BIRMINGHAM: When he boarded aGreyhound bus on his way to PrincetonUniversity, Glennon Threatt promisedhimself he’d never come back here. As ayoung black man, he saw no chance tofulfill his dreams in a city burdened by theghosts of its segregated past. HelenShores Lee left Birmingham years earlier,making the same pledge not to return.

A daughter of a prominent civil rightslawyer, she wanted to escape a city tar-nished by Jim Crow laws - the “white” and“colored” fountains, the segregated busseating, the daily indignities she rebelledagainst as a child. Both changed theirminds. They returned from their self-imposed exile and built successful careers- he as an assistant federal public defend-er, she as a judge - in a Birmingham trans-formed by a revolution a half century ago.

This week, as the nation marks the50th anniversary of the Rev Martin LutherKing Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech, theremay be no better place than Birminghamto measure the progress that followed thecivil rights leader’s historic call for racialand economic equality. This city, after all,

is hallowed ground in civil rights history. Itwas here where children marching forequal rights were jailed, where protesterswere attacked by snarling police dogs andbattered by high-pressure fire hoses.

And it was here where four little girls intheir Sunday finest were killed whendynamite planted by Ku Klux Klan mem-bers ripped through their church in anunspeakable act of evil. That was theBirmingham of the past. The city that Kingcondemned for its “ugly record of brutali-ty.” The city where he wrote his impas-sioned “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,”declaring the “moral responsibility to dis-obey unjust laws.” The city where themovement came together, found its voiceand set the stage for landmark civil rightslegislation.

The Birmingham of the present is a fardifferent place. The airport is named aftera fearless civil rights champion, the lateRev Fred Shuttlesworth. The city’s websitefeatures a ‘Fifty Years Forward’ campaign,forthrightly displaying photos of shamefulevents in 1963.

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WASHINGTON: The United States is repositioning navalforces in the Mediterranean to give President BarackObama the option for an armed strike on Syria,although officials cautioned that Obama had made nodecision on military action. A defense official, speakingon condition of anonymity, said the US Navy wouldexpand its presence in the Mediterranean to fourdestroyers from three.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, en route to Asia,said Obama had asked the Pentagon for options onSyria, where an apparent chemical weapons attack thatkilled as many as 1,000 civilians has upped pressure onWashington to respond. “The Defense Department hasresponsibility to provide the president with options forall contingencies,” Hagel said. “And that requires posi-tioning our forces, positioning our assets, to be able tocarry out different options - whatever options the presi-dent might choose.” He did not elaborate.

The defense official, who was not authorized tospeak publicly, said the USS Mahan, a destroyer armedwith cruise missiles, had finished its deployment andwas due to head back to its home base in Norfolk,Virginia. But the commander of the US Sixth Fleet hasdecided to keep the ship in the region, the defense offi-cial said. The official stressed the Navy had received noorders to prepare for any military operations regardingSyria.

Obama’s senior national security advisers will con-vene at the White House this weekend to discuss USoptions, including possible military action, against theSyrian government, another US official said on Friday. Asenior State Department official said no final decisionswere expected from the meeting, pending a furtherreview of intelligence on the attack. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry planned to attend via videoconference. Themeeting was expected to take place yesterday.

The US president has been hesitant to intervene inSyria’s 2 1/2-year-old civil war, sentiments he repeatedearlier on Friday. But, in a development that couldincrease the pressure on Obama, American andEuropean security sources said that US and allied intelli-gence agencies had made a preliminary assessment

Continued on Page 13

AT SEA: Photo shows US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61) and the guided-mis-sile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) transiting through the Suez Canal. US Defense SecretaryChuck Hagel yesterday strongly suggested the Pentagon is moving forces into place ahead of possi-ble military action against Syria, even as President Barack Obama voiced caution. (Inset) Canistersand other material that the Syrian military says it uncovered in a raid on a rebel hideout are linedup in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus yesterday. Syrian state media accused rebels of usingchemical arms yesterday against government troops — Agencies

Is Martin Luther dream a reality?

DUBAI: Al-Qaeda’s North African branch blamedLebanese Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah fortwin bombs that hit the northern city of Tripoli onFriday and threatened retribution, a US-based intelli-gence monitoring website reported yesterday.Although Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM,is not operational in Lebanon, its statement shows agrowing regional hatred against Hezbollah by radicalSunni Muslim groups and a wider, deepening sectar-ian divide in the Middle East.

AQIM said in tweets it knew “with certainty” thatthe Iranian-backed Hezbollah was responsible forthe attack that killed more than 42 people in Tripoli.“That vile party... should know that it will meet retri-bution soon,” AQIM said, according to the SITE moni-toring service. Hezbollah, which was once lauded byboth Sunnis and Shiites for its battles against Israel,has lost support from many Sunnis since it joined

Continued on Page 13

Fear returns; Egypt

crackdown widens

PAGEPAGEKuwait credit card

users on the rise

Qaeda blames

Hezbollah for

Tripoli blasts

WASHINGTON: People arrive at the US National Mall to celebrate the 50thanniversary of the March on Washington and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr’s ‘I have aDream’ speech yesterday in Washington, DC. — AFP

TRIPOLI: A Lebanese gunman fires his weaponduring the funeral of a man who was killed in acar bomb attack, in the northern city of Tripoliyesterday. — AP

CAIRO: Egypt’s former president HosniMubarak returns to court today to facecharges over protester deaths, as MuslimBrotherhood leaders make their firstappearances in court on similar but unre-lated charges. Separate hearings in differ-ent parts of the capital come against thebackdrop of continued tension in thecountry, which has been rocked by politicalturmoil since the army ousted Islamistpresident Mohamed Morsi in a July 3 coup.

Mubarak, who left prison for housearrest this week, is scheduled to appear ata hearing in his retrial on charges of com-plicity in the deaths of protesters during

the 2011 uprising that force him to resign.The case is one of several against the for-mer president, who was granted pre-trialrelease this week by a court. Mubarak wasplaced under house arrest by interimPrime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, actingon the basis of special powers granted tohim under the country’s state of emer-gency.

The 85-year-old former president isbeing held at a military hospital in Cairoand it was not immediately clear if hewould attend the morning hearing at thePolice Academy.

Continued on Page 13

Brotherhood and

Mubarak in court ATLANTA: Scientists have found the mys-terious MERS virus in a bat in Saudi Arabia.An international research team said the batvirus is an exact match to the first knownhuman case of Middle East respiratory syn-drome. The sample was collected fromwithin a few miles of that patient’s home.The discovery is considered an importantdevelopment in the search for the origin ofMERS, a deadly respiratory illness that isworrying health officials around the world.

But it’s likely that something else - per-haps another animal - is spreading thevirus directly to humans, said Dr ZiadMemish, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister ofHealth and lead author of the report. Sinceit was identified last September, the respi-

ratory illness has sickened nearly 100 peo-ple, most of them in Saudi Arabia and theMiddle East. About half of them died. Nocases have been reported in the UnitedStates.

Bats have been a suspected carrier ofthe virus for some time because they areknown to carry viruses similar to MERS.They also harbor other deadly viruses,including rabies and SARS. Still, discoveryof a genetic match doesn’t mean bats arethe direct culprit. “There is no evidence ofdirect exposure to bats in the majority ofhuman cases of MERS,” Memish said in astatement. Signs of MERS-like viruses havebeen reported in other animals, includingcamels. — AP

MERS linked to bat

L O C A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

KUWAIT: Marketing department team from Burgan Bank with Al CornicheMarketing Manager.

KUWAIT: Environment Public Authority(EPA) warned against the presence of thedangerous carcinogenic asbestos in theceilings of slaughter halls in Kuwait ’sslaughter houses. EPA said a sample wasanalysed in its laboratories and it was con-tained asbestos fibers, adding that thismaterial causes cancer.

EPA recommended removing the ceil-ings and getting rid of them in an environ-mentally-safe way, while complying with allenvironmental conditions to dismantle andwrap it. It called for taking it to the asbestosland fill in Mina Abdallah area, behind thegas station on King Fahad Road.

A form must be filled with the quantityof the material in the presence of a repre-sentative from left-overs control depart-

ment at EPA to supervise the dismantlingand transport.

The majority of the halls were foundunfit to be used for slaughtering as theylacked safety conditions for slaughter. Thegeneral scenery makes the visitor think theplace is abandoned and not for slaughter-ing animals because of the surroundinggarbage and filth.

The report stated that State Minister forMunicipal Affairs Salem Al-Othaina shouldvisit the capital’s slaughter house withoutany of the officials to see the catastrophicconditions there, so that he can take theright decisions to protect human healthwhich is the main goal of the municipality.The buildings in Kuwait slaughter houseare 50 years old.

Cancerous asbestos in

ceilings of slaughter halls

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Recently, there has beena surge of credit card users inKuwait. Many banks are encourag-ing clients to apply for credit cardsand use them more with variouslucrative promotions and offers.The banks stand to make doublethe profit as they charge both theclients as well as the store wherethey make the purchase. Someplaces even charge the clients acertain percentage for paying withtheir credit cards.

This magical plastic card canbecome an addiction for some peo-ple. “Today I can’t live without thecredit card. I’m a shopaholic andthis card encourages me to buymuch more than I can afford at thatmoment. It started first when thebank gave me a card for free andsaid that I’m a special client. Theyforgot to mention that it’s free forthe first year only. I was encouragedto spend more and more as I wascollecting points which could beredeemed for airline tickets. Now, Iam in horrible debt and can’t getrid of the card as there are manypending payments and I’ve also gotused to having this card. The prob-lem is that in some places like travelagencies, they ask me to pay addi-tional charge when I use it. This alsohappened abroad where somesmall shops charged me more andothers refused to let me pay forsmall items with it,” said Lulwa, a31-year-old woman.

Joana, a 35-year-old expat is nota big fan of credit cards. “I don’t likeusing credit cards in general. I

would rather pay with debit cardsas there are no extra fees. I can usethe credit card in emergency casesonly. With the debit, I can track myexpenses online, and I even like itmore than cash, as when I drawmoney, I tend to spend more,” shepointed out.

Ibtisam, a 41-year-old, uses hercard when she faces a financial cri-

sis. “Under normal circumstances, Iprefer the debit card as I don’t haveto pay any additional surcharge,unlike the credit card. I have beenusing the credit card for about 10years, to shop locally as well asonline. I have two credit and alsohave a prepaid credit card to usefor online shopping. Using a creditcard is better than borrowing mon-

ey,” she said. Fatma, a 29-year-old is not a

credit card user anymore. “I used touse it earlier but it put me in deepdebt, as I never felt that I wasspending any money when I usedit. I decided to stop using the cardand pay with money instead. So,today I only use the debit card andpay with cash whenever I can. Ihave a child now and more respon-sibilities, so I avoid it to save more,”she explained.

Some people don’t use a creditcard at all. “I never used them. Infact I don’t need it, so why should Ipay additional fees for a service Idon’t even use? The only situationwhen I’m forced to pay with creditcard is when I shop online and inthis case, I ask my friends to buy itwith their cards and I pay themcash,” said Jarrah, a 28-year-oldKuwaiti.

Nowadays, there are other alter-natives for credit cards. “When Iapplied for a credit card years ago, Ineeded it whenever I traveled asdebit cards weren’t accepted allover the world. Today I can pay withthe debit card everywhere, withoutany additional charge. So I don’tneed a credit card and can spendwhat is available in my bankaccount instead of being in debt,”said 51-year-old Fahad.

Husam, a 45-year-old, is usingthe same credit card for many yearswithout affecting his budget. “I useit for shopping almost in the sameway I use a debit card. My theory isthat I would rather borrow moneyfrom myself when I need it thansomeone else,” he said.

Number of credit card users

increasing fast in Kuwait

An ‘addiction’ for some people

KUWAIT: A man using his credit card. This picture is used for illus-trative purpose only.

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterdayits tie up with Al-Corniche Club as part of itssponsorship that aims at providing a range ofvalue added services and benefits to itsPremier Banking Customers in the most pres-tigious health club in Kuwait. As part of thesponsorship, Premier Banking customers willenjoy an exclusive 10% discount at Spa Al-Corniche Club as well as hosting a wide rangeof activities and events that are held all yearlong.

The bank’s latest initiative, which alsoincludes sponsoring the kids IFIT Club andthe Kids outreach program activities, aims atadding more value to its customers as well asattending club members.

Established in 1977, Burgan Bank is theyoungest commercial Bank and third largestby assets in Kuwait, with a significant focus onthe corporate and financial institutions sec-tors, as well as having a growing retail andprivate bank customer base.

Burgan Bank has five majority owned sub-sidiaries, which include Gulf Bank Algeria -AGB (Algeria), Bank of Baghdad - BOB (Iraq &Lebanon), Jordan Kuwait Bank - JKB (Jordan)Tunis International Bank - TIB (Tunisia), andfully owned Burgan Bank - Turkey, (collective-ly known as the “Burgan Bank Group”).

The Bank has continuously improved itsperformance over the years through anexpanded revenue structure, diversified fund-ing sources, and a strong capital base. Theadoption of state-of-the-art services andtechnology has positioned it as a trendsetterin the domestic market and within the MENAregion.

Burgan Bank’s brand has been created ona foundation of real values - of trust, commit-ment, excellence and progression, to remindus of the high standards to which we aspire.‘People come first’ is the foundation on whichits products and services are developed.Earlier this year, ‘Brand Finance’ - the interna-tional brand valuation company- ratedBurgan Bank brand as AA with positive out-look. The rating places Burgan Bank Brand at2nd amongst the most valuable bankingbrands in Kuwait.

Excellence is one of the Bank’s four keyvalues and Burgan Bank continually strives tomaintain the highest standards in the indus-try. The Bank was re-certified in 2010 with theISO 9001:2008 certification in all its bankingbusinesses, making it the first bank in theGCC, and the only bank in Kuwait to receivesuch accreditation. The Bank also has to itscredit the distinction of being the only Bankin Kuwait to have won the JP Morgan ChaseQuality Recognition Award for twelve consec-utive years.

Burgan Bank won the prestigious “BankingWeb Awards” prize in the commercial and cor-porate Category for Kuwait. In 2010 BurganBank was awarded with the “Best InternetBanking Service award” from Banker MiddleEast Awards. Burgan Bank was recognized in2011 as Kuwait’s “Best Private Bank”, by WorldFinance. The bank also won, in 2011, the cov-eted “International Platinum Star for Quality”award from Business Initiative Directions, and“The Best Technical Award” from Banking WebAwards. In 2012, Global Banking and FinanceReview online magazine recognized BurganBank as the “Best Banking Group in the MENA”as well as the “Best Corporate Bank in Kuwait”.

The bank also won the coveted “Best BankBranding” award by the Banker Middle East.For the second consecutive year in 2012,Burgan Bank also won World Finance’s “BestPrivate Bank” award, as well as the “BestPrivate Bank in Kuwait 2012” award fromCapital Finance International. The bank alsowon the “Best Bank in Kuwait” award fromEMEA Finance, along with the “Deal of theYear” award from Acquisition International.

In 2013, Burgan Bank Group was named“MENA - Bank of the Year” by AcquisitionFinance Magazine. The bank also won thecoveted “Best Domestic Retail Bank of theYear” award from the Asian Banking andFinance Magazine. Moreover, Burgan Bankalso picked up the Best EmployeeDevelopment in GCC’ award from WorldFinance.

Burgan Bank, a subsidiary of KIPCO(Kuwait Projects Company), is a strongly posi-tioned regional Bank in the MENA region.

Burgan Bank provides

new added value

benefits to its customers

KUWAIT: The government plans to holdweekly meetings with the parliament’s headoffice in order to discuss priorities that eachparliamentary committee was assigned toreport in time before sessions resume onOctober 29, a local daily reported yesterdayquoting a source familiar with the subject.

Speaking to Al-Jarida on the condition ofanonymity, the source explained that themain purpose of the meetings is to agree on a‘joint work agenda’ between the executiveand legislative authorities. Meanwhile, theCabinet insider added that the government iswilling to cooperate regarding draft laws thatrequire increased spending “as long as theirenforcement does not add heavily to thestate’s budget”.

And while the source indicated that thegovernment is open to amendments to theFamily Fund to cover more beneficiaries, itrejected the notion of accepting a bill to writeoff bank loans. The scrapped assembly hadpassed the law to adopt the Family Fund as adebt relief program for defaulters who claimthat irregularities on the part of banks causedfor inflation of their loans beyond their finan-cial capabilities.

The legislative and legal affairs committeeis expected in the meantime to finalize its listof priorities today, and join the financial andforeign affairs panels who did the same lastweek. Meanwhile, the interior and defense

committee meets tomorrow (Monday) withthe stateless resident’s issue topping its agen-da. The panel studies a proposal from MPAhmad Al-Azmi to naturalize 5,000 ‘bedoons’as opposed to a maximum of 4,000 in accor-dance with a law passed by the scrappedassembly, to ‘compensate’ for lack of natural-izations since 2007.

The panel also studies draft laws to natu-ralize children of Kuwaiti martyrs who fellduring the 1990-91 Iraqi Invasion or as part ofKuwaiti troops that participated in Arab wars,in addition to a draft law for conscription.

In other news, Al-Watan daily reportedthat a group of MPs are working on a draftlaw to grant citizenship instantly to 34,000stateless residents who the Central Apparatusof Stateless Residents identified earlier thisyear as people who meet conditions for natu-ralization.

There are 105,000 people living in Kuwaitwithout a nationality; only 93,000 are report-edly registered in the Central Apparatus’records, and the government body claims ithas proof that 67,000 are of Arab origins.

The Apparatus was established three yearsago to sort out the stateless residents’ com-munity and find those who meet conditionsof naturalization, including residents whosebedoon ancestors failed to register for citizen-ship following Kuwait’s independence morethan 50 years ago.

Bedoon issue tops interior

committee agenda

KUWAIT: The Health Ministry asked the ForeignMinistry to ask embassies in the country, partic-ularly the Ethiopian, to use health proceduresin the crowded labor residences of theembassies. The request was made as unexpect-ed cases of ìactive tuberculosisî in theEthiopian Embassy labor house came to light.The confirmed number of such cases is 15, inaddition to the discovery of 167 dormant TBcases out of the 467 individuals in the house.

The Health Ministry isolated some of them

in hospital, while preventive medicine was giv-en to the rest. The classified Health Ministryenvironmental inspection of the EthiopianEmbassy guest house, that cares for domestichelp said the house does not meet the rulesand specifications that should be available atthe guest houses according to the ministerialdecision 199/2010.

This is apart from the lack of space for eachperson, besides the lack of independent areasto prepare and eat food. There are not enough

clean toilets. It was also noticed that residentsin the guest house sleep on the floor in the cor-ridors of the waiting rooms, while mattressesare removed in the morning as the guestsleave, which may lead to the spread of TB in thesociety.

The Health Ministr y stressed that theForeign Ministry should force the EthiopianEmbassy guest houses to comply with thehealth environment rules in crowded housingplaces and guest houses.

TB cases reported in labor shelters

KUWAIT: A fire broke out in a garbage store area in Doha yesterday. A Kuwait Fire Services Directorate team rushed to the areaand brought the fire under control. No injuries were reported. —By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Using tools such as music, food, comicbooks, clothing, and so on, popular culture hasproven to be such a dominant force that has helpedin shaping how people interact with one another.

Popular culture, a term coined around the 19thcentury, is loosely defined by the Random HouseDictionary as “cultural activities or commercial prod-ucts reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes ofthe general masses.”

On the surface, popular culture, or “pop-culture”,might look superficial and sometimes downrightmisguiding, but there is no denying that it could beused as a rough-guide to spread understandingamongst people.

Considering that Americans are generally knownfor their apple pie and kindness, the Japanese fortheir efficacy and technology, and the Italians fortheir food and cars, it seems that popular culturehelped in formulating these general notions.

Similar to other nations, Kuwait has much tooffer despite what the naysayers claim.

Imagine a Kuwaiti themed restaurant at TimesSquare in New York, a Kuwaiti shop selling tradition-al and folklore products in London, a Kuwaiti car-toon series aimed at the international audience.Suffice it to say, the possibilities are endless.

Putting such goal into perspective, someKuwaitis and expatriates took initial steps to usewhat Kuwait had to offer to reach out to the globalcrowd. You might have heard about this man, hewas praised by none other than the President of theUnited State of America Barack Obama for his workon the 99 comic book.

Series creator and founder of Teskeel MediaGroup Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa was interviewed by sever-al international media outlets for his efforts inbridging the gap between cultures through thepopularity of comic books.

In an interview with Kuwait News Agency, Al-Mutawa said that the comic book’s concept camewhen he was 32. “I knew that it was now or neverespecially after finishing my formal education andearning my college degrees.” “I was able to commu-nicate the idea in a way to attract investors. I wasable to raise KD 10 million over the last 10 years,” hesaid, adding that the characters in his comic bookwere built on Islamic archetypes.

Al-Mutawa asserted that he faced many chal-lenges from the get-go, saying “it was tough in thebeginning trying to get people to work with me 18months after 9/11 in New York. They (the investors)had to see that my agenda was more cultural versusreligious.” He indicated that the people working onthe 99 were from comic book giants such as Marveland DC Comics. Initially, Al-Mutawa’s financial back-ers were from Kuwait who provided him with assis-tance to get the 99 off the ground.

“I showed them how western comic booksheroes were developed based on deconstructingthem because they were mostly built on biblicalarchetypes,” Al-Mutawa argued.

The main concept was to promote good valuesthat Muslims and other people around the globeshared in common, said Al-Mutawa.

Since 2006, the biggest accomplishments thatthe 99 had achieved were the animated seriesbroadcasting in 70 countries and the crossover withAmerican comic books moguls DC Comics featuringheroes from the 99 uniting with the likes ofSuperman and Batman to battle evil.

The mission to promote pop-culture fromKuwait is not something exclusive to Kuwaitis;expatriates also are playing a role.

Born and raised in Kuwait, Indian national CaesarFernandes, founder of website Kuwait-music.com,said that after spending around 10 years in the US,he returned to Kuwait in 2007 and then launchedthis ambitious project in December 2010.

“I could have called it music ... world-music ...global-music ... But my purpose was to serve localmusicians and that’s what Kuwait-music is all about.I wanted to focus on music here so what betterword to use other than Kuwait,” he said.

“I grew up here and calling it Kuwait-music had aspecial meaning to me,” reiterated Fernandes,adding that the website is not only aimed at pro-moting local music but rather educating andinforming others of what is happening in Kuwait.

He said that “We are able to get the musicianand the music lover and connect them together.”

Speaking about his perspective as an expatriaterunning this project, Fernandes said that he wasfamiliar with the old Kuwaiti folklore music groupsand Arabic music in general.

On exporting local music to the world, he saidthat “As a Kuwait musicians’ community, we need tobelieve that we can create music and not just copymusic. “The only chance for original music to beexported from Kuwait would come through strongmusical infrastructure on the educational level,insisted the Kuwait-Music founder.

With more than 33,000 followers on facebookand garnering international attention from mediaoutlets such as the BBC, Kuwait-music seems to beon the right track. The website will soon morph toEngage, a medium targeting international audiencebut still opened for local musicians.

When considering food and nationality, it is well-known that Sushi, for a fact, is Japanese delicacyand the same rule applies to Spaghetti which isvery much Italian; therefore, it is not strange toattach a similar connection between Kuwait andMachboos, chicken or meat over a rice plate withsalad or gravy-like soup on the side.

In recent years, several Kuwaiti-food restaurantshave opened in different locations around thecountry.

Abu Wael, a Syrian national and employed tomanage a traditional restaurant, said that theKuwaiti owners came up with the idea of openingthis style of cuisine as an attempt to provide aglimpse into the country’s past.

He added that the owners, preferred not to benamed, started the restaurant eight years ago toallow everyone to experience Kuwaiti food.

Asked whether the owners were thinking aboutgoing global, Abu Wael replied that such step wasall left for the owners to decide, but not entirelyimpossible.

It might be a long stretch for Kuwaiti culture, orpop-culture for that matter, to reach the globalaudience. It would be “mind-blowing” to see some-one in France sporting a t-shirt featuring a themefor one of the most well-known Kuwaiti comedy-dramas Darb El-Zalag (slippery road), but whoknows? If countries like Japan and Germany cameout from devastating wars to building strongeconomies and exporting their culture to theworld, then surely Kuwait, with its vast resourcesand youth-dominated society, could becomeglobal. — KUNA

Pop-culture: Kuwait’s passport to the world

LO C A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Kuwaiti group provides help, advice to women

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Women around the world andespecially in the Arab countries are sub-jected to violence. In our society, many ofthem just suffer silently as norms and tra-ditions don’t allow them to complain orraise their voice against it. These womenneed help and advice unofficially and theKuwait Association of the Basic Evaluatorsof Human Rights (KABEHR) is providingthis help.

KABEHR provides legal and social con-sultation for women who are subjected toviolence. They also organized an aware-ness campaign called ‘Project Human’ incooperation with four governmentalauthorities including the Ministry ofAwqaf, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor,the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Justice.This pro-women safety campaign waslaunched in March 2011 and lasted for lessthan a year.

“This campaign was aimed to cover allthe women including daughters, wives,mothers, students, employees and others.

We got the idea and realized it by launch-ing this project. We conducted field visitsto schools and university to host lectureson different fields related to violenceagainst women and addressed by legal,medical, psychological, and interior volun-teer professionals. We also distributed dif-ferent brochures and publications in theshopping malls and the press. Thesebrochures were based on a complex legalstudy done by a legal advisor on violence,its kinds, and their protection,” Mona Al-Wuheib, Secretary General of the Womanand Child Committee at the KABEHR toldthe Kuwait Times.

The distributed brochures are still effec-tive. “Many women are still calling usbecause of the brochures, which they havekept. The idea of holding this project orcampaign was born after we surveyed thatmany women don’t know their rights com-pletely. It included different categories ofwomen: single, widowed, and divorced.The survey showed that only 2.5 percent ofthe questioned women had some knowl-edge about it, including some who just

heard about it, while the 97.5 percentdidn’t even know it exists,” added Al-Wuheib.

“We need such kind of awareness. Sothis campaign was an awareness campaignrather than a kind of treatment. We needto make women aware, as most of themwho are subjected to violence are eitherready to lose their rights or don’t knowthey have their rights. Although the cam-paign ran for just a few months, it receivedgood feedback.” Al-Wuheib added.

This help and service is provided to allwomen. “We provide our assistance towomen from all nationalities and religions,and we in fact had many cases of expatwomen. We didn’t receive any non-Arabwoman seeking our help yet, but our legalconsultant and some members of theboard speak English so it won’t be a prob-lem. The women can come personally tothe headquarters of KABEHR or can justconsult over the phone. In fact the majori-ty of women preferred to talk over thephone. Also many women are not reallyseeking a solution but only want to talk to

somebody about their case,” said Al-Wuheib. The campaign was based on dif-ferent studies and researches. “For instancein 2010, a study done locally showed that35 percent of women in Kuwait were sub-jected to violence, and these includewomen occupying leading positions intheir career, while at home they were sub-jected to violence. We still keep somebrochures and receive visits from in andaround Kuwait,” she pointed out.

The consultation provided by KABEHR isfree of charge. “All the consultants workingwith us are volunteers so we don’t chargewomen for our consultation, althoughthere are some public institutions chargingsymbolic fees for their consultation. Mostprivate consulting centers are commercialand patients or clients can’t take anappointment before two weeks when infact, they need help urgently. This is wherewe come in. Women who need our consul-tation can call on 25321377/88 at theheadquarters of KABEHR, which is avail-able from 8:00 am-12:30 pm, and from 4:30pm-8:30 pm,” concluded Al-Wuheib.

‘Project Human’ campaign

KUWAIT: Some photographs from the pearl diving expedition which concluded here last week.

KUWAIT: Old Kuwaitis had occupiednumerous occupations for livelihood andsurvival during Pre-Oil Kuwait period,notably pearl diving, an act of hunting oys-ters in the sea to recover pearls, whichused to be considered as the most rigor-ous profession at that time due to the dan-gers, obstacles, and health issues thatencountered divers during their hunt forpearls.

The pearl diving profession in Kuwaitprospered under the reign of SheikhMubarak Al-Sabah, aka Mubarak Al-Kabir,who ruled the country between 1895 and1915, and it went on afterwards for periodsof time until it ended with the outbreak ofWorld War II in the 1940s, followed byemergence of cultured pearl and discoveryof oil. In ancient Kuwaiti society, divers,with all their different ethnic backgrounds,gained high social standard and reputa-tion as they were also looked at with admi-ration and respect among people.

Beside from their extensive knowledgeon marine matters such as sailing, naviga-tion, and fishing, Kuwaiti divers also

showed determination, desire, and confi-dence during sailing seasons, as well asstrength and stamina in their hunt forpearl.

They used to dive during specific sailingseasons and with different number ofsailors onboard local wooden dhows,which varied in types and names depend-ing on their sizes and shapes such as“Boom”, “Baghlah”, “Sanbouk”, “Shoaai”, and“Jalboot”, and sailed across various divingsites in the Gulf depending of depth ofwater and type of soil.

The main diving season used to startthe month of May of each year, and fin-ished by end of September. Also, therewere short seasons known as “Khanja” and“Bakoora” in April, “Radda” in October, and“Radida” in November.

Divers depended on following the starsin the sky and compass to know pathways.They also used an oblong piece of lead,known as “Beld”, which was marked withhorizontal lines to identify the type of thesoil in the sea before descending into thewater. They worked for an approximate 12

to 16 hours daily, in which the diverdescends several times into seabed with-out using breathing equipment, oxygen, oreye protective glasses, depending only onholding his breath and stamina.

Some of the difficulties that a Kuwaitidiver faced during his search for pearl oys-ters included running out of breath under-neath the sea, coming out from the waterin a coma situation, known as “Sanna”, forc-ing his mates to descend into the water topull him out of the water and carry himonboard the ship to rest, or to die in somesever cases, especially if the diver wasunconscious of the depth of seabed.

Other burdens faced by divers includedgetting as eardrum rapture due to strongpressure underneath the water, leading toa severe pain and blood coming out of theear with unavailability of necessary med-ical treatment onboard of the ship. Also,divers would get skin infection due to stay-ing under the water for a long time, as wellas cramps, rashes, and sores.

They had also endangered their lives byfacing off with sea predators such assharks, which attacked many divers andcaused them some severe injuries, leavingthem handicapped for the rest of theirlives and bitter memories. — KUNA

Kuwaitis practiced pearl diving

despite dangers, hardships

By A Saleh

KUWAIT: A political group in Iraqaccused Iraqi lawmakers of ‘sellingIraqi territorial waters to Kuwait’by approving an agreement withKuwait to organize traffic in a jointstrip of water shared by the twoneighboring states. “The Councilof Representatives of Iraq votedthe agreement with Kuwait toregulate traffic in Khor Abdullahbased on which Iraqi territorialwaters were given to Kuwait freeof charge”, said Free Iraqi CoalitionBloc spokesperson Aliya Nusaiyef

in a recent statements. She fur-ther argued that Khor Abdullah is“an exclusive Iraqi property”,referred to this argument as“indisputable fact”, and claimedthat some of her colleaguespushed the agreement to beapproved in order to serve“unknown reasons”. “The agree-ment is not included in the UnitedNations Resolutions, and [approv-ing it in the Iraqi parliament] indi-cates that there is a true desire todivide Iraq and sell it to othercountries”, she added. 108 Iraqilawmakers approved the agree-

ment last Thursday, while 74refused it and 14 abstained.

No citizenship Kuwait does not have plans to

naturalize spouses of Kuwaiti men;at least for the time being, accord-ing to informed sources who indi-cated that rumors about a list ofcandidates ready to be approvedare ‘not true’. “This door is closeduntil further notice pending discus-sions on new measures to handlethe status of women married toKuwaiti nationals”, said the sourceswho spoke on the condition of

anonymity. They indicated that thediscussions include proposals togrant them “service privileges” thatdo not include qualification for citi-zenship. However, the sourcesexplained that Deputy PrimeMinister and Interior MinisterSheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah can still approve naturaliza-tion based on his judgment on cas-es referred to his office.

Electricity companiesA legal team in the Ministry of

Electricity and Water finishedpreparing regulations to establish a

shareholding company to produceelectricity and desalinated water inaccordance with a law passed inthe parliament as part of the state’sefforts to privatize energy produc-tion. According to sources, the gov-ernment plans to start the projectduring the first quarter of 2014starting with an initial public offer-ing on 50 percent of the company’sshares. 24 percent of the shares willbe owned by the governmentthrough the Kuwait InvestmentAuthority, while the remaining 26percent will be put up for foreigninvestors.

Iraqi MP accuses lawmakers

of selling property to Kuwait

KUWAIT: A team from the board of secretariats for the Journey of Hope campaign met recently with Kuwait Naval Force officials to discuss the latest preparations for the tripthat sets sail later this year carrying people with mental disabilities on an adventure to several countries. The two sides agreed to form a joint team deployed at theMohammad Al-Ahmad Naval Base where the boat is set to embark on its journey, and supervise the trip until its return to Kuwait. The Journey of Hope is an initiative aimedto showcase Kuwait’s efforts in taking care of people with special needs including those with mental disabilities.— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) officialsmeet with their Interior Ministry counterparts this weekwith the hope of reaching an agreement to adopttougher penalties against gangs specialized in stealinghigh voltage cables in transformers.

The MEW had previously announced plans to hire asecurity firm in order to secure transformers aroundKuwait, but a recent report quoting a ministry insidersuggested that the ministry also seeks cooperation withthe Interior Ministry who can prosecute thieves on thebasis that their actions are committed on state propertyand affects public service.

A State Audit Bureau report released three weeks agoindicated that 600 main and secondary transformers inaddition to 150 water wells were subjected to theftbetween 2007 and 2013, identifying ‘organized gangs’ asthe culprits. It also noted that the MEW loses KD 15 mil-lion each year to repair damage resulted from thesethefts. According to the source, at least 50 cable theftshave so far been reported this year, which resulted inblackouts that changed an otherwise successful cam-paign in which the ministry boosted production capacityto cope with the growing demand in summer. “The MEWlooks to coordinate with the Interior Ministry during theirmeeting on Wednesday on ways to pursue suspectsbehind the systematic thefts targeting its facilities”, thesource explained.

Meanwhile, a senior Interior Ministry official said theMEW is ‘partially blamed’ for the thefts according to latestinvestigations results. “The investigations revealed thatthe MEW has subcontracts with dozens of companies,and also have failed to report cases in time while insteadwaiting for up to three months before reporting thethefts”, Criminal Investigations Department Director, BrigGen Mohamoud Al-Tabbakh told Al-Rai.

He also indicated that assigning one police officer atevery transformer in Kuwait requires an estimated 3,000police officials which is “illogical”.

In other news, Al-Jarida daily quoted MEW sourceswho indicated that the Cabinet received a recommenda-tion to alter energy prices in Kuwait as the current aver-age costs the state KD 3.2 billion annually. According toofficial estimations, a consumer pays an average of 2 filsfor a kilowatt that costs the state 40 fils to generate, and 1fils for every 12 fils that the government pays to producedesalinated water. The sources who spoke on the condi-tion of anonymity indicated that the average costs are setto reach KD 4 billion this year.

Kuwait improved the daily electricity production to14,000 megawatts before the beginning of the summerthis year. Most electricity generated go to power air con-ditioning which translates into overload in consumptionin parallel with high temperatures that usually break the50 C degrees point multiple times in July each year.

Annual reinforcement and maintenance operations atpower plants, transformers and distribution networkshelped the MEW cope with the yearly increase indemand, but senior ministry officials have repeatedlyindicated that a new power plant is necessary to avoidshortage crises in the future.

There are seven power plants in Kuwait that produceelectricity and desalinated water for a total population of3.8 million on a daily basis, with plans to fully operate anew power plant in North Zoor by 2015. Energy produc-tion costs Kuwait an annual budget of 3 to 4 billionKuwaiti dinars.

Ministries join

hands to pursue

cable thieves

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Kuwait police arrested a citizen who was withAfrican women near the seaside with several drugs andillicit tablets. The two women were found to be abscond-ing, and were caught with the man trading in drugs. Thecitizen was sent to the narcotics department while thewomen were sent to immigration department.

Man found intoxicatedMeanwhile, police in south Surra found a man in a

parked car, under the influence of drugs. They found heroinand illicit tablets with him.

Kuwaiti citizen whacks pervertIn Salmiya, a female citizen accused a young man of act-

ing fresh with her in a mall by giving her his phone number.She slapped him before giving him a mouthful. Police areon the lookout for him.

Three drug traders

in custody

CAIRO: Egypt plans to avoid raising taxes or cutting spendingbut instead use billions of dollars in aid pledged by Gulf Arabstates to spur the economy through new investments, FinanceMinister Ahmed Galal has said.

After Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was deposed bythe army last month, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UnitedArab Emirates promised Egypt a total of $12 billion in loans,grants and fuel shipments. Of that, $5 billion has alreadyarrived. The army-backed interim government, keen toimprove conditions for a deeply polarised population bat-tered by more than two years of political and economic tur-moil, is under intense pressure to avoid unpopular austeritymeasures. “The best way to deal with that is by bringing infunds from outside the country, by seeking support, by count-ing on friends who can provide us with some injection offunds from outside,” he told a news conference.

“By doing that, you are not raising taxes and pushing theeconomy into contraction or reducing expenditure and tight-ening the belt,” said Galal, who was appointed shortly after thearmy ousted Mursi on July 3.

Nonetheless, it also hopes to cut energy subsidies by anannual 3.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($500 million) after itbegins giving smart cards to vehicle owners next month, andwould like to target more such cuts, Galal said.

In the year to June 30, Egypt ran a budget deficit equiva-lent to just under 14 per cent of gross domestic product, Galalsaid. The 2012/13 budget, when it was announced last year,projected a deficit of only 7.9 per cent of GDP, down from 8.2per cent in 2011/12.

He expects to release the final figures for last year’s budgetwithin days.

Gulf loans, grants

to help Egypt to

spur economy

L O C A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Rising rents

cause worry

kuwait digest

By Ahmad Al-Nabhan

Temporary

revolution?

kuwait digest

By Mohammad Hayat

Reading news about MPs’ campaign againstMinister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi over allegations that she hired relatives

in her office including her sister as a consultant for aKD 1,250 monthly allowance, reminds me of a quote Ionce read: “An empty wagon makes the most noise”.

I hope that the minister did not make the appoint-ments - not because I believeshe committed a grave mis-take or killed our hope in herafter she assumed office, butbecause she did not payattention to the fact that sheis struggling in an environ-ment where people followloud voices rather than thevoice of reason.

What did Thekra actuallydo? And did the decision tohire her sister deserve all theuproar that the news created?I asked myself these ques-tions first, and tried to look foran answer while predictingthe problems that Kuwaitmight face as a result of thisdecision. First of all, we haveto remember that the minister had denied appoint-ing a relative in the MSAL, but pointed out that theCivil Service Commission agreed to appoint her sisteras a consultant for a monthly salary. Any controversyregarding the minister’s actions should have beensettled by this.

In the meantime, I believe that MPs address sub-jects in the right manner if they actually claimed tobe working to serve the general interest. The minis-ter’s sister is a Kuwaiti citizen who deserves all theprivileges that any other Kuwaiti is entitled to, and itis not fair for her to be deprived of her constitutionalrights just because her sister is a minister.

Moreover, it is not fair to address the subject with-out objectivity as if it was a way to distract the people

from judging the minister based on her work in office.It is not a secret that Thekra Al-Rashidi has perhapsbeen the most active of MSAL ministers in takingwide reform steps that included decisions to referlong-standing employees to retirement in order tocreate job opportunities for younger staff members.

Complaints against appointing the minister’s sisterwith a monthly allowancewould have been justified ifher sister was overpaid orunqualified for the job. Inthat case, then claims of cor-ruption on the part of theminister and the CivilService Commission wouldbe reasonable. But the storyis actually different; the min-ister’s sister meets all thequalifications of the job,including being a Kuwaiticitizen who has necessaryacademic qualifications andwhose hiring has beenapproved by the CivilService Commission.

Another important sub-ject is the fact that many

political blocs in Kuwait used their influence to helpaffiliated individuals to reach high posts that aremore important than the post of Thekra’s consultant.Yet, no noise was made even after it was laterrevealed that these individuals failed to provide any-thing to Kuwait.

A friend of mine once told me that he once lis-tened to a full speech by Adolf Hitler, after which healmost forgot that he was a Nazi criminal who killedmillions without a reason, and almost thought thathe deserved to be remembered as a commendablehero. He only came back to his senses a while later.This phenomenon is described by psychologists as‘charisma generated by using a loud voice to garnerpublic support’. — Al-Rai

MPs’ campaign against Thekra

kuwait digest

By Saad Al-Rashidi

On June 30, millions demonstrated demandingthe ouster of President Morsi, a demand towhich the army responded and deposed the

president. Does this mean that the army will deposeany future elected president if the people demon-strate against him? On what basis will the Egyptianarmy take its decision in thefuture?

I have never writtenabout foreign affairs exceptwhile commenting on theIsraeli war on Lebanon in2006. This is because I rarelyfollow foreign affairs, owingto the fact that I am fullyconvinced that we need toreform our domestic frontbefore talking about for-eign affairs. Nevertheless,the situation in Egypt com-pels me to raise a fewinquiries and remarks thatneed some answers inorder to get a full view ofwhat is happening becausewhat happens in Egypt isclearly reflected on thewhole region; Egypt is theheart of Arab as I know it.

Through my followinginquiries, I am not express-ing an opinion; rather I amasking questions and amfinding it difficult to under-standing their answers.When the Egyptian army ousted the legitimate royalregime in 1952, both the Egyptians and all Arab peo-ple called what happened a “revolution”. They wenton celebrating its anniversary, even under PresidentMorsi’s rule. Why, then, do they call what happenedwith Morsi a ‘coup’ but what happened with KingFarouq a revolution?

Morsi supporters describe Defense Minister Sisi asa criminal and murderer. They even go as far as call-ing him more lethal than Israelis, according to whatQatari Yousif Al-Qaradawi said. What I fail to compre-hend is they are praising Morsi and cursing Sisi eventhough it was Morsi who appointed him. So, the so-

called murderer and criminalwas appointed by the verysame person they are praising.Morsi supporters all over theArab world describe what hap-pened as a ‘war against Islam’while the only Arab countrythat follows an Islamic rule isagainst Morsi. Who is applyingtrue Islam, then?

Pro-Morsi Kuwaitis defendhim on grounds that he hadbeen legally elected while, atthe same time, they bragabout deposing the 2009 par-liament by moving publicopinion against it. Shouldn’tyou describe this as a moveagainst legitimacy, especiallysince the 2009 governmentwas elected by the people?

Until this day, I do not knowhow the state should handlecontinuous sit-ins in publicplace, whether they are organ-ized by Tamarud, MB or others.I don’t intend to be biased oremotional, but what if thou-sands of gays sit-in for a

month or more at one of the squares demanding theright to marry each other? How should we deal withthem? Finally, I’d like to say that people are beingkilled daily all over the Arab world while other peo-ple are either sympathizing or gloating, according tothe nationality of the victims. This just shows that ourproblem is undoubtedly an ethical one! — Al-Jarida

Nationality-based emotions

kuwait digest

By Ali Mahmoud Khajah

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

The new

Middle East

Local Spotlight

Are we about to witness a new Middle East aftera long and disturbing Arab Spring? Is thisregion ready now to move into a new stage of

confusion where every day more people of all ageand gender die like flies? Are we heading towards theworst? What should we expect now?

Kuwait, like other Gulf countries, is observing andpraying that it’s not next in line. What makes us aneasy prey compared to others? Should we worry?

The Middle East has always been a very complicat-ed and confused area. Think of Iraq 25 years ago andlook at it now. It did not require much effort to con-vince some of its key former leaders and power mani-acs like Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, for example,to invade its next door neighbor, with the knowledgethat the Arabs will not be able to move him or hisstrong army out. I do believe that Saddam was notalone in this plan and there is no way he could orwould do it alone. He could be greedy and crazy butnot courageous enough to invade Kuwait withoutpermission and blessings from a higher power. Now,Iraq is like an old sick man who can barely managehis day-to-day business. Where is the Iraqi army nowand can it defend or protect anybody?

In Syria, when President Bashar Al-Assad came topower, a huge media and political campaign wel-comed him, especially since he took the position ofhis late father in the presidential system. Foreigncountries welcomed and supported the new youngSyrian ruler. No one objected and Syria witnessedchanges and peace during this time period. Innerconflicts between Sunni, Shia and Christians werenot even mentioned. The army was strong and readyto combat to defend Syria then. Where is this armynow? It’s also like Iraq; busy with its own day-to-daybusiness. Similar scenario with a similar ending.

Egypt: It’s like a digital action movie, which is try-ing to get rid of the old and greedy and cheering forthe suppressed which has been hungry for power formore than 80 years. A crowd that suffers from pover-ty and unemployment and is deprived of basicamenities which come with a decent life while beingoverpowered by extremist religious cells which isactively fueled by rich allies in the Gulf.

The Muslim Brotherhood appears to be the newpower. The youth who are not a part of the MuslimBrotherhood were against the corrupted but theirrevolution was not to support the MuslimBrotherhood, but still made one of its faithful follow-ers as the new president. What the Muslim brothersdid not understand is how to manage a large coun-try like Egypt? How do you handle the power of thejudicial system and key army leaders? For the record,former President Morsi always had trouble dealingwith these two. The army has lost, but it is still strong.This is a lesson for any idiot who thinks that he canconquer Egypt. This is something no foreign powerwill understand, no matter how many experts theyhave on this subject. Is this an evil plan to createchaos is a complicated area where people could killor be killed over small arguments regarding theirbeliefs? Yes, a new Middle East will be re-born leavinga dark memory of many dead innocent people. Thelesson learned here is that Middle East may be weakbut it is not easy to penetrate.

Arab and Muslim countries are rich in tyrantswho adopt totalitarian and oppressive meth-ods in power, as well as contradict the public

that said tyrants feed off of to continue with theirapproach. In our societies you find people whobelieve in people’s right to demand reforms throughpeaceful demonstrations, but only in accordancewith sectarian or racial standards. You also find peo-ple siding with the oppressive party only becausethey share the same sectarian group or race withthem, while disregarding humanity which is higherin value than all sectarian groups or races.Furthermore, you find people who justify killing of ahuman being who share different ideologies, beliefs,or race, only because of that reason.

It is clear that the Arab Spring has exposed politi-cal groups in Kuwait which has put ideologist andsectarian accounts ahead of humanity and people’sright to demand reform. It also exposed the fact thatthese groups do not believe that humanity is greaterthan many ideologies or sectarian and racial belong-ings. There is no good that can come out of peoplewho accept killing other humans over opinions cher-ished or expressed. Many have put aside the primaryquality that all of us have in common, which ishumanity, and instead found ideological, sectarianor racial reasons to justify the use of violence. IfArabs and Muslims denounced violence againsthuman beings regardless of race or belief, no tyrantwould have ever dared shed the blood of a singleperson. The blood of innocent civilians being shedtoday is not only on the hands of tyrants, but is alsoon the hands of those who justify killing on sectarianand racial basis. And all this bloodshed serves as alesson to us that we must support people’s right toreject tyrants’ rule without finding justification forthe oppression. If we fail to accept this truth, thenthis nation is destined to see victory after victory fortyrants over the people.

It is also important that we do not ignore themain reason because of which the nation is payingthe heaviest of prices today: people’s tolerance withcorruption and tyrants for years which has becomethe main reason behind the bloodshed we witnesstoday. The picture has been the same throughouthistory: we remain silent towards the actions oftyrants, and once we revolt, we succeed in achievingchange but fail miserably in achieving improvementbecause we refuse to get rid of fanaticism.

And to those who take a neutral stance while con-tinuously repeating that the Arab and Muslimnations are burning whereas the ‘enemies’ are livingin peace: we will never find peace unless we liberateourselves from radicalism and tyranny. Taking a neu-tral stance does nothing but serve oppression prac-ticed against people seeking dignity and to liberatethemselves from fanaticism. We need to wake upotherwise everything happening today will eventu-ally be called a ‘temporary revolution’. — Al-Rai

As the holy month of Ramadan and Eid arebehind us, we pray to Allah the Almighty tokeep everybody healthy and preserve the

bounty of security and peace, in the midst of theever-increasing prices of basic and consumergoods which are adding to the financial burdensof citizens and expats. This has further caused aslowdown in purchasing, thereby leading togoods stagnating on the shelves.

It’s ironical that more than 70 percent of thestate’s budget go into salaries, while more than 50percent of citizens and expatriate salaries go intopaying rents! Despite the spread of apartmentswithin areas designated for private residence andits fierce competition, prices of flats are increasingday-by-day without any hope of respite. This isdue to the increasing demand for them after arevision in pay scale which was approved duringthe last few years at the National Assembly.

Real estate in general is witnessing a dangerousand critical situation thanks to the inflated prices,in addition to the government’s silence on allocat-ing new lands which would create new urbanareas for more real estate growth.

In Saad Al-Abdallah, which is a very modernarea, you will find that the rent of a governmenthouse costs KD 1,000, while the rent of a privatehouse costs KD 3,000, despite the area beinglocated close to a scrap yard with incompletebasic amenities. The numbers above raise manyquestions.

Rising rents will certainly increase the financialburden on the bread-winner of the family whichwill create domestic problems and break up fami-lies. This will also result in a feeling of inadequacyin the person who has to pay this rent. I wasinspired to write this column because of a friendwho trades in residential real estate. He used tobuild apartments for many years but managed tosurprise us when he revealed his son was unableto get an apartment at a low price.

Everyone is responsible for finding a quick solu-tion to this problem before it escalates to a pointwhere the rent equals the salary of the tenant!

I always depend on numbers when I write, andthe quick and unjustified rise in rents without rely-ing on any marketing study explains the real needfor an increase. The National Assembly and gov-ernment need to urgently pass new legislations todefine things and avoid temporary solutions andinstead, rely on long-term plans.

Security is among the most important issues inthe stability of any regime. Housing is consideredthe main pillar of security and we hope the gov-ernment frees the lands from its grip. —Al-Qabas

MB angels

vs military

kuwait digest

By Ibrahim Al-Mulaifi

In attempt to not alienate minds, which are moreimportant than the Muslim Brotherhood and their warto restore power they had claimed to renounce, MBs

cannot be removed by force in Egypt. Had this easyoption been effective, they would have ended during theEgyptian monarchy. Had killing been fruitful, it wouldhave stopped after Sayyed Qotob’s execution fivedecades ago. That is how we are and that how we willalways be. We are easily angered, jump to conclusionsand destroy everything and then forget the episodebefore repeating the same actions with no remorse orapology.

Responding to the incidents in Egypt, Kuwait MPsbecame feverishly active and some found the incidents agood platform to locally settle old scores and eitherjoined with them or went against them. Accordingly,Egypt was ‘Kuwaitized’ in the recent parliamentary elec-tions. With such thinking, there is no room for secondopinion. It is either MBs are absolute demons and the mil-itary are absolute angels or vice versa. It is forbidden tofrankly state my own opinion whereas others, namelyKuwaiti MPs, have every right to make statements, cate-gorize, define and give orders, which is the very samementality that cost those opposing the one-vote systemtheir public support because they rejected diversity.

Since when have we been afraid of such thoughts orMPs themselves? Expecting credibility or justice fromtheir side would only indicate a lack of experience indealing with them. They are ones who taught snakes howto shed their skin effectively.

If prisons were capable of breaking anybody, Mubarakcould have broken MB forever. MB only die through ideo-logical war and our Arab minds are still absent or misled.

Tension could have been avoided before things gotworse and resulted in more blood-shedding which can-not be ignored. Instead of investing public rage againstMB, stages and platforms are opened to allow them toplay their historic role of ‘martyrs’ and ‘victims’!

MB has always marveled in healing and regainingstrength. Fascism, not necessarily in Egypt, is always toseek public support at the expense of democracy andthere is nobody better than MBs to do that. However,days will go by, faces will change and you will see howMB will regain power. — Al-Jarida

It is not fair to address the sub-ject without objectivity as if it wasa way to distract the people fromjudging the minister based on herwork in office. It is not a secretthat Thekra Al-Rashidi has per-h a p s b e e n t h e m o s t a c t i ve o fM SA L m i n i s t e r s i n t a k i n g w i d ereform steps that included deci-s i o n s t o r e f e r l o n g - s t a n d i n gemployees to retirement in orderto create job oppor tunities foryounger staff members.

Morsi suppor ters describeDefense Minister Sisi as a criminaland murderer. They even go as faras calling him more lethal thanIsraelis, according to what QatariYousif Al-Qaradawi said. What Ifa il to comprehend is they arepraising Morsi and cursing Sisieven though it was Morsi whoappointed him. So, the so-calledmurderer and criminal wasappointed by the very same personthey are praising. Morsi supportersall over the Arab world describewhat happened as a ‘war againstIslam’ while the only Arab countrythat follows an Islamic rule isagainst Morsi. Who is applyingtrue Islam, then?

KUWAIT: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is dueto arrive in Kuwait today on a three-day visit, duringwhich he will hold talks with senior officials designedto cement the friendly and distinctive ties betweenthe two countries. These close relations, established55 years ago, have been distinguished with mutualunderstanding and joint interests; an example to befollowed at international relations’ level.

They date back to era of the late Amir, HH SheikhAbdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who in 1958, grantedconcessions to the Arabian Oil Company to exploreoil and gas in the neutral zone.

Japan was among the first states that recog-nized Kuwait’s independence. On Dec 8, 1961, itdecided to exchange ambassadors with Kuwait. InFebruary 1962, the first Kuwaiti ambassador,Sulaiman Mohammad Al-Sane, arrived in Japan,and the Japanese embassy was opened in Kuwait inMarch 1963.

However, Japanese trade expeditions have beenpresent in Kuwait since 1961, with aim of exploringmarkers of the Arab Gulf states.

Bilateral ties between the two countries, foryears, have been based on joint interests, particular-ly at the commercial level. Kuwait is a top exporterof crude and oil derivatives to Japan and theKuwaiti markets are rich in various Japanese com-modities.

Japan took an honorable stance vis a vis the bla-tant Iraqi aggression on the State of Kuwait in 1990,where Tokyo supported United Nations resolutionsthat condemned the ensuing occupation and calledfor reinstatement of the Kuwaiti legitimacy.Moreover, Tokyo contributed with more than USD13 billion for the liberation of Kuwait.

On March 23, 2012, Kuwait and Japan affirmedin a joint statement following a landmark visit byHH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the Asian nation (due on March 20-23),necessity of cementing mutual economic and eco-nomic cooperation and jointly pledged to encour-age commerce, investment and businessesbetween them.

The Japanese-Kuwaiti business committee has

held annual meetings since 1995, in addition to theKuwait investment seminar to address a wide rangeof issues in the commercial, investment and indus-trial investment sectors.

In 2011, Kuwait donated five million barrels ofoil, worth $500 million, to Japan following theFukushima nuclear disaster, upon instructions of HHthe Amir, in addition to $3 million to renovate amarine scientific institute at Fukushima and $2mil-

lion as a personal grant by HH the Amir.The year 1995 was distinguished with reciprocal

moves from the two sides with aim of bolsteringthe bilateral ties, with a visit by the Japanese HeirApparent Naruhito and his spouse to Kuwait inJanuary, and a visit to Japan by HH the late Amir HHSheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah-to expressKuwait’s gratitude for Japan’s support for its libera-tion.

During Crown Prince Naruhito’s visit to Kuwait,he was decorated by HH the Amir with the MubarakAl-Kabeer medal in appreciation for the supportive

stance. HH the late Amir, Sheikh Jaber, paid an official

visit to Japan in October 1965, in his (former) capac-ity as the minister of finance and industry. Beforethe visit, he had stopped, along with his brother, HHthe Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, in Japan as partof an international tour, in 1953.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah paid visit official visitsto Japan when he served as foreign minister. Theywere in April 1964, October 1968 while he was enroute to the UN, followed by others in October1971, May 1984 and October 1998.

HH Sheikh Sabah inaugurated, in Tokyo inOctober 1998, the Kuwaiti Week (Know aboutKuwait), as part of activities by the Japanese-Kuwaiti commission to lure Japanese investmentsto Kuwait. During the visit, HH praised the Japan’ssupport during the blatant Iraqi aggression and itssupport for the liberation.

The concessions that had been granted to theArabian Oil Company in the submerged region thatlasted for 45 years was one of the cooperation man-ifestations with the Japanese companies. In 2003,this accord expired and a new chapter of coopera-tion began between the Kuwait Gulf Oil Companyand the Arabian Oil Company. Several agreementswere signed to provide Japan with part of the pro-duction in the zone.

Japan is a main market for the Kuwaiti oilexports. Kuwait’s exports of crude, oil derivativesand liquefied gas constituted, respectively, 28 per-cent, 18 percent and 66 percent of the overallKuwaiti exports of oil in 2003. Statistics showed thatthe Kuwaiti exports of crude to Japan reached near-ly 98 million barrels in 2012.

Kuwaiti and Japanese businessmen have beencooperating within framework of the joint commis-sion since 1995. And, Official statistics in 1993showed that Japan became the number-one tradepartner for Kuwait. In the first half of 2001, Japan’sexternal trade with Kuwait rose 2.3 percent from$2.5 billion to 2.56 billion. Japanese exports toKuwait in the first six months of 2001 rose 12.3 per-cent from $256 million to $287 million.—- KUNA

LO C A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Japan PM’s visit to help cement ties with Kuwait

Mutual understanding, joint interests

Shinzo Abe

KUWAIT: Kuwait is to participate with seven e-content proj-ects in the World Summit Award which will be held in theEstonian capital Tallin at the end of this month, KuwaitFoundation for the Advancement of Sciences announced yes-terday.

WSA is an award that promotes smart content and awardse-content that contributes to a true knowledge society andpromotes it at a global congress. The three-day event (fromAug 29 to 31) will bring together renowned multimediaexperts from all parts of the world. The panel, then, will judgethe best contents and most innovative applications. All nomi-nated products from each country are evaluated in a three-round judging process, and subsequently, the 40 world’s beste-Contents and applications are selected.

Getting into the spirit of engaging in world events, Kuwaithas nominated seven winning e-content projects to representthe country in this prestigious event, Kuwait Electronic AwardSecretary-General Manar Al-Hashash said.

She noted that WSA has eight categories that reflect themost crucial social issues of every-day life. These categoriesare: e-Government and Open Data, e-Health andEnvironment, e-Learning and Science, e-Entertainment andGames, e-Culture and Tourism, e-Media and Journalism, e-business and Commerce and e-Inclusion and Empowerment.

“Zakat House” is to compete in the e-Government andOpen Data categories, Al-Hashash went on saying. “Beatona”Kuwait’s official electronic environment website is to partici-pate in the e-Health and Environment category, ‘KuwaitiEngineer for Construction and Decoration” is nominated forthe e-learning and Science category, “Majedphotos” is namedfor e-Entertainment and Games category, “Kuwait Dhows” isto engage in the e-Culture and Tourism list, “Sheeel.com” alsois named in e-Business and Commerce group, lastly,“Directaid” website is nominated to participate in the e-Inclution and Empowerment section of the award.

Al-Hashash congratulated the nominees for tremendousefforts in developing their e-content that allowed them toengage in international venues. She wished them success andluck in the competition. — KUNA

Kuwait to participate

in e-content award

RIYADH: Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Secretary General of theGulf Cooperation Council, has condemned the terroristattack that took place in the northern Lebanese city ofTripoli on Friday, inflicting a large number of casualties.

Dr Al-Zayani, in a statement made late on Friday,described targeting worship places and innocent peo-ple as a vile criminal action, a cowardly attempt toundermine peaceful co-existence in Lebanon andembroil the people of the country in hateful sectariansedition.

The GCC chief was alluding to two fiery car bombsthat went off, almost simultaneously, outside mosquespacked with worshippers during Friday prayers. Theexplosions killed more than 45 people, woundedmore than 300 wounded and left extensive damage inresidential areas, in one of the bloodiest attacks wit-nessed in the country since end of the civil war in early90s.

Al-Zayani reiterated the appeal on the Lebanese toabstain from involvement in the Syrian crisis for sake ofpreserving the country’s security and stability, affirm-ing the GCC stance on side of the country in face of“forces of evil and terrorism.” — KUNA

GCC condemns

twin blasts

DUBAI: Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Rulerof Dubai, has issued a warm welcome to Gulf visitors tothe United Arab Emirates via his Twitter account.

He encouraged UAE nationals and residents toembrace those visiting the country with an open heart.

“Visitors who come to the UAE from the Gulf arebrothers and not tourists. They are family before beingguests. Our hearts are their home away from home,”read a tweet by Sheikh Mohammad.

“During my last tour in the mall I met a group ofSaudi families visiting the country. I welcomed them totheir second country among their expanded family andhad an enjoyable conversation with them,” read anotherof Sheikh Mohammad’s tweets.

UAE nationals urged to

welcome Gulf visitors

L O C A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

KUWAIT: A car accident on Sixth Ring road resulted in the death of a young man, while another was injured. Sulaibikhat fire cen-ter and technical rescue dealt with the accident.—By Hanan Al-Saadoun

By Dr. Volodymyr TolkachAmbassador of Ukraine

KUWAIT: 22 years ago on Aug 24,1991 the Act of Independence ofUkraine was adopted that resulted inthe emergence of a new independ-ent state on the political map of theworld.

Ukrainian nationwide referendumon Dec 1, 1991 when approximately91% of its participants expressedsupport for the independence ofUkraine removed away any politicalspeculations about the future fate ofthe Ukrainian nation.

This historical Act allowed to keepon developing the long state-build-ing traditions in the Ukrainian land,laid one thousand years ago in theera of the princely state of “Kyiv Rus”,which periodically revived in the mid-17th and early 20th centuries,became a foundation for a peaceful,bloodless restoration of the inde-pendent Ukrainian state and a modelfor other nations for the civilized for-mation of a new state.

The recent stage of Ukrainianstatehood has opened a possibilityfor carrying out its own foreign policyand thus set a new task to make amechanism of interaction with othermembers of the international com-munity and ensure its effective appli-cation.

European integration wasdeclared as a key priority of the for-eign policy of Ukraine, which pro-vides for systematic reforms in allspheres of life in accordance with EUstandards. The ultimate goal ofEuropean integration is Ukraine’smembership in the European Union.The main task for today is to com-plete negotiations on the AssociationAgreement, which integral part is acreation of the free trade area.

At the bilateral level Ukraine isseeking to use the full potential ofcooperation with Russian Federation,the United States and other strategicpartners, based on shared values andinterests, deepen mutually beneficialcooperation with EU member-states,and develop friendly relations withneighbouring countries and otherstates on the principles of mutualbenefit, respect for sovereignty andterritorial integrity, in compliancewith international law. Particularemphasis is thus placed on achievingconcrete practical results, especiallyin the economic sphere, increasingforeign investment, creatingfavourable political conditions forimplementation of important bilater-al and multilateral economic projects.

In the area of foreign policy of itsnational security Ukraine as aEuropean non-aligned state pro-motes its interests, based on thenorms and principles of internationallaw, develops friendly relations withall countries, especially its neigh-bours, carries out a policy aimed atstrengthening stability and securityin Europe and the world, takes anactive part in solving the so-called“frozen” conflicts and other interna-tional efforts in order to overcomecurrent challenges and threats.

Since Ukraine’s independence anew period of its activity at the UNhas begun, which was declared asone of the priorities of foreign policy.

Ukraine in 1945 was one of thefounding members of the UN asrecognition of the contribution of theUkrainian people to the victory overfascism and strengthening peacethroughout the world. The delega-tion of Ukraine actively participatedin the conference in San Francisco,made a significant contribution tothe development of the UN Charter.

Till 1991 being a part of the thenSoviet Union Ukraine had its ownrepresentation at the UN at level ofthe de jure independent country.Despite implementation of the uni-fied Soviet foreign policy for morethan four decades, the UN tribuneremained almost the only importantinternational means by which theworld community learned aboutUkraine. The factor of long-timeUkraine’s membership in the UNhelped in the process of internationalrecognition of its independence in1991. For more than 60-year history

of membership Ukraine strictlyadheres to the purposes and princi-ples of the UN Charter, makes a sig-nificant contribution to its activitiesin the field of international peace andsecurity, disarmament, economic andsocial development, human rights,the strengthening of internationallaw.

During 1994-2013 fourteen meet-ings of the Presidents of Ukraine andthe UN Secretaries-General wereorganized. Seven meetings of thePresident of Ukraine ViktorYanukovych with Ban Ki-moon in2010-2012 affirms exceptionally highdynamic Ukraine-UN dialogue at thehighest level, creates a supportivepolicy framework for promoting theinterests of Ukraine at the UN.

Since Jan 30, 1992 Ukraine is amember of the Organization forSecurity and Cooperation in Europe -the largest regional organization thatbrings together 56 countries fromEurope, Central Asia and Nor thAmerica.

Unanimously adopted by theOSCE Ministerial Council inNovember 2010 decision on Ukraine’schairmanship in the OSCE in 2013was recognition of the role of ourcountry in strengthening regionalsecurity and stability as well as abilityof the Ukrainian diplomacy to leadtalks on improving security in regionof its responsibility from Vancouverto Vladivostok.

The results of Ukraine’s chairman-ship at the OSCE in 2013 have provenour state’s ability to effectively imple-ment management functions withinthe organization. A balancedUkrainian approach to the formationof the OSCE priorities in 2013 in allthree dimensions provided supportof participating states in their imple-mentation and facilitated achievingconcrete results in each direction.

Ukraine attaches great importanceto the maintenance of internationalpeace and security as an importantfactor in its foreign policy. For overtwo decades our citizens made agreat contribution to the peacefulcoexistence of humanity and becametrue ambassadors of peace in overtwenty countries, where peacekeep-ing missions of UN Security Council,OSCE and NATO were deployed. Byparticipating in operations and mis-sions of the European Union ourpeacekeepers also strengthen securi-ty in Europe.

Since July 1992 Ukraine is anactive contributor to the militaryunits and personnel in UN peace-keeping operations. At the end ofJune 2013 518 servicemen of thearmed forces and employees of theministry for interior affairs of Ukrainetake part in seven UN peacekeepingoperations in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Cyprus, Kosovo,CÙte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sudan andSouth Sudan. According to this data,Ukraine ranks the 33rd place amongthe UN member-states and the 4thamong European countries (afterItaly, France and Spain).

An important priority is strength-ening the economic component ofUkraine’s foreign policy in order tocreate favourable international con-ditions for overcoming the negativeeffects of the global financial crisisand economic recovery of our coun-try. For this purpose all necessarymeasures are taken for promotingUkrainian goods and services in bothtraditional and new markets, includ-ing the Middle East, Latin America,Asia and Africa.

The development of cooperationwith the Gulf countries, including theState of Kuwait, is also important forUkraine. In 2013 the official Kyiv andEl-Kuwait celebrated the 20thanniversar y of establishment ofdiplomatic relations. Special charac-ter was recently given to cooperationin the humanitarian field (holdingjoint days of Ukrainian and Kuwaiticulture, participation of Kuwaiti dele-gation of the Ministry of State forYouth Affairs in the 12th InternationalChildren Festival “Let’s change theworld for the better” in 2013, negoti-ation on establishing partnershipbetween leading universities of bothcountries), which promotes mutualtrust, knowledge and understandingbetween our citizens.

The second meeting of the Jointintergovernmental Ukrainian-Kuwaiticommission on economic, trade andtechnical cooperation is expected tobe hold in September 2013 and opennew possibilities to enhance interac-tion in f inancial, economic andinvestment spheres, offer more initia-tives and projects for governmentand private business communities ofboth countries. The histor y ofUkrainian-Kuwaiti relations is dailyupdated by new examples of con-structive and mutually beneficialbilateral cooperation at various levelsthat confirms the true nature of ourboth countries: reliability, peaceful-ness, openness; and the absence ofany contradiction of principal charac-ter lets us be optimistic about theirfuture.

Ukraine celebrates its 22nd

Independence anniversary

KUWAIT: A police academy traineeand soon-to-be recruit were arrest-ed on charges of mugging withfake badges. The arrests weremade after several people com-plained at Zahra’a police stationthat they were ordered to reportthere by two police officers whoconfiscated their money and cellphones. Each of the 17 non-Kuwaitimen gave an identical descriptionof the two suspects who they saidused a vehicle that carried a bea-con similar to the one found on topof police patrols and also hadpolice badges. Detectives wereeventually able to identify twoprime suspects; a police academyrecruit and a person who appliedfor work at the Interior Ministry.The two were arrested in Zahra’aand initially denied the accusationsbut later confessed after their vic-tims identified them in police line-ups. Police found fake badges car-rying the letters CID, an acronym

for the Criminal InvestigationsDepartment inside one of the sus-pects’ homes, apart from the bea-con they used on their vehicles.They are in custody and will soonbe referred to the PublicProsecution Department.

Jahra assaultSearch is on for a male suspect

who faces criminal charges afterphysically assaulting a teenager inJahra breaking his ankle. A casewas filed at Jahra police stationwhere a Kuwaiti man reported thathis son who was being treated atthe Jahra Hospital was beaten upover some old issue. Investigationsare ongoing to arrest the suspects.

Hawally mugger heldHawally police arrested a man

who has been using the samemodus operandi to mug pedestri-ans over the past three years.Investigations were ongoing for a

while in cases where pedestriansreported being mugged by a per-son who stopped them to ask fordirections. When the pedestriansoffered to help, the suspect wouldbrandish a pocketknife and threat-en the person to hand over his cellphone and cash before escaping.The mugger was caught red-hand-ed by police who were patrollingthe area. During questioning at thelocal police station, he admittedthat he was responsible for mug-ging people in Hawally for threeyears and is now cooling his heelsbehind bars.

Maid uses trickA domestic helper faked illness,

hoping to force her employer topay her salary which she claimedshe had not received. An ambu-lance rushed to a Salmiya buildingwhere a housemaid reported in anemergency call that she had fallensick at her employer’s apartment.

After paramedics reached theplace, the Ethiopian woman admit-ted that she was not really sick butmade an emergency call to makeher employer think twice aboutwithholding her monthly pay.Police were called in to handle thesituation.

Father saves the dayA Kuwaiti man saved his daugh-

ter’s life by successfully performingfirst aid before paramedics arrivedat the scene. Medical staff andpolice rushed to a house inQortuba where the 10-year-oldreportedly choked on a foreignobject. When they reached thescene, paramedics found out thatthe girl’s father had successfullyused the Heimlich maneuver toremove the object which hadblocked her airway. The para-medics attended to the girl anddetermined that her condition didnot require hospitalization.

Two police hopefuls

arrested for mugging

Felony charges in teen assault

KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunicationscompany in Kuwait, recently held its quarterlydealers lunch event to honor a number of itsauthorized service providers for their outstand-ing performance during the second quarter of2013.

During the event, Zain acknowledged theoutstanding performance of these partnersbased on several key indicators. ‘ISYS’ came firstin terms of driving revenue to Zain’s value-added services, while ‘ITG’ was the first in provid-ing “Zain Same’ni” value-added service.‘AiwaGulf ’ ranked first with the best technical

support team, and ‘Media Phone Plus’ as the bestseller of Adzone SMSs.

This event takes place every quarter, allowingdistributors to compete fairly with one anotherand drive more efficiency when offering the bestservices and products to Zain customers.

Nadia Al-Saif, Zain’s Valued Added ServicesDirector commented by saying: “Our partnersplay a significant role in Zain’s success. Their con-sistency in providing excellent service for Zain’scustomers is critical to the company’s focus onenhancing the customer experience.”

“Zain’s distributors are without a doubt, an

integral part of Zain and a significant element ofsuccess that has helped Zain reach the leadingposition it enjoys today. The company encour-ages distributors to maintain their performanceand continue offering the best services andproducts to its loyal customers” added Al-Saif.

For more information about Zain’s numerouscompetitive promotions, customers are advisedto visit any of Zain’s branches located in morethan 76 locations across Kuwait, visit the compa-ny’s website on www.kw.zain.com, contact its 24hour call center at 107, or visit the company’ssocial media channels.

Zain honors its product, services partners

DUBAI: Satellite imagery shows that Iran isexpanding a drone base on the Arabian Gulf islandof Qeshm that sits next to the narrow straitthrough which 20-percent of the world’s oil wasshipped though in 2012. It’s all part of a broadereffort by Tehran to beef up its military facilitiesaround the strategic Strait of Hormuz, one of theworld’s most important waterways.

The air base’s main runway was recently dou-bled in length to 1,600 meters, according to Jane’sIHS, a private defense analysis firm. This new lengthwould allow the facility to be used for launchingIran’s Shahed-129 drones that could track, and pos-sibly attack, ships passing through the strait. Saidto be able to fly for up to 24-hours, the Shaheddrones are reportedly able to carry missiles capableof hitting ships and ground targets.

In addition to its freshly lengthened runway, theQeshm site features two new hangars and whatJane’s thinks may be building where the drones arecontrolled remotely from.

There’s also a new mobile radar unit at the facili-ty, that “probably provides information that helps[drone] operators avoid collisions with civilian air-liners using the nearby Qeshm InternationalAirport,” reads Jane’s analysis of the site. This radarmay also be used to guide drones armed with anti-aircraft missiles to targets flying over the strait,speculates Jane’s. Photos have emerged showingIran’s new H-110 Sarir drone armed with small anti-aircraft missiles, though it’s unknown if these mis-siles actually work.

(The US tried to shoot down an Iraqi MiG figtherjet with a Predator drone armed with Stinger mis-siles in 2002; the engagement didn’t go well for theAmerican drone.)

The drone base isn’t the only military site onQueshim. If you look at the island on Google Mapsyou can see an Iranian naval base less than twomiles from the drone facility.

In addition to hosting a number of small, armedspeedboats that military experts say could bedeployed in a swarm to overwhelm the defenses of

large ships, the site appears have an undergrounddock that may hide midget submarines. Thesesmall subs could be used to try to torpedoAmerican warships in the area.

Part of Iran’s plan for dealing with any conflictinvolving the United States in the Persian Gulf is touse a mix of high-speed anti-ship missiles, smallUAVs, sea mines, and swarms of small boats andmidget subs to make it difficult for large Americanships built to fight other large ships to operate inthe confined space of the gulf. Iran would also tryto target nearby American air bases that sit on theshore of the Persian Gulf with its ever expandingmissile arsenal. It’s already been confirmed that

Iran was operating several different small drones atthe Qeshm airstrip before its expansion. As thesatellite imagery analysis website OSIMINT notes,the presence of newer drones at Qeshm may havebeen a factor in the US Navy’s decision to equip itsfloating base in the gulf, the USS Ponce, with anexperimental laser cannon designed to shoot tinydrones or swarms of fast moving small boats.

Still, the sites on Qeshm are pretty tiny and itwould be relatively easy for the US to take themout with cruise missiles or B-2 stealth bombers.Iran’s going to have to have quite a few such sites ifit really wants to control the Strait of Hormuz formore than a few days.

Iran expanding drone base

on Arabian Gulf island

KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait celebrated the World Humanitarian Day byreleasing a statement showcasing dozens of contributions the bank offered through-out the years, including donations to the NBK Children Hospital, training courses forKuwaiti students, as well as support to social, environmental and athletic activities.

the sentencing phase.“I want to make sure your choice is

made with your eyes wide open,”Osborn said. “You’re 42 years old, you’rehighly educated, you have a medicaldegree, but you are not legally trained.”Hasan told the court he had switchedsides in the war on terror in order tobattle US soldiers he believed werebeing sent to make war on Muslims.Before the shooting, Hasan had learnedhe would be deployed to Afghanistan.He armed himself with two handgunsbefore attacking the center. Witnessesdescribed chaotic scene in whichdozens of soldiers were caught off

guard.When Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar”-

Arabic for “God is great”-and openedfire, many believed it was a trainingexercise. Hasan fired quickly, hittingsome victims multiple times. One of thedead, specialist Frederick Greene, washit 12 times while charging Hasan. Theshooting ended after civilian police con-fronted Hasan outside the building.Police sergeant Munley was the first onthe scene and opened fire. Hasancharged her and shot her three times.Fellow officer Sergeant Mark Todd thenarrived and opened fire on Hasan, hit-ting him several times. — AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

San Diego mayor Filnerquits over sex charges

Page 9

Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widensPage 8

FORT HOOD: A US Army officer whokilled 13 people in a rampage on a Texasmilitary base was found guilty of premed-itated murder Friday and now faces apossible death sentence. The verdictagainst 42-year-old Major Nidal Hasanwas handed down by a US military juryafter a court martial at Fort Hood, the siteof his 2009 shooting spree. Hasan sat sto-ically looking as the foreman, a femalecolonel, read the verdict in the killings of12 service members and a civilian, as wellas the attempted murder of dozens more.

There were no outbursts of emotionfrom family members of the victims, butsome cried and wiped away tears as theyleft the courtroom. “So overwhelmedwith joy and tears! ... God Bless the vic-tims in their strength,” former police ser-geant Kimberly Munley, who was wound-ed in the shooting, wrote on Twitter. Thetrial had heard that Hasan, a Muslim, hadbeen in contact with a leading Al-Qaedafigure and had attacked his comrades outof opposition to the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan.

Hasan, who was serving at the time asan Army psychiatrist, chose to defendhimself during the hearings and openlydeclared that he had carried out thekillings. The trial will now move into asentencing phase. His refusal to engagewith the court-he called no witnesses andrefused to make a closing statement-hasfuelled suspicions that he is actively seek-ing the death penalty. On November 5,2009, Hasan opened fire at a medical pro-cessing facility in the sprawling Fort Hoodbase that serves as a staging point for sol-diers to deploy to combat zones.

Twelve of the dead and 30 of the

wounded were soldiers. Hasan was him-self shot by a civilian police officer whoresponded to the attack and he is nowpartially paralyzed. Tim Hancock wasmayor of the nearby town of Killeen atthe time of the attack and 200 metersaway attending a graduation ceremonywhen the first shots rang out. “It was likewar, in my mind,” Hancock said. “It waslike the real thing and it was the realthing for those in the processing center.” “Ithink justice is served and we’ll see whathappens from here. It is still hard tobelieve and still sad,” he said of the sen-tencing.

Hasan’s attack raised fears that theUnited States could face a wave of so-called “lone wolf” killers, inspired by Al-Qaeda but not directly under theextremist group’s control. “I was defend-ing my religion,” Hasan said in a letter toAFP, arguing that the United States waswrong to invade Muslim countries. “It isone thing for the United States to say‘We don’t want sharia law to govern us,’but it is not acceptable to have a foreignpolicy that tries to replace sharia lawwith a more secular form of govern-ment.”

Under US military law, a full trial mustbe held in a death penalty case, even ifthe defendant wants to plead guilty. ButHasan chose to defend himself and con-tested virtually none of the evidencepresented during the two-week courtmartial. At the outset, he declared: “Theevidence will show that I am the shoot-er.” The military judge, Colonel TaraOsborn, told Hasan she thought it“unwise” for him to continue to serve ashis own attorney as the case moves into

Fort Hood shooter convicted Major Hasan faces death penalty

MAIDUGURI: An official says suspectedIslamist extremists killed at least 44 vil-lagers in continuing attacks in an Islamicuprising in northeast Nigeria. The officialof the National Emergency ManagementAgency says the attackers hit Dumba vil-lage in Borno state before dawn and slittheir victims’ throats - a new strategysince gunfire attracts security forces. Hesaid the attackers gouged out the eyes of

some victims who survived. The officialspoke Saturday on condition of anonymi-ty because he is not allowed to give infor-mation to reporters. Dumba is near thefishing village of Baga where securityforces in March gunned down 187 civil-ians in retaliation for an attack by extrem-ists. It is difficult to get information fromthe area under a state of emergency, withcellphone and Internet service cut. — AP

Nidal Hasan

Islamists slit throats of

44 in northeast Nigeria

TRIPOLI: Said Ebous bursts into tears ashis wife wrapped her arms around himafter they buried their three children,who were among 45 people killed bytwin car bombs in Lebanon. Ebous hadbeen praying in the Al-Taqwa mosque inthe northern port city of Tripoli on Fridaywhen a bomb exploded in the courtyard.Minutes earlier another blast had struckoutside Al-Salam mosque just a couple ofkilometers (a bit more than a mile) away.

“When I came out of the mosque intothe courtyard, I saw bodies everywhere. Ik new my children had died,” he saysbetween sobs. “They took me to a nearbyhouse to calm me down. Then they toldme: ‘Your children are in paradise’,” hesaid of his daughter aged seven, and hissons, aged four and five. The childrenwere among seven people buried yester-day in Tripoli, a day of national mourningacross Lebanon, as the usual ly busystreets were deser ted and shopsremained closed.

Gunmen in civilian clothes attendingthe funerals opened fire in the air to venttheir anger at the bloodshed, an AFP cor-respondent said. “We must avenge everydrop of blood that has been spilled,” saidone of the mourners, Khaled Al-Homsy.O thers around him shouted s logansagainst the government in Syria whose29-month conflict has spilled into Tripoli,tr iggering frequent clashes betweenopponents and suppor ters of theDamascus regime.

The bombings outside the two SunniMuslim mosques also wounded hun-dreds, but the toll could rise as some ofthe injuries were horrific and becausepeople were still searching for missingrelatives. “I am looking for the husband ofmy sister. Here’s his car,” says MohamedKhaled, 38, pointing to a damaged vehi-cle. “He is a baker, he was coming fromBeirut and passing through here,” he addsnervously. “His family is devastated. If hedied, may God protect his soul.” Severalcharred bodies are yet to be identified, a

security official said. Shock and grief gripTripoli yesterday, and the fear of freshattacks was palpable, the AFP correspon-dent said.

Soldiers patrolled the city on foot andin armored cars while armed men in civil-ian c lothes stood guard outside theheadquarters of political parties and thehomes of MPs and religious dignitaries.Security forces stopped motorists andsearched cars. Merchants put metal barsacross their shop windows, and the fewthat had opened were told to close againby armed men who said a bomb hadbeen found on the outskirts of the city.As with the August 15 car bombing thatripped through a densely populatedneighborhood in Beirut’s mostly-Shiitesouthern suburbs, the Tripoli blasts killedcivilians.

Mustafa al-Mussawel, who had alsobeen at prayers in Al-Taqwa and livesnearby, says: “Since yesterday, my daugh-ter has not stopped asking me: ‘Will wesee more bodies?’” He had run homewhen the blasts struck. “I saw my wifeand two young daughters had beenwounded in the head... I also saw humanremains on my balcony.” Yesterday sol-diers were still clearing the charred carsfrom the sites of the attacks that struckthe city centre and near the port. Shoeslay scattered across the pavement near towhere the bombs detonated.

Shopkeepers inspected their wreckedstores and people wandered around theblast sites, searching for their relatives.Friday’s attacks revived painful memoriesof the car bombings that markedLebanon’s civil war (1975-1990). “I havenever seen so much destruction and deathin my neighborhood,” said Said Farhat, 35,who works in a clothes shop near the Al-Salam mosque. “I am scared that it mighthappen again; I am afraid of dying buriedunder the rubble.” “I am thinking of emi-grating. Everything is going badly inLebanon, and nowhere is safe in the coun-try any more,” he adds. — AFP

Fear, grief as Lebanon’s

Tripoli buries its dead

I N T E R N AT I O N A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

CAIRO: Changes suggested by Egypt’sarmy-backed rulers would scrap Islamicadditions to a constitution forcedthrough under deposed PresidentMohamed Morsi and revive a voting sys-tem dating back to his predecessorHosni Mubarak. Islamists and liberalshave voiced alarm about the proposalsmade by a constitutional committee setup by the generals who removed theMuslim Brotherhood’s Morsi on July 3amid widespread protests againstEgypt’s first freely elected leader.

The army has suspended the consti-tution adopted under Morsi late lastyear. It had been endorsed by a referen-dum after he grabbed extraordinarypowers to ensure its passage, ignitingsome of the bloodiest street protests ofhis turbulent year in power. Now anarmy-installed government is revising adocument faulted for embeddingIslamic influence in lawmaking and forshort-changing human rights, especiallyof women and minorities, includingChristians who form some 10 percent ofthe population. The changes drafted bya 10-member committee - and leaked tothe media on Wednesday, the same daya court ordered Mubarak freed from jail- are part of an army roadmap back todemocracy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry dis-

cussed the roadmap and the constitu-tional process in a call with interimForeign Minister Nabil Fahmy on Friday,state news agency MENA reported. TheUnited States has voiced concern aboutthe army’s bloody crackdown on theMuslim Brotherhood and other violencein which more than 1,000 people, abouta tenth of them soldiers and police, havebeen killed since Morsi fell. PresidentBarack Obama has stopped short of cut-ting the $1.5 billion that Washington pro-vides each year in mostly military aid toEgypt, but has ruled out any “return tonormal business”.

The constitutional amendments draft-ed by the committee are due to go to adiverse 50-strong assembly to beappointed by the interim government,but they are already proving contentious.Curiously, given that popular protestshelped sweep away Egypt’s last two lead-ers, one new article would outlaw thisand would give parliament the sole rightto dismiss a president. “What is the pointof having an article like that?” askedrights activist Gamal Eid. “The wholeworld will laugh at us.”

RETURN TO OLD VOTING SYSTEMThe committee is likely to propose

retaining an article that exempts Egypt’spowerful military from financial or politi-

cal auditing, insiders on the body said.Morsi, anxious not to alienate thedefense establishment, had also left thisalone. One of the most significant sug-gested changes would return Egypt tovoting for individual candidates, ratherthan reserving some seats for party lists,in parliamentary elections. Under thecurrent system, in which two-thirds ofseats go to party lists and one-third toindividuals, the Muslim Brotherhood andother Islamist parties won about 80 per-cent of seats in the first parliamentaryelection after Mubarak’s overthrow in2011.

“This change seems to target Islamistsand it will be wrong and undemocratic,”Eid said. “We had complaints ... about theBrotherhood and Islamists, but that doesnot mean ruling them out of politics asthis will only lead to more violence.”Khaled Dawoud, a member of the liberalDostour party, described the proposal asa return to the Mubarak era, when voteswere routinely rigged to enable the pres-ident’s National Democratic Party (NDP)to maintain its dominance of parliament.

The system allowed individuals, most-ly aligned with the NDP, to run as “inde-pendents” using local patronage net-works to get into parliament.Brotherhood candidates also ran candi-dates as independents to keep a limited

presence in the assembly. OnceMubarak was gone, the Islamist move-ment emerged from the shadows andused its organizational muscle to winfive successive victories at the polls,gaining seats in parliament both forthose on party lists and those runningas individuals.

Dawoud said he was worried by plansto retain articles under which journalistsrisk jail for “insulting the president” andnewspapers can be closed for presscrimes - penalties enforced under Morsi,as well as during Mubarak’s 30-year rule.“I want new freedoms, more freedomsand not to end up with something simi-lar to the 1971 constitution or one worsethan Morsi’s 2012 constitution,” he said.Islamists are also up in arms, for differentreasons, saying the changes amount toan assault on Egypt’s “Islamic identity”.

According to MENA, the committeehas proposed scrapping articles thataccorded Islam more weight in lawmak-ing, gave the Sunni Muslim religiousauthority al-Azhar a role in vetting legis-lation, committed the state to upholding“morals and public order” and bannedinsults to “prophets and religions”. To thedismay of liberals and Christians, theconstitution adopted under Morsi hadstrengthened a provision in its 1971predecessor that made Islamic sharia the

source of legislation.However, the provision, due to revert

to its original form in the proposedchanges, was only patchily applied from1971. “We will protest in all legal waysavailable against any change to thestate’s Islamic identity,” said AhmedHabashi, a leader in the ultra-orthodoxIslamist Nour Party in the Delta town ofMahalla. If that effort failed, he said, “wewill call for protests.” Before the new con-stitution is ratified, it must be approvedby a referendum and signed by interimPresident Mansour Adly. Brotherhoodleaders are mostly in jail or on the runand could not be reached for commenton the proposed changes.

Younes Makhyoun, head of the NourParty, which initially backed the army’sremoval of Morsi, has warned againstany arbitrary campaign targetingIslamists after the crackdown on theBrotherhood, and has urged the govern-ment to protect freedoms won by theanti-Mubarak revolt. The legal commit-tee, which proposed cancelling 32 of theconstitution’s 236 articles and amending109, suggested abolishing the toothlessupper house of parliament. According tothe military’s roadmap, the new consti-tution should be adopted in about fourmonths, with parliamentary and presi-dential elections to follow. — Reuters

Constitutional tweaks may empower Mubarak-era politiciansChanges seen as setback for democracy, press freedom

CAIRO: A climate of fear that keptEgyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creep-ing back into daily life, less than threeyears after the revolt that toppledhim. Ordinary people like Mohamed,who runs a tiny Cairo shop sellingmobile phone accessories, now lowertheir voices if they oppose the army’soverthrow last month of their firstfreely-elected president, MohamedMorsi.

“It is about the principle that westood in line and voted freely for thefirst time and this happens,” whis-pered Mohamed, who declined togive his second name. “People whospeak about justice now do not dareto say it out loud, in case peopleaccuse them of being terrorists.” Whileactivists critical of the army-backedgovernment are obvious targets forintimidation, now ordinary Egyptiansalso avoid the noisy, boisterous dis-cussion of politics that was commonbetween the fall of Mubarak and thatof his Islamist successor on July 3.

From mass arrests of MuslimBrotherhood leaders to the re-appearance of plain clothes enforcerson the streets of Cairo, a chill wind isblowing down the Nile. ManyEgyptians lambasted Morsi’sBrotherhood for economic incompe-tence and trying to grab excessivepower during his year in power. Butnow the language is much more seri-ous: the government accuses theBrotherhood of “terrorism” as it triesto crush the movement by roundingup hundreds of leading members.

At least 900 people have beenkilled since security forces broke uptwo pro-Morsi camps on Aug. 14.Allies of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s old-est and best-organized Islamistorganization, put the toll at 1,400. Amuted public response toWednesday’s court ruling thatMubarak should be released from jailhas added to a sense that the authori-tarian order is making a comeback,threatening the freedoms that werethe main dividend of the uprising thatbegan on Jan 25, 2011.

Media are now dominated bythose backing the army’s line that itremoved Morsi in response to popu-lar protests demanding his departurethat began on June 30. “I can sense,smell and very much tell that theseare old Mubarak people coming totake their revenge on the Muslim

Brotherhood,” said Khaled Dawoud, aliberal who backed Morsi’s overthrowbut has since criticized the spread ofviolence. “It is so obvious with thepro-Mubarak people who are fillingthe TV right now. They don’t evenwant to consider Jan 25 a revolution.They say June 30 is the only revolu-tion.”

The Brotherhood, which kept largeprotest camps going for six weeks inCairo to demand Morsi’s reinstate-ment, is now struggling to get peopleout. There have been no majorprotests for days. The marches havefizzled out since Sunday when rumorsspread that government snipers wereposted on rooftops. The authoritieshave tightened their grip with dawn-to-dusk curfews. The emergency rulethat lasted throughout the Mubarakera is back, at least for a month. Policewho melted away in the face of publicanger in 2011 appear invigorated bythe new political climate, paraded asheroes on state television.

WIDENING THE NET As the authorities widen their net

to include regional and lower-rankingBrotherhood members, other Islamistparties worry that their own memberswill be hauled in. Younes Makhyoun,leader of the Nour Party which fol-lows the puritanical Salafi approach

to Islam, voiced concerned that thepolitical security apparatus that oncehunted religious groups and govern-ment critics will make a comeback.

Islamist movements, like any thattried to offer a serious alternative toMubarak’s military-backed party, wereoutlawed for decades. Like theBrotherhood, they were among thebiggest beneficiaries of the 2011uprising that allowed them to set uppolitical parties and campaign openlyfor the first time. Now, their membersface citizen’s arrests at the makeshiftcheckpoints that have sprung uparound Egypt, manned by pro-gov-ernment vigilantes. Some Egyptiansrecognise these as the pro-Mubarak“baltagiya”, or thugs, who clashedwith protesters during the 18-dayrevolt that ousted the former leader.

“Thugs have attacked them in thestreet, then handed them over to thepolice stations, then accusations havebeen fabricated against them - thatthey had weapons or were taking partin acts of sabotage,” Makhyoun said.“We need guarantees from theauthorities to the Egyptian people:that the gains of the Jan 25 revolutioncannot be violated, especially in thefield of freedoms, human rights, andfreedom of expression.”

The crackdown on the Islamistshas divided liberals in much the same

way that it has polarized Egypt. Loathto endure Islamist rulers, elected ornot, some liberals who joined the2011 protests now side wholeheart-edly with the army. Egyptian state tel-evision has resumed its role as themouthpiece of those in power.Channels emblazoned with bannersreading “Egypt fighting terrorism”flicker on screens in Cairo’s streetcafes, in bakeries and in barber shops.

A recent poll by the ArabAmerican Institute suggested a hugemajority of Egyptians had confidencein the military. It is far from uncommonto hear Egyptians, whose economywas brought close to bankruptcy bypersistent instability, hark back toMubarak’s era as a time when they atleast earned a living. “The Brotherhoodwere a problem for this country. Godhas taken revenge on them,” said HajAbdelfattah, 71, smoking his water-pipe as he sat on a plastic chair andsold overripe fruit by the road. “Theyacted for themselves, not Egypt.”

LIBERAL CRITICS FEEL THE HEAT But some of the liberals who ini-

tially welcomed the army’s moveagainst Morsi have been dismayed bythe ensuing bloodshed. The army haspromised fresh elections but criticsfear they will pay a political price fortheir opposition. —Reuters

Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widens

Egyptians panic as govt hunts down Islamists

RAFAH BORDER: A bus drives through the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. Aweek after Cairo closed down the passage that bypasses Israel it reopened yesterday for four hours daily,for humanitarian cases and Palestinians with foreign nationalities. —AFP

WASHINGTON: These two file photos show US Army Private First Class BradleyManning (left) leaving a military court facility where he was convicted of espionagefor passing secret documents to WikiLeaks; and at right in an undated photo cour-tesy of the US Army showing Bradley Manning in wig and make-up. — AFP

Manning creating new challenges for US army

FORT MEADE: Bradley Manning createda whole new set of potential complica-tions for the US military, asking to beknown as a woman named Chelsea andto undergo hormone treatment, just oneday after he was sentenced to 35 years inprison for the biggest leak of classifiedmaterial in American history. Manning’sgender-identity struggle - a sense ofbeing a woman trapped in a man’s body- was brought up by the defense at thecourt-martial for giving more than700,000 classified military and diplomat-ic documents, plus battlefield footage, tothe anti-secrecy website Wikileaks.

A photo of the soldier in a blond wigand lipstick was submitted as evidence.But the latest twist, announced themorning after Manning was sentenced,surprised many and confronted thePentagon with questions about whereand how the Army private is to be impris-oned. The former Army intelligence ana-lyst disclosed the decision Thursday in astatement provided to NBC’s “Today”show. “As I transition into this next phaseof my life, I want everyone to know thereal me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am afemale. Given the way that I feel, andhave felt since childhood, I want to beginhormone therapy as soon as possible,”the statement read.

The statement asked people to usethe feminine pronoun when referring toManning. I t was signed “Chelsea EManning” and included a handwrittensignature. The soldier’s attorney, DavidCoombs, told “Today” he hopes officialsat the military prison at FortLeavenworth, Kansas, accommodateManning’s request for hormone treat-ment, which typically involves high dos-es of estrogen to promote breast devel-opment and other female characteristics.

The Associated Press Stylebook callsfor use of the pronoun that is either anindividual’s preference or is consistentwith the way the person lives publicly.The news agency said in a statement itwould let that “be our guide as this storydevelops.” However, Leavenworthspokesman George Marcec said laterThursday that if Manning wants to go byChelsea in prison, a name change wouldhave to be approved in court and then apetition submitted with the Army tochange its records.

The AP said it was seeking additionaldetails from Coombs, and until thenwould use only gender-neutral terms inreference to Manning. Coombs did notrespond to email and telephone mes-sages. George Wright, an Armyspokesman at the Pentagon, said theArmy does not provide such treatmentor sex-reassignment surgery. He said sol-diers behind bars are given access to psy-chiatrists and other mental health pro-

fessionals.A lawsuit could be in the offing.

Coombs said he will do “everything in mypower” to make sure Manning gets hisway. And the American Civil LibertiesUnion, the Human Rights Campaign andother advocates for gays, bisexuals andtransgender people said Manningdeserves the treatment. “In the UnitedStates, it is illegal to deny health care toprisoners. That is fairly settled law,” saidMara Keisling, executive director of theNational Center for Transgender Equality.“Now the Army can claim this isn’t healthcare, but they have the weight of themedical profession and science againstthem.”

A Federal Bureau of Prisons policyimplemented last year requires federalprisons to develop treatment plans,including hormone treatment if neces-sary, for inmates diagnosed with gender-identity disorder. But the bureau over-sees only civilian prisons. Manning’s caseappeared to be the first time the therapyhad come up for a military prisoner.Manning, 25, was convicted of EspionageAct violations and other crimes for turn-ing more than 700,000 classified militaryand diplomatic documents over to thesecrets-spilling website WikiLeaks.

Coombs said the soldier could beparoled from prison in as little as sevenyears. After sentencing, Manning wasreturned Thursday to Fort Leavenworth.Fort Leavenworth is an all-male prison.But the staff has some leeway to sepa-rate soldiers from the other inmatesbased on the risk to themselves and oth-ers, prison spokesman George Marcecsaid. Manning would not be allowed towear a wig or bra, and would have tomeet the military standard for hair,Marcec said.

In addition, Marcec said if Manningwants to go by Chelsea in the prison, aname change would have to beapproved in court and then a petitionsubmitted with the Army to change itsrecords. Advocates said gays and trans-gender people are more susceptible tosexual assault and other violence inprison. “She most likely will need to beplaced with a female prison populationbecause she identifies as female,” saidJeffrey Parsons, a psychology professorat Hunter College in New York.

Under a special agreement, the Armysends its female prisoners to a Navywomen’s jail in Miramar, California. It alsohas an agreement under which it cansend soldiers to federal civilian prisons.Greg Rinckey, a former Army prosecutorand now a lawyer in Albany, New York,said the military is adamant about notproviding hormone treatment: “Youenlisted as a male, you’re a male, you’regoing to be incarcerated as a male.”—AP

NOUAKCHOTT: An Al-Qaeda-linked militia found-ed by wanted Islamist commander MokhtarBelmokhtar has announced it had joined forceswith another armed group to take revenge againstFrance for its military offensive in Mali.Belmokhtar’s Mauritania-based Al-MulathameenBrigade (The Brigade of the Masked Ones) and theMali-based Movement for Oneness and Jihad in

West Africa (MUJAO) said they had joined forcesunder a single banner to unite Muslims across theregion.

“Your brothers in MUJAO and Al-Mulathameenannounce their union and fusion in one movementcalled Al-Murabitoun to unify the ranks of Muslimsaround the same goal, from the Nile to theAtlantic,” the groups said in a statement publishedby Mauritanian news agency ANI. Belmokhtar, aone-eyed Algerian former commander of Al-Qaedain the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), allegedly master-minded a siege in January of an Algerian gas plantin which 38 hostages, including three Americans,died. Branded “The Uncatchable”, Belmokhtar isalso thought to have been behind twin car bomb-ings in Niger in May that left at least 20 peopledead.

The Algeria siege and the Niger assaults weresaid to have been carried out in retaliation forFrance’s military intervention launched in Januaryagainst Islamist groups in Mali. Belmokhtar, whobroke away from AQIM in 2012 and was involved inthe fighting against Chadian forces in Mali, wasreported to have been killed in action in March.The reports, however, were never confirmed and itis believed that he remains at large. He has beendesignated a foreign terrorist by the United States

since 2003, with the State Department offering a$5 million reward for information leading to hiscapture.

MUJAO is thought to be led by Mauritanian eth-nic Tuareg Ahmed Ould Amer, who goes by thenom de guerre “Ahmed Telmissi”. The group brokeaway from AQIM in mid-2011 with the apparentgoal of spreading jihad further into areas of westAfrica not within AQIM’s scope. It was one of anumber of Islamist groups that occupied northernMali last year, imposing a brutal interpretation ofIslamic sharia law characterized by amputations,beatings and executions, before being ousted bythe French-led military intervention.

The statement said the two men had signed adocument announcing their merger and cedingcommand of the new movement to “another per-sonality”, without revealing the identity of the newleader, according to ANI. The statement said thejihadist movement in the region was now “strongerthan ever” and threatened France and its allies,promising “to rout their troops”. Al-Murabitoun-anArabic phrase meaning “the sentinels”-was thename given to a Berber dynasty of Morocco whichformed an empire in the 11th century. Today thename is used by a Nasserist political party inLebanon.— AFP

Islamist militias merge, declare jihad on France

Terrorist leader Moktar Belmoktar

I N T E R N AT I O N A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

WASHINGTON: It’s a good thing RichardNixon was such a klutz. The president’sineptness at all things mechanical is whatprompted his aides to install a voice-acti-vated recording system that didn’t requireNixon to push an on-off button, ensuringthat every word he spoke in the OvalOffice and other key locations was caughton tape. With the secret taping system onautopilot - seven microphones planted inwall sconces and the president’s desk -Nixon largely forgot about it, and let loosewith the raw, gossipy, conniving and too-clever words that ultimately toppled hispresidency and forever changed the wayAmericans think about their presidentsand their government.

The tapes - the last installment of themreleased Wednesday - are like the blackbox in an increasingly out-of-control air-plane, recording right up to the crash. Inthe tapes, Americans began to see theirpresidents as “less glorious, less heroic, lessromantic - either more like us, or more likepeople we don’t like,” says presidential his-torian Julian Zelizer of PrincetonUniversity.

For more than three decades, thesecrets of the tapes have trickled out,Nixon’s conspiratorial voice cuttingthrough the clinking coffee cups, thesirens in the distance and the thumpswhen he plopped his feet on the desk, somuch more vivid and revealing than anymemo recounting selective details of apresidential meeting. Perhaps the mostfamous snippet: the “smoking gun” conver-sation recorded six days after theWatergate break-in of June 17, 1972, inwhich Nixon instructs chief of staff HRHaldeman to tell the FBI, “Don’t go any fur-

ther into this case, period.”Without the tapes, the Watergate inves-

tigation could well have dried up. Instead,the tapes’ expletive-deleted revelationsriveted the nation and brought down apresident. And even as Watergate slips fur-ther in the rearview mirror, a legacy of dis-trust and cynicism endures, passed fromone generation to the next in dinner-tableconversation and digital clips on YouTube.

That ’s not all bad, scholars argue.People watch more closely, demand moreaccountability. “We should be skepticalabout our governments,” says historianKen Hughes of the University of Virginia’sMiller Center presidential recordings pro-gram. “We should demand that our gov-ernment prove itself to us.” The last 340hours of more than 3,700 hours of Nixontapes came from the Nixon PresidentialLibrary and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif.,covering April 9, 1973, to July 12, 1973 -the day before the secret taping systemwas revealed.

Little more than a year later, done in bythe revelations on the tapes, Nixonresigned on Aug 9, 1974. I t took fourdecades, though, for the public to gainaccess to the last of the tapes. “It’s over,and I won,” says historian Stanley Kutler,whose 1992 lawsuit helped lead to thetapes’ release. “All the tapes are out, and it’sthere for every historian, every generationto judge. ... Never until Nixon have webeen so able to get into the mind of apresident.” The Nixon tapes’ final install-ment, still being scoured for revelations,already offers new details from inside theWhite House.

On April 30, 1973, Nixon takes callsfrom two future presidents - Ronald

Reagan and George HW Bush - who offerprivate support after his first major nation-al address about Watergate. Nixon com-plains about the reaction from TV pundits,telling Bush, “To hell with the commenta-tors.” The tapes cover far more thanWatergate, of course, and Wednesday’srelease includes audio of Nixon and Sovietleader Leonid Brezhnev chatting one-on-one in the Oval Office before their June1973 summit, with only an interpreterpresent.

The conversation reveals remarkablecamaraderie, as the two men chat abouttheir families, Brezhnev talking about hisgrandson’s attempts to pass collegeentrance exams. “These are Cold War arch-enemies who are talking like old friends,”says Luke Nichter of Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen, who runs a web-site cataloging Nixon’s secret recordings.“This is very unusual.”

While Wednesday’s release was promot-ed by the National Archives as the finalinstallment of the tapes, more segmentsmay yet trickle out. Nichter said thearchives down the road may be able torelease sections that have been withheldfor national security reasons or to protectthe privacy of a living individual. Every stu-dent of Nixon has a favorite moment fromthe tapes that is recalled as particularlysignificant or telling.

For Kutler, the most damning conversa-tion is Nixon telling aides in August 1972that the Watergate burglars “have to bepaid” to keep them silent about the 1971break-in at Democratic offices in theWatergate complex. “ That cuts to thewhole heart of the matter of obstruction ofjustice,” says Kutler. For Hughes, it is Nixon

and national security adviser HenryKissinger strategizing about delayingtroop reductions to ensure that the SouthVietnamese government won’t collapseuntil after the president is re-elected in1972. “We’ve got to find a formula thatholds the thing together a year or two,after which ... Vietnam will be a backwater,”Kissinger tells Nixon in August 1972. “ByJanuary ‘74 no one will give a damn.”Although Nixon wasn’t the first presidentto secretly record his conversations, he wasthe last - as far as is known. FranklinRoosevelt, Harry Truman, DwightEisenhower, John Kennedy and Lyndon

Johnson all secretly taped, too, but in amuch more selective manner.

For all of the cynical political calcula-tions and maneuvers laid bare in the Nixontapes, the president ventures a colossalmisjudgment about how the Watergatescandal will play out, dismissing it as a sto-ry with no legs. “I’ve got a sneaking hunch... it’s a Washington son-of-a-bitching sto-ry,” he tells his aides. “I don’t think you’regoing to see a great, great uproar in thecountry about the Republican committeetrying to bug the Democratic headquar-ters,” Nixon said four days after the break-in.—AP

Legacy of Nixon tapes: Skepticism, distrust endure

WASHINGTON: In this April 29, 1974, file photo, President Richard M Nixon points tothe transcripts of the White House tapes after he announced that he would turn overthe transcripts to House impeachment investigators, in Washington. The last 340hours of tapes from Nixon’s White House were released Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013,along with more than 140,000 pages of text materials. — AP

BOGOTA: Colombia’s government and Marxist FARCrebels suspended their participation in peace talks inCuba on Friday, complicating nine months of painstakingnegotiations aimed at ending five decades of bloodshed.President Juan Manuel Santos called his negotiating teamhome from Havana hours after the FARC, or RevolutionaryArmed Forces of Colombia, said it would “pause” the talksto review a government plan to put any peace deal to apopular vote.

It was the first interruption to the talks that began lastNovember and a sudden dent to hopes the two sideswould soon see the difficult talks through to the end,after recent comments from the FARC had given cause foroptimism. While the halt to talks will worry Colombians,analysts said there is little reason to suspect the two sideswill not resume talks again. Santos, who bet his politicallegacy on bringing peace to the Andean nation, sent a billon Thursday to Congress that calls for a referendum onany peace accord during national elections in eitherMarch or May next year.

“The FARC has decided to pause the discussions at thetable, to focus exclusively on analyzing the implicationsof the government’s proposal,” Pablo Catatumbo, one ofthe lead FARC negotiators, said in a statement. Santossaid discussions would only resume when the govern-

ment considered it appropriate. “We are going to assesstheir statement, their behavior toward the governmentinitiative (which aims) to accelerate the solution of theconflict,” Santos said in a brief statement at Bogota’s mili-tary airport. “In this process, the one who makes pausesand establishes the conditions, is not the FARC.”

The FARC has said repeatedly it sees a constituentassembly as the best way to enshrine the tenets of thepeace accords in the country’s constitution and does nottrust that a referendum would protect agreementsreached in Havana. Colombians are desperate to see anend to the war that has killed more than 200,000 peopleand displaced millions since it began in 1964. Santos isalso eager to negotiate peace with the NationalLiberation Army, a smaller rebel group known as the ELN.He has said he wants the FARC peace accord byNovember.

In the final year of his four-year term, Santos has ruledout a constituent assembly and said the Colombian peo-ple must support any deals reached before an end to thewar can be declared. Santos has not said if he will seek re-election. He accepted the FARC’s right to study the gov-ernment proposal, but urged the rebel negotiators not totake too long. “The FARC has left the negotiating table tostudy the proposal and it’s legitimate and valid that it

should, but time is passing and the patience of theColombian people has a limit,” Santos said earlier onFriday.

Some analysts say the unilateral decision by the gov-ernment to seek a referendum goes against the spirit ofthe initial agreement that led to talks, in which it wasclear both sides would decide jointly how to ratify anydeal. “This incident weakens the peace process,” saidCarlos Lozano, political analyst and editor of the left-lean-ing weekly magazine Voz. “But it is not at risk because it isjust an incident and can be overcome.”

The FARC has battled a dozen governments since itbegan as an agrarian strug-gle against rural inequality.Even while it has beenseverely weakened in thepast 10 years by a heavyUS-backed offensive, itremains a formidablethreat to the governmentand civil ian population.More than three dozenFARC commanders are inHavana working through afive-point agenda involv-

ing agrarian reform, reparation to victims, stemming theillegal drug trade, an end to the conflict and the FARC’sinclusion in the political system.

The disruption in talks comes on the heels of severalcomments from the FARC in recent days that appeared toshow irritation with comments from Santos, but thegroup also recently expressed optimism that progresshad been made. In a recent interview, Santos told Reutersthe rebel leadership could face jail terms if peace wereachieved. He also said FARC negotiators would need toreturn to Colombia’s jungle and face capture or death inbattle if talks collapse.—Reuters

Colombia peace talks suspendedFARC wants peace deal enshrined in constitution

LOS ANGELES: The mayor of the US city of San Diego resigned Fridayamid a wave of sexual harassment complaints, issuing a blanket apologybut also decrying the “hysteria” surrounding the case. Mayor Bob Filner, aDemocrat elected mayor of the southern Californian city in November,endured weeks of calls for his resignation. Angry citizens even organizeda recall effort to remove him from office. “I apologize to all of you,” saidFilner, 70, as he announced his resignation after a closed-door meeting with City Council members.

Filner, however remained defiant. “Not one allegation ...has ever been independently verified or proven in court. Ihave never sexually harassed anyone. But there’s a hysteriathat has been created, that many of you helped to feed.It’s the hysteria of a lynch mob.” As part of the agreementto leave office, San Diego will pay for a joint legal defenseagainst sexual harassment lawsuits filed by employees orcontractors. “I think I let you down,” said Filner, whose lastday on the job is August 30. “To all the women that Ioffended, I had no intention to be offensive, to violate anyphysical or emotional space,” he said.

“I was trying to establish personal relationships, but thecombination of awkwardness and hubris led to behaviorthat many found offensive.” Although 18 alleged victimshave publicly complained about the mayor’s inappropri-ate behavior, only one-his former communications direc-tor, Irene McCormack-has filed a lawsuit. She is represent-ed by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred. “Today is a day ofreckoning for Mayor Filner and a day of vindication for hismany alleged victims,” Allred said.

Though Filner “still continues to live in his own realityand deny responsibility for the conduct which we allege inour lawsuit,” Allred said, “the fact is that he has done what

was absolutely needed. He has resigned and that is what is most impor-tant.” McCormack claims that Filner said he wanted to sleep with her,asked her to work in her underwear, and said that he would marry her. InJuly Filner admitted that he had engaged in “wrong and inexcusablebehavior” and enrolled in two weeks of behavioral therapy startingAugust 5.— AFP

San Diego mayor Filner

resigns over sex charges

CALIFORNIA: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner announceshis mayoral resignation to the city council. — AFP

I N T E R N AT I O N A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

NEW YORK: Critics of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stop-and-frisk policy celebrate after City Council members vote on whether to bring amotion to the floor to override Mayor Michael Bloombergís vetoes. — AP

Counterfeit medicine trade targets Africa’s poorYAOUNDE: From Cameroon to Ivory Coast,Kenya to the DR Congo, traders in counter-feit drugs do a thriving business with theutmost cynicism and sometimes at the costof human lives. “Street medication kills. Thestreet is killing (safe) medication,” declares abanner outside a pharmacy in theCameroonian capital Yaounde, where thedangerous trade is rampant.

The market is saturated with counterfeitanti-malaria drugs, painkillers, antibioticsand even rehydration serum. No domain ofthe pharmaceutical industry is spared byillicit manufacturers and traffickers, accord-ing to reports gathered by AFP offices acrossAfrica. “That’s powerful Diclofenac (an anti-inflammatory), which is the bestseller,” saysBlaise Djomo, a street vendor at Yaounde’scentral market. “And this is Viagra, whichCameroonians are really wild about.”

About 100 traders like Djomo are set upunder parasols in full view of everyone, theirboxes heaped with medicines. Bubble-packstrips of pills are lined up in the woodenstalls. People can even buy single pills at thismarket or even at some grocery stores.Vendors often mix fake medication with the

real thing, which has either been legallyacquired or stolen from supplies meant forhospitals and clinics.

At best, fake prescription drugs have noeffect, acting like placebos, but at theirworst, they are highly toxic. Either way theybring in vast sums of money for thosebehind the illicit traffic. The UN Office onDrugs and Crime (UNODC) warned at a con-ference last February that counterfeit drugsare a multi-billion dollar business account-ing for 30 percent of the pharmaceuticalmarket in parts of Africa. “Fraudulent medi-cines have proven to be harmful and attimes fatal, as well as an increasingly lucra-tive area for organized criminal networks,”the agency said in a press release.

“The supply routes are of two kinds.Alongside the small-scale smugglers, thereare international criminal networks thatundertake the supply of drugs from distantmanufacturers in China and India,” saidParfait Kouassi, who chaired the NationalOrder of Pharmacists in Ivory Coast from2005 to 2012. Kouassi, who made a priorityof fighting the dangerous trade in fake med-icines, escaped two murder bids at the

headquarters of the Order of Pharmacists.“That’s a sign that major interests are in playand that it’s not just a matter of small-scalelocal traffickers,” he said.

The phenomenon is spreading and rep-resents between 20 and 25 percent of thedrug market in Ivory Coast, adds Kouassi. InKenya, 30 percent of drugs sold in 2012were either fake or counterfeit, according tothe Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Kenya.Cameroon health officials give a similar fig-ure. However, in the Democratic Republic ofCongo, as in many other African countries,there are no national statistics, just recordsof frequent drugs seizures.

In Nigeria-once known as a major sourceof counterfeit medicines-phony drugs andreal ones that had passed their expiry datemade up 70 percent of sales in 2002, accord-ing to the World Health Organization. Sincethen, in the continent’s biggest market withsome 160 million people, officials say thathigh-profile efforts have greatly reduced thenumber of fake or adulterated drugs, butreliable figures are hard to obtain.

“Most of these fake and adulterateddrugs come from China and India, from

where we import more than 50 percent ofthe drugs we use in Nigeria. We don’t importmuch drugs from the US,” says AbubakarJimoh, spokesman of the National Agencyfor Food and Drug Administration andControl (NAFDAC). “They no longer bring ...illicit drugs in large containers but in smallpacks. They also change the labels of thedrugs from outside the country to makethem look original,” Jimoh said. Healthauthorities have set up a service to enableconsumers to check the authenticity ofdrugs by verifying the PIN serial number onthe product label via an SMS message.

SAFE VS CHEAPThe outstanding exception on the conti-

nent in fighting the illicit drug trade is SouthAfrica, which has a strictly enforced licensingsystem, according to Griffith Molewa, headof law enforcement at the Medicines ControlCouncil. “We have dedicated ports of entryfor medicines, restricted to Durban, CapeTown, Port Elizabeth and OR Tambo airportin Johannesburg,” Molewa said. “We alsohave a vertically integrated system, meaningonly manufacturers can sell to the whole-

salers, and then the wholesaler to the retailoutlets, and then the pharmacies can onlyserve the patients.”

“Any product found on the street isseized and given to the police for prosecu-tion. The penalty is a fine or up to 10 years ofimprisonment or both.” In most other coun-tries, measures against the counterfeit drugtrade are limited to police raids on publicmarkets to seize fake or adulterated prod-ucts, along with public information andawareness campaigns, which appear tohave little effect on consumers.

For in countries where medical expens-es-from drugs to hospitalization-are noteven partly reimbursed by the state, the rel-atively cheap price of street medicationtrumps the risk factor for many. “I’m here tobuy a worm treatment and something toprotect my children from malaria,” customerNadine Mefo said at Yaounde’s central mar-ket. “It costs less than in the pharmacy and itsoothes the children. “Doctors say that streetmarket medicines are dangerous, but sinceI’ve been coming, I’ve not yet had a prob-lem,” she adds, clutching two packs of pills ofunknown origin.—AFP

KIEV: Ukrainian President ViktorYanukovich yesterday re-affirmedhis commitment to signing keyagreements with the EuropeanUnion, inc luding on trade,despite a threat by Russ ia’sVladimir Putin of possible retalia-tor y measures. Russia, the ex-Soviet republic’s biggest tradingpartner, last week signaled grow-ing a larm at K iev ’s pol ic y ofEuropean integration by conduct-ing labor ious ex tra customschecks on imports from Ukraine,causing delays at the border.

Though Russia ended the cus-toms checks after a few days,Putin last Thursday added to fearsin Kiev of a possible trade war bysaying that a free trade dealbetween Uk raine and the EUmight “squeeze out ” Russiangoods. He warned that membersof the Eurasian Customs Unionlink ing Russia, Belarus andKazakhstan might have to take“protective measures” to defendtheir markets.

In an Independence Dayspeech yesterday, Yanukovich,once regarded as being moreRussia-friendly than his nationalistpredecessor Viktor Yushchenko,pointedly ignored Putin’s com-ments. While pledging to deepenrelations with Russia and othercustoms union members, he indi-cated that Kiev was committed tosigning agreements on politicalassociation and free trade withthe EU at a summit in Vi lnius,Lithuania, in November. “ForUk raine, association with theEuropean Union must become animportant stimulus for forming amodern European state,” hedeclared.

“At the same time, we mustpreserve and continue deepeningour relations (and) processes ofintegration with Russia, countriesof the Eurasian community, other

world leaders and new centres ofeconomic development,” he said.Ukraine’s economy relies heavilyon exports of steel, coal, fuel andpetroleum products, chemicalsand grain. More than 60 percentof its exports go to other formerSoviet republics, with Russia,Belarus and Kazakhstan the mostimportant.

Ukrainian commentators seelast week’s customs checks as awarning shot by Moscow provid-ing a foretaste of what can beexpected if Ukraine opts for turn-ing towards Europe and awayfrom its former Soviet al ly.Yanukovich, backed by powerfuland wealthy business figures whosee greater prosperity in European

markets, has resisted entreaties byMoscow to join the CustomsUnion - a move which would beincompatible with a free tradeagreement with the EU.

But with Kiev still hopeful ofsecuring a lower price for deliver-ies of costly Russian gas for theUkrainian economy, Yanukovichneeds to maintain good relationswith Moscow. He is sending hisprime minister, Mykola Azarov,there on Monday to try to calmRussia’s fears over Ukraine’s movestowards Europe.

In an Independence Day mes-sage of congratulations toYanukovich, Putin yesterday avoid-ed any discord, expressing Russia’sreadiness to increase cooperation

with Ukraine across the board. It is far from a foregone conclu-

sion that a political associationagreement, including a free tradedeal, will be signed in Vilnius inNovember even thoughYanukovich wants it.

Many EU member states aredisappointed at the pace of demo-cratic reform in Ukraine sinceYanukovich was elected inFebruary 2010 and are pressingparticularly for the release from jailof former Prime Minister YuliaTymoshenko, his fiercest politicaladversary. Tymoshenko was jailedin late 2011 for seven years forabuse of office after what the EUsays was a politically-motivated tri-al.— Reuters

Ukraine president ignores

Putin warning on EU pathKiev resists joining customs union with Russia

KIEV: People hold a giant Ukrainian flag as they celebrate the Day of the National Flag in Kiev. — AFP

PRETORIA: Outcasts elsewhere, theschoolgirls chatter, compare home-work and shuffle to class just like oth-er teens but with one big difference-all are expectant mums in SouthAfrica’s only school for pregnant girls.This is Pretoria Hospital School wherestudents, some as young as 13, aregiven the chance to carry on learningin a country where expectant school-girls and their numbers are alarming-are often expelled.

“We offer them an environmentwhere they can learn without beingprejudiced, but that does not meanthat we condone early pregnancy,”said principal Rina van Niekerk. Thesmall establishment does not pro-mote its service and remains low-key,amid debate over how to remedySouth Africa’s scholastic exclusion ofpregnant teens. “ The aim of theschool is to ensure that they do notmiss out on education just becausethey are pregnant,” said Van Niekerk.

She has been at the facility for 25years, amid a lack of clear policy onpregnant learners in other stateschools where treatment varies andmany just shut the girls out. Changemay be afoot, however, as in July theConstitutional Court forced two stateschools to end their practice of ban-ning pregnant students from class.

Teenage pregnancy rates remainhigh in South Africa, despite years ofcampaigns against unprotected sexin a country where more than 10 per-cent of the population live with theHIV virus that causes AIDS. An officialstudy in 2002 said one in every threeteenage girls in South Africa hadbeen pregnant by the age of 19, withlittle apparent improvement since.The education ministry estimatesthat some 94,000 teenagers fell preg-nant in 2011.

Poverty and other factors, likerape, have not helped. With nearly65,000 attacks a year, South Africahas one of the highest incidences of

reported rape in the world, and theunemployment rate continues toexceed 25 percent. The Pretoriaschool, in the heart of the capital,

opened in the 1950s as a school forsick children in city hospitals. The firstexpectant girls were enrolled in the1980s, when pregnancy out of wed-lock was taboo. It has 108 students,aged 13 to 18, following a peak in2011 with 134 girls. After giving birth,the teens return to finish the aca-demic year as new mothers. VanNiekerk is protective of her students,who playfully pat each others tum-mies under the blue uniforms. She isadamant that pregnant learners posespecial challenges. “Some girls havetrouble concentrating and theysometimes suffer from pregnancyrelated sickness,” she said. “We haveto be really patient sometimes.” Notall agree, like Andile Dube, the direc-tor of LoveLife, South Africa’s largestyouth-targeted HIV/AIDS campaign.

She is opposed to the idea ofexclusive schooling for pregnantgirls, saying it does not provide asolution to the country’s vast prob-lem. “I think it only deals with preg-nancy management rather than pre-vention,” she said. “I’m of the viewthat if you start to create thoseschools around the country, you arealmost saying pregnancy is a condi-tion that is actually very exclusive, it’ssomething that has to be treated dif-ferently,” she said. The learners atPretoria themselves are positive.Naledi Vuma, an 18-year-old whogave birth last year, said she wasgrateful to continue classes whileexpecting and then return to com-plete her studies. Being among otherpregnant girls helped her “feel com-fortable”, she said. According to 2012figures by the World HealthOrganization, there are 16 millionadolescent pregnancies around theworld and 95 percent of these occurin developing countries.— AFP

S Africa’s School gives hope to pregnant girls

PRETORIA: Naledi Vuma, a student who gave birth in April2013, poses in Pretoria, at the Pretoria Hospital School special-ized in teenage pregnancy. The Pretoria Hospital School, aPublic School opened in 1950 and originally dedicated to sickchildren, is the only school of its kind in South Africa. — AFP

NEW YORK: They took responsibility forkeeping New York City safe in the after-math of Sept. 11. And for years, theirapproach was seen as nearly beyond ques-tion, as the threat of terror attacks was keptat bay and the crime rate fell to record lows.Now, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg andPolice Commissioner Raymond Kelly nearthe end of Bloomberg’s tenure, a backlashagainst the street stops and surveillanceprograms they call cornerstones of build-ing “America’s safest big city” has added atone-changing last chapter to the narrativeof policing New York in the past 12 years.

A federal judge this month gave cre-dence to years of complaints that the NewYork Police Department has stopped mil-lions of people in a racially discriminatoryway, ordering a monitor to oversee sizablechanges. A City Council that scaled back a2004 anti-racial profiling law this week vot-ed to make it easier to sue over profilingclaims and established a watchdog toinvestigate police procedures, defyingBloomberg vetoes.

Bloomberg is appealing the court rulingand signaled he will sue to try to block theprofiling legislation, but those prospectivechallenges may not be resolved before heleaves. Is it a defining episode or a footnotein the administration’s public safety histo-ry? That will be up to the next mayor, NewYorkers’ memories and what unfolds in thecourts and on the streets, observers say.“We may have reached an historic point -depending upon what happens,” saidWilliam Eimicke, a Columbia Universitypublic affairs professor who was a deputycity fire commissioner from 2007 to 2010.

Bloomberg is clear about how he seeshis policing record. And he warns that therecent calls to rein in stop and frisk mightonly prove his policies were right. “It’s beenalmost 12 years now where people havewalked the streets of New York City withouthaving to look over their shoulder. I suspectthat’s a pretty good legacy,” he said afterthe court decision. Break the NYPD’sembrace of stop and frisk, he admonishedsuccessors, and “be responsible for a lot ofpeople dying.”

Terrorism was the top safety concernwhen Bloomberg took office in January2002, reappointing Kelly to the commis-sioner’s job he’d held from 1992 to 1994.They set about sculpting a muscularantiterrorism operation with more than1,000 officers, some sent overseas to gatherinformation. Building on a drop in streetcrime that started under Mayor RudyGiuliani, Bloomberg and Kelly stepped upthe use of statistics to pinpoint crimehotspots and flood them with officers.

The mayor became a national voice ongun control. And they upped emphasis onstopping, questioning and sometimes frisk-ing people seen as doing something suspi-cious but not plainly arrest-worthy: 97,296stops in 2002 rose to 685,724 in 2011, drop-ping to 533,042 last year. There were flaresof tension, including over mass arrests ofdemonstrators during the 2004 RepublicanNational Convention and the 2006 shoot-ing of an unarmed bridegroom on his wed-ding day.

But overall, the message many NewYorkers heard was one of foiled terror plotsand America’s lowest big-city crime rate, asmeasured by the FBI. Killings repeatedly hitthe lowest points on record and are ontrack for another record low this year. Kellyhas enjoyed the highest approval ratings ofany city official.

Still, over the last two years, long-rum-bling complaints about stop and friskbecame a roar amplified by the mayoralrace. The extent of the NYPD’s surveillanceof Muslims came to light when TheAssociated Press detailed tactics thatincluded infiltrating Muslim student groupsand putting informants in mosques, disclo-sures that partly fueled the City Councillegislation. Bloomberg and Kelly went onthe offensive, denouncing the practices’critics and portraying the stakes in omi-nous terms. “Remember what happenedhere on 9/11,” Bloomberg chided in onespeech. Some New Yorkers wondered atthe officials’ combativeness. “It’s a shameKelly’s been so hostile” to the court andcouncil moves, said Karen Lalor, 38, anupper Manhattan home care worker whoconsiders the commissioner generally “areasonable man.” It was a fight the powerfulmayor and popular police commissionerseemed not to imagine they could lose. Butat least for now, they have lost their cam-paign to stop new checks from beingimposed on the NYPD at a time when lastimpressions can count.

“There’s been a giant shift in the senti-ment that was generally very hands-off onpolicing in New York City and now is veryhands-on. ... Kelly and Bloomberg came inas crime fighters, and they may be goingout as racial profilers,” even if the image isunfair, said Eugene O’Donnell, a John JayCollege of Criminal Justice professor.Besides the courts, the next mayor willshape how the push for NYPD oversightplays out, including by choosing a policecommissioner.

Early in the mayoral race, criticisms ofKelly were few. But some candidates nowhail plans to rein in stop and frisk andreplace him. Others, though, laud him andthe policy. Ultimately, Bloomberg andKelly’s counterterror and crime rate suc-cesses may be what’s remembered, for bet-ter or worse, said police history expert TomReppetto. Especially if it’s for worse. “Afterthis administration leaves, the public willsay, if there’s a terrorist attack or crimestarts to go up ... ‘It would never have hap-pened if Kelly were here,’” he said.

Queens resident Eliza Irving feels theBloomberg administration has focused toomuch on stop and frisk and given policetoo much power. “I don’t feel safer becauseof his policing policies. In fact, I feel lesssafe,” said Irving, a 23-year-old high schoolteacher. But John Rivera thinks back tobeing in the city on 9/11. The account man-ager lives in the suburbs but is concernedfor the safety of the city where he worksevery day, and he still welcomes seeing theNYPD’s added presence when threat levelsare raised. Bloomberg and Kelly “haven’tdone the best job,” he said, “but they’vedone a fair job.”— AP

Backlash for NYPD as

Bloomberg era ends

I N T E R N AT I O N A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

WAGAH: Indian fishermen, released from Pakistani jails, kneel and touch the ground in an act of rever-ence after crossing over to the Indian side of the border at the India-Pakistan border post of Wagah,India yesterday.— AP

WAGAH: Pakistan released 337 Indianprisoners, most of them fishermenyesterday in the latest sign thatPakistan’s new government wants toimprove rocky ties between thenuclear-armed neighbors. But thepush by Pakistan’s civilian govern-ment to improve relations with Indiahas been undermined by a series ofclashes that began this month alongtheir border dividing the disputedKashmir region.

Pakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif says better relations with Indiaare key to restoring a flagging econo-my but it is Pakistan’s military that tra-ditionally sets foreign and securitypolicies, even during periods of civil-ian rule. The prisoners, including fish-ermen detained for straying intowhat Pakistan sees as its waters overthe past two years, were allowed togo home through the Wagah bordercrossing, between the Pakistani cityof Lahore and India’s Amritsar.

“Pakistan and India were onecountry in past, they should compro-mise with each other and live peace-fully like brothers,” said fishermanKailash Nathu, 17, who was headinghome after being arrested in January.Another Indian fisherman, 30-year-old Shabbir Usman, said India shouldnow release Pakistani prisoners.“Pakistan and India should sign atreaty for not arresting innocent fish-ermen. If they sign such treaty, itwould help strengthen friendly rela-tions,” he said, surrounded by grin-ning colleagues as they approached

the border crossing. But an Indian for-eign ministry spokesman said NewDelhi would not make a reciprocalgesture. “Release is only of those whohave completed prison terms andhave been identified as nationals. Thisis normal process and not a reciprocalone,” the Indian spokesman said via atelephone text message ahead, of therelease. Before the latest clashesalong the so-called Line of Controlseparating Indian- and Pakistani-con-trolled parts of Kashmir, the twocountries had agreed to resumestalled talks on improving ties.

But many analysts doubt whetherthe Indian government, under pres-sure from the right-wing opposition,can commit to any meaningful con-cessions before national electionsnext year. Sharif is due to meet hisIndian counterpart, ManmohanSingh, at the United Nations in NewYork next month and yesterday’s pris-oner release would appear to under-line his determination to improveties. India and Pakistan have foughtthree wars since becoming independ-ent from Britain in 1947, two of themover the Muslim-majority Himalayanregion of Kashmir.

PAKISTANI MILITANTS SPLIT In another development, a peace

talk offer from Pakistan’s governmenthas created a rift among militants asthe country’s main Taleban organiza-tion ousted the head of a side-groupfor welcoming the offer while theleader refused to accept the main

group’s decision. The spokesman forthe main Tahrik-e-Taleban Pakistangroup, or TTP, said in a statement thatits executive council has removedIsmatullah Muawiya from the leader-ship of Punjabi Taleban militants.

Shahidullah Shahid said Muawiyawas not authorized to respond to thegovernment ’s offer and said thegroup’s leadership will later issuetheir stance on talks. He said the lead-ership would also later name a newleader for the group in central Punjabprovince. Prime Minister NawazSharif, who took office in June, cam-paigned on a platform that includedstarting peace talks with the Talebanas the best way to end the group’sbloody insurgency, which has result-ed in thousands of deaths in recentyears. In his first national speech,Sharif reiterated his desire for peacethrough dialogue but said talkswould be held only with those wholay down their arms.

Sharif also said the governmentwould leave open the possibility ofusing force. “A decision about talkswith the government should be takenafter reviewing their position,” Shahidsaid, adding that the group didn’tappreciate the government’s “threats.”Muawiya, however, defied the maingroup’s decision, tell ing TheAssociated Press that the executivecouncil couldn’t remove him becausethe Punjabi Taleban is a separategroup. He said his group has its owndecision-making body to decide lead-ership and other matters.— Agencies

Pakistan releases

Indian prisoners Pakistani militants split on talks offer

NEW DELHI: India’s embattled primeminister appealed yesterday to themedia, increasingly critical of his scan-dal-hit government, not to launch a“witch hunt” while investigating cor-ruption. Manmohan Singh’s call cameas his Congress-led governmentstruggles to restore order in parlia-ment where opposition parties havestalled business in a row over alleged-ly illegal allocation of mining rights.

“The spirit of enquiry must notmorph into a campaign of calumny,”Singh, 81, said while launching astate-built media centre in the Indiancapital. “A witch hunt is no substitutefor investigative journalism,” theprime minister said and urged mediagroups to rise above “personal preju-dices”. Singh’s shaky government,which hopes to win a third consecu-tive term in elections that must beheld by next May, has been weakenedby a string of corruption scandalsinvolving cabinet ministers and topofficials.

The controversies include theawarding of mobile telephone spec-trum at below-market prices andhuge cost-overruns during the 2010Delhi Commonwealth Games. Singh’scomments came as leading newsmagazine India Today in its latest edi-

tion accused his government of fail-ing to deliver at a time when theeconomy has slowed sharply, inflationis stubbornly high and the currencyhas tumbled against the dollar. “He istoday the meekest head of a mori-bund government that has alreadyabdicated its responsibilities,” themagazine said in lead story.

One TV station has begun lam-pooning the economist-turned pre-mier and his finance minister, broad-

casting animated cartoons of the twochasing a giant rupee coin downhill.The main opposition Bharatiya JanataParty plan to attack Singh’s Congressparty-led government over the scan-dals during the next election cam-paign. Singh’s government wasreduced to a minority last Septemberwhen a key ally withdrew supportfrom the ruling coalition to protestchanges aimed at liberalizing India’sstill mainly closed economy.—AFP

Indian PM Singh appeals

against media witchhunt

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

LA PAZ: A young child was among the30 people killed Friday when a fightbroke out between rival gangs at anoverpopulated prison in eastern Bolivia,Interior Minister Carlos Romero said. Thechild, believed to be about 18 months,was living with his incarcerated parentsin the maximum-security Palmasolaprison in the eastern city of Santa Cruz-afacility that houses about 5,000 inmates.

Scores of prisoners were wounded inthe fracas, which ended when a fireswept through the building, which

houses some 5,000 inmates. Twenty-nine people died in the prison and onedied at a hospital, Romero said at a lateFriday press conference. Prisons directorRamiro Llanos earlier said that “of thosehospitalized, 35 of them have very seri-ous injuries.”

The incident began early Fridaywhen a group of inmates broke into awing of the Palmasola prison to fight arival group. The riot ended in a huge firebeing set off by exploding propane gastanks. “The motive of this unrest has to

do with internal disputes over the con-trol of space and leadership argumentswithin the prison,” Romero said lateFriday. He said that inmates who startedthe fight are “highly dangerous crimi-nals.” Police then presented five peoplethey said were the main culprits.

Agents are looking at whetherfirearms were used, because bulletshells were found at site. Romero saidthat 50 prisoners linked to the fighthave been placed in solitary confine-ment, and that he ordered a securitycrackdown at the country’s other pris-ons. At Palmasola there are 4,500 menand 500 women, said Llanos. “In thearea where the fighting took place,there should have been between 150and 200 inmates, but there were actual-ly some 500 people there,” Llanos said.

Prisons in Bolivia suffer from seriousovercrowding. Hundreds of children areforced to live with their parents in jailsbecause they have no other relatives, orbecause both parents are incarcerated.Television networks broadcast imagesof charred bodies and ambulances tak-ing the dead and injured to hospitals,which were overwhelmed by the num-ber of victims. Bodies were taken to themorgue for autopsies and identifica-tion. Authorities called on local resi-dents to donate blood to help thewounded.— AFP

Child among 30 killed

in Bolivian prison riot

SANTA CRUZ: Inmates’ relatives and members of the press surroundan ambulance leaving the Palmasola jail in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. — AP

KATHMANDU: Nepal has asked for-eign airlines not to land heavily-loadedwide-body aircraft at the Himalayannation’s international airport, aviationauthorities said yesterday, after pot-holes were found on the runwaybefore the annual influx of mountain-going tourists. More than two dozenforeign airlines operate regular flightsfrom Asia and the Middle East to Nepal,home to eight of the world’s 14 highestmountains, including Mount Everest.Six airlines fly wide-body planes intothe capital, Kathmandu.

Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, head ofthe state-owned Civil Aviation

Authority of Nepal, said a request hadbeen sent to all foreign airlines toswitch to narrow-body aircraft or toreduce payloads as authorities filledthe holes. It was not immediately clearhow long it would take to eliminatethe potholes, discovered last week. Theairline industry said the request wasnot mandatory and would be difficultto comply with. “It is not a bindingorder to the airlines,” said Saroj KumarKasaju, chairman of the Board ofAirlines Representatives Nepal, a bodyof airlines operating flights toKathmandu.

He said airlines had already booked

passengers and issued tickets as thepeak tourism season begins inSeptember. “It will, therefore, be diffi-cult to off-load passengers now,” Kasajusaid. Tourism accounts for some 30 per-cent of foreign currency earnings.Kathmandu sits in a bowl surroundedby forested, rugged hills.

Its airport is known as a tricky land-ing spot requiring a steep descent. Apropeller-driven Dornier aircraft, head-ed to Lukla, the gateway to MountEverest, crashed minutes after take offfrom Kathmandu last September,killing 19 people and highlighting con-cerns about air safety.—Reuters

Potholes on airport spell

trouble for Nepal tourism

EL ALTO: A sinister warning danglesabove the burned-out hulk of aminibus in this sprawling sister city toBolivia’s capital: A faded effigy tied toa power line as if it had been hanged.“Death dolls,” made of old clothesstuffed with rags, have become acommon sight in this impoverishedcity plagued by crime. They are oftenaccompanied by hand-scrawled signs.“ The thief who is caught will beburned,” say many. It ’s not an idlethreat. At least 10 people werelynched by mobs across Bolivia in thefirst six months of the year, four ofthem in El Alto.

At least one was by error. In May, adrunken police sergeant in civilianclothing stumbled into a school,where the guard took him for a thiefand alerted neighbors. The man was

beaten, tied to a post and drenchedwith water as temperatures felltoward freezing. He was found thenext morning, dead of hypothermia.The burned-out bus was the result ofanother robbery attempt. Attackerswho arrived in the bus managed toflee, but enraged neighbors burned itbeneath a power line and hung thedoll above it.

Hundreds hang from lampposts inEl Alto, particularly its more precari-ous outlying districts, such as VillaMercedes. “The good thing is that thethieves feel fear when they see thedolls,” said student Ivan GonzaloPoma. “The bad thing is that the chil-dren see it. The lynchings are notgood.” Street vendor German Honoriosupports the use of the images towarn thieves, although he’s not sure

they heed the threat. “I don’t know ifthey learn, but they are warned,” hesaid. “It ’s the way we neighborsdefend ourselves.”

Mob violence erupts sporadicallyacross Latin America in places whereclose-knit communities feel unpro-tected by police. A mob in aGuatemalan village beat, shot andstabbed to death five men and awoman they suspected of robbery inSeptember 2011, blocking roads topolice.

In December 2009, Guatemalanofficials reported five vigilante killingsin various incidents across the countryin just three days. In 2000, villagers inGuatemala attacked a busload ofJapanese tourists, killing one, whenthey confused the sightseers withchild-stealers.—AP

Bolivians dangle ‘death

dolls’ to warn off thieves

I N T E R N AT I O N A LSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

VIENNA: Japan may be suffering persist-ent problems with its wreckedFukushima nuclear power plant, but theUN atomic agency says “considerableprogress” has been made globally in thepast year to strengthen reactor safety. Ina report prepared for its annual memberstate gathering, the International AtomicEnergy Agency said nearly all countrieswith nuclear plants had carried out safe-ty “stress tests” to assess their ability towithstand so-called extreme events.

“As a result, many member stateshave introduced additional safety meas-ures including mitigation of stationblackout,” said the document submitted

ahead of the IAEA’s Sept 16-20 GeneralConference for its 159 member states. Itwas posted on the Vienna-based IAEA’swebsite earlier this month, beforeJapan’s nuclear crisis this week escalatedto its worst level since a massive earth-quake and tsunami crippled the plantmore than two years ago. Tokyo ElectricPower Co, Fukushima’s operator, thisweek said a tank holding highly contam-inated water leaked 300 tons of radioac-tive fluid.

ENERGY GROWTHThe 2011 Fukushima disaster was the

worst such nuclear accident since

Chernobyl, the 1986 Soviet reactorexplosion which sent radioactive dustacross much of Europe. It put a questionmark over the future of nuclear energyalso elsewhere in the world. In Europe,Germany, Switzerland and Belgiumdecided to move away from nuclear toincrease their reliance on renewableenergy.

The IAEA has said it believes, howev-er, that global use of nuclear energycould increase by as much as 100 per-cent by 2030 thanks to growth in Asia,including in China and India. The IAEA,whose mission it is to promote “safe,secure and peaceful nuclear technolo-

gies”, said on Aug 21 it viewed the situa-tion at Fukushima seriously and wasready to provide assistance uponrequest.

The UN agency’s report, evaluatingthe implementation of an IAEA nuclearsafety action plan adopted by theGeneral Conference in 2011 to help pre-vent any repeat of the Fukushima disas-ter, said progress had been made world-wide in key areas. These included emer-gency preparedness, assessments ofsafety vulnerabilities of nuclear plants,and the protection of people and theenvironment from radiation. “SinceSeptember 2012 . . . considerable

progress has been made worldwide instrengthening nuclear safety throughthe implementation of the action planand of national action plans in memberstates,” the report said.

A nuclear expert of environmentalgroup Greenpeace - which opposesatomic energy on safety grounds - dis-puted the IAEA’s upbeat view, saying“not much” had been achieved and call-ing for a fundamental change in howrisks are assessed. “As one of their (theIAEA’s) objectives they have to promotenuclear energy, they cannot be impar-tial,” Greenpeace International expertRianne Teule said.— Reuters

Despite Fukushima, IAEA sees progress on nuke safetyGreenpeace disagrees, says ‘not much’ achieved

JINAN: Ousted senior Chinese politician Bo Xilaiadmitted to shaming his country and poorlyhandling a defection attempt by his formerpolice chief after he told Bo his wife had com-mitted murder, but Bo denied trying to protecther from the accusation. Bo was a rising star inChina’s leadership circles when his career wasstopped short last year by the scandal involvinghis wife, Gu Kailai. Bo is now on trial chargedwith corruption, taking bribes and abuse ofpower.

Supporters of Bo’s Maoist-themed social pro-grams say he lost out in a power struggle withcapitalist-leaning reformists in Beijing, exposingdivisions within the ruling Communist Party aswell as society. With the evidence relating to thefirst two charges against Bo now apparently outof the way, the most sensitive charge was heardyesterday, the third day of a trial many expectedwould last just a day.

A guilty verdict for Bo is a foregone conclu-sion, and despite his spirited defense, publishedon the court’s official microblog, state media,which speaks for the party, has already all butcondemned him. As police chief of Chongqing,where Bo was Communist Party chief until hewas dramatically sacked early last year, WangLijun was known as the strong arm of the law,energetically carrying out Bo’s crackdown oncrime and gangs.

But he fled to the US consulate in the nearbycity of Chengdu in February last year after con-fronting Bo with evidence that his wife Gu, aglamorous lawyer, was involved in the murder ofBritish businessman Neil Heywood. After firsthelping Gu evade suspicion of poisoningHeywood, Wang hushed up evidence of themurder, according to the official account ofWang’s trial. Both Wang and Gu have been jailedfor the murder. When Wang told Bo of his suspi-cions about Gu, he was “angrily rebuked and hadhis ears boxed”, according to the official accountof the incident related by state media.

Bo told the court that he felt “ashamed” byWang’s flight to the US mission which hadreflected badly on the image of the party andcountry. “I wasn’t able to behave cooly at a criti-cal juncture and I made serious errors in judge-ment,” Bo said, according to a transcript provid-ed by the court. “So I bear some responsibilityfor Wang Lijun’s flight and I feel very sorry forthis.” “I have made mistakes and errors, I feel verysorry and I’m willing to take appropriate respon-sibility, but whether there was a crime or not isanother matter,” Bo said. “I did not act illegally toshow favoritism and protect Gu Kailai.”

Bo said he did not believe it when Wang firsttold him Gu was a suspect in Heywood’s murder,saying Gu had shown Bo a Chongqing policereport that said Heywood died of a heart attackbought on by drinking, which Heywood’s wifehad signed. “In my mind, Gu Kailai is a weak andfrail woman, she could not kill someone. Andshe had a good relationship with Wang Lijun,” Bosaid. Bo was furious with Wang when he wastold that his wife was a murder suspect, and

sacked him despite not having party authorityto do so, sources with knowledge of the casehave said. Neither did Bo report the matter to hisbosses in Beijing, all of which led to the abuse ofpower charge, they said.

Bo ordered his mayor, Huang Qifan, and secu-rity personnel to besiege the US mission inChengdu and take Wang into custody, eventhough he had no authority to mobilize securityforces to grab someone in another city, thesources also said. Wang was eventually coaxedout by officials from Beijing and taken to thecapital. The Chongqing government initiallyexplained he was worn out and emotionallyspent and had taken a “vacation-style treat-ment”.

LACKED ALERTNESSBo denied sacking Wang because of the mur-

der allegations against Gu, saying he had reas-signed Wang for genuine health reasons asWang had complained of the pressure of his job.Wang himself appeared in court to testifyagainst Bo, saying he believed Bo sacked him tocover up the murder, adding that Bo hadpunched him during a confrontation over Gu’srole in the crime. “It was very dangerous at thattime,” Wang said, when asked why he had fled tothe US consulate. “I was the victim of violence,and my colleagues and those handling the casehad disappeared.”

The court said the trial would continue onSunday. Earlier in the day, Bo accepted responsi-bility for 5 million yuan ($817,000) in govern-ment funds he is accused of embezzling whichended up in his wife’s bank account, saying hehad let his attention wander, in testimony readout in court. Bo said that Wang Zhenggang, for-

mer director of the urban and rural planningbureau in Dalian, where Bo once served as may-or, told him in 2002 that he suggested to Bo themoney be used by Bo’s wife and son, who wasstudying overseas.

“I refused him. Afterwards, Wang Zhenggangcame and found me again, told me why themoney was difficult to deal with, and said that ifI were busy he could talk to Gu Kailai about it,”Bo said, according to his testimony. Bo said heagreed to Wang speaking to Gu about the mon-ey because he “lacked alertness”, which is howthe money ended up going to her. “After Gu andWang had their discussions, I did not go andinvestigate, I let it slide,” Bo said.

“This money had already gone into my wife’saccount, leading to the personal use of publicmoney,” he said. “I am willing to approve theanalysis of the prosecutors after their investiga-tion, and at the same time accept legal responsi-bility for this. I am deeply ashamed and regretfulabout this incident,” Bo said. During court pro-ceedings, Bo disputed Wang’s account of whathad happened to the money as containinginconsistencies, but Bo did not dispute his earli-er written deposition, according to court tran-scripts.

“From start to finish in this written depositionI hold that I had did not intend to embezzle thismoney,” he said. On the first day of the trial, Bomounted a feisty defense of charges he receivedmore than 20 million yuan in bribes. Bo said thathe had initially admitted to anti-corruptioninvestigators receiving the bribes as he hadbeen “under psychological pressure”. Bo also saidhe been framed by one of the men accused ofbribing him, businessman Tang Xiaolin, who hecalled a “mad dog”.— Reuters

Bo admits ‘shame’Fallen politician denies protecting wife

SHANDONG: This screen grab taken from state television CCTV footage shows ousted Chinesepolitical star Bo Xilai (center) writing in the courtroom as he stands trial at the IntermediatePeople’s Court in Jinan. — AFP

FUKUSHIMA: Japan’s nuclear watchdog members, including Nuclear RegulationAuthority members in radiation protection suits, inspect contaminated water tanks atthe Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. —AFP

TOKYO: The operator of Japan’s crippledFukushima nuclear plant is preparing toremove 400 tons of highly irradiated spentfuel from a damaged reactor building, a dan-gerous operation that has never beenattempted before on this scale. Containingradiation equivalent to 14,000 times theamount released in the atomic bomb attackon Hiroshima 68 years ago, more than 1,300used fuel rod assemblies packed tightlytogether need to be removed from a buildingthat is vulnerable to collapse, should anotherlarge earthquake hit the area.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) is alreadyin a losing battle to stop radioactive wateroverflowing from another part of the facility,and experts question whether it will be ableto pull off the removal of all the assembliessuccessfully. “They are going to have difficultyin removing a significant number of the rods,”said Arnie Gundersen, a veteran US nuclearengineer and director of Fairewinds EnergyEducation, who used to build fuel assemblies.

The operation, beginning this Novemberat the plant’s Reactor No 4, is fraught withdanger, including the possibility of a largerelease of radiation if a fuel assembly breaks,gets stuck or gets too close to an adjacentbundle, said Gundersen and other nuclearexperts. That could lead to a worse disasterthan the March 2011 nuclear crisis at theFukushima plant, the world’s most serioussince Chernobyl in 1986.

No one knows how bad it can get, butindependent consultants Mycle Schneiderand Antony Froggatt said recently in theirWorld Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013:“Full release from the Unit-4 spent fuel pool,without any containment or control, couldcause by far the most serious radiological dis-aster to date.” Tepco has already removed twounused fuel assemblies from the pool in a testoperation last year, but these rods are lessdangerous than the spent bundles. Extractingspent fuel is a normal part of operations at anuclear plant, but safely plucking them froma badly damaged reactor is unprecedented.

“To jump to the conclusion that it is goingto work just fine for the rest of them is quite aleap of logic,” said Gundersen. The utility saysit recognizes the operation will be difficult but

believes it can carry it out safely. Nonetheless,Tepco inspires little confidence. Sharply criti-cized for failing to protect the Fukushimaplant against natural disasters, its handling ofthe crisis since then has also been lambasted.Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe orderedthe government to take a more active role incontrolling the overflow of radioactive waterbeing flushed over the melted reactors inUnits 1, 2 and 3 at the plant.

GIANT FRAMEThe fuel assemblies are in the cooling pool

of the No. 4 reactor, and Tepco has erected agiant steel frame over the top of the buildingafter removing debris left behind by anexplosion that rocked the unit during the2011 disaster. The structure will house thecranes that will carry out the delicate task ofextracting fuel assemblies that may be dam-aged by the quake, the explosion or corrosionfrom salt water that was poured into the poolwhen fresh supplies ran out during the crisis.

The process will begin in November andTepco expects to take about a year removingthe assemblies, spokesman Yoshikazu Nagaitold Reuters by e-mail. It’s just one install-ment in the decommissioning process for theplant forecast to take about 40 years and cost$11 billion. Each fuel rod assembly weighsabout 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and is 4.5meters long. There are 1,331 of the spent fuelassemblies and a further 202 unused assem-blies are also stored in the pool, Nagai said.

Almost 550 assemblies had been removedfrom the reactor core just before the quakeand tsunami set off the crisis. These are themost dangerous because they have onlybeen cooling in the pool for two and a halfyears. “The No 4 unit was not operating atthe time of the accident, so its fuel had beenmoved to the pool from the reactor, and ifyou calculate the amount of caesium 137 inthe pool, the amount is equivalent to 14,000Hiroshima atomic bombs,” said Hiroaki Koide,assistant professor at Kyoto UniversityResearch Reactor Institute. Spent fuel rodsalso contain plutonium, one of the most toxicsubstances in the universe, that gets formedduring the later stages of a reactor core’soperation.—Reuters

After Japan nuke disaster, deadliest part - clean-up

SHANGHAI: It was more than 70years ago that Gary Matzdorff, aJewish refugee, escaped NaziGermany for China and found love,only to lose his paramour and thenhave to flee the Communists. Now92, Matzdorff returned to his formerhome in Shanghai hoping to findthe Chinese woman he spottedacross a dance hall f loor again.Then, the sophisticated city wasrenowned as the “Paris of the East”.Some of Matzdorff ’s memories ofShanghai have faded over thedecades, but the image of thewoman in a Chinese-style dress splithigh up the leg remains clearlyimprinted on his mind.

“She looked like a princess,” he

says. “She was just beautiful.” Hescrawled a note on a napkin, askingthe woman to meet him later in theevening, receiving an American“okey doke” in reply. Cleo Wong, itturned out, ran her own lace shopand was not one of the “taxi dancers”available as temporary partners forthe price of a ticket at the Wing OnDepartment Store ballroom.

At the time Matzdorff, his parentsand grandmother were trying tobuild a new life for themselves aftersailing halfway around the world toa countr y he had known onlythrough the movies as a boy inBerl in. He experienced anti-Semitism first-hand in Hitler ’sGermany, when he and members of

his Jewish boy scout troop werebeaten up on a camping trip, andlived through the notoriousKristal lnacht, or “Cr ystal Night”,when gangs targeted Jewish busi-nesses and landmarks, leaving thestreets of his home city strewn withbroken glass.

“In the morning on the bus Ialready noticed roving bands smash-ing store windows, some otherspainting the word ‘Juden’ on thewindows,” he told the University ofSouthern California’s ShoahFoundation. Within a year his furtrader father and his mother, a lamp-shade maker, joined tens of thou-sands of Jewish refugees who foundsafety in Shanghai from persecutionin Europe. But his paternal grandpar-ents perished in the concentrationcamps. Shanghai “was a haven forme”, he said, his spry demeanor andfirm voice belying his years. “It savedmy life from Hitler or extinction.” Onarrival, his family moved to the city’sHongkou district, which in 1943would become the designatedJewish ghetto on orders of the occu-pying Japanese authorities. The20,000 refugees living in it were nev-er targeted for exterminationdespite requests from representa-tives of Nazi Germany, Japan’swartime ally, but their movementswere restricted.

A Japanese official known by hissurname Ghoya, or sarcastically as

“King of the Jews”, who granted thetravel passes, was a feared thug. “Ifhe didn’t l ike your answers, hewould get up from his chair and slapyou in the face,” Matzdorff recalled.But the hardships and lack of food ofthe later wartime years were still inthe future when he met Cleo Wangin 1941.

The relationship lasted a year. Hetook her to meet his parents in theirsmall rented room in Hongkou. “MyDad was apprehensive, because inthose days for a foreigner to perhapsmarry a Chinese girl was a little bitmisunderstood. It was not custom-ary,” he said. But any thought of mar-riage disappeared when shedumped him for a US Navy sailor. Heonly saw her once more after thewar, in Nanjing Road, a busy com-mercial street not far from wherethey first met. “One day somebodytapped me on the shoulder. And shewas tr ying to tel l me what hap-pened. But I was not interested any-more,” he said.

But now, after moving to theUnited States, becoming anAmerican citizen, building a success-ful leather business and retiring, hethinks of finding her once againbefore he dies. Back in Shanghai ear-lier this summer, he was amazed atthe city’s gleaming towers, part of atransformation that is putting thefuture of the former ghetto itselfinto question.— AFP

Wanted: Jewish ex-refugee seeks lost love 70 years on

SHANGHAI: 92-year-old Gary Matzdorff talks to AFP in his hotel roomas he looks out at the Pudong area of Shanghai. — AFP

Australia’s Abbott proposes buying the ‘smuggler’ boats

SYDNEY: The frontrunner for Australia’sSeptember 7 election would pay Indonesiansfor unseaworthy boats to stop them endingup in the hands of people-smugglers, as partof a plan unveiled Friday. Asylum-seekersarriving by usually rickety boats, often viatransit hubs in Indonesia, are a major politicalissue in Australia and tend to dominate elec-tion campaigns, despite coming in relativelylow numbers by global standards.

Tony Abbott, who is leading PrimeMinister Kevin Rudd in opinion polls, said hewould step up on-the-ground operations inIndonesia with a “community outreach”scheme aimed at disrupting people-smug-gling rings. The Aus$440 million ($397 mil-lion) scheme would include a capped govern-ment buy-back plan for the leaky fishing ves-sels as well as stipends for Indonesian “war-dens” in 100 villages to provide informationto Australia and bounty payments for infor-mation leading to successful smuggling pros-ecutions.

“The important thing is that we stop theboats,” Abbott told reporters in Darwin. “It’smuch better and much more sensible tospend a few thousand dollars in Indonesiathan to spend $12 million processing thepeople who ultimately arrive here,” he said,referring to the figure the opposition claimsthe government spends processing every

boat that arrives. Abbott refused to “put a fig-ure on” how much he would be prepared topay per boat and said allowances or bountieswould be left to the discretion of “our peopleon the ground”.

He also pledged $67 million to deployspecialist Australian police operatives inIndonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Abbottdeclined to comment on whether he hadspoken to the Indonesian government abouthis plans, which were ridiculed as “crazy” and“bizarre” by Australia’s ruling Labor party. “It isabsolutely in Indonesia’s interest to stop theboats, I have no reason to think that theIndonesians won’t be prepared to work coop-eratively and constructively with us,” he said.

Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman forIndonesian President Susilo BambangYudhoyono, declined to comment on thebuy-back plan. “Abbott and Rudd are in themiddle of campaigning, so I think it’s improp-er to comment on their political statementsas it’s part of their efforts to win over voters,”he said. Both major parties have pledged acrackdown on the issue-Rudd’s Labor govern-ment has signed an agreement with PapuaNew Guinea to banish boatpeople there forpermanent resettlement even if found tohave a valid refugee claim, effectively closingAustralia’s borders to those arriving byboat.—AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013N E W S

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that chemical weapons were used by Syrian forcesin the attack near Damascus last week.

The security sources, speaking on condition ofanonymity, said the assessment was preliminary and,at this stage, they were still seeking conclusive proof,which could take days, weeks or even longer to gather.Opponents of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad bravedthe front lines around Damascus to smuggle out tissuesamples from victims of Wednesday’s mass poisoning.The Syrian government denies being responsible andhas in the past accused rebels of using chemicalweapons, an allegation that Western officials have dis-missed.

In his first public comments since Wednesday’sattack in the Damascus suburbs, Obama called theincident a “big event of grave concern” and one thatdemanded US attention, but said he was in no rush toget war-weary Americans “mired” in another MiddleEast conflict. Members of Obama’s National SecurityCouncil, the Pentagon, State Department and intelli-gence agencies met at the White House late onThursday, but made no decisions on what to recom-mend, officials said.

One US official acknowledged that the participantsin Thursday’s White House meeting aired “differingviewpoints,” but rejected the notion that the adminis-tration, whose Syria policymaking has been marked byinternal dissent in the past, was sharply divided on aresponse. “It’s not like people were screaming at eachother,” the official said. International powers - includ-ing Russia, which has long shielded Assad from UNaction - have urged Assad to cooperate with a UNinspection team that arrived on Sunday to pursue ear-lier allegations of chemical weapons attacks.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said therewas “some evidence” of chemical weapons use in thelatest incident, but stopped short of saying an officialconclusion was reached. While the West accused Assadof a cover-up by preventing the UN team from visitingthe scene, Moscow said the rebels were impeding aninvestigation. The United Nations released data show-ing that a million children were among refugeesforced to flee Syria, calling it a “shameful milestone.”

While the preliminary US assessment was thatAssad loyalists carried out Wednesday’s attack withhigh-level authorization, one US source closely moni-toring events in the region said it was also possiblethat a local commander decided on his own to use gasto clear the way for a ground assault. “What we’ve seenindicates that this is clearly a big event, of grave con-cern,” Obama said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day”program that aired on Friday.

Asked about his comment - made a year and a daybefore the toxic fumes hit sleeping residents of rebel-held Damascus suburbs - that chemical weaponswould be a ‘red line’ for the United States, Obamaexpressed caution. “If the US goes in and attacksanother country without a UN mandate and withoutclear evidence that can be presented, then there arequestions in terms of whether international law sup-ports it,” Obama said.

“The notion that the US can somehow solve what isa sectarian complex problem inside of Syria some-times is overstated.” Obama’s caution contrasted withcalls for action from NATO allies, including France,

Britain and Turkey, where leaders saw little doubtAssad’s forces had staged pre-dawn missile strikes thatrebels say killed between 500 and well over 1,000 peo-ple.

But two years into a civil war that has divided theMiddle East along sectarian lines, a split betweenWestern governments and Russia again illustrated theinternational deadlock that has thwarted outsideefforts to halt the killing. At a White House meeting,which lasted more than three hours, Obama’s aideshad a “robust discussion” of the diplomatic and mili-tary options available to the president, US officialssaid.

Among the military options under considerationare targeted missile strikes on Syrian units believedresponsible for chemical attacks or on Assad’s air forceand ballistic missile sites, US officials said. Such strikescould be launched from US ships or combat aircraftcapable of firing missiles from outside Syrian airspace,thereby avoiding Syrian air defenses.

Kerry, who took part in Thursday’s meeting by securevideo link, advocated the use of air strikes in WhiteHouse meetings in early June preceding an announce-ment of military aid to the rebels, a person familiar withthe talks said. Joint Chiefs Chairman General MartinDempsey argued that such a mission would be complexand costly. The White House on Friday reiteratedObama’s position that he did not intend to put “bootson the ground” in Syria, and an administration officialsaid Thursday’s meeting also steered clear of the idea ofenforcing a “no-fly” zone there.

Another possibility would be to authorize sendingheavier US weaponry, such as shoulder-fired anti-air-craft rockets, to the rebels in addition to lighter armsapproved in June. But even those limited supplieshave yet to star t f lowing to the rebels. The topDemocrat on the House of Representatives ForeignAffairs Committee urged Obama on Friday to order airstrikes against Assad’s government.

Representative Eliot Engel cited Obama’s statementthat the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s forceswould cross a “red line” and cause the United States toact to halt such violations of international law. “If we, inconcert with our allies, do not respond to Assad’s mur-derous uses of weapons of mass destruction, malevo-lent countries and bad actors around the world willsee a green light where one was never intended,”Engel wrote in a letter to Obama and obtained byReuters.

With Obama’s international prestige seen on theline, a former senior US official said the suspectedchemical attack was likely to prompt Obama to uselimited force, but he did not expect him to try to top-ple Assad. “They will feel obliged to do somethingbecause � the credibility issue is very high here,” the for-mer official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Obama’s failure to confront Assad with the seriousconsequences he has long threatened would likelyreinforce a global perception of a president preoccu-pied with domestic matters and unwilling to act deci-sively in the volatile Middle East, a picture already setby his mixed response to the crisis in Egypt. Obamahas shown no appetite for intervention. Polls byReuters/Ipsos and others have shown that mostAmericans, weary of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, areincreasingly aware of the Syria conflict but remainopposed to US involvement there. — Reuters

US repositions troops in the Mediterranean

Continued from Page 1

There are black judges and professors in places where seg-regation once reigned.

And black mayors have occupied City Hall since 1979, inpart because many white residents migrated to the suburbs, afamiliar pattern in urban America. So has King’s dream ofequality been realized here and has Birmingham movedbeyond its troubled past? For many, the answer is yes, the cityhas changed in ways that once seemed unthinkable - and yet,there’s also a sense Birmingham still has a long way to go.

The legal and social barriers that barred black people fromschools and jobs fell long ago, but economic disparity persists.Blacks and whites work together and dine side by side inrestaurants during the day, but usually don’t mingle after 5 pm.Racial slurs are rare, but suspicions and tensions remain. “Idon’t think any of us would deny that there have been signifi-cant changes in Birmingham,” Shores Lee says. King would beproud, she adds, but “he would say there’s a lot more work tobe done. I think he would tell us our task is not finished.”

“I have a dream that one day down in Alabama. ... littleblack boys and black girls will be able to join hands with littlewhite boys and white girls as sisters and brothers ...” - King, Aug28, 1963. Amid the flowers and soothing fountain in KellyIngram Park, there are stark reminders of the ugly clashes. Itwas in this area, now known as the Civil Rights District, wherethe scenes of police brutality were captured in photos and TVfootage that helped galvanize public opinion around thenation on behalf of demonstrators.

Today, the park has statues commemorating King and oth-er leaders. There’s a sculpture of a young protester, his armsstretched back, as a policeman grabs him with one hand andholds a lunging German shepherd in the other. (An AssociatedPress photographer had captured a similar image.) There areother sculptures of water cannons, more dogs, and a boy and agirl standing impassively with the words “I Ain’t Afraid of yourJail” at the base.

To those who grew up here, these works are not just artisticrenderings but reminders of the bravery of friends and neigh-bors. “It’s kind of like being in the movie ‘The Sixth Sense’ -everywhere you go you see ghosts,” Threatt says of the statues.“It’s probably like a person who served in World War II goingback to Normandy. It’s a place where something very, very real,very poignant happened to people that you knew.”

Threatt was just 7 when King announced his vision of a col-or-blind society before hundreds of thousands of people gath-ered on the Washington Mall. Not long afterward, Threatt wasone of three black gifted students enrolled in a white elemen-tary school. He was spat on, beat up, called the N-word. Theexperience is etched in his memory. Now 57, Threatt occasion-ally runs into a 6th grade classmate - a bank vice president -who had been among his tormenters. They always have apleasant chat. But he never forgets.

“I like him,” he says. “I don’t think he’s a racist. He was a kidcaught up in a social situation like I was. .... You’ve got to getover that in order to survive in the South. ... Otherwise you justwallow in self-pity and hatred and you don’t move forward.”Threatt graduated from Princeton, then Howard UniversityLaw School, worked in Denver and Washington, DC, butreturned to Birmingham in 1997. Both he and the city hadchanged, he says, with Birmingham becoming more progres-sive.

He joined an established law firm - something that wouldhave been unimaginable 50 years earlier. Threatt had beeninspired, in part, to be a lawyer by Arthur Shores, a Sunday

school teacher at his church and a pioneering civil rights attor-ney who fought to desegregate the University of Alabama.Shores’ home was bombed twice in 1963, two weeks apart. Hisneighborhood was nicknamed “Dynamite Hill” for the series ofbombings intended to intimidate blacks.

Shores’ daughter, Helen, grew up resisting the segregationlaws, once drinking from a “white” fountain - a defiant act thatresulted in a whipping when she got home. At 12, she aimed aColt .45 at some white men driving by her family’s house,spewing racial obscenities. Her father, she says, slapped herarm, the bullet discharged into the air and he quickly grabbedthe gun.

She left Birmingham for 13 years, returned in 1971, laterswitched careers and in 2003 became a judge, only to confrontlingering remnants of racism. In her early years on the bench,she recalls, a few lawyers pointedly refused to stand as is cus-tom when a judge enters a courtroom. And, she says, she occa-sionally sees lawyers who are disrespectful of their minorityclients. “Racism is still very much alive and well in the South,”Shores Lee says.

“The actions of men here can be legislated but not theirminds and their hearts in terms of how they think and feelabout blacks and Hispanics.” The judge says the same goals herfather fought for remain at the center of court battles today.She points to the Supreme Court’s decision in June to throwout the most powerful part of the landmark Voting Rights Actthat had provided federal oversight of elections in severalSouthern states. It was based on a challenge by Shelby Countyin suburban Birmingham.

The judge also says when she gives speeches about votingrights, she sometimes cites her father. “How far have we comeif he talked about this 60 plus years ago and I’m still talkingabout it today?” she asks. Donna Lidge didn’t speak fordecades about her painful past. Every morning, she’d board aschool bus, pass an elderly white woman standing on a corner,cursing and making an obscene gesture. Inside the predomi-nantly white school, she and her younger sister were ostra-cized. “We despised that school,” she says.

Lidge said her mother would console them, saying: “‘I wantyou to get an education. That’s how you will fight back.’” Shenow tells her daughter, Ashley, a teacher, about those days. “Italk to her about respect. I say no matter who it is, respect oth-ers.” Fifty years ago, the struggle to end racism had white sup-porters. It still does. James Rotch, a white lawyer, beganaddressing the issue in 1998 when he launched theBirmingham Pledge - a program to eliminate racism and preju-dice.

The “pledge” has evolved into a foundation with confer-ences and a special week of events held around theSeptember anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth StreetBaptist Church that killed four girls in 1963. The program’s edu-cational materials are used in every state and 21 countries. Thepledge itself - a mission statement - has popped up in placesranging from a public bulletin board outside the Taj Mahal inIndia to a job training center in Connecticut.

Rotch says the intent is to inspire beyond the city. “We knewthat Birmingham was known all over the world and not neces-sarily in a particularly good way,” he says. “We thought wecould show ... that by Birmingham getting its act in order withregard to race, people might say, ‘If they can do it given theirhistory, surely we can.’” Not everyone shares his interest inemphasizing race. “There are a lot of very good, very well-intentioned people who say, ‘Look if we stop talking about allthis, it’ll all go away.’ I don’t believe that,” he says. “...If we pre-tend it’s not there, then we’ll never solve it.” — AP

Is Martin Luther dream a reality?

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Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s side in his 2 1/2-year-old fight against a majority Sunni uprising.

Syrian rebels, whose strongest elements are radicalSunnis, have been hosted in neighboring Lebanon bysympathetic Sunnis and there have been attacks onHezbollah members on Lebanese soil. Both Hezbollahand radical Sunni groups in Lebanon have sent fightersinto Syria to fight on opposing sides. The explosions inTripoli, 70 km from the capital Beirut, were the biggest

and deadliest there since the end of Lebanon’s own civilwar and came a week after a huge car bomb killed atleast 24 people in a Shi’ite district of Beirut controlledby Hezbollah. “We know with certainty that behind thisdeplorable act committed against are the hands of thevile, rafidah Hezbollah, which stands side by side withBashar in Syria,” the AQIM tweets said, as quoted bySITE. Al-Qaeda groups follow a hardline ideology thatrejects all non-Sunnis as infidels and regularly incitesantagonism towards Shiites. Assad’s family is from theAlawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. — Reuters

Qaeda blames Hezbollah for Tripoli blasts

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Mubarak was convicted last June and sentenced to life inprison, but a retrial was ordered in January after heappealed. He could face the death penalty in that case, andis also facing charges in several corruption cases.

As his hearing begins, Brotherhood supreme guideMohamed Badie and two deputies-Rashad Bayoumi andKhairat Al-Shater-are to make their first appearance before acourt on charges of inciting the murder of protesters. Badiewas take into custody just last week-the first time aBrotherhood supreme guide has been arrested since 1981.Khater and Bayoumi were rounded up earlier, following theouster of Morsi, a fellow Brotherhood member.

They are accused of inciting the murder of protesterswho died outside their Cairo headquarters on the evening ofJune 30, when millions of Egyptians attended anti-Morsiprotests. Another three Brotherhood members will stand tri-al with them, accused of carrying out the murders in ques-tion. All six face the death penalty if convicted. Egyptianauthorities have issued arrest warrants and detention ordersfor hundreds of Brotherhood members and detained severalsenior leaders of the group in recent days.

According to security sources, at least 2,000 have been

arrested since August 14. Morsi, who is being held at anundisclosed location, faces charges related to his escapefrom prison during the 2011 uprising, as well as complicityin the deaths and torture of protesters. The latter chargeinvolves demonstrations against him outside the presiden-tial place in late 2012. Today’s court cases come after days ofrelative calm in Egypt, following a week of unprecedentedbloodletting in the country that began on August 14.

That was when security forces moved to break up twopro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, sparking clashes that leftnearly 600 people dead across the country in a single day.Additional violence followed in the days after, raising fearsof prolonged bloodshed. But authorities have mounted afierce crackdown against the Brotherhood and its allies,that has thinned the group’s ranks and sent many mem-bers into hiding.

The arrests have also shattered the group’s structure andmade it increasingly difficult for them to turn out in force atdemonstrations. On Friday, just a few thousand took part inmarches across Cairo-a stark drop from the hundreds ofthousands that had turned out in previous demonstrations.The government has insisted it will proceed with a roadmap,which includes a plan for a new constitution and elections,that is rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood. —AFP

Brotherhood and Mubarak in court

COLUMBIA: A comprehensive encyclo-pedia of one of the world’s major reli-gions is set to be unveiled this week inSouth Carolina. The 11-volume work cov-ers Hindu spiritual beliefs, practices andphilosophy, and is the culmination of a25-year academic effort. The encyclope-dia is written in English and includesabout 7,000 articles on Hinduism and itspractices.

The work also deals with Indian histo-ry, languages, art, music, dance, architec-ture, medicine, and women’s issues. Theentire encyclopedia contains more than1,000 illustrations and photographs.Brightly colored images of Hinduism’sdeities fill entire pages, with foot-notedexplanations of the forms and powers

God can take in the religion. “The goalwas to have something pretty definitive -not just about Hinduism, but about thewhole South Asian tradition,” saidUniversity of South Carolina professorHal French, who met with a small groupof scholars in 1987 to offer academicsupport for the project.

“This hadn’t really been attemptedbefore,” said French, 83, a distinguishedprofessor emeritus of religious studies atthe school and an associate editor. “It is amilestone of research that broughttogether both Eastern and Westernscholarship.” French, who specializes inthe religions of Asia and served as anassociate editor of the encyclopedia, saida primary inspiration for the work is one

of India’s most revered spiritual leaders,Swami Chidanand Saraswati, who is com-ing to the USC conference that will cele-brate the work’s launch.

Swami Chidanand founded the IndiaHeritage Research Foundation, whichbecame the parent organization behindthe encyclopedia effort. He is presidentof the Parmarth Niketan Ashram spiritualretreat in Rishikesh, India, and travels tovisit with Hindu followers in the UnitedStates several times a year. The encyclo-pedia’s volumes run from 600 to morethan 700 pages. Some 3,000 copies arebeing issued in the first printing and willbe of interest to libraries, religious institu-tions, and those studying Indian culturearound the world, French said. — AP

25 years in making, Hindu

encyclopedia is complete

For decades now, Christians have been the “invisible orignored victims” of conflicts in the Middle East. At best, theUS has paid scant attention as once thriving communities of

indigenous Christians in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt havebeen attacked, threatened, or forced to endure indignity andhardship. There are many reasons for this lack of attention to thesituation of Arab Christians, with one principal factor being igno-rance.

Most Americans have so little knowledge of the Arab World, itshistory and people that they are unaware that these Christiancommunities even exist. This must be remedied, since without anunderstanding of the role played by Christians in the Arab soci-eties of the Middle East, there can be no reasoned discussionabout the past, present, and future of this region.

One striking example of this ignorance comes to mind. I oncehosted a press breakfast in Washington for a visiting Palestinianpriest from the Galilee. Since I had invited only reporters who cov-ered religion issues, I hoped for an informed and thoughtfulexchange. A set of initial questions from the AP’s religion reporterestablished, early on, that the conversation would not be as pro-ductive as I had assumed.

His questions made it all too clear that he was simply unawareof the existence of a Palestinian Christian community. He beganby asking, “You say that you are an Arab Christian. But how canthat be - aren’t they two different groups?” He followed up by ask-ing “When exactly did you and your family convert toChristianity?” The clergyman from the Galilee, without missing abeat or cracking a smile, replied quite simply “My relatives con-verted about 2000 years ago.” He went on to describe the continu-ous Christian presence in the Holy Land since the time of Jesus,the role they have played in the region’s history, and their sharedstruggle with their Palestinian Muslim brethren.

I have found that not only reporters were ignorant or dismis-sive about Christians in the Arab World. About two decades back,a high ranking State Department official told me that he was offto Syria and high on his agenda was his intention to challenge“Assad’s and the Ba’ath’s persecution of Christians”. I cautionedhim to drop that issue from his “to-do list” informing him that, infact, Christians had been among the founders of the Ba’ath partyand, for better or worse, saw the Assad regime as supportive oftheir rights-a history that had to be known if one was to under-stand Syria’s political culture and society.

Just a few years ago, I had another disturbing conversationabout Syria’s Christians with a senior official-this time from theWhite House. We were in agreement about the brutality of theAssad regime and the need for fundamental change in Syria. Butwhen I raised concern about the vulnerability of Syria’s Christians,his dismissive response was “Maybe it’s time for them to just packtheir bags and leave”. He said this without any sense of concernfor this community or for what Syria’s future might be like were itto lose its Christian population.

Even when their presence is known, the Christian’s plight isignored in our political discourse and press commentary eitherbecause acknowledging their situation might muddy up a sim-plistic story-line or conflict with what has been identified as a larg-er policy objective.

And so, for example, the West has been silent about the pre-cipitous decline in the Christian population of the PalestinianWest Bank and Jerusalem out of deference to Israeli sensitivities.Pro-Israel right-wing Christian groups from the US frequentlymake pilgrimages to the Holy Land to show their support forIsrael, while completely ignoring the existence of an indigenouscommunity of Christians and the hardships they are forced toendure with the rest of their Palestinian brethren living underoccupation. “They come”, a Palestinian cleric told me, “to look atthe places where Jesus walked and don’t even see that we arehere. We are invisible to them”.

Similarly, it was the Evangelical Christian president George W.Bush whose ill-conceived war in Iraq unleashed the twin demonsof violent extremism and sectarianism that resulted in the neardestruction of the ancient Chaldean Christian community of Iraq.The Bush White House alternately ignored this tragedy orshrugged it off as a mere unfortunate by-product of the moreimportant objective of removing Sadaam Hussein from power.

And even today, the impact of sectarian conflict on the twothousand year old Christian communities of Syria and Egypt israrely factored into policy discussions and press commentaryabout these countries. In each instance, the dominate narrativehas been determined to be of far greater consequence. And sothe Syria story is “opposition versus regime”, or “al Qaeda facing offagainst Hizbullah”, while the Egypt story is framed as “MuslimBrothers against the military” or “democracy versus coup”.Meanwhile, on the ground, in both Syria and Egypt, ancientChristian churches are destroyed and communities live in fear ofviolence incited by extremists.

On occasion some right-wing ideologues have selectivelyembraced the plight of one Christian community only to use it asa partisan club with which to attack a Democratic administrationor as part of their on-going efforts to demonize Islam. They willnever, for example, criticize Israel’s behavior toward Christians inJerusalem or Bethlehem, just as they were silent during theuprooting of the Christians of Iraq. As a result, their advocacy hasbeen so transparently crass and hollow, that they are easily dis-missed as political posturing.

Washington Watch

Invisible victims

By Dr James J Zogby

14A N A L Y S I SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

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China investigate multiple sectors for price-fixing By Michael Martina

Asenior Chinese official put pressure on around 30 for-eign firms including General Electric and Siemens at arecent meeting to confess to any antitrust violations

and warned them against using external lawyers to fight accu-sations from regulators, sources said. The meeting is evidenceof what many antitrust lawyers in China see as increasinglyaggressive tactics to enforce a 2008 anti-monopoly law andhighlight a worsening relationship between foreign compa-nies and China’s array of regulators.

Two sources who were at the July 24-25 closed-door meet-ing said the senior official showed in-house lawyers how towrite what they called “self-criticisms” and displayed copies ofletters from companies admitting guilt in past antitrust cases.Lawyers employed by some of those firms were in the room.The two sources, and another source with direct knowledge ofthe meeting at a small hotel in Beijing, said the official whodelivered the blunt remarks was Xu Xinyu, a division chief atthe National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

One of the sources at the meeting said Xu noted, withoutbeing specific, that half of the companies in the room wereeither being investigated or had been probed by the NDRC.“The message was: if you put up a fight, I could double ortriple your fines. This speech went way over the line,” the sec-ond source who attended the meeting said. The NDRC did notrespond to questions from Reuters. Xu could not be reachedfor comment.

The agency has been at the forefront of a wave of investi-gations into how companies do business in China, especiallyinto whether they effectively force retailers to sell their prod-ucts at a minimum price. On Aug 7 it announced fines totalinga record $110 million against five foreign milk powder firmsand one Chinese producer for price fixing and anti-competi-tive behavior. Three other milk powder makers were investi-gated but not fined because, among other things, they carriedout “self-rectification”, the NDRC said at the time.

In-house lawyers from some 30 firms attended the Julymeeting, which was conducted in Chinese. It had been billedas a training session for multinationals to mark the fifthanniversary of the anti-monopoly law. Officials from theMinistry of Commerce as well as the State Administration for

Industry and Commerce (SAIC), a regulator in charge of mar-ket supervision, were also at the meeting, but their presenta-tions were overshadowed by Xu’s speech.

His comments were perceived as threatening, and whileother NDRC officials at the meeting may not have supportedthe way it was conveyed, Xu’s message was consistent withthe approach taken by other officials in private conversationswith companies in recent months, the two sources at themeeting said. They declined to be identified because theywere not authorized to speak to the media, but word of themeeting has circulated widely in the antitrust community.

GLOBAL COMPANIESThe two sources said the following companies were at the

hotel: GE, Siemens, Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, Volvo, IBMCorp, Michelin; Swedish packaging giant Tetra Pak; Intel Corp;Qualcomm ; Dumex, a subsidiary of France’s Danone and UScable equipment maker Arris Group Inc.

Tetra Pak confirmed it was there but declined to commentfurther. Siemens, Samsung and Volvo said they were notaware of any meeting. IBM, Intel, GE and Microsoft declined tocomment. Arris, Michelin and Dumex did not respond toquestions while Reuters was unable to immediately reachQualcomm. Reuters does not have a full list of firms at themeeting. The government agencies held a separate trainingsession for Chinese state-owned enterprises around the sametime, one of the sources said, though it was unclear what wasdiscussed. The two sources said Xu did not explain why hedidn’t want foreign firms to hire external lawyers if they wereprobed. Getting an admission of guilt from companies makesit easier for the NDRC because lawyers who have dealt with itsaid its capacity for legal analysis was weak and that few with-in its antitrust bureau had a background in law. “They don’t doanalysis. They just do an interview and ask for an admission,”said one lawyer from a leading antitrust firm in China who alsohad direct knowledge of the July meeting.

When one lawyer asked a question about the anti-monop-oly law, Xu asked the executive to elaborate on his company’spractices so he could determine on the spot if it was in viola-tion or not, the two sources said. The lawyer clammed up, theysaid. While Chinese regulators have said little to explain themotivations behind the various pricing investigations, state

media have accused the foreign media of exaggerating theissue.

In a commentary on Monday, the official Xinhua newsagency said such probes were routine in a market-orientedeconomy. “The battle is not targeted at foreign companies. Itis aimed at creating a fairer, cleaner and better-regulated envi-ronment for economic competition,” the English languagecommentary said. “Probing and punishing ill-behaved compa-nies will increase the confidence of international firms in theChinese market, not the other way round.”

WARY OF NDRCLawyers and sources familiar with the NDRC said Xu was

elevated to the role of a division chief in its antitrust bureauafter the agency, keen to keep pace with China’s two otherantitrust enforcers - the Ministry of Commerce and SAIC -added dozens of personnel in 2011. At the same time, theNDRC is offering leniency for some companies in return forcooperation.

In the case against the milk powder makers, Swiss giantNestle was among the three firms spared fines because it “pro-vided important evidence and carried out active self-rectifica-tion”, the NDRC said. “I am happy that the NDRC is activelyinvestigating, but they can’t prohibit a company from hiring alawyer,” said the lawyer from the antitrust firm. “The NDRC isvery powerful and some companies are afraid and willing togive up counsel.” A second China-based antitrust lawyer saidforeign firms were frightened of challenging the NDRC by fil-ing a judicial review in court, which could overrule an NDRCfinding. While China’s judiciary is not considered independent,experts regard it as more capable of detailed legal analysis.“So far, no companies have challenged the NDRC for a judicialreview because they are afraid of retaliation. (This) is the samereason why they would sign a confession letter,” said thelawyer. Daniel Sokol, a law professor and antitrust expert atthe University of Florida, said that while Chinese firms hadbeen targeted by the NDRC over antitrust issues, the uncer-tainty was making foreign investors especially jittery. “Theproblem is that because it has so much power and because invarious forums they have been focusing on foreign enforce-ment, this is definitely impacting business decision-makingabout further FDI into China,” Sokol said.— Reuters

In small US town, a window into Egyptian general’s past

By Phil Stewart

Unlike today’s ubiquitous images ofGeneral Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in crisp uni-form decorated with medals, the US Army

War College yearbook shows the officer whowould one day seize power in Egypt smiling at aparty in a small Pennsylvania town, lookingrelaxed in a yellow polo shirt. There is a picture ofSisi visiting a US Civil War battleground andanother of his family taken at a Halloween partythey attended, with his wife and daughter grin-ning next to a woman dressed like the Egyptianpharaoh Cleopatra.

The yearbook from the Class of 2006 istucked away in the War College library inCarlisle. Its images offer a reminder that notthat long ago, the army chief who now effec-tively rules Egypt spent an academic year on amilitary fellowship in the more peaceful sur-roundings of small-town America. In Carlisle,Sisi made an impression at the local mosqueand at the college itself as a serious studentwhose writings reflected an awareness thatensuring democracy in the Middle East mightbe fraught with difficulties.

Since the July 3 ouster of PresidentMohamed Morsi, discussion of limited Americaninfluence on Egypt’s military has focused on the$1.3 billion in military aid that the United Statespours into the country. But advocates of inter-national fellowship programs say that culturalties forged in places like Carlisle are perhapsmore important in building lasting relationsbetween the United States and Egypt.

Despite conflict with the Obama administra-tion over his crackdown on supporters of Morsi,Sisi keeps in regular contact with Washington.He has held an astonishing 16 calls with USDefense Secretary Chuck Hagel since Morsi wastoppled last month. “I’ll bet this total immersionin the West that he had for the better part of ayear ... is contributing to the fact that communi-cations lines are open,” said Major GeneralAnthony Cucolo, the War College’s comman-dant.Sisi ignored warnings from Hagel and oth-

ers before Morsi’s ouster and, again rebuffingcalls for restraint, sent in security forces on Aug14 to smash protest camps set up by Morsi’ssupporters. At least 900 people, including 100soldiers and police, have been killed in the pastweek in the crackdown on Morsi’s MuslimBrotherhood, the bloodiest civil unrest in Egypt’smodern history. “Our ability to influence the out-come in Egypt is limited,” Hagel acknowledgedon Monday. “All nations are limited in their influ-ence in another nation’s internal issues.”

RISKS OF DEMOCRACYOn a dry-erase board in a War College semi-

nar room, instructions like “No Rank” and “Keepan Open Mind” are scribbled in blue ink - part ofan effort to promote open, informal dialogueamong US officers and those from other coun-tries. The college hosts nearly 80 internationalfellows each year, a number that has doubledsince Sisi studied there. They come from nationslike Pakistan and India, as well as from traditionalallies like Canada and Britain, to study with offi-cers from across America’s armed forces andcivilians from the State Department and otherUS agencies.

This year, Egypt sent one officer to the UnitedStates for language training before Morsi’souster. But the number of Egyptian military per-sonnel participating in all US exchanges throughthe International Military Education and TrainingProgram fell sharply to 22 from 53 from 2011 to2012, according to State Department data. In2006, Sisi appeared more reserved than manyother fellows in class discussions, perhaps cau-tious by nature - or wary that his commentsmight come back to haunt him.

“(It wasn’t) because he didn’t know what hethought. I think he was aware that everythingyou can say can be repeated,” said SherifaZuhur, a former professor of Sisi’s, who led aclass on the Middle East. Faculty adviserSteve Gerras described him as “serious and qui-et” - even at outside events, like when heattended a gathering to watch the Super Bowlat Gerras’ home. Those who knew Sisi during

his US fellowship describe someone who, atthe height of Iraq’s post-invasion civil war,deeply questioned perceived US assumptionsabout how democracy would unfold there.

In comments foreshadowing the current cri-sis gripping Egypt, Sisi, in his research project,wrote that emerging democracies would likelyhave a stronger religious cast than in the West.“History has shown that in the first ten years ofa new democracy, conflict is likely to occureither externally or internally as the newdemocracy matures,” he wrote. “Simply chang-ing the political systems from autocratic rule todemocratic rule will not be enough to build anew democracy,” he wrote.

Some of Sisi’s writings seem ironic today,given that he led the overthrow of an avowedlyIslamist, but popularly elected, leader. Critics ofMorsi’s leadership say he failed to build aninclusive government and did not govern dem-ocratically. In his research, Sisi pointed to the2006 Palestinian election victory of Hamas, anoffshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and advo-cated that “legitimately elected parties be giv-en the opportunity to govern.” “The world can-not demand democracy in the Middle East, yetdenounce what it looks like because a less thanpro-Western party legitimately assumes office,”he wrote. Sisi had requested that his researchproject not be publicly disclosed. But it has cir-culated widely, something that Cucolo, the col-lege commandant, said he regretted.

WEDDING RINGSisi lived on a picturesque street in Carlisle’s

historic center with American flags draped fromfront porches. His former home, which has aporch swing and a hanging basket of flowers, isa short walk from a local college that Sisi’s sonattended, and a short drive from the mosqueoften frequented by Muslim fellows at the WarCollege and their families. Sisi is warmly remem-bered there as a devout man who sometimesled prayers. “He used to pray with us. Now he is abig guy,” said worshipper Abdul Majid Ayud.Carlisle wasn’t Sisi’s first experience in the United

States. In 1981, he took an infantry basic trainingcourse at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Frank Phillips, a retired US Army officer whobefriended Sisi there, says Sisi served as an imamfor the Muslim students on the course. “He wasreligious, but not fanatical,” said Phillips, describ-ing him as a “strong patriot.” One day, Sisi accom-panied the American to look for an engagementring in Columbus, Georgia. When Phillips put thering on layaway - a practice not generally knownin Egypt - Sisi offered to help him pay for it so hecould take it home right away.

Phillips gently declined, but deeply appreci-ated the offer. “He’s a solid guy,” Phillips said.People who knew Sisi during his time in theUnited States generally declined to take a posi-tion on Egypt’s political turmoil. But Phillips sayshe takes comfort in believing that Sisi will dowhat is right for Egypt, and likely weigh US viewsbecause of his experiences in America. “Is hemore predisposed now to consider the US viewof things? I’d say yes,” Phillips said.

HALL OF FAME?Sisi’s name is inscribed along with others

from the Class of 2006 on a bronze-coloredplaque that dominates a wall of Root Hall, theWar College’s main building. But the college’stop honor still awaits him. Inside is a “Hall ofFame” with portraits of fellowship graduateswho, like Sisi, went on to lead their respectivemilitaries.

General Tibor Benko, who became chief ofthe general staff of Hungary’s armed forces, isthe most recent inductee and, as such, his por-trait is larger, positioned at the center of dozensof others hailing from Germany, Italy and else-where. Although the ultimate decision onwhether to include Sisi is up to the US ambassa-dor to Egypt and senior Army officials, Cucolosaid the slow process toward Sisi’s inductionwould begin to advance. “He meets the criteriaand I will be moving forward with the process atsome point here,” Cucolo said. “What’s going onright now isn’t affecting my opinion aboutthat.”—Reuters

S P O RT SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

BRNO: Britain’s Cal Crutchlow took his second pole position of the MotoGP season atthe Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno yesterday.

The Yamaha Tech3 rider, whose other pole came at the Dutch TT in Assen in June,was joined on the front row by Honda Gresini’s Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista and worksHonda championship leader Marc Marquez.

Spain’s world champion Jorge Lorenzo, on the works Yamaha, qualified fifth withHonda’s Dani Pedrosa fourth. Crutchlow grabbed the top slot with a record qualifying

lap time of one minute 55.527 seconds and he could sayhe had done it with all of the top riders present.

Lorenzo was absent for the Dutch round. “It isgoing to be a long, tough race tomorrow,” theBriton, who is switching to Ducati next season,told the BBC.

“In all honesty the last couple of raceshaven’t gone to plan... but everyone seems to bestruggling a bit and we seem to be getting there

slowly,” he added.Crutchlow had been unhappy after Friday’s

practice with a new fuel tank fitted tohis bike but was fastest in yester-day’s practice. —Reuters

Crutchlow takes pole spotKARACHI: Former captain Rashid Latif yesterday said Pakistan cricket authorities should notforce leg-spinner Danish Kaneria to plead guilty to spot-fixing until he has exhausted all legaloptions available to him. A disciplinary panel of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)banned Kaneria for life last year after he was convicted of luring Essex team-mate MervynWestfield in to conceding a set number of runs in exchange for money during a 2009 countrymatch. Kaneria last week launched another appeal in a London commercial court against theban after earlier appeals to the ECB, first to overturn, then to reduce the punishment, wererejected. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), possibly mindful of its reputation in the wake of aseries of fixing scandals, has urged Kaneria to end his legal battle andconfess.

But Latif said questions remained over Kaneria’s convic-tion. “I request the PCB not to force Kaneria to accept hisguilt until his appeal at all forums is not decided,” the for-mer wicketkeeper said at a press conference. Duringthe British proceedings against Kaneria, it was allegedthat an Indian bookmaker named Anu Bhatt paid 6000pounds to Westfield in a deal brokered by the leg-spin-ner. But Latif contested the allegations and said Bhattand was hosted as a guest of the PCB in 2005 and 2006, aclaim rejected by the body. On Friday the PCB sent Latifa notice to either prove his allegations or apologisewithin three days.—AFP

Kaneria’s spot-fixing scandalARGENTINA: Former France striker David Trezeguet, discarded this seasonby River Plate, scored a brilliant goal for Argentine champions Newell’s OldBoys in their 2-0 win at Atletico Rafaela.

Meanwhile, with three matches already played, River were still waitingfor Colombia striker Teofilo Gutierrez’s papers in a transfer from Cruz Azul ofMexico to come through so he can finally make his debut at home to Colontoday. The 35-year-old Trezeguet traded several passes with Argentinawinger Maxi Rodriguez before volleying the ball into the top corner to sealthe victory in the final minute of Friday night’s match.

Paraguay right back Marcos Caceres had given Newell’s the lead early inthe second half of the match in the “Inicial” championship, first of two in theseason.

“This is a team who don’t lose their values, they like to control the ball,enjoy themselves, for the forwards it’s a pleasure to play with these players,”Trezeguet said of the side built by former coach Gerardo Martino before hedeparted for Barcelona last month. Newell’s, now under coach Jorge Berti,are third in the standings with seven points from three matches. They aretwo points behind promoted leaders Gimnsia, who won 2-1 at Belgrano andvisit Newell’s in Rosario on Tuesday. Racing Club, who enjoyed a strong fin-ish to last season, are bottom of the 19-team league on one point aftercrashing to their third defeat in four matches, 2-0 at home to Arsenal, whoare second on eight points. —Reuters

BALTIMORE: Third basemen Josh Donaldson No. 20 of the Oakland Athletics cannotthrow out Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles (not pictured) in the seventh inningat Oriole Park at Camden Yards. —AFP

Trezeguet nets for Newell’s

ST. LOUIS: Adam Wainwright earned his NationalLeague-leading 15th win with his fifth completegame and had a key sacrifice fly to lead the St. LouisCardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves onFriday. Matt Holliday’s 432-foot home run off KrisMedlen (10-12) snapped a sixth-inning tie for St.Louis, which took the first two games of a four-gameset against the NL East leaders.

Having already thrown 101 pitches, Wainwrightwas allowed to bat with the one out and the basesloaded in the seventh inning. He hit a long fly ball tocenter off Scott Downs for his third RBI of the season,making it 3-1.

Medlen singled to lead off the sixth and scored onFreddie Freeman’s second hit of the game. Medlenalso retired 12 in a row at one point, but he allowedHolliday’s 17th homer on a liner deep into the leftfield stands. He’s lost his last two times out, includinga relief appearance in a 15-inning game.

PIRATES 3, GIANTS 1In San Francisco, Clint Barmes hit a three-run

homer, Charlie Morton pitched eight strong innings asPittsburgh won for the fourth time in five games.

Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison each hadtwo hits for the Pirates, who maintained their one-game lead over St. Louis in the NL Central.

Morton (5-3) allowed one run and seven hits over7 2-3 innings. Mark Melancon pitched the ninth for hisninth save in 11 chances.

San Francisco left-hander Madison Bumgarner (11-8) took a shutout into the seventh and wound upallowing three runs and seven hits over eight innings.Roger Kieschnick drove in a run for the Giants, whohave lost three straight and five of six overall.

BREWERS 6, REDS 4In Cincinnati, Khris Davis hit a pair of two-run

homers in consecutive at-bats for the first multihomergame of his career, powering Milwaukee to the win.

Scooter Gennett also homered for the Brewers,who won at Great American Ball Park for only the sec-ond time in seven games this season.

The Reds lost for only the fifth time in their last 17games, a surge that has tightened the NL Central race.They came in a season-high 18 games over .500.

Davis connected in the sixth off Homer Bailey andagain in the eighth off Alfredo Simon (5-4), who had arough inning. He also gave up Gennett’s solo homer,which was upheld on review.

Rob Wooten (2-0) hit a batter during his oneinning in relief. Jim Henderson gave up a hit in theninth while getting his 20th save in 23 chances.Brandon Phillips homered for Cincinnati.

PHILLIES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 3In Philadelphia, Chase Utley walked with the bases

loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, liftingPhiladelphia to the comeback victory.

Cody Asche led off the ninth with a single andwent to third on Jimmy Rollins’ single. Heath Bell (4-2)intentionally walked Michael Young to load the basesfor Kevin Frandsen. After striking out Frandsen, Bellwas lifted for left-hander Eury De La Rosa.

De La Rosa ran the count to 3-2 and Utley walkedwhen the final pitch appeared to be a bit inside. It wasthe fifth win in six games for the Phillies, who havewon four of those contests in their last at-bat, includ-ing the last three.

Darin Ruf homered for the second straight gamefor Philadelphia, which improved to 5-3 under interimmanager Ryne Sandberg. Jonathan Papelbon (4-1)pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.

ROCKIES 3, MARLINS 2In Miami, Ryan Wheeler hit a tiebreaking RBI dou-

ble in the eighth to help Colorado get the win. JhoulysChacin (12-7) allowed two runs and four hits in seveninnings for the Rockies. Adam Ottavino pitched theeighth and Lex Brothers finished for his 12th save in13 opportunities.

Ed Lucas homered and Tom Koehler allowed onerun in seven innings for Miami, which has lost four in arow. With the Rockies trailing 2-1 in the eighth,Tulowitzki got the rally started with a one-out doubleoff Chad Qualls (4-2). Michael Cuddyer followed with atying RBI single.

After Rosario grounded out, Wheeler gave theRockies a 3-2 lead with a double to center for his firstRBI of the season.

PADRES 8, CUBS 6In San Diego, Will Venable had three hits and three

RBIs, including a tiebreaking solo homer in the sev-enth inning as the San Diego Padres rallied to beatthe Chicago Cubs.

Jedd Gyorko homered twice and drove in a career-high four runs as the Padres stormed back after a terri-ble start. Chase Headley and Logan Forsythe had twohits apiece. Nate Schierholtz hit a three-run homer inChicago’s six-run first inning, but that was all the scor-ing for the Cubs.

INTERLEAGUEDODGERS 2, RED SOX 0

In Los Angeles, Ricky Nolasco pitched eightinnings of two-hit ball and Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer as the Dodgers defeated the Red Sox inthe opener of an interleague series between playoffcontenders. The Dodgers won their fourth in a row,while the Red Sox lost for the sixth time in eightgames. With the loss, Boston fell percentage pointsbehind Tampa Bay in the AL East standings.

The Dodgers opened a 101/2-game lead in the NLWest, their biggest margin since holding a 101/2-game advantage on Sept. 28, 1977.

Nolasco and John Lackey dueled through eightinnings of Boston’s first visit to Dodger Stadium since2002. They combined for just five hits in a game thatlasted 2 hours, 7 minutes.

Nolasco (10-9) struck out six and walked none intying his longest outing of the season. Lackey (8-11)gave up two runs and three hits, struck out six andwalked none. Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninthfor his 22nd save.

TIGERS 6, METS 1In New York, Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer,

Torii Hunter also connected as the Tigers taggedDaisuke Matsuzaka early on in his return to themajors.

Hunter added a long RBI double and Doug Fister(11-6) pitched into the seventh inning to help Detroitwin the interleague series opener. Austin Jacksonwent deep for the second straight day for the ALCentral leaders. The series resumes with a rematch ofAll-Star game starters at Citi Field: Max Scherzer putshis 18-1 record on the line against New York ace MattHarvey in a nationally televised game.

Minus two injured starters, the Mets signedMatsuzaka (0-1) on Thursday to fill a hole in the rota-tion and immediately handed him a difficult assign-ment. The Japanese right-hander allowed five runs -all coming in the first two frames - and six hits in fiveinnings.

NATIONALS 11, ROYALS 10In Kansas City, Jayson Werth hit a two-run homer,

Bryce Harper drove in three runs as Washington ral-lied from a six-run deficit to the get the win.

Harper also made a terrific catch in the ninth forWashington, which scored seven times in the fourthinning of its fourth consecutive win. Ian Desmondhad a pair of hits during the outburst.

Denard Span, Ryan Zimmerman, Tyler Moore andAnthony Rendon also had RBIs as the Nationals piledup 11 runs for the second time in three games - theybeat the Cubs 11-6 on Tuesday night.

Just like in that one, Tyler Roark (4-0) came in tospell some sloppy starting pitching for the Nationals.He earned the win by allowing one hit and one walkin 4 2-3 innings. Bruce Chen (5-2) was tagged for thesecond straight time for Kansas City. He allowed sev-en runs and six hits with five walks in 3 2-3 innings inhis shortest outing of the year. Rafael Soriano gotthree outs for his 33rd save. —AP

Cardinals pound Braves

ST. LOUIS: Yadier Molina No. 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals is tagged out by Chris Johnson No. 23 ofthe Atlanta Braves trying to stretch out a double in the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. —AFP

American LeagueEastern Division

W L PCT GB Tampa Bay 73 53 .579 - Boston 75 55 .577 - Baltimore 69 58 .543 4.5 NY Yankees 68 60 .531 6 Toronto 57 72 .442 17.5

Central DivisionDetroit 75 53 .586 - Cleveland 69 59 .539 6 Kansas City 64 63 .504 10.5 Minnesota 57 70 .449 17.5 Chicago White Sox 52 75 .409 22.5

Western DivisionTexas 75 53 .586 - Oakland 71 56 .559 3.5 Seattle 59 68 .465 15.5 LA Angels 56 71 .441 18.5 Houston 42 85 .331 32.5

National LeagueEastern Division

Atlanta 77 51 .602 - Washington 64 64 .500 13 NY Mets 58 68 .460 18 Philadelphia 58 70 .453 19 Miami 48 79 .378 28.5

Central DivisionPittsburgh 76 52 .594 - St. Louis 75 53 .586 1 Cincinnati 73 56 .566 3.5 Milwaukee 56 72 .438 20 Chicago Cubs 54 74 .422 22

Western DivisionLA Dodgers 76 52 .594 - Arizona 65 62 .512 10.5 Colorado 60 70 .462 17 San Diego 58 70 .453 18 San Francisco 56 72 .438 20

MLB results/standingsBaltimore 9, Oakland 7; Minnesota 5, Cleveland 1; Philadelphia 4, Arizona 3; Milwaukee 6, Cincinnati4; Detroit 6, NY Mets 1; Colorado 3, Miami 2; Tampa Bay 7, NY Yankees 2; Texas 11, Chicago White Sox5; Washington 11, Kansas City 10; Houston 12, Toronto 4; St. Louis 3, Atlanta 1; LA Angels 2, Seattle 0;LA Dodgers 2, Boston 0; San Diego 8, Chicago Cubs 6; Pittsburgh 3, San Francisco 1.

BALTIMORE: Brian Roberts hit a grandslam, Adam Jones homered and hadthree RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles beatthe Oakland Athletics 9-7 Friday to gainground in the wild-card race.

Roberts and Jones connected in a six-run fourth inning that put Baltimore up6-3. After Oakland rallied to take thelead, Jones drove in the go-ahead runduring a three-run seventh.

The victory moved the Orioles pastCleveland into third place in the wild-card hunt. Tampa Bay is on top andBaltimore now stands two games behindOakland. The top two teams make theplayoffs.

Coco Crisp homered, had a careerhigh-tying four hits and scored threeruns for the A’s, who have lost four of six.Ryan Cook (5-3) was the loser andFrancisco Rodriguez (2-0) got the win.Jim Johnson worked a perfect ninth forhis 40th save.

ANGELS 2, MARINERS 0In Seattle, Chris Nelson hit a two-run

homer off Felix Hernandez as the Angelsspoiled Eric Wedge’s return to thedugout with a victory over the Mariners.

Wedge managed the Mariners for thefirst time since he had a mild stroke amonth ago. He acknowledged beinganxious about getting back on the benchand called his ailment “a heads up.”

Garrett Richards (4-5) allowed four hitsin 7 1-3 innings and two relievers fin-ished the five-hitter for Los Angeles.Nelson snapped an 0-for-17 slide whenhe connected in the second for his thirdhomer. Josh Hamilton scored on Nelson’slong ball after leading off the inning witha single, and it was the only timeHernandez (12-7) was touched all night.

RANGERS 11, WHITE SOX 5In Chicago, Ian Kinsler raced around

the bases for a bizarre inside-the-parkhomer and Adam Rosales had a conven-tional two-run shot, helping Texas beatthe White Sox.

The AL West-leading Rangers (75-53)had five homers in all while winning forthe 19th time in 23 games. Jeff Bakerand pinch hitter Mitch Moreland eachhad two-run shot, and Adrian Beltre belt-ed a solo drive. The White Sox wereunable to overcome a shaky outing byace Chris Sale, ending a season-high six-game winning streak. Sale (9-12) allowedeight runs and eight hits in seveninnings. Kinsler hit a line drive in thethird that rolled into a drainage trackunder the left field wall. By the time

Dayan Viciedo was able to find the ball,Kinsler was on his way to the plate stand-ing up for his 11th homer.

RAYS 7, YANKEES 2In St. Petersburg, rookie Chris Archer

beat the Yankees for the third time, andEvan Longoria hit one of four homers offHiroki Kuroda as the Rays topped theirAL East rival.

Jose Lobaton homered and drove infour runs in support of Archer (7-5), a 24-year-old right-hander who won twiceearlier this season at Yankee Stadium,including a two-hit shutout on July 27.He gave up four hits over seven inningsthis time.

Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist also wentdeep for Tampa Bay, hitting solo shots offKuroda (11-9), who tied a career high forhomers allowed - the first given up bythe Yankees starter in nearly two months.

The loss stopped a five-game winningstreak for New York, which had won 10 of12 to climb back into the AL playoff race.

TWINS 5, INDIANS 1In Cleveland, Samuel Deduno pitched

six solid innings and Josh Willinghambusted out of a slump with a two-rundouble in the seventh, leading the Twinsto a win over Cleveland, slowing theIndians’ climb toward a wild-card spot.

Deduno (8-7) allowed just one runand three hits for his first win since July27 as the Twins continued to befuddlethe Indians. Minnesota is 14-7 againstCleveland since last September.

Willingham was in an 0-for-15 slidebefore his double off Cody Allen put theTwins ahead 4-1. Ubaldo Jimenez (9-8)struck out 10 in six innings.

ASTROS 12, BLUE JAYS 4In Houston, rookie Robbie Grossman

homered and drove in four runs, MattDominguez had a solo shot as the Astrosused a big fourth inning in cruising to awin over the Blue Jays.

Houston led by one before adding fiveruns in the fourth inning behind a twoRBI triple by Jonathan Villar and a run-scoring triple by Jason Castro to make it8-2.

Jordan Lyles (6-6) allowed 10 hits andfour runs in 7 1-3 innings for the win.Blue Jays starter Todd Redmond (1-2)allowed eight hits and seven runs - bothcareer highs - in 3 1-3 innings, which wasthe shortest start of his career. JPArencibia, Edwin Encarnacion and BrettLawrie all homered for the Blue Jays, whohave lost six straight. —AP

Orioles down Athletics

KUWAIT: President of the Asian and KuwaitShooting Federations, Vice-president of theISSF Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, accompanied by President of theArab Shooting Federation, Vice-president ofKuwait Shooting Federation Engr DuaijKhalaf Al-Otaibi and secretary general ofArab and Kuwait Shooting FederationObaid Al-Osaimi welcomed Kuwaiti ShooterMohammad Al-Hamly who won the gold

medal during the Asian Youth Games inChina.

Sheikh Salman was pleased with Al-Hamly’s achievement, and is honored todedicate the medal to HH the Amir, HH theCrown Prince and HH the Prime Minister. Healso congratulated the President of theOlympic Council of Asia (OCA) SheikhAhmad Al-Fahad on the success of the sec-ond Asian Youth Games. Sheikh Salman

appreciated the outstanding performanceof Kuwait Shooting during the games, andthanked shooter Al-Hamly who confirmedthat Kuwait Shooting Sport is outstanding.

Eng Duaij Al-Otaibi said KSSC prepara-tions for the games proved successful, andshowed that Kuwaiti youth are exceptionaldespite the strong competition with majorcountries like China, Japan and Korea alongwith 20 other participating countries.KUWAIT: Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud (second right) welcoming Al-Hamly.

Sheikh Salman hails Al-Hamly’s success

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

JERSEY CITY: Matt Kuchar of the United States putts on the 12th hole duringthe second round of The Barclays at Liberty National Golf Club.—AFP

BRISTOL: Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, leads DrewHerring, driver of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota, during the NASCARNationwide Series Food City 250. —AFP

BELGIUM: Lewis Hamiltonsnatched his fourth pole position ina row for Mercedes yesterday witha last-gasp flying lap after a dra-matic rain-hit qualifying session atthe Belgian Formula One GrandPrix.

The 2008 world champion, thelast man across the line on a dryingtrack after running the gamut ofSpa’s fickle weather, will be joinedon the front row by Red Bull ’schampionship leader SebastianVettel. Australian Mark Webber,preparing for the final BelgianGrand Prix of his career, qualifiedthird for Red Bull with Mercedes’Nico Rosberg fourth. Ferrari’s titlecontender Fernando Alonso couldqualify only ninth.

Vettel is 38 points clear ofLotus’s Kimi Raikkonen at the top ofthe standings with nine racesremaining but Hamilton, a further10 adrift, showed why manybelieve he is the German’s biggestrival.

The Briton had not figured in

the top 10 in any of the three prac-tice sessions and scraped into thefinal phase of qualifying in 10thplace by just 0.21 of a second andwith his hopes of success lookingforlorn. Hamilton celebrated his31st career pole with a wild whoopof delight over the radio andseemed as surprised as anyoneafter crossing the line with a fastesttime of two minutes 01.012 sec-onds compared to Vettel’s 2:01.200.

“I went wide in Turn One and mydashboard told me I was three sec-onds down and then it was fourseconds and then six so I didn’tknow what was going on but I keptpushing,” he told reporters at thepost-qualifying news conference.

“It ’s a blessing I am up here.Generally I feel comfortable inchanging conditions. I can find thelimit and I pushed through themiddle sector and really caned it.”

Team principal Ross Brawn letout a sigh of relief. “We were just onthe limit of being the last car. It didwork out for us and with the track

drying, Lewis did a great job. Hereally is settling in well to the team,”he told the BBC. Before that it hadlooked as if Hamilton’s compatriot,Force India driver Paul di Resta, washeading for the first pole of hiscareer after making an inspired callon the Pirelli tyres.

While the nine others queuedup at the pit lane exit on slicks atthe start of the third phase, theScot waited and went out on inter-mediate tyres.

He soon had the track to himselfas the rest pitted to change tyresand managed to get in a lap beforethe rain began to fall.

The weather eased towards theend of the session, allowing othersto go faster. Di Resta ended up astill creditable fifth on the gridahead of compatriot Jenson Buttonin the McLaren and the Lotus pair-ing of Romain Grosjean andRaikkonen.

“I thought the rain was going tostay. It was quite a ballsy decisionby myself. I saw umbrellas coming

up so I made the right choice,” saidDi Resta. “I think it was the righttime but our car is not that quick inthe wet. It was unfortunate, but P5is not so bad. In the dry, we’re look-ing good for the race. If it’s wet, I’dbe a bit more nervous.”

The notoriously capricious Spaclimate made merry with the peck-ing order in the first part of qualify-ing with Caterham’s Dutch driverGiedo van der Garde, who usuallybrings up the rear, ending up asthird fastest.

Both Marussias, perennial back-markers, made it through to thesecond phase while both Williamsand Toro Rosso drivers, includingAustralian Daniel Ricciardo who istipped to graduate to Red Bull nextseason, missed the cut.

“As far as I am aware, we wentout with the second set of interme-diates too early. We should havewaited but I trust the guys in the pitto make the best call. I am disap-pointed but tomorrow’s anotherday,” said Ricciardo.—Reuters

VERONA: Mike Tyson’s first promotional fight cardwent about the same way as his boxing career.Dramatic, memorable and controversial.

Argenis Mendez of the Dominican Republic andAfghan fighter Arash Usmanee battled to a rare 12-round draw Friday night at the Turning StoneResort Casino. Mendez (21-2-1) retained his IBF jun-ior lightweight belt in the marquee attraction ofTyson’s marketing debut.

The embattled Tyson, a member of the BoxingHall of Fame, has organized an outfit called “IronMike Productions,” and his aim is to be a full-serviceagency for up-and-coming fighters, who can learnthe sport, in and out of the ring, from one of thegreatest.

Usmanee improved to 20-1-1 in the event,which was tabbed “Tyson Is Back,” and featuredsome disappointed fans who felt Mendez won thebout. Iron Mike was one of them.

“I’m very grateful,” Tyson said. “We had two sen-sational championship fights. I thought my fighter(Mendez) won his fight. It was a sensational fight,good for boxing, but horrible for my boxer. He’s agreat boxer.”

In another bout, Jesus Andres Cueller (23-1)outlasted previously undefeated Claudio Marrero(14-1) to win the vacant World WBA interim feath-erweight championship.

But the story of the night was Mendez-Usmanee. Neither was knocked down in the bout,which was nationally televised.

“I’m really disappointed in the decision,” saidMendez, whose nickname is “La Tormenta.” “I’m thechampion and I thought I won.”

“It was a very close fight,” Usmanee said. “Itdepends on how you judge a fight. I was theaggressor. It could have gone either way.”

In other bouts, Eddie Paredes (34-3-1) postedhis 12th consecutive victory, defeating Noe

Bolanos (24-9-1); Alexei Collado (17-0) beatGuillermo Sanchez (13-10-1); Dorsett Barnwell (10-0) stopped Marlon Hayes (23-13) in the third round;and Antoine Douglas (9-0) recorded a win overEdgar Perez (5-6).

Tyson says he’s ecstatic to be back in the sport.He says his fighters - like Mendez - won’t be sub-jected to what he went through in his heyday, andthat you can expect more cards like his first.

“When I first got involved, I just didn’t know,”Tyson said. “Never in a thousand years did I plan ondoing it. I’m just happy to be back involved in box-

ing. It’s a dream come true. I’m a little nervous.”Tyson, 47, who has battled addiction and

depression, and has lost millions of dollars throughthe years, hopes to provide his fighters with astructured environment for success, and to be ableto help them learn from his mistakes.

“You’re never going to hear them say ‘MikeTyson stole from me.’ Hopefully, they’ll never endup like me,” he said. “I’m not a magician. The onlything I can do is suggest - go in the right direction.We have to look for happiness within. “I can’t stopsomebody from hurting themselves.”—AP

BRISTOL: The crowd showered Kyle Buschwith boos Friday night as he celebrated yetanother Bristol Motor Speedway win inVictory Lane.

“Whether you’re booing or cheering,glad you’re here,” Busch said over the pub-lic address system. “Hope you’re booingmore tomorrow when we take homeanother trophy.”

It wouldn’t be out of the question forBusch, who will be going for a Bristolsweep late yesterday night’s Sprint CupSeries race. He won Wednesday night’sTruck Series race and dominated Fridaynight’s Nationwide Series race, startingfrom the pole and leading 228 of the 250laps. “You’ve got to win two to go for three,so here’s two,” said Busch, who has 15career national wins at Bristol and sweptthe week in August 2010.

His win Friday night was his 60thNationwide series win of his career, and120th spanning NASCAR’s three nationalseries. It was also his 15th of the seasonafter winning just one race in all threeseries last season. “It comes from prepara-tion, it comes from the shop, it comes frompractice here,” said Busch, who also praisedcrew chief Adam Stevens. “Adam and I, wework real well together.”

Brad Keselowski was second, followedby Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, KyleLarson, Trevor Bayne, Ty Dillon, Kasey

Kahne, Brian Scott and Elliott Sadler.Sam Hornish Jr. entered the race as the

Nationwide Series points leader but had aspark plug wire problem and finished 12th.He has a six-point lead over Austin Dillon,who gained two spots in the standings. “It’sunfortunate we let them close back inagain, but Bristol really isn’t one of mystrongest tracks,” Hornish said. “I don’tknow if I jinxed myself, but I said over thelast couple of weeks that if we can getthrough these races and do what we needto do and minimize our bad days to be a15th-place finish instead of a 35th thatwe’ll be all right, and low and behold, weget ourselves into a 12th-place.

“But it was a hard-fought 12th and I feellike we did what we could do with havingour problem for almost 200 laps of therace. It turned out pretty good for us.”

Busch, meanwhile, won’t have such aneasy go of it in Saturday night’s Cup raceafter a spin in qualifying prevented himfrom making a lap. He’ll start last in the43-car field and have to fight hard toavoid being lapped early on the .533-milebullring.

“It’s a whole different ball game tomor-row, for sure,” he said. “In qualifying, I justoverstepped it, got too high, I was a littleloose and I just screwed up. It’s not like Ihaven’t come from deep in the field before,but it’s going to be a tall order.”—AP

Busch dominates Bristol race

Hamilton seizes pole

at Belgian Grand Prix

BELGIUM: Lotus F1 Team’s French driver Romain Grosjean (left) and Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton drives during thequalifying session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.—AFP

Mendez, Usmanee bout ends in draw

Arash Usmanee

JERSEY CITY: Matt Kuchar joined the birdiebrigade at Liberty National to overtake club-house leaders Webb Simpson and GaryWoodland by a stroke late in the secondround of The Barclays on Friday. Kuchar regis-tered five birdies without a bogey to reach 10under par after 13 holes on the scenic layoutperched at the edge of New York harborbefore play was halted due to darkness.

“I’m really pleased with how I’m playing,”said 35-year-old Kuchar, who felt it could be apositive to be one of the 40 players comingback late yesterday to finish the round. “Rightnow the greens are getting a little bit worn.There’s just been a lot of traffic on them. I feellike in the morning, they will be perfectgreens.”

World number one Tiger Woods, playing inthe same group as Kuchar, reached sevenunder after six holes but began missing fair-ways and greens and posted three bogeysbefore stopping the bleeding with a birdie at13 to stand five under par.

A stretch of four birdies in five holes fromthe sixth lifted Kuchar level into a tie for thelead and a tap-in birdie at the par-five 13thput him ahead.

Simpson, the 2012 US Open champion,shot a second-round 66 after playing 12 holesFriday morning to complete an opening 67 as63 golfers had to return early to finish a firstround hit by more than six hours of delaysdue to thunderstorms.

The 28-year-old American had a feeling hisscore might not stand up given ideal scoringconditions on greens softened by rain stormsthat caused over six hours of delays onThursday. “A lot of guys are playing good golfand my guess is at the end of two rounds, Iwon’t be leading because there are a lot ofbirdie holes,” predicted Simpson.

Woodland closed with a furious charge,collecting birdies on four of his last five holesfor a seven-under-par 64 to join Simpson onnine-under-par 133.

“I played great today,” said long-hittingWoodland. “I played great today, gave myselfa lot of opportunities and I drove the ballphenomenally.” Masters champion AdamScott (66), 2011 PGA Championship winnerKeegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler were all in

the clubhouse with seven-under-par 135totals.

U.S. Open winner Justin Rose of Englandbirdied four-of-five holes before turning forthe inward half and was seven-under through14.

The crowded leaderboard had seven play-ers bunched at six under par, includingSweden’s Henrik Stenson (through 14 holes)and American Jim Furyk (14).

Spaniard Sergio Garcia (66), England’sDavid Lynn (65) and Freddie Jacobson ofSweden (68) were in the clubhouse at 136.Scott, like Simpson and many others, feastedon the front nine after beginning his secondround at the 10th.

The Australian was five under for six holesafter making the turn, capping the stretchwith a 15-foot eagle putt at the par-five sixth.

Posting the lowest round of all wasBradley, who favored neither side in cardingfour birdies on each nine for his blistering,course-record 63.

“I really started to putt awesome on thatsecond 18,” said 2011 PGA winner Bradley,who has had seven top 10s this season but isstill looking for his first victory of 2013.

Bradley said generous pin positions mighthave contributed to Friday’s low scoring.“They put some of the pins in some bowls (onthe greens) and I know they want to get usaround the course and finish up as early aspossible, but this is not an easy golf course,”he said.

Woods admitted that his back, aggravatedby sleeping on a soft hotel bed this week, wasbothering him late in the round. “I got off to agreat start today and then lost it in the mid-dle part of the round and made too manymistakes,” he said.

“I’m a little sore right now. I’m going to gettreatment as soon as I get done here with youguys and be ready for tomorrow morning.”British Open winner Phil Mickelson, a Barclaysspokesman and member of Liberty National,looked in danger of missing the cut in theelite 123-man field when he stood one overpar before joining the birdie parade to post a69 for two-under 140. The projected cut forthe low 70 players plus ties was put at evenpar.—Reuters

Kuchar edges into lead

QUEENSTOWN: Fourteen-year-old Japanesesnowboarder Ayumo Hirano won the men’s half-pipe event at the New Zealand Winter Gamesyesterday in his first appearance in a world cupcompetition.

Hirano used his speed to land some of thebiggest jumps attempted by the finalists, post-ing a best score of 92.25 points on his first run.That score was only threatened by his country-man Taku Hiraoka, whose second run includedthe only 1260 of the competition and earned91.75 points to take the silver medal. Americanveteran Kelly Clark won the women’s event,claiming her 61st World Cup title.

The 2002 Olympic gold medalist, regarded asthe most successful snowboard of all-time, was11th out of 12 competitors after the first run butscored 89.50 on her second run to take gold

from China’s Cai Xuetong. Xuetong, who wonthe semifinal earlier in the day at the Cardronaski field, scored 85.50 points to edge AmericanGretchen Bleiler, with 85.25 points, for the silvermedal. Clark’s winning run included a frontsideair, backside 540 mute, frontside 1080 lien, cab720 mute, frontside stalefish. She said she hadnot lost hope of winning the gold medal afterfailing to nail a jump on her first run.

“You think of it as an opportunity,” Clark said.“It’s easy to have things not go right and all of asudden change your plans.

“For me it’s more important to be internallymotivated, to stick to the plan regardless of whatgoes on around me,” she added. “ Today Ithought, well hey, this is exactly what can hap-pen at the Olympics - it is what happened to meat the Olympics last time.

“I just thought I could be conservative todayand go for a podium finish, or I could rally andthink of it as an opportunity and that’s exactlywhat I was able to do.”

Hirano claimed gold in the men’s event with arun that began with a backside tail into frontside1080 double cork tail, cab 1080 mute, frontside1080 double cork and cab 720 indy. Hiraoka tooksilver from Christian Haller of Switzerland whoprevented a Japanese clean sweep, edgingAyumu Nedefuji for bronze with his second runof 82.50. Hirano was stunned to have won aWorld Cup event at his first event. “I was aimingto be on the podium in this competition so I’mreally happy about being in first place,” he said.“This is my first World Cup and I still need tocompete well this season to qualify for theJapanese team.”—AP

Hirano, Clark take WCup

halfpipe gold medals

S P O RT S

S P O RT SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25 , 2013

WELLINGTON: New Zealand winger BenSmith followed up last week’s hat-trick oftries in Sydney with two more as the AllBlacks capitalised on their opportunities tobeat Australia 27-16 in their RugbyChampionship clash yesterday and retain theBledisloe Cup.

Debutant flyhalf Tom Taylor put on anassured display with 14 points and a com-posed performance in general play, whileIsrael Dagg added a penalty when hisCrusaders team mate was receiving medicaltreatment for a rib injury late in the game.

“He was outstanding considering the cir-cumstances that he is in to come into theteam,” All Blacks coach Steve Hansen toldreporters of Taylor’s impressive debut afterinjury ruled out Daniel Carter, Aaron Crudenand Beauden Barrett.

“Everyone knows he’s the fourth choice, hecomes with a lot of pressure because he isthe son of an All Black (Warwick Taylor). Ithought he coped tremendously well allweek.”

Christian Leali’ifano kicked three penaltiesfor the Wallabies and converted Israel Folau’slate intercept try but the script followed a

regular pattern for the visitors, who have notbeaten the All Blacks in New Zealand since2001.

The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup,the symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy since2003, and the third match in the series inDunedin on Oct. 19, which is not part of theRugby Championship, is now a dead rubber.

The first half was reminiscent of the tour-nament opener in Sydney with the Wallabiesmaking much of the early play, though unlikelast week, Australia retained possession bet-ter inside the All Blacks half with scrumhalfWill Genia kicking more.

The world champions, however, againsoaked up the pressure and the Wallabieswere only able to convert their dominanceinto two Leali’ifano penalties.

“We didn’t get the points on the boardthat I thought we deserved for different rea-sons,” Australia coach Ewen McKenzie said.“We got six points and should have got more.We let them off the hook just before half-time.” New Zealand scored 15 points in thatperiod just before the break after soaking upintense Wallabies pressure for the first 30minutes, with Smith grabbing both tries

before the break after some superb counterattacks. Taylor slotted his first test points byconverting the opening try and added apenalty to give the All Blacks a 10-6 leadbefore Steven Luatua set up another attack-ing opportunity, with Smith finishing off inthe corner to secure a nine-point lead at thebreak. “For long periods of the game they(Australia) won the moments,” Hansen said. “Iwas very proud of our team with the waythey fought back and in the end got on top.”

The All Blacks forwards took over in thesecond half and put the Wallabies underimmense pressure, particularly at the scrum,as Taylor slotted three more penalties to padthe advantage while Leali’ifano respondedwith his third successful kick.

Folau scored a consolation try from anintercepted pass deep inside his own halfwith less than 10 minutes remaining but itwas not enough to spark a remarkable turn-around and Dagg completed the scoring witha routine penalty from close range.

New Zealand’s next Rugby Championshipmatch is against Argentina in Hamilton whilethe Wallabies host South Africa in Brisbane.Both games are on Sept. 7.—Reuters

All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup

WELLINGTON: The All Blacks team pose with the Bledisloe Cup after the 2nd Bledisloe Cup game rugby union match between the New ZealandAll Blacks and Australia at the Westpac Stadium. —AFP

HARARE: Pakistan players walk off the pitch after defeating Zimbabwe on the secondday of the T20 series international. Pakistan is in Zimbabwe for a month long tour. —AP

Shehzad leads Pakistan to victory

HARARE: Ahmed Shehzad hit the highestinternational Twenty20 score by a Pakistani tolead his country to a second win in two daysover Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club yester-day. Shehzad smashed 98 to follow on fromhis 70 on Friday which had set Pakistan up fora 25-run victory in the first game of the tour.On Saturday, he followed that up with 98 notout as the tourists clinched a 19-run win and2-0 series sweep.

The right-hander struck six sixes en routeto the highest score by a Pakistani batsman inthe Twenty20 format, but missed an opportu-nity to reach three figures when he couldonly manage a single from the final ball of theinnings.

After Pakistan finished on 179 for one,with skipper Mohammad Hafeez unbeatenon 54 from 40 balls, Zimbabwe mustered 160for six in reply.

Although Pakistan made a circumspectstart after being put in to bat, scoring 37 forone in the opening six overs as Nasir Jamshedwas dismissed for 23, Shehzad opened upbeautifully from the ninth over and regularlyfound the boundary.

At the other end Hafeez rotated the strikeeffectively as the pair built an unbroken 143-run stand, and then went to his half-centurywith a huge six over midwicket off Shingirai

Masakadza. “It’s important to be consistent Ithink so I’ve been trying very hard to achievethat and it’s paid off,” Shehzad said.

“In the first six overs I didn’t get muchstrike and I could easily have had a panicattack, but as soon as the captain came inthat changed.”

In reply, Zimbabwe raced to 44 withoutloss in the first five overs, but the introductionof the spinners saw the home side strangledas the next five overs yielded just 21 runs forthe loss of Vusi Sibanda and captain BrendanTaylor. Both batsmen fell to Hafeez, who thenhad Hamilton Masakadza caught in the deepfor 41 to finish with figures of 3 for 30.

Once Zulfiqar Babar had removed bothSean Williams and Timycen Maruma in the fol-lowing over, Zimbabwe’s chase was dead inthe water as they were left needing 71 fromthe final five overs.

Elton Chigumbura and Malcolm Waller hitthree sixes to narrow the margin of defeat,but as in the first match, Zimbabwe wereunable to threaten the Pakistani total.

“ They got about 20 too many as ourbowlers missed their mark a few too manytimes,” said Taylor. “They just outplayed us andthey showed why they’re a world-class team.”The two sides begin a three-match one-dayseries at the same venue on Tuesday.—AFP

PakistanAhmed Shehzad not out 98Jamshed c Cíbura b S. Míkadza 23Mohammad Hafeez not out 54Extras (3w, 1nb) 4Total (1 wkt, 20 overs) 179Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Nasir Jamshed).Did not bat: Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood,Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, ZulfiqarBabar, Sohail Tanvir, Asad Ali.Bowling: Utseya 4-0-35-0, Vitori 4-0-41-0,Panyangara 4-0-29-0, S. Masakadza 4-0-42-1, Williams 2-0-15-0,Chigumbura 1-0-13-0, Waller 1-0-4-0.

ZimbabweSibanda c Tanvir b Hafeez 23

Masakadza c Umar b Hafeez 41Taylor c Sarfraz b Hafeez 3Williams st Sarfraz b Zulfiqar 25Chigumbura not out 35Maruma c Hafeez b Zulfiqar 0Waller c Afridi b Anwar 20S. Masakadza not out 0Extras (7lb, 5w, 1nb) 13Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 160Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Sibanda), 2-57 (Taylor), 3-95(H. Masakadza), 4-109 (Williams), 5-109(Maruma), 6-146 (Waller).Did not bat: P. Utseya, T. Panyangara, B. Vitori.Bowling: Sohail Tanvir 4-0-28-0, Asad Ali 3-0-26-0, Anwar Ali 2-0-24-1, Zulfiqar Babar 4-1-21-2,Shahid Afridi 3-0-24-0, Mohammad Hafeez 4-1-30-3.

SCOREBOARDHARARE: Scoreboard in the second Twenty20 international between Zimbabwe and Pakistan atHarare Sports Club yesterday:

Australia 1st Innings 492-9 dec (S Watson176, S Smith 138 no; J Anderson 4-95)England 1st Innings (overnight: 247-4)A. Cook c Haddin b Harris 25J. Root c Watson b Lyon 68J. Trott lbw b Starc 40K. Pietersen c Watson b Starc 50I. Bell not out 29C. Woakes not out 15Extras (b9, lb5, w4, nb2) 20Total (4 wkts, 116 overs, 486 mins) 247Fall of wickets: 1-68 (Cook), 2-118 (Root), 3-176

(Trott), 4-217 (Pietersen)To bat: M Prior, S Broad, G Swann, S Kerrigan, JAndersonBowling: Starc 26-5-60-2 (1nb, 1w); Harris 23-9-41-1 (1nb); Faulkner 12-3-29-0; Siddle 21-6-46-0 (3w); Lyon 26-8-41-1; Smith 8-3-16-0.Australia: Chris Rogers, David Warner, ShaneWatson, Michael Clarke (capt), Steven Smith,Brad Haddin (wkt), James Faulkner, MitchellStarc, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan LyonMatch position: England are 245 runs behindAustralia with six first-innings wickets standing.

SCOREBOARDLONDON: Scoreboard after play on the fourth day of the fifth Ashes Test between England andAustralia at The Oval was abandoned for the day without a ball bowled yesterday:

Rain washes Australia’s

victory hopesLONDON: Australia’s hopes of forcing aconsolation win in their Ashes finaleagainst England were left hanging by athread after rain washed out the whole ofthe fourth day’s play at The Oval yesterday.

Conditions worsened throughout theday and, with rain pelting down underincreasingly dark skies, the umpires finallyabandoned play for the day at 4.06pm localtime (1506GMT ) with only a handful ofhardy spectators, some sheltering underumbrellas, still in the ground.

The bad weather was especially frustrat-ing for Australia, who were seeking a firstwin in nine Tests and trying to avoid theirfirst Ashes series without a Test victorysince 1977. England, who at 3-0 up hadalready won the five-match series andretained the Ashes, were 246 for four at

stumps on the third day in reply toAustralia’s first innings 492 for ninedeclared. That left England 245 runs behindand still requiring a further 46 runs to avoidthe follow-on. Ian Bell, who came into thismatch having scored exactly 500 runs inthe series with three hundreds, was 29 notout and Test debutant Chris Woakesunbeaten on 15. The way England battedon Friday, scoring at barely two runs per anover, suggested they were in no mood togive arch-rivals Australia a sniff of victory.

Australia now face the improbable taskof having to take 16 wickets for victory onSunday’s final day-if the weather allows.

However, England did take nineAustralia wickets in under a session as theywon the fourth Test in Durham by 74 runswith more than a day to spare.—AFP

LONDON: Umpires Aleem Dar (right) Kumar Dharmasena (left) and Reserve UmpireRichard Kettleborough inspect the pitch as rain delays the fourth day’s play of thefifth Ashes cricket Test match between England and Australia. —AFP

LONDON: Pat Richards led the way with theboot for Wigan as he and the Warriors beat HullFC 16-0 and claimed the Challenge Cup atWembley.

The 31-year-old is set to return to WestsTigers at the end of the campaign after eightyears in Lancashire but he marked his lastWembley appearance with silverware — addingto his 2011 success.

Aside from Richards’ hurrah, all the pre-matchtalk was about the memorable 1985 finalbetween the two sides that the Warriors won 28-24.

This clash may not live as long in the memoryas that showpiece 28 years ago which featuredgreats such as Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny,but it was equally absorbing for the 78,137 inattendance.

Iain Thornley crossed in the first half, Richardsadded eight points from the kicking tee andSam Tomkins notched a late score to secureWigan’s 19th Challenge Cup.

Richards’ day started ominously, his kick-offdrifted in the Wembley wind and straight out of

play, putting Hull FC onto the front foot.Danny Tickle almost made his way through

on their first set of six but the Warriors stood firmon their own try line. Moments later though itwas Hull breathing a sigh of relief as Richardswas held up by Jason Crookes when a try lookedcertain.

Defences were on top and bruising tackleswere aplenty typified by Tickle and Tomkinslocking horns mid-air after 15 minutes that end-ed with the Warrior crumpled on the turf.

It took until midway through the first half buteventually one side relented-Blake Green’s passallowed Thornley to cross over in the corner toput Wigan in front and Richards extended thelead to 6-0 with a touchline goal.

Wigan were camped in Hull’s half for most ofthe next ten minutes but the Black and Whitesrefused to lie down. The introduction of AaronHeremaia from the bench helped, the 30-year-old New Zealand international broke a few tack-les towards the end of the first half but they stillwent in behind at half-time. The heavensopened during the break, but Wigan started

where they left off and Scott Taylor drovetowards the posts and won a penalty thatRichards duly converted .

The Warriors were battering their way at Hullbut they-and Jamie Shaul almost made thempay with a stunning 90-metre break.

The young full-back intercepted a kick des-tined for Tomkins on his own try-line, evadedthree tackles but was eventually caught by JoshCharnley just ten metres short of a memorablesolo try.

Errors were costing Hull and a spear tackle onSean O’Loughlin allowed Richards to add histhird kick of the day handing Wigan a 10-0advantage on the hour mark.

Hull began to throw their all at Wigan as thegame entered its final stages, Tom Briscoealmost latched onto a loose ball with ten min-utes to go before another set of six was endedwhen Richards ushered the ball out.

To add insult to Hull’s misery Tomkins wentover in the dying stages and Richards addedanother goal, taking his points tally in the com-petition this season to 100.—AFP

NEW HAVEN: Reigning champion Petra Kvitovabreezed into her second straight New HavenWTA final on Friday, where she’ll face red-hotRomanian Simona Halep.

Kvitova didn’t put a foot wrong in a 6-0, 6-1semi-final victory over her Czech FedCup team-mate Klara Zakopalova. Halep defeated fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki-a former world num-ber one and four-time winner of this event — 6-2, 7-5.

Halep broke Wozniacki three times in eachset to claim the victory in one hour and 20 min-utes. Kvitova, seeded third, needed just 50 min-utes to get past unseeded Zakopalova in thesemi-finals of this US Open tuneup on the hard-courts at Yale University.

“I think the beginning of the match was pret-ty close,” Kvitova said. “Klara had chances to winthe first game and the next game when she wasserving. I think that was the turning point.

“I was saying to myself, I need to stay focusedin the first set and play really well because Iknow she can come back anytime and I need tobe ready for it,” added Kvitova, who had beentaken to three sets in her previous three match-es.

“Well, she just played fantastic tennis todaywithout any mistakes,” said Zakopalova, ranked33rd in the world. “I think everything was work-ing for her, so I have to just congratulate her,wish her good luck because she was the betterplayer today, for sure. She can beat anybodywith this game.”

Kvitova, who beat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko inlast year’s final, will be trying to defend a title for

the first time. The 23-year-old Czech claimed the11th title of her career in Dubai in February. Shehas never before played Halep, a 21-year-oldwho is enjoying a breakout season that hasincluded her first three WTA titles.

She gained a further measure of notorietythis month when her second-round victory overMarion Bartoli at Cincinnati was quickly followedby the French Wimbledon champion’s abruptretirement from the sport.—AFP

Wigan lift Challenge Cup

Kvitova to face Halep in New Haven final

NEW HAVEN: Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic returns a shot to Klara Zakopalova of theCzech Republic during Day Six of the New Haven Open. —AFP

S P O RT SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Photo of the day

Participant performs during Sandro Dias' Bowl Opening in Joanopolis, Brazil. —www.redbullcontentpool.com

BERLIN: Bayern Munich earned theirthird straight win at the start of theseason, beating Nuremberg 2-0 yes-terday, but still found themselvesthird in the Bundesliga on goal differ-ence.

French winger Franck Ribery ’sheader on 69 minutes broke the dead-lock before Dutch star Arjen Robbenscored for Pep Guardiola’s Europeanchampions, who earlier had a first-halfpenalty saved. “We allowed them onlya few chances, which I liked, and weplayed better in the second-half,” said

Guardiola as Bayern set a new clubrecord of 28 league games withoutdefeat.

“We attacked fast through Riberyand Robben and I am happy with howwe controlled the game.” “Nurembergwere very compact and organised, it’salways hard to play against a team likethat.”

The win in front of 71,000 fans atMunich’s sold-out Allianz Arena marksthe start of a busy seven-day periodfor Bayern who are away to Freiburgin the league on Tuesday, then travelto Prague for Friday’s showdown withChelsea in the UEFA Super Cup.

Guardiola started with a star-stud-ded midfield featuring wingersRobben and Ribery either side ofSpain’s Thiago Alcantara and Germanyplaymaker Mario Goetze, who madehis competitive debut for Bayern afterjoining from Borussia Dortmund.

The hosts rode their luck in the firsthalf as only the crossbar deniedNuremberg when striker DanielGinczek’s shot clattered off the under-side of the bar with Bayern goalkeep-er Manuel Neuer beaten on 15 min-utes.

Bayern were awarded a penalty on33 minutes by referee Christian Dingertwhen Robben was brought down bySweden defender Per Nilsson,although the replay showed theDutchman used his hand to keep theball from going out.

Justice was served when DavidAlaba’s spot-kick was saved byNuremberg goalkeeper RaphaelSchaefer. With time running out, Riberyheaded home before a fine solo effortfrom Robben, cutting in from the right,on 78 minutes ensured that Bayernwould maintain their 100 percentleague record this season. Only goal

difference leaves Bayern third behindleaders Borussia Dortmund, who beatWerder Bremen 1-0 at home on Friday,and second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Schalke, who need to win atGreece’s PAOK on Tuesday to progressto the Champions League group stageafter drawing 1-1 in Wednesday’s play-off first leg, suffered another confi-dence-sapping defeat as they lost 2-1at Hanover 96 and finished with ninemen.

The visitors had defender BenediktHoewedes sent off on 14 minutes forbringing down Hanover striker MameDiouf with only the goalkeeper to beatand Hungary midfielder SzabolcsHuszti drilled home the penalty.

Diouf then headed home threeminutes from the break to leaveSchalke reeling before striker AdamSzalai pulled one back for Schalke inthe second-half.

There was a flurry of cards in the last15 minutes as Hanover’s Huszti wassent off for fouling Schalke’s TimHoogland, then Schalke left-backChristian Fuchs was dismissed five min-utes from time for a second yellowcard.

Having also been hammered 4-0 atWolfsburg last Saturday, Schalke havejust one point from their first threegames and lie 14th in the table.

Another defeat at PAOK will leavecoach Jens Keller in a precarious posi-tion. “Obviously, we haven’t got muchto shout about at the moment, but weplayed well in the second half despitethe numerical disadvantage,” saidKeller. “It’s not a pleasant situation tobe in, but we have to win in Greece onWednesday.”

Leverkusen earned their thirdstraight win with a 4-2 victory at hometo Borussia Moenchengladbach withGermany winger Sidney Sam scoringtwice in front of national coachJoachim Loew.

Mainz are the fourth team to main-tain a 100 percent record after theyenjoyed a 2-0 win at home toWolfsburg, who had new signing LuizGustavo sent off for a second yellowcard on just his second appearancesince signing from Bayern.

Hoffenheim were held to a 3-3 drawat home by Freiburg in an action-packed game which saw each side fin-ish with 10 men and Freiburg coachChristian Streich banished to thestands. Late yesterday, Hamburg des-perately need a win at Hertha Berlin inthe capital after Thorsten Fink’s sidewere pounded 5-1 at home byHoffenheim last weekend. —AFP

Ribery, Robben strike

as Bayern win again

GERMANY: Bayern’s Arjen Robben of the Netherlands jumps overNuremberg’s Javier Pinola of Argentina during the German FirstDivision Bundesliga soccer match. —AP

ITALY: AC Milan’s French defender Philippe Mexes controls the ball during the Serie A football matchHellas Verona vs. AC Milan at Bentegodi Stadium. —AFP

FRANCE: Marseille’s forward Andre Ayew celebrates after scoring a goal for his team during theirFrench League One soccer match against Valenciennes. —AP

MILAN: Veteran striker Luca Toni scored twice in a shock 2-1home win over AC Milan to hand newly-promoted Verona adream start to life back in Serie A after an 11-year absence.

Milan opened the scoring inside the opening quarter ofan hour when midfielder Andrea Poli finished off a smartpass from Italy striker Mario Balotelli.

But the visitors were pegged back by Toni on the halfhour, and left stunned when the former Fiorentina strikerscored with his second header eight minutes after therestart.

It means Verona are the first leaders of the new Serie Aseason before champions Juventus go to Sampdoria lateyesterday.

Milan started the brightest and in the opening minutesBalotelli was given time to unleash a curling shot from theedge of the area which Brazilian ‘keeper Rafael dived to par-ry.

M’Baye Niang then saw his shot hit traffic from the rightof goal when he was set up by fellow forward Stephan ElShaarawy.

And Poli finally gave Milan the breakthrough when helatched on to Balotelli’s delightful through ball to dancepast two defenders and beat Rafael at his far post.

Verona had enjoyed only brief spells of possession inMilan’s final third before Toni levelled with half an hour onthe clock when headed a corner past Christian Abbiati at

the ‘keeper’s near post.The hosts finished the first half the stronger of the two

sides and the began the second in the same fashion. FirstBosko Jankovic, a recent signing from Genoa, came closewith a bullet header from 10 metres out which came offboth ‘keeper and bar.

The Serbian midfielder then found a virtually unmarkedToni at the far post and the 36-year-old sent his secondheader past Abbiati to give the hosts a shock 2-1 lead.

Verona even came close to scoring their third on a surg-ing counter-attack but, despite an unmarked Toni calling fora far-post delivery, Martinho opted to shoot, forcing a finesave from Abbiati.

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri reacted by making adouble substitution, with Dutchman Urby Emanuelson and18-year-old Andrea Petagna, making his debut, replacing ElShaarawy and Niang.

Brazilian forward Robinho was then sent on in place ofleft-back Kevin Constant and the former Real Madrid manhad an immediate impact with an inviting ball across goalthat found no takers.

A swerving long-range effort from Milan captainRiccardo Montolivo that Rafel blocked was the last realchance for Milan, who after battling to finish third last sea-son had pledged to become a more consistent threat in thiscampaign. —AFP

Toni’s double sinks Milan

PARIS: Marseille continued their excellent start to theLigue 1 season yesterday with a hard-earned 1-0 win awayto Valenciennes in France’s far north.

OM needed another goal from Andre-Pierre Gignac tofinally break down the home defence, as the in-form strikerturned in the loose ball with just five minutes remainingafter Valenciennes goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau hadfailed to hold Andre Ayew’s header.

The result left Elie Baup’s side provisionally two pointsclear at the top of the table with a maximum nine pointsfrom three games, although Lyon could join them later ifthey beat Reims at the Stade de Gerland. “At the start of theseason it is important to get points on the board and it alsohelps us prepare for a difficult month of September whenthe games will come thick and fast,” said Marseille coachElie Baup, whose side entertain Monaco in a potentialcracker next weekend.

“We got a spanking here last year and we didn’t want arepeat of that.” Marseille have struggled regularly inValenciennes recent campaigns and saw their run of sixstraight victories at the start of last season ended with acomprehensive 4-1 loss at the Stade du Hainaut.

A repeat of such a defeat never looked on the cards, as

Marseille created the most of what chances there were.Gignac chipped wide with Penneteau off his line in the20th minute, while Mathieu Valbuena volleyed just overshortly before the interval.

Baup threw on recent signing Saber Khalifa for hisdebut for the final 11 minutes and the game finally cameto life.

There was a huge escape for the visitors when SteveMandanda saved from Mathieu Dossevi before AurelianChitu somehow failed to net the follow-up, and Gignacmade Valenciennes pay moments later when he netted histhird goal in as many games. Opa Nguette then squan-dered another glorious chance for the hosts as OM hungon for the win.

On Friday, Monaco were held to a goalless draw byToulouse at the Stade Louis II in a match played behindclosed doors as a punishment for incidents at the end ofMonaco’s last home game of last season, when fans setoff flares and invaded the pitch. Reigning championsParis Saint-Germain, who have drawn their opening twomatches, will be aiming to register their first victory of thefledgling campaign when they travel to promoted Nantestoday. —AFP

LONDON: Leicester scored three timesin the last 12 minutes to move joint topof the Championship with a dramatic 3-2 win against Birmingham yesterday.

Nigel Pearson’s team trailed to a12th minute goal from Matt Green andLeicester had to wait until the 78thminute before equalising with a finestrike by Jamie Vardy.

Andy King put the hosts in front inthe 82nd minute and David Nugentnetted a stoppage-time penalty beforeoutplayed Birmingham grabbed a last-minute consolation from Chris Burke.Leicester’s hard-fought win left themsecond on goal difference behind lead-ers Blackpool.

A 75th-minute strike from substituteTom Barkhuizen earned Blackpool a 1-0home win over relegated Reading, whosuffered their first loss since returningto the second tier.

QPR, who came down alongsideReading, were 1-0 victors in the day’searly game at Bolton thanks to a 54th-minute goal from former England strik-er Andrew Johnson.

The three leaders are a point clear ofNottingham Forest, who will look to goback to the top and continue the divi-sion’s only 100 per cent record whenthey go to promotion rivals Watford onSunday.

Leeds are on eight points after theyrecovered from an early deficit todefeat Ipswich 2-1.

James Vaughan scored a hat-trick asHuddersfield cruised to a 5-1 home winover promoted Bournemouth.Blackburn romped to a 5-2 win over 10-man Barnsley at Ewood Park to securetheir first three points of the campaign.

Chris Dagnall put the visitors aheadin the 13th minute but they werereduced to 10 men in the 16th minutewhen Jean Yves Mvoto was sent off.

Rovers scored through Tom Cairney,a Jordan Rhodes double, Joshua Kingand Todd Kane before Barnsley nettedthrough Tomasz Cywka. Rock-bottomBarnsley remain on one point, the sameas Millwall and Charlton.

Millwall picked up their first pointafter Andy Keogh’s late penalty rescued

a 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.Millwall, who lined up in Wednesday’syellow away strip from last season inthe first half after forgetting their kit,took a fifth-minute lead through KamilZayatte’s own goal but they trailed atthe break following goals from JeremyHelan and Reda Johnson.

The south London team, back intheir own kit for the second half, endeda run of three successive defeats fornew boss Steve Lomas when Republicof Ireland forward Keogh slotted homean 87th minute spot-kick.

Charlton were trailing 3-1 at hometo 10-man Doncaster at The Valleywhen the match was abandoned athalf-time as heavy rain left the pitchunplayable.

Newly-promoted Yeovil’s strugglescontinued as they suffered their thirdsuccessive loss as goals from JohnnyRussell, Craig Bryson and Chris Martinearned Derby a 3-0 win at Huish Park.Brighton made it back-to-back winswith a 2-0 victory over 10-manBurnley. —AFP

Leicester late show

stuns Birmingham

Marseille maintain

strong start

Chelsea 2 2 0 0 4 1 6Liverpool 2 2 0 0 2 0 6West Ham 2 1 1 0 2 0 4Southampton 2 1 1 0 2 1 4Man City 1 1 0 0 4 0 3Man Utd 1 1 0 0 4 1 3Tottenham 1 1 0 0 1 0 3Arsenal 2 1 0 1 4 4 3Aston Villa 3 1 0 2 4 4 3Stoke 2 1 0 1 2 2 3Fulham 2 1 0 1 2 3 3Hull 2 1 0 1 1 2 3Everton 2 0 2 0 2 2 2Norwich 2 0 1 1 2 3 1Sunderland 2 0 1 1 1 2 1West Brom 2 0 1 1 0 1 1Newcastle 2 0 1 1 0 4 1Crystal Palace 2 0 0 2 1 3 0Cardiff 1 0 0 1 0 2 0Swansea 1 0 0 1 1 4 0

English Football League tablesChampionship

Blackpool 4 3 1 0 6 2 10Leicester 4 3 1 0 6 3 10QPR 4 3 1 0 5 2 10Nottingham 3 3 0 0 5 0 9Leeds 4 2 2 0 5 3 8Watford 3 2 1 0 10 4 7Huddersfield 4 2 1 1 7 3 7Derby 4 2 1 1 6 3 7Burnley 4 2 1 1 5 4 7Brighton 4 2 0 2 5 4 6Bournemouth 4 2 0 2 5 12 6Reading 4 1 2 1 6 6 5Wigan 3 1 1 1 6 3 4Blackburn 4 1 1 2 6 6 4Doncaster 3 1 1 1 5 5 4

Middlesbrough 3 1 1 1 3 3 4Ipswich 4 1 0 3 5 5 3Birmingham 4 1 0 3 3 5 3Yeovil 4 1 0 3 1 6 3Sheffield 4 0 2 2 5 7 2Bolton 4 0 2 2 2 6 2Charlton 3 0 1 2 3 5 1Millwall 4 0 1 3 2 7 1Barnsley 4 0 1 3 4 12 1

Division OneLeyton Orient 4 4 0 0 11 1 12Peterborough 4 4 0 0 12 3 12Wolves 4 3 1 0 8 2 10Brentford 4 2 2 0 6 3 8Colchester 4 2 2 0 4 2 8Bradford 4 2 1 1 9 4 7Walsall 4 2 1 1 5 3 7Oldham 4 2 0 2 8 7 6Rotherham 4 1 3 0 7 6 6Keynes Dons 4 1 3 0 5 4 6Shrewsbury 4 1 2 1 4 5 5Crawley Town 4 1 1 2 8 9 4Crewe 4 1 1 2 5 7 4Port Vale 4 1 1 2 4 6 4Swindon 4 1 1 2 3 5 4Sheff Utd 4 1 1 2 4 7 4Preston 3 0 3 0 2 2 3Stevenage 4 1 0 3 4 6 3Bristol City 4 0 2 2 9 11 2Gillingham 4 0 2 2 3 8 2Notts County 4 0 1 3 4 8 1Tranmere 4 0 1 3 5 13 1Carlisle 4 0 1 3 2 14 1Coventry 3 2 0 1 11 7 -4Note: Coventry deducted 10 points for enter-ing administration

Division TwoOxford Utd 4 3 1 0 11 5 10Chesterfield 4 3 1 0 8 3 10Fleetwood Town 4 3 0 1 8 4 9Southend 4 3 0 1 5 2 9Burton Albion 4 2 2 0 8 6 8Newport County 4 2 1 1 7 5 7Exeter 4 2 1 1 4 3 7AFC Wimbledon 4 2 1 1 5 5 7Plymouth 4 2 0 2 4 4 6Scunthorpe 4 1 2 1 5 4 5Portsmouth 4 1 2 1 8 8 5Redbridge 4 1 2 1 5 5 5Torquay 4 1 2 1 5 6 5Mansfield 4 1 2 1 3 4 5Rochdale 4 1 1 2 5 4 4Bury 4 1 1 2 6 6 4Bristol Rovers 4 1 1 2 4 5 4Wycombe 4 1 1 2 3 4 4Morecambe 4 1 1 2 3 5 4York 4 1 1 2 3 5 4Cheltenham 4 1 1 2 4 7 4Northampton 4 1 0 3 4 6 3Hartlepool 4 0 1 3 0 5 1Accrington 4 0 1 3 3 10 1

Scottish Premier League tableInverness CT 4 3 1 0 8 2 10Celtic 3 2 1 0 6 3 7St Johnstone 4 2 1 1 5 4 7Aberdeen 4 2 0 2 6 6 6Motherwell 4 2 0 2 3 5 6Dundee Utd 4 1 2 1 5 2 5Partick 4 1 2 1 4 3 5Hibernian 4 1 1 2 3 4 4Ross County 4 1 0 3 5 9 3Kilmarnock 4 0 2 2 3 5 2St Mirren 3 0 1 2 1 7 1Hearts 4 2 1 1 4 3 -8Note: Hearts deducted 15 points for enteringadministration

Scottish Football League tables

ChampionshipHamilton 3 3 0 0 7 1 9Falkirk 3 2 1 0 7 2 7Alloa 3 2 0 1 4 2 6Dundee 3 1 1 1 4 4 4Raith 3 1 1 1 4 4 4Queen of South 3 1 1 1 7 8 4Dumbarton 3 1 1 1 5 6 4Morton 3 1 0 2 4 6 3Livingston 3 0 1 2 3 7 1Cowdenbeath 3 0 0 3 4 9 0

Division OneRangers 3 3 0 0 13 1 9Ayr 3 2 1 0 6 1 7Stenhousemuir 2 2 0 0 2 0 6Brechin 3 2 0 1 5 5 6Dunfermline 2 1 0 1 3 3 3East Fife 3 1 0 2 2 4 3Arbroath 3 1 0 2 4 7 3Forfar 3 0 1 2 4 7 1Stranraer 3 0 1 2 1 5 1Airdrie 3 0 1 2 3 10 1

Division TwoEast Stirling 3 3 0 0 9 2 9Albion 3 2 1 0 6 2 7Stirling 3 2 0 1 5 4 6Clyde 3 2 0 1 4 3 6Annan Athletic 3 1 2 0 5 4 5Berwick 3 1 1 1 5 2 4Peterhead 3 0 2 1 4 6 2Montrose 3 0 1 2 3 5 1Elgin 3 0 1 2 3 7 1Queen’s Park 3 0 0 3 1 10 0

HULL: Hull City clinched their firstwin of the season as the Tigers heldon for a 1-0 victory over Norwichdespite the dismissal of Ivory Coaststriker Yannick Sagbo.

Steve Bruce’s side took the leadthrough Robbie Brady’s first halfpenalty, but they had to play with10 men for more than an hour after

Sagbo was sent off for an apparenthead-butt. After last week’s loss atChelsea, Hull’s rearguard actionwas enough to seal their firstpoints since their promotion fromthe Championship, while Norwichare still waiting for their openingwin of the campaign. Norwich hadstarted brightly and Leroy Fer, whowas suspended for the Canaries’opening day draw with Everton,rose high at the far post to meetSteven Whittaker’s cross.

It looked as though his headermight creep in, but Hull goalkeeperAllan McGregor was relieved to seeit flash wide. McGregor then pulledoff a full-length diving save to denyNorwich winger Nathan Redmond.

But Hull gradually began to threat-en and Sone Aluko pulled off a deftbackheel which wrong-footed theNorwich defence and left RobertKoren clear on goal, only for theSlovenian to shoot over. Bruce’steam went ahead in the 22ndminute when Norwich’s formerHull defender Michael Turner waspenalised for a shove on Sagbo asthe Ivorian attempted to reach adeep cross.

The contact looked minimal butreferee Mike Jones pointed to thespot and Irish midfielder Bradymade no mistake as he sent JohnRuddy the wrong way. Yet havingwon the spot-kick, within five min-utes Sagbo found himself shown

the red card for an off-the-ballclash with Russell Martin.

Words were exchangedbetween the pair before Sagboadvanced on his opponent andmade contact with his forehead,with Jones wasting no time send-ing him off for violent conduct.

However, Hull midfielder TomHuddlestone, a recent arrival fromTottenham, was able to stop thevisitors generating any momentumwith his tireless work-rate.

It was only in the closing stagesthat Norwich finally pushed for-ward, but McGregor produced asave of real quality to keep outRicky van Wolfswinkel’s toweringheader. — AFP

19S P O R T SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Hull 1

Norwich 0

English Premier League resultsAston Villa 0 Liverpool 1 (Sturridge 21);Everton 0 West Brom 0; Fulham 1 (Bent 77)Arsenal 3 (Giroud 14, Podolski 41, 68); Hull 1(Brady 22-pen) Norwich 0;Newcastle 0 West Ham 0; Southampton 1(Fonte 88) Sunderland 1 (Giaccherini 3);Stoke 2 (Adam 58, Shawcross 62) CrystalPalace 1 (Chamakh 31).

Playing todayCardiff v Manchester City, Tottenham vSwansea

Playing tomorrowManchester Utd v Chelsea

English Football League result

ChampionshipBlackburn 5 Barnsley 2; Blackpool 1 Reading 0;Bolton 0 QPR 1; Brighton 2 Burnley 0; Charltonv Doncaster - match abandoned at half-timedue to a waterlogged pitch with Doncasterleading 3-1; Huddersfield 5 Bournemouth 1;Ipswich 1 Leeds 2; Leicester 3 Birmingham 2;Sheffield Wednesday 2 Millwall 2;Yeovil 0 Derby 3.

Playing todayWatford v Nottingham Forest, Wigan vMiddlesbrough

Division OneBradford 2 Sheffield Utd 0; Brentford 1 Walsall0; Leyton Orient 2 Crewe 0;Milton Keynes Dons 2 Bristol City 2; NottsCounty 0 Stevenage 1; Oldham 3 Port Vale 1;Rotherham 2 Shrewsbury 2; Swindon 2Gillingham 2; Tranmere 0 Peterborough 5.

Playing todayCoventry v Preston

Division TwoAccrington 0 Cheltenham 1; AFC Wimbledon 3Scunthorpe 2; Bristol Rovers 3 York 2; Burton 2Bury 2; Chesterfield 2 Southend 1; Dagenhamand Redbridge 1 Newport 1; Hartlepool 0Fleetwood 1; Mansfield 2 Portsmouth 2;Morecambe 2 Exeter 0;Northampton 1 Torquay 2; Oxford 2 Wycombe2; Plymouth 1 Rochdale 0.

Scottish Premier League resultsCeltic 2 (Mulgrew 42, Matthews 82) InvernessCT 2 (Doran 14, Foran 35); Dundee Utd 4(Watson 4, Goodwillie 25, Mackay-Steven 40,Armstrong 53) St Johnstone 0;Hearts 2 (Walker 18, McGhee 88) Aberdeen 1(McGinn 68-pen); Kilmarnock 1 (Nicholson 23)Hibernian 2 (Craig 47, 80); Motherwell 1(Sutton 21) Partick 0;Ross County 3 (Kettlewell 9, Brittain 24, 57) StMirren 0.

Scottish Football League results

ChampionshipAlloa 3 Cowdenbeath 1Dumbarton 3 Morton 1Hamilton 2 Queen of the South 0Livingston 0 Falkirk 3Raith 0 Dundee 0

Division OneBrechin 2 Forfar 1; East Fife 2 Arbroath 1;Stenhousemuir 4 Dunfermline 5; Stranraer 1Ayr 1.

Division TwoAnnan Athletic 1 Albion 1; Clyde 3 Queen’sPark 0; Montrose 1 Berwick 1; Peterhead 2Elgin 2; Stirling 1 East Stirling 3.

Soccer results/standings

LIVERPOOL: Roberto Martinez’s home debut incharge of Everton proved a frustrating experi-ence as the Toffees were held to a goalless drawby West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park yes-terday.

Marouane Fellaini came closest to scoringwhen his late effort came back off the post,while a Seamus Coleman cross also struck thewoodwork as Everton were forced to settle for asecond consecutive draw. West Brom will be thehappier of the two sides with the point, as theyenjoyed fewer openings but still held on for aresult that sees them open their account afterlast weekend’s 1-0 home reverse at the hands ofSouthampton.

Visiting manager Steve Clarke broughtSwedish striker Marcus Rosenberg into his start-ing line-up to replace Frenchman NicolasAnelka, who was missing after being given com-passionate leave following the death of hisagent. Everton, meanwhile, were unchangedfrom the side that drew 2-2 at Norwich City onthe opening day.

They lacked a killer instinct this time, though,and older fans must have wished that legendarystriker Dave Hickson, who was remembered bythe Goodison crowd after passing away in Julyat the age of 83, could have been present tounlock the Albion rearguard. Belgian interna-

tional Kevin Mirallas came up with the bestchance of the first period when his shot wastipped over by Foster, while a James Morrisonhalf-volley that rose over Tim Howard’s bar wasas close as the Baggies came to scoring. WestBrom have won just once at Goodison in 34years and they rarely looked like improving thatrecord this time, even if Howard had to savewell from a Shane Long snapshot in the secondhalf.

Playing in front of watching England bossRoy Hodgson, Foster had to save well fromMirallas again after the hour mark, but West

Brom were left hanging on when their goal-keeper was forced off injured in the 78thminute, with Luke Daniels coming on for hisPremier League debut in his place.

Everton cranked up the pressure, and Fellainitook down a long Phil Jagielka ball in the boxbefore stabbing it past Daniels. However, hiseffort rebounded to safety off the post. Danielsthen saved from Coleman after the Irishmanhad cut in from the right and tried to beat himat his near post, and the same player then sawhis cross come back off the bar in stoppage timewith the ‘keeper beaten. —AFP

Martinez’s home debut

ends in goalless draw

Everton 0

West Brom 0

LIVERPOOL: Everton’s French defender Sylvain Distin (left) vies with West BromwichAlbion’s Swedish defender Jonas Olsson (second left) during the English Premier Leaguefootball match. — AFP

Hull hang on to sink Norwich

STOKE-ON-TRENT: Stoke Citystormed back from behind to beatPremier League new boys CrystalPalace 2-1 yesterday and earnmanager Mark Hughes victory inhis first home game.

Palace’s new signing MarouaneChamakh put the visitors aheadwith a slickly taken goal in the firsthalf, but Stoke scored twice in foursecond-half minutes to claim theirfirst points of the season.

Charlie Adam converted a JonWalters lay-off in the 58th minute,with Ryan Shawcross drillinghome the winner in the 62ndminute after Palace failed to cleara corner.

Palace remain without a pointafter two games, having lost 1-0 athome to Tottenham Hotspur ontheir return to the top flight, whileStoke got off the mark at the sec-ond attempt following their open-ing-day defeat at Liverpool.

For his bow at the BritanniaStadium, Hughes made onechange to the team beaten 1-0 atAnfield, with Adam coming intothe starting line-up at the expenseof Glenn Whelan.

Palace manager Ian Holloway,meanwhile, awarded full debuts tonew signings Chamakh, midfielderJose Campana and winger JasonPuncheon, who has joined theclub on a season-long loan fromSouthampton. Chamakh has had atorrid experience in England sinceleaving Bordeaux for Arsenal in2010, but his 31st-minute openerprovided a reminder of his ability.

After chasing down a bounc-ing ball, the Moroccan striker out-muscled the imposing Shawcrossand then cut inside Robert Huth

before beating goalkeeper AsmirBegovic at his near post with alow shot.

In reply, Peter Crouch hit thebar for Stoke with a header, buthe had a hand in the equaliser,helping on a left-wing cross toWalters, whose touch presentedAdam with an opportunity tosweep a low shot into the bot-

tom-left corner.The comeback was complete

four minutes later, as Shawcrossslammed a low shot past JulianSperoni after a tame attemptedclearance from Chamakh.

Steven Nzonzi could haveadded a third for the home side,but his powerful shot cannonedback off an upright. — AFP

Stoke rally for victory

LONDON: Crystal Palace’s Danny Gabbidon (left) challenges StokeCity’s Peter Crouch, during their English Premier League match,at the Britannia Stadium. — AP

Stoke 2

Crystal Palace 1

English Premier LeagueEnglish Premier League table after yester-day’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost,goals for, goals against, points):

Italian League

Internazionale v Genoa 19:00Aljazeera Sport +7Aljazeera Sport +3Aljazeera Sport 3 HD

SS Lazio v Udinese 21:45Aljazeera Sport +4

Parma v Chievo Verona 21:45Aljazeera Sport +2

Napoli v Bologna 21:45Aljazeera Sport +7Aljazeera Sport 3 HD

Cagliari v Atalanta 21:45Aljazeera Sport +1

Livorno v AS Roma 21:45Aljazeera Sport 1 HDAljazeera Sport +7\9

Spanish League

Atletico de Madrid v Vallecano 20:00Aljazeera Sport +7Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

Levante v Sevilla FC 22:00Aljazeera Sport +5Aljazeera Sport 4 HD

Malaga CF v FC Barcelona 22:00Aljazeera Sport +3Aljazeera Sport +8Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

Real Betis v Celta de Vigo 0:00Aljazeera Sport +5Aljazeera Sport 4 HD

German League

Braunschweig v Eintracht Frankfurt 16:30Dubai Sports

FC Augsburg v VfB Stuttgart 18:30Dubai Sports

French League

Lille OSC v Saint Etienne 15:00Aljazeera Sport +6Aljazeera Sport 5 HD

AC Ajaccio v OGC Nice 18:00Aljazeera Sport +6Aljazeera Sport 5 HD

Nantes v Paris Saint-Germain 22:00Aljazeera Sport +6

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

SOUTHAMPTON: Portuguese centre-back JoseFonte scored an 88th-minute equaliser to earnSouthampton a 1-1 draw at home to Sunderlandin the Premier League yesterday.

Sunderland had taken an early lead throughnew signing Emanuele Giaccherini and Paolo DiCanio’s side looked set to claim their first win ofthe season until Fonte met James Ward-Prowse’sfree-kick with a downward header that goalkeep-er Keiren Westwood could not keep out.

Southampton started with record signing DaniOsvaldo on the bench, after the Italy strikersigned from Roma for a fee that could rise to£14.5 million ($22.6 million, 16.9 million euros).

The home side were unchanged from theteam that won 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion onthe opening weekend, while Sunderland manag-er Di Canio brought Craig Gardner and ModiboDiakite into his starting line-up.

Sunderland were beaten 1-0 by Fulham intheir opening game despite dominating thematch and they seemed determined to learn

from their mistakes, with Giaccherini puttingthem ahead in the third minute by heading homea Sebastian Larsson corner.Southampton werequick to apply pressure at the other end, howev-er, and Jay Rodriguez was only denied an equalis-er by the assistant referee’s flag after converting athrough-ball from Rickie Lambert.

Lambert also forced Westwood into a fine savewith a header from a Ward-Prowse cross, whilethe Saints felt they should have been awarded apenalty shortly prior to half-time after AdamLallana tangled with John O’Shea.

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino

added Osvaldo to the mix at half-time and thehosts continued to force the issue, withRodriguez slamming a half-volley narrowly wideearly in the second half. Rodriguez then saw aheader caught by Westwood from Osvaldo’sclipped pass, before Sunderland raced down tothe other end and Jozy Altidore was thwarted byArtur Boruc.

With Sunderland holding firm, Pochettinorolled the dice one last time by introducingGaston Ramirez for Lallana, and their persistencepaid off with two minutes to play when Fonteclaimed the equaliser. — AFP

Fonte late show rescues Southampton

Southampton 1

Sunderland 1

LONDON: Southampton’s Rickie Lambert (left) is challenged by Sunderland’s JackColback in the penalty area during the English Premier League soccer match. — AP

17All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 201318

Ribery, Robben strike as Bayern win again

Rain washes Australia’s victory hopes Page 17

LONDON: Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla (left) vies with Fulham’s Moroccan midfielder Adel Taarabt (right) during the English Premier League football match.—AFP

LONDON: Arsenal answered their critics instyle yesterday as a clinical display of finishingfrom Lukas Podolski saw them beat Fulham 3-1at Craven Cottage in the Premier League.

The German produced two classy strikeseither side of the break to add to OlivierGiroud’s opener as Arsene Wenger’s sidepicked up their first points of the new PremierLeague campaign.

It was the perfect end to a difficult week for

the Gunners, who have recovered from theiropening-day defeat by Aston Villa to recordsuccessive victories on the road.

After their 3-0 win at Fenerbahce inWednesday’s Champions League play-off firstleg, England midfielder Jack Wilshere was sur-prisingly named as a substitute by Wenger,with Tomas Rosicky drafted into a three-manmidfield alongside Aaron Ramsey and SantiCazorla.

Bacary Sagna started in central defencealongside captain Per Mertesacker in place ofthe suspended Laurent Koscielny, with CarlJenkinson brought in at right-back.

Fulham manager Martin Jol handed debutsto new signing Scott Parker after he completedhis move from Tottenham Hotspur earlier inthe week.

Adel Taarabt was also given a chance toimpress on the left flank, but Darren Bent had

to settle for a place on the bench following hisloan switch from Aston Villa.

It has been a summer of change at CravenCottage and new owner Shahid Khan wasintroduced to the home supporters beforekick-off amid soggy conditions by the RiverThames.

The Pakistan-born businessman was given arapturous welcome as Fulham looked to buildon last weekend’s opening victory overSunderland.

A deluge of rain as the game kicked offmade for a frenetic start and it was Arsenalwho settled first, with an effort from Podolskibeing deflected wide for a corner.

In the 10th minute, Theo Walcott served fur-ther warning when he beat the offside trap tocollect Rosicky’s pass, but David Stockdale inthe Fulham goal reacted quickly to block hisshot.

More pressure in the 14th minute saw JohnArne Riise make a last-ditch clearance with hishead, but Arsenal kept possession and workedthe ball to Ramsey. His shot from distancelacked power, but it struck Giroud on the heeland fell perfectly for the Frenchman to finishcoolly.

Fulham’s response was almost instant asTaarabt forced Wojciech Szczesny into a smartsave and the goalkeeper also did well to denyDamien Duff at the second attempt.

Left-back Sascha Riether almost created achance to equalise seven minutes before thebreak, but Mertesacker’s outstretched left footdenied Fulham.

From the break, Walcott set up Kieran Gibbsbut the defender could not follow his goal inTurkey on Wednesday as he dragged wide.Once again, though, that was only a warningof what was to come as another quick break

saw Stockdale save well from Walcott and theball fell for Podolski to hammer into theunguarded net four minutes before the inter-val.

Fulham had reason to feel hard done-byand they began the second half with real pur-pose, with Taarabt forcing Szczesny into asmart save at his near post.

Ramsey almost put the game beyondFulham when his effort was deflected wideand with the game running away from thehosts, Jol threw on Bent alongside DimitarBerbatov.

However, it was not long before his sidefound themselves 3-0 down as Podolski round-ed off a flowing move by picking his spot fromCazorla’s pass. Bent did manage to pull oneback with 13 minutes to play after he tappedhome a cross-shot from Berbatov, but by thenit was too late. — AFP

Podolski’s brace sees Arsenal through

Fulham 1

Arsenal 3

BIRMINGHAM: Daniel Sturridge wasLiverpool’s match-winner for the second suc-cessive weekend as they continued theirstrong start to the Premier League season bywinning 1-0 at Aston Villa yesterday.

Just as he did against Stoke City lastSaturday, the England international scored theonly goal of the game to make it eight strikesin his last seven league appearances.

Whether victories over Villa and the Pottersare sufficient evidence to suggest BrendanRodgers’s team can be Champions Leaguecontenders this term remains to be seen.

Next weekend’s meeting with ManchesterUnited will provide a better benchmark, but allthe signs point towards continuing improve-ment under the Northern Irishman.

After their stunning opening-day win atArsenal and unfortunate defeat at Chelsea onWednesday, this appeared one game toomany for a jaded-looking Villa, however, inwhat has been a taxing start to the campaign.

Paul Lambert’s side improved hugely afterthe interval and were left to rue missed oppor-tunities late on. They have, though, still doneenough this week to suggest they can avoidanother relegation skirmish. Liverpool manag-er Rodgers named the same side that defeatedStoke last weekend, while there was a debutfor Netherlands Under-21 midfielder LeandroBacuna and a first start for Denmark defenderJores Okore as Lambert made two changes tothe Villa side narrowly beaten 2-1 at Chelsea.

Liverpool soon began to take charge withthe sort of patient, possession passing thathas become a hallmark of Rodgers’s sides.

In the 10th minute Antonio Luna did wellto block a Sturridge shot after the forwardneatly interchanged passes with JordanHenderson.

By the 21st minute he had made his mark,however, and in some style. Sturridge hadPhilippe Coutinho at least partially to thankafter the Brazilian cleverly dummied JoseEnrique’s low cross, yet he still had much todo, jinking around two defenders and BradGuzan, the goalkeeper, before firing into theroof of the net.

It was no more than the Reds deserved fortheir dominance and, given this was theiropening home match of the season, there wasa disappointing sluggishness about Villa,despite the mitigating circumstances of theirmid-week exploits. — AFP

Sturridge sends

Reds past Villa

Aston Villa 0

Liverpool 1

BIRMINGHAM: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard (right) andAston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor (left) battle for the ballduring their English Premier League soccer match. — AP

NEWCASTLE: Newcastle secured their firstpoint of the season yesterday but their 0-0home draw with West Ham will have givenmanager Alan Pardew little reason for opti-mism.

The Magpies, whose lack of activity in thetransfer market during the close season hadalready alarmed the fans with their opening 4-0walloping by Manchester City last Monday con-firming their worst fears, were outplayed forlarge parts of the match by West Ham.

The only mild satisfaction for the home fanswill be that it halted former manager SamAllardyce’s run of three successive wins on histrips back there since he was sacked after just24 games in 2008.

Pardew, who was without injured loan sign-ing Loic Remy, left Yohan Cabaye, a transfer tar-get for French champions Paris Saint Germainand Premier League giants Arsenal, out of theside again having not picked the France interna-tional for the City game.

The hosts, who have taken just six pointsfrom their last eight Premier League games,went close to opening the scoring in the 17thminute but it was not of their own making.

West Ham’s New Zealand internationaldefender Winston Reid panicked under pres-sure from Papiss Cisse and overhit his backpassto Jussi Jaaskelainen which beat the ‘keeper butfortunately for him rolled the other side of thepost.

Reid, though, nearly scored at the other endwhen he drifted in past Argentinian defenderFabricio Coloccini but just failed to make con-tact with James Collins’s long freekick.

Any chance of the match becoming more ofa spectacle in the second-half were wiped outwhen rain poured down and it was West Hamwho produced the best chances of the half.

Kevin Nolan, who scored the winner in thecorresponding fixture against his former clublast season, should have done better when wellset up by Stewart Downing while Joe Cole, theman who replaced Downing when he was tak-en off, fired just over with a smart shot on theturn five minutes from time.

The visitors had the ball in the net twominutes from time but Modibo Maiga wasadjudged to be offside. Newcastle couldhave stolen the points in time added on asJaaskelainen was beaten by the flight ofShola Ameobi’s cross shot which came backoff the post but Yoann Gouffran hooked itover the bar. — AFP

Newcastle hold out

against Hammers

Newcastle 0

West Ham 0

BusinessSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Zombie borrowers haunt Chinese shadow banks

Page 22

India tycoon’s wife tells court she’s a housewife

Page 23

NBK among 50 safest banks in the world

Page 26

Manufacturing firms awake to deals again as economy stirsPage 25

MANILA: Employees work at a construction site in Manila yesterday. The Philippine central bank sees inflation staying low over the coming years even as economic growth picks up, its deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Societe Generale will launcha 1 billion ringgit ($300 million) Islamic bondprogram in Malaysia, two sources familiar withthe deal told Reuters, becoming the secondmajor European bank to issue sukuk and thefirst to do so in Asia.

SocGen, France’s second-largest listed bank,is planning to issue the first tranche of thesukuk by the year-end, said one of the sources,who declined to be identified as he was notauthorized to speak on the matter. Westernbanks looking to raise capital are increasinglydrawn to the Islamic bond market as the cost ofcredit is lower than in conventional markets.The Middle East unit of HSBC Holdings tappedthe market in 2011 with a five-year $500 millionissuance.

The growing popularity of Islamic debt as achoice of investment among Muslim banks and

funds is also buoying the outlook for sukuk, asIslamic bonds are known. Issuers of sukuk donot pay interest, a practice forbidden in Islam.Instead, buyers of sukuk become co-owners ofthe debt and receive annual profits from theissuer. Global sukuk issuance grew 54 percentto $131.2 billion last year, with Malaysiaaccounting for 74 percent of primary marketissuances.

Saudi Arabia followed with a 8 percent mar-ket share, and the United Arab Emirates with4.7 percent and Indonesia with 4.6 percent,according to KFH Research, an Islamic invest-ment research firm.Malaysia has emerged asthe world’s No.1 market for primary sukukissuances, with its strong regulatory framework,low taxes and geographical proximity toexpanding Asian wealth.

The Malaysian central bank last month

implemented new laws to stress compliancewith Islamic laws, introducing higher penaltiesand making sharia advisors legally liable for thefirst time. Hong Leong Islamic Bank is advisingthe SocGen deal, according to the source.SocGen will soon seek approval for its issuanceplans from Malaysia’s Securities Commission,having already received the green light tobecome a bond issuer from the central bank,the source said. The central bank did not imme-diately respond to a request for comment,while a Hong Kong-based spokesperson forSocGen declined to comment. The funds raisedwill go towards buying assets in Dubai, whereSocGen’s Middle East private banking opera-tions are headquartered, said the source.

“Everything is in place,” the source said.The issuance will help SocGen diversify its

funding sources while benefiting from attrac-

tive premiums. In the past year, three-year AAA-rated sukuk have offered yields of 3.65 to 3.72percent, while conventional bonds with a com-parable tenor and rating have yielded 3.69 to3.76 percent. The lower yield range for sukuktranslates into higher savings for issuers.

SocGen’s sukuk in Malaysia will carry tenorsof up to 15 years, according to the secondsource.

“For European countries that have yet todevelop a regulatory framework for Islamicfinance, Malaysia is an attractive destination,”said Baljeet Kaur Grewal, managing directorand vice chairman of KFH Research. The largenumber of industry players in Malaysia, includ-ing foreign institutions mandated to invest inIslamic instruments, creates a ready marketwith significant demand for sukuk, said Kaur.“There are a number of corporations planning

to raise funds in the Malaysian Islamic capitalmarket, from Australia to the Middle East, andthis trend looks set to continue.”

Other foreign companies such as theNational Bank of Abu Dhabi and Singapore-based palm oil producer Golden Agri-ResourcesLtd have in the past year tapped Malaysia’ssukuk market.

In the first seven months of this year, issuersin Malaysia raised 19.8 billion ringgit through47 sukuk, according to Thomson Reuters data.That was a decline of nearly a third from a yearearlier due to uncertainties surrounding a Mayelection in Malaysia and a dip in externaldemand.

However, demand from Malaysia’s publicinstitutional funds such as the EmployeesProvident Fund and Lembaga Tabung Haji hasremained resilient. — Reuters

SocGen plans $300m sukuk in Malaysia

Cheaper costs of credit draw Western banks to sukuk

BANGALORE: An Indian customer at a foreign exchangeoutlet speaks on a phone in front of a poster of US dol-lars in Bangalore yesterday. The rupee, staged a sharprecovery against the dollar as state-run banks, at thebehest of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), reportedlysold dollars to take the pressure off the rupee. — AFP

MUMBAI: India’s finance minister PChidambaram met with top bankersyesterday to discuss ways to boost theweak rupee and bring in more foreigncapital to bridge a trade gap that hasput pressure on the currenc y.Chidambaram was accompanied by topofficials at the meeting in India’s finan-cial hub of Mumbai with representa-tives of leading private and public sec-tor banks. As the US economy picks up,the Federal Reserve is expected to startwinding down its bond-buying stimu-lus scheme which has helped fuel aninvestment splurge in Asia’s emergingmarkets. “The meeting was mainly toseek ideas and suggestions on whatcan be done about capital inflows. Itwas a very good and positive meeting,”ICICI Bank’s chief executive ChandaKochhar told reporters.

India’s large current account deficit-the broadest measure of trade-must befunded with foreign capital, and thecountry is seen as one of the most vul-nerable among emerging marketnations whose currencies are underpressure globally.

India’s rupee recovered from his-toric lows against the dollar Friday,marking its biggest single-day gain innearly a year, but analysts warned thecurrency’s overall trend was still bear-ish. The rupee, one of Asia’s worst per-forming currencies, bounced back 2.09percent-its biggest one-day gain since

September 2012 — to end trade at63.20 Friday, up from its record closinglow of 64.55 the previous day.

The Indian unit, which had hit anew l i fetime intraday low of 65.56Thursday, was boosted Friday by com-ments by Chidambaram and theReserve Bank of India. Chidambaramsaid the currency panic was “unwarrant-ed” and the rupee had “overshot” its“appropriate level”.

He added there was no plan toimpose more capital controls on top ofones announced this month, and thatreviving growth, which hit a decade lowof five percent last year, would be thegovernment’s focus. The central bankgovernor Duvvuri Subbarao, mean-while, dismissed investor fears India ishurtling towards a balance of paymentscrisis similar to one in 1991.

Ten-year government bonds alsoposted their biggest weekly gain infour-and-a-half-years, of 62 paise($0.01) to 8.26 percent, while sharesrebounded by 1.13 percent to 18,519.44points.

But analysts said the relief mightbe only temporary and the rupee couldsoften further, with Deutsche Bank sug-gesting it could fall to 70 to the dollar.“There is a slight change in sentimentafter the finance minister’s statementsbut the overall trend is still bearish,”said Param Sarma, chief executive atconsultancy NSP Forex. — AFP

India finance minister

seeks relief for rupeeLONDON: The currencies of emergingEuropean countries such as Poland andHungary have dodged the giant selloffshitting other emerging markets, and theirlinks to a steadily recovering euro-zoneare likely to keep them insulated. Foryears, Europe’s slump and cautious mone-tary rules have dragged down economicgrowth in the region, making these coun-tries less exciting for investors than desti-nations in Asia and Latin America. Nowthat curse is turning into a blessing.

Former investor darlings such as Braziland India have seen currencies tumble asinvestors flee their stocks and bond mar-kets in fear of a sharp growth slowdown.Their peers in central Europe, however,are largely holding steady. Hit by the USFederal Reserve’s plans to reduce the flowof cheap money it pumps into the globaleconomy, currencies such as SouthAfrica’s rand, India’s rupee and Brazil’s realhave fallen 15-18 percent against the dol-lar this year.

By contrast, Poland’s zloty has eased 3percent against the dollar since January,while Hungary’s forint, considered theriskiest regional bet because of PrimeMinister Victor Orban’s unorthodox poli-cies, is down 2 percent. “This is due to acombination of a better outlook for coreEurope, where the economy seems to berecovering, and an improvement in theunderlying fundamentals of most ofthese countries,” said ThanasisPetronikolos, head of emerging debt atBaring Asset Management in London.

He said his investment portfolio was

factoring in that central Europe wouldperform better than emerging markets inAsia and some in Latin America. Nodoubt, there are some clouds on centralEurope’s horizon uncertainty about theimpact of upcoming Fed measures andpolitical instability ahead of electionsnext year. But barring surprises and aslong as the euro recovery stays on course,the region could stay stable for currencyinvestors. “We expect CEE currencies tocontinue to outperform other emergingmarkets until the end of next year,” saysCommerzbank currency strategist LutzKarpowitz.

Euro-zone orbit Germany, the powerhouse of the euro-

zone and the source of most of emergingEurope’s investment, posted forecast-beating business sentiment data onThursday, leading improvements acrossthe single currency bloc. As the euro-zone starts to emerge from recession,that translates into more growth for itscentral European neighbors, and there-fore stable currencies.

Carmaker Daimler’s plant in Hungary,which makes the Mercedes CLA coupe,illustrates the link: it is estimated to accountfor nearly one percent of Hungary’s eco-nomic output, and its sales helped pull thecountry out of recession. As EuropeanUnion members, Poland, Hungary and theCzech Republic are bound by the bloc’srules on fiscal consolidation. For the pastseveral years, that has constrained theirgovernments from running big deficits toboost growth. — Reuters

Central Europe sheltered

from market sell-off

B U S I N E S SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

EXCHANGE RATES

Bahrain Exchange Company

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

Japanese Yen 2.887Indian Rupees 4.435Pakistani Rupees 2.747Srilankan Rupees 2.148Nepali Rupees 2.762Singapore Dollar 223.680Hongkong Dollar 36.721Bangladesh Taka 3.655Philippine Peso 6.428Thai Baht 8.919Irani Riyal 0.271Irani Riyal 0.273

GCC COUNTRIESSaudi Riyal 75.964Qatari Riyal 78.271Omani Riyal 739.900Bahraini Dinar 756.610UAE Dirham 77.578

ARAB COUNTRIESEgyptian Pound - Cash 41.950Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.670Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.329Tunisian Dinar 174.850Jordanian Dinar 402.270Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.911Syrian Lier 3.095Morocco Dirham 34.641

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIESUS Dollar Transfer 284.750Euro 383.990Sterling Pound 446.630Canadian dollar 273.930Turkish lira 143.490Swiss Franc 310.350Australian Dollar 259.120US Dollar Buying 283.550

GOLD20 Gram 258.00010 Gram 130.0005 Gram 67.500

COUNTRY SELL CASH SELLDRAFTEurope

British Pound 0.4369558 0.4459558Czech Korune 0.0065515 0.0185615Danish Krone 0.0467961 0.0517961Euro 0.3737893 0.3812893Norwegian Krone 0.0441271 0.0493271Scottish Pound 0.4351225 0.4426225Swedish Krona 0.0396846 0.0446846Swiss Franc 0.3023052 0.3093052

AustralasiaAustralian Dollar 0.2522278 0.2642278New Zealand Dollar 0.2232773 0.2332773Uganda Shilling 0.0001127 0.0001127

AmericaCanadian Dollar 0.2685459 0.2775459Colombian Peso 0.0001447 0.0001627US Dollars 0.2823000 0.2844500

AsiaBangladesh Taka 0.0036070 0.0036620Cape Vrde Escudo 0.0031505 0.0033805Chinese Yuan 0.0454075 0.0504075Eritrea-Nakfa 0.0164033 0.0195033Guinea Franc 0.0000441 0.0000501Hg Kong Dollar 0.0340753 0.0371753Indian Rupee 0.0044365 0.0045015Indonesian Rupiah 0.0000220 0.0000272Jamaican Dollars 0.0028359 0.0038359Japanese Yen 0.0028402 0.0030202Kenyan Shilling 0.0031816 0.0034116Malaysian Ringgit 0.0814482 0.0884482Nepalese Rupee 0.0026608 0.0028608Pakistan Rupee 0.0027176 0.0027576Philippine Peso 0.0060415 0.0065115

Sierra Leone 0.0000725 0.0000755Singapore Dollar 0.2183922 0.2243922Sri Lankan Rupee 0.0021130 0.0021550Thai Baht 0.0085731 0.0091731

ArabBahraini Dinar 0.7470223 0.7555223Egyptian Pound 0.0385825 0.0405975Ethiopeanbirr 0.0126263 0.0191263Ghanaian Cedi 0.1444203 0.1462103Iranian Riyal 0.0000790 0.0000795Iraqi Dinar 0.0001834 0.0002434Jordanian Dinar 0.3950608 0.4025608Kuwaiti Dinar 1.0000000 1.0000000Lebanese Pound 0.0001742 0.0001942Moroccan Dirhams 0.0224390 0.0464390Nigerian Naira 0.0012050 0.0018400Omani Riyal 0.7267806 0.7377806Qatar Riyal 0.0773663 0.0781493Saudi Riyal 0.0752133 0.0758533Sudanese Pounds 0.0461836 0.0467336Syrian Pound 0.0019354 0.0021554Tunisian Dinar 0.1720309 0.1780309UAE Dirhams 0.0759090 0.0773590Yemeni Riyal 0.0012812 0.0013812

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

COUNTRY SELL DRAFT SELL CASH Australian Dollar 262.13 263.000Canadian Dollar 278.37 282.000Swiss Franc 313.69 311.000Euro 384.12 384.000US Dollar 283.95 287.400Sterling Pound 448.84 443.000Japanese Yen 2.98 3.000Bangladesh Taka 3.667 3.800Indian Rupee 4.466 5.150Sri Lankan Rupee 2.158 2.700Nepali Rupee 2.819 3.600Pakistani Rupee 2.769 2.920UAE Dirhams 77.38 78.000Bahraini Dinar 755.76 759.500Egyptian Pound 40.62 41.100Jordanian Dinar 404.13 416.200Omani Riyal 738.45 746.400Qatari Riyal 78.41 79.000Saudi Riyal 75.85 76.300

Rate for Transfer Selling RateUS Dollar 284.000Canadian Dollar 275.980Sterling Pound 445.890Euro 381.745Swiss Frank 309.996Bahrain Dinar 751.890UAE Dirhams 77.800Qatari Riyals 77.955Saudi Riyals 76.595Jordanian Dinar 400.345Egyptian Pound 40.590Sri Lankan Rupees 2.150Indian Rupees 4.489Pakistani Rupees 2.742Bangladesh Taka 3.651Philippines Pesso 6.477Cyprus pound 696.660Japanese Yen 3.910

Thai Bhat 9.165Syrian Pound 4.055Nepalese Rupees 3.885Malaysian Ringgit 86.405

Al Mulla Exchange

Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000)US Dollar 284.200Euro 382.000Pound Sterling 445.400Canadian Dollar 272.450Indian Rupee 4.435Egyptian Pound 40.655Sri Lankan Rupee 2.151Bangladesh Taka 3.652Philippines Peso 6.423Pakistan Rupee 2.745Bahraini Dinar 756.750UAE Dirham 77.350Saudi Riyal 75.850

*Rates are subject to change

Zombie borrowers haunt Chinese shadow banks

Concerns over disconnect between lending, growth

SHANGHAI: Call it the new China Syndrome:Although Asia’s biggest economy is slowingdown markedly, credit continues to surge. Dead-end projects and dying industries are sucking upan ever-larger portion of new credit, while moreproductive borrowers are starved for funds.Nowhere is this more evident than in China’sshadow banking sector, the non-bank financiersthat have pumped credit into the economy at aspectacular rate.

Trust companies - firms that sell investmentproducts to Chinese savers and use the proceedsto make loans or buy other types of assets - haveposted the fastest growth. A Reuters examina-tion of proprietary data shows that as little ashalf of trust loans issued in 2012 were used tofinance current economic activity, such as a newinvestment project or increased production atan existing factory.

The other half may have been used for refi-nancing old debt that funded past projects butis no longer contributing to economic growth.The finding offers a possible explanation for thegrowing disconnect between lending andgrowth in China. Many analysts have expressedconcern that the so-called “credit intensity” ofChinese growth is increasing. Ever more borrow-ing is required to produce the same amount ofeconomic output. But no one is sure why.

Rising credit intensity is exacerbating thehuge buildup of debt in China’s financial systemsince Beijing launched its credit-fueled 4 trillionyuan ($650 billion) stimulus plan in 2008. Muchof that money flowed into infrastructure, realestate, and new manufacturing capacity. Reutersfound that local governments, property devel-opers, and industries suffering from surpluscapacity together account for about 70 percentof trust loans granted in 2012.

The 1979 movie “China Syndrome” was abouta cataclysmic nuclear reactor meltdown. Andsome see excessive debt as a ticking time bombthat will eventually produce a wave of defaultsand an economic meltdown. But the Reutersexamination of the trust data points to a differ-

ent, though equally worrying scenario: slow anddebilitating atrophy. The risk of pervasive debtrollovers is that China could follow the path ofJapan in the “Lost Decades”, creating a perma-nent class of “zombie borrowers” who have littlehope of turning a profit but survive throughcontinual injections of fresh credit.

Such perpetual refinancing avoids short-termeconomic pain by keeping factories hummingand workers employed at infrastructure con-struction sites. But in the long run, zombies suckthe lifeblood from the economy. That is an espe-cially big problem for China, where small-andmedium-sized enterprises account for 60 per-cent of gross domestic product and around 75percent of new jobs but have long struggled toget access to credit.

China’s economic growth has slowed for 12 ofthe last 14 quarters, and 2013 is likely to be theslowest full-year growth since 1990, with theofficial 7.5 percent target seen ambitious anddouble-digit growth rates now considered firmlya thing of the past. “(China’s) economic growthsince 2009 has been fueled disproportionatelyby a credit binge that left local governments andtheir state enterprises with a lot of debt theycannot repay,” Arthur Kroeber, managing direc-tor of GK Dragonomics, a Beijing-based researchfirm, wrote in a recent research note. “The risk ofJapan-style rot is substantial.”

Reuters analyzed 1,166 trust loans issued in2012, using data purchased from Use-TrustStudio, a research firm based in Jiangxi provincethat has compiled the most comprehensive pub-lic database of trust and wealth-managementproducts. Trusts surpassed insurance companieslast year to become the second-largest sector ofChina’s financial system by assets, behind com-mercial banks. The trusts Reuters analyzedtotaled 234 billion yuan, or roughly 8 percent of3 trillion yuan in trust loans issued in 2012,Reuters estimates. Trusts also comprise thelargest component of China’s shadow bankingsector, which includes a range of non-banklenders from securities brokerages to curbside

loan sharks.Trust loans offer a useful window into China’s

debt problems. Unlike banks, trusts typically dis-close the identity of their borrowers in the mar-keting materials they use to attract investors,along with some detail on how the funds willsupposedly be used.

But because trusts cater to borrowers whocan’t access credit from traditional banks or thebond and equity markets, the Use-Trust dataalso sheds light on the normally opaque worldof shadow banking, where analysts fear the riski-est debt is hiding.

Trust loans represent the riskiest category ofChinese credit for which any significant data isavailable. Just beyond lies the murky world ofinformal lending. “Right now trust financing isthe financing method with the lowest barriers toentry in China. Of course, the cost will be higher,”said Fan Jie, analyst at CN Benefit, a research firmthat tracks China’s trust and wealth-manage-ment industries.

The trust products that Reuters analyzed offerinvestors returns of 9-12 percent annually. Thatis even higher than the wealth managementproducts that banks sell, which offer rates of 5-7percent. By the time the trust company takes itsfee, typically worth 1-2 percent of the loan value,the local government or firm may pay up to 15percent interest for a one- to two-year loan,more than double the bank rate of around 7 per-cent for similar loans. The crippling interest ratesmake it even more difficult for borrowers toreduce their debt, laying the groundwork forfuture rollovers.

Only 4 percent of trust loans by value areexplicitly intended for re-financing, Reutersfound. But an additional 37 percent of trustloans specify the use of funds as “working capi-tal”, “liquid funding” or similarly vague terms thatexperts say sound like a rollover. For 8 percent ofloans, disclosures offer no significant detail onthe use of funds. Local governments have waysto disguise the fact they are using new loans torepay old ones, said a Beijing-based trust com-pany executive, who asked for anonymity.“When you’re doing due diligence, you can fig-ure it out, but no one will say it explicitly.”

DEBT CITYTianjin, China’s fifth-largest city, offers a

glimpse into the plight of thousands of loss-mak-ing local governments and industrial firms thathave turned to trust companies and other institu-tions that make up China’s shadow banking sys-tem. Reuters’ analysis of the trust data, alongwith Tianjin’s own disclosures about the financialcondition of the city’s largest financing vehicle,show how the city relied on high-interest fund-ing to repay old debts. About a half hour by high-speed train southeast of Beijing on the eastcoast, Tianjin was a lively trade centre in pre-Communist days, before becoming a grubbybackwater overshadowed by the Chinese capital.

But since 2009, Tianjin has invested morethan $160 billion in an effort to create a financialcentre that would be China’s answer toManhattan - almost three times the amountspent on China’s Three Gorges Dam, one ofChina’s costliest projects. The glitter and growth- 16.4 percent in 2011 - helped propel Tianjin’sformer Communist Party secretary, Zhang Gaoli,to a coveted seat on the Politburo StandingCommittee, China’s elite seven-member rulingbody.

But the Yujiapu financial district, where 47skyscrapers are being built, may prove to beChina’s biggest white elephant yet. It is not clearwhy major financial institutions, which alreadyhave offices in Beijing, would need to establish alarge presence in Tianjin as well. Indeed, at thestart of 2012, Tianjin’s main local governmentfinancing vehicle for infrastructure projectsfaced debt repayments of 56 billion yuan for theyear, the city’s public disclosures show. But thefinancing vehicle suffered negative cash flowsevery year since at least 2008, including a loss of28 billion in 2011. —Reuters

Behbehani watches join ABK Advantage

KUWAIT: ABK is now proud to announce a new alliance with Behbehani watches. Ourcardholders will be offered up to 30 percent discount if they use their ABK cards forpurchases at any Behbehani watches showroom around Kuwait.

Stewart Lockie, General Manager, Retail Banking Division at ABK explained that, “Itis with great pleasure that we announce an alliance with such a prestigious company.Behbehani watches joining our directory as part of the ABK Advantage Program is agreat way to reward our customers on their purchased items.”

Behbehani’s luxurious showrooms are conveniently located all over Kuwait, namelyat The Avenues, Al-Hamra Mall, Marina Mall, Souk Sharq, Salhiya Complex, LailaGallery, Behbehani Complex, Al-Kout Mall and the 360 Mall.

Lockie further elaborated, “Behbehani watches joins a wide and varied selection ofcompanies that are part of the ABK Advantage Program. Many companies offer ourcustomers up to a massive 45 percent discount on their purchases if they use theirABK cards as the preferred choice of payment. Hotels and resorts, fashion, jewelry andwatches, furniture, restaurants and cafes, health and beauty, gifts and services,lifestyle and so much more are all offered at discounted prices but only to ABK cus-tomers. That’s a great advantage to banking with ABK! “

For more information on how to join the ABK Advantage Program please visitwww.eahli.com to talk directly with one of our Account Managers through Al AhliChat Service or call Ahlan Ahli on 1899899.

Gulf Bank announces winners of Al-Danah daily draws

KUWAIT: Gulf Bank held its Al-Danah dailydraws on August 18, 2013, announcing thenames of its winners for the week of August12 to August 15. The Al-Danah daily drawsinclude draws each working day for twoprizes of KD1000 per winner.

The winners were: (Monday 12/8): Eyad Fawzy Asaad Atteia,

Bader Saleh Haji Kamal(Tuesday 13/8): Elham Wajih Hussein Al-

Madani, Mohammed Ali Hassan(Wednesday 14/8): Jaber Mohammed

Ghuloum Husain, Majdah MahmoudMahmoud Awadheen

(Thursday 15/8): Fouad Abdulrahman Al-Bahar, Yaseen Mohammed Hassan Bloushi

Gulf Bank’s Al-Danah 2013 draw lineupincludes daily draws (2 winners per workingday each receive KD1000), as well as threedraw prizes per quarter. Al-Danah’s 3rdQuarterly draw will be held on - 26September (KD500,000, KD125,000, andKD25,000) and the final draw will be held on

9 January, 2014 announcing winners ofKD50,000, KD250,000 and the Al-DanahMillionaire.

Gulf Bank’s Al-Danah allows customers towin cash prizes and simultaneously encour-ages them to save money. Chances increasethe more money is deposited and thelonger it is kept in the account.

Al-Danah also offers a number of uniqueservices including the Al-Danah DepositOnly ATM card which helps account holdersdeposit their money at their convenience; aswell as the Al-Danah calculator to help cus-tomers calculate their chances of becomingan Al-Danah winner.

To be part of the Al-Danah draws, cus-tomers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56branches, transfer on line, or call theCustomer Contact Center on 1805805 forassistance and guidance. Customers can alsolog on to www.e-gulfbank.com/aldanahwin-ners, to find out more about Al-Danah andwho the winners are.

NEW YORK CITY: Global investment giant Blackstoneis reshuffling its vast real estate portfolio, shedding USassets to buy new ones in Europe and Asia.

The New York-based firm has plenty of firepower,with $64 billion in real estate assets under manage-ment, the world’s largest portfolio in the sector.

Blackstone recently has been lining up its strategywith an eye on juicier investment prospects outsidethe United States. That includes a slew of asset salesand IPOs of units to generate cash for other acquisi-tions.

“We are in a period of time where you can expectto see real-estate realization growing,” Tony James,Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer, saidin a July conference call.

Overall, the company raised $14 billion in the sec-ond quarter alone, mostly from its real estate andcredit businesses, Blackstone chief executive SteveSchwarzman said in the same call.

In the US, Blackstone, the country’s leading hotelowner, is working on an initial public offering of HiltonWorldwide, its biggest real estate asset, bought in2007 for $25 billion including debt.

Blackstone also appears to be seeking a disposalof La Quinta Inns & Suites hotels, acquired in 2006 andvalued at about $4.5 billion. It also is planning IPOs forBrixmor Property Group, a grocery-anchored shop-ping center owner that is the company’s third-largestreal estate investment, and Extended Stay Hotels,which it co-owns.

The company, meanwhile, is going ahead withseveral acquisitions, including the purchase of30,0000 apartments from US industrial conglomerateGeneral Electric for about $2.7 billion, a source close to

the situation told AFP last week.In last month’s conference call, Schwarzman said

that “in the US, markets are healthier, properties aredoing better and credit markets are very accommo-dating.”

“In Europe though... to the contrary there’s been alot of distress,” the CEO said.

“But the spigots are starting to loosen up and peo-ple are starting to face that and want to sell assets.”

Blackstone itself is selling its 50 percent stake inBroadgate office complex in London to GIC,Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, AFP learned fromsources familiar with the situation on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Blackstone has targeted a $5 billionEuropean real-estate investment fund, a person closeto the matter said. And elsewhere in Europe,Blackstone teamed up with Caisse de Depot duQuebec to buy debt secured by equity in French real-estate investment company Gecina.

Asia also was beckoning Blackstone, which has$230 billion in total assets under management. “In realestate, we had our first Asia fund closing of $1.5 bil-lion, marking strong investor reception to our firstdedicated fund in the region,” Schwarzman told ana-lysts in the July earning call.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the private-equity firm also is in negotiations to buy Chineseproperty developer Tysan Holdings, based in HongKong, for $2.5 billion. Emerging-market countrieswere proving attractive for investment opportunities.Blackstone announced in June that it had acquired,along with Brazilian partner Patria Investments, a 70percent stake in Brazilian homebuilder Gafisa forabout $1 billion. The deal marked Blackstone’s biggest

JAKARTA: A stack of rupiah banknotes are seen on the desk at a moneychanger in Jakarta. —AP

JAKARTA: Indonesia said that it would curbimports of luxury cars and take other steps tobolster national finances as Southeast Asia’slargest economy suffers a slumping currencyand stock market.

Indonesia, along with countries such asIndia, Malaysia and Thailand, has been buffet-ed by an exodus of cash from its financial mar-kets as improving economic prospects in theUS and Europe reverse the tide of money thatswept into developing nations the past fewyears. Among the measures announced Friday,Coordinating Minister for the Economy HattaRajasa said the government will relax mineral

export quotas and streamline the investmentpermit process.

He said the government will increase theimport tax on luxury cars and some brandedproducts, provide tax incentives for invest-ment in agriculture and metal industries andseek to reduce oil imports. The moves aim toshore up Indonesia’s currency and bolster con-fidence that the country can pay its bills bylimiting outflows of money and encouraginginflows. That in theor y should reduceIndonesia’s current account deficit, whichlargely reflects that it is importing more than itexports. —AP

Indonesia curbs luxury car imports as rupiah dives

Blackstone eyes Europe, Asia for investment

B U S I N E S SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

NEW YORK: It’s time for US investors torevisit Europe. Last summer, much of thecontinent was mired in recession and theeuro currency looked like a failed experi-ment.

Now, Europe is healing. The 17 coun-tries that use the euro posted economicgrowth of 0.3 percent from April to Junecompared with the previous quarter, thefirst expansion since late 2011. Industrialproduction is up, consumer spending isstable and stock markets are rising as peo-ple and businesses gain confidence. Fundmanagers and market strategists say thelast several months of better economicnews and higher stock prices could signalthe start a long-term rally for the conti-nent.

“There are now clear signs that Europeis turning,” says Jurrien Timmer, a portfoliomanager at Fidelity Investments. Timmerrecommends that investors move part oftheir US investments into Europe.

In France, the CAC 40 stock index hasrisen 12 percent this year. Germany’s DAX

index is up 11 percent. Even more troubledeconomies like Spain and Italy aren’t dis-couraging investors: Italy’s FTSE MIB hasclimbed 7 percent and Spain’s IBEX is up 6percent. European stocks appear to be lessexpensive than their US counterparts,based on their price-earnings ratio, or P/ELow P/Es signal that stocks are cheap rela-tive to their earnings; high ones signalthey are expensive.

The Stoxx Euro 600, Europe’s equivalentof the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, is trad-ing at 13.1 times earnings over the next 12months. That is slightly cheaper than the14.1 times for the S&P 500.

Europe’s nascent recovery can betraced back to a year ago. On July 26, 2012,European Central Bank President MarioDraghi pledged to do “whatever it takes” tosave the currency union. Later, the ECBcalmed fears of state bankruptcies incountries like Spain and Italy by promisingto buy back government debt, if needed.The improving fortunes of the euro-zonecan be seen in the borrowing costs of gov-

ernments. The yield on Spain’s 10-yearbond, for example, is now 4.44 percent,down from 6.83 percent at the end of lastAugust.

“Even this slight stabilization will helplead to renewed confidence in the euro-zone,” says Sean Lynch, global investmentstrategist for Wells Fargo Private Bank.Europe’s recovery is stil l patchy, butenough encouraging trends haveemerged. France exited its 18-monthrecession last quarter. Germany’s econo-my, Europe’s biggest, grew at a 0.7 percentannual rate, more than economists expect-ed. Investor confidence there also hit a six-month high in August, according to theCentre for European Economic Research.

And while Spain’s unemployment rateis 26.3 percent and its economy contract-ed by 0.1 percent in the second quarter,unemployment is at a five-month low.Economists expect Spain to pull out of itsrecession by year-end. “The news out ofEurope is encouraging,” Lynch says. “It’s tooearly to ring the ‘all-clear’ button, though.”

In a conference call with investors on Aug.14, Cisco CEO John Chambers said thatbusiness across Europe, particularly Britainand Northern Europe, was showing “verypositive progress.” “We remain cautious,however, given the instability of the south-ern region,” Chambers said.

That compares with a more skepticalview last month from McDonald’s CEODonald Thomson, who said the Europeaneconomy had not yet turned the corner. “Ithink the economists may be a bit aheadof themselves,” Thomson said. “Some mar-kets may have bottomed out. I would tellyou some of the larger markets are stillhaving some challenges.” Liz Ann Sonders,chief investment strategist at CharlesSchwab, says Europe looks attractive partlybecause the economy still has challenges.“The stock market is a leading indicator. Itmoves before the economic data catchesup with it,” Sonders says. March 2009, forexample, was a good time to get into U.S.stocks, she says, even though things were“terrible economically.”

The market was at its recession lowback then and stocks were cheap. The S&P500 has climbed 146 percent since then,helped by a recovery in the employmentand housing markets, and the FederalReserve’s stimulus program. This yearalone, the index is up 17 percent.

While Sonders believes investorsshould continue to focus on the US stockmarket, Schwab has an “outperform” ratingon European stocks. Still, it’s probably tooearly for risk-averse investors to put moneyinto Europe, says Alberto Gallo, head ofEuropean macro credit research for theRoyal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.

If people want to invest there, theyshould focus on corporate or high-yieldbonds from the healthier eurozone coun-tries such as Germany and France, Gallosays. “The large institutional investors arenot coming back to the euro-zone’s (strug-gling) countries yet,” Gallo say. “The inter-est has been mainly (from) hedge funds.The institutional investors still see parts ofEurope as too risky.” — AP

Why it’s time to revisit European stocks

MUMBAI: Mumbai City civic staff work to repair a burst undergroundpipeline which resulted in the cave-in of a portion of the city’s Marine Drive -dubbed the Queen’s Necklace road in Mumbai yesterday. The infrastructureof Mumbai - the financial capital of India and an oasis for job-seekers andmigrant work force attracting hundreds of un-employed youth from all thecountry, is in desperate need of an overhaul. — AFP

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde

NEW DELHI: Tina Ambani, a formerBollywood star wed to one ofIndia’s top tycoons, has told a courthearing a massive corruption caseshe had no knowledge of the com-panies allegedly involved as she is a“housewife”.

Her testimony came after prose-cutors asked the judge to declareher husband Anil Ambani, chair-man of industrial group RelianceADAG, a hostile witness in the case-one of the biggest corruption scan-dals in India’s history-after herepeatedly told the court he had norecollection of many of the events.Tina Ambani was summoned as awitness because her name appearson documents relating to the caseinvolving alleged rigging of theIndian government’s 2008 licensingof mobile spectrum.

The former actress was shown incourt on Friday documents shesigned and told of meetings shechaired. But, like her husband theprevious day, she told the court shecould not remember many of theevents.

“I chaired the meeting if it is sominuted... but I do not recall it,” the1980s film star told the trial court,according to The Business Standardnewspaper and other Indian media.“I have no role in the running ofReliance ADA group as I am ahousewife,” she said, adding shewas briefed by company officialsabout what to do before chairingany meetings.

After her court appearance,lawyers thronged the actress forher autograph. Three telecomfirms-Reliance Telecom, UnitechWireless and Swan-have beencharged with corruption in thescandal, as well as more than adozen individuals, including threewho worked in Anil Ambani’s com-pany.

All have pleaded not guilty.Swan Telecom is alleged by theprosecution to have been a shellcompany of Reliance ADAG andineligible to receive mobile spec-trum.

Prosecutors allege that the then-telecom minister A Raja, also on tri-al, sold licenses at giveaway pricesto favored companies which paidbribes to secure sought-after sec-ond-generation (2G) bandwidth.

The auditor calculated losses tothe state as high as $40 billion, butthe government disputes the fig-

ure. The so-called “2G scam” hasbeen hugely damaging for the rul-ing Congress party-led coalition,which has been ensnared in astring of corruption scandals sinceits re-election in 2009.

Anil Ambani lost a legal bid topostpone his and his wife’s appear-ances as prosecution witnesses inthe case. Asked about meetingsand links between his company,Reliance Telecom, and othersaccused of wrongdoing, AnilAmbani testified frequentlyThursday he either did “not recall”

or was “not aware” of events. Histestimony drew a warning from thejudge, who said: “You are forgettingtoo much... it can go against you-that you don’t even recall thenames of your companies,” accord-ing to Business Standard.

Indian prosecutors asked thecourt to declare Anil Ambani a“hostile” witness. The federalCentral Bureau of Investigation alsoremarked in court Friday on TinaAmbani’s “adverseness” stemmingfrom her inability to rememberevents. — AFP

India tycoon’s wife tells

court she’s a housewifeTina denies knowledge of corruption in Reliance

MUMBAI: Indian socialite Tina Ambani (left) and industrialist Anil Ambani attend the openingceremony for the 14th Mumbai Film Festival in Mumbai. Tina Ambani, a former Bollywood starwed to one of India’s top tycoons, has told a court hearing a massive corruption case she had noknowledge of the companies allegedly involved as she is a “housewife”. —AFP

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming: The head of theInternational Monetary Fund cautioned theworld’s major central banks not to withdrawtheir unconventional support for weakeconomies too soon.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagardesaid stimulative policies are still needed inkey regions, especially Europe and Japan,which have struggled with prolonged weak-ness. She spoke at an annual economics con-ference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., sponsored bythe Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.Lagarde said central banks must carefullydevelop strategies for scaling back theirefforts to keep borrowing rates low. Any pull-back should be determined by the strengthof individual economies, she said.

Her comments come as the Fed is signal-ing that it could slow its bond purchases laterthis year if the US economy continues toimprove. The Fed’s bond buying has helpedkeep U.S. interest rates near record lows.

“Unconventional monetary policy is stillneeded in all places it is being used, albeitlonger for some than for others,” Lagarde saidin her speech to the conference.

The anticipation of a slowdown in Fedbond buying has unsettled US stock andbond markets and sent interest rates up.Rising US rates have, in turn, triggered tur-moil in some emerging economies, such asTurkey, India and Indonesia. Officials in thosecountries have tried to halt declines in thevalue of their currencies as investors haveshifted money into higher-yielding invest-ments elsewhere.

Lagarde noted the market declines thathave followed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’ssignal in June that the Fed could begin slow-ing its bond purchases later this year if the USeconomy strengthens further.

She said finance officials should preparecontingency plans in case market turbulenceworsens. Some investors think the Fed couldannounce at its next meeting in Septemberthat it’s reducing its bond purchases. Butcomments from Fed officials at Jackson Holesuggested some disagreement within thecentral bank over the proper timing for aslowdown to begin. Dennis Lockhart, presi-dent of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta,suggested in an interview with CNBC that hemight be ready to endorse a bond-buying

slowdown in September. But James Bullard,president of the St. Louis Fed, said he thoughtthe economy remains too uncertain for a pull-back next month. “I don’t think we have to bein any hurry,” Bullard said in a separate inter-view with CNBC. “I think we want to take ourtime and assess what is going on.”

In a separate interview, Bullard said thedecision on whether to start tapering couldwell come into focus just a few days beforethe Sept 17-18 meeting if Fed Chairman BenBernanke decides at that time to provide theother policymakers with a recommendation.

“That’s probably the kind of thing that itwould come down to just a few days beforethe meeting, he’d kind of lay out someoptions,” Bullard said in an interview with FoxBusiness News.

Bullard is a voting member of the Fed’sinterest rate panel this year. Lockhart takespart in discussions but doesn’t have a votethis year. Their remarks mirrored the dividedopinion that was evident in the minutes ofthe Fed’s July meeting released this week.

In her speech, Lagarde said the supportbeing provided by major central banks is buy-ing time for nations to implement key eco-nomic reforms. “Push ahead with deeperreforms to lay the foundation for durable andlasting growth,” Lagarde said. “Do not wastethe space provided by unconventional mone-tary policies.” For example, she said troublednations in Europe must repair their financialsystems before credit can start flowing nor-mally again. Lagarde said some emergingmarket countries have taken steps to preparefor the shocks that could occur as the UnitedStates and other major economies withdrawtheir extraordinary support and borrowingrates rise to historically normal levels. But shesaid more work would be needed.

She said the IMF will provide supportwhere possible, including emergency loans tocountries that need them. After her speech,Lagarde said she hoped leaders of the Groupof 20 major economies will seek to completefinancial reforms that have been drafted totry to avoid another crisis like the one thaterupted in 2008. The G-20 leaders will meetnext month in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“As the level of the crisis has abated, thelevel of urgency has waned a bit,” Lagardesaid in response to a question. — AP

Weak nations still need

central-bank aid: IMF

LONDON: The death of an intern working at theLondon offices of Bank of America Merrill Lynch hasprompted calls for city firms to take more responsibili-ty for the ambitious graduates who push themselvesto the limit to secure jobs at the world’s top banks.Attracted to the glass towers of finance in London,New York and Singapore by the prospect of securinga full-time job and hefty wage, future “masters of theuniverse” often face 20-hour days in some of the mostadrenaline-soaked offices on earth. Weekends atwork and meals in the office are par for the coursewith anecdotal reports of the “magic roundabout”where interns get a taxi home after dawn and leave itwaiting while they have a quick shower and thenreturn to work.

But serious concerns about interns working longhours and even through the night were raised onWednesday after the death of Moritz Erhardt, 21, whowas found dead late last week at his London accom-modation towards the end of a seven-week intern-ship. The German intern allegedly worked for 72hours without sleep in the Bank of America’s invest-ment banking division. The cause of his death wasunknown pending post-mortem tests. A Bank ofAmerica spokesman said the bank was waiting for thefacts about Erhardt’s death before deciding whetherto review its internship program.

Some politicians and an intern campaign groupcondemned the workload on interns dubbed “slav-ery in the city” by one British newspaper, calling onthe banks to take measures to ensure their staffwere not worked to exhaustion. “Exploitation ofyouth is unacceptable,” tweeted EuropeanEmployment Commissioner Laszlo Andor. BenLyons, co-founder of Intern Aware that campaignsfor fair, paid internships, criticized a 100-hour-a-week culture at investment banks, saying HR pro-fessionals, particularly those in the City, needed toensure young people were cared for.

But interns doubted it would be possible tochange the culture, saying they were never explicit-ly told to work such long hours but imposed this onthemselves in their desperation for a job. “Peoplepush themselves because they want an offer withthe bank and the chance of a great career and greatmoney,” said one former intern from a major US

bank who secured a job after the summer. “This is agolden path.”

GOLDEN WAGES The pressure to succeed can take its toll on some

interns who have about eight weeks over the sum-mer to prove themselves and dare not leave theoffice before their superiors. Working around theclock was seen as part of the job which can be bru-tal for years with young bankers swapping storiesabout trying to get a weekend off a month, workingthree days without sleep, and negotiating to befreed up for their wedding. But while some burnout and quit the industry, the financial rewards area major incentive, with new recruits at investmentbanks starting on a salary of about 50,000 pounds($80,000) which is about 20 percent higher thanother corporate graduates.

“There’s the sense of face time and even if you

don’t have any urgent work you are required to staylate. The culture feeds itself,” said an intern fromMerrill Lynch who secured a job but quit after a yearwith work-related repetitive strain injury. “It takes youabout a year to 18 months to realize that it just isn’tworth it. You need to have a life,” said the intern who isnow a project manager in the fashion industry. A for-mer intern at HSBC in London, who no longer worksat the bank or in the industry, said interns got theworst projects, spending days ploughing throughdata without argument. “If you can follow instructionsthen they will like you and that often means stayingvery, very late doing ridiculous things. It’s partly a cul-ture of intern trying to impress,” said the formerintern. With interns unlikely to rebel against working“all-nighters”, Professor Andre Spicer from London’sCass Business School said the banks themselvesneeded to impose limits and question just how pro-ductive and healthy long hours are.— Reuters

Intern’s death raises questions

over workaholic race to wealth

NEW DELHI: Food grains, fruits and vegetables worth $6.8 billion go to waste every year in Indiabecause of inadequate storage facilities, a minister said. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar saidthe country’s storage requirement was 61.3 million tons against the current capacity of around29 million tons, citing a report commissioned last year.

“The present gap is around 32 million tons,” he said in the upper house of the parliament,according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The total wastage of cereals, fruits and veg-etables would add up to 440 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) a year, the minister said.

Pawar said the government had initiated various steps to encourage the creation of new stor-age capacity, which is in focus as the ruling Congress party rolls out a massive new food pro-gram to feed the poor. The Food Security law, which the government is attempting to steerthrough parliament, will offer subsidized grains to nearly 70 percent of the population, or morethan 800 million people. Nearly two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion population still depends on agri-culture for their livelihood and the government is the country’s biggest purchaser of producethrough its centralized procurement system.

Food grain production during the agricultural year 2012-13 is estimated to have touched arecord 255.4 million tons but analysts say the government does not have the warehousing facili-ties to store the produce. Despite two decades of fast economic growth, India still struggles withendemic malnutrition which affects more than 40 percent of children, prompting Prime MinisterManmohan Singh to describe it as a “national shame”.

Cold storage facilities, or refrigerated warehouses, are particularly lacking in India.—AFP

Food worth $6.8 billion

rots in India each year

B U S I N E S SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange(KSE) ended last week in the greenzone. The price index closed at8,104.19 points, up by 0.15 percentfrom the week before closing, theweighted index increased by 0.46percent after closing at 463.93points, whereas the KSX-15 indexclosed at 1,072.51 points up by 0.49percent. Furthermore, last week’saverage daily turnover decreased by7.02 percent, compared to the pre-ceding week, reaching KD 22.73 mil-lion, whereas trading volume aver-age was 233.56 mil l ion shares,recording decrease of 11.10 percent.

Kuwait Stock Exchange continuedto fluctuate as a result to the specula-tive operations on the trading activi-ty, which formed a strong pressurefactor on the market indices duringthe week, especially the Price Index,that recorded losses in most of thedaily sessions of the week due to theprofit collection operations per-formed on some small-cap stocks.On the other hand, the stock marketwitnessed random purchasing opera-tions on few large-cap stocks, whichgave some balance and stability tothe market indices.

Moreover, the stock market is stillsuffering from the lower than normalliquidity levels, due to many negativereasons; absence of the real support-ive purchasing incentives are on topof the reasons. In addition, the weakinvestment environment surround-ing the listed companies, pushedsome investors to a conservativeposition waiting for companies’recovery, and pushed some others toperform speculative operations forquick profits.

For the annual performance, theprice index ended last week record-ing 36.57 percent annual gain com-pared to its closing in 2012, while the

weighted index increased by 11.08percent, and the KSX-15 recorded6.28 percent increase.

Sectors’ IndicesSix of KSE’s sectors ended last

week in the green zone, six recordeddeclines. Last week’s highest gainerwas the Industrial sector, achieving1.80 percent growth rate as its indexclosed at 1,220.80 points. Whereas, inthe second place, the Technology

sector ’s index closed at 1,135.69points recording 1.12 percentincrease.

The Financial Services sector wasthe least gainer as its index achieved0.47 percent growth, ending the

week at 1,172.55 points. On the other hand, the Oil and

Gas sector headed the losers list asits index declined by 2.48 percent toend the week’s activity at 1,237.05points. The Health Care sector was

second on the losers’ list, which indexdeclined by 2.18 percent, closing at1,139.20 points, whereas the Bankingsector came in the last losers list, asits index closed at 1,110.43 points ata loss of 0.33 percent.

Sectors’ ActivityThe Financial Services sector dom-

inated total trade volume during lastweek with 423.96 mil l ion shareschanging hands, representing 36.30percent of the total market tradingvolume. The Real Estate sector wassecond in terms of trading volume asthe sector’s traded shares were 31.25percent of last week’s total tradingvolume, with a total of 364.95 millionshares.

On the other hand, the Real Estatesector’s stocks were the highest trad-ed in terms of value; with a turnoverof KD 31.18 million or 27.44 percentof last week’s total market tradingvalue. The Financial Services sectortook the second place as the sector’slast week turnover was KD 29.34 mil-lion represented 25.82 percent of thetotal market trading value. —Prepared by the Studies & ResearchDepartment Bayan Investment Co.

Kuwait bourse remains buoyantBAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

WASHINGTON: The latest high-techdisruption in the financial marketsincreases the pressure on Nasdaq andother electronic exchanges to takesteps to avoid future breakdowns andmanage them better if they do occur.The three-hour trading outage on theNasdaq stock exchange Thursday alsocan be expected to trigger newrounds of regulatory scrutiny on com-puter-driven trading. Investors’ shakyconfidence in the markets also tookanother hit.

The exchange returned to a nor-mal trading day Friday, with theNasdaq composite rising 19 points, or0.5 percent, to 3,657. Thursday’s out-age though “puts a lot more wind inthe sails” of regulators’ actions, saidJames Cox, a Duke University law pro-fessor and expert on the Securitiesand Exchange Commission.

The SEC plans to finalize rules thatwould put stricter oversight onexchanges, requiring them to routine-ly test their trading systems, for exam-ple. And the Commodity FuturesTrading Commission is moving towardreining in high-speed trading.

For Nasdaq, the apparent systemfailure brings “a gigantic reputationloss,” Cox said. “Three hours without amarket: that’s crazy.” The SEC couldend up fining Nasdaq over the inci-dent, and the exchange might be putunder supervision by an outside mon-itor, Cox suggested.

Questions about potential dangersof the super-fast electronic tradingsystems that now dominate the U.S.stock markets ripple again throughWall Street and Washington. Stocktrading now relies heavily on comput-

er systems that exploit split-pennyprice differences. Stocks can be tradedin fractions of a second, often by auto-mated programs. That makes the mar-kets more vulnerable to technical fail-ures. The CFTC expects to put forwardnext week possible approaches fornew restrictions and oversight onhigh-speed trading, two people withdirect knowledge of the matter saidFriday. They said it was a first steptoward action by the agency, present-ing possible options for new regula-tions to spark public debate. The peo-ple spoke on condition of anonymitybecause the CFTC commissionershaven’t yet voted to open the propos-al to public comment.

The Nasdaq episode cracked themidday calm of a quiet summer trad-ing day on Wall Street. Brokers andtraders scrambled to figure out what

went wrong. Nasdaq-OMX CEORobert Greifeld told CNBC on Fridaythat unspecified, external factorscaused the glitch, and that theexchange followed all the proper pro-cedures to correct the problem.

“We all have to be aware of theother person not acting always in theproper way, and you have to haveyour system be able to handle defen-sive driving,” Greifeld said. “We’redeeply disappointed with what hap-pened yesterday. We aspire to perfec-tion. We want to get to 100 percent uptime.” The shutdown appeared tooccur in an orderly fashion and didn’tupset other parts of the stock market.But it was a major embarrassment.While hardly as stunning as the “flashcrash” that set off a steep and suddenstock-market plunge in May 2010, theNasdaq disruption some are dubbing

the “flash freeze” did stir memories ofit. After the 2010 market break, regula-tors “never really developed a fix for it,and these kinds of things are going tocontinue to happen,” said MichaelGreenberger, a law professor at theUniversity of Maryland who was thetop market oversight official at theCFTC in the late 1990s. High-speedtrading commanded by mathematicalformulas rather than people brings“the possibility of a calamity,”Greenberger said.

Regulators need to slow downautomated trading by requiring tradesto be placed “with human input,” hesaid. On Thursday, only a few hoursafter trading ended for the day, thehead of the Securities and ExchangeCommission said she will work tofinalize SEC rules that would subjectUS exchanges to tighter oversight ofautomated trading. “Today’s interrup-tion in trading, while resolved beforethe end of the day, was nonethelessserious and should reinforce our col-lective commitment to addressingtechnological vulnerabilities ofexchanges and other market partici-pants,” SEC Chairman Mary Jo Whitesaid. The actions Nasdaq takes, orshould take, will be closely watched.Those range from improved testingand backup of its systems to rampingup its crisis management and commu-nicating more clearly with the invest-ing public. The Nasdaq exchange wasborn of technology and is dominatedby the biggest names in the field likeMicrosoft, Apple and Google.Thursday’s breakdown followed aseries of tech-rooted disasters involv-ing various exchanges.—AP

NEW YORK: The vague “connectivity issue”that Nasdaq said triggered the outage thatparalyzed a large part of the US stock marketon Thursday originated as a problembetween Nasdaq and rival NYSE Arca, asource familiar with the matter said Friday.Nasdaq said the problem started shortlybefore midday Thursday and quickly cascad-ed through its Securities InformationProcessor, or SIP, the system that receives alltraffic on quotes and orders for stocks onthe exchange, preventing it from dissemi-nating quotes.

The source, who spoke on condition ofanonymity, said brief outages betweenexchanges occur from time to time but areshort-lived. In such instances, traders receivealerts from an exchange that essentially tellthem to rout their order flow elsewhere for aperiod. Most of these episodes, which mayoccur several times a week, are resolvedquickly. Nasdaq did not respond to requestsfor additional information beyond a state-ment issued to traders on Friday. Aspokesman for NYSE Euronext, the parent ofthe New York Stock Exchange and its NYSEArca platform, denied Arca was involved.Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld, intelevision interviews on Friday, declined toidentify the source of the connectivity prob-lem. The precise nature of the breakdownremains unclear. But the outage, firstflagged at 11:48 am EDT (1548 GMT), quicklyspiraled out of control and soon left $5.9 tril-lion of US equities - more than a third of theUS stock market - idle for more than threehours. Shares of three of the five largestcompanies by market value, Apple Inc,Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, typicallyalso among the most active in any session,were unavailable.

A number of market participants andothers criticized Nasdaq’s lack of an earlypublic statement on the outage. Nasdaq didnot issue a formal press release until lateThursday afternoon, well after the trading

day had ended. “As usual the communica-tion could have been a little bit better. Theycould improve the communication and theamount of communication,” said MarkTurner, managing director and head of salestrading at Instinet in New York.

Nasdaq CEO Greifeld said the exchangesent messages through its trader alert sys-tem and was involved in direct communica-tion with clients.

Nasdaq’s first responsibility was to assure“fair and orderly markets,” Greifeld said onFriday on Fox Business Network, andexchange officials worked first to under-stand and fix the problem and then to com-municate with the securities industry toensure a smooth restart.

“There was active communication goingon,” Greifeld said. “It has shown how horriblethe crisis management side is.Communication was horrid. There is nobackup. So we have to focus on the crisismanagement side,” Mohamed El-Erian, chiefexecutive and co-chief investment officer ofPimco, said Friday on CNBC.

In the end, even those who criticizedNasdaq for the pace of its communications,agreed the reopening of trading did go well.Trading on Friday transpired with no appar-ent hiccups. Shares of Nasdaq itself, whichfell 3.4 percent once trading resumed onThursday, gained about 1.2 percent.

While worst-case outcomes may havebeen averted, the outage still was amongthe most serious in a series of recent techno-logical failures to hit the US securities busi-ness, including a software issue at theChicago Board Options Exchange this springthat delayed the start of trading there forhalf a day. It was also the latest black eye forNasdaq, which in May agreed to pay $10million, the largest penalty ever against astock exchange, to settle US Securities andExchange Commission civil charges over itsmishandling of Facebook’s initial publicoffering in 2012.— Reuters

Nasdaq breakdown puts

pressure on crisis work

Connectivity issue between

Nasdaq, Arca preceded outage

NEW YORK: A television displays news about the Nasdaq on theNasdaq building in New York. —AP

B U S I N E S SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

BHUBANESWAR: A village farmer sprinkles fertilizer in a paddy field on the out-skirts of Bhubaneswar, India, yesterday. The Indian economy, Asia’s third largest,grew 5 percent in the financial year ended March, its slowest in a decade andwell off the 8 percent pace it had averaged over those 10 years. —AP

NEW YORK: Wall Street just wentthrough its weakest three-weekperiod since November, not tomention a panicky spell when theNasdaq stock market ground to ahalt. But that doesn’t mean thepain is over. Next week is unlikelyto bring much clarity to the pri-mary issue facing markets: whenand by how much will the USFederal Reserve slow its accom-modative monetary policy.Uncertainty, along with what isexpected to be anemic tradingheading into the Labor Day holi-day on Sept 2, could make for avolatile week.

“We’re cautious about the nextfew weeks, so we’re taking gainsnow,” said Michael Mullaney, whohelps oversee about $9.5 billion aschief investment officer atFiduciary Trust Co in Boston. “It’snot like we’re on the precipice ofrecession, but there’s not much forinvestors to get excited about andwe’re expecting volatility to pick

up.” Traders had hoped that theFed’s meeting minutes issued onWednesday would provide direc-tion about whether the Fed wouldbegin to reduce its $85 billion-a-month of bond-buying inSeptember. Instead, the minutespainted a mixed picture, withsome members advocatingpatience.

The mixed signals create a dou-ble-edged sword. While the stimu-lus has fueled the market’s solidgains in 2013, for the Fed to con-tinue its cheap money policywould signal the economy is tooweak to advance without inter-vention. The CBOE Volatility index,a measure of investor anxiety, is up16.7 percent over the past threeweeks. The Fed has said that thepolicy change depends onwhether the economy meetsgrowth targets, making marketseven more sensitive than usual tofinancial data. Next week will see areport every day. July durable

goods orders are due on Mondaywhile the final reading for theThomson Reuters/University ofMichigan consumer sentimentindex will come on Friday. Perhapsthe most important will beThursday’s latest estimate of U.S.gross domestic product for thesecond quarter. The data is expect-ed to show the economy grew arevised 2.2 percent annualized ratelast quarter compared with a 1.7percent reading last month.

While a weak report would be abearish sign for the economy,some analysts speculated that astrong reading could have nega-tive implications for the market.

“If GDP comes in above 2.5 per-cent, that could be problematicbecause it will suggest that theFed could take a bigger bite out ofstimulus than we are currentlyexpecting,” said Bruce Bittles, chief

investment strategist at Robert W.Baird & Co in Nashville. “Thatwould put the stock market injeopardy.”

The S&P 500 lost 2.7 percentover the past three weeks, takingthe benchmark index below its 50-day moving average for severalsessions. The index closed abovethe technical measure on Friday,but the light volume may be blur-ring the technical signal and theS&P may find a floor at its 100-daymoving average, now at 1,635.81.“That should serve as prettydecent support,” said DouglasDePietro, managing director atEvercore Partners in New York,adding that markets would berange-bound between that leveland the S&P’s all-time high of1,709.67, reached earlier thismonth. “We’ll see a lot of listlesstrading until the September Fed

meeting,” he said. “We’re in a bit ofan information void until then.There aren’t a lot of catalysts tolook forward to and most of WallStreet is on holiday.”

For this week the Dow fell 0.5percent, the S&P gained 0.5 per-cent and the Nasdaq added 1.5percent. Daily trading volume hasbeen among the lightest of theyear in recent sessions, as is typicalat this time of year. Light volumecan amplify market moves, result-ing in dramatic intraday swings.

Low volume was dramaticallyexacerbated on Thursday after atechnical issue shut down tradingon all Nasdaq issues, equivalent to$5.9 trillion in market capitaliza-tion, for more than three hours.

Friday trading was smooth andthe day’s gains helped the S&P 500and Nasdaq Composite end a two-week losing streak, but the Dowposted its third consecutive week-ly decline. A few notable compa-nies will report earnings next

week, including Tiffany & Co,Campbell Soup Co and Joy GlobalInc. Salesforce.com Inc is also dueto report, and investors will scourthe results to see if the maker ofonline sales software can justify itsoutsized valuation. The stock has aP/E ratio of 99.47, compared withthe 15.57 ratio of its peers.

Warnings for third-quarter USearnings are below second-quar-ter levels but are rising, ThomsonReuters data showed. Negativeoutlooks are outpacing positiveones for the third quarter by 5.1 to1, up from a little more than 4 to 1a week ago. The negative-to-posi-tive ratio for the second quarterwas 6.3 to 1. As a result, estimatesfor third-quarter earnings aredown. Growth is estimated at 5.1percent from a year ago, downfrom a July 1 estimate of 8.5 per-cent growth and close to second-quarter’s growth of 4.8 percent,with results in from most compa-nies. — Reuters

Ahead-Economic data to steer bets on Fed move

LONDON: Manufacturers lookingfor modest bolt-on deals givingthem a technical edge are forecastto keep up a steady pace of acquisi-tions in Europe’s engineering indus-try this year, with recent cost-cuttingmeaning plenty of assets are up forgrabs. Hints of an economic recov-ery are encouraging the likes ofengineering and auto firms to thinkabout buying technology, compo-nents or skills that will grow or com-plement their core businesses,bankers say, and some are actingnow before interest rates rise andmake debt more expensive.

However, with global growthprojections still fragile and costsunder scrutiny, companies will besteering clear of deals with a bigprice-tag or global scale. “Mosttransactions are likely to focus onvery specific product and customermarkets as opposed to large, trans-formational deals,” said Ben Story,head of UK investment banking andbroking at Citi.

“Industrial M&A is largely basedaround utilising existing capabilities,bundling products and services,gaining access in new geographiesand leveraging existing technologyto lower costs.”

Thanks to the financial crisis,many firms are restructuring to sur-vive. German engineering group

Siemens is mid-way through a 6 bil-lion euro program of cost cuts.German steel giant ThyssenKrupphas sold off a number of assets andtargeted cost cuts of 2 billion euros.

Swiss engineer ABB has vowed topull out of low-margin engineeringin favor of higher-margin softwareand systems activities - sending itsshares soaring. “The picture is notbright but to stand still would be tostep back,” said Christof-UlrichGoldschmidt, a partner at law firmClifford Chance.

While the value of industrialdeals is down 10.5 percent to $50.8billion so far this year in Europe - lessthan half the amount racked up inthe pre-crisis days of 2007 - a recentflurry of activity suggests more tocome.

France’s Schneider Electricbought British engineer Invensys for3.4 billion pounds late last month tostrengthen its high-margin industri-al automation business. Sweden’sAtlas Copco said this week it wasbuying British vacuum pump spe-cialist Edwards Group in a dealdesigned to offset deterioratingprofits from its mining engineeringbusiness. “Companies are focusedon doing reasonably sized dealsaround $1-5 billion that relatedirectly to their core business or area very logical extension,” said Reid

Marsh, vice chairman of Barclaysinvestment banking division.

Overall the industrials sector,which includes carmakers anddefense companies as well as manu-facturers, is still a big earner forbankers, generating the second-biggest fees, after financials, with anear 15 percent share of the M&Amarket. After hunkering down forseveral years, industrial companiesnow have plenty of money to playwith. According to data fromThomson Reuters DataStream,industrial firms are sitting on cashbalances of $775 billion globally and$252 billion in Europe. Meanwhile,the prices being paid for industrialcompanies have dropped. The aver-age deal value to EBITDA multiple -the standard industry comparison -so far this year stands at 10.1 global-ly, compared to 12.8 in 2007.

Family-owned German engineer-ing firms are particularly soughtafter for their expertise and technol-ogy. Private equity firm Carlyle saidon Friday it had bought Klenk Holz,a German manufacturer of woodproducts, but did not disclose theprice.

Chinese firms are especially keenon the German-speaking market.Last year, investment groupJinsheng purchased the fibres andtextiles unit of Switzerland’s

Oerlikon while Shandong HeavyIndustry bought a stake in Germanfork lift truck maker Kion. However,prying these companies loose fromtheir owners can very toughbecause many German firms, whichcontributed to the country’s eco-nomic resilience throughout thefinancial crisis, do not want to giveup control.

“There is great interest from ourAsian clients in continentalEuropean companies, especially inthe German speaking world, but theissue is more about availability oftargets than anything else,” saidPiero Novelli, Chairman of globalM&A at UBS. Thus buyers are look-ing more widely. Bankers say Britishfirms are often second choice afterGermany because of the perceptionthey are tightly-run with a flexibleworking culture.

Among companies being circledright now, British car and plane partsmaker GKN and French power andtransport engineering firm Alstomare considered cheap and thereforeattractive for potential buyers,bankers said. GKN has a price-earn-ings ratio of about 11.5 times com-pared to 14 times for its peers,according to Thomson Reuters datawhile Alstom has a price-earningsratio of around 6.7 times comparedto 10.9 times for peers. —Reuters

Manufacturing firms awake to

deals again as economy stirs

Firms wary of big takeovers, eye deals under $5bnBy Lama Ataya

It is said that when an employee quits,they sometimes do not quit the com-pany but their manager. The latest

Bayt.com Job Index Survey, August2013, reveals that one of the most cov-eted skills employers in the Middle Eastand North Africa look for in prospectiveemployees is the ability to manage ateam (42 percent). The survey resultsalso indicate that apart from juniorexecutives and executive positions,managerial positions make up the thirdlargest type of jobs employers will behiring for in the next three months.

Moreover, results from previous sur-veys show demand for talented man-agers. According to the Bayt.com‘Workplace Dynamics in the MENA’ poll,June 2013, 43 percent of polled profes-sionals in the region believe that theideal manager has to be a visionary, amentor, and a life coach who leads byexample. Respondents said that a goodmanager had to be a team player, butalso an assertive commander and ademocratic consensus builder.

Managing a team has never been aneasy task. While some micro-manageand others macro-manage, some arecaught in the middle and are not quitesure which technique to opt for. Expertsat Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leadingjob site, believe that there are basicsthat set apart successful managers fromthe rest, and the basics start with self-assessment.

Below are the top five elements bythe career experts at Bayt.com, theMiddle East’s #1 job site, to help youbecome a better manager:

1. Vision, mission and values: In orderto evaluate yourself, you should first be

clear on your vision, mission and values.Make sure your personal values are in-line with the company’s and that theyare well communicated to your team.Holding informal quarterly meetingswith your team is a great way to makesure everyone is aligned with sharedvalues.

2. Goals: Measure your success bysetting daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,and yearly goals to you and your team.Make sure you are all working towardsthe same objectives and monitor yourprogress based on pre-set deadlines.This will help you know how effectiveyour work is.

3. Time management: Rememberthat time management is key to yourown success and that of your team.Make sure that you split tasks amongteam members, and perform regular fol-low-ups to help them manage their timeeffectively and to ensure that every-thing goes smoothly.

4. Regular appraisals: Do not wait forformal end-of-year appraisals. Performthem on a regular basis; assess yourteam and do not shy away from askingfor their feedback on your own manage-ment techniques. Open channels ofcommunication and honesty are neces-sary for your team’s success and yourown.

5. Leading under pressure: Leadingunder pressure is one of the main traitsof a successful manager. How do youdeal with pressure? It is essential to staycalm under all circumstances. You lead ateam that looks up to you, so inspirethem and guide them especiallythrough difficult times. Working underpressure is not easy but you should beable to get your team and work to safeshore no matter how windy it is.

NEW YORK: When Steve Ballmer took over asCEO in January 2000, Microsoft was the titan oftech and the world’s most valuable company.Now things have changed.

In the 13 years since Bill Gates handed overthe CEO spot, the technology landscape hasseen seismic shifts. The Internet bubblepopped, erasing paper fortunes built ondot.com companies. Apple’s iPods, iPhonesand iPads became ubiquitous. Google becamea verb. And Facebook turned social network-ing into something you do by yourself, insteadof surrounded by people at happy hour.

The years have been less kind to Microsoft.“Complacency and a lack of innovation caughtup to them,” said Yun Kim, an analyst at JanneyCapital Markets. “It’s their inability to stay rele-vant beyond the PC.” When Ballmer becameCEO, Microsoft had a market value of $604 bil-lion. That heft meant it accounted for nearly 5percent of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index,according to Howard Silverblatt, an analyst atS&P Dow Jones Indices.

Now, Microsoft’s market value is $269 bil-lion, less than half of its value when Ballmercame to power. It makes up less than 2 percentof the S&P 500. When Microsoft announced onFriday that Ballmer would step down within

the next year, the company’s shares shot up asmuch as 9 percent shortly after the marketsopened. They came within two dollars of their52-week high. Microsoft rose $2.36, or 7 per-cent, to close at $34.75.

Under Gates, Microsoft dominated the soft-ware industry throughout the 1990s, and thecompany’s soaring stock had far-reachingeffects. Newly minted “Microsoft millionaires”left to launch tech companies, venture-capitalfirms and charities. Paul Allen, a boyhood bud-dy of Gates’ who co-founded the company,bought the Seattle Seahawks and the PortlandTrailblazers, and opened a pop culture muse-um. Gates used his billions to launch the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, which has influ-enced national and international policy onhealth and education.

But under Ballmer, Microsoft’s stock hasbeen a dud, losing 44 percent during histenure. Still, dividend payments have compen-sated for some of the slump. An investment of$1,000 in January 2000 would now be worthjust $767 after reinvesting dividends, accord-ing to data from FactSet.

The same investment in Apple would beworth $20,120. From the beginning, Ballmerfaced some daunting challenges. —AP

Microsoft’s stock

slumped under Ballmer

Argentina loses appeal in US bond debt caseNEW YORK: A US appeals court gave Argentina’sspurned bondholders a substantial $1.4 billion vic-tory on Friday in their lengthy legal battle to collectdebts unpaid since the country’s world-record 2001default. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals inManhattan unanimously rejected every Argentineargument, saying the country had failed to provideany proof that “cataclysmic repercussions” couldresult if it’s forced to keep the promises it made in its1990s bond contracts.

“What the consequences predicted by Argentinahave in common is that they are speculative, hyper-bolic and almost entirely of the Republic’s own mak-ing,” the three-judge panel wrote.

The only good news for Argentina was that thejudges stayed payment pending a US SupremeCourt appeal. The high court rarely accepts such cas-es, but the stay probably puts off any final decisionuntil next year, well after Argentina’s congressionalelections in October. President Cristina Fernandezhas publicly vowed to pay “not one dollar to the ‘vul-ture funds’,” led by New York billionaire Paul Singerand other US investors, whom she accused of prey-ing on countries in crisis. Argentina’s lawyers eventold the judges that her government won’t pay nomatter how they rule.

Argentina also made a point backed by theObama administration and the InternationalMonetary Fund: That the court’s method of forcingpayment, by stopping other bond payments if itdoesn’t comply, could destabilize the global finan-cial system and make future debt relief much moredifficult worldwide.

But the judges said “such cases are unlikely tooccur in the future” because “Argentina has been auniquely recalcitrant debtor.”

“Our role is not to craft a resolution that will solveall the problems that might arise in hypotheticalfuture litigation involving other bonds and othernations,” the judges added.

Argentine officials have warned that the impactof a ruling against the country could be severe, sincea novel payment formula already generally upheldby the appellate court last year could prompt theSouth American government to default again if itdoesn’t comply.

But the judges essentially said the Fernandezgovernment would only have itself to blame if thathappens. Activists who believe that powerfullenders should take a backseat to a country’s citizensduring sovereign debt crises criticized the ruling.

“The religious community is saddened by today’sdecision as it hurts poor people around the globe,”Eric LeCompte said in a statement from the JubileeUSA Network, a religious anti-poverty campaign.“Our eyes are on the US Supreme Court. We pray thecourt will not forget the world’s poor as they consid-er taking the case.”

But Theodore B Olson, a lawyer for bondholderElliot Management Corp., said the decision wassound. “Today’s unanimous, well-reasoned decisionappropriately condemns Argentina’s persistent vio-lation of its obligations and its extraordinary defi-

ance of the laws of the United States and the ordersof U.S. courts,” Olsen said in a statement. “It confirmsthat Argentina is not above the law.”

Fernandez made no immediate comment aboutthe ruling, which came down as she met privatelywith top ministers inside her official residence in

suburban Buenos Aires. The US case stems fromArgentina’s financial crisis a dozen years ago, whenthe government defaulted on $100 billion in debts,and some investors scooped up nearly worthlessArgentine bonds. Fernandez’s late husband,President Nestor Kirchner, eventually offered credi-tors new bonds that initially paid less than 30 centsfor each dollar of bad debt. More than 90 percent ofbondholders agreed; the rest sued.

This small fraction of bondholders, many ofwhom bought the debt securities at cut-rate prices,demanded that Argentina make good on its promis-es to pay 100 percent plus interest in the event of adefault. US District Judge Thomas Griesa agreed,and ordered payment in cash of $1.3 billion, plusinterest to Singer’s NML Capital Ltd. and 18 otherholdout creditors.

When Argentina issued the bonds in 1994, itpromised to treat them “at least equally with its oth-er external indebtedness,” the appeals court wrote.“As we have held, by defaulting on the bonds, enact-ing legislation specifically forbidding future pay-ment on them, and continuing to pay interest onsubsequently issued debt, Argentina breached itspromise of equal treatment.”

Exasperated with Fernandez’s refusal to pay,Griesa finally agreed with the drastic approach sug-

gested by NML: He would hold the Bank of New Yorkand other US financial institutions in contempt ifthey don’t become the court’s enforcers, blockingArgentina’s efforts to pay other bondholders if ithasn’t first paid the plaintiffs an equal amount.

The proposed formula sent shudders through

the international bond business last year andprompted dozens of friend-of-court objections,including warnings from the US Treasury, the USFederal Reserve and the nation’s leading banks thatthe judge’s remedy mustn’t do anything to slowdown the system that smoothly handles electronictransfers of trillions of dollars in transactions everyday. The judges countered that their ruling “affirms aproposition essential to the integrity of the capitalmarkets: borrowers and lenders may, under NewYork law, negotiate mutually agreeable terms fortheir transactions, but they will be held to thoseterms.” Economist Arturo Porzecanski, an emergingmarkets specialist at American University inWashington, said no other country in modern histo-ry has so stubbornly refused to honor its commit-ments, not only to repay sovereign debts but also tocomply with arbitration rulings and pay member-ship fees to international lending organizations. Forall these reasons, he said it’s not likely that the rulingwill harm any country other than Argentina. “We’venever seen such a rogue sovereign debtor like we’vehad in Argentina. Thanks to that, we’ve now seenthe limits of what’s possible, what’s the meaning ofall those financial contracts, what’s the potential forcollecting,” Porzecanski said. “This is legal history inthe making.”—AP

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BUENOS AIRIES: A woman walks in front of Argentina’s Central Bank in Buenos Aires.A US appeals court dealt Argentina a blow Friday in the lengthy legal battle over thecountry’s massive 2001 default, upholding a ruling ordering it to pay $1.4 billion tobondholders. — AP

B U S I N E S SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom has recentlyannounced that Landmark Group is one ofthe newest additions to its WataniyaRewards Program “Nojoom”. This partner-ship stems from Wataniya’s mission toexpand and enrich its network of partnersas part of the best loyalty program inKuwait and in an effort to maintain cus-

tomer satisfaction and meet customerexpectations.

Now, and for a limited time only,“Nojoom” members will be able to get a20% discount on all items at Centrepointand Home Centre located in the basementof “The Mall” (Phase 3) at the Avenues. Thecustomer would only need to show their

membership details by calling *5## to availthe benefits and the offer will be valid until10th of September, 2013.

Wataniya Telecom proudly expressed itsdelight again regarding the partnershipwith Landmark: “Wataniya’s efforts contin-ue to find new ways to provide memberswith a wide range of choices on rewards

because they deserve to be appreciatedand valued for their loyalty and dedication.”

All Wataniya customers can enroll in theWataniya Rewards Program “Nojoom” forfree by sending an SMS with the letter R to129 or by visiting the websitewww.wataniya.com/nojoom and startearning points on every service they use.

For more information on Wataniya’sservices and products, please visitwww.wataniya.com , or follow them onTwitter www.twitter.com/wataniyatelecom, or check latest updates on www.face-book.com/wataniya or get the latest newson Wataniya’s blogwww.wataniya.com/blog.

Wataniya Telecom partners with Landmark GroupWataniya Telecom provides its ‘Nojoom’ Rewards Program customers with

20% discount at Centrepoint and Home Centre at ‘The Avenues’

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait(NBK), for the eighth consecutive

time, has been listed among the 50safest banks in the world. NBK

ranked 37 on the list, illustrating thesuccess of the bank’s conservative

strategy, prudent risk managementand dedication to service excellence.

NBK is the only Arab bank to belisted among the 50 safest banks inthe world for the eighth consecu-tive time. NBK ranked above severalinternational financial heavy-weights including US Bancorp andBank Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Therankings, compiled by internationalfinance magazine, Global Finance,are based on evaluations of long-term credit ratings-from Moody’s,Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings-and total assets of the 500 largestbanks worldwide. Global Finance’sannual ranking of World’s 50 SafestBanks has been a recognized andtrusted standard of creditworthi-ness for the entire financial worldfor more than 20 years.

NBK continues to enjoy collective-ly the highest ratings among allbanks in the Middle East from thethree international rating agenciesMoody’s, Fitch Ratings and Standardand Poor’s. The Bank’s ratings aresupported by its high capitalization,prudent lending policies, and its dis-ciplined approach to risk manage-ment, in addition to its highly recog-nized and very stable managementteam.

NBK among 50 safest banks in the world

Recognition eighth time in a row

DOHA: Effective 1 September 2013, passengersflying Qatar Airways routes worldwide will haveenhanced baggage allowances with additionalbaggage weight allowed per person.

Economy weight allowances have increasedfrom 23kg to 30kg while Business and First Classhave each increased from 30kg and 40kg to 40kgand 50kg respectively. The number of bagsremains the same and dependent on the type ofticket purchased. The increased weightallowance does not apply when travelling to

points that are regulated by per-piece allowance.“Revising our standard baggage allowance

comes at a time whereby the number of destina-tions we fly is increasing and our global reach isbroadening,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar AlBaker. “The number of customers we see travel-ling for longer periods of time, whether for busi-

ness or on holiday, reflects the necessity forincreased baggage allowance no matter theirdestination.

Those passengers who have travelled prior to1st September will be able to take advantage ofthe increased baggage allowance on their returntrip if travel is on 1st September or later. TheCompany will also publish new Excess Baggagerates in September which will also see anincrease. Passengers will be able to purchaseExcess Baggage at discounted rates of up to 20%

on qatarairways.com. Privilege Club memberswill continue to enjoy excess baggage allowancein addition to the new increased baggageallowance.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just16 years of operations, currently flying a modernfleet of 129 aircraft to 128 key business and

leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East,Africa, Asia Pacific and The Americas.

Qatar Airways has so far launched six destina-tions - Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), PhnomPenh (Cambodia), Chicago (USA), Salalah(Oman), Basra (Iraq) and now Sulaymaniyah(Iraq).

Over the next few weeks and months, thenetwork will grow further with Chengdu, China(September 3), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia(September 18), Clark International Airport,Philippines (October 28) and Philadelphia, USA(2 April 2014).

Notes to Editors: Qatar Airways was present-ed with three honors at the annual Skytrax 2013World Airline Awards held during the Paris AirShow at Le Bourget, France in June. The airlinewas awarded World’s Best Business Class, World’sBest Business Class Lounge and, for the secondconsecutive year, Best Airline Staff Service in theMiddle East. The airline has also been namedBest Airline in the Middle East for the seventhyear in a row, and its Premium Terminal at DohaInternational Airport named Best PremiumService Airport for the third consecutive year in2013. Qatar Airways has also twice been recipi-ent of the prestigious Skytrax Airline of the YearAward in 2011 and 2012.

Skytrax is the only global independent pas-senger survey monitoring airline standards andis considered the ultimate benchmark for excel-lence in the airline industry.

Qatar Airways currently has orders worthover $50 billion for more than 250 aircraft,including Boeing 787s, 777s, Airbus A350s,A380s and A320 family of aircraft. Qatar Airwayswill become the first of the major Gulf carriers tojoin a global alliance having been invited intothe one world group. For more information, visitwww.qatarairways.com

Qatar Airways raises baggage allowance

Check-in up to 30kg in economy, 40kg in business and 50kg in first Class

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)announces the three lucky winners in Al-Jawhara weekly draws during the month ofAugust.

NBK has re-launched Al-Jawharaaccount by offering customers morechances to win bigger prizes; KD 5,000weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and a grandprize of KD 250,000 quarterly.

Salwa Ali Mohamad, Jamal IsmaeelIbraheem and Abdullah Rashed Alhajrieach won KD 5,000. The winners expressedtheir gratitude and thanked NBK for itsgreat services and promotions.

Al-Jawhara is one of Kuwait’s leadingcash prize accounts offering numerousbenefits to its customers. Not only is it aninterest-free account with regular depositand withdrawal privileges, it also entitlesaccount holders to enter the weekly,monthly and quarterly Al-Jawhara draws.Each KD 50 in an Al-Jawhara account enti-tles the customer to one chance in any ofthe draws. All prizes are automatically cred-ited to the winners’ accounts the day afterthe draw.

The more money held in Al-Jawharaaccount, the greater the chances of win-

ning. Al-Jawhara account is available toboth Kuwaitis and expats and can beopened at any of NBK’s branches in Kuwait.For further information visit www.nbk.com,or call Hala Watani at 1801801.

3 KD5,000 winners in NBK’s Al-Jawhara weekly draws

KUWAIT: Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons, the exclusivedistributor of Chevrolet vehicles in Kuwait, hasintroduced golden Chevrolet offers throughoutthe month of August on 2013 Chevrolet vehiclesthat was launched at the beginning of the holymonth of Ramadan. The offer includes a widerange of Chevrolet vehicles, Tahoe, Silverado,Traverse, Malibu, Cruze, Captiva, TrailBlazer andCamaro.

Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive offersKuwaitis and all who resides in the country withits best wishes on the occasion of the blessed EidAl Fitr. The company offers a wide range ofChevrolet vehicles at reasonable prices, providingall the opportunity to own a Chevrolet of theirchoice. Visit any of Yusuf A Alghanim & SonsAutomotive’s showrooms and choose anyChevrolet model that suits your lifestyle includingthe Chevrolet Tahoe starting at KD9,777, thepowerful Silverado starting at KD5,777, the fami-ly-friendly and advanced Traverse starting atKD8,222, Chevrolet Malibu starting at KD5,444,the elegant Cruze starting at KD4,444 and thestylish sporty Captiva starting at KD5,999, and therugged Trailblazer starting at KD6,999 as well asthe sporty and sleek Camaro that starts atKD9,999.

A beloved choice amongst the youth inKuwait, the high-powered Silverado whichproves to be the ultimate answer for any terrain,be it rough rides in the desert or leisurely outings.Available in two and four-wheel-drive configura-tions, the Silverado is powered by a 4.8, 5.3 or 6.0-liter engine that generates 360 hp on threeSilverado models which are the 1500, 2500 andthe 3500. The Silverado comes in regular, extend-ed or crew cab, all of which merge smart technol-ogy and features an independent air condition-ing unit and Stabilitrak. The Tahoe is the ideal SUVthat contains features sought by the youth, fansof powerful cars, top executives as well as familieswho seek spacious, solid cars that convenientlyand comfortably transport them downtown orcarry them through the great outdoors. Tahoe isequipped with an 8-cylinder, 5.3-liter V8 enginewith 6-speed automatic transmission with over-drive and reaches up to 320 hp. The Tahoe hasproven to be the ultimate vehicle of choice forany need or want due to its rich features andsecurity measures that comprise of eight airbags,ABS, Stabilitrak, Cruise Control and remoteengine starter.

The offer also includes the elegant ChevroletCruze, a car that continues to evolve into one ofChevrolet’s most impressive vehicles in its seg-ment, offering competitive amenities, quietness,safety features and space expected of a larger

sedan, but still providing the efficiency and valueof a compact car. Now available with the newinfotainment system ‘MyLink’, the sleek andsporty 2013 Cruze offers more value for cus-tomers than ever. Chevrolet MyLink is the brand-new and sophisticated infotainment system,which brings smartphone capabilities into thevehicle. Chevrolet MyLink aggregates contentfrom a smartphone onto the seven-inch, high res-olution, full color touch-screen display. Apartfrom its large sunroof, the Cruze is equipped withABS, Stabilitrak, USB connectivity, airbags,Bluetooth, rearview camera, Cruise Control andremote engine starter plus 16-inch alloy wheelsand fog lamps. The Cruze also proves to be the

economical luxury 4-wheel drive as it is poweredwith a 1.8-liter engine that generates an impres-sive 140 hp.

Apart from the remarkable features and theattractive prices, customers will enjoy excellentcustomer service, quality maintenance optionsand competitive prices on spare parts, all ofwhich are provided to you by a team of profes-sional and skilled technicians and team members.An element that further enhances customers’peace of mind is Yusuf A. Alghanim & SonsAutomotive’s service center that is distinguishedby its continuous and successful efforts in provid-ing the highest quality of services. The largest inthe world, the service center is equipped with alarge variety of the most advanced equipmentoperated by a team of skilled professionals andeffective consultants who ensure timely service.Visit any of Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim & SonsAutomotive’s four showrooms and choose yourfavorite Chevrolet car to benefit from this limitedtime offer.

Chevrolet’s golden prices from Yusuf A Alghanim

& Sons Automotive

DUBAI: Palm Utilities (PU), a Dubai World com-pany, has recently entered into an agreementwith Dubai Quality Group (DQG) by which PUwill be an Investor Partner of DQG for the firsttime. The agreement was signed by MarwanAl-Naqi, CEO of Palm Utilities and Dr Yousef Al-Akraf, Chairman of DQG, in the presence ofBadriya Al-Tamimi, Managing Director of DQG.

Under the partnership, both parties willcollaborate on promoting excellence andquality performance in business. PU will haveaccess to the various workshops, trainings,seminars, conferences and other specialevents organized by DQG annually to providenetworking, information exchange, workplaceand professional development opportunitiesacross all types of businesses. It will also beable to participate in various DQG-initiatedbenchmarking activities and site visits. DQG,on the other hand, will benefit from PU’sinvaluable joint support in organizing quality-focused initiatives and spreading a culture of

business excellence in Dubai and across theUAE.

Palm Utilities is an ideal addition to DQG’smembership. PU was founded to provideworld-class solutions that address the coolingand water requirements of residential commu-nities and business establishments in the

region. Aside from being acknowledged as atechnology innovator, PU is also acclaimed foradhering to the highest performance, safetyand environmental sustainability standards inall of its services.

Marwan Al-Naqi, CEO of Palm Utilities, said:“Dubai Quality Group has proven time and

again its exceptional ability to incorporate thehighest levels of quality and excellence withinan organization, regardless of size or nature.Being a DQG member will positively impactour operations and business by giving usaccess to dedicated resources and knowledgethat will not only complement but improve

further on our own quality-related programs incritical areas such as innovation, sustainabilityand strategic planning. Our inclusion as anInvestor Partner in DQG will enable us to sus-tain our achievements in setting quality stan-dards and benchmarks within our organiza-tion.”

“The Middle East has one of the most com-petitive business landscapes in the world. Ourpartnership with DQG will enable us to notonly thrive and excel in this kind of environ-ment but benefit as well from the various busi-ness opportunities it holds. We thank DQG foraccepting us into its fold and assure them of avery fruitful collaboration with our organiza-tion,” he added.

Dr Yousef Al-Akraf, Chairman of DQG, said:“We look forward to maintaining a highly pro-ductive and mutually beneficial partnershipwith Palm Utilities. The various projects we shalljointly engage in will significantly impact ourcontinuing efforts to promote quality and excel-

lence in business. We are committed to expand-ing our cooperation and helping Palm Utilitiesachieve its own strategic objectives as a quality-driven business organization.”

Palm Utilities was founded in January 2007as a subsidiary of Dubai World. It offers integrat-ed services in the utility domain, with a basecomprising 15,200 end users and 388 towersowned by 180 developers. It ranks among theworld’s major private utility companies with anasset portfolio of 14 district cooling plants andan extensive suite of customers care services.

Dubai Quality Group (DQG) is a non-profitbusiness organization established by the DubaiDepartment of Economic Development in 1993under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed binSaeed Al-Maktoum. Guided by the vision ofSheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAEand Ruler of Dubai, DQG develops and pro-motes Quality and Business Excellence practicesthroughout the UAE.

Palm Utilities honored as key investor partner by Dubai Quality Group

t e c h n o l o g ySUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Mothballed telescope gets new life as asteroid hunterTargets for new robotic relocation mission also eyed

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA will reactivate amothballed infrared space telescope for a three-year mission to search for potentially dangerousasteroids on a collision course with Earth, offi-cials said on Wednesday. The Wide-field InfraredSurvey Explorer, or WISE, telescope also will huntfor targets for a future mission to send a roboticspacecraft to rendezvous with a small asteroidand relocate all or part of it into a high orbitaround the moon.

Astronauts would then visit the relocatedasteroid during a test flight of NASA’s deep-space Orion capsule, scheduled for launcharound 2021. Orion and a heavy-lift rocket calledthe Space Launch System are slated for anunmanned debut test flight in 2017. NASA isspending about $3 billion a year for Orion andSpace Launch System development.

Launched in December 2009, the WISE tele-scope spent 13 months scouting for telltaleinfrared signs of asteroids, stars, distant galaxiesand other celestial objects, especially those too

dim to radiate in visible light. As part of its all-skymapping mission, WISE observed more than34,000 asteroids in the main asteroid beltbetween Mars and Jupiter and another 135asteroids in orbits that come close to Earth.

Overall, scientists cataloged more than 560million objects with WISE. Most of the tele-scope’s instruments were turned off when its pri-mary mission was completed in February 2011.NASA plans to bring WISE out of hibernationnext month and operate it for another threeyears, at a cost of about $5 million per year, saidNASA spokesman Dwayne Brown. “After a quickcheckout, we’re going to hit the ground run-ning,” WISE astronomer Amy Mainzer, withNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,California, said in a statement.

NASA already has found about 95 percent ofthe near-Earth asteroids that are .62 miles (1 km)or larger in diameter. The agency is abouthalfway through a 15-year effort to find 90 per-cent of all near-Earth objects that are as small as

about 459 feet (140 meters) in diameter.The search took on a note of urgency after a

small asteroid blasted through the skies aboveChelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013 andexploded with 20- to 30 times the force of theHiroshima atomic bomb. More than 1,500 peo-ple were injured by flying glass and debris. Laterthat same day, a much larger but unrelatedasteroid soared closer to Earth than the net-works of communication satellites that ring theplanet.

The events prompted Congressional hearingsand new calls for NASA and other agencies tostep up their asteroid detection initiatives. TheObama administration proposes to doubleNASA’s $20 million Near-Earth Objects detectionprograms for the 2014 fiscal year beginning Oct1. About 66 million years ago, an object 6 miles(10 km) in diameter smashed into what is nowthe Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, leading to thedemise of the dinosaurs, as well as most plantand animal life on Earth. —Reuters

Canon spies opportunity

as camera growth cools

TOKYO: Nosy governments and nervous homeowners,among other drivers of the surveillance society, may soonupstage amateur photographers as the focus for big cam-era makers such as Canon Inc who spot growing opportu-nities in the security market. Canon, the industry leader,has been hit with a sudden downturn in shipments of itstop-end digital cameras, an increasingly saturated marketsensitive to the recent slowdown in emerging economiesand with a receding pace of innovation.

Add to that a compact camera market that has beenbattered by smartphones with increasingly high-resolu-tion cameras, and companies like Canon have been leftscrambling for new markets. “A major focus for the nextphase is increasing our business-to-business (B2B) sales,and of course security cameras - which is a huge market -is part of that,” Canon President and CEO Fujio Mitarai saidin an interview.

Canon is looking beyond digital cameras - the last con-sumer gadget industry still dominated by Japan Inc - andtargeting industrial and corporate clients, much likeJapanese peers such as Panasonic Corp which fell prey toforeign competition in TVs and other consumer electron-ics. Canon sees surveillance cameras, which research firmIHS forecasts will swell by two-thirds to a global market of$23 billion by 2017, as a wide-open playing field with nodominant suppliers and an ideal target for its B2B ambi-tions.

The company, which counts the U.S. Secret Service asa customer, aims to reach annual sales from the sector ofabout $1 billion during its next five-year plan from 2016,Mitarai said. Panasonic said its security camera divisionposted sales of 13.4 billion yen ($136 million) in the latestquarter and it was aiming for annual growth of 15 per-cent. Sony Corp said it was also aiming to leverage itsimage sensor technology to become a major player in thesector.

B2B, or not to be?The market is booming as concerns mount over crime

and security, even as headlines stir worries about covertgovernmental and corporate surveillance operations.Japan is the third-biggest market for security camerasbehind China and the United States, with the switch tonetworked digital systems from analogue CCTV devicesstimulating demand even in saturated markets such asBritain, which had one surveillance camera for every 16people in 2012, according to IHS.

“The market is growing quite quickly, and is forecast togrow the most in Asia,” said Jon Cropley, principal analystfor video surveillance at IHS. “But it’s a highly fragmentedand competitive market with lots of companies involved.Coming up with a unique selling point can be difficult.”Canon says its lens and sensor technology will position itwell to shoot to the top of the sector, which is packedwith smaller firms but few major players besides Sweden’sAxis AB.

It faced a similar challenge when it targeted the then-fledgling digital camera market more than a decade ago:a fast-growing, fragmented market that was just begin-ning to mature, when it marched in with a broad productline and proceeded to dominate it. Canon claimed morethan a fifth of the total digital camera market in 2012, and43 percent of the high-end market for interchangeable-lens cameras.

But this year their reliable high-end camera businesshas turned unexpectedly sour, with analysts reversing adouble-digit growth forecast to a double-digit decline.Worldwide shipments of Canon’s interchangeable-lenscameras fell 6.7 percent in the first six months of this year,a sharper decline than the industry average of 5 percent,according to data from the Camera and Imaging ProductsAssociation of Japan.

“It appears over the past nine months the inter-changeable market has entered a new phase of maturity,”said Chris Chute, research director of digital imaging atInternational Data Corp, which last week reversed its fore-cast for the market of an 11.9 percent increase to an 11.3percent drop. “A strategy that camera companies have totake is to diversify away from one of their traditional reli-ably profitable markets,” Chute said. “If anything, I seeCanon being one of the leaders moving away from theconsumer sector.”

Mitarai, who returned to the helm last year to helpturn around a slide in profit, says he is already steering thecompany in that direction in the hope of reducing itsdependence on the consumer market for 70 percent of itssales. He also said the company is constantly on the look-out to spend some of its 700 billion yen ($7.1 billion) cashpile on an M&A deal to achieve that - whether in securitycameras or in another of the cutting-edge technologies itis exploring. “Security cameras are going to become animportant pillar for us,” Mitarai said. “We’ve already madeit a separate division, and think that the global market haslimitless possibilities for growth.” —Reuters

SEOUL: Apple’s grip on China’s tablet mar-ket has loosened as Asian tech companiesincrease sales with cheaper Android tabletcomputers, a market report showed yester-day. Dickie Chang, senior market analyst atresearch firm IDC, said Apple supplied 28percent of tablet computers in China dur-ing the April-June quarter, down from 49percent dominance a year earlier. The iPadmaker was still the biggest tablet supplierin China, its key growth engine, but itsmomentum has slowed.

Apple sold 1.48 million iPads in theperiod, up 28 percent over a year earlier,but sales of Galaxy tablets made bySamsung Electronics Co. quadrupled to571,000 units. Samsung claimed 11 per-cent tablet market share, up from 6 per-cent. Samsung, the world’s largest smart-phone maker, said earlier this year that it

aims to double its annual sales of tabletcomputers, hoping to close the gap withApple.

China’s Lenovo and Taiwan’s ASUS andAcer also had a surge in their market share.Chang said these companies benefitedfrom offering cheaper tablets and fromconsumer familiarity with the Androidoperating system that is used in manysmartphone models. “If Apple cuts theprice of previous generations of productlike it did in phones, then more consumerswould love to buy Apple’s iPad,” he said inan email. China is a key market for con-sumer technology companies as growth insales of smartphones and tablets slows indeveloped countries. Apple CEO Tim Cooktold the official Xinhua News Agency inJanuary that China will become the com-pany’s biggest market. —AP

Apple’s grip on Chinatablet market loosens

MIAMI: VA Community Living Center resident Chuck Rivenvurgh III uses thenew Getwell Network using an assistive adaptor, also called a sip and puffdevice, to change the television channel on the bed side all in one system inMiami, Florida. —MCT

TVs in your hospital room are so yesterday. In thenear future, flat-screen terminals mounted on thewall or near your bedside may offer a lot more thanentertainment. Patients will be able to surf theInternet, order their meals, communicate with nurs-es and view their latest X-rays - all through interac-tive patient care systems. Educational videos onmanaging medical conditions, prescription ordersand medical records all can be flashed on the samescreen where patients view dozens of televisionchannels and just-released movies.

“The nice thing is it really puts the patient in thedriver’s seat,” said Gary Harper, a registered nursespecializing in information management and com-munication at the West Palm Beach VA MedicalCenter in Riviera Beach, Fla., where 259 high-techterminals should arrive by year’s end. “And it willhelp the nurses give even better care.” West PalmBeach VA is one of six veterans hospitals in Floridathat are scheduled to have systems installed in thenext year, according to GetWellNetwork Inc., theMaryland technology company handling the proj-ect.

Hospital technology experts predict interactivesystems, which have been around for more than adecade, will start taking off for one simple reason:They make patients happier. And that could make abig difference to a hospital’s bottom line. Medicarenow collects patient satisfaction data and cuts reim-bursements for facilities performing poorly, saidNathan Larmore, a principle and practice leader atSparling, a Seattle-based technology consultingfirm advising the health care industry.

And using interactive tools to get patients moreinvolved in their care also should reduce hospitalreadmissions, Larmore said, which is another factoraffecting reimbursements. “In the past, hospitalslooked at bedside technologies that improved apatient’s experiences as luxuries. But once theywere mandated to focus on patient satisfaction,there was renewed interest,” Larmore said.“Hospitals being built in the last eight years arestarting to look more like hotels, which is the indus-try where some of this technology has come from.”

Larmore estimates about 10 percent to 15 per-cent of acute care hospitals nationwide currentlyhave interactive patient terminals. Cost has beenthe reason many have held back, he said, as systemscan run “several hundred dollars to a couple thou-sand dollars” per room.

“Project managers are used to spending millionsof dollars on a fancy lobby, but not several hundreddollars on a television system,” Larmore said. Manyof the early adopters have been children’s hospitals,he said, “because kids focus on their environmentand adapt to the technology.” Joe DiMaggioChildren’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., has replacedtelevisions with interactive monitors. The GetWellTown system, a pediatric product from

GetWellNetwork, was part of the new Joe DiMaggiobuilding construction in 2011, then later wasexpanded into the original hospital.

“When we were doing the new building, wetalked to the kids about what they wanted and theysaid a computer in their room,” said Michelle Barone,director of patient and family centered care for JoeDiMaggio and Memorial Regional Hospital, also insouth Florida. “They wanted to be able to get on theInternet and watch movies without waiting for avolunteer to bring them a DVD.”

GetWell Town does all that - plus has medicaleducation videos, a hospital-wide game show, andan interface that lets young patients bring in theirown Xbox or Wii games.

Barone said Memorial has discussed bringinginteractive systems to the adult hospitals, “but rightnow, it’s all about the numbers,” she said. “When kidsare in the hospital, we go above and beyond tocheer them up. We forget that when you’re an adult,you want to be coddled a little, too.”

The VA, which has its own federal health carefunding, believes the monitoring systems will great-ly improve life for veterans residing in theirCommunity Living Centers, which will be theamong the first units to get the terminals. TheMiami VA, the first Florida veterans hospital toreceive its systems, started the $2.4 million projectin June, installing 230 units in the living center andsome in-patient rooms.

Chuck Rivenburgh III, 43, is one of four paralyzedvets in Miami’s living center who got a “sip and puff”adapter, allowing him to flip through 48 televisionchannels and pick from among 30 recently releasedmovies by blowing through what looks like a dou-ble-pronged straw. The monitor is mounted on aflexible arm attached to the wall, allowing it to bepulled close to Rivenburgh’s bedside.

Rivenburgh, who served in the Army duringDesert Storm but was injured after returning home,has lived at the VA hospital for 14 years. Before theGetWell system, he said he was limited to 14 TVchannels, none of which included NFL football. He isthinking of adding a keyboard to his tray table so hecan access the Internet through his bedside moni-tor rather than at the computer on the other side ofhis crowded room.

“My TV is on pretty much all day long, so allthese functions are a huge improvement,” he said.Louis Marcus, GetWell’s interactive patient caremanager for the South Florida VA installations, saidthe system will be upgraded so that doctors andnurses can leave notes, check pain levels and allowpatients to order meals. Such terminals will becomeeven more valuable as medical records go electron-ic, Marcus said. As for the veterans: “The feedbackhas been great,” Marcus said. “I had one family whowas visiting sit down with me for half an hour andtell me how grateful they were.” —MCT

High-tech hospital room monitors tap medical care

FREMONT: In this file photo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk waves during a rally at theTesla factory in Fremont, Calif. —AP

LOS ANGELES: Billionaire entrepreneur ElonMusk released rough plans last week for a“Hyperloop” that would shoot capsules full ofpeople at the speed of sound through elevatedtubes connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.Then he urged the public to improve on them.Now the race is on.

A US firm hustled out a model using a 3-Dprinter. Another company is testing a virtualHyperloop with sophisticated computer soft-ware. In San Francisco, enthusiasts interested in“making Hyperloop a reality” will meet overbeers. Meanwhile, Musk himself has put asidethe project and returned to his establishedtransportation ventures: luxury electric car mak-er Tesla Motors Inc. and the rocket-buildingcompany SpaceX. In principle, the Hyperloop ispossible.

The concept pulls together several proventechnologies: Capsules would float on a thincushion of air and draw on magnetic attractionand solar power to zoom through a nearly air-free tube. Because there would be so little windresistance, they could top 700 mph (1,125 kph)and make the nearly 400-mile (643-kilometer)trip in about half an hour.

Actual construction would hinge on chal-

lenges far more complex than advanced engi-neering - those involving money and politics.Musk projected a $6 billion cost, but some saythat’s too low. Others suggested his timeframe ofa decade to completion was naive - that gettingpolitical backing and environmental clearances,much less land to build the tubes on, would behugely time-consuming.

Conspicuously absent was a commitmentthat Musk would sink substantial money into theproject anytime soon - if ever. On a call withreporters, Musk suggested he might build a “sub-scale” test version in a few years if the idea wasfloundering.

One thing Musk was clear about: The publicshould participate in questioning, modifyingand, ultimately, perfecting his proposal(http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop). And inthat respect, there has been no lack of enthusi-asm. At the computer simulation software firmANSYS, engineers are designing and testing avirtual model. Sandeep Sovani, the company’sdirector of Global Automotive Industry, said hehas long been intrigued by tube travel (an ideathat predates the Hyperloop by a century) andwanted to do a model both out of intellectualcuriosity. —AP

Hyperloop travel idea gains fans

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announcedon Friday that he plans to retire from theworld’s biggest software company aftermore than 13 years at its helm. Here’s alook at the ups and downs of his tenure:

1980: Ballmer joins the company co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in1975.

July 21, 1998: Widely seen as the suc-cessor to chairman and longtime friendGates, Ballmer is named president of thesoftware company. He’d previously ledMicrosoft’s sales and marketing.

Sept 23, 1999: Ballmer warns thattechnology stocks are overvalued, includ-ing those of his own company, in publicremarks that help accelerate a sharp sell-off on Wall Street. He blames a “gold rush”mentality for the stock price increases.

Jan 13, 2000: Gates promotes Ballmerto CEO of Microsoft while staying on aschairman and chief software architect.

Nov 15, 2001: Microsoft releases itsXbox video game system, one of the com-pany’s most successful products.

March 26, 2004: At a conference foronline advertisers, Ballmer says Microsoft’sbiggest mistake was failing to develop itsown search engine, which caused it to fallbehind rivals Google and Yahoo in thespace. “That’s probably the thing I feelworst about over the last few years,” saysBallmer. Ballmer vows to put more moneyinto research and development of searchtechnology at Microsoft.

May 4, 2006: Ballmer says MSN Search,Microsoft’s search engine, is gaining steamagainst rivals, but still trails Google andYahoo.

November 13, 2006: Microsoftlaunches the Zune music player, itsanswer to Apple’s iPod. The company dis-continues the Zune five years later, in2011.

Feb 1, 2008: Microsoft makes unso-licited offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 bil-lion. Microsoft withdraws its offermonths later due to resistance fromYahoo.

April 12, 2010: Microsoft unveils theKin phone, an attempt to compete withApple’s iPhone. The phone was discontin-ued two months later.

May 10, 2011: Microsoft announces itwill buy Internet phone service Skype for$8.5 billion.

Oct 25, 2012: Microsoft holds alaunch event in New York for Windows 8,a major overhaul of its ubiquitous com-puter operating system.

May 7, 2013: Microsoft says it willretool Windows 8 to address complaintsand confusion. Microsoft also disclosesthat it has sold more than 100 millionWindows 8 licenses.

July 11, 2013: Ballmer announces asweeping restructuring of the companyto cope with the quickening pace of tech-nological change and competitive chal-lenges presented by Apple and Google.

July 18, 2013: Microsoft books a $900million write-down for slashing the priceof its Surface RT tablet. Its revenue andearnings come short of Wall Street fore-casts in the April-June quarter.

Aug 23, 2013: Microsoft says Ballmerwill retire in the next 12 months after 33years with the company. —AP

At a Glance: Microsoft CEO Ballmer’s ups and downs

NEW DELHI: Finnish telecom giant Nokia saidyesterday it is in talks with India’s governmentabout how to create a better business climateand remains “committed” to its manufacturingplant in the country. The statement followed anIndian Express newspaper report Friday that saidthe mobile maker had told New Delhi the coun-try is now its “least favourable market” in whichto operate and it made better sense to export itsproducts from China.

“Nokia can confirm that it has been in discus-sions with the central government and stategovernment over ways to bring greater clarity tothe business environment in India,” the companysaid in an emailed statement to AFP. “These dis-cussions have been both constructive and pro-ductive, and both sides have worked in a truespirit of cooperation,” the company added.

Foreign direct investment in India has slowedsharply amid mounting domestic economicwoes including a plunging rupee, a huge current

account deficit, slowing growth and perceivedgovernment policy paralysis. A string of tax dis-putes embroiling Nokia and other multinationalsincluding Cadbury Royal Dutch Shell andVodafone has also deterred investors. Nokia,fighting a 20-billion rupee ($311 million) taxdemand from Indian authorities, did not elabo-rate on the contents of its talks with the govern-ment.

The Indian Express report Friday said Nokiahad urged the government to “act quickly to cor-rect the wrong perception of India as a place forbusiness”. It quoted the phonemaker as saying“the political risk of operating in India” hasbecome “suddenly substantially higher and mayinevitably influence future decisions to developone’s operations in India”. But Nokia said in itsstatement it remained “committed” to Indiawhich remains a “priority market” and itsChennai plant plays an “integral part in our glob-al manufacturing strategy”. —AFP

Nokia says committed to India despite difficulties

NEW YORK: Cataract surgery is oneof the most common medical pro-cedures conducted in the UnitedStates, and as Baby Boomers con-tinue to age, they are flooding pro-cedure rooms and surgical centersin droves.

Every year, nearly a millioncataract operations are conducted,and usually with overwhelmingsuccess, but a revolutionary newprocedure is yielding even betterresults.

Cataracts can be exacerbated byoverexposure to ultraviolet light,diabetes, or hypertension, but themost common cause is good, old-fashioned aging.

People begin to see the affectsof clouding at around age 55. Somewho suffer from cataracts notice a“veiled glare” as light is scattered bythe cataract into the eye. Peoplesuffering from this report: Difficulty reading, Difficulty seeingclose objects, Difficulty seeing todrive, especially at night, Changingglasses prescriptions, .Needing bifocals

Cataracts develop slowly, theyare painless, and many patientsreport not even noticing a decreasein the quality of their vision untilthey visit an eye doctor.

During traditional cataract sur-gery, the crystalline lens is removedand a plastic implant replaces it.The new lens becomes part of youreye and you can’t see or feel it. Forpeople suffering from this cloud-ing, the surgery is safe, quick and islike a miracle cure, restoring visionto people who have lived much oftheir fifties and sixties in an ocularcloud.

Although the results for the tra-ditional procedure are generallyvery good, the old way and thematerials associated with it are notperfect.

In the past, plastic lens implantswere only monofocal, providingvisual clarity at one distance, usual-ly far away, but seeing things upclose, like reading a book, maga-

zine or street sign, could stil lrequire glasses.

Now available in many doctor’soffices is a miraculous advance-ment in the way surgeons treatcataracts. It is called multi-focalintraocular cataract surgery. Thesurgery, about 15 minutes inlength, is even quicker, and saferthan traditional cataract surgery.The best part is, patients can seeequally as well, far away, at inter-mediate distances and close up.The new lens mimics the youngeyes we used to have.

A doctor removes the cataractand then implants the multi-focalIntraocular Lens behind the iriswhere the cataract used to be.

Unlike the old procedure, whichincludes a 10 millimeter incision inthe eye, the new operation is done

with a laser and the incision is afraction of the size of the old one.Using a procedure called pha-coemulsification or phaco, the doc-tor will make a microscopic incisionin the eye, and insert a phacoprobe to break up the cloudy lensand remove it.

The new method is quick-heal-ing, patients do not need stitchesand can be back on the golf courseor at the bowling alley within 24hours. Patients have reported someminor haloing, or rings aroundstreet and headlights while drivingat night, but as the eyes begin toeventually adjust to the surgicallyimplanted lenses, patients may seethis haloing diminish, or complete-ly disappear, over time.

Patients do have to use eyedrops for several weeks after the

operation, but compared to the oldprocedures, which included stitch-es which remained in the eye fordays or even weeks, intraocularlenses are a marked improvement.

This is an out-patient procedure,conducted using only a local anes-thetic, and clients are usually ableto leave the doctor’s office withinan hour, and they will likely notneed to return to an optometristfor this problem for the rest of theirlives.

The price is reasonable, andinsurance companies usually payfor the surgery, but patients may, insome cases, have to dig into theirown pockets for the cost of thelenses, but that might be a smallprice to pay for the ability to seethe world the way it was meant tobe viewed. —MCT

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

CALIFORNIA: Ninety four year-old Taiwanese Miao Kuei Chu signs auto-graphs for fans at a theater in Monterey Park, California yesterday, where hewas one from a group of octogenarian bikers who were featured in a Taiwanfilm ‘Go Grandriders’ who arrived at the theater to greet fans. The group ofsome seventeen motorcycle-riding Taiwanese octogenarians, some of whomwere battling arthritis, cancer and heart disease, first completed a 730 milejourney in 2007 around Taiwan in 13 days, and part of that group has beenin California since mid-August touring the state with American counterpartsas part of the release of the documentary ‘Go Grandriders’ with hopes toinspire others t follow. —AFP

HARVARD: Summer’s heat is as predictable aswinter’s chill. Heat-related illnesses-and evendeaths-are also predictable. But they aren’tinevitable. In fact, most are preventable. Stayinghydrated is the key.

No matter what the season, your body func-tions like a furnace. It burns food to generatechemical energy and heat. Some of the heat isused to keep your body temperature in the high90s. The rest you have to get rid of. The body hastwo main ways of getting rid of excess heat:Radiation. When the air around you is cooler thanyour body, you radiate heat to the air. But thisheat transfer stops when the air temperatureapproaches body temperature.

Evaporation. Every molecule of sweat thatevaporates from your skin whisks away heat. Butas the humidity creeps above 75 percent or so,there’s so much water vapor in the air that evapo-ration becomes increasingly difficult.

Most healthy people tolerate the heat withoutmissing a beat. It’s not so easy for people withdamaged or weakened hearts, or for older peoplewhose bodies don’t respond as readily to stress asthey once did. Damage from a heart attack cankeep the heart from pumping enough blood toget rid of heat.

A number of medications can limit the body’sability to get rid of excess heat. These includebeta blockers, which slow the heartbeat; diuretics(water pills), which can make dehydration worseby increasing urine output; and some antidepres-sants and antihistamines, which can block sweat-ing. A stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s dis-ease, diabetes, and other conditions can dull thebrain’s response to dehydration.

There are three different levels of heart-relatedillness: Heat cramps. These painful muscle spasmsare usually triggered by heavy exercise in a hotenvironment. Inadequate fluid intake is usuallythe culprit. The remedy: slow down, tank up with

water, stretch and gently massage the tight mus-cle, and get out of the heat.

Heat exhaustion. When body temperaturebegins to climb, physical symptoms such as weak-ness, headache, nausea, muscle cramps, profusesweating, and flushed, clammy skin may appear.Heat exhaustion also affects mental clarity andjudgment, which may appear as confusion orlethargy. Drinking water is essential. A cool show-er or bath, ice packs to the skin, or other strate-gies to lower body temperature are also impor-tant.

Heat stroke. There are two distinct forms ofheat stroke. Classic heat stroke tends to affectpeople who can’t escape the heat, or can’t physi-cally cope with it. Exertional heat stroke strikesindividuals who do vigorous physical activity inthe heat, such as youthful football players at asummer training camp, firefighters battling asummer blaze, Marine recruits, and weekend war-riors.

Heat stroke is a medical emergency. It startsout looking like heat exhaustion, but its symp-toms are more severe, and they progress morequickly, as lethargy, weakness, and confusionevolve into delirium, stupor, coma, and seizures.Body temperature rises drastically, often exceed-ing 105 degrees or 106 degrees.

Heat stroke is a killer because it damages theheart, liver, kidneys, brain, and blood clotting sys-tem. Survival depends on prompt transfer to ahospital for aggressive treatment.

It can be hard to tell where heat exhaustionends and heat stroke begins. Both can be mistak-en for a summer “flu,” at least at first. Be on thelookout for: Nausea or vomiting, Fatigue,Headache, Disorientation or confusion, Muscletwitches

If you think you are having heat-related prob-lems, or if you see signs of them in someone else,getting to an air-conditioned space and drinking

cool water are the most important things to do. Ifthese don’t help or the symptoms persist, callyour doctor or go to a hospital with an emer-gency department.

Even during the nastiest heat wave, the num-bers are in your favor; relatively few people haveheat strokes, and fewer die. Some simple choicescan help you weather the weather. An ounce ofprevention will go a long way, but for heat-relatedillnesses, a quart is even better.

Drink to your health. The lower your coolantlevel, the greater your chances of overheating.Unfortunately, staying hydrated isn’t always easy.Stomach or bowel problems, diuretics, a faultythirst signal, or low fluid intake can all interfere.On dangerously hot and humid days, try downinga glass of water every hour.

Go easy on sugary soda and juice, since theyslow the passage of water from the digestive sys-tem to the bloodstream. And don’t rely on caf-feinated beverages or alcohol for fluid becausethey can cause or amplify dehydration.

Take it easy. Turn procrastination from a vice toa virtue by putting off exercise or other physicalactivity until things cool down. Evening and earlymorning are the best times to get out. If you doexercise, drink more than you usually do.

Cool is cool. Chilled air is the best way to beatthe heat. Fans work, but only to a point-when theair is as warm as you are, sitting in front of a fan isabout as helpful as sitting in front of a blow dryer.If you don’t have an air conditioner, spending anhour or two in an air-conditioned movie theateror store, or with an air-conditioned neighbor, canhelp. So can a cool shower or bath, or putting acold, wet cloth or ice pack under your arm or atyour groin.

Eat light. Stick with smaller meals that don’toverload your stomach. Cold soups, salads, andfruits can satisfy your hunger and give you extrafluid.

Fluids, cool air key to

avoiding heat strokeA medical emergency

WASHINGTON: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inher-ited disease characterized by an abnormalityin the glands that produce sweat and mucus.It is chronic, progressive, and is usually fatal.Due to improved treatments, people with CF,on average, live into their mid to late 30s.

Cystic fibrosis affects various systems inchildren and young adults, including the fol-lowing: Respiratory system, Digestive systemand Reproductive system

About 30,000 people in the US are affectedwith the disease, and about 1,000 babies arediagnosed with it each year. It occurs mainlyin Caucasians, who have a northern Europeanheredity, although it also occurs in African-Americans, Asian Americans, and NativeAmericans.

Approximately one in 31 people in the USare carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene. Thesepeople are not affected by the disease andusually do not know that they are carriers.

How does CF affect the respiratory system?The basis for the problem with CF lies in an

abnormal gene. The result of this gene defectis an atypical electrolyte transport systemwithin the cells of the body. The abnormaltransport system causes the cells in the respi-ratory system, especially the lungs, to absorbtoo much sodium and water. This causes thenormal thin secretions in our lungs to becomevery thick and hard to remove. These thicksecretions put the child with CF at risk for con-stant infection.

The high risk of infection in the respiratorysystem leads to damage in the lungs, lungsthat do not work properly, and eventuallydeath of the cells in the lungs.

Due to the high rate of infection in the low-er respiratory tract, people with CF may devel-op a chronic cough, blood in the sputum, andsometimes can even have a collapsed lung.The cough is usually worse in the morning orafter activity.

People with CF also have involvement ofthe upper respiratory tract. Some patientshave nasal polyps that need surgical removal.Nasal polyps are small protrusions of tissuefrom the lining of the nose that go into thenasal cavity. Children also have a high rate ofsinus infections.

How does CF affect the gastrointestinal(GI) system?

The organ primarily affected is the pan-creas, which secretes substances that aiddigestion and help control blood-glucose lev-els.

As a result of the abnormal electrolytetransport system in the cells, the secretionsfrom the pancreas become thick and lead toan obstruction of the ducts of the pancreas.This obstruction then causes a decrease in thesecretion of enzymes from the pancreas thatnormally help to digest food. A person withCF has difficulty absorbing proteins, fats, andvitamins A, D, E, and K.

The problems with the pancreas canbecome so severe that some of the cells in thepancreas can become destroyed. This maylead to glucose intolerance and insulin-dependent diabetes.

About 35 percent of CF patients developthis type of diabetes in their 20s, and 43 per-cent develop the disease after 30 years of age.

Symptoms that may be present due to theinvolvement with the GI tract include: bulky,greasy stools; rectal prolapsed (a condition inwhich the end part of the bowels comes outof the anus); delayed puberty, fat in the stools,stomach pain, bloody diarrhea.

The liver may also be affected. A smallnumber of patients may actually develop liverdisease. Symptoms of liver disease mayinclude: enlarged liver, swollen abdomen, yel-low color to the skin, vomiting of blood.

How does CF affect the reproductive sys-tem?

Most males with CF have obstruction ofthe sperm canal known as congenital bilateralabsence of the vas deferens (CBAVD). Thisresults from the abnormal electrolyte trans-port system in the cells, causing the secretionsto become thick and lead to an obstructionand infertility. Women also have an increase inthick cervical mucus that may lead to adecrease in fertility, although many womenwith CF have children.

Symptoms may include:1. Abnormalities in the glands that pro-

duce sweat and mucus. This may cause a lossof salt. A loss of salt may cause an upset in thebalance of minerals in the blood, abnormalheart rhythms, and, possibly, shock.

2. Thick mucus that accumulates in thelungs and intestines. This may cause malnutri-tion, poor growth, frequent respiratory infec-tions, breathing difficulties, and/or lung dis-ease.

3. Other medical problems, such as: sinusi-tis, nasal polyps, clubbing of fingers and toes,pneumothorax (the presence of air or gas inthe pleural cavity causing the lung to col-lapse), hemoptysis (coughing blood), Cor pul-monale (enlargement of right side of heart),abdominal pain, gas in the intestines, rectalprolapsed, liver disease, diabetes, pancreatitis ,gallstones

The symptoms of CF differ for each person.Infants born with CF usually show symptomsby age two. Some children may not showsymptoms until later in life.

The symptoms of cystic fibrosis may resem-ble other conditions or medical problems.Therefore it’s always best to consult a physicianfor a diagnosis to be sure.

Most cases of cystic fibrosis are now identi-fied with newborn screening. In addition to acomplete medical history and physical exami-nation, diagnostic procedures for cystic fibrosisinclude a sweat test to measure the amount ofsodium chloride (salt) present. Higher than nor-mal amounts of sodium and chloride suggestcystic fibrosis.

Other diagnostic procedures include:chemical tests, chest X-rays, lung functiontests, sputum cultures, stool evaluations.

A cure would call for gene therapy at anearly age and this has not been developed yet,although research is being done in this direc-tion. The gene that causes CF has been identi-fied and there are hopes that this will lead toan increased understanding of the disease.Also being researched are different drug regi-mens to help stop CF. Goals of treatment are toease severity of symptoms and slow theprogress of the disease.

Treatment may include: Management ofproblems that cause lung obstruction, whichmay involve: Physical therapy, Exercise toloosen mucus, stimulate coughing, andimprove overall physical condition,Medications to reduce mucus and helpbreathing, Antibiotics to treat infections, Anti-inflammatories, Management of digestiveproblems, which may involve: Appropriatediet, Pancreatic enzymes to aid digestion,Vitamin supplements, Treatments for intestinalobstructions

Newer therapies include lung transplanta-tion for patients with end-stage lung disease.The type of transplant done is usually a heart-lung transplant, or a double lung transplant.Not everyone is a candidate for a lung trans-plant. Discuss this with your physician.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease,which means it is inherited. A person will beborn with CF only if two CF genes are inherit-ed-one from the mother and one from thefather. A person who has only one CF gene ishealthy and said to be a “carrier” of the disease.

A carrier has an increased chance of havinga child with CF. This type of inheritance iscalled “autosomal recessive.” “Autosomal”means that the gene is on one of the first 22pairs of chromosomes which do not deter-mine gender, so that the disease equallyaffects males and females.

The birth of a child with CF is often a totalsurprise to a family, since most of the time(in eight out of 10 families) there is no previ-ous family history of CF. Many autosomalrecessive conditions occur this way. Sinceboth parents are healthy, they had no priorknowledge that they carried the gene, northat they passed the gene to the pregnancyat the same time. Testing for the CF genecan be done from a small blood sample orfrom a cheek swab, which is a brush rubbedagainst the inside of your cheek to obtaincells for testing. Laboratories generally testfor the most common mutations. (There aremany people with CF whose mutations havenot been identified.) —MCT

Get the facts on

cystic fibrosis

Revolutionary cataract surgery

yielding better results

CAPE CANAVERAL: A pair of spacewalking cos-monauts installed a new telescope mount onthe International Space Station on Thursdaydespite a flaw in the device.

Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and AleksandrMisurkin - making their second spacewalk inunder a week - initially were told to give up try-ing to plug in the 6-foot platform for a yet-to-be-launched telescope.

But after more than an hour of discussion atRussian Mission Control outside Moscow, thedecision was reversed and the cosmonautsinstalled it.

Yurchikhin and Misurkin reported that thebase of the platform appeared to be misalignedbecause it wasn’t assembled properly on theground. The problem could prevent the futuretelescope from pointing in the right direction.

“We cannot spend a lot of time here,” one ofthe cosmonauts complained as they struggledwith the equipment.

They hauled the platform back to the hatchand went to work inspecting antenna covers;one of the protective shields came loose

Monday and floated off.But engineers determined the 90-degree

misalignment could be overcome at a later date. So the cosmonauts lugged the telescope

platform back to the work site and secured it.They had removed a laser communication

experiment from that spot earlier, even thoughit was tough working in that location.

“Tight quarters up here as far as anything tograb onto,” one of the cosmonauts commentedin Russian. “You got that right,” replied the other.(The English translation does not identify thespeakers.)

The spacewalkers also unfurled and waved aRussian flag that they took out in honor ofRussia’s Flag Day. “Now we can see the flag ofour Motherland,” one of the cosmonauts said inan impromptu speech.

Earlier, the cosmonauts ran into some diffi-culty tightening the antenna covers.

Because of the flyaway cover, the cosmo-nauts double-checked the remaining protectiveshields to make sure they were secure. At leasttwo were loose, one by a lot. NASA said the lost

cover posed no risk to the 260-mile-high out-post.

NASA, meanwhile, has suspended all U.S.spacewalks while the investigation into lastmonth’s near-drowning continues. An Italianastronaut’s helmet filled with water during aspacewalk on July 16. He barely made it backinside. The water is believed to have originatedfrom the suit’s cooling system.

The spacesuits used by the Russians are dif-ferent.

The two cosmonauts had smoother sailingduring last Friday’s spacewalk, performing cable

hookups for a new Russian lab that is sup-posed to lift off from Kazakhstan sometime nextyear. The launch had been targeted forDecember, but recently was delayed until atleast spring.

Several times during Thursday’s six-hourspacewalk, the radio lines screeched so loudlythat the cosmonauts’ voices could not be heardby Russian Mission Control. “We should be wear-ing ear plugs here,” someone commented inRussian. —AFP

Russian spacewalkers encounter faulty equipment

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

“We are physicians from different specialties with a specific interest in public health advocacy and promotion. We, also, aim to increase aware-ness among the Kuwaiti public regarding a variety of diseases and conditions and to rectify the misconceptions they may have. Since our groupconsists of multiple physicians we decided to write under the pen name of L’homme en Blanc.”

Social

Admission

“Fawaz! Fawaz?” the despaired calls of a frail,blind old man lying bed ridden in a hospitalbed, for his absent son, go unanswered.

The phenomenon of “social admission” is not new inKuwait; it is the act of admitting patients into the hospi-tal that have no new medical ailment. At times, whenthe stress of taking care of loved ones suffering from alifelong condtion becomes too great, there is an increas-ing tendency to deliver them to the nearest hospital,reciting vague complaints as the reason for referral. Itseems that many are under the false belief that if theyhand over the responsibility of nurturing and caring forour family to medical professionals, then they must bereceiving better care.

However, that is not the case, since in a hospital set-ting, only ongoing medical issues are dealt with, andonce any patient is deemed fit for discharge home, thatis where they ought to be. For in a medical institute, ourgrandfathers, our mothers, our family, will not find whatthey need most: some tender loving care. If we areunable to provide the love, care, and compassion thatour blood relatives need, why are we expecting over-worked strangers to do so?

Additionally, anyone exposed to the hospital environ-ment is at risk of developing a hospital-acquired (ornosocomial) infection. These infections are especiallydangerous since they tend to be resistant to multiplemedications. For the elderly, it will be exponentially dif-ficult to fight off these super bugs as their immunitiesare weakened. Persons with a weakened immunity arenot always successful in their attempt to combat strongpathogens. Data from the National NosocomialInfections Surveillance system for the period 1986-1990indicated that persons over the age of 65 accounted for54% of all nosocomial infections.

Furthermore, these admissions are depriving actualpatients of their rights for adequate and thorough med-ical care, as time, effort, and resources are split betweenthe ill and the bed-keepers. Therefore, it is recommend-ed to only admit patients into the hospital if it absolute-ly necessary. Stay healthy, Kuwait!

L’Homme en Blanc

Better sleep without pillsTry lifestyle changes

NEW YORK: The world looks verydifferent at 3 am when you’re lyingin bed staring at the ceiling-orworse, the clock. All you do is wor-ry, “How will I make it throughtomorrow without any sleep?” Ifyou often have trouble fallingasleep or staying asleep, you mighthave thought about trying sleep-ing pills. Although these medicinescan help you drift off to sleep, theyalso can have side effects, includ-ing an increased risk for falls andmorning drowsiness that can makenext-day driving dangerous. That’swhy in January, the US Food andDrug Administration began requir-ing manufacturers to lower the rec-ommended dosage of hypnoticsleep aids containing zolpidem(such as Ambien).

Before turning to medication,it’s important to identify whetheryou even have a sleep problem.

“Some people are botheredthat they wake up at all, but theywake up, go to the bathroom, andgo right back to sleep. There’snothing wrong with that,” explainsDr Hadine Joffe, associate professorof psychiatry at Harvard MedicalSchool. Taking 20 minutes to fallasleep also doesn’t necessarilymean you have a sleep issue, shesays.

If you regularly can’t get tosleep or stay asleep and it’s affect-ing you during the day, then youmay have insomnia. But before youtake medicine to help you sleep, DrJoffe recommends trying lifestyleinterventions-such as avoiding caf-feine and sticking to a regular sleepschedule. It can also be helpful tosee a doctor so you can find outwhether a medical condition iscausing your sleep troubles.

There are several reasons whysleep problems are especially com-

mon in women, says Dr. JuliaSchlam Edelman, clinical instructorin obstetrics and reproductive biol-ogy at Harvard Medical School andauthor of “Harvard’s SuccessfulSleep Strategies for Women.”

“One is the obesity rate. Sixty-five percent of women are over-weight. And overweight womenare more likely to have sleep-disor-dered breathing,” she says. Sleep-

disordered breathing often refersto obstructive sleep apnea, a con-dition in which the airwaybecomes periodically blocked dur-ing the night. This blockage tem-porarily cuts off airflow, leading tosnoring and frequent sleep inter-ruptions.

Health issues such as a thyroidcondition, anemia, menopausalhot flashes, heartburn, inconti-nence, and depression can alsoaffect both the quality and quanti-ty of sleep. And the medicines youtake to treat health conditions-including beta blockers for highblood pressure, cold remedies con-taining alcohol, and migraineremedies with caffeine-can all dis-rupt sleep.

Sometimes insomnia is so

severe that you want to try medi-cine to help you sleep. Before grab-bing a bottle of sleeping pills offthe drugstore shelf however, tryfollowing the steps outlined in“Sleep Problems and Solutions”(below). If these steps don’t work,see your doctor, who can rule outany medical causes for your sleepissues.

You can start by trying a natural

sleep aid, such as melatonin, a hor-mone that helps regulate thebody’s sleep-wake cycle.

“Melatonin tends to be effectivefor women over 55,” Dr. Edelmansays. It’s also safe, with few sideeffects. Valerian root is anotherherbal sleep remedy. It can haveside effects, though, includingheadaches.

You may need to turn to over-the-counter or prescription sleepmedicines if insomnia is having areal impact on your health and dai-ly function, says Dr Joffe. Checkwith your doctor before taking anysleep aid-even ones you purchasewithout a prescription.

“Over-the-counter sleep aidscan be addictive, and they caninteract with other medications,”

Dr. Edelman says.Only use prescription sleep aids

such as eszopiclone (Lunesta),ramelteon (Rozerem), zaleplon(Sonata), or zolpidem (Ambien) asa last resort when other treatmentshaven’t worked. Because thesemedicines can worsen sleep apnea,discuss with your doctor whetheryou might have sleep apnea.

To take prescription sleep aidssafely, “You always need to be cau-tious about dosing,” Dr Joffe says.Ask your doctor whether you canstart on the lowest-dose, shortest-acting sleep aid possible. As youget older, your body processes andremoves medicine more slowlythan it did when you wereyounger. Also make sure you havethe number of hours recommend-ed on the package available tosleep, so you’re not groggy thenext morning.

Here are some common sleepproblems and how to treat them:

Problem: I’m tired, but I justcan’t fall asleep.

Solution: Try lifestyle changes,avoiding factors that might bekeeping you awake. Limit caffeineand alcohol (especially before bed-time); make sure your bedroom iscool, dark, and comfortable; andturn off all electronics (includingthe book you’re reading on yourtablet computer) one hour beforebed.

Problem: I get seven or eighthours of sleep a night, but when Iwake up I’m exhausted. Also, mypartner says I snore.

Solution: See your doctor, whomight order a sleep study to testyou for sleep apnea.

Problem: My joints ache somuch that I can’t fall asleep.

Solution: Ask your doctor aboutarthritis pain relievers, such as non-

steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs) and corticosteroids.

Problem: I’m too stressed out tosleep.

Solution: Try stress-relievingtechniques, such as meditating,taking a warm bath, or listening tomusic. Before you go to bed, DrJoffe suggests writing down a“worry list” of everything that’s onyour mind. Once the worries are onpaper, it can be easier to put themaside. “It’s such a simple thing butit’s very effective,” she says.

Problem: My legs twitch, tingle,and itch so uncontrollably that Ican’t fall asleep, and once I do fallasleep I keep waking up.

Solution: You could have rest-less legs syndrome (RLS). Your doc-tor might suggest stretching ormassaging your legs before bed.You can also take a warm bath. Iflifestyle interventions don’t work,there are medicines available totreat RLS.

Problem: I keep waking up inthe middle of the night to use thebathroom.

Solution: Limit caffeine andalcohol, which can increase theurge to urinate. Stop drinking flu-ids a few hours before bedtime.And use the bathroom right beforeyou get into bed. If you’re takingdiuretic medicines, talk to yourdoctor, because they could be con-tributing to the problem.

Problem: My heartburn is keep-ing me awake.

Solution: Try raising the headof the bed 4 to 6 inches. Eat din-ner at least two to three hoursbefore bedtime, and don’t eatanything too heavy. Avoid foodsthat can trigger heartburn, such aschocolate, coffee, caffeinateddrinks, spicy foods, and fattyfoods. —-MCT

W H AT ’ S ONSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Greetings

Congratulations to Aslam and his wifeThabassum on their wedding day! Best wishesfrom brother Anwar Basha, Sajida Begum,

Parvez, Faiz, Ashraf, Ayaan, Father Mohd Khasim,Mother Khatun Bee and Kalesha (Chotu), Shahida,Shajia and near and dear ones from Kuwait and India.

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Write to us

Announcements

Indian Embassy sets up helpline

The Indian Embassy in Kuwait has set uphelpline in order to assist Indian expatri-ates in registering any complaint regard-

ing the government’s ongoing campaign tostamp out illegal residents from the country.The embassy said in press release yesterday thatit amended its previous statement and stated ifthere is any complaint, the same could be con-veyed at the following (as amended):Operations Department, Ministry of Interior,Kuwait. Fax: 22435580, Tel: 24768146/25200334.It said the embassy has been in regular contactwith local authorities regarding the ongoingchecking of expatriates. The embassy has alsoconveyed to them the concerns, fears andapprehensions of the community in this regard.The authorities in Kuwait have conveyed thatstrict instructions have been issued to ensurethat there is no harassment or improper treat-ment of expatriates by those undertakingchecking. “The embassy would like to requestIndian expatriates to ensure that they abide byall local laws, rules and regulations regardingresidency, traffic and other matters,” the releaseread. It would be prudent to always carry theCivil ID and other relevant documents such asdriving license, etc. In case an Indian expatriateencounters any improper treatment duringchecking, it may be conveyed immediately withfull details and contact particulars to theembassy at the following phone number67623639. These contact details are exclusivelyfor the above-mentioned purpose only.

Issue of online visa by Indian embassy

Foreigners requiring visas for India need toapply it online from 16th June 2013.Applicants may log on to the Public portal

at ww.indianvisaonline.gov.in. After successfulonline submission, the hard copy, so generated,has to be signed by the applicant and submittedwith supporting documents in accordance withthe type of visa along with the applicable fee incash at any of the two outsource centres atSharq or Fahaheel. It is essential that applicantsfill in their personal details as exactly available intheir passports. Mismatch of any of the personaldetails would lead to non-acceptance of theapplication. Fees once paid are non-refundable.All children would have to obtain separate visaon their respective passports.

The Najla Al-Naqqi Forum hosted poet Al-Nana Al-Rashid from the Western Sahara in a recent event, attended by Kuwaiti social figures including Sheikha Nawal Al-Sabah, Kuwait Journalists Association Consultant Dr Ayed Al-Manna’a, and Kuwait Human Rights Society member Samira Al-Manna’a.

Najla Al-Naqqi Forum hosts poet Al-Rashid

Build-A-Bear Workshop, the brand wherechildren make their very own stuffedtoys, has raised KWD 770 for autism in

partnership with charitable organisations inthe local community.

This GCC-wide initiative has seen Build-A-Bear Workshop tie up with the Kuwait RedCrescent Society and generated donationsthrough the sales of its Champ Bear.

“The Build-A-Bear Workshop creed is tomake a difference in all the communities inwhere we operate. Through the kindness ofour Guests, and our partnerships with localcharities, we always aim to operate as a social-ly responsible entity that engages with societyand gives as well as receives,” said Paul Marks,Build-A-Bear Workshop General Manager.

A percentage of proceeds from sales, andin particular Champ Bear, has been donatedto Charitable Organisations involved withautism research, and care and intervention forthose with autism throughout the Holy Monthof Ramadan.

“Autism is a very important issue that is asrelevant in the GCC as it is worldwide, and weare delighted to be able to contribute towardsfund raising and support through our part-ners and Guests. The holy month of Ramadanwas a particularly fitting time for this drive asit encourages charity, reflection, kindness andcommunity-mindedness,” he said.

Shaima of Kuwait Red Crescent Societyexpresses her gratitude to The Build-A-BearWorkshop(r). “We sincerely appreciate thesupport and compassion from Build-A-BearWorkshop. It has been a profound experienceto work with them and we hope to maintainthis relationship in the future. A big thank youfrom our team!” said Shaima. Build-A-BearWorkshop(r) is the world’s only global compa-ny that offers an interactive make-your-ownstuffed animal retail-entertainment experi-ence. In fifteen years of operation, it hasfocused on creating unique and memorableexperiences for children and adults alike,while also engaging with communitiesthrough charitable works and social initiatives.

KD 770 donated to KRCSby Build-A-Bear Workshop

W H AT ’ S ONSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Information

Embassy

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIAThe Embassy of Australia hasannounced that Kuwait citizens canapply for and receive visit visas in 10working days through www.immi.gov.au. Allother processing of visas and Immigrationmatters are handled by the Australian VisaApplication Centre located in Al BanwanBuilding, 4B, 1st Floor, Al Qibla Area, Ali AlSalem Street, Kuwait City. Visit. www.vfs-au-gcc.com for more info. The Embassy ofAustralia does not have a visa or immigrationdepartment. All processing of visas andimmigration matters is conducted by theAustralian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email:Info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VIS), immigra-tion.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office), Tel:+971 4 205 5900 (VFS), Fax: + 971 4 355 0708(Visa Office). Notary and passport services areavailable by appointment. Appointments canbe made by calling the Embassy on22322422.

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EMBASSY OF CANADAThe Embassy of Canada in Kuwait doesnot have a visa or immigration depart-ment. All processing of visa and immi-gration matters including enquiries isconducted by the Canadian Embassy in AbuDhabi, UAE. Individuals who are interested inworking, studying, visiting or immigrating toCanada should contact the Canadian Embassyin Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca orwww.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy ofCanada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St,Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website atwww.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada isopen from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday throughThursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizensare provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sundaythrough Wednesday.

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EMBASSY OF US Parents of Kuwaiti citizen children maydrop off their sons’ and daughters’ visaapplications - completely free of an inter-view or a trip inside the Embassy. Thechildren must be under 14 years of age, andadditional requirements do apply, but the serv-ice means parents will no longer have to sched-ule individual appointments for their children,nor come inside the Embassy (unless they areapplying for themselves). The service is onlyavailable for children holding Kuwaiti pass-ports. To take advantage, parents must drop offthe following documents: Child Visa Drop-offcover sheet, available on the Embassy website(http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/child_visas.htm)- Child’s passport; The Child’s previous pass-port, if it contains a valid US visa; 5x5cm photoof child with eyes open (if uploaded into DS-160, photos must be a .jpg between 600x600and 1200x1200 pixels, less than 240kb, andcannot be digitally altered); A completed DS-160 form; Visa Fee Receipt from Burgan Bank; Acopy of the valid visa of at least one parent. Ifone parent will not travel, provide a visa copyfor the traveling parent, and a passport copyfrom the non-traveling parent with a letter stat-ing no objection to the child’s travel. - For chil-dren of students (F2): a copy of the child’s I-20.

Children born in the US (with very fewexceptions) are US citizens and would not beeligible for a visa. Parents may drop off theapplication packet at Window 2 at the Embassyfrom 1:00 to 3:00 PM, Monday to Wednesday,excluding holidays. More information is avail-able on the U.S. Embassy website:kuwait.usembassy.gov/child_visas.html

EMBASSY OF GREECE The Embassy of Greece in Kuwait has thepleasure to announce that visa applica-tions must be submitted to SchengenVisa Application Centre (VFS office) locat-ed at 12th floor, Al-Naser Tower, Fahad Al-SalemStreet, Al-Qibla area, Kuwait City, (Parking atSouk Watia). For information please call22281046 from 08:30 to 17:00 (Sunday toThursday). Working hours: Submission from08:30 to 15:30. Passport collection from 16:00 to17:00. For visa applications please visit the fol-lowing website www.mfa.gr/kuwait.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINEThe Embassy of Ukraine in the State ofKuwait would like to inform that submis-sion of the documents for tourist visa istemporary closed (from August 26 tillSeptember 26). Within the above-mentionedperiod, the visa will be issued only in the case ofemergency. In the case of planning travel toUkraine, please apply for visa before August 20.

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EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE For the Argentinean citizens who had notalready enlisted in the embassy’s electoralregister, and taking in consideration theelections which was held on Sunday 11/08/2013,it is necessary to justify they no vote by presenceat our embassy which located in (Mishref - Block 6- Street 42 - Villa 51) and should present the DNIand/or the Argentinean Passport. The Embassy ofthe Argentine Republic in the State of Kuwaitavails itself of this opportunity to renew theassurances of its highest consideration.

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EMBASSY OF VATICANThe Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of theHoly See, Vatican in Kuwait has moved toa new location in Kuwait City. Please findbelow the new address: Yarmouk, Block 1,Street 2, Villa No: 1. P.O.Box 29724, Safat 13158,Kuwait. Tel: 965 25337767, Fax: 965 25342066.Email: nuntiuskuwait@gmail.com

Local youth groups Equait and Global Aid Kuwaitorganized their first monthly Cross CulturalDiwaniya in Rawdha, in an effort to bridge the

gap between the Kuwaiti and expat communitythrough progressive discussion on certain issues with-in Kuwaiti society. The Diwaniya was moderated byEquait Founders Faisal Al-Fuhaid and Leanah Al-Awadhi along with Global Aid Kuwait Founder Abir Al-Mutawa.

Equait is a youth-driven organization founded andrun by Faisal Al-Fuhaid and Leanah Al-Awadhi and isassociated with the We Are Family Foundation’s ThreeDot Dash program, where Al-Fuhaid is an officialGlobal Teen Leader. Equait works to promote socialequality and respect towards Kuwaiti residents from allwalks of life. Through events like Model UnitedNations, food rallies and walkathons, Equait aims to

make Kuwait a more open and accepting environment. Global-Aid Kuwait is an organization founded by

Abir Al-Mutawa and run by her along with the GlobalAid interns. Their main purpose is to give voices tothose who are not able to speak for themselves,whether it is because of status or because of condi-tions, which may be war, poverty or the lack ofresources.

The Diwaniya was organized to promote progres-sive dialogue; the main goal was to encourage accept-ance of different views and to overcome any prejudiceor bias as well as allow people to converse and learnsomething regarding Kuwait that they may not alreadyknow.

The Diwaniya was a big success as the organizersmanaged to draw a full house of 35-40 people, whichincluded diplomats, political experts, students and

young activists. Topics ranged from how women areportrayed in Kuwaiti society to comparing certain situ-ations between Kuwait and other countries.

What was unique about the cross-cultural Diwaniyawas that it encouraged the idea of safe space environ-ment, where the attendees are not judged regardlessof looks, gender, race, religion, nationality and, mostimportantly, opinion.

With the success of the first Diwaniya, Equait andGlobal Aid Kuwait will continue organizing the eventmonthly with their next Cross Cultural Diwaniya due tobe hosted on September 2 from 6:30 pm-9:00 pm.Judging from the first turnout, there is no doubt thatthis Diwaniya will bridge many gaps between variousmembers of Kuwait’s society.

‘Cross Cultural Diwaniya’ held

T V PR O G R A M SSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

PROWL ON OSN ACTION HD

CHERNOBYL DIARIES ON OSN PREMIERE

00:45 In Search Of The Giant Anaconda01:35 Animal Cops Houston02:25 Charles & Jessica: A Chimp Tale03:15 My Cat From Hell04:05 My Pet’s Gone Viral04:30 My Pet’s Gone Viral04:55 Animal Cops Houston05:45 Wild Appalachia06:35 Wildlife SOS07:00 Meerkat Manor07:25 Dogs/Cats/Pets 10108:15 Venom Hunter With DonaldSchultz09:10 Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous...10:05 Escape To Chimp Eden10:30 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild11:00 The Most Extreme11:55 Wild Hawaii12:50 Kingdom Of The Elephants13:45 Investigation Earth With JeffCorwin14:40 Lion Man: One World African Safari15:05 Lion Man: One World African Safari15:35 Bondi Vet16:30 Talk To The Animals16:55 Talk To The Animals17:25 My Cat From Hell18:20 Call Of The Wildman18:45 Call Of The Wildman19:15 Austin Stevens Adventures20:10 In Search Of The King Cobra21:05 Charles & Jessica: A Chimp Tale22:00 The Animals’ Guide To Survival22:55 Lion Man: One World African Safari23:20 Lion Man: One World African Safari23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:00 Stitch00:20 Stitch00:45 A Kind Of Magic01:05 A Kind Of Magic01:30 Emperor’s New School01:50 Emperor’s New School02:15 Replacements02:35 Replacements03:00 A Kind Of Magic03:20 A Kind Of Magic03:45 Emperor’s New School04:05 Emperor’s New School04:30 Replacements04:50 Replacements05:15 A Kind Of Magic05:35 A Kind Of Magic06:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse06:30 Jake & The Neverland Pirates06:45 A.N.T. Farm07:10 A.N.T. Farm07:35 Jessie07:55 That’s So Raven08:20 That’s So Raven08:45 Jessie09:05 A.N.T Farm09:30 Shake It Up09:55 Austin And Ally10:15 Dog With A Blog10:35 Teen Beach Movie First Look10:40 Johnny Kapahala: Back On Board12:15 A.N.T Farm12:35 Good Luck Charlie13:00 Dog With A Blog13:25 Austin And Ally13:45 Teen Beach Movie First Look13:50 That’s So Raven14:10 That’s So Raven14:35 A.N.T Farm15:00 Good Luck Charlie15:25 Shake It Up15:50 Jessie

00:05 Special Agent Oso00:15 Imagination Movers00:40 Jungle Junction00:55 Jungle Junction01:10 Handy Manny01:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse02:00 Little Einsteins02:25 Special Agent Oso02:40 Special Agent Oso02:50 Imagination Movers03:20 Handy Manny03:40 Special Agent Oso03:50 Special Agent Oso04:00 Timmy Time04:10 Imagination Movers04:35 Little Einsteins05:00 Jungle Junction05:15 Jungle Junction05:30 Little Einsteins05:50 Special Agent Oso06:00 Special Agent Oso06:15 Jungle Junction06:30 Jungle Junction06:45 Handy Manny07:00 Special Agent Oso07:15 Jungle Junction07:30 Higglytown Heroes07:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse08:10 New Adventures Of Winnie ThePooh08:35 The Little Mermaid09:00 The Hive09:10 Doc McStuffins09:20 Zou09:35 Henry Hugglemonster09:50 Henry Hugglemonster10:00 Sofia The First10:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates10:45 Sofia The First11:15 Sofia The First11:40 Sofia The First12:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales OfFriendship12:05 Higglytown Heroes12:20 The Hive12:30 Doc McStuffins12:45 Doc McStuffins13:00 Zou13:15 Jake & The Neverland Pirates13:30 Henry Hugglemonster13:45 Henry Hugglemonster13:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse14:20 New Adventures Of Winnie ThePooh14:45 Higglytown Heroes14:55 The Hive15:05 Sofia The First15:35 Sofia The First16:00 Sofia The First16:25 Sofia The First16:45 Art Attack17:10 Lilo And Stitch17:35 The Little Mermaid18:00 The Hive18:10 Henry Hugglemonster18:25 Henry Hugglemonster18:35 Sofia The First19:00 Timmy Time19:10 Pajanimals19:25 Doc McStuffins19:35 Zou19:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates20:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates20:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales OfFriendship20:25 Pajanimals20:35 Doc McStuffins20:45 Mouk

00:15 Kimchi Chronicles00:45 Travel Madness01:10 Don’t Tell My Mother01:40 Scam City02:35 Lonely Planet: Roads LessTravelled03:30 The Witch Doctor Will See YouNow04:25 Eat Street04:50 Earth Tripping05:20 My Sri Lanka With PeterKuruvita05:45 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita06:15 Exploring The Vine06:40 Food Lover ’s Guide To ThePlanet07:10 Danger Beach07:35 Bondi Rescue08:05 Bondi Rescue08:30 Bondi Rescue09:00 My Sri Lanka With PeterKuruvita09:25 Market Values09:55 Eat Street10:20 Kimchi Chronicles10:50 Travel Madness11:15 Don’t Tell My Mother11:45 Scam City12:40 Lonely Planet: Roads LessTravelled13:35 The Witch Doctor Will See YouNow14:30 Eat Street14:55 My Sri Lanka With PeterKuruvita15:25 Earth Tripping15:50 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita16:20 Bondi Rescue16:45 Bondi Rescue17:15 My Sri Lanka With PeterKuruvita17:40 Market Values18:10 Eat Street18:35 Kimchi Chronicles19:05 My Sri Lanka With PeterKuruvita19:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita20:00 Exploring The Vine20:30 Food Lover ’s Guide To The

00:05 World’s Scariest00:55 Kidnap And Rescue01:45 First Week In02:35 How It’s Made03:00 How It’s Made03:25 How It’s Made03:50 How It’s Made04:15 How It’s Made04:40 How Do They Do It?05:05 How Do They Do It?05:30 How Do They Do It?06:00 How Do They Do It?06:30 How Do They Do It?07:00 Fast N’ Loud07:50 Fantom Works08:40 Driven To Extremes09:30 Gold Divers10:20 Alaska: The Last Frontier11:10 Ice Cold Gold12:00 Aircrash Confidential12:50 Destroyed In Seconds13:15 Destroyed In Seconds13:40 How It’s Made14:05 How It’s Made14:30 How It’s Made14:55 How It’s Made15:20 How It’s Made15:45 Auction Hunters16:10 Auction Hunters16:35 Auction Hunters17:00 Auction Hunters17:25 Auction Hunters17:50 Border Security18:15 Border Security18:40 Border Security19:05 Border Security19:30 Border Security19:55 Mythbusters20:45 Head Games21:35 Dynamo: Magician Impossible22:25 Derren Brown: Fear And Faith23:15 Head Games

00:05 The Tech Show00:30 Mean Green Machines01:00 Mega World01:50 Mega World02:45 Mega World03:35 Mega World04:25 Mega World05:15 The Gadget Show05:40 The Tech Show06:05 Alien Mysteries07:00 Extreme Bodies

07:50 Curiosity08:40 The Gadget Show09:05 The Tech Show09:30 How Tech Works13:50 Mean Green Machines14:20 The Gadget Show14:45 The Tech Show15:10 Extreme Bodies16:00 Mighty Ships16:55 Junk Men17:20 Junk Men17:45 The Science Of Star Wars18:35 Nextworld19:30 Extreme Bodies20:20 Through The Wormhole WithMorgan Freeman21:10 The Gadget Show21:35 The Tech Show22:00 Curiosity22:50 Through The Wormhole WithMorgan Freeman23:40 The Gadget Show

00:45 Crime Scene Wild01:35 Crime Scene Wild02:30 Mummy Autopsy03:25 Mummy Autopsy04:20 Mummy Autopsy05:10 Empire06:05 Empire07:00 3 Men Go To New England07:50 3 Men Go To New England08:45 Prehistoric Disasters09:35 Prehistoric Disasters10:30 The Neanderthal In U.S.11:20 Ultimate Cars11:45 A Racing Car Is Born12:10 Ultimate Cars12:35 A Racing Car Is Born13:05 I Shouldn’t Be Alive13:55 I Shouldn’t Be Alive...14:50 I Shouldn’t Be Alive...15:45 Delta Divers16:40 Treasure Quest17:35 The Aviators18:00 The Aviators18:25 Secrets Of...19:20 Bombay Railway20:10 Bombay Railway21:05 Delta Divers22:00 Bombay Railway22:55 Bombay Railway23:50 The Aviators

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives00:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives00:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives01:20 Unwrapped01:45 Food Wars02:10 Food Wars02:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives03:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives03:25 Unique Eats03:50 Food Crafters04:15 United Tastes Of America04:40 Chopped05:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes06:10 Unwrapped06:35 Unwrapped07:00 Everyday Italian07:25 Everyday Italian07:50 Everyday Italian08:15 Everyday Italian08:40 Extra Virgin09:05 Extra Virgin09:30 Extra Virgin09:55 Extra Virgin10:20 Symon’s Suppers10:45 Symon’s Suppers11:10 Symon’s Suppers11:35 Symon’s Suppers12:00 Amazing Wedding Cakes12:50 Barefoot Contessa13:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back ToBasics14:05 Jonathan Phang’s CaribbeanCookbook14:30 Jonathan Phang’s CaribbeanCookbook14:55 Amazing Wedding Cakes15:40 Amazing Wedding Cakes16:25 Charly’s Cake Angels16:55 Charly’s Cake Angels17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives17:50 Chopped18:40 Chopped19:30 Chopped20:20 Chopped21:10 Chopped22:00 Amazing Wedding Cakes22:50 Amazing Wedding Cakes23:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

06:00 Kid vs Kat06:10 American Dragon06:35 Kickin It07:00 Phineas And Ferb07:20 Phineas And Ferb07:45 Lab Rats08:10 Lab Rats08:35 Phineas And Ferb09:00 Randy Cunningham: 9thGrade Ninja09:30 Max Steel09:55 Slugterra10:20 Crash & Bernstein10:45 Kickin It11:10 Lab Rats11:35 Pair Of Kings12:00 Phineas And Ferb12:10 Phineas And Ferb12:30 Scaredy Squirrel13:00 The Suite Life Movie14:35 Phineas And Ferb14:45 Phineas And Ferb15:00 Phineas And Ferb15:10 Phineas And Ferb15:25 Lab Rats15:50 Slugterra16:15 Max Steel16:40 Kickin It17:05 Randy Cunningham: 9thGrade Ninja17:15 Randy Cunningham: 9thGrade Ninja17:30 Crash & Bernstein17:55 Pair Of Kings18:20 Lab Rats18:45 Phineas And Ferb19:10 Scaredy Squirrel19:35 I’m In The Band20:00 Crash & Bernstein20:25 Zeke & Luther20:50 Randy Cunningham: 9thGrade Ninja21:15 Phineas And Ferb21:25 Phineas And Ferb21:40 Almost Naked Animals22:05 Rekkit Rabbit22:35 Scaredy Squirrel23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00amKSA

Planet21:00 Danger Beach21:30 Bondi Rescue22:00 Somewhere In China22:55 Market Values23:20 Eat Street23:50 Kimchi Chronicles

00:00 Touch01:00 Supernatural02:00 Good Morning America03:00 American Idol04:00 Glee05:00 Supernatural06:00 Good Morning America07:00 Emmerdale07:30 Coronation Street08:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show09:00 Once Upon A Time10:00 Emmerdale10:30 Coronation Street11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show12:00 Touch13:00 The Carrie Diaries14:00 Supernatural15:00 Live Good Morning America16:00 Touch17:00 Once Upon A Time18:00 The Carrie Diaries19:00 Touch

20:00 Once Upon A Time21:00 The Carrie Diaries22:00 Glee23:00 American Idol 01:30 The Iron Lady-PG15

03:30 Into The Wind-PG1505:00 Mary & Martha-PG1506:45 Extremely Loud & IncrediblyClose-PG09:00 Dating Coach-PG1511:00 Ring Of Deceit-PG1513:00 The Wild Girl-PG1515:00 A Better Life-PG1517:00 Dating Coach-PG1519:00 Jeff, Who Lives At Home-PG1521:00 The Five Year Engagement-1823:15 Martha Marcy May Marlene-

16:10 Dog With A Blog16:35 A.N.T Farm17:00 Shake It Up17:20 Shake It Up17:45 Shake It Up18:10 A.N.T Farm18:30 A.N.T Farm18:55 A.N.T Farm19:20 A.N.T Farm19:40 Dog With A Blog20:05 Austin And Ally20:30 Jessie20:50 Shake It Up21:15 That’s So Raven21:40 Good Luck Charlie22:00 Shake It Up22:25 A.N.T Farm22:50 Austin And Ally23:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place23:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:00 Pirate Patrol01:00 Air Crash Investigation02:00 Air Crash Investigation03:00 Naked Science04:00 Alaska Wing Men05:00 Nazi Temple Of Doom06:00 Banged Up Abroad07:00 Lockdown08:00 Pirate Patrol09:00 Air Crash Investigation10:00 Air Crash Investigation11:00 Clash Of The Continents12:00 Alaska Wing Men13:00 Human Lampshade: AHolocaust Mystery14:00 Banged Up Abroad15:00 Lockdown16:00 Pirate Patrol17:00 Air Crash Investigation18:00 Air Crash Investigation19:00 Salvage Code Red20:00 One Ocean21:00 Dangerous Encounters22:00 Salvage Code Red23:00 Storm Worlds

00:20 The Incredible Dr. Pol01:10 When Sharks Attack02:00 Dangerous Encounters02:50 Built For The Kill03:45 Ragged Tooth04:40 Alpha Dogs05:05 Alpha Dogs05:35 The Incredible Dr. Pol06:30 Search For The Ultimate Bear07:25 Man vs Monster08:20 Street Monkeys09:15 When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs10:10 Wild Wild West11:05 Dangerous Encounters12:00 Kingdom Of The Oceans12:55 Sumatra’s Last Tiger13:50 Dangerous Encounters14:45 Shark Attack Experiment15:40 Bears Of Fear Island16:35 World’s Deadliest Killer Three17:30 Dead Or Alive18:25 Monster Croc Hunt19:20 Kingdom Of The Oceans20:10 Sumatra’s Last Tiger21:00 Dangerous Encounters21:50 Shark Attack Experiment22:40 Bears Of Fear Island23:30 World’s Deadliest Killer Three

00:00 Amphibious-1802:00 Starship Troopers: Invasion-1804:00 Arctic Blast-PG1506:00 Ice Road Terror-PG1507:45 Constantine-PG1510:00 Courageous-PG1512:15 Captain America: The FirstAvenger-PG1514:30 Constantine-PG1516:45 Twister-PG1518:45 Captain America: The FirstAvenger-PG1521:00 51-PG1522:45 Prowl-18

01:00 Will-PG03:00 Blue Lagoon: The Awakening05:00 The Perfect Man-PG07:00 What’s Wrong With Virginia09:00 Will-PG10:45 Gandhi-PG14:00 Neverland-PG17:00 Interview With A Hitman19:00 Drew Peterson: Untouchable21:00 A Dangerous Method-1823:00 Liars All-18

00:30 The Daily Show01:00 The Colbert Report01:30 Saturday Night Live02:30 Friends03:00 Ben And Kate03:30 Ben And Kate04:00 Hope & Faith04:30 The Tonight Show With JayLeno05:30 Hope & Faith06:00 The War At Home06:30 Brothers07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon08:00 Hope & Faith08:30 Hope & Faith09:00 Ben And Kate09:30 Community10:00 Hot In Cleveland10:30 Brothers11:00 The Tonight Show With JayLeno12:00 The War At Home12:30 Hope & Faith13:00 Hope & Faith13:30 Brothers14:00 Ben And Kate14:30 Community15:00 Hot In Cleveland15:30 The Daily Show16:00 The Colbert Report16:30 The War At Home17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon18:00 Guys With Kids18:30 The Mindy Project19:00 The Mindy Project19:30 Hot In Cleveland20:00 Parks And Recreation20:30 The Cleveland Show21:00 The Daily Show21:30 The Colbert Report22:00 Saturday Night Live23:00 The Ricky Gervais Show

00:00 2401:00 White Collar02:00 Sons Of Anarchy03:00 Homeland04:00 Body Of Proof05:00 C.S.I. New York06:00 2407:00 Eureka08:00 Alphas09:00 C.S.I. New York10:00 White Collar11:00 Body Of Proof12:00 Emmerdale12:30 Coronation Street13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show14:00 Alphas15:00 2416:00 Emmerdale16:30 Coronation Street17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show18:00 Alphas19:00 Psych20:00 Top Gear (UK)21:00 C.S.I.22:00 Defiance23:00 Banshee

00:00 Bait02:00 Amphibious04:00 Starship Troopers: Invasion06:00 Arctic Blast08:00 Ice Road Terror09:45 Constantine12:00 Courageous14:15 Captain America: The FirstAvenger16:30 Constantine18:45 Twister20:45 Captain America: The FirstAvenger23:00 51

00:00 A Very Harold And KumarChristmas-1802:00 American Cowslip-PG1504:00 Ernest Goes To Jail-PG06:00 Shark Tale-PG08:00 Tin Cup-PG1510:15 Adventures In Babysitting12:00 Ernest Goes To Jail-PG14:00 A Kiss For Jed Wood-PG1516:00 Adventures In Babysitting18:00 Jack And Jill-PG1520:00 The Hangover 2-1822:00 A Very Harold And KumarChristmas-18

00:45 Across The Universe-PG1503:00 Dreamgirls-PG1505:15 Glee: The Concert Movie-06:45 War Horse-PG1509:15 Dreamgirls-PG1511:30 Courage-PG1513:15 A Kiss At Midnight-PG1515:00 Dead Again-PG1517:00 Joyful Noise-PG1519:00 Ceremony-PG1520:30 Troy-1823:15 Final Analysis-18

01:00 Kong Return To The Jungle02:45 Battle For Terra04:30 Dragon Hunters06:00 Kong Return To The Jungle08:00 Alex & Alexis10:00 Three Investigators And TheSecret Of Terror...11:45 Winx13:15 Ice Age: Continental Drift14:45 Back To The Sea16:30 The Search For Santa Paws18:15 Three Investigators And TheSecret Of Terror...20:00 The Missing Lynx21:45 Back To The Sea23:30 The Search For Santa Paws

00:00 Today’s Special-PG1502:00 Stuck On You-PG1504:00 Gnomeo & Juliet-PG1506:00 The Three Stooges-PG1508:00 Brave-PG10:00 A View From Here-PG1512:00 Phil Spector-PG1514:00 Project Nim-PG1516:00 Brave-PG17:45 Think Like A Man-PG1520:00 Outlaw Country-PG1522:00 Chernobyl Diaries-18

01:45 Rogue Cop-PG03:15 Somebody Up There LikesMe-PG05:10 The Sandpiper-PG07:00 Hot Millions-FAM08:45 High Society-FAM10:30 Show Boat-FAM12:15 Mildred Pierce-PG14:15 The Train Robbers-U16:00 Rio Bravo-U18:20 Reunion In France-FAM20:05 3 Godfathers-FAM

00:00 Bert The Conqueror00:30 Bert The Conqueror01:00 Xtreme Waterparks01:30 Xtreme Waterparks02:00 World’s Greatest MotorcycleRides03:00 Globe Trekker04:00 Bizarre Foods America05:00 Bizarre Foods America06:00 Eden Eats07:00 Globe Trekker08:00 Off Limits

ClassifiedsSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Kuwait KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TOWEDNESDAY (22/08/2013 TO 28/08/2013)

Fajr: 03:56Shorook 05:20Duhr: 11:51Asr: 15:26Maghrib: 18:22Isha: 19:43

Prayer timings

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Arrival Flights on Sunday 25/8/2013Airlines Flt Route Time BBC 43 DHAKA 00:05QTR 148 DOHA 00:05JZR 267 BEIRUT 00:20JZR 539 CAIRO 00:40RJA 642 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 01:25THY 5464 SABIHA 00:10THY 764 SABIHA 01:40ETH 620 ADDIS ABABA 01:45GFA 211 BAHRAIN 01:55MEA 408 BEIRUT 02:10UAE 853 DUBAI 02:25ETD 305 ABU DHABI-INTL 02:30THY 768 ISTANBUL 02:50CLX 610 LUXEMBOURG 03:10FDB 67 DUBAI 03:10MSR 612 CAIRO 03:15QTR 138 DOHA 03:30KAC 544 CAIRO 04:10THY 770 ISTANBUL 04:35DHX 170 BAHRAIN 05:10FDB 69 DUBAI 05:50KAC 412 MANILA 06:15JZR 555 ALEXANDRIA 06:20JZR 1541 CAIRO 06:25BAW 157 LONDON 06:30JZR 529 ASYUT 06:40KAC 382 DELHI 07:30FDB 53 DUBAI 07:45KAC 332 TRIVANDRUM 07:55KAC 284 DHAKA 08:15KAC 302 MUMBAI 07:50KAC 206 ISLAMABAD 07:25KAC 352 COCHIN 08:05UAE 855 DUBAI 08:25ABY 125 SHARJAH 08:50FDB 55 DUBAI 09:15IRA 603 SHIRAZ 09:20QTR 132 DOHA 09:25IZG 4161 MASHAD 09:25ETD 301 ABU DHABI-INTL 09:30IRC 6666 AHWAZ 10:10GFA 213 BAHRAIN 10:40MEA 404 BEIRUT 10:55JZR 165 DUBAI 11:35JZR 241 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 12:35JZR 561 SOHAG 12:00UAE 871 DUBAI 12:45MSR 610 CAIRO 13:00THY 766 ISTANBUL 13:10KAC 672 DUBAI 13:40QTR 140 DOHA 13:45KAC 774 RIYADH 13:45FDB 57 DUBAI 13:50IRC 6507 SHIRAZ 14:10SVA 500 JEDDAH 14:30KNE 472 JEDDAH 14:35OMA 645 MUSCAT 14:40JZR 257 BEIRUT 14:30

RJA 640 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 15:55JZR 535 CAIRO 16:10JZR 787 RIYADH 16:15QTR 134 DOHA 16:15ETD 303 ABU DHABI-INTL 16:35JZR 177 DUBAI 17:30SYR 341 LATAKIA 17:05KAC 1802 CAIRO 16:40UAE 857 DUBAI 16:55ABY 127 SHARJAH 17:10UAL 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 17:15GFA 215 BAHRAIN 17:20SVA 510 RIYADH 17:20JZR 777 JEDDAH 17:50NIA 251 ALEXANDRIA 18:00QTR 144 DOHA 18:25FDB 63 DUBAI 18:55GFA 219 BAHRAIN 19:05AXB 393 KOZHIKODE 19:15MSR 606 LUXOR 19:30JAI 572 MUMBAI 19:35AFG 415 KABUL 19:45FDB 61 DUBAI 20:00OMA 647 MUSCAT 20:00ABY 129 SHARJAH 20:05JZR 189 DUBAI 20:10JZR 481 SABIHA 20:10MEA 402 BEIRUT 20:15AZG 417 BAKU 20:00KAC 742 DAMMAM 13:30KAC 562 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 20:45KAC 786 JEDDAH 18:30KAC 166 PARIS 18:40KAC 102 NEW YORK 19:35KAC 502 BEIRUT 18:50KAC 542 CAIRO 18:15KAC 618 DOHA 19:10KAC 674 DUBAI 19:25KAC 514 TEHRAN 20:50KAC 172 FRANKFURT 21:15KLM 417 AMSTERDAM 21:05ALK 229 COLOMBO 21:10UAE 859 DUBAI 21:15ETD 307 ABU DHABI-INTL 21:30QTR 136 DOHA 21:35GFA 217 BAHRAIN 21:45JZR 185 DUBAI 22:40JZR 239 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 22:30QTR 146 DOHA 22:00JAI 576 COCHIN 22:05FDB 59 DUBAI 22:20AIC 981 CHENNAI 22:25UAL 981 BAHRAIN 22:40JZR 135 BAHRAIN 23:00DLH 636 FRANKFURT 23:10JAI 574 MUMBAI 23:20MSR 614 CAIRO 23:30PIA 205 LAHORE 23:40THY 772 ISTANBUL 23:45

Departure Flights on Sunday 25/8/2013Airlines Flt Route TimeAIC 976 GOA 00:05MSC 2404 ALEXANDRIA 00:10AXB 490 MANGALORE 00:15JAI 573 MUMBAI 00:20UAL 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 00:25DLH 637 FRANKFURT 00:30MSR 615 CAIRO 00:30THY 5465 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 01:10BBC 44 CHITTAGONG 01:30THY 773 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 02:20THY 765 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 02:40ETH 621 ADDIS ABABA 02:45MEA 409 BEIRUT 03:10THY 769 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 03:40UAE 854 DUBAI 03:45FDB 68 DUBAI 03:50MSR 613 CAIRO 04:15ETD 306 ABU DHABI 04:20QTR 139 DOHA 04:25CLX 852 HONG KONG 04:40QTR 149 DOHA 05:15JZR 560 SOHAG 05:35FDB 70 DUBAI 06:30RJA 643 AMMAN 06:35GFA 212 BAHRAIN 07:00JZR 240 AMMAN 07:10THY 771 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 07:10KAC 171 FRANKFURT 07:15JZR 164 DUBAI 07:25BAW 156 LONDON 08:25FDB 54 DUBAI 08:25JZR 256 BEIRUT 08:50KAC 117 NEW YORK 09:05JZR 534 CAIRO 09:10KAC 671 DUBAI 09:25ABY 126 SHARJAH 09:30UAE 856 DUBAI 09:50FDB 56 DUBAI 09:55KAC 1801 CAIRO 10:05ETD 302 ABU DHABI 10:15IRA 602 SHIRAZ 10:20KAC 773 RIYADH 10:20IZG 4162 MASHHAD 10:25QTR 133 DOHA 10:25KAC 741 DAMMAM 10:30KAC 501 BEIRUT 11:10IRC 6667 AHWAZ 11:10GFA 214 BAHRAIN 11:25KAC 541 CAIRO 11:30MEA 405 BEIRUT 11:55JZR 776 JEDDAH 12:25JZR 480 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 12:30KAC 103 LONDON 12:30JZR 786 RIYADH 12:50KAC 785 JEDDAH 13:00JZR 176 DUBAI 13:20MSR 611 CAIRO 14:00THY 767 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 14:10

UAE 872 DUBAI 14:15FDB 58 DUBAI 14:30QTR 141 DOHA 14:55KAC 673 DUBAI 15:05IRC 6508 SHIRAZ 15:10KNE 473 JEDDAH 15:30KAC 561 AMMAN 15:30OMA 646 MUSCAT 15:40SVA 503 MADINAH 15:45KAC 617 DOHA 15:45JZR 188 DUBAI 16:00KAC 513 TEHRAN 16:20RJA 641 AMMAN 16:55JZR 238 AMMAN 17:05QTR 135 DOHA 17:20ETD 304 ABU DHABI 17:20JZR 538 CAIRO 17:40ABY 128 SHARJAH 17:50SYR 342 LATAKIA 18:05UAE 858 DUBAI 18:15GFA 216 BAHRAIN 18:20SVA 511 RIYADH 18:20UAL 982 BAHRAIN 18:30JZR 184 DUBAI 18:30JZR 266 BEIRUT 18:40NIA 252 ALEXANDRIA 19:00QTR 145 DOHA 19:25FDB 64 DUBAI 19:35GFA 220 BAHRAIN 19:50JZR 134 BAHRAIN 20:05AXB 394 KOZHIKODE 20:15KAC 283 DHAKA 20:15MSR 619 ALEXANDRIA 20:30JAI 571 MUMBAI 20:35FDB 62 DUBAI 20:40AFG 415 JEDDAH 20:45ABY 120 SHARJAH 20:45OMA 648 MUSCAT 20:55MEA 403 BEIRUT 21:15DHX 171 BAHRAIN 21:50KLM 417 DAMMAM 22:05ETD 308 ABU DHABI 22:15ALK 230 COLOMBO 22:20UAE 860 DUBAI 22:25KAC 343 CHENNAI 22:30QTR 137 DOHA 22:35KAC 301 MUMBAI 22:40GFA 218 BAHRAIN 22:45KAC 205 ISLAMABAD 23:00AZG 418 AL MAKTOUM INTERNATIONAL 23:00FDB 60 DUBAI 23:00QTR 147 DOHA 23:05JAI 575 ABU DHABI 23:05KAC 351 KOCHI 23:10JZR 554 ALEXANDRIA 23:20JZR 1540 CAIRO 23:25KAC 411 BANGKOK 23:40KAC 415 KUALA LUMPUR 23:50JZR 528 ASYUT 23:55

CHANGE OF NAME

FOR SALE

ACCOMMODATION

I, Hareesha, IndianPassport No. E 6534426,have changed my name toHareesha Rama Moolya. (C4489)

I, MuruganandhamAsokan, Indian Passport No.E6570385, have changedmy name to Sam Ashok M.Anand. (C 4490)

25-8-2013

I, Thottakath Abu, holderof Indian Passport No.G9943123 issued at Kuwaiton 28/10/2008, havechanged my name toAboobacker Thottakath.

(C 4488)21-8-2013

I, Thamer Medhat Moh.Khattab holder of FilipinoPassport No. T T0990386hereby change my name toTamer Medhat Moh.Khattab, hereafter all deal-ings in my new name.

20-8-2013

For ladies or bachelorFilipino only near bigJamiya Farwaniya. AvailableAugust 25, 2013. Contact66158188 or 66826412.

20-8-2013

SITUATION VACANT

For a family of two adults, alive-in house boy and homecare. Good English andArabic is preferred, transfer-able visa. Contact: 99060969.

20-8-2013

SHARQIA-1KILLING SEASON (DIG) 1:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 3:15 PMJOBS (DIG) 5:30 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 8:00 PMJOBS (DIG) 10:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 12:30 AM

SHARQIA-2THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 2:00 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) 4:15 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 6:15 PMSpecial Show “THE SMURFS 2 (DIG)” 6:15 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 8:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 10:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 1:00 AM

SHARQIA-3THE CONJURING (DIG) 1:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 3:45 PMSpecial Show “THE SMURFS 2 (DIG)” 6:15 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 6:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 9:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 11:45 PM

MUHALAB-1JOBS (DIG) 1:30 PMRED 2 (DIG) 4:15 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 6:30 PMJOBS (DIG) 9:30 PM

MUHALAB-2KILLING SEASON (DIG) 1:30 PMFRITHE CONJURING (DIG) 1:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 3:30 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 5:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 7:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 10:00 PM

MUHALAB-3THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 12:45 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) 3:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 5:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 7:15 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 9:45 PM

FANAR-1RED 2 (DIG) 2:00 PMRED 2 (DIG) 4:30 PMJOBS (DIG) 6:45 PMJOBS (DIG) 9:15 PMJOBS (DIG) 11:45 PM

FANAR-2DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 12:30 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 2:30 PMSTREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) 4:30 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 6:45 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 8:45 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 10:45 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 12:45 AM

FANAR-3CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 12:30 PMTHE LONE RANGER (DIG) 3:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 6:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 9:30 PM

THE LONE RANGER (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-4THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 1:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 3:15 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 5:30 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 7:45 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 10:15 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-5THE CONJURING 1:15 PMTHE CONJURING 3:30 PMTHE CONJURING 5:45 PMEL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET 8:00 PMTHE CONJURING 10:00 PMTHE CONJURING 12:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MARINA-1DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 12:45 PMHAMMER OF G’S (DIG) 2:45 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 5:00 PMJOBS (DIG) 7:00 PMJOBS (DIG) 9:30 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MARINA-2THE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:30 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 3:00 PMEL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) 5:30 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 7:30 PMRED 2 (DIG) 10:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

MARINA-3THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 1:30 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) 4:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 6:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 8:15 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 10:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 12:45 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-1KILLING SEASON (DIG) 2:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 4:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 6:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 8:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 10:00 PMKILLING SEASON (DIG) 12:05 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-2CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 12:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 3:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 6:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 9:30 PMCHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 12:30 AM

AVENUES-3RED 2 (DIG) 1:00 PMTHE LONE RANGER (DIG) 3:30 PMRED 2 (DIG) 6:30 PM

RED 2 (DIG) 9:00 PMRED 2 (DIG) 11:30 PM

AVENUES-4THE CONJURING (DIG) 1:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 3:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 6:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 8:15 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 10:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 12:45 AM

360º- 1THE CONJURING (DIG) 12:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 2:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 5:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 7:15 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 9:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 11:45 PM

360º- 2RED 2 (DIG) 2:30 PMRED 2 (DIG) 5:00 PMRED 2 (DIG) 7:30 PMRED 2 (DIG) 10:00 PMRED 2 (DIG) 12:30 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 3DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) 1:30 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 3:45 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) 6:00 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 8:15 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 10:30 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:45 AM

360º- 4THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 2:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 4:15 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 6:30 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) 8:45 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 11:00 PMEL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) 1:15 AMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AL-KOUT.1EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) 12:30 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 2:30 PMJOBS (DIG) 5:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 7:30 PMEL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) 10:00 PMTHE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.2DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 12:45 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 2:45 PMDESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 5:00 PMTHE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 7:00 PMJOBS (DIG) 9:15 PMJOBS (DIG) 11:45 PMNO SUN+TUE+WED

AL-KOUT.3THE CONJURING (DIG) 1:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 3:30 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 5:45 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 8:00 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 10:15 PMTHE CONJURING (DIG) 12:30 AM

MATRIMONIAL

Marthomite parents inKuwait, invites proposalsfor their daughter(28/160/fair), BB Kuwait,Masters UK, well employedin Kuwait, from well quali-fied and employed

Mitsubishi Jeep Nativamodel 2011 white color, 6cylinder engine, alloy rimexcellent condition, 4wheel drive (installmentpossible), cash price KD3,400 negotiable. Tel:99194874. (C 4487)

20-8-2013

Marthoma/CSI/Orthodox/Jacobite boys preferably inKuwait/Dubai/USA/Australia/Canada with good familybackground and cleanhabits. Email:jacobthomask3@yahoo.com

(C 4485)20-8-2013

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Thank goodness for a day off—emotions seem to be clear and in balance.Your home environment, friends and surroundings are accented and receive attention.Perhaps it is rest that you have needed lately—whatever the case, you enjoy this time to restand visit with friends and loved ones. You could gain insight from young people today. Justbeing with all that energy is electrifying. Guiding, advising as well as just having a plain oldgood time is in order now. A sports activity out-of-doors can be enjoyed as things cool downlater today and may even involve some play in water. This could include water ball games, ski-ing or some other activity. Love, ideals and a strong sense of your own worth are vital to yourwellbeing and ability to function.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

STAR TRACK

Some sort of temporary obstacle may appear today but if you can lookbeyond the situation you will get through the problem quickly. You will find the afternoon fullof opportunities to be creative. Expressing yourself with a flair comes to mean a lot to you.Adding your name to an invention is quite a mark of accomplishment. A get-together withfriends can prove rewarding this evening. You work with real imagination and understandingin areas of the mind that are the most personal or private: in-depth psychology. You are like amidwife of the spirit, assisting at the birth of each individual going through a spiritual or rebirthprocess. You accept the natural process of birth, spiritual and physical, and have dedicatedyourself to helping it along.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

It’s a sleep late, catch up on chores and a goof off type of day. Someone maywant your help today but unless they really need it you may find yourself mov-

ing away from any stressful activity for now. It is important to take the time to refurbish yourenergies. Why not just express that point now others will understand. Later today, you will havean opportunity to have a special time with someone you love. You have new insight into home,possessions and the whole domestic scene. Financial independence gains your attention andfuture plans are in the making. You get away from it all with gardening, building and family life.You discover freedom in steady, predictable growth—like a growing plant. There are good feel-ings and harmony.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Questions of freedom and independence are absolutely essential to your way oflife—you are quick to revolt when anything is distracting. Activities with young peo-

ple, neighbors or friends add to those feelings of wellbeing today. Getting to know a distant cousin,half-sister or brother may bring a great deal of joy your way. This is a great time to be with others in anatmosphere of work or play. You love attention and somehow you manage to gravitate to the centerof almost any group or happening. Others accept you—they sense you are a leader and admire yourregal manner. All parts of your life are touched by your sense of originality and spontaneity.Everything hangs on the innovative approach to things and people that mark your style.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

You need to be part of a group that will lend you strength and encour-agement and allow you to input your own experience and creative talent. Perhaps thiswould entail a club for writers or artists. Working with others, especially as a community orhumanitarian effort, works well for you. This is what you may find yourself involved withtoday—some form of group give-and-take. You may be advising groups of people in finan-cial or business matters this afternoon—but not for long. You have a special affinity for sen-iors and for children, plus an innate love of animals, the helpless and the underdog. Aninner vision coupled with the ability to see the bigger picture often finds you working as ago-between with others.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

Learning and knowing a little about a lot of things, staying in touch and ontop of the latest developments satisfy a need for mental stimulation. Catching up on your read-ing and enjoying the neighbors and perhaps your relatives may play a role in this—young peo-ple figure more prominently in your life today. This is a time to take risks and dare to be a littleunconventional. You will prosper through new insights, inventions and an independent pointof view. This afternoon would be a good time to take in a good movie. Ideas and thoughts willhave greater meaning. That creative project you have been working on will get a big boosttonight. Sharpening these creative skills of yours may also help you to develop your psychicinsights.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

You are very sensitive to the slightest emotional change today. You have allthe artistic traits and talents to retire to a room and be creative. Putting effort into a smallamount of time will bring you some great results. Writing, music and cooking are just some ofthe areas in which you excel for now. This could mean writing, poetry, computer software,games, robotics, etc. General good feeling and a sense of support make this a good day. Thisafternoon you might consider some physical pursuits. Friends may want to take you to theirfavorite bowling rink or you may be brave enough to move out-of-doors and skate the after-noon away. Whatever the case, all this activity brings your energies back into balance nicely.Just in time for a special date.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

This is a good day to solve problems and make important decisions—atwork or at home. You find your way around almost any obstacle and are in con-

trol and able to guide yourself with ease. Your sense of inner direction is good and should leadto opportunities. Quantum physics, anti-gravity and many other expanded thinking or scientif-ic news items are fun pastimes for you and you may spend your time away from work lookingforward to the next convention of new inventions. You may encourage others to think outsidethe realm of what they think is possible and dream about what could be. Here is an opportuni-ty to get some insight into some future educational and professional possibilities. Life is cer-tainly getting to be an exciting event.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

A lighter workload of late leaves you with a better forecast this weekend.You actually have the time to attend a party or just lie on the beach somewhere.

This afternoon could prove a bit confusing when you find that one of your friends gave you thewrong directions, or you could not read someone’s writing. You will not be misguided for longhowever, especially when you see that instead of going where you wanted to go, you couldmake a u-turn near what could become a favorite hobby store. This is a day of surprises—goodones. Party plans go without a problem and you leave everyone laughing. Possessing goodcommon sense, you are very down-to-earth—nurturing and protective to all. Others appreci-ate you more than you realize.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

CAPRICORNThere could be levels of existence as well as technology that are far beyond

our current status here on this earth. Enjoying some current-day invention youmay remember a past science fiction story or movie that used the same invention. You haveideas of your own and they fit quite nicely on paper inside a hard cover called a book! You havea knack for always finding assistance in your interests. A book club or an editor in your ownfamily may have some very helpful advice toward creating this book. You may want to write sci-ence fiction or perhaps record your thoughts on some new technology. Handicapped peopleneed new technology and this is an area about which you may want to write; there is success.

You may be working on the next great idea.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

Your common sense is called for today when someone wants to involve youin a fantastic deal! Considering you may have a young person that could learn from yourinsights—you find a clever way to disclose the real truth of what really sounds like a fantasticdeal. A push to finish chores could find you at a most interesting fruit and vegetable stand thisafternoon. You may find plants and a variety of herbs for your picking as well. Later, you maydecide an animal needs a bath and the activity around this chore can end with much laughterand lighthearted fun. If you have an idea for a story or a poem, you may find the antics of youranimal a perfect fit for your story. Loved ones that surround you this evening gain from yourpresence. You are amused tonight.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Your community spirit may come into play today. There is a drive to workwith others on projects that concern humanitarian interest. There is an urge to find a way tomake your dreams a reality and this keeps you moving in a forward direction. There is a feelingof being a part of the bigger picture and that encourages you to make your forward energies insome area of politics. You are very communicative, not just a little curious—conversationscome easily. Study, research and investigations of all kinds may come into play today. You arealways searching out some answer or another. Family is important to you and you may findyourself planning a get-together for the evening or setting aside some time for a backyardcookout tonight or tomorrow.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

CROSSWORD 290

ACROSS1. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power ornumber).4. Germanic barbarian leader who ended the west-ern Roman Empire in 476 and became the first bar-barian ruler of Italy (434-493).12. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.15. A state of southwestern India.16. A great rani.17. Come into the possession of something con-crete or abstract.18. Involving the entire earth.20. (Sumerian and Babylonian) A solar deity.21. Imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of thetime) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its bound-aries and developed its bureaucracy.22. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.25. An anti-TNF compound (trade name Arava) thatis given orally.26. Fragrant resin obtain from trees of the familyBurseraceae and used as incense.28. English writer and a central member of theFabian Society (1858-1943).30. A metric unit of volume equal to one tenth of aliter.31. American Revolutionary patriot.35. An associate degree in nursing.36. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan andneighboring areas.40. A silvery ductile metallic element found primari-ly in bauxite.42. Being or occurring in fact or actuality.43. The smallest multiple that is exactly divisible byevery member of a set of numbers.45. A language unit by which a person or thing isknown.46. Someone who leaves one country to settle inanother.48. Concerning those not members of the clergy.50. A light touch or stroke.52. A very poisonous metallic element that hasthree allotropic forms.53. A radioactive element of the actinide series.55. In a murderous frenzy as if possessed by ademon.57. A legal document codifying the result of delib-erations of a committee or society or legislativebody.58. Having a heading or course in a certain direc-tion.61. A decree that prohibits something.64. English theoretical physicist who applied rela-tivity theory to quantum mechanics and predictedthe existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).66. The immature free-living form of most inverte-brates and amphibians and fish which at hatchingfrom the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent andmust metamorphose.68. Portuguese explorer who in 1488 was the firstEuropean to get round the Cape of Good Hope(thus establishing a sea route from the Atlantic toAsia) (1450-1500).70. An impure form of quartz consisting of bandedchalcedony.72. A city of central China.76. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in theblood.79. A dark region of considerable extent on the sur-face of the moon.80. American prizefighter who won the worldheavyweight championship three times (born in1942).81. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).83. The lean flesh of a fish that is often farmed.84. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.85. The great hall in ancient Persian palaces.86. Widely cultivated in tropical and subtropicalregions for its fragrant flowers and colorful fruits.

DOWN1. Oval reproductive body of a fowl (especially ahen) used as food.2. A cord fastened around the neck with an orna-mental clasp and worn as a necktie.3. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunkand fruit that resembles a gourd and has an ediblepulp called monkey bread.4. A member of the Siouan people formerly living inthe Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.5. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10liters.6. A midwestern state in north central United Statesin the Great Lakes region.7. Flat surface that rotates and pushes against air orwater.8. (botany) Of some seeds.9. Highly aromatic inner bark of the Canella winter-ana used as a condiment and a tonic.10. Native to Egypt but cultivated widely for its aro-matic seeds and the oil from them used medicinallyand as a flavoring in cookery.11. Support resembling the rib of an animal.12. Title for a civil or military leader (especially inTurkey).13. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing whol-ly or in part.14. An inactive volcano in Sicily.19. Found along western Atlantic coast.23. A mountain peak in the Andes in Bolivia (21,391feet high).24. The vein in the center of a leaf.27. Informal terms for a mother.29. Enclose in, or as if in, a case "my feet wereencased in mud.".32. Of or relating to or characteristic of the prehis-toric Aegean civilization.33. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair ofhollow pieces of wood or bone (usually heldbetween the thumb and fingers) that are made toclick together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythmwith the dance.34. A detective who follows a trail.37. A bluish-white lustrous metallic element.38. Having undesirable or negative qualities.39. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on askewer usually with vegetables.41. An accidental hole that allows something (fluidor light etc.) to enter or escape.44. Destruction of heart tissue resulting fromobstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle.47. A metric unit of length equal to one thousandthof a meter.49. An ancient port city in southwestern Spain.51. Red late-ripening apple.54. An emotional response that has been acquiredby conditioning.56. Stem of the rattan palm used for making canesand umbrella handles.59. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf ofAntalya.60. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.62. A college or university team that competes at alevel below the varsity team.63. A city of southeastern Mexico.65. Any taillike structure.67. A rare heavy polyvalent metallic element thatresembles manganese chemically and is used insome alloys.69. Not in action or at work.71. A system of high tension cables by which electri-cal power is distributed throughout a region.73. A republic in the Middle East in western Asia.74. A river in northern England that flows southeastthrough West Yorkshire.75. The back side of the neck.77. An accountant certified by the state.78. (informal) Informed about the latest trends.82. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earthgroup..

Yesterday’s Solution

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34s ta r s

Daily SuDoku

inf or m at ionSUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Ahmadi Sama Safwan Fahaeel Makka St 23915883Abu Halaifa Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd 23715414Danat Al-Sultan Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd 23726558

Jahra Modern Jahra Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 24575518Madina Munawara Jahra-Block 92 24566622

Capital Ahlam Fahad Al-Salem St 22436184Khaldiya Coop Khaldiya Coop 24833967

Farwaniya New Shifa Farwaniya Block 40 24734000Ferdous Coop Ferdous Coop 24881201Modern Safwan Old Kheitan Block 11 24726638

Hawally Tariq Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25726265Hana Salmiya-Amman St 25647075Ikhlas Hawally-Beirut St 22625999Hawally & Rawdha Hawally & Rawdha Coop 22564549Ghadeer Jabriya-Block 1A 25340559Kindy Jabriya-Block 3B 25326554Ibn Al-Nafis Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25721264Mishrif Coop Mishrif Coop 25380581Salwa Coop Salwa Coop 25628241

OphthalmologistsDr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT)Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426

General PractitionersDr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501

UrologistsDr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427

For labor-related inquiries and complaints:

Call MSAL hotline 128

Sabah Hospital 24812000

Amiri Hospital 22450005

Maternity Hospital 24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700

Chest Hospital 24849400

Farwaniya Hospital 24892010

Adan Hospital 23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300

Al-Razi Hospital 24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9

Kaizen center 25716707

Rawda 22517733

Adaliya 22517144

Khaldiya 24848075

Kaifan 24849807

Shamiya 24848913

Shuwaikh 24814507

Abdullah Salem 22549134

Nuzha 22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764

Qadsiya 22515088

Dasmah 22532265

Bneid Al-Gar 22531908

Shaab 22518752

Qibla 22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla 22451082

Mirqab 22456536

Sharq 22465401

Salmiya 25746401

Jabriya 25316254

Maidan Hawally 25623444

Bayan 25388462

Mishref 25381200

W Hawally 22630786

Sabah 24810221

Jahra 24770319

New Jahra 24575755

West Jahra 24772608

South Jahra 24775066

North Jahra 24775992

North Jleeb 24311795

Ardhiya 24884079

Firdous 24892674

Omariya 24719048

N Khaitan 24710044

Fintas 23900322

Al-Madeena 22418714

Al-Shuhada 22545171

Al-Shuwaikh 24810598

Al-Nuzha 22545171

Sabhan 24742838

Al-Helaly 22434853

Al-Faiha 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

GOVERNORATE PHARMACY ADDRESS PHONE

Plastic Surgeons

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari 22617700

Dr. Abdel Quttainah 25625030/60

Family Doctor

Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists

Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians

DrAdrian arbe 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

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

Paediatricians

Dr. Khaled Hamadi 25665898

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard 25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar 22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof 25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare 23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew 24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (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

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan 25345875

Gastrologists

Dr. Sami Aman 22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali 22633135

Endocrinologist

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924

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

Consultant Cardiologist

Dr. Farida Al-Habib 2611555-2622555 MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

Soor CenterTel: 2290-1677Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.comwww.soorcenter.com

Psychologists/Psychotherapists

PRIVATE CLINICS

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Kaizen center25716707

Afghanistan 0093Albania 00355Algeria 00213Andorra 00376Angola 00244Anguilla 001264Antiga 001268Argentina 0054Armenia 00374Australia 0061Austria 0043Bahamas 001242Bahrain 00973Bangladesh 00880Barbados 001246Belarus 00375Belgium 0032Belize 00501Benin 00229Bermuda 001441Bhutan 00975Bolivia 00591Bosnia 00387Botswana 00267Brazil 0055Brunei 00673Bulgaria 00359Burkina 00226Burundi 00257Cambodia 00855Cameroon 00237Canada 001Cape Verde 00238Cayman Islands 001345Central African 00236Chad 00235Chile 0056China 0086Colombia 0057Comoros 00269Congo 00242Cook Islands 00682Costa Rica 00506Croatia 00385Cuba 0053Cyprus 00357Cyprus (Northern) 0090392Czech Republic 00420Denmark 0045Diego Garcia 00246Djibouti 00253Dominica 001767Dominican Republic 001809Ecuador 00593Egypt 0020El Salvador 00503England (UK) 0044Equatorial Guinea 00240Eritrea 00291Estonia 00372Ethiopia 00251Falkland Islands 00500Faroe Islands 00298Fiji 00679Finland 00358France 0033French Guiana 00594French Polynesia 00689Gabon 00241Gambia 00220Georgia 00995Germany 0049Ghana 00233Gibraltar 00350Greece 0030Greenland 00299Grenada 001473Guadeloupe 00590Guam 001671Guatemala 00502Guinea 00224Guyana 00592Haiti 00509Holland (Netherlands) 0031Honduras 00504Hong Kong 00852Hungary 0036Ibiza (Spain) 0034Iceland 00354India 0091Indian Ocean 00873Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098Iraq 00964Ireland 00353Italy 0039Ivory Coast 00225Jamaica 001876Japan 0081Jordan 00962Kazakhstan 007Kenya 00254Kiribati 00686Kuwait 00965Kyrgyzstan 00996Laos 00856Latvia 00371Lebanon 00961Liberia 00231Libya 00218Lithuania 00370Luxembourg 00352Macau 00853Macedonia 00389Madagascar 00261Majorca 0034Malawi 00265Malaysia 0060Maldives 00960Mali 00223Malta 00356Marshall Islands 00692Martinique 00596Mauritania 00222Mauritius 00230Mayotte 00269Mexico 0052Micronesia 00691Moldova 00373Monaco 00377Mongolia 00976Montserrat 001664Morocco 00212Mozambique 00258Myanmar (Burma) 0095Namibia 00264Nepal 00977Netherlands (Holland)0031Netherlands Antilles 00599New Caledonia 00687New Zealand 0064Nicaragua 00505Nigar 00227Nigeria 00234Niue 00683Norfolk Island 00672Northern Ireland (UK)0044North Korea 00850Norway 0047Oman 00968Pakistan 0092Palau 00680Panama 00507Papua New Guinea 00675Paraguay 00595Peru 0051Philippines 0063Poland 0048Portugal 00351Puerto Rico 001787Qatar 00974Romania 0040Russian Federation 007Rwanda 00250Saint Helena 00290Saint Kitts 001869Saint Lucia 001758Saint Pierre 00508Saint Vincent 001784Samoa US 00684Samoa West 00685San Marino 00378Sao Tone 00239Saudi Arabia 00966Scotland (UK) 0044Senegal 00221Seychelles 00284Sierra Leone 00232Singapore 0065Slovakia 00421Slovenia 00386Solomon Islands 00677

INTERNATIONALCALLS

36L I F E S T Y L ESUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

G o s s i p

Katy Perry sells LA marital home The ‘Roar’ singer has rid herself of the Mediterranean-style mansion in West Hollywood, California, she bought in June 2011 for

$6.5 million six months after she and Russell tied the knot in India. The pop star had intended to make it the couple’s mainhome but they split in December 2011 after being wed for just 14 months. According to RadarOnline.com, the luxurious proper-

ty is kitted out with ornate tiles, rod iron fixtures, curved ceilings and art glass windows and spans over 8,835 square feet. The sale ofthe seven-bedroom and nine-bathroom home, which is based near the famous Sunset Strip, comes after reports Katy slashed theprice to attract a buyer. Katy - who is now dating John Mayer - reportedly had her three-acre property inspected by supermodelHeidi Klum, who was house-hunting in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Martin Kristen for a “family home” to house the couple and herfour children - Leni, nine, Henry, seven, Johan, six, and Lou, three. The couple - who got together last year following Heidi’s split fromhusband Seal - were believed to be interested in the property because the children’s bedrooms would be on the same floor as themaster bedroom enabling them to keep a close eye on their brood. It is not known if Heidi was the eventual buyer.

Eva Longoria splits from Ernesto Arguello

The former ‘Desperate Housewives’ star and the Miami-based entrepreneur - whomet when he starred on ‘Ready For Love’, the ill-fated reality TV show she produced- called time on their relationship this week after she decided it wasn’t working out.

A source told Us Weekly:“It wasn’t that serious. Hewas fun.” The news willcome as a shock to friends,who believed Ernesto, 34,was so serious about the38-year-old beauty that hewas already consideringmarriage. A friend previ-ously revealed: “Eva is afirm believer in marriage.Ernie may be a playerwhen he is single, but he’snever cheated on anyoneand is very religious. Ithink the fact that he’s sofamily oriented is what gother. “My guess would bethey’ll be married withinthe next year. “It’s very real- they’re both in love,which is rare for him.They’re always together.His family likes her a lot ...they’ve never seen him sotaken by someone. “Eva isso down to earth, shedoesn’t ‘act famous’ at all.He is definitely not datingher because she is famous... they’re not a Hollywoodcouple. They’re very realand very in love.”

The ‘Explosions’ hitmaker is keen to give the one-month-old tot - the son of Prince William andDuchess Catherine, who is third-in-line to the

British throne - a gift to commemorate his birth, butshe admits she’s still pondering over what to buy himbecause he already has everything he could possiblyneed. Speaking to the Daily Mail newspaper, she said:“I fully intend to send William and Kate a gift for him,but I have no idea what to get. What do you give some-one who has everything? Still, they’re truly lovely peo-ple so I’d imagine they’d be grateful for anything.” The26-year-old singer hasn’t seen Prince William andDuchess Catherine - who was formerly known as KateMiddleton - since she performed at their weddingreception at Buckingham Palace in 2011, but she insiststhey regularly send her letters and stay in touch. Sheexplained: “I’ve always been a fan of the royal familyand I love that we have that huge history. It’s really spe-cial. “I haven’t seen William and Kate since, but they’vesent letters and their best wishes. I saw Harry, though,three months ago when I performed at a charity eventof his. I played quite late in the evening so everyonewas a bit drunk!” Ellie admits she’s been blown away byher chart success around the world and sometimesprefers to think of it as a joke because it doesn’t feel likereality. She said: “It’s easier to pretend my life’s a come-dy show. That’s how I deal with things sometimes,because some of it just doesn’t seem real.”

Ellie Goulding to send Prince George gift

David and Victoria treated their four children - sons Brooklyn, 14,Romeo, 10, Cruz, eight, and two-year-old daughter Harper - to afun-filled trip to the world-famous theme park in California on

Thursday as part of their extended summer holiday in Los Angeles. Theclan were seen racing around the park to make the most of the attrac-tions, with David pushing his adorable denim-clad daughter along in abuggy. All eyes were on Harper as she enjoyed a spin on the merry-go-round sitting on a horse alone as the former soccer star looked onproudly, armed with a digital SLR camera to take snapshots. The kids -who were also accompanied by minders - were seen tucking into ice-

cream and enjoying family-friendly rides including Dumbo the FlyingElephant, but steered clear of the faster attractions such as SpaceMountain. The Beckhams relocated back to their native Britain earlierthis year, but have been staying in LA - where they lived for years whenDavid played for Los Angeles Galaxy - for the summer after Davidannounced his retirement from professional soccer. The family havebeen making the most of the Stateside sunshine, and Victoria recentlyshared a photo on Twitter of her walking hand-in-hand with Harper on ahike. She added the caption: “Love hiking with my babies! X vb”.

Beckhams at Disneyland

Rochelle hates when husband shows off his cleavage

The ‘Roar’ singer has rid herself of the Mediterranean-style mansion inWest Hollywood, California, she bought in June 2011 for $6.5 millionsix months after she and Russell tied the knot in India. The pop star

had intended to make it the couple’s main home but they split in December2011 after being wed for just 14 months. According to RadarOnline.com,the luxurious property is kitted out with ornate tiles, rod iron fixtures,curved ceilings and art glass windows and spans over 8,835 square feet.The sale of the seven-bedroom and nine-bathroom home, which is basednear the famous Sunset Strip, comes after reports Katy slashed the price toattract a buyer. Katy - who is now dating John Mayer - reportedly had herthree-acre property inspected by supermodel Heidi Klum, who was house-hunting in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Martin Kristen for a “familyhome” to house the couple and her four children - Leni, nine, Henry, seven,Johan, six, and Lou, three. The couple - who got together last year follow-ing Heidi’s split from husband Seal - were believed to be interested in theproperty because the children’s bedrooms would be on the same floor asthe master bedroom enabling them to keep a close eye on their brood. It isnot known if Heidi was the eventual buyer.

Brad Pitt, Angelina’s daughter to be maid of honour The couple are reportedly in the final planning stages for their big day and are set to tiethe knot in Los Angeles in the next few weeks. Zahara, eight, has her heart set on having amajor role and her parents seem happy to fulfil her wish and the couple’s other kids,Maddox, 12, Pax, nine, Shiloh, seven, and five-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, will alsobe part of the ceremony. A source told the new US issue of OK! magazine: “Zahara wantsto be maid of honour and knowing Angelina she’ll let her. Shiloh wants to be an usher andPax and Maddox have said they’ll help Brad’s brother Doug be best man. The wedding ismainly for their children and they want it to happen at home in LA.” The wedding was orig-inally supposed to take place at their Chateau Miraval estate in Provence, France, but Bradand Angelina chose LA so that all of their friends and family can attend. The source added:

“Angie has said that a destina-tion wedding would be hardon most people. A wedding attheir home in LA would makeit fun and easy for guests toattend. “She wants toexchange vows in a registryoffice with immediate familyand the six kids and then hosta huge party at their place.”Since her double mastectomyoperation to prevent breastcancer earlier this year,Angelina has wanted to bringall of her relatives and Brad’srelations together as she hasrealised the importance offamily.

The duo - who share a manager, ScooterBraun - recently collaborated on the song‘Almost Is Never Enough’ for ‘The Mortal

Instruments: City of Bones’ soundtrack whichreportedly led to a romance. A source told UsWeekly: “It’s very, very new. Nate sends her flow-ers everyday.” Ariana, 20, recently gushed aboutNathan in an interview, praising his work on

their duet. She said: “Nathan just sang the hellout of it. I thought it was Brian McKnight. I’m like,‘Who is this?’ Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it. Ididn’t know he had that in him. I saw him per-form live on one of the radio shows that we wereat together, and I was like, ‘Damn, he can sing.’This song I think will pleasantly surprise a lot ofpeople. It’s very beautiful and very emotional

and I love, love, love what Nathan did to it. It wasa great, great, great surprise.” The ‘Sam & Cat’actress previously dated YouTube star Jai Brooksof the Janoskians and was recently linked toJustin Bieber.

37L I F E S T Y L ESUNDAY, AUGUST 25 2013

G o s s i p

The 15-year-old aspiring actress is livingunder a false name at the $14,000-per-month therapeutic private school, locat-

ed just outside California, and is said to bedoing really well and on the road to recoveryfollowing her alleged suicidal attempt in June.A source told RadarOnline.com: “Paris isabsolutely thriving and happy at the boardingschool. She is making friends, and it’s wonder-ful to see, given the darkness that had takenover her life.” The troubled teen - the daugh-ter of the late Michael Jackson - has beenenjoying catching up with her family by regu-larly taking part in video calls via the internet.

The source explained: “Paris regularly videochats with grandmother Katherine, biologicalmom Debbie Rowe, and her brothers. “Heraccess to the Internet is strictly monitored.The students at the school come from verydiverse backgrounds, and Paris is treated justlike everyone else, which she truly loves.” Pariswill continue to stay at the boarding school,which specialises in teaching troubledteenagers, for another month to ensure thather recovery remains permanent. An insidersaid: “Paris will remain at the school for thenext term. The most important thing for Parisis to have stability, a routine, and be in a safe

environment so she can deal with her issues.”However, her mother Debbie recentlyrevealed her outrage after snaps of her off-spring at the school’s graduation ceremony -surrounded by a new bunch of friends - alongwith highly private information about Pariswere sold by someone linked to the school.She told pals: “These people, including somewebsites, are screwing with my daughter’sability to get better.”

Paris Jackson happy at boarding school

Kanye West reveals picture of daughter

Liam Payne decides to ‘let loose’ and enjoy life in One Direction

The 19-year-old star - who is one fifth of the chart-topping boy band along with NiallHoran, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson - admits he was tightly woundwhen he first joined the band in 2010 but has now opted to go with the flow and

make the most of the unique experiences the group is presented. He explained to TheSun newspaper: “It’s a new dawn for Liam. I’m having a laugh now. I’ve let loose in thesense that I haven’t got that much to worry about any more. I’m still quite mature butwhether I’m sensible I’m not so sure. “The first year or so, I used to just get up, go towork, go to the hotel and go to the gym and that was it. But I’m up for it now. Like his‘Best Song Ever’ bandmates, Liam has found it difficult to adjust to his global fame andsays constantly being recognised has made it difficult to do normal things like go shop-ping. He said of a recent incident in the United States: “We decided to go shopping. Wewent in two shops and suddenly there were literally 300 people outside. They werepushing so much that a girl fell through the window. So I sat down out of sight as Ithought that would calm the situation. Yeah, that was just a bit much.”

The ‘Jobs’ actor is notoriously secretiveabout his relationship with Mila Kunis fol-lowing his highly-publicised split from

Demi Moore last year, and regrets that famehas left him so distrustful of others. Speakingto French magazine Madame Figaro, he said:“I’ve finally learnt that some things in life havemore merit when they’re kept secret.Relationships are one of those things. Whenyou become a celebrity, you start being suspi-cious in every new circumstance. But I’d like torelate more to other people, be able to helpthem even...” The 35-year-old star doesn’t thinkfans should be envious of him because he’ssuffered the same personal struggles as every-one else. He explained: “I’m just like any otherguy. The difference is that people think my lifeis better than theirs. It’s not completely false,but I’ve also been down and had to pick upthe pieces. But being an actor has definitelymade me mature as a person.” The comic actormajored in Biochemistry at university andbelieves his geeky science background hashelped him perfect his acting craft.

Ashton Kutcher is suspicious of everyone

Nathan Sykes dating Ariana Grande Hilaria Baldwin to give birth

The 29-year-old yogainstructor checked intoNew York’s Mount Sinai

hospital where she is expect-ed to have her first child with55-old husband Alec Baldwinat any time. A source told theNew York Post’s Page Six: “Thebaby hasn’t arrived yet, but itcould be any moment.” Hilariapreviously revealed plans for anatural childbirth, althoughshe isn’t adverse to having anepidural if the pain gets toobad. She said: “Right now, Iwant to do it naturally. That’snot to say there’s somethingwrong with the epidural, butthat’s the way I was raised -I’m a pretty natural person.But if it does get to the pointwhere I am screaming for theepidural, I have no problemswith that. We’ll see where itgoes.” The couple have alsobeen reading the pregnancyself-help book ‘What To ExpectWhen You’re Expecting’ sothey know that everything isprogressing normally. Hilariaexplained: “We read parts of‘What to Expect When You’reExpecting’ together every day.He’ll point things out and ask‘How are you feeling? Are youhaving that?’” Alec already hasa 17-year-old daughter fromhis previous marriage to KimBaldwin.

During an appearance on his girlfriend Kim Kardashian’s mother’s chat show, heshowed a photograph of North, who was born two months ago, explaining to KrisJenner that they didn’t want to sell the first pictures and he thought Kris’ show was

the perfect place to introduce her. He said: “It’s all this talk about baby pictures and ‘canyou get paid for the baby picture or do you want to put it on a magazine.’ “And for me andyour daughter we have not attempted to get paid for anything, we have not attempted toput it on a magazine. “You just stop all of the noise and I thought it would be really cool onher grandmother’s season finale to bring a picture of North.” Kanye, 36, also insisted hedoesn’t care what North chooses to be when she grows up but he and Kim, 32, will sup-port her in everything she does. He said: “I am going to give her the opportunity to devel-op her different skill sets and then decide what she is the best at and we will give her thesupport and let her follow what she loves the most.” Meanwhile, Kanye revealed becominga father has made him regret his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speechat the MTV Video Music Awards, four years ago. He said: “The last thing I would want tohappen to my daughter is some crazy drunk black guy in a leather shirt to come up andcut her off at an awards show. That’s the last thing I’d want.”

38L I F E S T Y L ESUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

F a s h i o n

‘Short Term 12’ explores love amid the turmoil of foster care

America’s foster care system is the unlikely settingfor a love story in “Short Term 12,” an independ-ent film that examines a young couple’s relation-

ship amid the troubles, trauma and camaraderie ofteenagers in foster care.

Written and directed by filmmaker Destin Cretton,“Short Term 12,” which opened in U.S. theaters on Friday,follows social workers at a foster care facility as they con-front the everyday challenges of working with aban-doned and abused children.

The film is centered on Grace, played by Brie Larson,a social worker who finds her own trauma from sexualabuse creeping up as she connects with the adolescentsin her care.

Cretton, 34, told Reuters that he wanted a centralcharacter who shared not just a similar background tothat of the children, but “something so intense that shehas not even come close to dealing with it.”

“All the ancillary storylines all serve one single pur-pose, to see how they affect Grace and to see how shereacts to them. Every scene with a kid is either pushingGrace to feel that she can do this, or causing her to feelshe can’t,” Cretton said.

The director, who was inspired to write “Short Term12” from his experiences of working in a California grouphome facility in his first job after college, told Reuters hewanted to avoid casting judgement on foster homes.

“This movie is not meant to be an umbrella state-ment on the current state of the foster care system.There are definitely highlights of certain complicationsthere, but our hope is that anybody can connect to thismovie and relate it to their own life,” the director said.

Larson, 23, and John Gallagher Jr., 29, who is bestknown as Jim Harper on HBO drama “The Newsroom,”form the couple, Grace and Mason, who fall in love whileworking together at the foster care facility.

“At the center of this film was a really beautiful, hon-est, deep relationship between these two people thatcare about each other very deeply but are up againstsome very intense odds,” Gallagher said.

“Short Term 12” premiered at the South bySouthwest film festival in Austin, Texas, this year andwon the grand jury narrative feature award and the nar-rative audience award.

It has drawn positive reviews, earning a score of 84out of 100 on review aggregator Metaritic.com.

Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern said thefilm is “a big deal on a small scale” for showcasingCretton’s narrative and filmmaking skills and “Larson’sabundant talent.”

Larson, who has supporting roles in this year’s “TheSpectacular Now” and “Don Jon,” said she did intenseresearch into the rules of foster care and the traumassuffered by the teenagers to form her understanding ofGrace.

“The complexity of Grace was really exciting to me,”Larson said. “There was so much to work with and a lotof room for me to add in my own interpretation and cre-ate this whole internal life in her.” —Reuters

Review

Is It the Next Great

Bloody Slasher Flick,

or Just Plain Sick?

Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett’s slash-er flick “You’re Next” has been hailed as an instant clas-sic by the horror community since debuting at the

Toronto Film Festival in 2011, and Lionsgate is finally handingthe movie over to mainstream audiences today. So does it liveup to the hype?

According the majority of critics who have reviewed thefilm so far, yes. A day before its release, “You’re Next” has gar-nered a “fresh” rating on critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes,with 80 percent of 60 reviews applauding the film for payinghomage to horror classics, while putting a fresh spin on anoften-disappointing genre.

TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde called the gory home-invasionthriller “exquisitely tense” while noting its exceptional wit andsteady stream of shocks.

“Part of what makes ‘You’re Next’ so effective is its balanceof outrageous carnage with the thoroughly believableresponses of its characters,” Duralde wrote. “No one sitsaround analyzing the action ‘Scream’-style, but these peopleare at least smart enough to debate whether or not it’s such ahot idea to go into the basement. And as slasher-movie LastPersons Standing go, this movie delivers a doozy.”

New York Post critic Kyle Smith was also impressed by thebalance of horror and humor Wingard was able to maintainthroughout.

“‘You’re Next’ is the kind of movie that somewhat plays thegore for laughs,” Smith wrote. “But the comedy isn’t camp orannoyingly self-referential, and though the laughs defuse ten-sion, they don’t completely replace it either.”

Los Angeles Times critic Robert Abele echoed those senti-ments, giving props to Wingard and Barrett for injectingmuch-needed fresh blood into a premise that has been doneto death.

The surprisingly adept mixture of tones - naturalism, dys-functional family satire, winking slasher nostalgia, twistyvengeance thriller - is offbeat enough to keep even hardenedconnoisseurs of body-count entertainment on their toes,”Abele wrote. “Even more remarkable is Wingard’s understand-ing that answering horrific, seemingly senseless carnage witha second half that reveals a smart, tough, resourceful hero isthe shrewdest way to keep an ongoing bloodbath cathartical-ly enjoyable.”

Not everyone, however, was impressed with Wingard’s firstmajor release. USA Today critic Scott Bowles faulted the filmfor being a tad too repetitious in his half-star review.

“‘Next’ is a film of repetition, a bloody dance consisting ofthree steps: stab, scream, repeat,” Bowles wrote. “That’s aboutall there is to this wretched exercise in corpse stacking.”

While the Miami Herald’s Rene Rodriguez gave the filmprops for giving the masked murderers a reason for their ram-page, the negative review concludes the elaborate explana-tion isn’t worth the audience’s time.

“There’s an elaborate reason these psychos have targetedthe Davison family. You just have to endure lots of gratinglybad acting, preposterous coincidences and hackneyed situa-tions before learning the truth, “ Rodriguez wrote. “The movieis not worth the effort.”

Despite a few naysayers, it looks like Wingard - who previ-ously directed segments in horror anthologies “The ABCs ofDeath” and “V/H/S” - should be proud of his first wide theatri-cal release. In fact, Empire Magazine’s David Hughesbestowed one of the greatest compliments a budding horrordirector can recieve, by comparing him to the filmmakerbehind the 1981 cult classic “Evil Dead.”

“For a film whose title has such a sense of urgency, it’s sur-prising it’s taken two years to be released,” Hughes wrote. “Don’tbe put off: Wingard is on his way to becoming the next SamRaimi, and ‘You’re Next’ may well be your next favourite horrorfilm.” —Reuters

Review

In a year that saw Netflix competing withbroadcast and cable for primetimeEmmys, the Television Academy contin-

ues its bid to recognize content in non-tra-ditional and second-screen medias.

Bravo, OWN and Nickelodeon are amongthe networks whose work was recognizedby special juries in the Outstanding CreativeAchievement In Interactive Media category,which covers four separate fields:Multiplatform Storytelling, OriginalInteractive Program, Social TV Experience,as well as User Experience and VisualDesign.

The juries, composed of members of theAcademy’s Interactive Media peer group,were able to choose one winner, multiplewinners or no winners in each field. In allfour cases, they opted for a single winnere.

“More than ever before, Television hasbecome an interactive medium in whichthe audience has a role in driving the story-telling, participating as a fan and engagingin community and sponsorship activities,”said Interactive Media peer group governorLori H. Schwartz.

The Emmys will be presented during theCreative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday,Sept. 15 at the Nokia Theatre in L.A. Live. Anedited version of the ceremony will air onSaturday, Sept. 21 at 9/8c on FXX.

The interactive media winners, withdescriptions from the ATAS press release:

Outstanding Creative Achievement InInteractive Media - MultiplatformStorytelling

Top Chef’s Last Chance KitchenBravoTV.com Bravo Media,

Magical ElvesBravo Production Team, Magical Elves

Production Team, BravoDigital/Social Team, Bravo Creative TeamTop Chef’s award-winning linear series

was expanded into a comprehensive digital“buffet” and tantalizing interactive experi-ence for foodies with the companion LastChance Kitchen series. This component,available on web and mobile platforms,Bravo’s Now app, VOD and EST, requiredactive input from the viewing audience,which in turn influenced and impactedevents on the linear series. Each week, asTop Chef Competitors were eliminated, theygot a second chance to battle that week’swinner on this digital series. Fans interactedwith the contestants and judges, and evengot cooking themselves to determinewhich of the dismissed chefs would be thelast one standing in the digital series andwould have a chance to appear on the TopChef finale. 52% of Top Chef’s on-air audi-ence engaged in Last Chance Kitchen andexperienced the series in a collaborativeway.

Outstanding Creative Achievement InInteractive Media - Original InteractiveProgram

The Lizzie Bennet Diariesyoutube.com/lizziebennet PemberleyDigital, Jay Bushman, Transmedia Producer,Bernie Su, Executive Producer, AlexandraEdwards, Transmedia Editor

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is the award-winning, record-breaking, modern multi-platform adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Prideand Prejudice,” based around a fictional vlogkept by Lizzie Bennet, a 24-year-old gradstudent with an uncertain future, a moun-tain of debt and her best friend Charlottebehind the camera. When the LBD began in

April of 2012 with two videos a week post-ed at Lizzie’s YouTube channel(http://youtube.com/lizziebennet), therewere only four characters appearing onscreen. Unbeknownst to the audience, sev-eral other characters were conversing witheach other over social media which kickedoff a rapidly coruscating expansion of theLBD storyworld. Characters that only exist-ed on Twitter soon began appearing oncamera and even started their own chan-nels, with one of them posting song recom-mendations and movie check-ins a full 10months before they were to ever appear oncamera. Throughout the entire process, theLBD characters used their social media pres-ence to interact with the audience, creatingan addictive world of engagement, whiledriving important plot points for the mainvideo through their separate channels.

Outstanding Creative Achievement InInteractive Media - Social TV Experience

Oprah’s Lifeclass Oprah.com/Lifeclass,OWN Digital

The award-winning series Oprah’sLifeclass is a richly interactive, worldwidesocial experience for millions of studentswho participate in inspiring conversationswith Oprah Winfrey on-air, online and viasocial media. For each class, Oprah is joinedby a hand-picked expert, and together theyinteract with viewers to share principles andtools that can help people live more mean-ingful and fulfilling lives. Prior to the sched-uled airing of Lifeclass on OWN, key influ-encers in the social sphere on that topic aregiven a sneak peek of the episode, andinvited to participate in the Sunday nightsocial dialogue. Lifeclass consistently ranksin the top ten “most social shows” in prime-

time, according to Blue Fin Labs. After air-ing, the conversations continue throughoutthe social space and in a digital classroomat Oprah.com, where tools are provided tohelp viewers reach their own “Aha”Moments via an extensive companion cur-riculum, including class notes (thanks toStorify) and assessments, and Life Workquestions that can be saved in their customprofile.

Outstanding Creative Achievement InInteractive Media - User Experience AndVisual Design

The Nick App Nickelodeon, NickelodeonDigital The Nick App is a branded experi-ence that allows kids to watch and play Nickin unprecedented ways. This free App fea-tures a moveable tile layout that can beswiped in any direction, promoting discov-ery and exploration and offering kidsinstant and on-demand access to morethan 1,000 pieces of Nickelodeon-themedcontent. It includes short-form videos oforiginal skits, sketch and comedic bits,behind-the-scenes clips and photos fromNick stars and animated characters, fullepisodes, polls, new games, and surprisingrandom hilarity. The Nick App supports thefull Nickelodeon on-air line up as well asspecials such as the annual Kids’ ChoiceAwards. The App boasts new content dailyand includes fun and funny interactive ele-ments such as the “Do Not Touch” buttonthat triggers an array of disruptive comedyand surprises. Nickelodeon’s goal was to gobeyond a typical app that offers free videoviewing and instead offer more interactivecontent, games, and video not seen on tele-vision - whenever and wherever the userwants it. —Reuters

Bravo, OWN, Nickelodeon among interactive Media Emmy winners

French actor Gerard Depardieu attends a ceremony held in his honor at the Chateau Bourgogne inEstaimpuis yesterday. Authorities in the Belgian municipality of Estaimpuis made their most famousresident, Gerard Depardieu, an honorary citizen yesterday ahead of a housewarming barbecue theFrench actor is due to host. —AFP

Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson’s disease

Grammy-winning singer Linda Ronstadt is sufferingfrom Parkinson’s disease and says she can no longer“sing a note,” the group AARP said on Friday.

In an interview with AARP to be published next week,Ronstadt, 67, said the Parkinson’s diagnosis she receivedeight months ago had given her an answer to why shecouldn’t sing.

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” she is quotedas saying in her interview with the lobbying group for old-er Americans. “No matter how hard you try.”

AARP said she has poles to help her walk on unevenground and uses a wheelchair when traveling.

“Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose, so when I finallywent to a neurologist and he said, ‘Oh, you haveParkinson’s disease,’ I was completely shocked. I wouldn’thave suspected that in a million, billion years,” she says inthe interview.

Ronstadt has won nearly a dozen Grammy awards andsold more than 100 million albums worldwide, accordingto Simon & Schuster, which is due to publish her memoirthis year.

The Arizona-born singer’s 1974 record, “Heart Like aWheel,” yielded hits including “You’re No Good,” “When WillI Be Loved” and “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.”

The soft rock album soared to No. 1, selling more than2 million copies, according to the AllMusic referencewebsite. —Reuters

Afederal judge on Friday dismissed the final compo-nent of a racial discrimination and sexual harassmentcase against celebrity chef Paula Deen that has cost

the Southern culinary star a big chunk of her multimillion-dollar enterprise.

In dismissing the sexual harassment aspect of the case,US District Judge William Moore wrote that no fees wereawarded to either party, according to court documents. Thetwo parties reached a settlement, said a person familiarwith the case, and Moore’s dismissal did not address themerits.

The lawsuit against Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers,was brought by Lisa Jackson, a five-year employee of UncleBubba’s Seafood and Oyster House, a restaurant owned bythe siblings in Savannah, Georgia.

Jackson claimed she had been the victim of sexualharassment. Jackson, who is white, also alleged there was apattern of racial discrimination against black employees atthe restaurant.

Earlier this month, Moore dismissed the racial discrimi-nation allegations because any racially offensive remarks

were not directed at Jackson or intended to harass Jackson.Deen, 66, said in a deposition in the case that she had

used a racial slur, an admission that prompted ScrippsNetworks Interactive Inc to drop her cooking show from itscable television channel, the Food Network.

Other companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc, phar-maceutical company Novo Nordisk and retailers Wal-MartStores Inc, Home Depot Inc and Target Corp, also rushed tocut their ties with Deen, dropping her as a celebrity endors-er and announcing they would no longer carry the cook-books, housewares and other products that helped Deenbuild a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

In a statement, Deen said she believes in “kindness andfairness for everyone.”

“While this has been a difficult time for both my familyand myself, I am pleased that the judge dismissed the raceclaims and I am looking forward to getting this behind me,now that the remaining claims have been resolved,” Deensaid. “I am confident that those who truly know how I livemy life know that I believe in kindness and fairness foreveryone.” —Reuters

Harassment lawsuit against

chef Paula Deen dismissed

Celebrity chef Paula Deen

39L I F E S T Y L ESUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

F e a t u r e s

Award-winning playwright Yael Farber,whose new work focuses on the fatalgang-rape of an Indian student last

December, was inspired by the protests thaterupted across the country after the attack.

“I remember feeling this extraordinary senseof envy when I looked at India... I mean-whotakes to the streets anywhere else in the worldto speak for a young single woman?” the SouthAfrican said in an interview with AFP.

Shocked by the attack, she posted about it onFacebook. Bollywood actress Poorna

Jagannathan saw the post and invited her toIndia where the idea for a play about sexual vio-lence began to take shape.

“Stories stay in public consciousness for a lim-ited time, you have to grab that window,” Farbersaid, explaining how she chose to write andstage the play just eight months after theassault.

The show premiered at the Edinburgh

Festival Fringe and ends its run Monday.“Nirbhaya”, or “fearless”, opened to rave reviewsand won the Scotsman Fringe First award foroutstanding new plays. Faber now has won theaward three times.

The 42-year-old writer-director, raised inJohannesburg, told AFP from Edinburgh she wasstruck by the public reaction to the rape. “Iremember wondering what it would take for usSouth Africans to get on to the streets like this,what it would take to penetrate the numbness-what it would take to care,” she said.

The name of the play, enacted in Hindi andEnglish, comes from the pseudonym of the 23-year-old who was gang-raped and sexuallyassaulted with an iron rod, and whose fight forlife captured the world’s attention.

“Everyone was rooting for her to live. She tes-tified twice (in hospital) despite her graveinjuries, she demanded accountability from thesystem,” Farber said.

“She challenged ideas the world over thatrape victims should be quiet and feel a sense ofshame about what they have endured. That’swhy her spirit ignited people.”

Farber, who has won a string of best directorawards in South Africa and whose work hasbeen honoured elsewhere, is no stranger to vis-ceral drama. Her plays often include personaltestimonies from her cast.

Her 2001 work “Amajuba” is based on the sto-ries of five South African cast members whocame of age during the final years of apartheid.

The December 16 attack, which saw the vic-tim’s male friend badly beaten by the six allegedassailants, is at the heart of “Nirbhaya”, whichfeatures five other storylines.

The cast includes Jagannathan, as well as twoother actresses and two more women who maketheir stage debuts. All five relate personal experi-ences dealing with sexual abuse and assaults aschildren and adults.

Astrologer Sneha Jawale’s monologuerecounts her marriage to a man who doused herin kerosene and lit a match, leaving her withfacial scars-all in an effort to extort a higherdowry from her parents. A single actor performsall male roles in the play, including the part ofthe Delhi rape victim’s friend as well as the mainaccused, who hanged himself in jail in March.

The young woman is played by popularactor-singer-songwriter Japjit Kaur, who singsbut doesn’t speak on stage. “I didn’t want to putwords into her mouth. We may never know whoshe really was so I presented her as an icon, anarchetype,” Farber said. The victim’s family knowof the play, she added.

The attack fuelled a furious debate about thestatus and safety of women in India, an issuethat exploded again when five men gang-rapeda 23-year-old photographer Thursday in financialhub Mumbai.

“It would be a grave mistake to just dump theproblem of sexual violence onto India and leaveit at that,” Farber said. “Sexual violence isn’t limit-ed to a single country. Rape happens in SouthAfrica, it happens in Italy, it’s not just aboutIndia.” The playwright, who suffered sexualharassment in Mumbai while researching, saidshe was eager to bring the show to India.

“It’s an Indian production in many ways. I amthe only non-Indian person involved with it. Ihope we can stage it in Delhi on the firstanniversary of the attack.” —AFP

Deadly Delhi gang-rapeinspires award-winning play

NEW DELHI: In this photograph taken on December 22, 2012 Indian demonstratorsshout slogans during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rapeof a student last week, in front of the Government Secretariat and Presidential Palacein New Delhi. Award-winning playwright Yael Farber, whose new work focuses on thefatal gang-rape of an Indian student, was inspired by the protests that eruptedacross the country after the attack. —AFP

MUMBAI: Indian Tamils and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) supporters carryplacards as they shout slogans during a protest against the release of theBollywood movie ‘Madras Cafe’ outside a movie hall in Mumbai on Friday.Bollywood is foraying into controversial terrain with new spy thriller,“Madras Cafe”, whose depiction of rebels in the Sri Lankan civil war hasraised concerns among India’s large Tamil population. The movie, whichopened in India, features John Abraham as an Indian secret agent sent to SriLanka during its bloody civil conflict. —AFP

ABollywood spy thriller set againstthe backdrop of the Sri Lankan civilwar has been pulled from British and

some Indian theatres after protests over itsdepiction of rebel fighters, the movie’s dis-tributors said yesterday.

Madras Cafe, which opened Friday, fea-tures John Abraham as an Indian secretagent sent to Sri Lanka during the island’sdecades-long conflict between the govern-ment and separatist Tamil rebels.

But the film has failed to reach a numberof cinema halls after ethnic Tamil popula-tions in India and in Britain complainedthat they were unfairly portrayed.

“Our UK exhibitors, Cineworld, decidedto hold back the film after protesters gath-ered outside their UK offices,” said RudrarupDatta, marketing head at the film’s Indianco-producer and distributor Viacom18Motion Pictures.

“Exhibitors do not want to take a riskand withdrawing screenings of the film istheir prerogative,” Datta said. No British cin-emas are currently showing the filmalthough they were still hopeful of arelease at a later date, he added.

A full release has gone ahead in theUnited States, Canada and the United ArabEmirates. Indian media reports said the-atres also refused to show the film in south-ern Tamil Nadu state after protests from itslarge Tamil population.

Activist group Naam Tamilar (We Tamils)asked the state government to block the

film’s release, unhappy that rebels weredepicted as “terrorists”, according to mediareports.

In Britain, an online petition waslaunched calling for a halt to the film’srelease there because it was believed toportray Tamils “in a poor light”. Nearly 2,000people have given their support to thepetition.

The film passed India’s censors with nocuts and a parental guidance certificate,and was classified for those aged over 15 inBritain, while director Shoojit Sircar hasinsisted the movie does not take sides.

“Since the release, so many Tamil peoplehave tweeted that there is nothing anti-Tamil about the film. People have the rightto protest but you cannot stop cinema-lovers from watching a film and decidingfor themselves,” Sircar told AFP.

The bloody conflict in Sri Lanka, whichcost up to 100,000 lives, erupted betweengovernment forces and the rebel LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who werefighting for an independent Tamil state.Both sides are accused of human rights vio-lations.

Sri Lankan troops declared an end to 37years of ethnic war after wiping out theleadership of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May2009. Sri Lanka has resisted internationalpressure for an independent investigationinto war crimes despite what the UN calls“credible allegations” of up to 40,000 civil-ians killed in the final battles in 2009. —

Bollywood, Sri Lanka war film pulled in UK, south India

Agiant panda gave birth at Washington’sNational Zoo on Friday, causing a buzzamong fans as they flocked to a panda

cam’s live feed to hear the cub squeal andwatch the mother immediately start caring forit.

The zoo said Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gavebirth at 5:32 p.m. Friday, two hours after herwater broke. Zoo officials said the panda teamheard the cub vocalize and that the motherpicked it up immediately and began cradlingand caring for it.

“WE HAVE A CUB!! Born at 5:32 p.m. thisevening,” the zoo tweeted. “I’m glued to thenew panda cams and thrilled to hear thesqueals, which appear healthy, of our newborncub,” said Dennis Kelly, director of theSmithsonian’s National Zoo. Fans of the 15-year-old panda who had been tracking hersuspected pregnancy on a Giant Panda Camflocked to the live feed.

With the zoo heralding the cub’s birth onTwitter, the pandas’ excited fans responded inkind. Congratulations poured in under thehashtag “cubwatch,” including hopes that thisyear’s cub would survive. “Last year was soheartbreaking,” as one person tweeted, whileanother said, “Good luck, little Butterstick 2 !!!”

Mei Xiang had previously given birth totwo cubs. Tai Shan was born in 2005 and aweek-old cub died last September.

Panda cubs are especially delicate and vul-

nerable to infection and other illness. They areabout the size of a stick of butter at birth. Thefirst weeks of life are critical for the cubs asmothers have to make sure they stay warmand get enough to eat.

Zookeepers said at a news conference onFriday night that giant pandas give birth totwins 50 percent of the time, so they will con-tinue to keep an eye on Mei Xiang for 24hours.

Brandie Smith, curator of mammals at thezoo, said Friday night that mindful of last year’sloss, zookeepers will be more hands-on withthis cub. “We know that Mei Xiang is an excel-lent mother,” Smith said. “When she has a cub,she will take care of it.”

Smith said that will zookeepers don’t wantto disturb the bonding between the motherand cub, but they will take the risk and do anassessment of the cub within the first 48hours.

The biggest concern is the cub’s weight,Smith said, and that it continues to gainweight. Zookeepers will also be listening forhealthy squeals from the cub, and signs andsounds that it is nursing.

The panda team will perform health checksevery few days. Its gender was not immediate-ly known.

Mei Xiang is expected to spend almost allof her time in her den for the next two weekswith her new cub.—AP

TAIPEI: This undated handout photograph released by the Taipei City Zooyesterday shows giant panda Yuan Yuan sleeping next to her baby panda atthe Taipei City Zoo. The cub, the first panda born in Taiwan, was delivered onJuly 7 following a series of artificial insemination sessions after her parents -Yuan Yuan and her partner Tuan Tuan — failed to conceive naturally. —AFP

Panda gives birth to her third cub at National ZooDog owner Elke Raschke prepares her poodle for a competition during the “Dog & Cat” pet fair in Leipzig, eastern Germany,

yesterday. —AFP

‘Dog & Cat’ pet fair

Dog owner Eva Schmidt prepares her poodle

A poodle sits in a buggy during the “Dog & Cat” pet fair. A sphynx cat is pictured during the “Dog & Cat” pet fair.

39Deadly Delhigang-rape inspiresaward-winningplay

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013

Patricia Azarcoya Schneider, Eugenio Derbez, Rob Schneider and Alessandra Rosaldo attend Pantelion Films’ “Instructions Not Included” Los Angeles Premiere After Party, on Thursday in LosAngeles. — AP

at China school of rockWith neat ponytails and immaculate

grades, the four eight-year-olds whobounded on stage would make any

Chinese parent proud-but wielding electric gui-tars, these schoolgirls were ready to add anotherbrick in the wall of rock history.

Dressed in blue-sequinned jackets, their bandCool blasted out a song by British pop-rockersMcFly in a heavy style echoing 1970s megastarsLed Zeppelin, complete with rock star jumps andfist pumps.

“I like to play loud music which annoys oldpeople,” said lead singer Zhou Zi, whosefavourite toy is a big white teddy bear. “We likerock songs because they’re crazy.”

Cool’s members lead parallel lives as studentsat a chain of music schools hoping to create anew generation of Chinese rock stars, and theband were one of more than two dozen childoutfits battling for honours at a competition inthe northern port city of Tianjin earlier thismonth.

The event-where bands offered a mix of for-

eign covers and original tunes is a symbol of rockmusic’s move into the mainstream of China’sentertainment industry since it met oppositionfrom authorities when it arrived in the country inthe 1980s.

A band named Rock Fairytale-the eventualwinners-played the Guns N’ Roses classic “SweetChild O’ Mine” before the 10-year-old leader ofanother group, dressed in a spangly black shirtand leather boots, gave an impressive renditionof Queen’s “We Will Rock You”.

Boom, from China’s poor Henan province,covered the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout”.

Asked what he knew about the British four-some, the band’s eight-year-old lead singer JiaTianyi responded: “They’re probably from theUS.”

In defiance of rock cliche, irresponsible back-stage behaviour at the competition was limitedto impromptu games of hide and seek betweenband members, while Cool’s post-performanceroutine included eating peaches bought alongby the bass player’s father.

As well as attending normal classes, the bandmembers also go to the Nine Beats music schoolin Tianjin, whose founder Li Hongyu says hasmore than 150 branches across China, and thou-sands of students in total.

“In the past, if parents wanted to children tostudy music, they would think of classical musi-cal instruments... but few kids studying classicalmusic are happy,” Li said.

“I believe that China’s future rock stars can befound at our school,” he added. “We are changingthe direction of Chinese contemporary music.”

China’s first homegrown rock acts began toperform in the 1980s when the rulingCommunist party relaxed cultural controls-onlyto be condemned by officials who shut downconcerts and banned some songs from broad-cast.

The student protestors in Tiananmen Squarerepeatedly sang “Nothing to my name” by CuiJian, renowned as the father of Chinese rock, in1989, and the song became a musical symbol oftheir defiance.

Cui was banned from playing large-scale con-certs following the crackdown on the demon-strators in which hundreds, perhaps thousandsof people were killed.

But Jonathan Campbell, the author of RedRock, a history of the genre in China, told AFP:“Rock is not as dangerous as it used to be... I real-ly do think there is a sense that it is OK now.

“The kids who grew up with Cui Jian are nowparents... so priorities change and so do under-standings and feelings about things like rockmusic,” he said.

China has played host to an increasing num-ber of foreign rockers, with the Sex Pistols’ JohnLydon playing earlier this year and Metallicaappearing in Shanghai last week.

But some acts still face restrictions-Shanghaiband Top Floor Circus, whose satirical lyricspoked fun at government projects in the city,had concerts banned by police in 2009.

“Rock as entertainment is totally safe, butthere are limits. Some things are OK but sudden-ly you bump up against the wall,” said Campbell.

And while rock fans were once seen as rebel-lious youths hoping to alienate their parents,wannabe stars at the school have their families’full support.

“Children are under a lot of pressure,” said QiYue, the mother of Cool’s lead singer. “Rockallows them to blow off steam.”

“Music brings them happiness,” father ZhouHongxin said. “We only have one child in eachfamily, but by being in a band, it’s as if they havesisters.”

Weeks before the competition, Cool met atthe school for a weekly rehearsal as their parentssat outside-part of a regime which sees the chil-dren practice their instruments for up to twohours every evening.

Drummer Ma Ruisheng beat her stickstogether before lead guitarist Wang Jiajunlaunched into the thumping riff from “I LoveRock And Roll” and the group erupted into gig-gles, drawing a frown from their teacher.

The school’s fees-about 200 yuan ($32) for anhour’s lesson, plus the costs of equipment-meanthat most of Nine Beats’ graduates are membersof China’s comfortably-off middle class, and haveaspirations to match.

“Our dream is to release our own record, andtravel the world performing in huge stadiums,”said Wang-as long as it does not interfere withtheir education. “Homework comes first,” saidlead singer Zhou. “Not only has playing musicnot influenced our studies, it’s actually improvedour results.” —AFP

This picture taken on August 11, 2013 shows members of a young rock band preparingbackstage during a kid’s rock competition in Tianjin. Electric guitar riffs and boomingdrum rolls filled a theater in northern China for a battle of the bands competition with adifference: all the musicians are school-aged children. — AFP

Zhou Zi of Cool (2nd L) chatting with her mother (R) before her performance during a kid’srock competition. — AFP

Zhou Zi of Cool (front) rehearsing at a music school before a kid’s rock competition inTianjin. —AFP