruction--others could learn from your actions. Your ambition is intensified. You appreciate people who have been successful and may surround yourself with those in power whenever the opportunity presents itself. Your sense of quality and discrimination may amount to some sort of livelihood for you. You understand about choices and can spot the right ones. Seeing both sides of an issue becomes very important to you. You may get into some touchy conversations today but you will be able to come up with the appropriate words. Family, possibly brothers or sisters, will help you create a lovely surprise for a family friend tonight.

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Solution

Yester

Yesterday?s Solution

To

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo

00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202

Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich

00203 009611 0096311 0096321 0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411

Word Sleuth Solution

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This could be an action-filled day when time seems to slow down as you encounter some of your more sensitive areas.

This kind of intensity and vulnerability points to inner change and growth. Ideas for writing, perhaps a little work toward a book, short story or poetry, appeal to you this afternoon. There could be research into religious or very idealistic subjects now. You are very sensitive, even vulnerable when it comes to expressing yourself. Periods of intense creativity enable you to go through changes and inner growth. This creative intensity could be in your expression for music. When your mind is not disciplined, you know the problems that seem to accumulate. Relationships are important to you and you seek and find most positive people.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may be especially dynamic and assertive just now and you may want to insert caution if you are rushing through your work.

There is a lot of energy and drive available for accomplishing what you set out to do, one-step-at-a-time.

This is a good time to move forward in your career decisions. You will be able to see both sides of an issue and figure out resolutions to opposing views. This is a real time to buckle down and strengthen your career. It is easy for you to organize and make a beautiful presentation. This afternoon you may enjoy escaping from the busy world of work and people by enjoying one of your hobbies. Some of you may enjoy a sewing, weaving or art class. Later, you can join your family for a dinner away from home.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) This is a time when life circumstances seem to catch you by surprise but you are smiling. There are opportunities to complete and work out difficulties and projects that have, up-until-now, required both long-term effort and a high degree of discipline. Things have a way of working out smoothly. You come up with new solutions to some old problems. Breakthroughs in your career could also open up now. Improved solutions and insights create opportunities that you will not want to overlook. Family issues find easy solutions this evening, particularly with regard to subjects of budget. When young people make a researched presentation to plea for more allowance, they learn about business. You will be impressed by their industriousness.

INFORMATION

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

STATE ST TATE OF KUWAIT KUW K WAIT AIT

TEL: 161 ext. 2630 - 2627

DIRECTORATE DIRECT ORATE GENERAL GENE ERAL OF CIVIL AVIATION AVIATION METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT D PARTMENT DEP ARTMENT DA AY Y: W DAY: Wednesday ednesday

F AX: 24348714 FAX: WWW .MET.GOV.KW W WWW.MET.GOV.KW

Time Issue Time

25/08/2010

07:00

Expected Weather Weather for the Next 244 Hours

BY DAY: DA AY Y:

Hot with w light variable wind changing ging to light to moderate north rth easterly wind, with speedd of 08 - 28 km/h

BY NIGHT: NIGHT:

Relatively Relativvely humid with light variable le wind changing to light to moderate north westerly wind, nd, with speed of 08 - 288 km/h No Current Warnings Warnin arnings gs

WARNING W ARNING MAX. EXP. EXP P..

MIN.. REC.

KUW WAIT CITY KUWAIT

45 °C

35 °C

23940620

KUW WAIT AIRPORT AIRPOR RT KUWAIT

48 °C

29 °C

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

NUW WAISEEB A NUWAISEEB

44 °C C

29 °C C

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

WAFRA WAFRA

48 °C

28 °C

SALMI

48 °C

30 °C

ABDAL LY ABDALY

49 °C

30 °C

Physiotherapy Hospital

35

STATION ST TATION

24874330/9 CLINICS

Roudha

22517733

ALIY YAH JAL ALIYAH

48 °C

30 °C

Adhaliya

22517144

FAILAKA FAILAKA

Khaldiya

24848075

43 °C

32 °C

Keifan

24849807

POR RT T AHMADI PORT

40 °C

34 °C

Shamiya

24848913

M UMM AL-MARADEM

38 °C

32 °C

Shuwaikh

24814507

WA ARBA - BUBYAN BUBY YAN AN WARBA

39 °C

30 °C

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

CHART SFC. CHAR T

25/08/2010 0000 UTC

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

DAYS 4 DA AYS YS FORECAST

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Fajr

03:58

MAX. Temp.

MA AX. Te emp.

47 °C

Salmiya

25746401

Sunrise S i

05 21 05:21

MIN. Temp.

MI IN Te IN. T emp.

29 °C

Jabriya

25316254

Zuhr

111:50 1:50

MAX. RH M

58 %

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Asr

15:24

MIN. RH M

Bayan

25388462

Sunset

18:18

Wind MAX. AX. W ind

Mishref

25381200

Isha

19:39

TOTAL RAINFALL T OT TAL RAI INF FALL ALL IN 24 HR.

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

4892674

Al-Omariya

4719048

N.Kheitan

4710044

Rabiya

4732263

Fintas

3900322

Temperatures T emperatur e ratures DAY DA AY

DATE DAT TE

WEATHER WEA ATHER T

Thursday

26/08

Friday

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Wind Direction Direction

Wind Wind Speed

id Relatively humid

47 °C

30 °C

N-NE

08 - 30 km/h

27/08

er coastal areas Humid weather especially over

44 °C

29 °C

SE

20 - 40 km/h

Saturday

28/08

er coastal areas Humid weather especially over

46 °C

28 °C

S-SE

15 - 40 km/h

Sunday

29/08

id Relatively humid

48 °C

29 °C

NE-NW

08 - 30 km/h

PRAYER PR RA AYER TIMES

YESTERDAY AT KUWAIT AIRPORT RECORDED D YESTERDA AY A T KUW WAIT AIT T AIRPOR T

nless otherwise stated.

All times are local time unless

25/08/10 03:05 UTC

05 % SE E 32 km/h

00 mm V1.00

T1.06

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi

PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554

EMERGENCY 112

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly

25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah

22617700 25625030/60

Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.

Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew

25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons:

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148

(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535 Dentists:

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists:

Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288 Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290 Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

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Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada’a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368

22633135

Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari

25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr

25329924

Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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36

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Kardashian would definitely date Bieber

M

a riah Ca rey is four months pregnant, it has been claimed. The ‘Hero’ hitmaker - who was pictured on stage in Brazil earlier this week with an apparent baby bump - and husband Nick Cannon have allegedly told friends how “overjoyed” they are to be expecting their first child together, despite refusing to pub-

licly confirm the happy news. A source told RadarOnline.com: “Nick has been telling friends how excited he is to be a dad.

“Mariah has tried so hard to get pregnant.

She’s very excited. She wants to wait as close to full term as possible before going public with the news to her fans.” Following her show in Brazil, Mariah - who recently

dropped out of her next movie, ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf’, citing medical reasons - tweeted she had found the performance tough for “personal reasons”. She posted: “Seriously, I really do love it here, beautiful people inside and out! Tonite was tuff 4 me 4 personal reasons, but U got me

thru! L4L. (sic)” Nick has refused to be drawn on the pregnancy speculation this week, insisting it is a matter for his wife to tell her fans. He said on his radio show: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it time and time again - when my wife feels like talking about whatever she wants to talk about, you will hear it directly from her.”

Marilyn Monroe named greatest blonde of all time

T

he late screen legend beat off stiff competition from a host of modern beauties, including Cameron Diaz, Madonna and Scarlett Johansson, to be awarded the title in a new poll. In second place was actress Grace Kelly - who famously married Prince Rainier III of Monaco - French beauty Brigitte Bardot was third, while Cameron came fourth. A spokesman for Clairol Nice ‘n Easy - the company which commissioned One Poll to carry out the survey - said: “Marilyn Monroe has always been known for her iconic blonde hair. “But it’s amazing to think that even now, almost half a century after her death, she has still beaten modern

blondes to the top spot. “Her hair is synonymous with 1950s glamour but it has stood the test of time against hair styles and colours which have come and gone over the years.” Other platinum stars to make the top twenty include Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks who came eighth, Blondie singer Debbie Harry in tenth spot, Madonna made it to eleventh place, while Gwen Stefani took fourteenth place. Marilyn became an icon after her tragic death in 1962 and had relationships with a string of famous men during her life, including playwright Arthur Miller - who was one of her three husbands - and allegedly US President John F. Kennedy.

Greatest Blondes of All Time, according to One Poll 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Marilyn Monroe Grace Kelly Brigitte Bardot Cameron Diaz Holly Willoughby Joanna Lumley Scarlett Johansson Stevie Nicks Olivia Newton-John Debbie Harry

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Madonna Doris Day Goldie Hawn Gwen Stefani Denise Van Outen Barbara Windsor Honor Blackman Tess Daly Charlize Theron Paris Hilton

K

im Karda shian would definitely date J ustin Bieber “if he was of legal age.” The 29year-old reality TV star - who recently took part in a magazine photoshoot with the 16-year-old pop sensation - insists she has no romantic involvement with the ‘Baby’ hitmaker because he is too young. She told US TV talk show host George Lopez: “Would I date him? If he was of legal age. He definitely has this swag to him.” The brunette beauty - who is dating NFL player Miles Austin - recently admitted she “feels old enough to be Justin’s mum” but has retained a close friendship with the star, after they first met at this year’s White

House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Justin recently revealed he talks to his pal regularly. He said: “I have her on Blackberry Messenger and we, like, talk all the time.” Speaking about their recent photoshoot which was styled around the movie ‘The Graduate’, which follows an older woman and her young lover the singer admitted anyone his age would have jumped at the chance to work with Kim. He said: “It was cool. It was really cool. She’s really beautiful so that was... I mean, any 16 year old would want to do a photoshoot with her. “Beyond just being, like, extremely hot, she’s actually, you know, a really nice person.”

Paltrow and Martin think NY keeps their marriage strong

Christina Applegate can’t stop eating

T

he 38-year-old actress - who is due to give birth to her first child with fiance Martyn Lenoble later this year - hasn’t been craving anything in particular, but can’t resist tucking into her favourite treats, whatever the time of day. She joked: “Just keep going with it in my mouth.” Christina has been studying her friends and looking to her mother for guidance on

how to raise her child and is confident she will be able to adopt both a hands-on and hands-off approach to parenting. She explained to People magazine: “I’ll probably be a little bit hippy and a little bit Type A. I’ll take from what my mother did, which was way hippy and like ‘Do what you wanna do,’ and bring some things that I know from watching my friends raise their

kids. An amalgamation of sorts.”

The ‘Samantha Who?’ star decided against finding out the sex of her unborn tot, which has meant decorating the baby’s room has proved a tougher challenge than she anticipated. She said: “It’s gender neutral because we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl. I’m trying. It’s becoming a bigger project than it was supposed to be, unfortunately.”

Drew Barrymore is glad she isn’t perfect

T

he ‘Going the Distance’ actress - who has been in rehab three times and has had two shortlived marriages - doesn’t worry about the “low points” in her life because they have made her the person she is today. She said: “The low points I had all helped make up my character, so I probably wouldn’t want to do away with them because I like being flawed and I like having them help me grow and change and become better and stronger.” Drew, 35, also refuses to blame her troubled parents, John and Jaid Barrymore - who both died as a result of their addiction problems and divorced when the actress was young - for anything that went wrong in her life, including her first stint in rehab when she was just 15. The former child star added: “You can’t live your life blaming your failures on your parents and what they did or didn’t do for you. “You’re dealt the cards that you’re dealt. I realized it was a waste of time to be angry at my parents and feel sorry for myself.” Nowadays, Drew - who refuses to confirm she has reconciled with on/off boyfriend Justin Long is happier than ever and feels proud of her accomplishments. She added in an interview with the Daily Telegraph website: “I feel really excited about the last few years of my life. “I pride myself on them and I didn’t know I had that much discipline. I’ve worked really hard and got to do things I’ve always wanted to do and now I feel things are going really well. I just want to make sure I have a sense of balance between work and life, because work is my life and the lines can get really blurry.”

T

he couple - who have children Apple, five, and Moses, four, together - have recently enjoyed a romantic break in their holiday home in the Hamptons resort area of the US city and believe the regular vacation helps them forget their problems. A source said: “Spending a month there every summer really keeps their marriage going. It’s their haven away from the things that get between them - their hectic work schedules and their different sets of friends. “When they’re at the Hamptons they go for long walks, spend hours on the beach and mess around with their close

friends. Gwyneth doesn’t read scripts and Chris doesn’t write music. It keeps them sane.”

According to friends of the couple who married in 2003 - the Coldplay frontman often clashes with his actress spouse over his hatred of the party scene in London, where they spend most of their time. The source added to Closer magazine: “Chris has never been one for showbiz parties, but when they’re in London that’s what Gwyneth is doing. He doesn’t want to be a ‘celebrity couple’ so they don’t spend much time together in the city. It’s a real boost for them to be away from it all with the kids.” —Bang Showbiz

SPECTRUM

Thursday, August 26, 2010

37

Fashion

Makeover for Ann Taylor

By Booth Moore

A

nn Taylor is in the midst of an extreme makeover. The women’s apparel chain is trying to shake its “Corporate Cathy” image with the help of a design overhaul, updated stores and a new celebrity spokeswoman-Naomi Watts-all in a bid to appeal to younger, more stylish shoppers.

The transformation started last fall with an Ann Taylor runway show during New York Fashion Week, followed this spring by a glitzy Hollywood meetand-greet at the Soho House in West Hollywood. By May, a cream floral lace sheath dress worn by model Milla Jovovich in store window displays was in such demand that it sold out in a matter of days-before popping up on EBay at nearly three times the original price.

It’s a far cry from the quiet Ann Taylor of yore-just a step up from Casual Corner-when it was the kind of place where your mom’s cousin from Cincinnati would shop. While most chain retailers reaped the benefits of the highflying early 2000s, Ann Taylor sank into the doldrums of dowdy. The average store lost a third of its sales volume during the last few years, according to Brian Tunick, a retail analyst at JP Morgan in New York.

Those days appear to be over. Firstquarter sales for 2010 were up 16 percent from the same period last year.

And the Ann Taylor wardrobe has gone from head-to-toe suit looks to more fashion-forward separates with feminine details. For fall, that means a white asymmetrical military jacket in stretch silk with couture-like brass chain trim ($228); a black knit miniskirt with tiers of pleated chiffon ($128); leopard haircalf kitten heels ($198) and a Swarovski crystal stretch cuff bracelet ($118) with an Art Deco feel.

Lisa Axelson, the woman in charge of giving Ann Taylor a fresh new look, is a 38-year-old mom-to-be with a rather full life who commutes by train from Stamford, Conn., in clothes designed to take her from desk to dusk with the addition of a single sparkling accessory.

She is designing for a company that opened its first shop in 1954 and mirrored the evolution of American women-from modest frocks for suburban housewives to high-waisted pants and sleeveless shift dresses for a new generation of youth to the matchymatchy suits that became a workplace uniform. But in the late 1990s, when the casual revolution swathed the land in khaki, the brand failed to evolve.

“I never would have gone to Ann Taylor,” says Axelson, who has been creative director and senior vice president of design for nearly two years. “It was too conservative.” What changed her mind? A surprisingly sexy back story. Axelson opens a scrapbook stuffed with ads from Ann’s wilder days in the 1960s and 1970s, and begins reading: “Ann Taylor announces shoes that do nice things for more than your feet.”

“Your love for your mother has nothing to do with the way you dress.” “Look who wears the pants now.” “I started seeing this new glimpse of Ann,” the designer says. “She was cheeky-not rebellious, but she was going against society’s norm. Then what happened?

She went to work and she suddenly got boring?”

Axelson grew up in Seattle before grunge, and is as polished and professional as you would expect the figurehead of Ann Taylor to be. Her office is beyond organized. Even the magazine clippings tacked to her bulletin board look tidy. But there is a hint of grit below the surface. Axelson is married to a rock musician named Rocky Reid, whom she met in “a dirty old East Village bar” when she was an art student at Parsons School of Design in New York.

“My parents were open to fashion, but I do remember a conversation, it might have been a heated debate, that stuck with me. My dad was an architect who understood the pressure of being creative. He said, ‘If you remember one thing, it’s that you’re working for a customer, you’re working for them. And if you are a designer designing a product for someone else, you have to listen to them.’”

Which may be why Axelson has had so much success designing for shopping mall stalwarts-specialty retail chain stores that have to listen to all of America. In 1994, she started at Banana Republic, where she helped “take the brand from Jeeps and safari to casual sportswear.” Her favorite design was the Cromwell coat, a chino coat with a high military collar and four patch pockets, which she swears she still sees on women in New York.

In 2002, she joined the Gap. In just one year, she designed the pink Mackintosh that sold out of Gap stores within weeks and helped bring back the brand’s popular Crazy Stripe holiday collection. After that, Abercrombie & Fitch recruited her to launch its nowdefunct offshoot Ruehl. When she landed back in New York in 2005, it was at Club Monaco.

Then, in 2008, Ann Taylor came calling. “We were all surprised she went to Ann Taylor because it seemed very old,” says Helen Farnell, a designer for Express, who has worked with Axelson on and off for 10 years. “But she has brought in a lot of modern elements. I’ve never seen the stores looking so good. I’ve even gone in and

This Toffee Satchel handbag is part of Ann Taylor’s fall line.

Ten things you might not know about Ann Taylor 1. Ann Taylor was not a real person. The retail chain is named after a bestselling shirtdress style.

2. In addition to women’s and petite collections, Ann Taylor also sells bridal and maternity wear.

3. The first Ann Taylor store opened in 1954 in the Hotel Taft in New Haven, Conn.

4. In an early example of brand collaboration, Ann Taylor partnered with Finnish design studio Marimekko on a collection in the 1960s.

5. In the 1970s, the Ann Taylor shopping bag was inducted into the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.

6. Anyone with a valid college or graduate school ID receives 20 percent off their entire purchase of full-price merchandise in stores until they graduate.

7. Lisa Axelson, Ann Taylor’s creative director, has also designed for Gap, Banana Republic, Club Monaco and Abercrombie & Fitch’s Ruehl.

8. Before she was an Oscar-winning actress, Geena Davis worked as a window mannequin for Ann Taylor’s flagship store on New York’s 57th Street in 1981.

9. Julia Roberts was discovered while she was working in an Ann Taylor store in Georgia.

10. Naomi Watts is the face of Ann Taylor for the fall 2010 ad campaign. The collection she’s wearing is inspired by the Ernest Hemingway book “A Moveable Feast.” —MCT

This deconstructed silk trench is part of Ann Taylor’s spring line as the chain makes a bid to appeal to younger, more stylish shoppers and is also making over its retail stores.

—MCT photos

bought things, which I never would have done before.”

Axelson and her 30-person team create four collections a year, which amounts to about 400 styles in stores, as well as a bridal collection. Age-wise, the sweet spot for the brand is mid-30s and up, although more twentysomethings are starting to take notice, she says. (Ann Taylor also owns Loft, which is positioned as a younger, more casual retail destination.) This fall’s pareddown and dressed-up trend comes at an opportune time for Ann Taylor, which still aims to fill the niche for professional dressing, but in a more modern way.

“I don’t know if casual is gone forever, but people are taking their attire more seriously,” Axelson says. “Those who are employed are grateful.”

Along those lines, Axelson introduced the “Perfect Pieces” collection last fall. It is updated seasonally with new versions of the perfect black pant, the perfect pencil skirt, the perfect pump and so on.

Not surprisingly, given the continued popularity of costume jewelry, accessories are also a new priority.

“Diamonds and pearls are staples, but we never do them in a traditional way, we mix them with ribbons and chains,” Axelson says. The Flower Pearl necklace ($168) in the fall collection incorporates a piece based on a vintage brooch Axelson found at a Paris flea market.

If it all sounds a bit familiar, it’s because it is. Ann Taylor, like so many other retailers, is trying to pull a J

Crew-whipping up clothes that can be dressed up or down, sprinkling in an aura of affordable luxury, and a dash of ruffles and bows, in hopes that it adds up to fashion magic. “Everyone is using J. Crew’s (design) themes. You’re seeing it at Talbots and even Gap to a certain extent, because they are all trying to get business back. Soon Costco will be selling ruffles,” Tunick says.

Of course, Ann Taylor has yet to achieve the status of J Crew, which manages to be popular with both fashion insiders and outsiders. For one, the brand hasn’t dressed Michelle Obama, though it’s not for lack of trying. They have sent clothes to Obama’s de facto stylist, Chicago retailer Ikram Goldman.Axelson was recently accepted as a member of the Council of

t is acke J e ring or’s lk F nn Tayl i S s Thi rt of A line. pa spring

Fashion Designers of America _ a sign that you’ve “arrived” as a singular talent on the American fashion scene. But she still looks wistfully out the window across Times Square’s concrete canyon to the Conde Nast building, where she can see Vogue magazine editor in chief Anna Wintour’s office. Wintour was invited to the office to meet Axelson and see the collection but sent another editor instead. Pleasing high-powered editors is one thing, but pleasing customers is another.

In May, Ann Taylor was put on the defensive after the blog Jezebel.com noticed photos of models on AnnTaylor.com were Photoshopped to proportions so slender they would make Kate Moss wince. “We were all involved, and we briefed the company

that does our retouching that it needed to look more natural, more like real women,” Axelson says.

The site was called out again in late July, when a technical glitch allowed viewers to see models both before and after Photoshopping. “When we do casting, it’s all about perfectly imperfect, honoring her curves and beauty from the inside out. So this was so opposite to what we want to convey as a brand, and what we are about,” says Axelson, who points to recent Ann Taylor models Heidi Klum, Jovovich and Watts as women who are “not just beautiful, but have depth.”

Only time will tell if the public agrees. Axelson spends as much time as she can visiting Ann Taylor stores, and reading e-mails from district man-

agers. (When she tried to take the lining out of pants, she heard loud and clear that she had to put it back.) “The first year was about doing, listening and correcting,” she says. “Now, we have to build on that.”

Next up is summer 2011. Outside Axelson’s office, inspiration boards are pinned with hot pink fabric swatches and photos of Frida Kahlo and Mexican vacation destination Tulum. There’s also a huge flat-screen TV at the ready for the designer, who will have to communicate to her team over a Skype hookup when she goes on maternity leave later this year.

“We are in the incubating stages of showing women that Ann is relevant again,” Axelson says. “These aren’t just your mom’s clothes.” —MCT

Grab the latest purse trend by the handle

By Lisa A Flam

director of Neiman Marcus. “With the sharp tailoring and appreciation for men’s tailored details, the structured bag is the go-to bag.” Sister classicsilhouette satchels and frame bags had their place on the runway, too.

These bags all look right with ofthe-moment fashion, but also go well with just about everything in your closet short of formal evening wear,

T

he hottest purses for the cool season are fit for a lady.

Replacing the large, heavily embellished bags of recent history are vintage-inspired ladylike models topped off with a handle or two. The style offers a feminine contrast to fall’s menswear-inspired details like strong-shouldered jackets and com-

This Feb 15, 2010 photo shows the Marc Jacobs Cardboard Gene bag in brown presented during Fashion Week in New York. —AP photos

This Feb 15, 2010 photo shows the Marc Jacobs Garbo Greta bag in mouse presented during Fashion Week in New York. plement the longer-length ‘50s style skirts being turned out in pinstripes and plaids.

“The new direction for handbags this season is a return to a structured, ladylike handbag,” says Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion

Louis Vuitton Damier Clair-Obscur fox fur bag in black.

Nancy Gonzalez crocodile handbag in olive.

says Julia Kalachnikoff, accessories director for Lucky magazine. All retro in look, they are versatile enough for jeans but go through cocktails, she says.

Some of the latest options from designers such as Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and Prada recall the bags carried by gloved hands in the middle of

the last century. Today’s versions, though, are anything but stuffy, and there is plenty of room for all your stuff. The bags are larger than those of the “Mad Men” era and are modernized with cell phone pockets, sleek hardware and mixed materials, Kalachnikoff says. Many of the satchels feature the now-ubiquitous crossbody strap. “It’s a way of modernizing a shape that was big in the ‘50s and ‘60s,” she explains.

They carry the overall tone of polish, crafted in leather or texture-rich ostrich, pony and deer skin, crocodile, alligator and snakeskin. Trims in velvet and lace add a touch of the romantic and some are done up in fur or have a chain or lock detail.

“It’s more about the leather than it is about hardware or embellishments,” says Claire Foster, accessories editor for trend forecaster Stylesight. “There was studding all over the place for such a long time.

That’s completely gone.” Kalachnikoff calls the bags “the eventual backlash” against black and heavy hardware.

“It’s nice to be cleaned up and keep things a little more simple.” There’s also a lighter palette.

“Camel is really the big hit color of the season,” she says, adding that there also are soft yellows, blues and greens. “There are lots and lots of neutrals. Everything is just a little bit muted.” Foster also notes the return to tan leathers, like sand, stone and mustard, which are being shown along with pale pink- and blue-grays.

Neiman’s is featuring the trend in all shades of green, especially olive, a reflection of the latest infatuation with the military look. The greens work well with popular apparel colors, including browns and camels as well as bright jewel tones like saffron and paprika. “Olive has a newness to it,” Downing says. “It becomes a neutral for the season.” Traditional and a little

more conservative, the bags are seen as in keeping with today’s minimal times and minimal clothing looks.

Amid the economic crisis, Foster says, women still want to shop but are looking to get more for their money.

These bags are a good investment, she says, because they are less showy and more subtle. “They are the bag you will carry the whole season with every outfit. It’s returning to that old

Kalachnikoff agrees. “Whatever your look is, there’s something in this category that will appeal to you.” There are always other bag shapes to buy, just in case you are looking for something different: * Strips of fringy leather have been around since the Wild West but they are getting the luxury treatment on handbags. Jimmy Choo, Prada and Fendi are offering a fringe bag or two for fall. “They’re definitely luxe-ing them up and making it modern,” Kalachnikoff says.

Fringe is emerging now and probably will grow into a full-blown trend by springtime, adds Neiman’s Downing.

“It’s a nod to the peasant-inspired looks of Yves Saint Laurent made famous in the ‘70s with flounced skirts and off-the-shoulder tops.”—AP

Michael Kors Heidi clutch. A chic, envelopestyle clutch tucked under your arm exudes elegance but it’s largely been a nighttime lookuntil recently. way of looking at an accessory: hat it’s going to last you.” With so many choices, Foster thinks they will be a hit. “You can take it in more of a fashion directional edge if you want to because it has interesting properties and exotic leather, but the simpler styles are really accessible for a wide range of people,” she says.

This product image provided by Stylesight shows Sonia Rykiel’s Claudette smoke lambskin frame bag.

SPECTRUM

38

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Music

American-Filipino tenor’s rise from rock to opera

By Cecil Morella

F

if teen years ago the future opera singer Arthur Espiritu was fronting a US high-school rock band, belting out covers of Bon Jovi’s odes to modern-day hard men and motorcycle-riding outlaws. “‘Wanted, Dead or Alive’ was my favorite,” the Philippine-American tenor laughs, referring to the Bon Jovi song as he recalls a dizzying decade or so that brought him to the cusp of global stardom in the field of musical drama. By 2007 Espiritu was thoroughly transformed as the triumphant tenor Ferrando, singing the soldier’s delicate “Un’aura Amorosa” aria in the Mozart opera “Cosi fan tutte” at the world-famous La Scala of Italy.

“It gave me a barometer of where I am in my career,” says Espiritu, the first tenor of Philippine descent to perform at the Milan opera theatre. “The Italians are very passionate about what they do and they’re very serious about

their opera there. To be able to survive that, to me, is an accomplishment.” On a brief visit back to the country of his birth for a one-off concert in Manila, Espiritu told AFP of his unlikely rise from rock balladeer to a promising international operatic talent.

Espiritu lef t his Philippine hometown of Morong, near Manila, to join his parents abroad when he was 15. After high school in the United States, Espiritu realized his voice was worth a lot more than a few beers and prom nights, and he decided to push his musical boundaries at college.

“It was not a very easy transition, actually,” Espiritu said ahead of the concert last weekend-in which the full house gave him rapturous applause. “I knew how to sing but not this way, so it was a bit of a struggle in the early years.” It did not help that his father, then a US-based male nurse who has since returned to the Philippines after retirement, pushed him to become a

A file picture taken on August 13, 2010 shows Filipino-American tenor Arthur Espiritu talking with Indonesian pianist Najib Ismail during a rehearsal for a Manila concert. —AFP

Pearl Jam to mark 20 years at Young’s charity gig

doctor. “When I started to go to music, my dad asked me: ‘Are you gay?’,” he said, doubling up in laughter.

Espiritu eventually earned a Masters of Music degree in 2002 from the University of New Orleans, then took up an artist diploma course at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Over the past nine years he has been in 23 US and European productions, including the title role in Francesco Cavalli’s L’Ormindo at the Pittsburgh Opera and as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the Opera Fuoco in Paris. Last year he was one of six winners of the George London Award for young North American singers.

Philippine soprano Rachelle Gerodias described Espiritu’s singing as effortless. “He’s an ordinary guy with an extraordinary voice,” said Gerodias, Espiritu’s main collaborator at the Manila concert, his first appearance on stage in his country of birth.

Last year Espiritu moved to

Katy Perry woos critics with ‘Teenage Dream’ album

By Christine Kearney

S

P

earl Jam fans, save the date: guitarist Stone Gossard says the closest thing to a 20th birthday gig for the band will be a slot on the bill of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit in northern California on Oct 23 and 24. “The only thing we’ve got going on in October is Bridge School, which is really special,” Gossard told Billboard while in New York to support the new album by his side-band, Brad. “So that’s our 20th anniversary, which is fitting. It’s perfect: not too blown up. It’s not about us, it about all those kids that are on stage with you and about Neil Young and his commitment, his influence.”

It will be Pearl Jam’s eighth Bridge appearance. The group first played the benefit, which supports Young’s school for children with severe physical disabilities, back in 1992. The Bridge School dates, which will likely be held at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, begin the day after Pearl Jam’s exact anniversary. The band, then called Mookie Blaylock, played its first show in Seattle’s tiny Off Ramp club on Oct 22.

“It’s so great that it’s still going on, isn’t it? ‘Just stick together,’ that’s the advice we got from (U2’s manager) Paul McGuinness,” back in the early 90s, Gossard says, laughing.

“I think we’ve just stayed on course in a way

that’s maybe encouraged people and surprised people, and I think there’s more that we can do.” No other acts, aside from Neil Young, have yet been announced for the 2010 Bridge concerts. Though Pearl Jam has been plenty busy this year-it has done both a US and European tour and released digital bootlegs of every show-Gossard divulged that the band is mulling a South American trek for 2011.

Plans for a follow-up to the Seattle rock veterans’ chart-topping 2009 album “Backspacer,” are just in the early stages, with the band likely to convene later in the year-initially without frontman Eddie Vedderto work on demos.

Pearl Jam’s various members, however, have spent their summer vacations moonlighting with other musical projects.

Gossard’s Brad released its fourth studio album “Best Friends?” this month; it’s available at PearlJam.com.

Brad will hit the road in October opening for Band of Horses, which in turn opened for Pearl Jam this spring. “I’m hoping that Brad can do for [Band Of Horses’] show what they did for Pearl Jam,” Gossard says. “(Singer) Shawn (Smith) hasn’t played in arenas really and his voice through a big PA is going to really fill it up in a way that’s going to surprise people.” — Reuters

Reggae festival leaves Italy for Spain over immigration row

By Sebastien Guine

A

bandoning Italy because of what they say are racist government immigration policies, the Italian organizers of a major reggae festival have sought refuge in Spain for this year’s edition. Rototom Sunsplash, one of Europe’s biggest music gatherings featuring hundreds of concerts and drawing tens of thousands of people, has been held in Italy for the past 16 years-until now.

“Like in the Bob Marley song ‘Exodus’ we have left Babylon behind and we have arrived in our land of promise,” said Filippo Giunta, president of the Exodus association that was specially set up to organise this year’s festival, which ends on Saturday in the coastal Spanish city of Bencassim. Giunta hit out at the government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose coalition partner is the antiimmigration Northern League.

The Northern League was an essential ally in Berlusconi’s return to power in 2008, campaigning on pledges of cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, often linking the two.

Italy has faced criticism from the UN Refugee Agency and rights groups in recent months for allegedly pushing boatloads of migrants back to Libyan shores where they face the risk of mistreatment. “We were afraid we would no

longer be able to offer a peaceful atmosphere,” Giunta said. “In the last two years, the (Italian) police were very hard on foreigners, especially black people. In Italy, we are breathing in the air of intolerance, the government follows very racist politics,” he added.

The week-long festival has drawn headline acts Alpha Bondy, Morcheeba and Big Youth and Rai singer Khaled-testament to the eclectic nature of the festival. Giunta said Spain was an ideal choice of venue as it was “the most free country in Europe, one that pays the greatest attention to individual liberties.”

“It’s a festival that wants to feel welcome and connected to its location, like a tree that needs its roots,” he added. Some 300 concerts take place over eight days, plus cultural debates and activities including dance classes, juggling courses and massages.

Festival-goers pay 25 euros (32 dollars) a day or 20 euros for passes and organizers hope that this year’s turn-out will at least match the 15,000 people who attended last year.

Returning to Italy is not off the table-but only with a change of government, say organizers.

“I hope some (change) will happen, beyond Rototom which can very well take place anywhere,” said Bunna, singer of Italian reggae group Africa Unite, a longtime performer at the festival. —AFP

inger Katy Perry wooed US critics with her second major-label album release on Tuesday, packed with flirty, giggly pop songs, strong dance beats and plenty of “gurl-talk”. The 25-yearold singer, who was once tagged as a one-hit wonder for the song that launched her to fame — 2008’s “I Kissed a Girl “-released 12 new songs on “Teenage Dream” that includes the summer hit single “California Gurls.” The album, whose packaging is meant to smell like cotton candy with an image of Perry lying naked on a pink cloud, features lyrics about sex, love, youth and relationships.

It is is due out in Europe and the rest of the world next week and has been heavily promoted as a fun summer record.

Rolling Stone magazine gave the album three stars out of five, declaring it “miles ahead of Perry’s breakthrough disc, ‘One of the Boys,’ with her clever song-

Katy Perry writing boosted by top-dollar pros” including several top European music producers.

The album released by Capitol Records, owned by the EMI Group, is full of

Faith Hill in concert for Katrina’s victims

By Chevel Johnson

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ountry music star Faith Hill says giving back just comes naturally for the Mississippi native, and she has a message for those still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. “We are here for you still and you are not forgotten,” Hill said before headlining a free concert Tuesday evening in New Orleans to support those still rebuilding five years later. She says the evening at the Mahalia Jackson Theater was intended to celebrate how far the Gulf Coast has Country singer Faith come since the 2005 storm Hill attends the 2010 flooded New Orleans and areas of CMT Music Awards, surrounding Louisiana and Mississippi. in Nashville, Tenn in “I feel like it’s my responthis June 9, 2010 file sibility to give back,” Hill said. “When you’ve been photo. given so much, it’s only right that I do what I can to help, if I can.” The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was asked to open Tuesday’s event and about 2,200 tickets were distributed in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette and the Mississippi cities of Biloxi and Jackson.

Hill’s husband, country singer Tim McGraw, is a Louisiana native and both are veterans of employing celebrity clout to help raise money or awareness for causes. The couple helped organize a flood-relief benefit concert for Nashville after the Tennessee city was deluged by historic rains that left 22 dead in early May. “Sometimes, with celebrity, you can make things happen pretty easily,” said Hill, a five-time Grammy Award winner now working on a new release.

She urged people to support New Orleans and other coastal communities whose livelihoods are now threatened by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “My message is ‘Come to New Orleans and experience this great city.’ Yes, there are places that are still rebuilding and are not quite back yet, but when they do come back, they’ll come back better.” —AP

breezy disco beats that “is the kind of pool-party-pop gem that Gwen Stefani used to crank out on the regular,” the magazine said.

Perry’s affinity with being

provocative and cheeky has tough competition from Lady Gaga and nothing on the new album “may match the sheer pop majesty of Madonna’s most memorable hits,”

according to USA Today, but “the ambitious brunette serves up percolating confections laced with saucy humor and disarming earnestness.”

Perry, a California-born former singer-songwriter who started out by recording a failed gospel album in Nashville, Tennessee, is engaged to loudmouth British comedian and actor Russell Brand. Critics noted her new album is similar to her hit debut pop album that also featured the hit “”Hot n Cold”“ and since then she has matched Brand in promoting a similar over-the-top persona and raunchy, fun image. The video for “California Gurls” features rapper Snoop Dogg and a scantily clad Perry-who was raised by Christian pastor parents-in lilac and bright blue wigs making her way through a fantasy candy land licking ice creams. Music magazine Spin said Perry “delivers the gurl-gone-wild stuff with requisite sass” but was more impressive on quieter tunes that recalled her singer. —Reuters

Susan Boyle realizes ‘greatest dream’ to sing for pope

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cottish singing sensation Susan Boyle confirmed yesterday that she would perform for Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Britain next month, saying it was her “greatest dream come true”. Boyle, who was catapulted to global stardom after appearing on a British television talent show, told Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper that she would sing at an open-air mass in Glasgow on September 16.

“It is my greatest dream come true,” said the 49-year-old, a devout Catholic and former church volunteer. She will perform “I Dreamed A Dream”, the song which propelled her to fame last year when a clip of her singing received more than 120 million views on YouTube, as well as the hymn “How Great Thou Art”.

“To be able to sing for the pope is a great honor and something I’ve always dreamed of.

It’s indescribable,” Boyle told the Daily

Early Bob Dylan demos released in new ‘Bootleg’ set

By Jessica Letkemann

Europe on a two-year contract to assume the lead roles at Theater Saint Gallen in Switzerland, rejecting a rival offer from London’s Royal Opera House, where he was to have been assigned cover roles.

“I had to choose between the two and think about being in London, a big market. I still think about it now,” said Espiritu, who is aged in his early 30s but did not want to give his exact date of birth.

Espiritu said he believed he made the right choice in choosing Switzerland. “It gave me a lot of flexibility with my career.” Reflecting on the Philippines, which is a desert in opera terms with just one production every two years, Espiritu has only sympathy for fellow Filipinos who have to go abroad or see their talent go to waste. He said he eventually hoped to offer more to his home country than just a one-off concert. “I would love to do an opera here. I would even do it for free,” he said. — AFP

B

Record. “I think September 16 will stand out in my memory as something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to sing for His Holiness and I can’t really put into words my happiness that this wish has come true at last.”

She said the pope’s four-day state visitwhich some in Britain have criticized because of the cost and the scandal over clerical child sex abuse-was a “very big event” for Scotland’s estimated 670,000 Catholics. “My own faith is the backbone of my life. I pray and say the rosary each day and am very close to my religion,” the singer said.

“I am humbled and honored by this invitation and I hope I can do my best.” The pope will visit England and Scotland from September 16 to 19, taking in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Birmingham, where he will preside over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. — AFP

ob Dylan’s label has dusted off 47 demos recorded by the singer between 1962 and 1964 for its latest foray into his extensive archives. “The Bootleg Series Volume 9 — The Witmark Demos” is due in stores on Oct 19, the same day Columbia Records also releases new mono mixes of Dylan’s first eight albums in a boxed set.

Columbia launched its Dylan “Bootleg Series” in 1991, and the most recent set was issued in 2008, “Tell Tale Signs.”

The Witmark demos, which have long been bootlegged by collectors, include early versions of such songs as “Blowin’ In The Wind, “The Times They Are A Changin’” and “Masters Of War.” Dylan, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano, recorded them for his first

music publisher, Leeds Music, in January 1962, and for his second publisher, M Witmark & Sons, between 1962 and 1964 — all before he turned 24.

The publishers, in turn, would pitch the songs to other artists, which is how they came to be recorded by the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary and Stevie Wonder (“Blowin’ In The Wind”), Judy Collins (“Tomorrow Is A Long Time”) and the Byrds (“Mr Tambourine Man”). Columbia said 15 of the compositions have never been officially released, although one of those listed, the civil-rights tale “The Death Of Emmett Till,” appeared on the 1972 Smithsonian Folkways compilation “Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6: Broadside Reunion.”

The boxed set, “Bob Dylan - The Original Mono Recordings,” comprises eight albums reproduced from their firstgeneration mono mixes, spanning his 1962 self-titled debut through to 1967’s “John Wesley Harding,” and including his 1966 double opus “Blonde on Blonde.” Many of these albums were reissued in SACD stereo in 2003. —Reuters

SPECTRUM

Thursday, August 26, 2010

39

Lifestyle

Entertainment biz fangful for vampires

By Jay A Fernandez and Borys Kit

H

ollywood has repeatedly peddled the apocalyptic threat from aliens, machines, comets, viruses and zombies, but who was watching the vampires?

Never exactly absent from the entertainment scene, those eternal bloodsuckers lately have infiltrated everything from big screens and little screens to bookstore shelves, clothing racks, download services, video games and video, record and jewelry stores.

The low-budget Fox/New Regency “Twilight” parody “Vampires Suck” has grossed $20 million in its first six days, and 5 million regular viewers are rabidly following HBO’s newest hit, “True Blood,” as it swoops toward its season 3 finale Sept 12.

Meanwhile, Justin Cronin’s “The Passage,” Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” and Charlaine Harris’ “Dead and Gone” hover on best-seller lists. These charming, deadly immortals are everywhere. And as a result, they’re spilling as much green as red-about $7 billion since the “Twilight” film franchise bowed less than two years ago, according to Hollywood Reporter estimates.

What started with some ancient, hysterical myths and a pair of spooky 19th century tales-John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1819) and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) — has bloomed into an entire inexhaustible industry. “By starting with one simple mythological creature that’s been part of our literary universe for centuries, you can create a story that has it all: romance, horror, action, special effects, sex, epic love, wish fulfill-

Lindsay Lohan’s E-Trade lawsuit enters odd phase

ment, romantic leading men, delicious badboy villains, female badasses, damsels in distress, death, monsters and, ultimately, the perfectly flawed hero who would give it all up if it meant they wouldn’t have to spend eternity alone,” says Julie Plec, writer and exec producer of the CW series “The Vampire Diaries.” It doesn’t get more universal than that.”

That gets to the bloody heart of it.

Because they’re not specific to genre, vampires have the freedom to roam not just across mediums but from romance to horror to political commentary to humor. Their versatility is endless, swinging from chaste innocence to sexy violence, so the potential audience is everyone.

No other subject has sunk its teeth into pop culture quite so pervasively. Let’s start

“Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” and “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” totaling $356.7 million domestic in 2009, that amounted to 3.4% of the industry’s $10.6 billion US haul that year.

The other major flank of the current undead siege consists of “Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood,” HBO’s most successful property since “The Sopranos.” Pinpointing the value of a monster television property is harder than driving a stake through the heart of a nasty beastie, but the longer a show is on the air (at least up to seven seasons), the more money it is going to throw off in ancillaries.

Few TV shows make money upfront; almost all are in deficit until the aftermarket kicks in. Both shows have lots of life left in them and huge fan bases, so sources see

buckets of cash eventually pouring into the coffers of the “Diaries” producers, Warner Bros. and CBS, which also happen to co-own the CW. “True Blood” is harder to quantif y because some of its value is in brand-building and bringing more subscribers to the premium cable service. Even so, estimates from two outside sources suggest that if the shows last five years on their respective outlets, domestic and foreign licensing arrangements could generate $100 million$125 million from “Vampire Diaries” and $50 million-$75 million from “Blood.”

As for DVDs, nearly 1.3 million units of “True Blood: The Complete First Season” have been sold, and Season 2, which was released in May, has nearly reached a million. —Reuters

Paris steps back to 30s for Scorsese 3D film

By Mehdi Cherifia

A

By Eriq Gardner

I

n a great year for entertaining lawsuits, perhaps the most intriguing is still Lindsay Lohan’s case against E-Trade for airing a commercial that featured a “milkaholic” baby named Lindsay. In defending the merits of the suit, Lohan’s lawyer Stephanie Ovadia asserted that the actress deserved single-name status like Oprah or Madonna. Does she? The fate of Lohan’s lawsuit may depend on the answer. Lohan’s lawyer has filed new papers in New York Supreme Court in an effort to survive E-Trade’s motion to dismiss.

E-Trade argues that there are some 250,000 women in United States named “Lindsay,” including celebrities like Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, tennis player Lindsay Davenport and actresses Lindsay Wagner and Lindsay Price.

E-Trade also says that unlike Oprah, Madonna, Cher and Beyonce, Lohan doesn’t have a federally registered trademark on her first name. In an amusing 27-page court brief, Lohan’s lawyer now attempts to justify why Lohan should get special treatment compared to the 250,000 other Lindsays.

“As they say, ‘What’s in the name?’ It is in the totality of circumstances that a particular name or person acquires popularity or notoriety. It is in totality of circumstances that a name or person becomes a distinguished name. Some names such as Bill, Hillary, Bush, In this July 20, Tiger, Paris, Johnny, Allen, are 2010 photo, very common names. There Lindsay Lohan is may be millions, if not billions, of people with these names in shown in court in Beverly Hills, Calif, the world. Some words may not necessarily be just the where she was tak- names for human beings but en into custody to may convey other meanings also. For example, ‘Tiger’ is an serve a jail sentence for probation animal and is associated with a jungle or zoo in a particular violation. —AP context. However, when used in the context of (the) Golf game world, it conveys totally different message.”

But that doesn’t explain why Lindsay is to celebrity milkaholism as Tiger is to golf. Alas, Lohan’s brief tries to put it all together. “The issue, in case at bar, is not how many people in the USA are with the name ‘Lindsay’ or ‘Lindsey’. The issue is how many celebrities are with this name ‘Lindsay’ in the USA, and then in the context, manner, characterization, persona ... If Defendants take this name, ‘Lindsay’ in context of a celebrity name then by Defendants’ own admission, there are only a few limited celebrities with this name around, and this number may not be more than four or five.” —Reuters

with the current king. Globally, the three “Twilight” films, released in 2008, 2009 and 2010, have a $1.76 billion haul at the global box office. The first two eachgrossed $160 million or so in home video sales (the third hits Blu-ray/DVD in September). That’s more than $2 billion right there.

If the coming two installments of “Breaking Dawn”-which Summit will release in November 2011 and November 2012 — do similar business in theaters and the home-entertainment market, that would add another $1.7 billion to the coffers. And that’s just from the movie versions of Meyer’s colossally successful book series.

With “Twilight” riding herd, vampire movies have accounted for an average of 3% of total box office the past three years. So, for example, with “New Moon,”

British actor Sir Ben Kingsley at Athenee-Louis Jouvet theater during the film shoot of his movie ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’. —AFP

dozen hefty security guards held back the crowd gathered on a Paris street Tuesday to glimpse US director Martin Scorsese jump into a limo at lunch break during the shoot of his latest film, a 3-D fantasy releasing late next year. But the Oscar-winning 67-year-old, shooting in the City of Light for only the second time in 17 years, was too quick for the fans, skirting the crowd incognito on foot to be picked up a few hundred yards away by a luxury limousine. “Keep moving, we’re shooting,” said harried security guards.

Also on hand but also shunning the paparazzi was British actor Ben Kingsley, who played in Scorsese’s recent hit, “Shutter Island”. Costars Jude Law, Asa Butterfield, Christopher Lee and Sacha Baron Cohen had the day off. Tuesday was the penultimate day of shooting in Paris for Scorsese’s “Hugo Cabret”, a tale based on a 2007 graphic novel

by Brian Selznick about a boy who secretly lives in the walls of a 1930s Paris train station.

To restore the ambience of those

(From Left) US director Martin Scorsese arrives at Athenee-Louis Jouvet theater for the film shoot of his movie ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’. —AFP times, a squad of carpenters, painters and sundry handymen were on hand early morning transforming the facade of the Athenee theatre in central Paris, where some of the action takes place, as well as the Opera-Louis Jouvet square the theatre stands on.

Artificial snow covered the ground and in place of its current

shop fronts, the scenery wizards installed a 1930s hat-shop, watchmaker, haberdashery, pharmacy, as well as a news-stands stacked with 1931 editions.

With Paris almost empty as per usual every summery August of its couple of million inhabitants and their cars, local and international film crews have flocked into town

inspired both by the city’s beauty as well as new tax breaks. The French capital recently had a major cinematic outing with the worldwide release of the partly Paris-set sci-fi blockbuster “Inception” and is now set for more celluloid exposure with 20 feature films being shot here this year. This summer alone saw three major US projects.

Before Scorsese hit town, Woody Allen began shooting his latest work, “Midnight in Paris”, with French first lady Carla BruniSarkozy in her first major film role in the movie which is set in the 1920s. And pop star Madonna spent three days here in August to shoot part of her film “WE”, about Britain’s King Edward VIII and the American divorcee Wallis Simpson for whom he abdicated in 1936.

Favorite spots for US shoots in Paris were picture-postcard Left Bank districts with Woody Allen favoring grocery-shops and eateries in the popular Latin Quarter, while Scorsese kicked off with scenes filmed inside the Sorbonne University in the same area.

Madonna helmed in historic up-market Saint-Germain-des-Pres. —AFP

Paris Hilton woken by ‘Slumdog’ helps usher in Hollywood’s Indian era knife-wielding prowler

By Zorianna Kit

M

aybe it’s the success of “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Perhaps it’s because corporate outsourcing is now a very realand frustrating-part of Westerners lives. Or perhaps it’s because India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and its influences have finally spread to Hollywood.

Whatever the reason, Indian actors have officially taken Hollywood by storm, both on and off screen.

Currently, US television boasts more than a dozen Indian actors who are regular cast members on popular shows like “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Community,” “Chuck,” “Royal

Pains”, “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Covert Affairs”. Aziz Ansari, a stand-up comedian who plays a wisecracking office worker in “Parks and Recreation”, was given the coveted job of hosting the MTV Movie Awards in June.

And British-born, Mumbai-raised Archie Panjabi, who plays an investigator in the hit drama “The Good Wife,” is nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy Award this weekend. Capping it all is the upcoming new TV comedy “Outsourced”, about an American novelty goods maker whose customer service center is moved to Mumbai. The cast is comprised almost exclusively of Indian actors. —Reuters

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ocialite Paris Hilton called police on Tuesday after seeing a man wielding two large knives and banging on her windows, apparently trying to break into her Los Angeles home. “So Scary, just got woken up to a guy trying to break into my house holding 2 big knifes. Cops are here arresting him,” Hilton said in a Twitter message.

She also posted a photo of police outside her house and a man in handcuffs.

Police confirmed they had arrested a man in his 30s and booked him on suspicion of burglary. No injuries were reported and the man did not gain entry to the house. Sources close to Hilton, 29, said the socialite saw the man on her security cameras and called police immediately. She did not know the man and it was unclear if she was specifically

targeted, celebrity website TMZ reported.

Hilton’s publicist later released a statement saying that “Paris is naturally shaken by the events but is unharmed and well. She is very thankful to her security team and the police for their swift and diligent response.” Hilton was later seen by news helicopter emerging from the back of her home wrapped only in what appeared to be a large towel or bedsheet.

Hilton, the great-granddaughter of Hilton hotels founder Conrad Hilton, has worked as a model, singer, actress, fashion designer and reality TV star. She runs a multimillion dollar business based on her name, including clothing lines, fragrances, wine, and red-carpet appearances. —Reuters

In this June 14, 2010 file photo, Paris Hilton arrives at the Activision E3 2010 Preview event in Los Angeles. —AP

www.kuwaittimes.net

Aaron de Souza does a hand stand in Brook Andrew’s installation called ‘The Cell’ at the Australian artist’s solo exhibition in Sydney yesterday. The inflatable room decorated with Wiradjuri Aboriginal motifs was designed for introspection in all the ‘inmates’ who enter the disorientating space. —AFP

Can Orwell, Vonnegut, Austen lead you to love?

By Leanne Italie

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hin Ma is 25 and looking for love. He paddles regularly in the dating pools online, paying fees to navigate millions of profiles based on lengthy checklists and compatibility formulas. So how did he find his latest prospect?

Through a book by Andy Warhol on Alikewise.com, a newcomer looking to connect people, free of charge, based on their favorite reads. It is a unique approach in a recession-hardy industry that has dozens of niche sites serving potheads to pet owners, millionaires to Mac lovers.

“Alikewise is more subject to your creativity than the larger sites,” said Chin, a management consultant from Brooklyn.

“There’s more of that soft dynamic. You get to know people in a nonsuperficial way.” Hobbies and passions like reading are often includ-

ed when online daters describe themselves or their dream mates.

Site users can search and be searched by the books and book opinions they put up next to their profile pictures. There’s also an option to respond to general openended conversation starters that include: “Two things I can’t live without ...” and “The bravest thing I’ve done recently ...” Other users can leave comments about your books, and the site sends notifications when somebody adds the same title or books in the same general interest area.

“There are plenty of niche dating sites, but they struck me as a bit too niche,” said the co-founder, Matt Sherman. “They seem to orient themselves over one particular interest or type of person: athletics, religion. Our attitude is that books can be about anything.

They’re a means to an end to get the conversation going.” Sherman

thought up the idea a couple of years ago after breaking up with his girlfriend, wondering if he ever would find a woman who has read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “The Black Swan” or FA Hayek’s 66year-old “The Road to Serfdom.”

The site went live in mid-July and has about 1,500 users, split about evenly between genders. Among the most popular books posted?

Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”

Among the most posted authors of the moment? Kurt Vonnegut and George Orwell. Stieg L arsson, Chuck Palahniuk and Jane Austen also pop up often.

The top subscription dating sites boast millions of users (Match counts 29 million), and the most popular free sites can have many thousands. Sherman and fellow founder Matt Masina are not looking to compete by that measure. Who is to say what your love match likes to read anyway? What

This undated photo provided by Caitlin Greer shows guests at an Alikewise.com launch party at the Gallery Bar in New York. —AP does it really mean if they are paperback people, Kindle lovers or hardcover fanatics?

Emmaleth, a 26-year-old woman from California, put up “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr Seuss:

“Hello?!?! This man wrote the most poetic yet simple explanation of life! I LOVE this book and honestly I CRY sometimes when I read it. Yeah, enjoy knowing that.” The Matts of Alikewise said the draw may be more about the crowd than the love science behind their approach. “We think there’s a different caliber of person who reads,” Masina said. “You won’t go onto our site and find guys with their shirts off.” Other sites exist for bookish on the prowl. The Passions Network, a less-thanflashy free social media and dating hangout, has separate areas for writers and lovers of comic books, manga and reading. Company president Michael Carter would not disclose how many users the site has. In the extreme niche department, there is a gathering place for admirers of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead and “Atlas Shrugged” that includes a dating area. Michael

Kelley, 50, of South Carolina, thought he would give it a try after two failed marriages and intensive study of Rand’s work years later.

He met a fellow devotee who moved to Florida. They’re still in touch and plan to take a crosscountry trip together.

“I thought I could find somebody there who thinks like I do,” Kelley said. “I thought maybe this is why my relationships with my two wives didn’t work out. They didn’t have the same world view.”

So far so good for the biographyloving Chin, who posted “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho and “His Way: An Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra” by Kitty Kelley, among others. He invited the woman who posted “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol” to a Warhol exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. “We had a great time,” he said. “Hopefully it will turn out well.” —AP

Exhibit explores influences on early New Mexico art F

or centuries, New Mexico has been home to a distinctive tradition of painting Catholic saints in simple portraits, rather than adhering to the elaborate styles of European art. Some critics have said the paintings resulted from untrained Spanish artists doing the best they could. But the curator of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art never accepted that argument. Instead, Robin Farwell Gavin believes artists chose to adopt artistic traditions of Native Americans instead of the baroque styles brought to early New Mexico from the outside world.

That illustrates the message of cultural exchange behind “Converging Streams: Art of the Hispanic and Native American Southwest,” an exhibit that runs through September at the museum. Part of the show will come down at the end of August. “If we really start to open our eyes to what’s hap-

sively moved to the more abstract, twodimensional style, Gavin said.

From a traditional Western point of view, they seemed to be going backward. “Our premise here is that this style is a choice,” Gavin said. “It wasn’t because the artist

A painted chest, pine wood, gesso, water-based paint, 19th c.

— AP photos This photo released by the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art shows a detail of a carved beam, pine wood for the Nave or Sacistry of the San Esteban church, Acoma Pueblo, 17th - 18th c, New Mexico.

A Zia Pueblo jar, ca 1680-1720, New Mexico.

pening with these art forms, it’s bringing us a whole different aspect of the story of the history here in New Mexico,” said Gavin, who curated the exhibit with independent curator William Wroth. The show and a book by the same title examine contributions made by diverse cultures to early New Mexico architecture, weaving, woodwork, leatherwork, textiles, pottery, metalwork and religious art.

New Mexico today is known for its santos, or carved statues of saints, and retablos, two-dimensional paintings of saints on wooden boards. “Converging Streams” includes both a 15th-century ancestral pueblo wall painting and a traditional 19thcentury Hispanic retablo that show rigidly posed flat figures, outlined in black, holding ceremonial items. The earliest saints from New Mexico were painted in a three-dimensional baroque style, then artists progres-

A panel painting of Santiago Matamoros, pine wood, waterbased paints, Molleno, New Mexico. didn’t know how to draw or how to carve, but that they were actually choosing to use a style that was part of the community in which they were living and had been developed by that community.”

It flourished in a period when much of

the Americas was breaking away from Spain and its political and social structure, including artistic guilds “which were telling them how to paint, what to paint, how to carve, what to carve,” she said. “That is what I think the art is telling us here, is that we’re saying no, we’re not Spanish, we’re New Mexican. They were making a statement: This is who we are,” Gavin said.

Estevan Rael-Galvez, a former New Mexico state historian who now heads the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, said people should look beyond “very static notions of identity.” He sees New Mexico as unique because of the particular cultures that converged in the Spanish colonial period. Still, “every place in what we now call the United States of America had indigenous people. ... There are mestizo stories or hybrid stories everywhere in the United States. As a society we aren’t trained to look at those things, to understand what created them, what are the consequences of people coming together,” said Rael-Galvez, whose training is in cultural anthropology.

One scholar traced the origins of the exhibit’s hide painting of Our Lady of the Assumption of Santa Maria la Redonda to a

print distributed throughout Mexico, Gavin said. The artist who copied it, however, added a rainbow, step-terrace motifs and pueblo-style pots - images from Native American art. Nineteenth-century crosses show not the crucifixion but designs of lightning bolts and feathers. One combines a European rosette with lightning and stepped-terrace patterns. Leather pieces started out as Apache parfleches - decorated containers similar to saddlebags - but became covers for records of Roman Catholic baptisms and marriage and burial records and a carrying case for a retablo.

“Even though they were made by Native Americans, they were also obviously treasured by Spanish colonists and used to cover some of their most important documents,” Gavin said. Long before the Spanish, skilled weavers from Southwestern tribes used cotton and vegetable fibers. The Spanish brought wool, which was quickly adopted.

A textile display traces a diamond design common to pieces of a cotton textile from Mexico, a Zuni blanket, a Hopi dress, a serape from Mexico, a Navajo saddle blanket, a Rio Grande blanket woven by early New Mexico Spanish weavers and a broken ancestral puebloan pot. —AP