RI PT IO N BS C SU THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF
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TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010
Khmer Rouge prison chief handed 30 years in jail
Lankans punish India in familiar style
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IIG defaults on $152m payment DUBAI: Kuwait’s International Investment Group (IIG) said it was unable to make a $152.5 million Islamic bond payment, its second default this year, and named KPMG as its advisor to look at restructuring options. IIG said yesterday its payment on the Islamic bond, or sukuk, had been scheduled for July 12. The company said KPMG would carry out an independent review of its business and make an assessment of its financial position. IIG said it has also received the Central Bank’s approval for its 2009 financial statements. “IIG
will then be able to assess its positions and restructuring options with assistance from its professional advisors,” the company said. The investment firm said in April it had appointed an international consultant, which it did not name, to review its business after it defaulted on a $3.35 million payment for a $200 million Islamic bond. Kuwait’s investment sector was hit hard by the global financial crisis. The country’s Investment Dar was the first company in the region to default on a major sukuk in May 2009. — Reuters
SHAABAN 15, 1431 AH
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Secret US archives leaked Documents reveal US ‘war crimes’, allege Pakistan aiding Taleban
Qaeda kills French hostage after raid Sarkozy vows revenge experts and miliPARIS: President tary officers told Nicolas Sarkozy AFP to expect an vowed yesterday increased use of to avenge the spies and special murder of a 78forces to target year-old French militant groups in aid worker who the Sahel. was kidnapped Defence Minister and killed in the Sahara desert by Michel Germaneau Herve Morin cut short an Asian Al-Qaeda’s North African wing. Sarkozy spoke tour to fly back to France and after Al-Qaeda in the Islamic help prepare the military Maghreb (AQIM) declared it response, aides said. France had killed Michel Germaneau already has military cooperaas revenge after French and tion agreements with its forMauritanian soldiers stormed mer West African colonies, one of the group’s camps in and helps to train and coordiMali and killed six militants. nate local anti-terror forces, in “Dear compatriots, this crime an area which receives around committed against Michel 30,000 French tourists per Germaneau will not go unpun- year. In Mali, a local elected offiished,” Sarkozy said, warning French nationals to avoid the cial told AFP that Germaneau arid Sahel region running had been beheaded after the through Mauritania, Mali, raid, in the presence of Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, the Niger and southern Algeria. Sarkozy did not reveal leader of an AQIM cell that what France plans to do in has been blamed for killing a Continued on Page 14 response to the killing, but
NO: 14802
JIDHAFS, Bahrain: Bahraini riot police rake flaming debris and scan the area for protesters yesterday on the outskirts of the capital, Manama. Burning tyres backed up traffic, a scene repeated nearly every day in Shiite areas of Bahrain. Years of low-level unrest has worsened over issues of granting citizenship to large numbers of Sunnis from elsewhere to fill security jobs and recent moves to stop some activist Shiite clerics from giving speeches. — AP
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration scrambled yesterday to manage the explosive leak of secret military records which paint a grim picture of the US-led war in Afghanistan and raise new doubts about key ally Pakistan. The unprecedented release of some 91,000 classified military documents was likely to fuel mounting uncertainty in the US Congress about the unpopular war as President Barack Obama sends 30,000 more soldiers into the faltering drive to break the Taleban insurgency. The documents detail allegations that US forces sought to cover up civilian deaths in the conflict as well as US concern that Pakistan secretly aided the Taleban even as it took billions of dollars in US aid. The White House condemned the leak, saying it could threaten national security and endanger American lives, while the Pentagon called the release a “criminal act” and said it was reviewing the documents to determine the potential damage to both US and coalition troops. The leaked documents, a collection of field intelligence and threat reports from before Obama ordered the troop surge in December, graphically illustrate the Pentagon’s own bleak assessment of the war amid deteriorating security and a strengthening Taleban. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website behind the release, told a London news conference yesterday his group had held back 15,000 of the documents as it decides whether their publication had security implications. The documents also said that the coalition troops have killed hundreds of Afghan civilians in unreported Continued on Page 14
LONDON: Julian Assange, the Australian founder of whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, speaks during a press conference yesterday. — AFP
NATO strike killed 52 civilians: Karzai KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said yesterday that NATO troops had fired a rocket that killed 52 “innocent” villagers in southern Afghanistan, as leaked documents laid bare the civilian toll of the US-led war. An investigation by the National Directorate of Security found that a house in Helmand province’s Sangin district was hit on Friday “by a rocket
launched by NATO/ISAF troops, leaving 52 civilians dead, including women and children,” a statement from Karzai’s office said. “The president condoled via phone with the mourning families and called on NATO troops to put into practice every possible measure to avoid harming civilians during military operations,” it said. Continued on Page 14
Aquino vows clean govt, blasts Arroyo BARCELONA: “Oscar”, a man who underwent a full face transplant in April, attends a press conference at Vall d’Hebron hospital yesterday. — AFP
Full face transplant man appears on TV BARCELONA: A Spanish man who underwent the world’s first full face transplant revealed his new look yesterday before television cameras, paying tribute to doctors and the donor’s family as he left hospital. “Friends, I want to thank the hospital coordinators, the entire medical team, the family of the donor and most of all my family who are supporting me these days,” said the 31-yearold, identified only as Oscar, who had the operation in March. The man - who reportedly suffered injuries in a shooting accident five years ago spoke at the televised news conference with considerable difficulty and could not close
his mouth and his face appeared swollen. He wore a blue scarf which hid scars on his neck and his hair was combed forward to hide scars on his forehead which doctors say will be fully concealed in the future. A team of about 30 experts carried out the transplant on March 20 at Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron hospital on the man, who could not swallow, breath or talk normally due to his injuries from the accident. During the 24-hour-long operation, he received new facial muscles, skin, nose, lips, a jaw, teeth, a palate and cheekbones, said the leader of the medical team that carried out the procedure, Joan Pere Continued on Page 14
MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino yesterday pledged a new era of clean and efficient government, as he used his first “State of the Nation” address to condemn his predecessor’s rule. Aquino spent the first half of his speech outlining a litany of alleged anomalies by former president Gloria Arroyo and her administration that he said had left the nation’s coffers nearly bare. “For a long time, our country lost its way on a crooked path,” Aquino, who took office on June 30, told a joint sitting of congress. “As days go by, the massive scope of the problems we have inherited becomes much clearer. I can almost feel the weight of my responsibilities.” He outlined various cases of government spending during Arroyo’s nine years in power that he said had left the nation’s coffers nearly bare. “This report is merely a glimpse of our situation. It is not the entire picture of the crises we are facing. The reality was hidden from our people,” Aquino said, as he vowed his administration would be the opposite of Arroyo’s. “We will stop wasteful
spending of public funds... we will get rid of ill-conceived projects... there will be no padding of contracts,” he said. Aquino won national elections in May by a landslide after campaigning on a promise to fight corruption that has long afflicted the Philippines, but which he alleged worsened during Arroyo’s time in power. In his speech he said Arroyo’s misrule left his government without enough money to address vital areas of need such as education, health, basic infrastructure and security. Aquino said his solution was to entice the private sector, both local and foreign investors, into taking up the slack. “From these public-private partnerships, our economy will grow and every Filipino will be the beneficiary. There are so many sectors that could benefit from this,” he said. Aquino said a planned train line running through the main island of Luzon and the redevelopment of the Navy’s headquarters in Manila were two projects that may attract foreign investment. On the security front, Aquino said his Continued on Page 14
6 Israeli soldiers die in Romania BUCHAREST: Six Israeli soldiers and one Romanian were killed yesterday when a military helicopter crashed in mountainous terrain in central Romania, local media said, quoting defence sources. “Rescuers on the scene said there were no survivors,” Ciprian Candea of the mountain rescue team based in Brasov told AFP. But he could not immediately say how many bodies had been found, adding that access to the crash site was extremely difficult. The defence ministry said six
Israeli soldiers and one Romanian were on board of the helicopter but did not confirm their deaths. Defence ministry spokesman Constantin Spanu had previously told AFP one Romanian and two Israeli helicopters were taking part in the search and rescue operation. Several dozen soldiers were also searching the area, he added. Witnesses quoted by Antena 3 television channel said they had seen three helicopters flying above the mountain region around the city of Brasov. “Smoke was coming out of
one of the helicopters which started losing altitude,” one of the witnesses was quoted as saying. The helicopter was taking part in a joint military drill, Blue Sky 2010. On July 18, the defence ministry announced an Israeli CH-53 helicopter participating in this exercise had made a crash landing after “sensing a failure aboard”. “Once the failure was fixed, the helicopter returned safely to the Boboc airbase,” the ministry said. Initial media reports had said US military personnel were on board the helicopter that crashed yesterday. — AFP
SYDNEY: The ‘Plastiki’ completes its trans-Pacific voyage as she passes the Sydney Opera House yesterday. — AFP
Bottle ship ends sail SYDNEY: A sailboat largely constructed from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles has completed a 4-month journey across the Pacific Ocean meant to raise awareness about the perils of plastic waste. The Plastiki, an 18-m catamaran, and its six crew weathered fierce ocean storms during its 8,000 nautical miles at sea. It left San Francisco on March 20, stopping along the way at various South Pacific island nations including Kiribati and Samoa. It docked yesterday in Sydney Harbour. “This is the hardest part of the journey so far - getting it in!” expedition leader David de Rothschild yelled from the boat as the crew struggled to maneuver the notoriously tough-tosteer vessel into port outside the Australian National Maritime Museum. A crowd of about 100 erupted into cheers after the Plastiki finally docked. De Rothschild - a descendant of the well-known British banking family -
exchanged high fives and hugs with his crew, pumping his fists into the air in victory. “It has been an extraordinary adventure,” he said. De Rothschild, 31, said the idea for the journey came to him after he read a United Nations report in 2006 that said pollution - and particularly plastic waste - was seriously threatening the world’s oceans. He figured a good way to prove that trash can be effectively reused was to use some of it to build a boat. The Plastiki - named after the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl - is fully recyclable and gets its power from solar panels and windmills. The Plastiki’s crew included Heyerdahl’s grandson Olav. The boat is almost entirely made up of bottles, which are held together with an organic glue made of sugar cane and cashews, but includes other materials too. Continued on Page 14
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Donors go on holiday
kuwait digest
Co-operative societies and price control By Khalifa Al-Khurafi
A
s ‘traders’ greed’ is speculated to be the main reason behind price rise in the country, the Ministry of Commerce has allocated a substantial budget to protect consumers from this problem, which is used to provide subsidies, in addition to funding other procedures that help curb unreasonable price rise. However, these government steps - which have received reservations from the World Bank - reflect a notable deficit in the country’s economic system. While the ministers of finance and commerce are aware of that fact, they cannot act effectively due to political influence. In the meantime, the government contin-
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
ues to ignore the inability of Kuwait Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies (KUCCS) to provide suitable prices for the commodities that they sell. This can be achieved by importing goods directly from suppliers, the KUCCS has proved that it is capable of carrying out this method, given its long experience in importing goods for fifty co-op society super markets and their affiliated branches. Moreover, the ‘Co-op’ brand also serves as a prime example of how the KUCCS is capable of providing quality products at reasonable prices. Therefore, the KUCCS can significantly help control prices if it is given the opportunity to import directly from suppliers, especially since it does not pay rental fees as they
already own the supermarkets’ buildings as well as warehouses where imported goods are stored. On the other hand, we can find that other hypermarkets can still provide cheaper commodities and make more profits than coops societies, despite the fact that they pay thousands of dinars in rent each month. It is alarming to note that some co-operative societies have strayed from their main goal, which is to provide local residents with necessary essential goods at reasonable prices, and have started real estate-like businesses by offering shops and supermarkets for rent. That being said, I am confident that patriotic KUCCS members would eventually act to activate the true role of co-operative societies. —Al-Qabas
LTTC faces new livestock price manipulation allegations KUWAIT: Fresh allegations of price manipulation have hit Kuwait’s troubled Livestock Transportation and Trading Company [LTTC], with one Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) official alleging that the firm intentionally delayed the shipment of 35,000 sheep for two days in an attempt to drive up prices. The ministry insider also told Al-Rai that the LTTC has been “deliberately stalling the [livestock] shipment reception and distribution process in a bid to force the ministry [of Commerce and Industry] to approve its request to increase prices.” A customs official also alleged that the LTTC has failed to send any representative to conclude the necessary paperwork which must be completed before the livestock can be taken for medical checks and to the market for sale. Meanwhile, another MCI official confirmed claims that the LTTC has been responsible for several violations which were detected during inspections, saying, “The [LTTC’s] justification for [livestock] price increases claiming stock shortages was fabricated to exploit the high demand that usually occurs during the holy month of Ramadan.”
Kuwait facing shortage of negative blood types By Abdullah Al-Qattan KUWAIT: Blood supply stocks in Kuwait have fallen to critical levels in the past two weeks. According to one senior Kuwait Central Blood Bank (KCBB) official, the summer holiday season has seen noticeable shortages in negative blood types. Dr Rana Al-Abdulrazzaq, the KCBB’s Director of Donor and Medical Affairs, said the principal reason for the shortages of negative blood types is the summer holiday season, during which many donors travel abroad to escape the country’s searing heat. Dr. Al-Abdulrazzaq explained that the alone, is likely to see demand from local aged or older. Dr. Al-Abdulrazzaq also revealed that situation is aggravated by the simultaneous hospitals further increasing. This seasonal shortage of supplies has the KCBB is organizing a number of camincrease in hospitals’ demand for blood since many people prefer to undergo surgi- been an ongoing problem with certain paigns to increase the number of blood cal operations in the summer months due blood types for some years now, Dr. Al- donors, including the Club 25 campaign, to having vacation time during which they Abdulrazzaq explained, adding that the which aims to attract donors aged under same applies to the blood bank’s regular 25. can recover from surgery. KCBB volunteers will be present at the The senior blood bank official said that attempts to raise awareness among young while the KCBB’s overall stocks are at a people of the need to donate blood and Avenues Mall every Tuesday and reasonable level, the seasonal increase in increase their understanding of the vital Wednesday evening between 6:00 PM and the number of road accidents, which have and lifesaving nature of blood donation, 10:00 PM to sign up new donors and to colalready risen over the past two weeks since most blood donors tend to be middle- lect blood donations there.
More funding for housing projects KUWAIT: The Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee recently received a reply from the Cabinet on suggestions made to establish a fund for vital projects that are part of the development plan, including those related to the Public Institution For Social Insurance.
“The committee is preparing to discuss these two subjects during the coming few days,” said Head of the Committee MP Yousuf AlZalzalah. He also indicated that other subjects which the committee would discuss include the draft law related to the Chamber of Commerce, and a
recommendation to come up with a fund to support small and middle income generating businesses, reported Al-Qabas. Meanwhile, the Housing Affairs Committee will take part in a meeting at the request of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, State Minister for Housing and
Development Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah, to discuss government funding for housing projects. The committee’s Head MP Naji AlAbdulhadi explained that they would inquire about the reasons behind the delay in passing a law that governs tentative residential area projects.
in the news New TEC offer KUWAIT: The Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) offers firms with the opportunity to market their products or services, in addition to giving them a chance to invest in TEC’s facilities through a flexible cooperation mechanism. This move is part of the company’s general policy, through which it aims to strengthen cooperation with all the ministries and companies around the country, in addition to supporting social ties and investing in these relationships to provide the best quality tourism and entertainmentrelated services to all the citizens and residents in Kuwait.
KUWAIT: Talal Al-Terky presenting a gift to a young patient.
MEW bill payment KUWAIT: An official from the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) recently urged consumers to respond to the ministry’s requests to pay bills on time so as to receive uninterrupted power and water supply from the ministry. In a statement made to the press recently, the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Consumer Affairs, Jassim AlLenqawi has asked consumers who need to settle outstanding bills to approach the Consumers’ Affairs Centers that are located across the country, or pay their dues online at: www.mew.gov.kw. Meanwhile, Al-Lenqawi revealed that a series of new steps should be taken by the ministry concerning contracts to be signed to read consumption meters, which will help avoid cases of abuse against the companies’ staff members. Among the new steps taken, is a clause which obliges companies to provide salary receipts from banks on a monthly basis to prove that all staff members have been paid on time.
KUWAIT: A group photo featuring the trainees and the NBK’s public relations staff with some of the patients.
Co-op society dissolved KUWAIT: The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi has issued decree to dissolve the board of directors of the Firdous Cooperative Society. Financial and administrative violations have been cited as reasons, reported Al-Rai. Furthermore, the Head of the Ministry’s Monitoring and Inspection Department, Ibraheem Al-Obaid has been appointed as the new CEO of the co-op society.
Woman dies KUWAIT: The tragic death of a 35-year-old Indian woman who fell from the sixth floor of a building in Hawally led to police discovering that she and another Indian woman, who jumped along with her, sustaining spinal fractures, were attempting to escape from the flat where they had been imprisoned and forced to work as prostitutes. Emergency workers who rushed to the location pronounced the first woman dead at the scene, while the other was quickly taken to hospital, reported AlJarida.
KUWAIT: Trainees are seen with patients at the NBK hospital.
NBK launches summer training KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) recently launched the fourth training course for Al-Azraq account customers. It was organized as part of the summer training program that is held annually for students aged between 15 and 20 years. “These courses help youngsters exploit their summer break by taking up activities that accustom them to work in the banking sector. They are
taking part in seminars and field missions,” said NBK’s Public Relations official Talal Al-Terky shortly after welcoming participating trainees. The fourth course was held a few days following the conclusion of the third. It ended with a visit paid to the NBK pediatrics hospital. “This trip enabled students to become more aware of the concept of social responsibility. It forms a vital pillar of the NBK’s policy,” Al-Terky said.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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No plans for Filipino workers abroad
Filipinos in Kuwait unimpressed by Aquino's first state address By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Filipinos in Kuwait were largely unimpressed by their country's new president's first State of the Nation Address (SONA). Philippines President Benigno Aquino III delivered his first, keenly anticipated address
KUWAIT: Under the auspices and in attendance of Sheikha Fareeha Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the Kuwait Deaf and Dumb Club yesterday concluded its activities for this year.
Lack of safety awareness endangering public: KFSD KUWAIT: A senior Kuwait Fire Service Department (KFSD) official has called on the public to prioritize safety when buying and storing highly flammable hazardous substances, such as chemicals and pesticides. Colonel Walid Al-Ansari, the manager of Mubarak Al-Kabeer fire department's hazardous materials unit, warned that an increase in the number of people buying large amounts of such substances to sell as a sideline and improperly storing them in their homes' basements had led to the number of fires and explosions involving these materials doubling in recent years. Col. Al-Ansari also urged state bodies to work together in order to prevent these toxic substances from being easily available to the public. On the hazardous materials unit's operations center, the senior KFSD official said, "The current Mubarak Al-Kabeer center is considered one of the most effective in the region in
handling cases of leaks and explosions related to hazardous substances." The operations center is capable of handling any major biological or chemical threat, he said, and possesses advanced gas detection and heat-seeking equipment, as well as specialist extinguishers. Meanwhile, its computerized database contains detailed information on all hazardous substances, ranking them into nine main groups, each requiring different treatment. He added, however, that the personnel at the center still require more advanced equipment and further staff training courses. Col. Al-Ansari told Al-Qabas that in any cases involving chemical leaks on or near public thoroughfares, the center's personnel would use specialist equipment to isolate, neutralize and, if possible, remove the toxic substances from the sewage network in operations conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works.
in the news Increase in drug crimes KUWAIT: The majority of those cited in criminal cases filed in Kuwait last year were Kuwaiti citizens, according to the Public Prosecution Service's latest statistics, which also recorded an alarming 50 percent rise in drugs-related charges against citizens. Among the 17,467 suspects accused in connection with a total of 14,743 cases recorded in 2009, 30 percent or 5,355 were Kuwaiti, with the next highest numbers being Syrians and Saudis, reported Al-Qabas. Only 9,455 or around two-thirds of the cases filed reached court, while the remaining 5,288 were dropped for various reasons. Most of the cases filed involved abuse of or damage to public property, with 60 percent of the Kuwaiti defendants being accused of related offenses.
No Ramadan concerts KUWAIT: The Ministry of Information will not be issuing any licenses for concerts or Ramadan tents for celebrations during the forthcoming holy month, said a senior ministry official on Sunday. Qannas Al-Adwani, the director of the information ministry's arts department, told Al-Jarida that the ministry had given permission for a number of solo performances during the period and would closely supervise the venues where these are taking place in order to ensure that they comply with the regulations. Al-Adwani also asked local hotels and restaurants to comply with the concerned authorities in order to avoid any legal action for infringements of the rules during this period, warning that the law will be applied equally to all.
MoH reshuffle KUWAIT: Health Minister Dr. Helal Al-Sayer has reassigned a number of senior Ministry of Health (MoH) officials. Dr. Rashid AlOwayesh, currently the head of the public health department, is to be transferred to the office of Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs Dr. Yousef Al-Nisf where he will assume a consultancy role, while Dr. Fatima Al-Saeedi, the head of the Chest Hospital's tuberculosis department, is to assume Dr. Al-Owayesh's former position. The latest reshuffle comes as part of a large-scale restructuring within the health ministry, primarily affecting department heads, reported Al-Qabas. Dr. Al-Sayer has also transferred Sami Al-Tarrah, currently the head of the Central Department of Engineering Affairs, to an advisory post in the office of Samir Al-Asfour, the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Services and Maintenance Affairs, with the department's projects supervisor Hesham Abu Al-Hassan being promoted to Al-Tarrah's previous position.
MoI officer questioned KUWAIT: A Ministry of Interior (MoI) officer has been referred for questioning after he took part by telephone in a political discussion show on a local TV channel without obtaining prior permission from his superiors. The ministry has obtained a recorded copy of the program from the TV station, in which the officer, a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a northern area of Kuwait, is heard defending a Popular Bloc MP who belongs to the same tribe as him, who was criticized by others on the show. The officer's record apparently shows a number of security misdemeanors, reported Al-Jarida, including one crime for which he served a sentence in Central Prison, with his transgressions reportedly delaying his promotion on several occasions.
Around 11 percent of the country's total population of 96 million are currently working abroad and are reportedly helping to keep the Philippines' economy afloat during periods of economic trouble such as the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the 2008-09 global economic downturn. In 2009, the amount of $17.348 billion was sent to the Philippines by Overseas Filipinos, highest among prior years, or an increase of more than 10 percent on the 2007 figure. One Filipino community leader in Kuwait, who asked to remain anonymous because in the beginning he was a loyal supporter of its new leader, was disappointed at the president's failure to mention any plans for the Filipino workers abroad. "What I was expecting from his first SONA was his great programs to help OFWs. Why are people like us working abroad? Because we have no job opportunities back home," he said. "We need him to say that his administration is committed to creating new jobs for OFWs, so that we can cut, if not stop, the exodus of Filipinos abroad, especially domestic helpers. Unfortunately, he ignored OFW subject and spoke only about his predecessor's mismanagement thing, and other subjects, but not the OFWs. Maybe, just like his predecessor, he wanted Filipinos to go and work abroad; it's not a good start." There are currently around two million Filipinos working in the Middle East, with more
yesterday at the opening of the 15th congress. Since then, several online bloggers have questioned the new administration's failure to include anything in the address about overseas Filipinos in general or the administration's plans to avert the exodus of hundreds of Filipinos who travel abroad seeking greener pastures outside the Philippines on a daily basis.
than half this number engaged in menial jobs, many working as domestic helpers. Some of these domestic workers are mistreated and are given refuge by their embassies before being sent back home or re-deployed to similar jobs. "I am a teacher and have been working here because back home, we have low salaries for public school teachers," one male teacher at a local Philippine school told the Kuwait Times. "I want him [President Aquino] to increase teachers' salaries and provide more benefits in order for us to live decently and provide for our families,." A Filipina housemaid, who also currently calls Kuwait home, said that if she had an opportunity to earn decent money back home, she wouldn't have come to work in the Middle East. "I would love to stay with my family, of course," she said. " The way I look at the new administration, I think, it's the same as his predecessor, no good plans for us." While there are many Filipinos in Kuwait who still hold out hope for the new leader's potential, they want action rather than just words: "For me as his supporter, either we [the OFWs] were mentioned [in the SONA] or not," said another Filipino citizen currently working in Kuwait. "I would love to give him a chance to prove himself to the Filipinos. I will hold him accountable for all the promises thrown around during his campaign. He is a man and so I know he can prove himself to 96 million Filipinos."
MANILA: Philippine President Benigno Aquino delivers his first State of the Nation address (SONA) at the House of Representatives in Manila yesterday. — AFP
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
No alternative food-testing facility
Food lab closure in run-up to Ramadan condemned KUWAIT: With Ramadan only tw o w eeks aw ay, the Ministry of Health (MoH) officials responsible for managing Kuw ait’s only food safety inspection laboratory have been accused of picking a particularly bad time for relocating the facility, w ith w ork being suspended for a three-w eek period w hile it is transferred from Sharq to Kaifan. No alternative food-testing facility has been provided for the interim period, meaning that there is no w ay of assessing the large quantities of foodstuffs coming onto the market for the upcoming holy month to check w hether they are fit for human consumption.
KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receiving the outgoing ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Kuwait, Shahin Abdullayev at Seif Palace yesterday.
Yemen honors Kuwaiti diplomat SANAA: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday presented the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Yemen, Salem Ghassab Zamanan, with the Yemeni Unification Medal in appreciation of his efforts throughout his tenure in the country, which have bolstered bilateral relations between the two Arab nations and people. The Yemeni president received the
ambassador upon the end of his tenure, thanking him for his efforts, which he said have helped advance the interests of the two people. In response, the ambassador expressed his appreciation at receiving the honor and thanked the Yemeni leader for the good reception and hospitality he had been shown throughout his stay in the country. He also
hailed the level of cooperation in all fields between the two nations, which is bolstered by the enthusiasm on both sides to see further development. The Yemeni president asked the ambassador to convey his greetings to His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah, along with his wishes for the prosperity of the nation and its people. — KUNA
Abdul Ghaffar Boland, the Deputy Director of the Kuwait Union for Foodstuff Producers and Traders, told Al-Anba that no food products are allowed onto the market in Kuwait without the retailers first providing laboratory certificates proving that the products are fit for consumption. Also in Ramadan, he explained, many of the special products sold specifically for the annual event have a short shelf life, creating more problems for retailers as it is difficult to store these items until the food safety laboratory has issued its findings on them. This certification process is currently suspended, however,
he said, with a number of the items likely to expire while in storage, increasing retailers’ costs. Boland criticized the Ministry of Health (MoH), saying that it should have either postponed the laboratory’s relocation until after Ramadan or ensured that an alternative facility was provided before closing the lab, and insisting that its choice to close the food testing facility at this time is simply unacceptable. The senior traders’ union official also criticized the ministry’s choice of site for the relocated lab, saying that its new location in Kaifan will endanger the health of local
residents, given the pollutants that such facilities emit. He also alleged that the new laboratory building is not sufficiently equipped or of a high enough standard to serve as a foodtesting facility. Meanwhile, a senior Cooperative Society official has criticized the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for failing to act against the “clear manipulation of the prices of sugar.” Yousef Dashti, the CEO of the Jabriya Cooperative Society, accused traders of deliberately increasing the price of this basic commodity ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, which features an
increasing demand on food items. The MCI should “accept its responsibility and hold the greedy traders to account for their irresponsible actions,” said Dashti, speaking at a press conference held after the launch of an exhibition of Kuwaiti women’s homemade handicrafts, reported Al-Rai. Emphasizing the Co-op’s commitment to combating any attempt to increase the prices of basic commodities, Dashti indicated that the co-ops take their lead in pricing strategies from the decisions of the Kuwait Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies’ (KUCCS) price monitoring committee.
Busy term for Popular Action Bloc KUWAIT: The Popular Action Bloc (PAB) has been the most active during the past term of the Parliament, especially by effectively playing a supervisory role by conducting interpellation motions and legislations through recommendations and proposals. The Development and Reform Bloc was placed ahead of the National Action Bloc (NAB), while the Islamic Salafi Assembly came in last place. Members of the Popular Action Bloc -
MPs Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Khalid Al-Tahous, Musallam Al-Barrak, Ali Al-Deqbasi, in addition to Saif Al-Saifi who is a close ally of the bloc - created 135 draft laws, 102 recommendations, 155 inquisitions, in addition to initiating three grilling motions. The busiest out of this group was MP Al-Deqbasi, followed by Al-Barrak. Meanwhile, Development and Reform Bloc members - MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash, Faisal Al-Mislem, Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and
Falah Al-Sawagh - created 87 draft laws, 115 recommendations, 96 inquisitions in addition to one interpellation motion presented by MP Al-Mislem, reported Al-Qabas. In the meantime, members of the yet to be officially announced National Action Bloc - MPs Saleh Al-Mullah, Aseel Al-Awadhi, Adel AlSaraawi, Abdurrahman Al-Anjari, Abdullah AlRoumi, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Salwa Al-Jassar, and Ali Al-Rashid - did not take part in any of the grilling motions filed during the past term.
GLEG warns of shifting radioactive items from Iraq
KUWAIT: Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager of Board Affairs at Gulf Bank with Mohamed AlKandari, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs holding the Kuwaiti flag and the Governor of Hawally, Abdullah Al- Faris.
Gulf Bank shares joy of divers’ return KUWAIT: Gulf Bank has hailed the successful conclusion of the 22nd Memorial Journey for Pearl Diving, which it proudly sponsored. The 15 fully crewed dhows, with over 180 divers on board, sailed from Kuwait on July 15, and returned safely on July 24 to a traditional reception and an enthusiastic welcome by families, friends and well-wishers. The closing day ceremony, also called ‘Youm Al-Quffal’ in Arabic, was attended by Mohamed Al-Kandari, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs on behalf of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber AlSabah. The ceremony was also attended by the Governor of Hawally, Retired Lieutenant, Abdullah Al- Faris and the Vice Chairman of the Sea Sport Club, Ahmad Abdullah Al- Ghanim who took the opportunity of welcoming back and honoring the young Kuwaiti divers, as well as the captains of the dhows for upholding and preserving the traditional legacy of Kuwait. With the traditional tunes of a Kuwaiti band playing in the background, the divers showcased their spoils to the audience, including oysters and, of course, many pearls. Commenting on the return of the divers, Fawzy AlThunayan, general manager of board affairs at Gulf Bank said: “We are extremely proud of the young Kuwaitis who have completed this year’s journey. The annual journey relives an iconic cultural aspect of our honorable heritage, and is an important symbol of Kuwaitis’ loyalty to their homeland. The journey also serves as an encouragement for youth to understand and feel a part of our country’s unique history and culture.” Gulf Bank believes that heritage and tradition must be preserved, and takes it upon itself to communicate these core values across its daily operations and extensive network of 51 branches. This is reflected in the bank’s corporate logo, a simple reminder of Kuwait’s proud heritage and the historic journeys made by Kuwaitis in the past. The bank has also uti-
KUWAIT: Divers showcasing their pearls on the dhow sponsored by Gulf Bank.
KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Green Line Environmental Group (GLEG) has warned of the dangers of the current lack of control over GCC states’ borders, principally the border between Kuwait and Iraq. The group also warned of the risks of a lack of coordination between the GCC states’ environmental protection bodies, warning that this could cause numerous environmental problems in the region. Speaking at a press conference held on Sunday, GLEG chairman and prominent environmental activist Khalid AlHajri revealed that the group has confirmed documented reports that US troops have been carrying out a comprehensive operation to remove all the remaining military equipment and metal scrap which was made radioactive by depleted uranium shells during the 2003 US invasion and subsequent bombardment. “Since the whole of Western Asia, not only Kuwait, is GLEG’s area of activity, the group has contacted concerned environmental bodies in the KSA, Jordan and Syria to warn them of the dangers of moving these radioactive waste products into their territories,” said Al-Hajri. He noted that the group has also urged stronger monitoring of the Kuwait-Iraq border, adding that it had not issued similar warnings to those given to neighboring nations since Kuwait has no environmental cooperation with those countries. The GLEG chairman urged the Kuwaiti government to deploy a national team of scientific specialists from Kuwait’s science institutes to monitor and inspect all trucks and military vehicles coming from Iraq in order to prevent the shipment of radioactive items and to refuse any American requests to transfer such items through Kuwait.
KUWAIT: Director General of the General Department Drugs Control Maj Gen Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdallah Al-Khalifa recently awarded the Director of the Local Department Col Ahmad Al-Sharqawi and Assistant Lt Col Abdelmohsen Al-Abbasi, in the presence of several officers from the department. He lauded them for their efforts and achievements garnered in solving many cases.
Woman, business partner held for forging 56 work visas By Ha na n Al-Sa a doun KUWAIT: A female GCC citizen who owns a local general trading and contracting firm has been arrested by immigration department detectives, along with her male Syrian business partner, on suspicion of forging 56 work visas. A security official revealed that an investigation was launched into the woman’s activities after immigration department director Major General Abdullah Rashid received a tip-off that her company had been involved in visa trading. When the woman was taken for questioning, it was discovered that her company apparently had 60 workers on its books, although it only had
four employees and was only entitled to four work visas. The company owner insisted that she had authorized her Syrian business partner to run the firm and that he was responsible for obtaining the fraudulent visas. On being apprehended, the business partner admitted to the charge against him, saying that he had been charging KD500 for every falsely issued work permit. The investigation into the case is continuing. Na rrow esca pe A young Kuwaiti motorist narrowly escaped death when his car crashed into an oil pipe, managing to leap free of the vehicle before it burst into flames. The car was complete-
ly gutted by the blaze. Ma nga f brea k -in A Kuwaiti woman reported that her house in Mangaf had been burgled, with the thieves escaping with KD4,000 in cash before escaping. An investigation has been opened. Burgla rs busted Hawally police arrested a three-man gang responsible for committing a series of burglaries across the country. The gang - two Kuwaiti men and a Bedoon (stateless) resident were arrested after their car was pulled over by police, with a search of the vehicle revealing a number of items used to commit the break-ins. The three men were referred to the relevant authorities.
Gulfmart revamps Salmiya branch KUWAIT: Fawzy Al-Thunayan, general manager of board affairs at Gulf Bank with Mohamed Al-Kandari, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Governor of Hawally, Abdullah Al- Faris congratulating the divers after their safe arrival. lized ‘Al-Danah’ meaning large pearl, as the Al-Danah account campaign logo. The journey, which is organized each year by the Committee of the Marine Heritage of the Kuwait Sea
Sport Club, has Kuwaiti sailors using dhows to sail great distances away from their families and to dive for pearls in the traditional way. The memorial journey serves to remind new Kuwaiti generations of the diffi-
culties and challenges faced by their forefathers in earning their living, along with a message urging these generations to uphold the traditions and values their ancestors developed during that time.
KUWAIT: Gulfmart, Kuwait’s popular one-stop supermarket chain, recently revamped its Salmiya outlet to provide free car-parking for over 500 cars. Speaking at a press briefing to announce the launch of the newly overhauled facilities, TA Remesh, Gulfmart Country Head, said that limited car parking space in front of their Salmiya outlet had always been a bane to customers. “Our frequent appeals to the authorities, in the past, to provide us with more area had met with little success. However, now, with the completion of construction activity in the area and through smart
realigning of existing space, we were able to transform the current spot into a large convenient car parking for over 500 cars.” Located just off Salmiya’s renowned Salem Mubarak Street, the Gulfmart Salmiya branch has over the years enjoyed overwhelming support of residents from the area and beyond. However, a downer to the enthusiasm of shoppers to this outlet was the lack of convenient car parking facility. “We have always listened to the feedback from our customers and now, through an ingenious move, we once again fulfill their needs by making
Salmiya Gulfmart an ideal and convenient shopping venue, and we look forward to welcoming our patrons to this outlet,” said Remesh. Elaborating on the Gulfmart brand, the Country Manager added that they have consistently maintained the quality of products and pricing structure to offer customers the best deals in town. “Gulfmart has an unbelievable array of fresh, frozen and packaged food products along with a variety of cosmetic products and household items, as well as ethnic products from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, all under one
roof,” said Remesh. The Country Manager went on to say that since they source their products directly from these countries they are able to offer customers the best price and the freshest products. Gulfmart currently has 7 retail branches in Kuwait at Shuwaikh, Abbasiya, Salmiya, Hawally, Fahaheel, Farwaniya, Kheitan and soon a second branch in Abbasiya. Spread strategically across the country, the Gulfmart branches provide the large number of residents in these areas with a shopping convenience they have been waiting for.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
NATIONAL
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Prime minister arrives in Chile
Kuwaiti, Brazilian private sectors' role in enhancing ties stressed BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has stressed the vital importance of the role played by the private sectors in his country and Kuwait in boosting trade exchange, said the head of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) delegation, Sayer Bader Al-Sayer, on Sunday evening. The KCCI delegation is accompanying His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on his
BRASILIA: His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and his accompanying delegation leaving Brazil on Sunday.
kuwait digest
PIFSS' bankruptcy inevitable By Mubarak Al-Hajri
V
eteran economic analyst Hajjaj Bukhdour predicted during a recent seminar that the Public Institution For Social Security (PIFSS) would face an actuarial deficit of up to KD11 billion in 2011, which will eventually lead to the body's bankruptcy over the next decade. This means that a very significant state institution, which provides salaries and pensions for thousands of employed and retired citizens, is on the verge of breakdown, while the minister of finance has yet to act to protect this establishment. How can it be that an institution of such crucial importance has been unmonitored, leading to crucial mistakes being made by its officials, which have cost the country losses estimated in the millions of dinars, eventually creating the actuarial deficit that Bukhdour talked about? All I can say is that if such a disastrous incident were to take place in, say, Japan or a European country, it would instantly lead to the
resignation of the country's finance minister following an intensive auditing process. However, this form of accountability is not likely to happen here in Kuwait, since the cabinet has majority support in the parliament, which it can direct as it wishes, in total disregard for public funds. Therefore, it's hardly unusual that people are losing hope in their current parliamentary representatives, when they realize that the majority in parliament are controlled by the cabinet. However, these citizens have only themselves to blame for this situation since it was they who voted these type of MPs into the parliament. On a separate issue, meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior is suffering from a problem in the form of veteran officials' rejecting any forms of developments to cope with promotions, and insisting on imposing their own opinion. In this situation, I believe that the minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah should relieve the ageing officials from their duties, giving younger officials the opportunity they eagerly await to assume these duties effectively. — Al-Rai
No retirement privileges KUWAIT: The Cabinet does not intend intention to grant additional financial privileges to veteran officials that hold key public posts, in an effort to send them into retirement. However, it will be introduced among police and military personnel. "Top officials are confined to their posts for a fixed period of time, after which they are required to step down and give an opportunity for younger officials to take over," said the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Roudhan Al-Roudhan. He reiterated that
officials who have more than 30 years of experience would be sent into retirement, reported Al-Rai. "A list containing the names of staff members with over 30 years of experience will be referred to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) after being reviewed by the Cabinet to detect any personnel whose experience can help prove beneficial," the minister added. Furthermore, Al-Roudhan indicated that officials are already entitled to receive sufficient financial privileges during their time in office.
He added that the KCCI has extended an invitation to members of the Brazilian business community to visit Kuwait and to increase the exchanges of commercial delegations, in order to show the available investment opportunities to the Brazilians and demonstrate how they could benefit from the projects included in Kuwait's development plan through partnership with their Kuwaiti counterparts. Al-Sayer further revealed that the KCCI delegation was also briefed on investment opportunities in Brazil in the sectors of tourism, industry and banking, adding that the delegates had visited Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, with these trips serving to strengthen cooperation between the two countries' private sectors. Meanwhile, KCCI Board Member Talal Jassem AlKharafi said that strengthening relations between the two nations requires the completion of draft agreements that will facilitate, support and protect investments between the two countries. He said that this also requires the formation of bilateral committees grouping representatives of the public and private sectors to study the projects and assess them, adding that it is important to establish a commercial office. Al-Kharafi said that commercial relations between Kuwait and Brazil are still not at the levels hoped for, given the challenge of geographic distance and the small number of commercial visits and exhibitions held between the two nations. He also underscored the importance of benefitting from
tour of Latin American and Caribbean states. Al-Sayer made his statement at the conclusion of the party's visit to Brazil, prior to their departure for Chile. The senior KCCI official emphasized the importance of investing in the "positive and brotherly" atmosphere between the two countries, in order to implement a proposal to establish a Kuwaiti-Brazilian holding investment company that would include the public and private sectors of the two countries.
SANTIAGO: His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah arrives in Santiago, the sixth leg of his Latin American and Caribbean tour. the Brazilian business sector and the geographical location of Kuwait to enhance the volume of foreign trade between the two countries and to target the high population density in Iraq, Iran and the GCC states. Meanwhile, HH Sheikh Nasser arrived late Sunday in the capital of Chile, Santiago, the sixth leg of his Latin American and Caribbean tour. Sheikh Nasser was received at the airport by commander of the air force, Arab ambassadors accredited in Santiago, Kuwait's Ambassador to Argentina and Non-Resident Ambassador to
Chile Saud Abdulaziz Shamlan Al-Roumi, director of the Foreign Ministry's protocol department, and staff members of Kuwait Embassy in Argentina. In Brazil, the previous stop, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said during a luncheon held in honor of the visiting Kuwaiti Prime Minister, that His Highness Sheikh Nasser's visit to Brazil represented the beginning of a new era in constructive relations between the two countries. "Allow me to say that your visit to Latin American and Caribbean countries reflects
the success of our efforts, through which we seek together, and through visits of Arab leaders and commercial exchange - to build greater relations in the fields of culture, tourism, sports, commerce, economy and finance," the president said. His Highness Sheikh Nasser's tour already saw him in Antigua and Berbuda, Mexico, Cuba, Guyana and Brazil, and several political, economic, commercial, cultural, sports, and aviation service agreements were signed between Kuwait and these
countries. The delegation accompanying His Highness the Prime Minister includes representatives of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who also met with their counterparts in the visited countries to discuss developing commercial and economic relations. In Chile, His Highness Sheikh Nasser is set to meet with President Sebastian Pinera Echenique, to discuss bilateral relations. He will also meet head of the Supreme Court, and the speakers of the Senate and the Parliament.— KUNA
6
NATIONAL
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
One dead in Shuwaikh crash
Drug duo in police net for spate of car thefts KUWAIT: Farw aniya detectives managed to catch tw o car thieves, w ho w ere apparently stealing the vehicles to sell in order to buy drugs. The tw o w ere arrested in Khaitan after they came under suspicion of being behind the thefts, having been released from a drug rehabilitation center a short time ago. Both w ere referred to the relevant authorities. Meanw hile, burglars broke into a Kuw aiti man’s diw aniya in Taima, stealing KD 17,000 w orth of valuables, including electrical appliances and large quantities of oriental incense, w hich he had imported to sell. On discovering the theft, the citizen immediately reported it at the local police station. Crime scene investigators visited the diw aniya, removing fingerprints and other evidence, and a hunt is underw ay for the thieves. Traffic accident A driver was killed and his male passenger critically injured in an accident on the Shuwaikh Port Bridge. Paramedics who rushed to the scene discovered that the driver had already died of the head injuries he sustained in the accident and his body was removed for autopsy, while the passenger was rushed to Sabah Hospital. According to Al-Rai, initial investigations suggest that the accident took place when the tire of the car burst, causing it to overturn several times.
kuwait digest
Kuwait’s child obesity woes By Dr Shamlan Yousif Al-Essa hild obesity has received global media attention, especially the conditions prevalent in Kuwait as well as other GCC countries. A recent WHO report has shown that child obesity is more prevalent in Kuwait than in the USA. In an article published on July 21, a coworker, Fakhri Hashim Al-Sayyed Rajab said that Kuwaiti children were found to be the most diabetic in a survey conducted worldwide and that their extreme obesity was caused by lack of exercise. I totally agree with Rajab who believes that taking up a sporting activity is very important for children’s health. I also believe that there are other reasons that cause obesity among adults and children, especially women and children. In recent years, with better incomes and more free time at hand, these vulnerable groups have become victims of westernized eating habits in the form of fast food meals and
C
fizzy drinks. Kuwaiti children also eat a carbohydrate-heavy diet like white bread and rice. They rarely include vegetables and fruits in their diet. Therefore, it’s very important to boost awareness about healthy eating among public. Rajab neglected the psychological factor, forgetting that Kuwaiti children overeat owing to emotional reasons: to soothe worries, depression, loneliness and the lack of adequate amusement facilities. Many are depressed because their parents are busy and are only taken care of by their maids. Sometimes, the problem is also genetic. Some children are born with diabetes due to intermarriage between relatives as parents rarely get themselves medically examined. During the upcoming month of Ramadan, most of us tend to do whatever Islam has forbidden us - overeating and eating too many desserts, candy and sug-
The female team before the start of the race.
ary beverages. We, parents, do not pay much attention toward healthy eating habits. What about our children? How can they learn to eat healthily? Here in the US, where I spend my summer vacation, Americans face similar situations as they have been placed next to us in the WHO report on obesity. The only difference is that Americans have launched national campaigns to combat child obesity. Back in Kuwait, the government, unintentionally, contributes toward spreading obesity by subsidizing sugar, white rice, bread, cheese and chicken. Citizens are not encouraged to have enough fruits and vegetables though the press and the media are currently spearheading an awareness campaign. We need more psychological and social studies to be held in order to solve the problem. More recreational and sports facilities should be opened all over the country. — Al-Watan
Saboteur sought Police are hunting for a Bangladeshi man who unintentionally caused a power cut to a number of buildings in Jleeb AlShuyoukh while attempting to cut off the electricity to his former roommates’ apartment in an act of revenge. The man had
apparently been kicked out by his roommates following a disagreement and was attempting to take retribution by cutting off their electricity supply. Police were at the scene shortly after being informed of the incident, but found that the suspected saboteur had already fled, reported Al-Anba. The search for the man continues.
plaint at Sulaibikhat police station against an unidentified caller, reported Al-Watan. The shaken citizen told officers that he had received an anonymous death threat from a man he did not know in an international call, with the caller identifying him by name. An investigation is underway into the incident.
Fugitives arrested Police who stopped two men for a routine ID check discovered that one of them had been convicted of writing a total of KD 4 million worth of fake cheques, while the other was wanted in connection with unpaid debts of KD 8,000. Both were arrested and have been referred to the relevant authorities, reported Al-Watan.
Driver drug bust Police who pulled a Kuwaiti driver over on the Sixth Ring Road to give him a driving citation ended up arresting him for drug possession. This followed the discovery of 18 narcotic tablets in a bag in his pocket after his nervous behavior aroused the officers’ suspicions, reported Al-Watan. The man was referred to the relevant authorities.
Phone death threat A Kuwaiti man lodged a com-
Grenade find A number of hand grenades
were discovered buried at the site where Shadadiya University is being built during construction work there. The builders immediately called the police, and bomb squad officers were quickly at the scene. The grenades, which are believed to date back to the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and occupation, were confiscated, with bomb squad officers finding a further five in a sweep of the area. J unkie left at hospital A drug user was found unconscious in front of Jahra Hospital where a friend apparently left him after he fell unconscious while abusing drugs. The man was rushed to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where doctors managed to stabilize his condition, reported Al-Rai. Police are searching for the person who left him outside the hospital.
KAC panel gets offers for privatization KUWAIT: The Kuwait Airways Company constituent committee yesterday announced receipt of offers for alliances of investment banks and aviation activity and related auditing specialists, that are to promote shares in the new company and supervise auction of the strategic partner stake. A press release by the committee said it would be cooperating with World Bank specialist to assess the offers and expects to finish selection procedures by Aug 1, upon which date the investment group is to start operation. The constituent committee started its work on March 3 in implementation of law 6/2008 on converting state-owned Kuwait Airways Corporation to a shareholding company, dubbed Kuwait Airways Company. It
started with measures for the privatization based on Ministerial Council decision, 115/2010, which approved the assessment made of KAC and charged Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) to found the new company. The statement said the committee finished drafting the Contract of Establishment and the Company Charter, and also reserved the commercial name (Kuwait Airways Company) with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The committee recently contracted Abdul Hameed Al-Sarraf and Partners and US-based Baker and McKenzie for legal advisory services for the privatization. The consortium was charged to handle all legal aspects of the privatization and
The male participants prepare for their race.
establishment procedures including handling of transfer of assets and of liabilities, and started working on the project on July 13. The statement also said the committee and the KAC board finished surveying current staff to determine their future of employment, within the framework of the concerned law. This last step was taken to guarantee smooth operation throughout the conversion and beyond and to maintain quality of service within the international standards adopted by the KAC. The committee stressed it is handling all matters and is “on schedule” and expects all to be finished “on time” with highest levels of professionalism possible. — KUNA
Al-Methen awards a winner.
Walkathon, football tournament held at Shaab Club KUWAIT: The Shaab Sea Club recently hosted a walkathon, with separate events held for men and women. A total number of 52 contestants, mostly club members, took part in the competition which was held as part of the activities organized by the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC). The winners were awarded prizes by the Club’s supervisor, Khalid Al-Methen. He asserted that the competition’s high appeal has encouraged TEC to reintroduce it with more improvements every year. Furthermore, the club also held the final match of an under-16 football tournament which was held as part of the Club’s athletic activities. The tournament featured 16 teams that comprised children of the club’s members. Following the final match, Al-Methen handed over the winning team with the championship’s trophy. He commented that such competitions provide children with activities that are beneficial to their health. They also provide a healthy, competitive atmosphere which is one of the main goals set by the TEC’s administration.
Winners of the race
A view of the race.
A member of the winning team receives his prize.
Children pose with the football tournament’s organizer
The junior football team’s players pose with TEC officials before the final match.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
INTERNATIONAL
7
Suspected Qaeda leader among nine dead in Yemen clashes SANAA: Al-Qaeda militants in an off-road vehicle attacked a foreign-run oilfield in Yemen sparking clashes in which six soldiers and three jihadists, one of them a top commander died, officials said yesterday. “Three Al-Qaeda members, one of them a top leader, were killed” in the exchanges with troops guarding the oilfield in Shabwa province, east of the capital, on Sunday, a security official told AFP. The attackers opened fire with machine guns and rockets at the soldiers who were posted near the foreign oil company’s operations, a provincial
SANAA: Tribal leaders and Shiite Muslim Zaidi rebels in northern Yemen, also known as Huthis, gather in Harf Sufyan, in northern Amran province, some 120 kms from the capital Sanaa on July 25. — AFP
‘King of kings’ Gaddafi muscles back into African Union KAMPALA: Six months after reluctantly handing over the African Union presidency, Libya’s maverick leader Muammar Gaddafi has tried once again to stamp his authority and his petrodollars on the body’s agenda. The first phase of his attempted reconquest at this week’s AU summit in Kampala was the now predictable Gaddafi roadshow, comprised of a retinue of traditional kings as well as young supporters plastering the city with posters of the leader and lining the roads with welcome banners. “We came to meet the great leader, a leader who initiated the African Union,” Sheikh Harun Ssengooba, a Ugandan representative of the Union of Muslim Councils for Eastern and Southern Africa told AFP. Ushered in with flags whose green colour owed more to the Libyan revolution than AU livery, Gaddafi was then flanked at the opening ceremony by some of the colourful tribal leaders who crowned him “King of Kings of Africa” in 2008. The notoriously extravagant leader was alone of the more than 30 heads of state staying at the Speke Munyonyo resort outside Kampala to have a tent set up on the grounds and a private entrance to the hotel. But while Gaddafi was once again the summit’s chief entertainer, he has had his work cut out to reassert his political clout. Gaddafi’s tenure as AU chairman in 2009 caused some embarrassment in the organisation, with many diplomats irked by his habit of bypassing the AU Commission, its executive body. The veteran leader, who was never elected but has ruled Libya since 1969, tried to cling to his chairmanship of the organisation in January but eventually had to yield to Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika in a vote. This year’s summit in Uganda has been dominated by the aftermath of deadly bombings in Kampala and pledges to adopt a more decisive approach to solving Somalia’s woes. But diplomats said Gaddafi’s ministers forced the inclusion in the summit’s agenda of a discussion on the United States of Africa, which has been his pet project for years but remains a divisive issue among member states.
“They (the Libyan delegation) kept us awake until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. by insisting on the inclusion of a different issue,” one diplomat told AFP. To counter his own agenda’s loss of momentum, Gaddafi stuck to a tried and tested method. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said Gaddafi was offering $90 billion to help achieve a continental union. “Now, it’s a question of defining the mechanism by which we should use this money,” Wade told a meeting of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) last week in Chad. On Monday, Gaddafi left the heads of state meeting and laid out some chairs under a tree to meet with presidents individually as his staff made tea. Gaddafi has also made it clear what he thought of the summit’s official theme, which focuses on maternal and child health in Africa. “Maternity and infants? We are not UNICEF. Those things are UNICEF’s job,” he said in Chad. CEN-SAD is a key recipient of Libyan cash but Gaddafi received a cooler reception from his peers at the AU summit. The meeting’s host, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, lashed out at “terrorists from the Middle East” in his opening, causing unease in the attendance, not least among the Arab heads of state. “Let them go back to Asia or the Middle East where I understand some come from,” said Museveni, whose regime has been coming increasingly under the influence of Pentecostal Christian churches. As a rebel leader in the early 1980s, Museveni sent several of his top deputies to Libya for training and has publicly acknowledged that the oil-rich Libyan regime financially supported his guerrilla war. After Museveni took power, Gaddafi visited Kampala often and certainly left his mark by funding a massive mosque named in his honour on a hilltop that towers over much of the city. But the relationship has cooled in recent years, notably because Museveni has more or less dismissed Gaddafi’s United States of Africa, which foresees a single government for the entire continent. — AFP
EU debates Gaza situation BRUSSELS: Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign and security affairs chief, said yesterday Israel must do more to allow goods in and out of the Gaza Strip. “We need to see more happening to improve the situation in Gaza, especially for exports to be allowed so that the Gaza economy can start to grow again,” Ashton told reporters on arrival at a meeting with the EU foreign ministers. “There is much to be done.” Ashton was to brief the foreign ministers on her visit to the Middle East last week when she met with Israeli officials in Jerusalem and officials of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank town of Ramallah. She also visited the blockaded Gaza Strip to gauge the impact of Israel’s easing of its embargo on the Hamas-ruled
territory. While Israel has eased its grip on the Gaza, it says allowing Gazans to export and travel freely would pose too much of a security risk. In Jerusalem last week, Ashton told Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman “the security of Israel is extremely important and must be assured,” but she suggested Israel could ease trade restrictions on Gaza. The Israeli blockade is aimed to weaken Hamas, an Islamist group committed to the destruction of Israel and refusing to hand over an Israeli soldier who was captured five years ago. Ashton said yesterday the soldier must be released, if relations between Israel and Palestinian leaders in the Gaza are to improve. — AP
official said. The militants struck in AlAqla distrct, 45 kilometres (30 miles) east of the provincial capital Ataq. The area produces between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels of crude a day, provincial official Abdel Mohsen Ben Saad told AFP. A security official identified the suspected Al-Qaeda commander as Zayed al-Daghari, believed to have been a key figure in the jihadists’ operations in Shabwa. Provincial security chief General Ahmed al-Maqdashi told the defence ministry’s
26sep.net news website that the militants who carried out Sunday’s attacks were believed to have been behind a nighttime ambush which killed five soldiers and wounded one in Ataq on Thursday. Shabwa and adjacent Abyan province have become major fields of operations for AlQaeda as the central government struggles to impose its control on the region’s heavily armed tribes. The province is the base of the Al-Awalaq tribe of radical Yemeni American preacher Anwa Al-Awlaqi, who is wanted by both US and Yemeni
authorities. Awlaqi has been accused of ties to Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch. The ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Yemen has seen repeated attacks claimed by the jihadists on foreign missions, tourist sites and oil facilities. On Friday, Al-Qaeda claimed twin attacks on security and intelligence headquarters in the south Yemen town of Zinjibar on July 14 in which three policemen were killed, in an Internet statement. The group’s Yemen branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said that
the attack was to avenge the deaths of the “emir of the mujahedeen” in Abyan province, Jamil al-Ambari, and fellow jihadist Samir alSanaani. The two were among three Al-Qaeda fighters Yemeni officials said were killed in an air raid in Abyan’s Moudia district on March 14. The Sanaa government has intensified its operations against Al-Qaeda since the network’s local affiliate claimed the attempted bombing of a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day last year. — AFP
Bomb kills 6 at Baghdad office of Arabic channel ‘This has the clear fingerprints of Al-Qaeda’ BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber driving a minibus blew himself up in front of the Baghdad office of a popular Arabic news station early yesterday, killing six people, and burying a lawmaker alive under the rubble of his collapsed home, police and hospital officials said. The bomber was apparently waved “This has the clear fingerprints of al-Qaeda,” al-Moussawi told the channel, adding that an investigation had been launched to determine how the bomber was cleared through two checkpoints. Two police officials and a hospital official said three guards, a driver, a passer-by and a 50-yearold cleaner were killed in the massive blast that hurled around cars and collapsed nearby buildings. The attack also wounded 16 people, including former deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubaie, who lives nearby. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. Al-Zubaie, a member of parliament representing the Iraqiya list headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, was rescued from under the rubble of his demolished home said Izzuldin al-Samarraie, an official in the lawmaker’s office. The lawmaker is a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s coalition, which is locked in a tough battle with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to see who will be the country’s next leader. Allawi could be seen walking out of building after inspecting the damage. American troops riding in Humvees also came by to inspect the damage. He said al-Zubaie’s wounds were serious and he was undergoing surgery at Ibn Sina Hospital, in the Green Zone which houses Iraq’s government and the US Embassy. In March 2007, a suicide bomber concealed among worshippers blew himself up in al-Zubaie’s home, wounding him in the abdomen. Al-Arabiya correspondent Tarek Maher said that the relatively low death toll was because none of the station’s administrative staff were in the office at the time of the blast. Police Maj. Gen. Jihad al-Jabiri said the bomber drove up and parked near a trailer where the guards stayed. The trailer’s mangled remains could be seen in front of the two-story white building, whose front was partially blackened from the blast. Windows were blown out in Al-Arabiya’s offices and much of the building’s interior appeared to be in shambles, with doors hanging off their frames. The smoldering shells of at least nine cars could be seen along the street, including one that appeared to have been hurled by the blast on top of another vehicle. —AP
through two checkpoints leading to the Al-Arabiya television station after security guards checked his identification, said Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi. He said the explosion occurred about 10 minutes after the bomber cleared the second checkpoint.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi soldiers seal off the street following a suicide car bomb that targeted the Al-Arabiya TV channel’s office in central Baghdad yesterday, detonated killing several people, the interior ministry said. — AFP
Settlers, Palestinians wounded in WB clashes BURIN: Four Israeli settlers and three Palestinians were wounded yesterday when clashes broke out in the northern West Bank, police and an AFP correspondent said. The violence began when Israeli troops removed two mobile homes set up near the Bracha settlement, sparking protests from settlers, who hurled rocks at Palestinian vehicles at a nearby checkpoint, Palestinian witnesses said. When the troops moved in to disperse the settlers from the checkpoint, they regrouped at the nearby village of Burin-the scene of several previous settler attacks-where they clashed with Palestinian villagers.
“Four Israelis were wounded this morning, one of them seriously, when Palestinians attacked them with stones in Burin,” spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that border police had intervened to impose calm. He confirmed that two settlers had earlier been detained while protesting the removal of the mobile homes. An AFP photographer saw a large group of settlers enter Burin and hurl stones at Palestinian villagers, who threw rocks back at them. He said three Palestinians, including a news photographer, were wounded in the fighting. Hardline settlers in the West Bank have long pursued what they call a
“price tag” policy of attacking Palestinian farms and villages to protest the military’s removal of settlement outposts. Israel’s settler movement is strongly opposed to any withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, because it views them as an inseparable part of biblical Israel. The Palestinians view the presence of a half million Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied territories as a severe threat to their ability to establish a viable independent state. The international community considers all Israeli settlements illegal. — AFP
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Warcrimes court delays Naomi Campbell's testimony to Aug 5 THE HAGUE: A war crimes court yesterday delayed by a week to August 5 supermodel Naomi Campbell's testimony about a "blood diamond" she allegedly received from former Liberian president Charles Taylor in 1997. Campbell was initially due to have testified on Thursday after the Special Court for Sierra Leone issued a subpoena for her to appear at the prosecution's request, but her lawyers had asked for a delay, the court said in The Hague.
"The judges of SCSL trial chamber II have this morning approved Ms Naomi Campbell's request to postpone her scheduled testimony in the trial of Charles Taylor to Thursday August 5, 2010, at 09:00 (0700 GMT)," a court statement said. Taylor has been on trial since 2008 for his alleged role in the civil war in Sierra Leone, accused of arming rebels in return for illegally mined diamonds. Campbell will testify about claims by her former agent Carole White and actress Mia
Farrow that she was given a diamond by Taylor after a celebrity dinner hosted by then South African president Nelson Mandela in September 1997. The model had refused to talk to prosecutors about the alleged gift, prompting them to get a court subpoena for her testimony. The judges also issued a separate order allowing prosecutors to call Farrow and White to give testimony about the alleged late-night incident at Mandela's home.
The women, both present at the dinner, were willing to testify, according to prosecution documents before the court. White claimed to be present when the diamond was delivered, while Farrow "was told by Ms Campbell the next morning about the gift". "She told us ... she had been awakened in the night by a knocking at her door. She opened the door to find two or three men -I do not recall how many-who presented her with a large diamond which they said was
from Charles Taylor," Farrow said in a declaration in the possession of prosecutors. The prosecution alleges the rough diamond was among those Taylor had obtained from Sierra Leone rebels and took to South Africa "to sell ... or exchange them from weapons". It says Campbell's evidence is direct evidence of Taylor's possession of rough diamonds, a claim he has denied. Taylor, 62, is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity
stemming from the 1991-2001 civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, where he is alleged to have armed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. The RUF is blamed for the mutilation of thousands of civilians who had their hands and arms severed in one of the most brutal wars in modern history, which claimed some 120,000 lives. Taylor has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging. — AFP
'Al-Qaeda has demonstrated little respect it has for human life'
African leaders grapple with growing terror threat KAMPALA: Security concerns dominated the African Union's 15th summit yesterday, with Al Qaeda's expansion in East Africa and the Sahel elbowing issues such as health and governance out of the limelight. More than 30 heads of state met behind closed doors with the bombings that killed 76 in Kampala two
weeks ago and the execution of a French hostage in Mali on Saturday topping the agenda. "Al-Qaeda has demonstrated the little respect it has for human life... This is another manifestation of a behaviour which is totally barbaric and unacceptable," the AU's top security official, Ramtane Lamamra, said.
KAMPALA: The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Jean Ping (C) smiles as he leaves a meeting by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) during the second day of the 15th African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda yesterday. More than 30 heads of state from the AU's 53 members gathered amid unprecedented security in the Ugandan capital. —AFP
Radical police overhaul to include 'FBI' agency LONDON: A major shake-up of policing in England and Wales, aimed at making the service more efficient in fighting crime and more accountable to the public, is to be announced by the government yesterday, Home Office sources said. Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline the radical plans, which include setting up a new national crime-fighting agency, to parliament. The government has said police forces must bear their share of austerity-driven cuts to eliminate Britain's record budget deficit within the next five years. Most government departments face spending cuts of at least 25 percent. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has not ruled out cuts to staff num-
bers overall, but has pledged to safeguard front-line officer numbers. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which has been criticised for not recovering enough assets owned by wellheeled criminals, is expected to be scrapped just four years after it was set up by the ousted Labour government and replaced with an all embracing FBI-style body, sources told Reuters. The Home Office's consultation paperPolicing in the 21st century-outlines plans to replace SOCA with a new border police unit, along with the child exploitation and online protection centre (CEOP) and elements of the national policing improvement agency, which is likely to be phased out. The new agency will focus on cross-bor-
der organised crime and drug trafficking. "The government wants to ensure all aspects of policing are run effectively to tackle crime," a Home office spokesman said. "This includes serious and organised crime, through strong links between local policing and work done beyond individual forces." At a local level, there are plans to replace police authorities with elected police and crime commissioners in the next two years to oversee every force. They will have powers to set budgets and hire and fire chief constables. The proposals have already met resistance by police authorities and some chief constables. — Reuters
Mayor urged to quit after Love Parade tragedy DUISBURG: The mayor of the German city of Duisburg faced intense pressure to quit yesterday two days after a panicked stampede at the Love Parade festival left 19 people dead. Authorities had reportedly been warned the western industrial city was too small to hold one of Europe's biggest techno music festivals, while security arrangements have been slammed as being woefully inadequate. "Even if prosecutors are still conducting their investigation, it is clear the Duisburg city officials failed completely," the local Neue Rhein Zeitung (NRZ) said in an editorial. "Even on the evening of the accident, while seriously injured people were dying in hospital, officials were cowardly trying to talk their way of it and even defending their security plan." Mayor Adolf Sauerland, who staunchly defended what he said was a "solid" security plan at a news conference on Sunday, and who was reportedly pelted with rubbish, has come under fierce attack. "The cynical reaction of the mayor, who said the victims' behaviour was partly to blame, was unacceptable," wrote the NRZ paper. "His scandalous position was nothing less than a mockery of the dead-of young people who came from afar to party and who died because of your overburdened organisation." Sauerland said Monday he did not rule out stepping down. "Yesterday and today the question of who was responsible was asked, including about me. I will ask myself this question," he told radio station WDR2. Police said that the 11 women and eight men died as they scrambled to escape from a crush in a narrow, 100-metre (yard) tunnel that served as the only entrance to the festival grounds. The dead were aged between 20 and 40 and included seven foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Bosnia and Spain. More than 340 people were injured. None of them was in a critical condition yesterday. Television pictures on Saturday showed lifeless bodies being passed over the heads of
DUISBURG: People mourn in front of candles and flowers of a make-shift memorial site in the tunnel that formed the entrance to Love Parade grounds yesterday, where panic broke out in Duisburg, western Germany. —AFP those frantically trying to escape while oblivious revellers danced. "We were in the tunnel, but we were lucky. When we heard there were four dead, we managed to get out," Evie Aslanidou, 20, a Greek student living in the town, told AFP on Monday as she braved driving rain to return to the scene. German-born Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their horror, with the German leader calling it a "very, very dreadful and sad day" and demanding a "very intensive investigation." Flags were at half-mast in the city yesterday after Saturday's tragedy, and in the surrounding region. At the entrance to the tunnel, where
hundreds of candles, bouquets of flowers and an impromptu remembrance board with hundreds of signatures marked the dead, there were furious messages for the organisers. "This event should never have taken place here," read one. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," said another. Yesterday's edition of the daily StadtAnzeiger in nearby Cologne said the mayor had been warned in writing in October 2009 that the grounds were too narrow for the expected crowds but that the concerns went unheeded. Spiegel magazine said on its website that the festival only had authorisation for 250,000 revellers instead of for 1.4 million people who organisers said had attended. — AFP
He was referring to confirmation that a 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, who was working for a small aid agency when he was kidnapped in Niger in April, had been executed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group-which still holds two Spaniards hostage-has plagued the security of several countries, including Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Niger. With an Al Qaeda franchise destabilising the vast northwestern Sahel region, Somalia's Shebab group showed it was aspiring to the same regional status when it struck crowds watching the World Cup in Kampala on July 11. What Ugandans now refer to as 7/11 killed 76 people and was claimed by the Al Qaedainspired Somali insurgent group in retaliation for Uganda's leading role in the AU force which has thwarted their advance in Mogadishu. Instead of being bullied into pulling out the AMISOM force, African leaders went on the offensive and vowed the rapid deployment of extra troops to rescue the western-backed Somali government and crush the Shebab. "Let us now act in concert and sweep them (terrorists) out of Africa," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in his opening speech on Sunday. "AMISOM will become more robust in the coming weeks and months," Lamamra said yesterday. "It's a matter of a few short weeks," he said when asked about the expected date of fresh deployments. "On who will provide the extra troops, the decisiion will be communicated by IGAD to the AU soon. We already know that Uganda's contribution will be available," he said. The regional body IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) earlier this month pledged 2,000 troops to bring AMISOM from its current level of 6,000 up to maximum strength. AU commission chief Jean Ping announced last week that Guinea would send a battalion and predicted the force in Somalia could swell to 10,000. While Uganda has said it could provide the 2,000 troops pledged by IGAD, it urged the rest of the continent to recognise the expanding threat of the Shebab and chip in with contingents of their own. Foreign deployments have systematically failed to restore stability in Somalia, which has had no functioning central government for two decades, and some observers voiced concern that expanded military action would only further expose civilians. NGOs also voiced their frustration yesterday that the AU's sabre-rattling was drowning out the summit's official theme of maternal, child and infant health. "Obviously the (Kampala) bombings were a tragedy. Nobody disputes that," said Tanya Weinberg of the humanitarian agency Save the Children. "But the ultimate tragedy is losing a child or losing the maternal head of a household. And that is happening every day on this continent." The continent's leaders-who are scheduled to close the summit today with a final declaration-were also expected to discuss Sudan, where the oil-rich south is due to hold a referendum on independence in January. Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir stayed clear of the summit. — AFP
MOSCOW: Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, foreground right, toasts withrecipients of state awards during an award ceremony in Moscow's Kremlin, yesterday.— AFP
Alleged coup leader hospitalised in Turkey ISTANBUL: The alleged mastermind of a 2003 plot to overthrow Turkey's Islamist-rooted government received treatment in hospital yesterday for heart problems after his arrest, Anatolia news agency reported. Retired general Cetin Dogan was hospitalised overnight following his detention Sunday under an arrest warrant for 102 suspects, including senior military figures, who have been charged over the alleged plan to overthrow the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Dogan was kept in intensive care for several hours because of a risk of a heart attack and later moved to an ordinary unit, Anatolia said. In a heavy blow to the army, 25 acting generals and admirals were included on the arrest warrant issued Friday, according to a report seen on the Milliyet daily's web site yesterday. Judicial authorities were not available for comment. The list included a total of 75 serving officers as well as 17 retired generals and admirals, according to Milliyet. At least seven acting admirals and generals had been initially identified among those facing arrest, including the heads of the navy's northern and southern flanks. A total of 196 defendants will go on trial on December 16 in the case, the the toughest judicial action so far against the influential Turkish military which has long meddled in politics.
Dogan was the sole suspect in custody yesterday. His lawyer appealed against the arrest warrant, along with attorneys for at least some 50 other suspects on the list, Anatolia said. The coup plan was allegedly drawn up and discussed at the Istanbul-based First Army in 2003, shortly after the AKP, the offshoot of a banned Islamist movement, came to power amid fears it would undermine Turkey's secular system. The suspects allegedly planned to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with neighbouring Greece to spark political unrest and shape public opinion in favour of a military coup, before seizing power. Dogan, the First Army's then commander, has denied the charges, arguing that papers from a contingency plan based on a scenario of domestic unrest had been doctored to look like a coup plot. The probe, launched in February, came atop the indictment of dozens of other soldiers and civilians since 2007 over a series of purported plots to destabilise and topple the AKP. The investigations have sharply polarised Turkey. Proponents back the judicial onslaught as a boost to democracy in a country where the army has unseated four governments since 1960. Government opponents however argue that AKP cronies within the state are leading a campaign based on fabricated evidence to disable the staunchly secularist army and give the AKP a free hand in pursuing Islamist ambitions. — AFP
BELGRADE: Serbian President, Boris Tadic, 2nd right, front, attends a session of the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade, Serbia, yesterday. Lawmakers in Serbia have met for an urgent session expected to reaffirm the country's bid to keep Kosovo despite a World Court ruling backing the legality of Kosovo's independence declaration. — AP
in the news Nurse murdered LONDON: Detectives were questioning a man on suspicion of murder yesterday after a woman was stabbed to death in a hospital car park in Lancashire. The 26-year-old victim, who media reports said was a nurse, was attacked as she approached her car in the staff car park of the Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Sunday evening. She was taken to the hospital's emergency unit but died. Detectives, who said the victim might have known her assailant, arrested a 30-year-old man yesterday morning and he is now in custody. "We have launched a murder inquiry following this incident and I would appeal for anyone with information to get in touch with us as a matter of urgency," said Detective Chief Inspector Neil Esseen. Rwanda detains activists KIGALI: Rwandan police said yesterday they have arrested two people, both oppostion activists, who were planning an unauthorised
demonstration, prompting calls for their release by an opposition leader. The two belong to the party of opposition leader Victoire Ingabire, who wants to challenge President Paul Kagame in the August 9 presidential election. But the party has never been registered. "The pair wanted to organise an unauthorised demonstration yesterday. They are currently in police custody," police spokesman Eric Kayiranga said on state-run Radio Rwanda. He said they were arrested Saturday night and added that banners and Tshirts inscribed with slogans "inciting to division" were found in their vehicle. Ingabire, who confirmend the two were regional officials of her United Democratic Forces party, said they had been beaten and called for their release. "We call upon the government of... Paul Kagame to release them and to adequately address the issue of police brutality, beatings, torture, death threats, excessive force and the use of hate language, profanity and defamatory remarks," she said in a statement.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Chile rejects pardons proposed by Catholic Church SANTIAGO: Chile's conservative president rejected a proposal by the Roman Catholic Church for sweeping pardons of elderly and sick prisoners that would have freed military officers convicted of human rights violations during the Pinochet dictatorship. President Sebastian Pinera announced Sunday that he will only consider case-bycase pardons on humanitarian grounds and that serious offenses related to crimes against humanity, terrorism or drug traffick-
ing will not be considered. Catholic Church leaders in Chile proposed pardoning prisoners who are sick, are older than 70 or have served half their sentence. But relatives of victims who were killed or vanished during Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule said such a sweeping amnesty would be a setback for basic justice and fairness. Church officials could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. "I have come to the conclu-
sion that it would be neither prudent nor wise, under current circumstances, to approve a new general pardon," Pinera said in a televised message. He said individual pardons will be closely studied, but "convicts will be excluded who have been sentenced for especially grave crimes, such as crimes against humanity, terrorism, drug trafficking, homicide, violent crime, rape and abuses against minors." The president of the Chilean bishop's conference,
Alejandro Goic, told state television that the president was open to the substance of the church's proposals for improving the prison system. "The president has given very clear signals that they will about that," Goic said. Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Relatives of the Detainees and Disappeared, welcomed Pinera's announcement but said concerns about individual pardons remain. "We are worried that in the end, people who were sentenced under dif-
ferent categories -- but who are human rights violators -- could fall under some category that makes them eligible for pardon." Retired army Gen. Rafael Villarroel, president of the Chile My Country organization, urged Pinera to do just what the rights groups worry about. He said the president should "consider all humanitarian aspects in relation to former national defense personnel who were prosecuted or convicted." According to offi-
cial statistics, 3,065 opponents of Pinochet's right-wing regime were killed and 1,200 more disappeared. Some 600 military personnel have been accused of crimes against humanity but no more than 150 are serving prison sentences. Pinera's January election ended more than two decades of rule by the center-left coalition that followed the dictatorship. The new president has sought to distance his brand of conservative politics from the Pinochet era. — AP
Warns Washington to stay out of the fray
Chavez threatens to cut off US oil in Colombia crisis SANTA CLARA: Cuba's President Raul Castro, front left, and Venezuela's Vice-President Rafael Ramirez applaud during a rally marking the Cuba's Revolution Day in Santa Clara, Cuba, yesterday. Yesterday's celebrations commemorate the date in 1953 when the Castros led an attack on the Moncada army barracks in the eastern city of Santiago and a smaller military outpost in the nearby city of Bayamo. — AP
Fidel absent, Raul silent at Cuba's Revolution Day SANTA CLARA: A B-team of socialist speakers spent Cuba's Revolution Day bashing the United States for everything from its drug consumption to the war in Iraq to its military support for Colombia, portraying Washington as the great villain in world affairs. But the day was more notable for who didn't address the crowd -- President Raul Castro never took the lectern, brother Fidel Castro was a no-show and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez canceled his trip to Cuba altogether. It was the first Revolution Day in memory in which neither Castro spoke, leaving some in the crowd and on Cuba's streets disappointed and perplexed. No reason was given. The Castros often use July 26 -- the most important date on Cuba's calendar -- to set the agenda for the coming year and announce major changes. A spate of public appearances by the 83-year-old Fidel after years of seclusion had fueled speculation he would be onstage with his younger brother and possibly even address his compatriots. That neither man spoke was a surprise, particularly since Cubans have much they are waiting to hear from their leaders, together in power for more than half a century. The country is in the grips of a painful economic downturn, and there have been increasing warnings from intellectuals that corruption is eating away at the revolution's foundations. Raul Castro has made halting efforts to open the economy, while exhorting Cubans to work harder and stop depending on the state for everything. The government is also in the midst of fulfilling a pledge to release 52 political prisoners jailed since 2003, a major concession that has some hoping more change might be on the way. But none of the speakers brought up the dissidents yesterday, in keeping with the government's position that they are mercenaries and common criminals not worthy of mention. Tens of thousands of people filled the plaza in the central city of Santa Clara in front of a huge bronze
statue of gun-toting revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Many in the crowd wore red T-shirts bearing his likeness or other homages to the revolution. They got speeches by local party bosses interspersed with music, poetry readings and chants of "Long live the Revolution!" Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura gave the main speech, saying Cuba must tighten its belt and make changes to the closed economy -- but will not be pushed to move too quickly. "Savings, reduction of costs and the maximum rationing of energy and resources are our urgent needs in all areas," he said, adding that the country is taking a step-by-step approach to transforming its economy. "We will never accept outside pressure." While he wasn't at yesterday's event, Fidel Castro has been seemingly everywhere else lately, most recently making an emotional visit Saturday to a town outside Havana to honor fallen revolutionary fighters. Nevertheless, he dominated the discourse. "The visible recovery of our commander in chief is a point of pride and makes all revolutionaries happy today," Machado said. Machado and others decried Washington's 48year-old trade embargo against Cuba and accused the United States of imperialist intentions in Latin America and the world. Venezuela's Chavez was scheduled to attend as a guest of honor, but canceled at the last minute due to a diplomatic conflict with neighboring Colombia. In his place he sent Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez, who blamed the United States for the confrontation between Caracas and Bogota. Chavez cut off diplomatic relations with Colombia after outgoing President Alvaro Uribe's government presented photos, videos and maps of what it said were Colombian rebel camps inside Venezuela. Chavez called it an attempt to smear his government and said Uribe could be trying to lay the groundwork for an armed conflict. — AP
Mexico: Prison guards let killers out, lent guns MEXICO CITY: Guards and officials at a prison in northern Mexico allegedly let inmates out, lent them guns and sent them off in official vehicles to carry out drug-related killings, including the massacre of 17 people last week, prosecutors said Sunday. After carrying out the killings the inmates would return to their cells, the Attorney General's Office said in a revelation that was shocking even for a country wearied by years of drug violence and corruption. "According to witnesses, the inmates were allowed to leave with authorization of the prison director ... to carry out instructions for revenge attacks using official vehicles and using guards' weapons for executions," office spokesman Ricardo Najera said at a news conference. The director of the prison in Gomez Palacio in Durango state and three other officials were placed under a form of house arrest pending further investigation. No charges have yet been filed. Prosecutors said the prison-based hit squad is suspected in three mass shootings, including the July 18 attack on a party in the city of Torreon, which is near Gomez Palacio. In that incident, gunmen fired indiscriminately into a crowd of mainly young people in a rented hall, killing 17 people, including women. Police found more than 120 bullet casings at the scene, and Najera said tests matched those casings to four assault rifles assigned to guards at the prison. Similar ballistics tests linked the guns to earlier killings at two bars in Torreon, the capital of northern Coahuila state, he said. At least 16 people were killed in those attacks on Feb. 1 and May 15, local media reported. Najera blamed the killings on disputes between rival drug cartels. "Unfortunately, the criminals also carried out cowardly killings of innocent civilians, only to return to their cells," he said. Coahuila and neighboring Durango are among several northern states that have seen a spike in drug-related violence that authorities attribute to a fight between the Gulf cartel and its former enforcers, known as the Zetas. Mexico has long had a problem with investigating crimes, catching criminals and convicting people. Reports estimate less than 2 percent of crimes in Mexico result in prison sentences. But Sunday's revelation suggests that even putting cartel gunmen in prison may not prevent them from continuing to commit crimes. Interior Secretary Francisco Blake said the revelation "can only be seen as a wake-up call for authorities to address, once again, the state of deterioration in many local law enforcement institutions ... we cannot allow this kind of thing to happen again." Also Sunday, Mexican federal police announced the arrest of an alleged leading member of a drug gang blamed in recent killings and a car-bombing in the violence-ridden border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. — AP
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States if it were to back a Colombian military attack on Venezuela, warning Washington to stay out of the fray. Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota Thursday in response to charges by President Alvaro Uribe that 1,500 Colombian guerrillas had set up camp inside Venezuela and were launching attacks from its territory. The firebrand leftist president said on Sunday he had intelligence that "the possibility of an armed aggression against Venezuelan territory from Colombia" was higher than it has been "in 100 years." If Colombia were to launch an attack "promoted by the Yankee empire, we would suspend oil deliveries to the United States, even if everybody over here has to eat stones," he warned. "We wouldn't send even a single drop of oil" to the United States, he said. The United States is the number one consumer of oil from Venezuela, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and South America's largest oil producer and exporter. Chavez, who has been highly critical of a US-Colombian military base deal struck last year, called the United States "the great instigator" behind Venezuela's current conflict with Colombia. About 20,000 Venezuelan troops deployed along the 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) border with Colombia have been placed under "maximum alert," according to military officials. The United States on Friday threw its support behind its key ally Colombia in its latest row with Venezuela, calling Chavez's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Colombia and put border troops on alert "a petulant response" to Bogota's accusations. Chavez on Sunday hinted at
CARACAS: In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to members of his party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), at a campaign rally for upcoming congressional elections in Caracas, Venezuela. Chavez threatened to halt oil sales to the US if Venezuela faces any military attack by Colombia. — AP a possible easing of tensions with Colombia when presidentelect Juan Manuel Santos replaces Uribe on August 7. But in an op-ed piece published in several newspapers, the Venezuelan leader warned that his country "must get clear and unambiguous signs that Colombia's new government has real political will to resume the path of dialogue." Santos, who is on a tour of Latin America, has refused to comment on the crisis, referring the matter to the outgoing
president. Venezuela "will present a peace proposal to Colombia" at Thursday's meeting in Quito of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said. Chavez also announced Sunday he would cancel a planned trip to Cuba in light of the crisis. He had been due to attend Monday in Havana the 57th anniversary of Fidel Castro's rebel attack on the Moncada barracks that kicked off the rev-
olution that brought him to power in 1959. Venezuela's exports to the United States are almost entirely comprised of oil. Last year oil exports alone reached 27.12 billion dollars, accounting for 96.5 percent of all products exported to the United States. However that was a steep drop compared to 2008, when the South American country exported 51.40 billion dollars worth of goods to the United States, the Venezuelan American Chamber of
Commerce and Industry said earlier this year. US imports in Venezuela also decreased in 2009, coming in at 9.36 billion dollars -- 27.7 percent less than the previous year. In 2008, total trade between the two countries had reached a historical high of 64 billion dollars with the bulk of that amount -- 76.4 percent-corresponding to oil sales. Oil accounts for around 90 percent of revenue in Venezuela, South America's top exporter of crude oil. — AFP
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Attacks on Christian churches in Indonesia rising: Activists JAKARTA: Indonesian human rights activists yesterday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to investigate attacks on Christian churches, which they say have increased in the last two years. From January to July, there were 28 cases of religious freedom violations by “intolerant groups targeting Christians,” up from 17 for the whole of 2008 and 18 in 2009, the Setara Institute for Democracy
and Peace said in a report. Based on reports by churches and the media, the violations-mostly by radical Muslim groups-include forced closure of churches, revocation and delays in issuing building permits, and attacks such as torching and damaging churches, the institute said. “These incidents are a breach of law and human rights. The President and the gov-
ernment have been very silent on this matter and have not provided enough protection to citizens,” Setara’s deputy chief Bonar Tigor Naipospos told AFP. “The attackers have become bolder as law enforcement is weak. We can’t let the incidents continue as peace in the country will be jeopardised,” he added. The attacks, which mostly took place in Jakarta and West Java province, have made
Christians “scared and anxious”, said Parasian Hutasoit, spokesman for Huria Christian Protestant Batak Church Filadelfia. His church in Bekasi, an outer suburb of Jakarta, was forced to close in January after Muslim residents held protests there, saying it was built illegally. “More than a hundred came to the church and demanded we shut down. We
felt intimidated and discriminated against. We just want a place to practise our faith in peace,” he said. Indonesian lawmakers in June demanded the government outlaw a violent Islamist vigilante group that has threatened “war” against Christians in Jakarta and urged mosques to set up militia forces. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) — a private militia with a self-appointed mission
to protect “Islamic” values in the secular country-urged Bekasi authorities to introduce Islamic sharia law and warned they would attack Christians unless the “Christianisation” ceased. Observers have said communal tensions could erupt into violence in Indonesia, a constitutionally secular country of 240 million people, 90 percent of whom are Muslim. — AFP
Khmer Rouge prison chief handed 30 years in jail Cambodians express outrage at court PHNOM PENH: The first Khmer Rouge commander to face a UN-backed tribunal was sentenced to 35 years in prison yesterday for overseeing 14,000 deaths in the 1970s, but he’ll serve about half that, angering many Cambodians. Kaing
Guek Eav, a 67-year-old former prison chief known as Duch, received less than the maximum 40 years sought by the prosecution for his role in the ultra-communist “Killing Fields” regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths from 1975 to 1979.
PHNOM PENH: A handout picture released by the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) yesterday, shows former Khmer Rouge prison chief S-21, Kaing Guek Eav (Duch) sitting in the court room at the Extraodinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh yesterday, listening to the reading of the verdict on his trial. — AFP
Thaksin marks birthday on Twitter BANGKOK: Thailand’s deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra marked his 61st birthday yesterday with tweets from exile that called for peace, a day after a grenade exploded in downtown Bangkok that left one person dead and 10 wounded. There have been no claims of responsibility for Sunday’s blast at a bus stop in a busy shopping district, which coincided with a parliamentary election that pitted a jailed leader of recent proThaksin protests against a government candidate who narrowly won. Authorities have declined to speculate whether the bombing was related to Thailand’s continued political turbulence in the wake of the street demonstrations that paralyzed much of the capital for weeks. During two months of unrest that ended with an army crackdown May 19, almost 90 people died — mostly protesters — and more than 1,400 were hurt. “I am 61 today,” Thaksin tweeted. “I want to see good things happening in our country and am prepared to cooperate with all sides.” He did not elaborate. “Please do not resort to violence. I don’t like it. I disagree with it,” Thaksin added. The ex-leader and former tycoon is widely believed to have financed the so-called Red Shirt anti-government movement. Thailand has been in a state of political turmoil since 2006, when a coup ousted then-Prime Minister Thaksin, who was pop-
ular among the rural and urban poor. Since then, his supporters and opponents have staged a bitter struggle for power and called for the return of Thaksin who fled into exile to avoid a 2007 corruption conviction. He is believed to spend most of his time in Dubai. The Red Shirts, made up of Thaksin’s supporters and other opponents of the coup, staged protests in April last year and then relaunched their campaign against Abhisit in March this year and occupied parts of Bangkok for more than two
months. Thaksin supporters held birthday celebrations for him yesterday in several parts of the country. Thaksin phoned in to a birthday gathering at a Buddhist temple in his northern hometown of Chiang Mai, telling the hundreds of people assembled that he wants to come home. Pro-Thaksin groups accused government supporters of orchestrating Sunday’s blast to justify a state of emergency still in place in Bangkok and other provinces and the detention of several top protest leaders.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said an investigation was under way and it was too soon “to point a finger.” Bangkok deputy police chief Panupong Singhrra Na Ayutthaya said that Sunday’s blast was caused by an M67 grenade stashed in a garbage bin next to a bus stop that had been modified to be detonated remotely. He said the grenade had a 15-meter blast radius. Authorities were searching for suspects whose images were captured by closed-circuit cameras in the area, he said. — AP
BANGKOK: A Thai security guard (L) checks security next to foreign tourists at a shopping mall, near the site of a bomb blast that occured on July 25, in Bangkok yesterday. — AFP
Malaysia mulls school for pregnant teens KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian state is considering establishing a school for pregnant teenagers, to curb an alarming epidemic of “baby dumping”, a report said yesterday. The chief minister of Malacca state, Mohamad Ali Rustam, said according to the New Straits Times that the school was among strategies including encouraging pregnant girls to marry. Only married teens will be allowed to attend the school. “For unmarried teenagers, they also can be part of the school but with one condition-they must marry the baby’s father,” Ali said. Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia
are grappling with the problem of rising numbers of abandoned infants, often dumped dead or dying in the streets or on rubbish dumps. “This problem has become a disease of sorts. We cannot just turn our backs and think that this is not our problem,” Ali said according to the English-language daily. “Baby dumping cases usually happen among the Muslim community as teenagers were desperate to conceal their pregnancies. Some of the girls were also disowned by their families,” he said. “They do not perform abortions as this is prohibited in Islam. So, they take the short-
cut to solve their problem by dumping their newborns. We do not want this to continue. It has to be stopped.” The chief minister said Malacca was considering establishing a special school for pregnant girls to encourage them to continue with their education and to protect their unborn children. “In the event normal schools cannot accept pregnant girls, we are going to build a school just for them,” he reportedly said, adding that youngsters from other states could also attend. “This school will cater to those who are legitimately married.”—AFP
Duch was found guilty of murder, torture, rape, crimes against humanity and other charges as chief of Tuol Sleng prison, a converted school known as S-21 that symbolised the horrors of a regime that wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population. He betrayed no emotion as a judge read the verdict, which cut his sentence to 19 years for time already served. He could be released even earlier on parole if authorities believe has been rehabilitated, according to the court. “We hoped this tribunal would strike hard at impunity but if you can kill 14,000 people and serve only 19 years — 11 hours per life taken-what is that? It’s a joke,” said Theary Seng, a Cambodian who is now a US citizen and lost her father at S-21. “My gut feeling is this has made the situation far worse for Cambodia,” she said. “It has taken a lot of faith out of the system and raised concerns of political interference.” Duch had told the court he had no choice but to carry out orders and “kill or be killed”. Prosecutors insisted he was “ideologically of the same mind” as the Khmer Rouge’s top leaders and did nothing to stop rampant torture at his prison. Some Cambodians wept after hearing the verdict, expressing outrage at the joint U.N.Cambodian court, which has spent $78.4 million of foreign donations over five years to bring the first of five indicted Khmer Rouge officials to trial. “There is no justice. I wanted life imprisonment for Duch,” said Hong Sovath, 47, sobbing in the courtroom. Her father, a diplomat, was killed in the prison. Khan Mony, whose aunt was executed after passing through S-21, said she was devastated. Thousands huddled around televisions in cafes and homes to watch live broadcasts of the verdict. The court said it decided against life in prison for several reasons, including Duch’s expressions of remorse, cooperation with the court, his “potential for rehabilitation” and the coercive environment of life under the Khmer Rouge. “The chamber has decided there are significant mitigating factors that mandate a finite term imprisonment rather than life imprisonment,” the tribunal’s president said in a statement. Cambodia does not have capital punishment. Now a born-again Christian, Duch had expressed “excruciating remorse” for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death at the “Killing Fields” execution sites during the agrarian revolution, which ended with a 1979 invasion by Vietnam. Foreign investors see the Khmer Rouge trials as a gauge to whether rule of law is taking root in one of Asia’s fastest-growing frontier markets. Justice, however, could be elusive as controversy surrounds other cadres awaiting trial. The cases of former President Khieu Samphan, “Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, exForeign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith are highly complex and politicised. Many fear they may never go to trial, or they might die before seeing a courtroom. Standing in the way of justice, analysts say, is not just the excessive bureaucracy and a drawn-out legal process, but a powerful single-party government that has never fully backed the tribunal and has historical ties to the Khmer Rouge. Many former Khmer Rouge members are now part of Cambodia’s civil service and occupy top positions in provincial and central government and experts say they are keen to curtail the court’s progress and limit the scope of future investigations.—Reuters
USS GEORGE WASHINGTON: Deck crew members stand on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class USS George Washington during joint military exercises between the US and South Korea in South Korea’s East Sea yesterday. — AP
US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON: US and South Korean warships and helicopters practiced anti-submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula yesterday that officers said they hope would serve as a warning to Pyongyang that aggression in the region would not be tolerated. An international investigation has blamed the North for the sinking of a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors in what officials called the worst military attack on the South since the 1950-53 Korean War. The four-day “Invincible Spirit” exercises involving 20 ships, 200 aircraft and about 8,000 US and South Korean sailors are being held in the waters off Korea’s east coast have brought threats of retaliation from North Korea, which denies responsibility for the attack on the Cheonan. The anti-submarine phase of the training - which also involves anti-ship and antiaircraft operations - is particularly important because an international investigation found that the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan was sunk by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine that somehow penetrated South Korea’s defenses. “North Korea’s danger lies because they are unpredictable,” said Capt. David Lausman, the commanding officer of the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered supercarrier deployed to the maneuvers from its home port in Japan. “The sinking of the Cheonan is a prime example.” North Korea has strongly protested the exercises, saying they are a provocation and threatening retaliation. In flourishes of rhetoric typical of the regime, it vowed to respond with a “sacred war” and a “powerful nuclear deterrence.” “They will face a costly consequence if they stick to the criminal activities ravaging peace and security on the Korean peninsula,” North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in commentary carried yesterday by the official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea says the investigation results were fabricated and has accused the United States of attempting to punish it. Pyongyang’s latest rhetoric was seen by most as bluster: South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it had not observed any significant moves by the North Korean military since the maneuvers began Sunday. But the threats carry extra weight following the sinking of the Cheonan that dramatically
intensified tension on the Korean peninsula. The ship sank near the tense western sea border, a scene of three bloody inter-Korean maritime battles in recent years. US officials say that the maneuvers, held well away from North Korea’s border, are not intended to provoke a response, but add that they do want to send Pyongyang a message that further aggression in the region will not be tolerated and that the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea remains strong. The peninsula technically remains at state of war because an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War was never replaced with a peace treaty. Tuesday marks the 57th anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire. Cmdr. Ray Hesser, head of an anti-submarine helicopter squadron on the George Washington, said North Korean submarines are largely restricted to shallow, coastal waters. “We’re not expecting to see them out here,” he said. “I would not think they would be willing or wanting to come all the way out here.” He said the attack on the Cheonan probably came when the ship was not prepared and said US ships observe higher readiness. The maneuvers underscore a diplomatic blitz by the United States aimed at further tightening the screws on North Korea. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced during a visit to Seoul last week that the US would slap new sanctions on the North to stifle its nuclear ambitions and punish it for the Cheonan sinking. The European Union is also considering new sanctions on North Korea. The deployment of the supercarrier to the area off Korea was also raising eyebrows in China — which was believed to have been concerned about having the carrier operate too close to its own shores. In an apparent bow to China, there are no plans for the George Washington to enter the Yellow Sea for subsequent drills with South Korea though it is taking part in the East Sea training. “I don’t know how China will interpret the message. The message is not intended for China. Specifically, the message is intended for North Korea,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Remington, a top U.S. Air Force officer, told reporters at Osan Air Base near Seoul. — AP
Australia vote race narrows after climate flop, debate SYDNEY: Australia’s election race yesterday tightened dramatically as Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s new climate plan flopped with voters and the opposition chief performed strongly in the only leaders’ debate. A Newspoll survey showed the ruling Labor party’s lead slashed to 52 percent against 48 percent for the opposition Coalition when voters were asked to choose one or other party, down from a 10-point lead just a week earlier. The figure matched the reading in mid-June, shortly before Gillard’s shock ousting of Kevin Rudd in a backroom party coup blamed on the ex-leader’s falling approval ratings. Gillard’s personal approval slumped seven points to 41 percent, and dissatisfaction rose eight points to 37 percent after her announcement of a “citizens assembly” to consult on climate change was roundly panned by critics. “We think that this (assembly) has been interpreted as a deferral rather than action,” Newspoll chief executive Martin O’Shannessy told Sky News. The survey of 1,720 voters was completed before Sunday’s TV debate between Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott, which was moved forward to avoid a clash with the “MasterChef” reality show finale. Although neither candidate delivered a knock-out blow in the debate, several commentators praised a measured performance by Abbott, a fitness fanatic nicknamed the “Mad Monk” who is known for a more impulsive style. “This was Tony Abbott’s best moment,” said The Australian columnist Paul Kelly. “He may not have outpointed Julia Gillard but he exceeded expectations and looked, as never before, a viable prime minister.” Abbott now appears a more potent threat in the August 21 polls, which Labor has never looked like losing until recent months when Rudd’s record ratings suddenly fell and he was unceremoniously dumped, disquieting voters. The elections, where Labor is fighting to avoid becoming the first one-term government since World
War II, are seen as a battle over immigration, the economy and climate change. However, Gillard’s plans for a refugee centre in East Timor have been mired in confusion, while her 12-month consultation of a “citizens assembly” on introducing a carbon tax outraged environmentalists and the Greens party. “I’ve always believed this was going to be a tough, close contest,” Gillard, Australia’s first woman prime minister, told a campaign event in Tasmania. “It’s a tough, close contest and it will be a photofinish on election day.” Father-of-three Abbott, who once trained to become a Catholic priest, also introduced his wife Margaret to the campaign yesterday as he seeks to contrast himself with Gillard, an unmarried atheist. The red-headed, Welsh-born Gillard, said she would not follow suit by bringing her partner Tim Mathieson, a one-time hairdresser, on the campaign trail. “He is not a Labor party official or a candidate or a minister so you won’t see him out on the campaign trail in that sense,” she said. “But obviously Tim will be supporting me during the campaign and he’s been doing that.” Also yesterday, Treasurer Wayne Swan announced new figures showing the budget would return to surplus by 3.5 billion dollars (3.1 billion US) in 2013, slightly higher than predicted earlier this month. The conservative coalition needs a 2.3 percent swing to return to power, less than three years after Rudd’s convincing election victory ended its 11 years of rule in November 2007. The election is expected to be largely decided by key marginal seats in the mining states of Queensland and Western Australia, and in parts of western Sydney known for their large immigrant populations.
Preliminary figures showed “MasterChef” drew 5.74 million viewers and the debate was watched by 4.29 million, vindicating the decision to reschedule. —AFP
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
INTERNATIONAL
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Bomber was trying to enter visitor's compound
Suicide bomber kills seven at Pakistani minister's house PABBI: A suicide bomber killed seven people yesterday, blowing himself up at a gathering of senior Pakistani officials mourning the assassination of a cabinet minister's son by suspected Taleban. Police said the bomber was
SRINAGAR: Kashmiri Muslim women stop a motorcyclist to keep vehicles off the road during a protest in Srinagar, India, yesterday. After a day's break, most shops, businesses and schools closed and streets were deserted in the Indian portion of Kashmir as separatist called for strikes and antiIndia demonstrations for five days, which began yesterday. — AP
Separatists start 5-day strike in Indian Kashmir SRINAGAR: Most shops, businesses and schools were closed and streets were deserted in the Indian portion of Kashmir yesterday as separatists opposed to Indian rule called for five days of strikes and demonstrations. Thousands of armed police and paramilitary soldiers on patrol asked residents to stay indoors in major towns to prevent protests. For the past six weeks, street violence -sparked by the deaths of several protesters in apparent shootings by security forces -- has roiled the mostly Muslim region, where resistance to rule by predominantly Hindu India is strong. On Sunday, schools, shops and businesses opened despite a public holiday after separatists called for a day's break in weeks of intermittent strike action. Tens of thousands of shoppers flooded markets to stockpile supplies. However, protests erupted late Sunday after residents blamed police for the deaths of another two Kashmiris. Residents said the body of Farooq Ahmed Bhat, 35, who had been missing from his home in Srinagar for five days, was found in a stream. They alleged that police killed him for participating in anti-India protests. A police offi-
cer said that Bhat, a former militant, appeared to have died of drowning and an investigation was underway. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with media. Another man, Tariq Ahmed was found dead Sunday in a police cell in Panzalla, a village 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Srinagar. Residents accused police of torturing Ahmed to death. The police officer said Ahmed was arrested recently on charges of helping the militants and he committed suicide in custody. The region has been under a rolling curfew in recent weeks as residents accuse government forces of killing at least 17 people, mostly teenagers, in the demonstrations. The tension in the Himalayan region -- divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both -- is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when protests against New Delhi's rule sparked an armed conflict. Since then, more than 68,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians. Separatist politicians and militants reject Indian sovereignty and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge with predominantly Muslim Pakistan. — AP
India's top opposition seeks parliament vote on high prices NEW DELHI: India's top opposition parties said yesterday they will seek a special discussion and vote in parliament over high prices this week, attacking the government on an issue that has emerged as a major policy challenge. Voting can take place only if it is allowed by the parliament speaker. But there is little threat to government stability, and the move will only distract from pushing key reformist bills in the current session of parliament that began yesterday. Inflation, a political hot potato, has been hovering over 10 percent, putting the spotlight on today's central bank policy meeting in which a 25 basis points raise is expected. Many see the main lending rate rising to 6-6.25 percent by endDecember from 5.50 percent. The opposition is on a high after successfully shutting down parts of the country this month in a protest against a fuel price hike, but their ideological differences will likely mean only a short-lived unity on some issues of the day. Besides high prices, the main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a slew of issues to attack the government on, including last week's failed talks between India and Pakistan and a slew of domestic political controversies. But price rise remains a potent political weapon in a country where over 40 percent of its 1.2 billion citizens live in abject poverty. Food prices have risen at double-digit annual rates for nearly a year and fuel prices were hiked three times in 2010. "We have given an adjournment notice (to the speaker) on the issue of price rise," Gopinath Munde, BJP's deputy leader in parliament's elected lower house, told Reuters, referring to the special discussion. He said a vote will also be demanded. In April, the Congress party-led government sailed through a trial of strength in parliament over a rise in fuel and fertiliser prices. The government was then backed by 289 lawmakers in the 545-strong lower house. Munde said opposition parties were holding a meeting on Monday to decide on floor coordination. The country's leftist parties are also backing the demand for a vote on prices.
"All opposition will come together on prices where even parties with the government have reservations," Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia said. The opposition protests over price rises could delay key legislation. The government has said it will try to get parliament to ratify bills to simplify taxation, including a proposal to introduce a goods and services tax (GST), and another to cap private firms' liability in case of a nuclear accident. The government is also readying a bill to guarantee subsidised food for the poor by expanding a scheme to provide cheap grains. — Reuters
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waves to the media as he arrives on the first day of Indian parliament's monsoon session in New Delhi, India, yesterday. — AP
Bangladesh Islamic party leaders face new charges DHAKA: A special tribunal in Bangladesh issued arrest warrants against four senior leaders of the country's largest Islamic party yesterday ahead of a planned trial over alleged crimes against humanity during the nation's 1971 independence war. Suspects including Jamaat-e-Islami party chief Matiur Rahman Nizami and his senior party colleagues Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, Abdul Quader Mollah and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman were arrested earlier on various charges including attacking police and blaspheming Islam. Yesterday's arrest warrants mean the tribunal is allowing authorities to keep them behind bars for interrogation on specific charges of crimes against humanity. The party has accused the government of conspiracy and arresting its leaders on politically motivated charges. The government set up the tribunal in March to prosecute people accused of collaborating with the Pakistani army in killings and other crimes during the 1971 war
that culminated in Bangladesh ceding from Pakistan and winning independence. Yesterday, the three-member tribunal headed by Justice Nizamul Huq made the order after the prosecution petitioned it, seeking arrest warrants against them on charges of alleged genocide, murder, rape, torture, looting and arson related to 1971 war. In an amended law, the government recently described these heinous acts as crimes against humanity. Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu told the court that if the accused were not detained in connection with the charges of committing crimes against humanity, they could be released from custody on bail in other cases and could leave the country or obstruct the investigation. According to official Bangladesh figures, Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed an estimated 3 million people, raped about 200,000 women and forced millions more to flee their homes during a bloody nine-month guerrilla war. — AP
The bomber struck shortly after Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik had visited to pay his respects over the death of Hussain's 28-yearold son Mian Rashid, who was shot dead on Saturday. "Seven people, including three policemen, have been killed and 21 injured," senior police official Imran Kishwar told AFP by telephone from the scene. Doctor Suhrab Khan at the main hospital in Pabbi confirmed that seven bodies were brought in after the attackthree policemen and four civilians. Critically wounded patients had been rushed to the provincial capital of Peshawar and nine others were being treated locally, the doctor said. Hussain is considered the most vocal northwestern minister against Taleban militants. He also worked as a spokesman for the provincial government. Bombs and attacks blamed on Taleban and Al-Qaedalinked militants have killed more than 3,560 people across nuclear-armed Pakistan since government troops besieged a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007. Much of the violence has been concentrated in northwest Pakistan and the border areas with Afghanistan, where around 143,000 US and NATO troops are battling to turn around a nine-year war against Taleban insurgents. "The suicide bomber was trying to enter the visitor's compound at Mian Iftikhar's house. The policeman who tried to stop him was also killed," said senior police official Liaqat Ali. Pabbi is close to the home
India warns over US arms supplies to Pakistan NEW DELHI: India said yesterday the scale of US military assistance to Pakistan was "disproportionate" to Islamabad's needs and warned it could be used to target India. Defence Minister A.K. Antony said he had raised New Delhi's concerns during talks last week with visiting US National Security Advisor James Jones and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. The military equipment being supplied to Pakistan is "disproportionate to the war on terror" for which it was intended, Antony told reporters. "We feel that there is every possibility of diverting this sophisticated equipment against India," he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India. India has previously protested the proposed delivery of unmanned US drones to Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since the division of the sub-continent in 1947, and their relationship is beset by mutual mistrust. An official in India's foreign ministry said they are looking into a massive leak of secret military files that allegedly set out how the intelligence service of assumed US ally Pakistan secretly helps the Afghan insurgency. Some 92,000 documents were released by web whistleblower Wikileaks on Sunday, containing previously untold details of the Afghan war through Pentagon files and field reports spanning from 2004 to the end of 2009. Washington sees Pakistan as integral to winning the war in Afghanistan, as Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents targeting coalition forces roam the mountainous region dividing the two countries. Pakistan receives more than one billion dollars a year from Washington for its help combating the Islamist militants. —AFP
stopped while trying to walk into the home of Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the small town of Pabbi.
PABBI: Pakistani police examine a suicide bomb attack site in the small town of Pabbi yesterday. A suicide bomber killed seven people yesterday, blowing himself up at a gathering of senior Pakistani officials mourning the assassination of a cabinet minister's son by suspected Taleban. Police said the bomber was stopped while trying to walk into the home of Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the small town of Pabbi. — AFP village of Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, who admitted to trying to blow up New York's Times Square on May 1. US drone attacks on Sunday killed at least eight militants in Waziristan, part of Pakistan's
tribal belt, which Washington calls a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous region on earth. Waziristan has come under renewed scrutiny after Shahzad admitted to receiving bomb
training there during a 40-day visit to Pakistan. The United States has put increased pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamist havens along the Afghan border. Pakistani commanders
have not ruled out an offensive in North Waziristan, but argue that gains in South Waziristan and the northwestern district of Swat need to be consolidated to prevent their troops from being over-stretched. — AFP
OPINION
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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A new generation of peace educators By Amina Rasul and Qamar-ul Huda
I
n this age of widespread misperceptions that Islam is a religion of violence and intolerance, an Islamic peace education curriculum, addressing peacebuilding from an authentic Islamic perspective, is essential. A group of 35 Muslim educators from eight countries came to Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, in the last week of June for an international workshop on Islamic peace education. They discussed various models and approaches to Islamic peace education, which are currently being employed by Muslim teachers in some classrooms around the world. Members of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID), who organised the workshop with the United States Institute of Peace, noted that while peace education is an established field and discipline, Islamic peace education is a fairly new and innovative subject for Islamic educational institutions. Islamic peace education is founded on the philosophical, scriptural, theological and ethical principles of peacemaking by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his family, his companions and dynamic historical figures from Islamic history. While there are similarities to Western approaches to conflict resolution, Islamic peace education and peacemaking efforts take into account the spiritual and religious dimensions of actors, who are able to transform themselves and the community at large away from conflict toward harmonious relationships. Currently, Islamic peace education manuals and textbooks are taught in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and in several Middle Eastern, African and Western Muslim communities. Noting that most peace education programs in the Philippines were either Christian-centric or based on Western approaches, Dr Aida Macadaag of the Mindanao State University claimed that these approaches did not resonate with Muslim students. But, she added, Islamic peace education curriculum was effective and making an impact because it is rooted in the Islamic tradition and builds upon cooperative learning methods, reflection sessions and group development. Dr Lili Munir of the Jakartabased Center for Pesantren and Democracy, an organisation working to engage students in pesantren (religious schools) into positive agents of social transformation, discussed the importance of using the local cultural context in which Islam is understood and practiced to teach peace education to high school and religious school students. Munir said, "Islamic peace education is a holistic approach to transforming a culture of violence into a culture of peace." Dr Asna Husin, Founder of the non-governmental organisation Islamic Peace Education related how she cooperated with a local religious scholars council in Aceh to write a peace
manual for both public high schools and Islamic religious schools. Husin organised an advisory council of leading religious scholars to supervise the implementation of the project. The PCID textbook, Islamic Model for Peace Education, was inspired and guided by Husin's project. Many Filipino religious and public schools with Muslim students now use this textbook to teach Islamic peace education. Qari Muhammad Haneef Jalandhari, president of a prominent religious school in Pakistan and Chairman of the World Council of Religions, said that "peace education will be the primary way to deal with radicalism, extremist thinking and intolerance. If we are serious about eradicating poverty and illiteracy, then we must heavily invest in peace education programmes in [religious schools] and in public schools." But religious schools in the Muslim world are not the only ones implementing an Islamic peace curriculum. Hajar Alkutany of the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue in the United Kingdom presented her Islamic peace education programme, Success in a Changing World, which empowers British Muslim youth to reframe their conceptual approach to Islam by exploring different cultural, civilisational, religious, social and political aspects of Islam. There were intense exchanges on how Islamic peace education can provide real problem-solving skills to students and ways in which students can apply skills to critically analyse their life challenges. Some participants argued that an Islamic peace education curriculum should be mandatory for all Muslim students so that they can identify reasons for violent conflict and formulate non-violent solutions to complex problems in their local contexts. According to Rahayu Mohammad, Program Director and Curriculum Developer for IQRA' ASIA in Singapore her experience in implementing peace education in religious schools in the country has resulted in cultivating tolerance, an Islamic identity of civic engagement, an ethos of pluralism and a sense of being caretakers of the world. The workshop was the first of its kind, bringing together Muslim educators who teach peace education from an Islamic perspective. There was an appreciation of the diverse approaches and methods educators use, as well as an understanding of the serious challenges teachers face while operating within their own institutions to adopt peace education. The group hopes to eventually formalise a professional society to support Muslim peace educators and their pursuit of teaching peace. NOTE: Amina Rasul is the Lead Convener of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy and Co-Founder of Muslim Women Peace Advocates. Qamar-ul Huda is Senior Programme Officer at the US Institute of Peace and editor of Dove and Crescent: Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam — CGNews
All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.
UK air show underlines geopolitical shift from West By Peter Apps
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f you want to see the shift in geopolitical and military clout from Western powers towards their growing emerging rivals, look no further than the sales stands of this year's Farnborough air show. With European governments expected to slash defence spending - and the United States seen probably following suit in the coming decades - the key focus for Western defence executives and government has been new export destinations. Asian military officers with Western liaison staff and Middle Eastern government officials wander the halls and static exhibits, ranging from the new European A400M military transport aircraft to drones, artillery pieces and helicopters. British officials and ministers in particular have been preaching two tales the British defence budget is unsustainably large and needs to be cut, but they are looking to exports from the defence and security industry to help growth. "We see huge opportunities from emerging markets," said UK Trade and Industry spokesman Adam Thomas. "We have a global market share of close to 20 percent and we have been bringing delegates from as many countries as possible to Farnborough." Defence firms have been putting a brave face on bad news from Europe Italy said during the show it was cancelling orders for 25 Eurofighters, surprising some. Europe-wide coordination on defence still seems occasionally troubled. A dispute has broken out between Britain's Royal Air Force and FrancoGerman EADS on whether or not the A400M will be officially named the "Grizzly". Instead, defence firms point to buyers especially in the Middle East, where high oil prices, the perceived threat from Iran and ageing aircraft are all seen fuelling
demand for fast jets. BAE Systems said Middle Eastern buyers were "awash with money", while others enthused over India - a growing market that Western firms believe they are wooing away from its traditional Russian suppliers. As well as its traditional rivalry with Pakistan, some believe India is entering an increasing arms race with China. Certainly, India seems keen to upgrade its military capabilities to Western standards including working on a $5.8 billion deal with Boeing on C-17 cargo planes. "We're seeing unbelievable demand from India," said Mike Alvis, executive vice president of ITT Defence International, manufacturing nightvision equipment. "There's a lot of willingness to spend on defence." Brazil's air force was also being watched closely ahead of a decision on fighter purchases. Other emerging buyers sighted by Reuters included a delegation from the Libyan air force. While most of the major defence firms are looking to sell their most expensive items, for those looking at the other end of the spectrum Farnborough saw the international debut of the JF-17, a Chinese-Pakistani warplane. A redesigned and updated version of the 1950s MiG-21, the jet sells for $20 million to poorer countries such as African nations. Not everyone seems to be buying. Some sales staff complain that military officers from some emerging nations have a tendency to turn up at the well-appointed stands, consume coffee and other handouts and appear reluctant to leave. Nevertheless, the global demand appears there. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global defence spending rose 5.9 percent in real terms in 2009, led by increases in the US, China, Brazil and India. Most analysts see US defence spending - currently roughly half the global total
-beginning to fall back once troop levels in Afghanistan start to be reduced. Chinese spending is seen growing at near the same rate as 2009's 15 percent level. China and Russia looked largely absent from Farnborough this year. China is still covered by arms restrictions from Europe and the United States. It did send delegates to a Paris arms fair last month - but
to sell rather than buy. The presence of so many visitors means firms and government alike are always wary of cyber attacks, hacking and spying at such events - itself seen as a key growth area. With China still nowhere close to challenging the United States as a global military power, analysts say it is particularly focusing on
asymmetric warfare capabilities, particularly cyber warfare. "Cyber attacks are changing the nature of war we mean by military power and national security," said Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. "That's an area I expect the United States to spend a great deal more on as they are presently behind." — Reuters
Senate deals blow to climate talks By Shaun Tandon and Emmanuel Parisse
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year and a half after President Barack Obama breathed new life into global talks on a climate treaty, the United States is back in a familiar role - the holdout. The Senate's decision Thursday to shelve legislation on climate change is certain to cast a long shadow over December's meeting in Cancun, Mexico that will work on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Obama's Democratic allies acknowledged they lacked votes to approve the first-ever US plan restricting carbon emissions blamed for global warming. The task is unlikely to get easier soon, with Democrats facing tight congressional elections in November. "This is going to change the mood dramatically in terms of what countries are willing to put on the table in Cancun," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which backs action to curb global warming. "This will seriously downplay what we can realistically achieve." Obama vowed to act on climate change when he was elected president, sharply reversing course from his predecessor George W Bush, who was a sworn foe of the Kyoto Protocol, which he considered biased against wealthier countries. Obama's climate negotiators enjoyed rousing welcomes when they arrived on the scene - especially from the European Union, Kyoto's most enthusiastic champion. The State Department, which leads international negotiations, said the Obama administration still considered climate a "priority" and would engage with other countries and with Congress. "This is a global challenge and we have to resolve it through global cooperation and joint action by all of the key countries and key emitters. We are one of them," agency spokesman Philip Crowley said. "And central to our ability to do our part is pass-
ing climate and energy legislation." The clock is ticking on sealing a new treaty, with the Kyoto Protocol's obligations for rich nations to cut emissions expiring at the end of 2012. Climate talks, including the contentious Copenhagen summit in December, have been plagued by fighting between wealthy and developing nations, which are both looking for clear commitments from the other side. Major emerging nations have resisted any legally binding requirements to cut emissions and pressed first for industrialized powers to seal their commitments. "Countries like China and India are not likely to commit to any sort of binding obligation if the US is not part of the discussion, part of the negotiation and makes some similar commitment," said Daniel Fiorino, an expert on environmental politics at American University. While the United States may be the most visible holdout, other major developed nations have also grappled with controversy on climate change, a major issue ahead of Australia's August 21 elections. Arabinda Mishra, a climate expert at India's Energy and Resources Institute, said the lack of an international treaty "has a real danger in domestic will" in his country to invest political capital on fighting global warming. The Obama administration has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon, potentially offering a way to meet US promises at Copenhagen to curb emissions by 17 percent by 2020 off 2005 levels. But without Senate action, it would be difficult for the United States to meet another promise - to contribute, along with the European Union, Japan and other rich nations, to a 100 billion-dollar fund to help poor nations cope with climate change. Climate legislation was passed by the House of Representatives last year, but Republican lawmakers have strongly opposed it, rejecting Obama's arguments that a green economy would create jobs. — AFP
Iraq's north still a powder keg as US exits By Carlos Hamann
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s US troops withdraw from Iraq, a large swath of the oil-rich north coveted by the Kurdish regional government remains a powder keg that threatens to explode in violence, experts here say. Since the 2003 invasion, US forces have managed to keep an uneasy peace in the ethnically diverse area, home to Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs - including many forced to resettle there under Saddam Hussein's regime. The US military withdrawal from Iraq is on schedule, according to the commander of US forces there, General Raymond Odierno. Just 50,000 troops will remain after August 31, down from a peak of more than 170,000 and ahead of a full withdrawal in 2011. Odierno however acknowledged to reporters in Washington at mid-week that despite some progress, "we have not solved the problems of the disputed areas" of northern Iraq. "That's a problem that has to be dealt with in the future," he said. "Do I think this will be resolved by the end of 2011? No."
US soldiers survey the damage in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on July 23, 2010, following a blast which seriously wounded the city's police chief Borhan Habib Tayeb and killed his son. — AFP The US intelligence community's annual threat assessment earlier warned about the volatile region. Regional tensions "have the potential to derail Iraq's generally positive security trajectory, including triggering conflict among Iraq 's ethno-sectarian groups," then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair wrote in the assessment, out in February. Land owner-
ship, control of oil resources, and integrating Kurdish peshmerga fighters into Iraq's army are issues that "still need to be worked out, and miscalculations or misperceptions on either side risk an inadvertent escalation of violence." US diplomatic and military involvement "will remain critical in defusing crises in this sphere," Blair wrote. There are
15 disputed zones in northern Iraq, including oil-rich Kirkuk province, large parts of Nineveh, and two districts in Diyala. Kurdish leaders want their autonomous region to include historically Kurdishinhabited parts of Nineveh and Diyala as well as all of the multiethnic city of Kirkuk. Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have clashed over the
past two years as Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has increased Iraqi Security Force (ISF) presence in the area. To help calm tensions, US troops started joint patrols with Arab and Kurdish soldiers in disputed zones in January. Odierno wants these units to be incorporated into the ISF by the time US forces fully withdraw. Is this realistic? The joint patrols have been successful, but they "are only as good as the intent of the political leadership in Baghdad and Arbil," said Eric Davis, an Iraq expert at Rutgers University. Arbil is the capital of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, which operates as a semi-independent state within Iraq. Davis fears the Kurds "are going to continue to treat the peshmerga as a separate force outside of the central government, and the leadership in Baghdad is going to try to use the Iraqi army as it becomes stronger to intimidate the peshmerga". Integrating the peshmerga into the ISF is a recipe for disaster, said Michael Gunter at the Tennessee Technological University, who has written extensively on the
Kurds. "Those are the very two groups that are most likely to start fighting each other," he said. Odierno briefly raised the idea of introducing United Nations peacekeepers to the region, but there are "currently no discussions under way" for that scenario, said Pentagon spokesman Major Shawn Turner. Despite the potential for violence, Davis believes many regional time bombs can be defused with resolve from Iraq's government - still in limbo since March elections. "A lot of this is less about strict ethic stuff, it's more about elites trying to manipulate the situation for their own political ends," he said. A deal for exploiting oil in the region agreeable to Kurdish authorities would be an important first step, Davis said. Perhaps the thorniest issue is Kirkuk, 240 km north of Baghdad, which the Kurds insist should be under their control. Davis dismisses the idea. "It's a multiethnic town, and if anyone ends up getting a special deal, it will lead to anger and resentment and more violence - it's not a solution," he said. —AFP
ANALYSIS
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Is bloody car bomb turning point in Mexico? By Julian Cardona
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deadly car bomb last week in this violent border city may mark a turning point in Mexico's bloody drug war as powerful smuggling cartels stage ever more bold and elaborate attacks. President Felipe Calderon's government, struggling to contain gruesome drug violence, blamed the July 15 attack in Ciudad Juarez on one of the gangs battling police and each other for control of smuggling routes along the US border. The explosion suggests the cartels, which have typically used assault rifles and grenades to knock off rivals and go after police, are ready to use more elaborate tactics that may drag more ordinary Mexicans into the bloodshed. "It's like an arms race," said Alberto Islas, a security analyst with Risk Evaluation in Mexico City. "Beheading people is no longer enough ... Organized crime is going to keep escalating." Drug crime has already surged since the conservative Calderon declared war on drug cartels in late 2006. Mexicans are no longer surprised to hear regular reports of decapitated bodies dumped in ditches, corpses strung up from bridges or grenade attacks against police or army units. Attacks along the border, including the March murder of a US consulate worker and several mass slayings in drug rehab centers, have worried the US government and heightened fears
Luis Vazquez Barragan, known as "El 20", an alleged member of the Mexican drug gang "La Linea", is shown to the press by police in Mexico City Sunday. According to police, Vazquez was detained in the border city of Ciudad Juarez during a raid on July 23, 2010. — AFP Mexico may lose control of drug strongholds. But the recent car bomb, which killed four people when it tore through a major intersection in Ciudad Juarez, the famously violent border city, shocked many here. The remotely detonated explosion drew comparisons with devastating attacks at the height of Colombia's drug war in the 1980s and early 90s, when cartels set off car bombs at banks and state buildings, assassinated top officials and even blew up an airliner in mid-flight, killing
around 100 people. Others have suggested parallels with the improvised bombs that insurgents concoct in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It's a loud knock at our door," a US law enforcement source said on condition of anonymity, suggesting a rash of similar attacks could be crippling for Mexico, which sends about 80 percent of its exports to the United States. "Can you imagine if a device like that blew up (near a border crossing)? It would shut down the port, the commerce."
The US source said the remotely detonated explosive weighed at least 9 kg and was made of commercial mining explosives enhanced for greater casualties. After authorities were lured to the site by a wounded man dressed as a policeman and dumped on the street, the blast was detonated, killing a policeman, a doctor, a rescue worker and one other person. Government officials are ruling out a wave of Colombian-style 'narcoterrorismo', or drug terrorism. But others see escalating violence as a clear attempt to terrify locals and weaken Calderon's campaign against the cartels. The murder last month of a popular gubernatorial candidate just days before regional elections also raised the stakes in the drug war and triggered a sell-off of the Mexican peso. "I read a political purpose to the (car bomb) and that is to intimidate police forces and the government and try to dissuade them from fighting organized crime," said Tony Payan, an expert on drugs at the University of Texas-El Paso. "This is truly an escalation that must send a clear message to the Mexican police that these guys are out to get them." In Ciudad Juarez, located just across the border from El Paso, Texas, the bomb deepened fears that bloodshed will begin to claim more lives of people unrelated to the drug trade. Almost 6,000 people have been killed since Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman, Mexico's most wanted criminal and head of the
Sinaloa cartel, sent hitmen into the city in early 2008 to force the Juarez cartel, headed by archrival Vicente Carrillo, out of business. Conservative estimates put annual revenues from Mexico's highly organized, savvy smuggling rackets at between $25 billion and $40 billion, more than the country's 2009 oil export earnings. One former police official in Ciudad Juarez sees a clear business motive behind the growing violence. "When you have a business, when do you invest in it? When you see conditions that are going to allow it to make money," he said. The car bomb attack is bad news for Calderon. Struggling to turn Latin America's second biggest economy around after a crippling recession in 2009, the drug war has hurt his image and weakened his conservative National Action Party, which now faces an uphill battle as it seeks to hold on to the presidency in 2012 elections. While the violence in Mexico makes daily headlines, the government says they paint an inaccurate picture and that the country's murder rate is still lower than Brazil's. Even as cartels here grow bolder, Mexico is still far from the chaos of Colombia two decades ago. Still, the threat is real in Ciudad Juarez, where graffiti scrawled across a wall this week issues a clear threat: "If in 15 days we don't see those corrupt federal police arrested, we are going to fill a car with 100 kilos of C-4 (explosive)." — Reuters
Old foes Chavez, Uribe in final showdown By Frank Jack Daniel
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atin America's most fractious relationship is going out with a bang and the fallout from the latest showdown between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's outgoing Alvaro Uribe may leave a lasting mark on regional ties. After eight years of bickering with socialist Chavez, US-ally Uribe ends his second term on Aug 7, leaving a bilateral legacy of broken diplomacy, shattered trade and a conflict over alleged Colombian guerrilla camps in Venezuela that will hang over Latin America for years. Chavez severed his OPEC nation's relations with Colombia on Thursday after Bogota's envoy to the Organization of American States made an impassioned attack on Venezuela for allegedly harboring 1,500 Colombian leftist rebels. Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington, said the Colombian charge was a pretext for a possible US-backed invasion of Venezuela. "I blame Uribe, sick with hatred, he's headed straight to the garbage heap of history," he said. "He is a pawn of the Yankee empire, he ended up isolated in this continent, he didn't defeat the guerrillas or drug trafficking and Venezuela is a victim of all this." Former soldier Chavez has always denied backing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels despite Colombia's insistence its intelligence shows clear links. But he shares a leftist ideology with the former peasant army now funded by cocaine and kidnapping. He says he cannot take sides in Colombia's decades-long civil war and that he cannot be expected to repeatedly put his soldiers' lives at risk fighting Bogota's enemies who spill into his territory. Next month, Uribe hands the presidency to former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, a conservative soul mate who nevertheless wants to improve ties with Venezuela to recuperate billions of dollars of lost bilateral trade. It is feasible relations can be quickly re-established
when Santos takes office, because both countries' economies have suffered from the loss of most of the $7 billion annual trade. But Uribe's parting volley - his envoy Luis Alfonso Hoyos displayed photos and maps of supposed FARC guerrilla camps in Venezuela at the OAS permanent council while angrily demanding an international commission check on the alleged sites - was designed to pile international pressure on Chavez. "Even though Santos may open a new chapter in relations, hunting down the FARC on Venezuelan territory is going to be an issue pursued by the Colombians now as a strategic priority," said Robert Munks, Americas editor for Jane's Country Risk. Uribe has long threatened to take Chavez to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for supporting "terrorism" and he is now making moves in that direction. On Thursday, Colombia's attorney general said he was investigating cross-border rebel attacks and could take Venezuelan officials to the International Criminal Court for helping the rebels. "Uribe must first attempt to call Chavez to account using all legal avenues short of The Hague, including the OAS," said Venezuelan analysts at Global Source Partners in a note. "These objectives explain the detail with which Hoyos ... presented evidence against Chavez and listed the international treaties violated by the Venezuelan government." Chavez, the heir apparent to Fidel Castro's mantle of chief US headache in Latin America, and Uribe, a conservative free-marketeer who embraces military aid from Washington, were never going to be comfortable neighbors. Remarkably, they managed to overlook differences for several years after Uribe took office in 2002 and build closer trade and energy ties mainly Colombian farms and factories exporting consumer goods to Venezuela. Everything changed with Colombia's March 2008 bombing raid on a guerrilla camp in Ecuador, which killed a top FARC
commander and more than 20 others. Ecuador severed ties with Bogota after the raid and Chavez ordered tanks to Venezuela's border with Colombia. South American countries almost unanimously condemned the attack. Last year, relations took another dive over a Colombian deal to allow US soldiers access to more of its mil-
itary bases to fight drugs and rebels. Chavez ordered a trade freeze. Now, Bogota, despite having what it says is firm evidence of a prolonged guerrilla presence in Venezuela, has chosen noisy diplomacy over military action - a sign Colombia may be wary of an armed response from Chavez to any attack.
But Uribe also hopes to isolate Chavez by convincing other South American governments that Venezuela supports "terrorism" and presents a regional threat. A meeting of the regional Unasur diplomatic bloc in the next few days will likely be a first test of the success of that strategy. —Reuters
Santos to inherit tricky feud By Hugh Bronstein
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olombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos will inherit a feud with neighbor Venezuela when he takes office next month, but he is expected to work to mend ties with Caracas to salvage strategic bilateral trade. Santos, viewed as more pragmatic than outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, will try to balance Colombia's proactive security policy - which touched off Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision to break bilateral ties on Thursday - with the need to restore the vital commercial relationship, analysts say. Uribe triggered the latest fight with his long-time leftist foe Chavez when he accused Venezuela of sheltering outlawed Colombian guerrillas. Chavez responded by cutting diplomatic relations and declaring an alert on the border. Santos, who served as defense minister under Uribe, will assume the presidency on Aug 7. He is just as conservative as his former boss, once describing himself as a "war hawk" and saying that he and Chavez were like "oil and water". But, mindful that Colombia's close alliance with the United States risks isolating it in a region of left-leaning governments, he has called for dialogue with neighbors while Uribe fires his final diplomatic shots at Chavez. The outgoing president, born into a tight-knit farming community, has based his career on defeating the guerrillas who killed his father in a 1980s kidnapping attempt. Santos, from an elite Bogota family, is known for a more cerebral style. "Santos is a pragmatic politician who knows that it will be very important to reestablish relations with Venezuela for economic reasons," said Jimena Blanco, Colombia analyst at The Latin American Newsletters in London. "It is also in his interest to reverse the diplomatic isolation that Colombia has experienced under Uribe." Uribe says he has evidence showing drug-running Colombian guerrillas are camping out openly in Venezuela's
jungles, where Bogota alleges they are free to regroup and plan attacks. His approach during his eight years in office has been to address security concerns first, as a condition for trying to improve ties with Chavez. Santos leans toward trying to improve relations as a way of tackling the security issue. "It will be a slow process, but the next government will put a high priority on re-establishing ties with Venezuela," said Bogota-based security analyst Alfredo Rangel. Santos, who won this year's election on the back of Uribe's high popularity, inherits a country much safer than when Uribe first took office in 2002. A US-backed security push has battered Colombia's four-decade-old insurgency. Venezuela used to be Colombia's second biggest trade destination after the United States. But Chavez shut down commerce last year in protest at a deal between Washington and Bogota allowing increased US use of Colombian air bases. In the first five months of 2010, Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 71 percent, and the European Union became Bogota's second biggest commercial partner. The stagnation of cross-border business - which totaled more than $7 billion in 2008 - has slowed Colombia's recovery from the global doldrums of 2009, and increased unemployment. "Santos will try to make a fresh start, but will be hamstrung by Uribe's latest bomb and perhaps more importantly, Chavez's desire to keep playing the Colombia threat card at a time when he is under growing criticism at home," said Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst with the Eurasia Group in New York. Venezuela's economy is hurting after 11 years of Chavez's state-centric rule. Local inflation is about 30 percent, the highest in the Americas. As legislative elections approach in September, critics accuse Chavez of focusing attention on outside threats to distract voters from domestic woes. Colombia's gross domestic product expanded 4.4 percent in the first quarter this year, despite reduced Venezuela trade. —Reuters
Berlusconi shrugs off talk, but trouble ahead By James Mackenzie
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talian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi dismisses talk of crisis in his centre-right coalition and speculation of an imminent collapse has faded, but his prospects down the road are shaky. "Everything's fine, everything is perfect," he said, perhaps with some irony, after a meeting with senior members of his party on Thursday evening. He blamed "wild media campaigns" for trying to bring his government down. Hardly anyone else seems to share his optimism, however. While largely untroubled by an enfeebled leftwing opposition, Berlusconi is trapped in a poisonous internal feud with Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament and his partner in the ruling People of Freedom party. The two engaged in a public shouting match over Berlusconi's leadership at a meeting in April. Since then, Fini has blocked the prime minister at every turn and maintained a stream of acid comment on a series of ministerial scandals. With the government facing widespread opposition to a Ä25 billion ($32.27 billion) austerity package that cuts spending and freezes pay for many public sector workers, the disunity has come at a particularly unwelcome time. After months of acrimony, reconciliation seems unlikely and an editorialist in the government-friendly Libero newspaper summed up a widespread impression this week, declaring that the two had reached "a point of no return". "Either there's an accord very soon or the break will be final," wrote
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures while speaking on the Duomo roof for a concert with French songwriting legend and singer Charles Aznavour to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the province of Milan on July 19, 2010. Berlusconi said he could sing better than Aznavour. – AFP "Geronimo", the nom de plume of Paolo Cirino Pomincino, a veteran conservative politician and commentator. Fini has enraged Berlusconi by repeatedly and pointedly insisting on the need for morality and rectitude in government, highlighting a series of scandals that have forced two ministers to resign over graft allegations. In the latest affair, dubbed the "P3 case" after the notorious "P2" conspiracy scandal of the 1980s, senior People of Freedom
officials have been accused of forming a secret cabal to manipulate political and judicial appointments and decisions. An undersecretary in the economy ministry placed under investigation in the case has already had to resign. Another junior minister may also be forced to quit and the case may ensnare some of Berlusconi's closest associates. An opinion poll put the prime minister's approval rating at just 39 percent. But it also showed a drop in sup-
port for his rivals, suggesting that there could be a temptation to call Fini's bluff and seek new elections. "At the moment, voters perceive a general state of political chaos so they're ready to punish everyone," said Antonio Noto, head of polling group IPR which conducted the survey. "I think that strategically, Berlusconi would be stronger if he went for elections today than if he waited a year." However, despite opposition
demands for either fresh elections or a transitional government including centrist parties, anticipation of an immediate collapse appears to have faded. Most commentators now forecast a showdown in the spring. "I don't think there will be a vote in the next few months," Fedele Confalonieri, chairman of Berlusconi's Mediaset broadcasting group and one of the prime minister's closest associates, told the daily La Stampa. "I don't think it would be to Berlusconi's advantage. It would actually be a risk for him. And Fini? Where would he get the votes from?" Part of the problem is the austerity package that Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti pushed through over reluctance from Berlusconi himself and which is still awaiting final approval from parliament. Italy's finances are in a mess with public sector debt amounting to almost 120 percent of gross domestic product. Financial markets are in an unforgiving mood and the fear of a repeat of the Greek crisis is everpresent. For the moment, the markets seem satisfied with a program designed to bring the deficit down from 5.3 percent of gross domestic product to 2.7 percent by 2012, but it has enraged critics who say the burden falls unfairly on the less well-off. With Italians leaving on their summer holidays, Berlusconi is hoping the agitation will die down. But the deeper problems are likely to resurface once everyone is back from the beach and after that, the future is open. "Today, even though his support is falling, he could win an election. In six months' time, we don't know," said Noto. — Reuters
focus
Serbia suffers major blow in court ruling By Adam Tanner and Reed Stevenson
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erbia has suffered a major diplomatic blow in a world court ruling on Thursday that Kosovo did not violate international law in declaring independence 2008, a ruling that could also impact Bosnia's future stability. "It is an upper cut right to the chin, with no moving around after that," said one EU diplomat. "It's like Mike Tyson taking out the other guy in the 34th second and then he doesn't move." The clear-cut, unambiguous ruling contained little language from which the Serbian government can find solace. Many observers had expected the International Court of Justice to present arguments that would give each side legal reasoning with which to continue making their respective cases. "The court opens the door for nonstate actors to legally consider unilateral declarations of independence," said Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association who has worked on Kosovo issues in the past. "This will be a new and vexing challenge for the international community." Over the past two years, Serbia has spent considerable diplomatic energy lobbying countries against recognising Kosovo, a region many Serbs cherish as the cradle of their Serbian Orthodox Church. Belgrade's strong line against Kosovo's independence is important domestically, where any recognition of Kosovo's independence is considered politically fatal. But the issue has complicated the goal of joining the European Union for a country still struggling to emerge from its pariah status during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. "Serbia has never lost European Union membership from its strategic focus," Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told Reuters in The Hague after the ruling. "But what we are going to equally keep up with is the diplomatic struggle to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity and that can only happen through peaceful negotiations." Some analysts say the Serbian government must take a tough line on Kosovo for
domestic political reasons, but say the advisory ICJ opinion could help on the longer term on a tacit policy of gradual disengagement from Kosovo. "This decision is a vindication of American, European, NATO, EU and UN policy toward Kosovo over the past 12 years," said James Dobbins, a former U.S. envoy to the Balkans. "While I expect it will be poorly received in Belgrade, I believe many thoughtful Serbs will come to see that this decision offers their country a way out of the dead-end policies which have blocked Serbia's full integration in Europe and its prospects for a more prosperous future." EU and US diplomats are expected to step up efforts in the coming days to urge Serbia to compromise on practical issues in Kosovo such as issues around daily life in the northern part of the country outside of Pristina's control. The ruling could embolden ethnic Serbs to seek independence, including in Bosnia, a country divided along ethnic lines after the deadliest fighting since World War Two in the 1990s. "If the eventual ruling affirms the right of unilateral self-determination, this may be a message for some future moves," Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of Bosnia's Serb Republic, said on Wednesday. Dodik has repeatedly threatened a referendum for secession of the region from Bosnia, and elections in October may exacerbate ethnic tensions in the still fragile country. "The Serb Republic has its territory, population and government, thus all elements in place to follow the Kosovo-like path if it decides so," said Desanka Majkic, the Bosnian Serb hardline speaker of Bosnia's central parliament's upper house. Other separatists far from the Balkans may also review the ICJ opinion to bolster their own cases for independence. "The advisory may have far reaching implications for conflicts and disputes as disparate as South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, the Basque territory of Spain, and Tibet in China," said Fred Cocozzelli, assistant professor of government and politics at St. John's University. — Reuters
Kosovo verdict no secession precedent By Mariette le Roux
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eparatist groups, emboldened by the top UN court backing Kosovo's 2008 split from Serbia, will soon realise that the verdict paves no legal path which they can follow, analysts said. The International Court of Justice's non-binding opinion was deliberately limited to the specific facts of the Kosovo case, and conferred no right on minorities to declare their own independence, they said. "For minority groups considering to secede, the opinion is something that seems useful at first sight. But legally speaking it does not help them at all," said Willem van Genugten, legal analyst at the Netherlands' University of Tilburg. "The advisory opinion is restricted to Kosovo in more or less every paragraph, and the court avoids whatever implication for other minority groups." On Thursday, ICJ judges decided by 10 votes to four that "the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law". Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said after the verdict: "From now on there are going to be people in the world tempted to write declarations of independence that are obviously, according to the court, in their narrow sense OK with international law". But others disagree with that view. While finding that international law did not prohibit declarations of independence, the court also did not say it was legal to do so. "The court found an elegant way out by not creating a precedent," said Jean D'Aspremont, international law analyst at the University of Amsterdam. "In a legal sense, the advisory opinion doesn't help minority groups because there is no entitlement to be found." Marko Prelec, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the court's finding would create much political
interest, "but legally, I don't think it changes very much". "The legal analysis of the advisory opinion will be interesting for lawyers, not for liberation fighters - what they will see at first glance will be the headline that says: 'Kosovo independence not illegal'. It will be up to the international community how it manages the expectations this will create." Landlocked Kosovo with two million inhabitants - 90 percent of them ethnic Albanians -unilaterally declared independence from Serbia after UN-brokered negotiations to resolve its future status failed. Kosovo had effectively been a UN protectorate since a 1998-99 war between separatist Kosovo Albanians and Serbian security forces ended with a NATO air campaign against late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic's regime. Sixty-nine countries have recognised Kosovo as independent, including the United States and all but five of the 27 EU member states. Serbia and its ally Russia do not. The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ in October 2008 to render a legal opinion on the issue, at Serbia's request. Of the dissenting judges, one found that his colleagues had erred and said in a separate judgment that Kosovo's declaration of independence was in fact "unlawful and invalid". "You can be sure that some minorities, some indigenous groups worldwide, will see these (dissenting judgments) as a swallow in the spring ... something that is not yet law but a signal that something is changing." Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, meanwhile, said the Kosovo decision "has nothing to do with any other cases in the world". "It is a unique decision, in a unique situation, with a unique historical background," he said on a visit to Cyprus where he met his Cypriot counterpart Markos Kyprianou in Nicosia Friday. — AFP
NEWS
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
NEW YORK: The new Willis Avenue Bridge passes under the Brooklyn Bridge and in front of lower Manhattan as it is brought up the East River on a barge yesterday. The bridge is replacing the existing 109-yearold span that connects Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx. – AP
Qaeda kills French hostage after raid Continued from Page 1 Briton in 2009. “He was still alive when the raid took place, but hidden in a mountainous region in Kidal, near the Algerian border,” the local official said. “The area is an impregnable fortress, where Islamists have planted mines and constructed bomb shelters,” he warned. Sarkozy did not say how he could be sure Germaneau was dead, but a defence ministry official said the French government had confirmed that the claim of responsibility was an authentic message from the group. “We’re faced with a totally determined group, a phalanx waging a holy war that refused to negotiate with us by direct or indirect means,” Morin said. “The Mauritanians were informed about an imminent attack by 150 Al-Qaeda fighters based in Mali,” he told France Inter radio. “We decided to help out in part of their operation, which was to intervene in one Al-Qaeda camp.” Morin said Al-Qaeda has around 500
militants in armed groups scattered around the Sahel. Mauritanian and French forces killed at least six AQIM fighters on Thursday, but failed to find any trace of Germaneau. He was speaking after an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris between Sarkozy, Fillon, key ministers, military top brass and the heads of France’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies. Madrid, which has two Spanish nationals held in Mali by a different AQIM cell, condemned the killing, expressing “solidarity and support to the French government in the face of this brutal crime”. Spain said it would continue its efforts to negotiate the freedom of aid workers Albert Vilalta, 35, and 50-year-old Roque Pascual, kidnapped eight months ago. Privately, Spanish officials expressed concern at the more robust French tactics, fearing that military action might endanger the Spanish captives. “The facts speak for themselves,” said one senior Spanish official, noting that the
Aquino vows clean govt, blasts Arroyo French hostage is dead and the Spaniards reportedly doing well. AQIM took responsibility for the killing in an audio message broadcast by the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera at the weekend. “We executed the French hostage Michel Germaneau on Saturday July 24, 2010, to avenge the killing of our six brothers in the cowardly French raid,” AQIM chief Abu Musab Abdul Wadud said. “Sarkozy failed to free his compatriot in this operation but he has without any doubt opened for his people and for his country one of the gates of hell.” Some French officials have questioned details of the claim, indicating privately that the hostage might have been killed several weeks ago. Germaneau was seized on April 19 in Niger where he had been building a school. On May 14 his abductors issued a photo of an exhaustedlooking hostage and a taped message in which he appealed to Sarkozy to work for his release. — AFP
Secret US archives leaked Continued from Page 1 incidents, and that they often sought to cover up the mistakes which have shaken confidence in the war effort among many Afghans. “It is up to a court to decide clearly whether something is in the end a crime. That said, prima facie there does appear to be evidence of war crimes in this material,” Assange said. He cited an example of a missile strike on a house which killed seven children. Assange pointed in particular to a deadly missile strike ordered by Taskforce 373, a unit allegedly charged with hunting down and killing senior Taleban targets. He said there was also evidence of cover-ups when civilians were killed, including what he called a suspiciously high number of casualties that US forces attributed to ricochet wounds. The archive leak came as the Taleban said they were holding captive one of two US servicemen who strayed into insurgent territory, and that the other had been killed. The reported capture could further erode domestic US support for the war ahead of pivotal congressional elections in November. Pakistan, which came in for particular scrutiny in the archive, said leaking unprocessed reports from the battlefield was irresponsible, while a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the documents underscored longstanding concern about both Pakistan’s involvement in the country and the civilian death toll. The documents suggest that representatives from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) met directly with the Taleban in secret strategy sessions to organize militant networks fighting US soldiers. Senator Jeff Sessions, a conservative Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said suggestions that even rogue elements of the ISI were seeking to confound the US war effort were troubling. “That would be very disturbing if they were participating in strategies to fight US soldiers. It would be unacceptable,” Sessions told reporters. Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit dismissed the reports as “farfetched and skewed”. “If anything these betray the lack of understanding of the complexities involved,” Basit said. “Pakistan’s constructive and positive role in Afghanistan cannot be blighted by such self-serving and baseless reports.” Colonel Dave L apan, a Pentagon
spokesman, yesterday declined to discuss the relationship with Pakistan or any of the specific documents, saying that despite their release on the Internet the reports remain classified. US national security adviser Jim Jones said the leak would not affect “our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest since the war began as thousands of extra US troops crank up a campaign to oust insurgents from their traditional heartland in the south. The United States has repeatedly urged Pakistan to hunt down militant groups, including some believed to have been nurtured by the ISI as strategic assets in Afghanistan and against arch-rival India. Islamabad says it is doing all it can to fight the militancy, adding that it was a victim of terrorism itself. In one report from March 2008, the ISI is alleged to have ordered Siraj Haqqani, a prominent militant based in northwestern Pakistan, to kill workers from archenemy India who are building roads in Afghanistan. In another from March 2007, the ISI is alleged to have given Jalaluddin Haqqani, Siraj’s father, 1,000 motorcycles to carry out suicide attacks in Afghanistan. The Haqqanis run a military network based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area that is believed to have close ties with the ISI. Other reports mention former ISI officials, including Hamid Gul, who headed the agency in the late 1980s when Pakistan and the US were supporting Islamist militants in their fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. In one report, Gul, who has been an outspoken supporter of the Taleban, is alleged to have dispatched three men in Dec 2006 to carry out attacks in Afghanistan’s capital. “Reportedly Gul’s final comment to the three individuals was to make the snow warm in Kabul, basically telling them to set Kabul aflame,” said the report. Gul, who features multiple times throughout the reports, denied allegations that he was working with the Taleban, saying “these leaked documents against me are fiction and nothing else”. Under the heading “Afghan War Diary,” the 91,000 documents collected from across the US military in Afghanistan cover the war from 2004 to 2010, WikiLeaks said in a summary. The documents were provided first to The New York Times, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper and German weekly Der
Spiegel. Last month was the deadliest for foreign troops since 2001, with more than 100 killed, and civilian deaths have also risen as ordinary Afghans are increasingly caught in the crossfire. The documents also allege Iran is providing money and arms to Taleban insurgents, and detail how widespread corruption is hampering the war. The New York Times said the archive illustrated “in mosaic detail why, after the United States has spent almost 300 billion dollars on the war, the Taleban are stronger than at any time since 2001.” Britain said yesterday it regretted the leak, but again called on Pakistan to dismantle all militant groups operating on its soil. “We would lament all unauthorized releases of classified material,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said. “The White House has made a statement. We will not comment on leaked documents.” In Berlin, the defense ministry, which has some 4,600 troops in northern Afghanistan, strongly criticized the leaks and said it was looking into the files, although it added that much of the information was not new. “Obtaining and releasing documents, some of them secret, on such a scale is a highly questionable practice since it could affect the national security of NATO allies and the whole NATO mission,” a defense ministry spokesman said. “We are examining the countless documents to see if our security interests could also be affected. The Kabul government welcomed the leaks, saying the documents could help “raise awareness on the sanctuaries” Islamabad provides for militant groups. Assange said the files showed the “course of the war needs to change” and dismissed White House anger. “We’re familiar with groups whose abuse we expose attempting to criticize the messenger,” Assange said. “We don’t see any difference in the White House response to this case.” Assange compared the impact of the released material to the opening of East Germany’s secret police files. “This is the equivalent of opening the Stasi archives,” he said. He also said his group had many more documents on other subjects, including files on countries from across the globe. “We have built up an enormous backlog of whistleblower disclosures,” he said. Assange said he believed more whistle-blowing material will flood in after the publicity about the Afghan files. “It is our experience that courage is contagious,” he said. — Agencies
Continued from Page 1 government expected to start peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist rebel group, at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September. Aquino said putting an end to the insurgency, which has killed more than 150,000 people in the impoverished southern region of Mindanao since 1978, was a priority. Aquino has vowed in recent weeks to have Arroyo, who was required by constitutional term limits to step down, investigated and
possibly prosecuted for her alleged corrupt activities. He said yesterday that a “Truth Commission” to investigate Arroyo’s alleged wrongdoings would be set up this week. “We will go after the corrupt,” Aquino said. “We will find the truth in all the hidden wrongdoing that happened in the last nine years.” Arroyo took the unprecedented step for a sitting president of running for a seat in the House of Representatives in the elections, a move widely seen as part of a strategy to shield herself from prosecution. She easily won the seat representing her home province
and was meant to sit in parliament to hear the State of the Nation address. But Arroyo flew to Hong Kong on Sunday, with her aides saying she went there to support her husband while he visited a doctor. Aquino delivered his address knowing he enjoys unprecedented public support. A survey by pollster Pulse Asia released yesterday showed that 85 percent of Filipinos trusted him. This was the highest rating ever recorded by any leader since the group began its trust surveys in 1999, Pulse Asia said. — AFP
Along the way, they fought giant ocean swells, 62-knot winds, temperatures up to 38 degrees Celsius and torn sails. The crew briefly stopped in Queensland state last week, after battling a brutal storm off the Australian coast. Skipper Jo Royle also had the particular challenge of being the only woman on board. “I’m definitely looking forward to a glass of wine and a giggle with my girlfriends,” she said. Vern Moen, the Plastiki’s filmmaker, missed the birth of his first child - though he managed to watch the delivery on a grainy Skype connection. He met his son
for the first time after docking in Sydney. “It was very, very surreal to show up on a dock and it’s like, ‘here’s your kid,” he said with a laugh. Although the team had originally hoped to recycle the Plastiki, de Rothschild said they are now thinking of keeping it intact, and using it as a way of enlightening people to the power of recycling. “There were many times when people looked at us and said, ‘you’re crazy’,” de Rothschild said. “I think it drove us on to say, ‘Anything’s possible’.” The Plastiki will be on display at Sydney’s Maritime Museum for the next month. — AP
Bottle ship ends sail Continued from Page 1 The mast, for instance, is recycled aluminum irrigation pipe. “The journey of the Plastiki is a journey from trash to triumph,” said Jeffrey Bleich, the US ambassador to Australia, who greeted the team after they docked. During their 128-day journey, the six crew lived in a cabin of just 6 m by 4.5 m, took saltwater showers, and survived on a diet of dehydrated and canned food, supplemented with the occasional vegetable from their small on-board garden.
Full face transplant man appears on TV Continued from Page 1 Barret. “Bit by bit he is improving but he nonetheless has a long and difficult road ahead to have intelligible speech like he had before,” he told the news conference. The patient has recovered feeling in most of his face except for in the middle of his lips and still can only consume a liquid diet, Barret said. He still is not able to close his eyes but will be able to soon, and he “has already recovered the ability to move his eyebrows and can even smile,” said the doctor. Doctors took care to
ensure that the patient’s new face was created in the likeness of the face he had before his accident and did not resemble that of the anonymous donor. Oscar’s sister, who did not give her name, said her brother was eager to take up hunting and fishing once again, his main hobbies before the accident. “All he wants is to have a normal life again. Now my brother can walk in the street without people staring at him, enjoy a meal with his family. My brother will be able to have a new life thanks to the doctors’ work,” she said.
While 11 other face transplants have been carried out around the world previously, the Vall d’Hebron hospital says they involved only part of the patient’s face. The first successful face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled by her dog. Since then face transplants have been carried out in China, the United States and Spain, which carried out its first such operation in Aug 2009. Spain led the world in organ donations in 2009 for the 18th consecutive year, according to the health ministry. — AFP
NATO strike killed 52 civilians: Karzai Continued from Page 1 Karzai’s statement came three days after Friday’s attack on Regey village, and followed repeated denials by officials of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that their forces were involved in the incident. The statement said Karzai was “deeply saddened by the heartbreaking incident, which is both morally and humanly unacceptable”. “The president and cabinet of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan condemned on Monday in the strongest possible terms the rocket attack on a village in Helmand province that killed up to 52 innocent civilians,” it said. Reports surfaced on Saturday that a helicopter gunship fired on villagers who had been told by insurgents to leave their homes as a firefight with ISAF troops was imminent. According to witness accounts, men, women and children fled to Regey village and were fired on by helicopter gunships as they took cover. Abdul Ghafar, 45, told AFP he lost “two daughters and one son and two sisters” in the attack. He and six other families fled to Regey, about 500 m from their village of Ishaqzai, after being warned about an
imminent battle, he said. Men and women took shelter in separate compounds, he said, ahead of an expected firefight between Taleban and NATO troops around 4:30 pm (1200 GMT). “Helicopters started firing on the compound killing almost everyone inside,” he said, speaking at the Mirwais hospital in Kandahar city. “We rushed to the house and there were eight children wounded and around 40 to 50 others killed,” he said. He took three girls and four boys to the Kandahar hospital, he said, adding: “Three of the wounded are my nephews and one is my son. One of the wounded children is four years old and has lost both parents.” The BBC said it sent an Afghan reporter to Regey to interview residents, who described the attack and said they buried 39 people. ISAF spokesman Colonel Wayne Shanks said the location of the reported deaths was “several kilometres away from where we had engaged enemy fighters”. ISAF forces had fought a battle with insurgents, he said, but a NATO investigation team dispatched after the casualty reports emerged “had accounted for all the rounds that were shot at the enemy”, Shanks said. “We found no evidence of civilian casualties,” he said.
Close to 150,000 US and NATO troops are deployed in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency and many Afghans believed their presence is the cause of the violence, though a number of reports, including by the United Nations, have found that most are caused by Taleban attacks. But leaked documents carried by the web whistleblower Wikileaks on Sunday pointed to under-reporting of civilian casualties, which Waheed Omar, Karzai’s spokesman, said was a cause of concern for the Afghan government. The Pentagon files and field reports spanning the period from Jan 2004 to December 2009 detail hundreds of unreported civilian deaths caused by NATO and Taleban attacks, according to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “We have continuously stated that the Afghan government and Afghan people were upset about civilian casualties,” Omar told reporters, adding that Karzai had found nothing new in the leaked documents. The White House condemned the leaks, saying the information could endanger US lives but also pointed to the administration’s longheld concerns about alleged links between Pakistani intelligence agents and Afghan insurgents. — AFP
SPORTS
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
15 MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Sunday. NY Yankees 12, Kansas City 6; Tampa Bay 4, Cleveland 2; Toronto 5, Detroit 3; Florida 5, Atlanta 4 (11 Innings); Minnesota 10, Baltimore 4; San Diego 6, Pittsburgh 3; Philadelphia 4, Colorado 3; Houston 4, Cincinnati 0; Milwaukee 8, Washington 3; Oakland 6, Chicago White Sox 4; La Dodgers 1, NY Mets 0; Seattle 4, Boston 2; San Francisco 3, Arizona 2 (10 innings); Detroit 6, Toronto 5; St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 3 (11 innings); Texas 6, LA Angels 4.
NEW YORK: Curtis Granderson No 14 of the New York Yankees scores off of a Brett Gardner single as Jason Kendall No 18 of the Kansas City Royals is late with the tag in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. —AFP
American League Eastern Division W L NY Yankees 62 35 Tampa Bay 59 38 Boston 55 44 Toronto 50 49 Baltimore 31 67 Central Division Chicago White Sox 53 44 Minnesota 53 46 Detroit 51 46 Kansas City 42 56 Cleveland 41 57 Western Division Texas 58 41 LA Angels 52 49 Oakland 50 48 Seattle 39 60 National League Eastern Division Atlanta 57 41 Philadelphia 52 46 NY Mets 50 49 Florida 49 49 Washington 42 57 Central Division St. Louis 55 44 Cincinnati 55 45 Milwaukee 47 53 Chicago Cubs 45 54 Houston 40 58 Pittsburgh 34 64 Western Division San Diego 58 39 San Francisco 56 43 LA Dodgers 53 46 Colorado 51 47 Arizona 37 62
PCT GB .639 .608 3 .556 8 .505 13 .316 31.5 .546 .535 1 .526 2 .429 11.5 .418 12.5 .586 .515 .510 .394
7 7.5 19
.582 .531 5 .505 7.5 .500 8 .424 15.5 .556 .550 0.5 .470 8.5 .455 10 .408 14.5 .347 20.5 .598 .566 .535 .520 .374
3 6 7.5 22
Granderson homers twice as Yankees hammer Royals NEW YORK: Curtis Granderson hit a pair of homers and Alex Rodriguez drove in three runs as the New York Yankees waited out a long rain delay to beat the Kansas City Royals 12-6 on Sunday. Rodriguez will take his pursuit of 600 home runs on the road after failing to reach the milestone for the third straight day. He hit an RBI double in the fourth and came to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth. He was hit by a pitch from reliever Blake Wood near the left wrist and fell to the dirt. Rodriguez was replaced by a pinch runner, and the Yankees pushed across five extra runs in the inning. The slugger said after the game that he was fine and expects to be in the lineup last night in Cleveland. Phil Hughes (12-3) didn’t return after the rain delay, which lasted 2 hours, 32 minutes, but earned the win. He needed 95 pitches to get through 5 1-3 innings in another shaky start. Robinson Cano drove in a pair of runs
with two hits, giving him 1,000 for his career, while Derek Jeter added three hits and an RBI. Scott Podsednik hit a pair of two-run homers for his third career multihomer game. The Yankees gave themselves a big cushion early against Sean O’Sullivan (1-1), who beat them Tuesday night as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. He was traded to the Royals on Thursday. Athletics 6, White Sox 4 At Oakland, Dallas Braden won for the first time in 10 starts since his perfect game May 9, ending a five-game losing streak in Oakland’s victory over Chicago. Kurt Suzuki drove in three runs two days after receiving a $16 million, four-year contract, and Daric Barton hit a two-run single. Paul Konerko gave Chicago an early lead on an RBI double in the first. After that, Braden (5-7) retired 13 of the next 14 White Sox hitters. This was the lefty’s
Tampa beat Cleveland 4-2 second start since coming off the disabled list July 20 following a bout with tightness in his throwing elbow. Braden left in the seventh to a rousing ovation, the A’s well on their way to a fourth win in five games and ninth in 11. Oakland captured its fourth straight series, winning its seventh consecutive day game. Michael Wuertz finished with a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.
Arizona Diamondbacks. Hunter allowed three runs and three hits over 6 1-3 innings to become the first Rangers pitcher to win his first eight decisions in a season. The right-hander is the second player to accomplish the feat this season, joining Carlos Silva of the Chicago Cubs. Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer for the Angels.
Rangers 6, Angels 4 At Arlington, Josh Hamilton drove in three runs, Tommy Hunter pitched into the seventh inning to remain unbeaten and the Rangers beat the Angels. AL West-leading Texas won three of four in the series to build a seven-game lead over the secondplace Angels, who got a boost earlier in the day when they acquired righthander Dan Haren in a trade with the
Mariners 4, Red Sox 2 At Seattle, Michael Saunders lined a two-run single off reliever Hideki Okajima in the eighth inning to get the lead and pinch-hitter Milton Bradley’s squeeze bunt added another run as the Mariners rallied past Boston. Seattle salvaged a split of the four-game series and sent Boston into the final stage of its 10-game West Coast trip now eight games behind the first-
place Yankees in the AL East. Rays 4, Indians 2 At Cleveland, Reid Brignac hit a three-run homer that helped Wade Davis remain unbeaten in July. Brignac connected off Justin Masterson (3-9) in the second inning to put the Rays ahead 3-1. Davis (8-9) improved to 3-0 in four starts this month after going 0-5 in June. The right-hander allowed two runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings as Tampa Bay won its second straight after losing 18 in a row at Progressive Field since 2005. The Rays took two of three in the series to improve the majors’ best road record to 33-18. Travis Hafner went 4 for 4, but the Indians were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position - making them 1 for 26 over the past four games.
Twins 10, Orioles 4 At Baltimore, Jason Kubel hit his seventh career grand slam, Kevin Slowey took a five-hitter into the seventh inning and Minnesota beat Baltimore to end a run of four consecutive road series losses. Kubel’s drive off rookie Jake Arrieta (3-3) in the third sparked a surge of 10 straight Minnesota runs. It was his second slam of the season; the other came off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in May. Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3, 1st game At Detroit, Ryan Raburn’s threerun double in the eighth inning capped a four-run rally that carried injurydepleted Detroit past Toronto for a split of their day-night doubleheader. In the opener, Lyle Overbay hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off All-Star reliever Jose Valverde (1-2). Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI double into the right-field
Marlins beat Braves 5-4 thanks to Helms MIAMI: Wes Helms hit a bases-loaded RBI single with none out in the 11th inning Sunday, helping the Florida Marlins earn their fourth walkoff win of the week with a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins won seven of 10 on their homestand, with six wins by one run. The Braves loaded the bases four times, including in the 11th, and those situations produced only one run. They stranded 11 runners. Florida’s Hanley Ramirez singled off Jesse Chavez (2-2) to start the bottom of the 11th, and he took third on a single by Dan Uggla. After Cody Ross was intentionally walked to load the bases, Helms hit an 0-1 pitch through the left side of the infield and was mobbed after rounding first base. Florida has seven walkoff wins this season. Padres 6, Pirates 3 At Pittsburgh, Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Denorfia homered and Wade LeBlanc won for the first time in six weeks as first-place San Diego finished off its only series sweep in Pittsburgh since 1998. The Padres have won all 10 series in Pittsburgh since PNC Park opened in 2001, but hadn’t swept one there before outscoring the Pirates 20-8 in the three weekend games. Gonzalez’s two-run homer, his 21st, highlighted a five-run third inning against Pirates rookie Brad Lincoln (1-4), who was sent back to Triple-A after the game. Giants 3, Diamondbacks 2, 10 innings At Phoenix, Buster Posey had four hits to extend his hitting streak to 18 games and Travis Ishikawa hit a run-scoring single in the 10th inning, helping the San Francisco Giants complete their first fourgame sweep in Arizona in nine years. The Diamondbacks, who traded three-time
Dawson, Herzog in Hall of Fame
All-Star right-hander Dan Haren during the game to the Los Angeles Angels for three pitchers and a player to be named, had runners on the corners in the ninth, but Sergio Romo (3-3) struck out Cole Gillespie and Chris Young. Posey started the winning rally with a double, setting up Ishikawa’s single off Esmerling Vasquez (1-3) that easily scored pinch-runner Eli Whiteside. Phillies 4, Rockies 3 At Philadelphia, Jimmy Rollins singled home the tying run in the seventh inning then put the Phillies ahead for good by scoring on a wild pitch. After a long rain delay, pinch-hitter Wilson Valdez started the seventh inning with a double to right. Rollins followed with an RBI single off Joe Beimel (1-1). Rollins advanced to second on an error by left fielder Ryan Spilborghs. Two outs later, reliever Rafael Betancourt threw a pitch that bounced away from catcher Miguel Olivo. Rollins, who had stolen third, scored without a play. Colorado has lost five in a row. Ryan Madson (3-1) worked out of a basesloaded, one-out jam in the top of the seventh to earn the win. Astros 4, Reds 0 At Houston, Wandy Rodriguez allowed one hit in seven innings, while Hunter Pence and Chris Johnson homered for the Astros. Michael Bourn drove in two runs with a double in Houston’s three-run seventh to help the Astros avoid a threegame sweep against Cincinnati. Rodriguez (8-11) struck out seven for his fifth win in his last six starts. Brandon Lyon gave up one hit in the eighth and Matt Lindstrom did the same in the ninth to complete the shutout. Reds rookie starter Mike Leake (7-2) was perfect in the fifth and sixth
corner off Jason Frasor (3-3) with one out in the eighth inning of the nightcap, cutting Detroit’s deficit to 4-3. It scored Austin Jackson, who led off with a single, and sent pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago, who was hit by a pitch, to third. Brennan Boesch was intentionally walked to load the bases and Raburn ripped Frasor’s pitch into left-center. Phil Coke (6-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Valverde allowed Dewayne Wise’s home run leading off the ninth but earned his 21st save in 22 chances. Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 27th homer for the Blue Jays, who squandered a 4-0 lead. Toronto, which leads the majors with 148 homers, scored all its runs in the first game on long balls. Jose Molina and Vernon Wells also homered, along with Overbay. Scott Downs (4-5) escaped an eighth-inning jam to earn the win and Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 27 opportunities. —AP
MIAMI: Atlanta Braves second baseman Martin Prado (top) falls over Florida Marlins’ Chris Coghlan while throwing to first to complete the double play in the first inning during a baseball game, July 25, 2010. —AP innings before Johnson’s homer to left field with one out in the seventh made it 2-0. The home run extended his careerbest hitting streak to nine games. Jason Castro followed with a single before a pinch-hit double by Jason Michaels chased Leake. Brewers 8, Nationals 3 At Milwaukee, Casey McGehee and Rickie Weeks homered and as the home team scored five unearned runs off starter Ross Detwiler in beating Washington to complete a three-game sweep. Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead on Jonathan Lucroy’s RBI single and a wild pitch by Detwiler (0-1) after third baseman Willie Harris misplayed a grounder. In the fourth, shortstop
Ian Desmond bobbled Dave Bush’s twoout roller and threw it away, allowing Lucroy to score. Dodgers 1, Mets 0 At Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw scattered seven hits over eight innings in his first start since appealing a five-game suspension and Russell Martin hit a late RBI double in the Dodgers’ victory over the punchless Mets. Former catcher Kenley Jansen got his first major league save, handing New York its fourth shutout loss on a 2-9 road trip to San Francisco, Arizona and Los Angeles. Mets starter R.A. Dickey came out in the sixth with an injured left leg. Kershaw (10-5) stranded six runners, struck out three and issued
an intentional walk. The 22-year-old lefthander was suspended last Wednesday, one day after hitting San Francisco’s Aaron Rowand with a pitch. Pedro Feliciano (2-5) gave up the winning hit. Cardinals 4, Cubs 3, 11 innings At Chicago, Felipe Lopez hit a tiebreaking solo homer to help the Cardinals beat the Cubs and avoid a weekend sweep. Lopez drove a 3-2 pitch from Brian Schlitter (0-1) over the right-field wall for his sixth homer of the season to put the Cardinals back in the NL Central lead, a half game ahead of Cincinnati. The big hit came one day after Lopez was scratched from the starting lineup for reportedly arriving late for the match. —AP
COOPERSTOWN: Former Major League Baseball slugger Andre Dawson, past World Series champion manager Whitey Herzog and 31-year umpire Doug Harvey were inducted Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dawson, 56, was a star for the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs during a 21-season major league career that saw him hit 438 home runs with 2,774 hits, 1,591 runs batted in and 314 stolen bases. Dawson, the 203rd player enshrined at the birthplace of baseball, became only the third man with more than 400 homers and 300 stolen bases in his career. At induction ceremonies, Dawson spoke to the stain of doping that has surrounded some of the sport’s top names over the past decade. “It’s a stain on the game, a stain that’s being gradually removed,” Dawson said, citing toughened anti-doping rules installed over recent years. Herzog, 78, became the 19th manager inducted into the Hall of Fame. He won a World Series crown in 1982 guiding the St Louis Cardinals as part of an 18year career that included 11 seasons in St Louis. He also managed Kansas City, Texas and California. He guided Kansas City to three consecutive playoff berths in the 1970s before retiring in 1990 with a record of 1,279-1,123. “Ever since I was elected in December, people have asked, ‘What does it feel like to be a Hall of Famer?” Herzog said. “Now I can tell you what it feels like. It feels like going to heaven before you die.” Harvey, 80, officiated National League games from 1962 through 1992. Harvey umpired 4,673 regular-season games as well as taking part in the World Series five times and became the ninth umpire to be inducted. —AFP
SPORTS
16
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Pettersson triumphs Canadian Open title Wilson wilts under Swede’s pressure
CARNOUSTI: Germany’s Bernhard Langer kisses the trophy after winning the Fourth Round of the British Seniors Open at Carnoustie Golf Club, Sunday, July 25, 2010. — AP
Butt up for suggestions as England series hover LEEDS: Pakistan’s novice captain Salman Butt is happy for his players to keep offering him advice during their forthcoming series against England if it helps to build a united team. Butt, in his first match as captain, led Pakistan to a three-wicket second Test win against Australia at Headingley here on Saturday-a victory that ended a record run of 13 straight Test defeats at the hands of the Aussies stretching back 15 years. While Pakistan were in the field, several players could be seen wanting a word with their new skipper and, while some captains might see that as a challenge to their authority, 25-yearold opening batsman Butt was delighted. “Being humans we are never happy, when you have advice you never want it and when you do want it you say ‘nobody comes and gives it to me’,” Butt said. “I’m very lucky. The best thing they (the players) are doing is they are reading the game, they are in the game. “It’s not that I take all the advice, but it’s important for me that every player is in the game and thinking about the game. “If I’m open to every man, even a youngster playing his first game, then that will mean he will believe in me. So to build a team,
I think this is a very important thing to do.” Pakistan just did enough to reach their victory target of 180 against Australia here at Headingley on Saturday, although they lost seven wickets before they were able to square a two-match series at 1-1.Only a week earlier, Australia had thrashed Pakistan by 150 runs at Lord’s, a defeat that prompted Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi to quit Test cricket. But teenager Mohammad Aamer, well supported by fellow seamers Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, took advantage of overcast conditions at Headingley for a match haul of seven wickets. And Pakistan’s successful run chase featured a maiden fifty from Azhar Ali in what was only the batsman’s second Test Pakistan’s seamers, together with leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, certainly appear capable of posing England’s batsmen problems when the first of a four-Test series starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday. But there are doubts about a batting line-up where Ali, Umar Amin and Umar Akmal have played just 12 Tests between delivering big totals, although Pakistan do have Yasir Hameed, a veteran of 23 Tests, in reserve.
“I can’t predict what is going to happen (against England),” Butt said. “We know tough times will come. We know it will not be an easy ride so we have to stick together and try our best. That’s all we can do.” There has been speculation that, with Afridi out with a side strain, Pakistan might call up either of ex-captains Mohammad Yousuf or Younus Khan, both originally left out after bans imposed following a series whitewash in Australia this year, to bolster the top order. However, Butt indicated he was happy with what he had and said even his pace attack faced competition from the uncapped duo of Wahab Riaz and Tanvir Ahmed. “The discussion (on a replacement) is yet to take place. We’ll see, maybe we will discuss it but at the moment I think everything is fine,” said Butt. “We have two or three guys sitting out of the side who we can rely on. “We have a left-arm seamer who bowls at 90 miles per hour at the first change in Wahab Riaz. “We also have Tanvir Ahmed who got 90 wickets in the domestic season. “He’s a very good seam bowler - Shane Warne said when he was watching him the other day that he looks like a very good bowler.” — AFP
LEEDS: Pakistan’s Salman Butt is bowled out by Australia’s Ben Hilfenhaus for 45 runs during the first day of the second MCC Spirit of Cricket Test match at Headingley. —AFP
TORONTO: Sweden’s Carl Pettersson staged a powerful back-nine charge to overhaul a crumbling Dean Wilson and claim a dramatic one-shot victory at the Canadian Open on Sunday. Trailing Wilson by four strokes on the 11th tee, Pettersson shifted into top gear by carding four birdies over the next five holes to surge past the reeling American with a three-under 67 and claim his fourth US PGA Tour title. “I love the back nine, it sets up great for me,” Pettersson told repor ters. “I played ver y aggressive coming in and all of a sudden I had the lead when I birdied 14. “But 16 and 17 are difficult holes and I knew even with a two-shot lead anything can happen.” “I guess this was my week.” Pettersson had displayed a flair for the dramatic all week at St George’s Golf and Country Club, just making the one-under cut to sneak into the weekend and rocketing into contention on Saturday with a 10-under 60, the lowest score in the Canadian Open’s 101 years. The Swede provided one final moment of suspense at the 18th when he missed a six-foot par putt but was left an easy tap-in for a bogey and a winning total of 14under 266. Only three times in the last four years has a player come from the cut line to win a PGA tournament. What had been a fairytale week ended in crushing disappointment for Wilson, who only gained entr y into the event on a sponsor’s exemption after losing his PGA Tour privileges. After three consecutive 65s, Wilson wilted under the Swede’s pressure, stumbling to a final round twoover 72. Briton Luke Donald also mounted a final day rally, returning a four-under 66 to finish outright third on 12under with South African Tim Clark among a clutch of nine two shots further back on 270. “I think when I’m leading the tournament in my mind you have to make up your mind to be real aggressive or to play just a tiny bit safe,” said Wilson. “It’s hard to just go for them. “Carl did that towards the end; he just kept shooting at the pins because he had no choice. “I had a four-shot lead going into the back and just couldn’t get anything done, couldn’t get any birdies and Carl shot four-under.” After two early bogeys to kick off his round Pettersson had sat six shots behind Wilson, his chances of victory quickly disappearing. But the 32-year-old Swede leveled at the turn with birdies on eight and nine then picked up shots at 11, 13 and 14 to nudge Wilson from the top of the leaderboard. Pettersson then moved in for the kill dropping his third consecutive birdie at 15 to leave his playing par tner stunned. — Reuters
Biz chief wants Pakistan back at Headingley LEEDS: Pakistan’s victory in the second Test against Australia here at Headingley has left one businessman hoping the team will return to exploit their fan-base among the local expatriate community. Leeds and the adjoining city of Bradford, often called ‘mini Pakistan’, are home to some 120,000 settlers, the largest concentration of Pakistanis in England outside of the West Midlands. Security concerns meant Pakistan’s two-Test series against Australia was played in England. After losing the series opener by 150 runs at Lord’s, Pakistan won by three wickets at Headingley here on Saturday, ending a record run of 13 straight Test defeats by Australia stretching back 15 years. “It has been quite
some time since the Pakistanis of Yorkshire have had so much to celebrate,” Arshad Chaudhry, chairman of the Leeds-based Asian Business Development Network, told AFP. “We can build on this,” added Chaudhry, also a Yorkshire County Cricket Club member, after Pakistan bowled Australia out for just 88 in their first innings - their lowest total in 26 years. Pakistan, after several stumbles, achieved a tricky victory target of 180, to spark scenes of celebration amongst fans at home and abroad. But Pakistan itself became a no-go area for international cricket after an armed attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in March last year. “It is so very important that the
passion the game of cricket creates in Pakistan and amongst Pakistanis across the globe is nurtured and turned to positive commercial benefit, not only for the people of Pakistan, but also for the communities the Pakistanis live in,” said Chaudhry. “These are testing times for Pakistan cricket and extra efforts are needed to help overcome it.” Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan last week held out the prospect of Headingley staging more Pakistan ‘home’ matches in the near future. “There’s talk of Pakistan playing India next year, and we want to be at the forefront of the queue to host one of those games,” Regan said. But counties such as Yorkshire risk losing money on ‘neutral’ matches if ticket
sales are poor. One of the most disappointing aspects of Pakistan’s victory at Headingley was that there were just a few thousand spectators in the ground each day. But Chaudhry said better promotion would lead to increased crowds. “I am sad that not many people came to watch but I hope the next time the media project these matches properly so people know about them and they come in large numbers.” “Yorkshire and the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) have gone out of their way to host the Pakistan-Australia home series here in England. “We need to appreciate the effort, as it involved financial risks on behalf of the organizers.” — AFP
ETOBICOKE: Carl Pettersson kisses the trophy after winning the 2010 RBC Canadian Open at St George’s Golf and Country Club on July 25, 2010. — AFP
Wolves can still finish top: Smith LONDON: Coach Tony Smith insists Warrington’s bid to finish top of the Super League is far from over despite slumping to a shock 29-28 defeat to rock-bottom Catalans. Smith’s troops were matched throughout by the Dragons with Chris Hicks’ double and Jon Clarke’s first-half efforts for Warrington cancelled out by Frederic Vaccari, Dane Carlaw and Steven Bell. At 16-16 Catalans quickly took the initiative after the restart with Cyril Stacul and Remi Casty scoring only for New Zealander Vinnie Anderson and Lee Briers to hit back for the Wolves. Frenchman Thomas Bosc and Ben Westwood also traded four goals each but it was former Bulldogs scrum-half Brent Sherwin’s drop goal in the 67th minute that proved the difference for the Dragons. That loss leaves Warrington four points adrift of Wigan - who thrashed Hull 46-0 - in the race for top spot but their Australian coach Smith remains upbeat as the regular season draws
to a close. “We were behind the eight ball from the start but we will go away and lick our wounds and come back stronger for it,” said Smith - whose side play third-place St Helens next week. “It doesn’t matter who beats us, we won’t sulk about it, we will get ready for our next game. We will turn our attentions to St Helens after we review the Catalans game. “We will go through the process in the same way as if we had won and I am sure the boys will be ready for St Helens next week. “There were some areas that we became frustrated with and we will have to go and fix those up and try and put in a performance next week.” Meanwhile, St Helen’s coach Mick Potter couldn’t praise his side enough after their 50-6 win over Wakefield moved them to within two points of Warrington. Former Penrith Panthers second-row Tony Puletua, Jon Wilkin and Shaun Magennis all bagged doubles as the Saints responded to Kieran Hyde’s eighth minute try for the Wildcats
with eight unanswered scores. Jamie Foster also booted seven goals to complete the rout and leave Aussie Potter purring ahead of next weekend’s clash with second-place Warrington. “To put in a performance in attack in the second half like we did was good and to hold Wakefield to six points was a very pleasing effort,” said Potter. “We are trying to build some momentum and I think we did that against Wakefield and that is a very good sign for us.” Elsewhere Wigan’s stand-in coach Shaun Wane admitted he couldn’t have asked for a better response to last weekend’s loss to Warrington following the Warriors 46-0 demolition of Hull. Former Wests Tigers and Parramatta Eels wing Pat Richards was the star of the show bagging a hat-trick and kicking seven goals and Wane said: “This week has been tough but the lads have responded. “We have got some really strong characters in the team and it has been a real flogging for some of the players and they responded well.” — AFP
Lemaitre, and Chambers go head-to-head for Euro gold BARCELONA: French prodigy Christophe Lemaitre takes on controversial British sprinter Dwain Chambers in a mouth-watering 100m at the European Athletics Championships from today. The 20year-old Lemaitre is top of the European rankings for both the 100m and 200m having hit form at just the right time for the championships in Barcelona, the scene of the emblematic 1992 Olympic Games. Lemaitre has his sights on matching Francis Obikwelu’s 100m and 200m sprint double four years ago in Gothenburg, after breaking the 10-second barrier in the 100m earlier this month with a time of 9.98sec. It was the first time an athlete of European origin has gone under the magical ten seconds barrier. He will face a tough challenge from Chambers, now 32, who beat Lemaitre at a meeting in Bergen earlier this year with a time of 9.99sec and he has also won the world indoor 60m title. “I am running fast in training and I feel mentally stronger so I should improve on my outdoor performances last year. I will be up against talented athletes like Lemaitre so it will not be easy but I am positive,” said Chambers. The Frenchman’s coach Pierre Carraz believes that Chambers is the man to beat for the rest of the athletes. “Chambers is the favorite because he has the experience but at the same time Christophe is young and confident,” he said. The 100m will be far from a two-man race with Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure in the reckoning as is Lemaitre’s compatriot Martial Mbandjock. The women’s high jump is also an eagerly awaited
event with the 2007 and 2009 world champion Blanka Vlasic looking to beat the long-standing world record of 2.09m set by Stefka Kostadinova. Germany’s Ariane Friedrich could well be the biggest threat to the Croatian while defending champion, Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut, who beat Vlasic at the Athens Olympics in 2004 is back in contention after a break to have a child. Britain’s world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis aims to collect the European title while Merlene Ottey will make
history as the oldest woman to take part in the championships. Despite being 50 years old, the Jamaican-born Slovenian will lineup in the 4x100m relay. The women’s javelin has three strong candidates for the title - the Czech Republic’s Barbora Spotakova, the 2008 Olympic champion and world record holder; Germany’s Christina Obergfoll, who took bronze at the 2008 Olympics and Russia’s Mariya Abakumova, third at the 2009 Wwrld championships. —AFP
MONCTON: United States’ Regina George (left) Diamond Dixon and Stacey-Ann Smith (right) celebrate after winning gold in the women’s 1,600-meter relay at the IAAF World Junior Championships on Sunday, July 25, 2010 in New Brunswick. — AP
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
ATLANTA: Mardy Fish falls to the court celebrating his win over John Isner in the finals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships at the Atlanta Athletic Club on July 25, 2010. — AFP
Fish wins second title in a row with Atlanta triumph ATLANTA: Mardy Fish won his second straight title as he outlasted fellow American John Isner in brutal heat, claiming the trophy 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) at the ATP Atlanta Championships on Sunday. The 49th-ranked Fish followed up title success at his prior event, the grass tournament this month at Newport the week after Wimbledon. The match win was the ninth in a row for the inspired American, who came through in just under three hours in blistering 37 Celsius conditions. “It feels great. This is what I’ve been putting in the work for. I feel as good as I’ve ever felt in my career,” said Fish, winner of his last 10 matches
and a winner of two tournaments in a year for the first time in his career. “Playing in the heat, you have to convince yourself you feel better than the other guy, even if you’re feeling it. I struggled at the end of the match. I wasn’t used to the weather as I had played at night. “I felt great until about 5-all in the third set, but I didn’t want to leave anything out there. I was maybe a little lucky to pull through. It was an extremely physical match with all of the heat. He’s no fun to play. He gives a lot of people trouble. “My confidence is really high right now.” Second seed Isner, winner of the longest match
ever played in the sport when he won in the first round at Wimbledon, may still not have totally overcome the mental physical drain from that 11hour contest a month ago. Isner remains on one title this season, obtained at the start of the season in Auckland. “Conditions were brutal again,” said Isner. “The first hour was the hottest. It took a lot out of both of us. I’ve never played in conditions this hot and humid. “We were both just scrapping it out. This is the third final this year that I could have won. It’s disappointing - four finals this year and I’ve lost my last three. “I know that sooner or later it will hap-
pen - I’ll make sure of that. It stinks to lose this tournament.” The second seed was unable to put the match away after winning the first set with the break of serve which counted at the end after missing on his first five. But Fish, playing in the faster daytime conditions which speed up the court and ball, managed to find his rhythm in the second as the heat began to war down big man Isner. Floridian Fish profited as Isner struck a double-fault to set up a set point, which Fish grabbed to square the sets at one each. The sixth seed went up a 3-1 break in the third set only to lose it a game later. As the last set
Armstrong could never stand still For all his other outsized traits, that restlessness still defines him. It propelled Armstrong to revolutionize a sport, become its greatest champion and a hero to cancer survivors worldwide. That same impulse is what drove him to get back on his bike barely two years ago and risk it all. Back then, Armstrong was retired with his legacy largely intact, still every bit as powerful and public a figure as he desired. He dated starlets, swapped text messages with Bono, testified before US lawmakers and linked arms with Bill Clinton to announce an ambitious global initiative to combat the disease that nearly killed him almost 15 years earlier. Yet this Sunday saw Armstrong shuffled off to the background at the Tour de France, standing quietly off to one side as the yellow jersey he wore seven years in a row was stretched across the slim shoulders of 27-year-old Spaniard Alberto Contador. Seeing his one-time teammate and rival atop the podium for the second straight year, and third in the last four, certainly hurt. Armstrong finished third to Contador in 2009, in his first comeback ride after a layoff that stretched back to 2005. This time around, he was plagued by cobblestones and flat tires, caught up in crashes and no longer a factor even before the midway point of the race. He eventually faded to 23rd, almost 40 minutes behind the winner. The consolation, noble as it seemed to the rest of us looking on, is that Armstrong, scraped up and sore as any 38year-old could ever be, didn’t quit. But being an also-ran was never good enough for Armstrong before. And the sting of this defeat could linger even longer because of a federal investigation launched earlier this year following accusations of doping by Floyd Landis, another former teammate, that one or more of Armstrong’s seven tour titles were achieved by doping. “In 10 years, when I look back on the 2010 Tour, it won’t be the memory that I have,” Armstrong said earlier Sunday, before the final stage run-in to Paris. “Obviously, I won’t have a yellow jersey to remember - I’ll remember the team, digging deep to win the team (competition) .... I’ll remember having my son here for a week at the Tour. I’ll remember the bad luck, certainly, the crashes. “But that,” Armstrong added, referring to Landis’ allegations against him and others, “won’t be the thing that I’ll take away.” Armstrong has never shied away from attention. He’s perhaps the most frequently tested athlete on the planet and has never come back positive. But he learned early on that wouldn’t be enough to keep suspicion at bay. Late in the first of his
seven straight wins, in 1999, Armstrong was found to be using a corticosteroid - in a cream for saddle sores, he maintained - and for which he produced a prescription. But Armstrong, as he has every time since, couldn’t resist the chance to fire back. “They say stress causes cancer. So if you want to avoid cancer, don’t come to the Tour de France and wear the yellow jersey,” he said at the time. “It’s too much stress.” He never let his guard down after that. Whether as plaintiff or defendant, Armstrong has won every court case he’s fought since, and pushed back hard against attempts to nail him by French anti-doping authorities, several damaging books and even questions about some of his associates - notably Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, whom he quietly dropped soon after. As a result of his refusal to back down, Armstrong won the benefit of the doubt and nearly every case he’s contested in the court of public opinion, too. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Armstrong proved to be as tireless and relentless a crusader for cancer research as he was a rider. Yet the ongoing investigation, trumpeted across the headlines even as he struggled to stay in the race, have put both that record and his legacy in jeopardy. Even Armstrong acknowledged as much. “Legacies won’t ever be written the same now, like they were before - in this era of 24-7 news and media, and blogs and speculation and the constant need for attention from the media,” he said. But Armstrong was certain about this much: “If Frank Sinatra lived today, he’d have a much more difficult time being Frank Sinatra.” Whether that applies to being Lance Armstrong, only time will tell. But he was already a world-class triathlete at 15, even before cancer and arguably the toughest training regimen ever transformed him into something as close to a machine as humanly possible. During his run, Armstrong also boasted the most money, best team, support staff and state-of-the-art equipment. He might jet down to train on the moonscapes of Tenerife, up to the tip of L’Alpe d’Huez, or rent a wind tunnel to find out if the material on the back of his jersey bunched up too much - ridges mean more resistance to wind. Those innovations changed cycling forever. “It was a very traditional sport, very old school, almost relaxed,” he recalled. “We just wiped it all clean and said, ‘We’re going to analyze every little thing - if it’s the composition of a team, if it’s a diet, if it’s reconn-ing the courses, if it’s the tactics, if it’s radios, whatever it is we sort of led the push there.” — AP
wound into a tiebreaker Fish’s form again began to lift. The winner over top seed Andy Roddick in the semi-finals earned a 4-1 margin, held off Isner and earned three match points as Isner hit a tired return long. Fish advanced to victory on his second chance on a concluding unforced error from his weary opponent. Fish lost around 15 kilograms last autumn as he recovered from knee surgery and the results has been a vast improvement in his game and fitness. He now stands 16-2 on the ATP since the start of June after earning a finals spot on grass at Queens club but losing to American Sam Querrey. — AFP
Friendly rivalry dims Tour luster PARIS: The Tour de France used to be all about arch-rivalry, bitter disputes, fierce contests and doping scandals. This year’s version was so well-behaved that some even found it a little dull. Although there were stories and minor controversies, from crashes on the cobbles to a peloton strike on slippery Belgian roads, for many ex-champions and cycling experts the only deciding moment was a minor mechanical incident. Andy Schleck’s chain-slip on the 15th stage to Bagneres de Luchon cost him 39 seconds, exactly the time by which he lost the Tour to Spain’s Alberto Contador. The peloton immediately took sides. Half of them — mainly the Spaniards and the old guard-found it perfectly natural that Contador should have attacked Schleck that day. The other half believed that the Spaniard had broken unwritten Tour rules by assailing the yellow jersey in such circumstances, rules that had, however, been totally ignored when France’s Sylvain Chavanel, then Tour leader, crashed once and punctured twice on the cobbles on stage three. Even more than the chain incident itself, the instant reconciliation of Contador and Schleck, the two leading players in the race, angered and disappointed tradi-
tionalists. “This is not cycling, it’s the TV Tubbies,” said FDJ team managing director Marc Madiot, twice winner of Paris-Roubaix classic. Good friends Contador apologized, Schleck forgave and both insisted they were and would remain good friends, regardless of the action on the road. “I never fell in the arms of Bernard Hinault or Greg LeMond. When you’re rivals, you can’t like each other, you shouldn’t like each other,” said France’s Laurent Fignon, the 1983 and 1984 Tour winner. Many deplored the lack of attacks by either Tour favourite. Schleck did surge on stage eight to Morzine-Avoriaz, but only in the last kilometer and only to take 10 seconds off his good friend. Contador replied in similar fashion in Mende and took the 10 seconds back. On the Tourmalet, seen before the Tour as the real test, they finished hand in hand. Literally. Ultimately, the Tour was decided on the final time trial and it went not to the rider who shone the better, but to the one who most limited the damage. Contador finished an embarrassing 35th and Schleck a lowly 44th. Even the Spaniard admitted that if their overall duel was closer than the previous year, it was not due to their respective qualities.— Reuters
KSSC takes part in Taekwondo
PARIS: Lance Armstrong of the US holds flowers during the podium ceremony for the best team after the 20th and last stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 102.5 kilometers (63.7 miles) with start in Longjumeau and finish in Paris. — AP
KUWAIT: A team from the Kuwait Sea Sports Club (KSSC) is set to take part in the Hi Dong International Taekwondo tournament which is set to take place later this year in Korea featuring participation of several teams from Asia and Europe. The team consists of three players: Bader Al-Muzayni, Hassan AlMuraijeh, and Yousuf Al-Muraijeh, and is coached by trainer Li Hi Yung. On a separate note, the KSSC’s sailing team is set to leave the country this afternoon and is heading to Morocco, where it is set to take part in the third International Sea Festival set to take place at Rabat’s beaches in the period between July 29 and August 4. The sailing team consists of four participants, including international contestant Ahmad Al-Failakawi, who recently won the Laser Radial class competition in the Malaysia International Sailing Championship.
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ganassi dons triple crown Ganassi claims Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400
HOCKENHEIM: The winner, Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain, steers his car in the pit lane during the German Formula One Grand Prix. — AFP
McLaren to hold talks with Ferrari HOCKENHEIM: McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has said he will talk privately with Ferrari about the latest Formula One controversy that engulfed the German Grand Prix. Ferrari have been fined 100,000 pounds and could face further punishment from the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council after the obvious use of team orders helped Fernando Alonso win the Hockenheim race and revive his bid for the drivers’ world title. Ferrari’s ‘number two’ driver Brazilian Felipe Massa was leading the race, but shortly after a radio conversation with the team, slowed down and allowed the Spaniard to overtake on lap 49. Although Ferrari insist they did nothing wrong, the Italian team’s actions have resulted in a huge backlash from the media and fans worldwide, and the FIA have accused them of bringing the sport into disrepute. Whitmarsh said he did not want to get drawn into all the drama and that he would discuss the matter with Ferrari, away from the media spotlight. “I don’t want to get drawn into it,” he said. “I have my own private views on it. They were quicker than us; they got a 1-2, but perhaps in a different order from that which people may have thought was right. “I will give my private views to Ferrari, but I don’t want to go on record and express those views.” Whitmarsh hinted that he was not surprised at Ferrari’s actions, but insisted that not matter what the final outcome of the debacle was, McLaren would never favour one driver over another. “Ferrari were quick and we did what we could - and they raced how they raced.
That was not a new approach from Ferrari, was it?” he said. “You can go back to the late 90s and all sorts of times when things have happened - but we decide to race. I think having our drivers racing, in the longer term, is a healthy thing to do for this team. “That is my decision and that is what we want to do. Others do what they want to do, and it is for the FIA and Ferrari to determine what they think is right. We were racing our two guys until the end of the race.” Red Bull boss Christian Horner chose to handle the matter quite differently though having been surrounded by controversy on more than one occasion already this year, the smooth-talking Englishman branded the Hockenheim race a manipulation and said it was a real shame that F1 fans had to witness it. “It’s a great shame for Formula 1 that the race was manipulated to give one driver a victory over the other,” he said. “The biggest losers are the fans, the spectators, the viewers as a race win was handed to Fernando. Rightly or wrongly, we’ve allowed our drivers to race because we believe that’s the sporting thing to do and it also is within the regulations.” Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali announced that Ferrari would not appeal against the FIA’s penalty decision. He said: “As for the stewards’ decision given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly.” —AFP
Team-by-team analysis of German Grand Prix HOCKENHEIM: Team by team analysis of Sunday’s German Formula One Grand Prix (listed in championship order): MCLAREN (Lewis Hamilton 4, Jenson Button 5) Hamilton got ahead of Button at the start and ended the day with an increased lead over his team mate of 14 points. McLaren’s advantage of Red Bull slipped to 28 points. RED BULL (Sebastian Vettel 3, Mark Webber 6) Vettel started on pole for the sixth time in 11 races but lost out at the start to the two Ferraris. He is now level on points with Webber, but behind 3-2 on race wins. Webber had an oil problem towards the end and had to nurse the car home. Vettel set the fastest lap. FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 1, Felipe Massa 2) Alonso’s second win of the season and 23rd of his career. Ferrari’s second 1-2 of the year but a controversial one after Massa, who led from the start, was ordered to move aside. MERCEDES (Nico
Rosberg 8, Michael Schumacher 9) Schumacher made up three places at the start in his first home race since 2006 and first in Germany with Mercedes, getting ahead of Rosberg who got back in front after his second pitstop. RENAULT (Robert Kubica 7, Vitaly Petrov 10) Petrov scored for the first time since April and his first in dry conditions. Two cars in the top 10, for only the second time this year, but both lapped by Ferrari. FORCE INDIA (Vitantonio Liuzzi 16, Adrian Sutil 17) The drivers collided on the opening lap and then a tire bungle at the first pitstop, with each fitted with one of the other’s tires, cost them a reprimand. W ILLIAMS (Rubens Barrichello 12, Nico Hulkenberg 13) Both struggled to make a clean getaway and lost positions at the start. SAUBER (Kamui Kobayashi 11, Pedro de la Rosa 14) Both drivers finished at least but Kobayashi’s scor-
ing run came to an end. De la Rosa said the first laps on hard tires were like driving on ice. TORO ROSSO (Jaime Alguersuari 15, Sebastien Buemi retired) The two collided at the start, with Alguersuari apologizing for driving into Buemi. He pitted for a new front wing and continued but Buemi’s race was over. LOTUS (Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli retired) Team bosses started the day by paying their respects to the late great Jim Clark at the memorial marking his death at the circuit in 1968. Trulli retired on lap four with a gearbox problem. Kovalainen in lap 60 after colliding with De la Rosa. HRT (Bruno Senna 19, Sakon Yamamoto retired) No luck and no points as usual for the team. Yamamoto stopped on lap 19 with a mechanical failure. VIRGIN (Timo Glock 18, Lucas di Grassi retired) Glock was the top driver from the new teams, despite starting on the last row. Di Grassi retired with broken suspension. —Reuters
INDIANAPOLIS: With Jamie McMurray’s victory in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, owner Chip Ganassi claimed the first team triple crown in American auto racing: winning the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. Success in Indy-style racing is nothing new for Ganassi. But now his NASCAR team has emerged from its past struggles on and off the track to become a force in stock cars. And they seem to be at their best in big events. “Chip is the most dedicated person in racing I ever met,” said Felix Sabates, Ganassi’s longtime business partner in NASCAR. McMurray won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, and Ganassi IndyCar series driver Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 in May. McMurray then won again at the Brickyard, making him a surprise winner of NASCAR’s two biggest races and handing Ganassi an achievement which secondplace finisher Kevin Harvick said probably will never happen again. “To win all those in one year is remarkable,” Harvick said. Ganassi’s Sunday got a little sweeter when Scott Dixon won the IRL race in Canada. McMurray also noted that Ganassi’s sports car racing team nearly won the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier this year. “It’s just so hard to get both organizations good at the same time,” McMurray said. “And this race, the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 are races of strategy. You see guys dominate those races and not win. So it’s remarkable what he’s been able to put together, the people he’s been able to hire. I feel very honored to get to be a part of that accomplishment.” Ganassi is known to some in the garage for his tough-guy persona, but he was humbled by Sunday’s victory. “You have to plan your work and work your plan and have some passion about what you’re doing,” Ganassi said. “You have to love what you’re doing. I love what I’m doing.” Ganassi competed in Indystyle cars as a driver, then went on to rival Roger Penske as one of the sport’s top team owners. But he had a hard time duplicating that success when he crossed over to NASCAR. The top finishes weren’t coming frequently enough and he had trouble finding enough sponsorship money, eventually leading him to merge his team with Dale Earnhardt Inc. “We had to pull our wings in a bit and make some changes, take it a little bit on the chin, which we did,” Ganassi said. “But we always knew we’d be racing. I think a lot of people in the media had us written off that we were bye-bye. Everybody was ready to kiss us off. We knew that wasn’t the case.” And he reunited with McMurray, a driver who had left his team years ago to drive for car owner Jack Roush. “I think it’s been really good for both Chip and I to experience all of this together because we worked together when things weren’t great,” McMurray said. “And we kind of built this together along with the 1 team, to where it is.” For a while on Sunday, it looked like another Ganassi driver was going to give the owner his trifecta. But for the second year in a row, a victory at the Brickyard slipped away from Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya appeared to have the race in hand going into a round of late pit stops, but his crew decided to change four tires while rival drivers changed two and he lost track position for the restart. Montoya couldn’t get through traffic, then had a run-in with Dale Earnhardt Jr. that left his car too damaged to continue. Montoya drove to the garage and went straight to his motorhome without commenting to reporters. “My heart goes out to Juan,” Ganassi said. “He had a great day, too.” Ganassi said having two drivers up front allowed the team to split its pit strategy; knowing that Montoya’s team was going to change four tires, McMurray’s team could gamble and take only two. “Without the 42 car, the 1 car wouldn’t have won, I don’t think,” Ganassi said. —AP
EDMONTON: New Zealand’s Scott Dixon (center) celebrates his win in the IndyCar Series’ Honda Indy Edmonton auto race, between second-place Will Power (left) of Australia, and third-place Dario Franchitti, of Scotland, on Sunday, July 25, 2010. — AP
LG and Red Bull join forces KUWAIT: LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, has become a team and technology partner to Red Bull Racing in the FIA Formula One World Championship. The new multi-season partnership extends LG’s successful ongoing relationship with the series. A global partner and a technology partner of Formula One, LG’s brand presence has significantly increased in a sport with one of the largest regular global TV audiences. While LG will supply Red Bull Racing with its latest products at track and at the team’s headquarters, the close working partnership will offer the electronics’ giant further opportunities to raise brand awareness to a broad consumer audience across the globe. A championship favorite with five wins so far this season, Red Bull Racing and its drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, achieved unprecedented success in 2009, finishing runner-up in both the Drivers’ (Vettel) and Constructors’ world championships. The team is now third in the Drivers’ (Webber) and second in the Constructors’ world championships for 2010. “We are delighted to welcome LG as a partner to Red Bull Racing,” said Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal. “LG Electronics is an extremely innovative company that aligns well with the creative innovation that is demonstrated within Red Bull Racing. This partnership shows Red Bull’s appeal to like-minded partners and signifies the progress the team has made in the short space of time to attract premium
brands like LG.” Dermot Boden, Chief Marketing Officer for LG Electronics, added “It is thrilling to see two of the world’s leading innovation brands - LG Electronics and Red Bull Racing - come together as Formula One partners. ‘Life’s Good’ is an expression both LG and Red Bull Racing bring to life every day, by using technology to
deliver emotional and exciting experiences to the millions of people who watch Formula One worldwide.” H S Paik, President of LG Gulf Electronics Gulf commented “By forming a partnership with Red Bull Racing, LG can better demonstrate its commitment to using technology in delivering amazing experiences to people worldwide, through
access to team personnel and drivers. This human focus is central to LG’s brand and is best reflected through a team partnership. This relationship also provides LG with additional business development opportunities and further enhances our attrack and off-track hospitality, media engagement and merchandising activities.”
MONTEREY: Bobby Fong of the United States, driver of the No 30 DNA Energy Drink CNR Motorsports Ducati, crashes in turn two as Martin Cardenas of Columbia, driver of the #36 M4 Monster Energy Suzuki, passes him en route to winning the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Race during Red Bull US Grand Prix at the Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway on July 25, 2010. — AFP
SPORTS
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
19
Raul announces Real Madrid exit ‘One day I will return to the club’
SAO PAULO: Brazilian football coach Mano Menezes, of Corinthians football club, steps with his right foot while entering for the last time at the club’s field, during a training session. Menezes, 48, accepted an invitation to replace Dunga as the new coach of the Brazilian national football squad. —AFP
Corinthians win in coach Menezes’ farewell match Menezes to replace Dunga SAO PAULO: Midfielder Bruno Cesar scored a pair of late goals as Corinthians defeated Guarani 3-1 in coach Mano Menezes’ last league match before taking over as coach of Brazil’s national team. Menezes accepted the Brazil job on Saturday and got Corinthians back atop the Brazilian league on Sunday, the day before he is officially introduced as the new national team coach. Corinthians fans saluted Menezes, who walked around the field after the match waving at supporters in the grandstands. Players hugged Menezes and hoisted him into the air a few times. Corinthians now lead the league with 24 points, one more than Fluminense. Jorge Henrique opened the scoring with a closerange header off a corner a minute into the match at Pacaembu stadium. Guarani equalized via Mazola in the 64th, but Bruno Cesar gave Corinthians the win with a free kick goal in the 78th and a diving header in the 85th. The four-time Brazilian champion was coming off its first loss in the competition on Wednesday, a 3-1 result at Atletico Goianiense. Menezes will replace Dunga, who was fired after Brazil’s disappointing 2-1 World
Cup quarterfinal loss to Netherlands in South Africa. Menezes was offered the job after Fluminense coach Muricy Ramalho rejected it because the club wanted him to honor a contract which runs until the end of 2012. Fluminense missed a chance to remain atop the league following a 1-1 draw with rival Botafogo at Engenhao stadium in Rio. Striker Emerson scored in the 62nd after Botafogo goalkeeper Jefferson gave the ball away while trying to put it back in play. Midfielder Edno equalized for Botafogo with a header in the 76th. Botafogo’s Somalia and Fluminense’s Thiaguinho were sent off in separate incidents near the end of the match, which marked the debut of Emerson and former Chelsea and Barcelona right back Belletti with Fluminense. Botafogo dropped to the relegation zone with the loss. Third-place Ceara drew at home 0-0 with Palmeiras, which is yet to win since World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari took over three rounds ago. Palmeiras, 10th in the standings, had defender Leo ejected in the 78th after receiving his second yellow card. Internacional won its fourth in a row
after the World Cup break by beating Flamengo 1-0 at Beira-Rio stadium in Porto Alegre, moving to fourth in the standings. Santos ended a three-match losing streak with a 1-0 win over Sao Paulo at Vila Belmiro stadium. The victory came thanks to an own goal by Sao Paulo defender Renato Silva in the 61st. Six-time champion Sao Paulo is yet to win in four matches after the World Cup and has dropped to 15th in the 20-team league. Both teams rested several regular starters ahead of important matches on Wednesday. Sao Paulo faces Internacional in the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores, while Santos hosts Vitoria in the Brazilian Cup final. Cruzeiro escaped with a 2-2 draw with Gremio in Sete Lagoas after midfielder Henrique scored his second goal of the match in the 86th. On Saturday, Vasco earned a 2-0 victory over last-place Atletico Goianiense at Sao Januario stadium in Rio, while Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s Atletico Mineiro was held to a 0-0 draw with Avai in Florianopolis and remained near the bottom of the standings. Vitoria, also without its regular starters, drew Prudente 0-0 in Presidente Prudente. —AP
Zakuani’s goals lift Sounders past Rapids SEATTLE: Steve Zakuani scored twice in the first half as the Seattle Sounders FC beat Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Sunday night, their first win at home since June 5. Zakuani gathered a deflected ball inside the penalty area and fired it between two defenders and into the goal off goalkeeper Matt Pickens in the 8th minute. Colorado equalized immediately when Omar Cummings blasted a left-foot shot over goalkeeper Kasey Keller. But Zakuani put Seattle ahead again in the 19th when he latched onto a pass from Sanna Nyassi on the right flank. Colorado is in equal fifth in the Western Conference with 23 points, one ahead of Seattle. —AP
MADRID: An emotional Raul said his last farewell to the Real Madrid supporters yesterday ahead of his proposed move to German first division side Schalke. At a press conference preceding the farewell party at the Bernabeu for the 33-year-old striker and his long-standing teammate Guti, who is also leaving the club, Raul said: “It is a very difficult day for me, one of the most difficult of my career.” “I will never forget you,” he said in an address to the club’s supporters. “Real Madrid has been my home...I think that one day I will return to the club.” “These last 15, 16 years you have highs and lows,” he added. “Last season, I played a lesser role in the team and decided that maybe it was the right time to try a new life in another country.” The club announced on Sunday that Raul, who spent 16 years at the Bernabeu, and Guti would be leaving after it became clear that the pair did not fit into the plans of new coach Jose Mourinho. Raul, however, said that his decision to leave was not based on the limited role he might play under the new coach. “It wasn’t about not playing,” he said. “I can’t say for certain obviously but I am confident that I could have performed well this season. “I spoke with the coach and he said he would like me to stay but I want to do something different. I want that challenge to see things from a different perspective.” Raul, however, praised the arrival of Mourinho. “I like Jose Mourinho and the clubs he has coached. He is absolutely the right man for the job. “It is not easy leaving as I can learn many things from Mourinho. I would have loved to have trained under Jose Mourinho but it just wasn’t the right time the right place and I wasn’t suddenly going to change my mind.” Club president Florentino Perez described Raul as “the best of the best”. Raul played for Real since 1994, winning six Spanish championships and three Champions League titles. He scored a record 323 goals in a 740 appearances in the Madrid jersey. He also scored 44 goals in 102 games for Spain, making his last appearance in 2006 before the double success of Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. Raul said that he has been having deep discussions with Schalke but nothing would be settled in the next few days. He has also been linked with a move to the English Premier League. On Sunday, Guti made his farewell before heading off probably to Besiktas in Turkey. —AFP
MADRID: Former Real Madrid’s captain Raul Gonzalez gives a press conference to announce his departure from the team at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium yesterday. —AFP
FIFA team arrives to study Australia’s World Cup bid SYDNEY: A six-man delegation of FIFA inspectors arrived in Sydney yesterday to examine the credentials of Australia’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The team, led by Chilean Football Federation President Harold Mayne-Nicholls, was treated to a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony welcome on the Sydney Opera House forecourt on the opening day of their three-day visit, Football Federation Australia said. They were joined by FFA Chairman Frank Lowy and Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis before hearing their first detailed briefing from the FFA Bid team. Olympic 400m champion Cathy Freeman and former Socceroo striker John Aloisi later met the FIFA delegation. Freeman relived her experience of winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games for the delegates at the scene of the
event, the Olympic stadium, one of the major venues for the 2022 World Cup bid. “We have a great record in holding major events and if we get a FIFA World Cup we would do a great job,” Freeman told the inspection team. Aloisi also recalled the night in 2005 when he put away the final penalty in a shootout against Uruguay to send the Socceroos to the FIFA World Cup in Germany for the first time in 32 years. Australia is the third stop on a tour of the nine countries bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup tournaments. The FIFA delegation has already visited Japan and South Korea and will then go on to inspect the Netherlands-Belgium, who are making a joint bid, Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar and will draw up reports on the feasibili-
ty of each bid. Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar-all members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) — have submitted bids for 2022 only, while the others are seeking to host either 2018 or 2022. FIFA’s 24 executives will choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on December 2 in Zurich. Ten host cities have been selected as part of Australia’s bid and three new stadiums will be built in Perth, Canberra and in western Sydney. Nine other stadiums will be upgraded should the bid be successful, FFA said. FIFA have informed FFA that its delegation visit is exclusively for the purpose of inspecting stadiums and other critical infrastructure and delegates will not be available for interview during their visit to Australia. —AFP
English footballer jailed for 25 years for murder SEATTLE: Fredy Montero No 17 of the Seattle Sounders FC heads the ball against Mehdi Ballouchy No 8 of the Colorado Rapids on July 25, 2010 at Qwest Field. —AFP
City boss Mancini eyes Torres offer MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini admits he is ready to bid for Fernando Torres if the Liverpool striker shows interest in moving to Eastlands. Mancini was given hope that he may be able to sign Torres when new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson revealed the Spain star has a “beef” with the club in the aftermath of a woeful campaign last season. Torres has yet to publicly commit his future to the Reds and Mancini hinted he would love to continue his spending spree by tempting the former Atletico Madrid player away from Anfield. Mancini has already splashed out close to 90 million pounds on Jerome Boateng, Aleksandar Kolarov, Yaya Toure and David Silva, but City’s Abu Dhabibased owners are willing to pay the 50 million pound fee needed to land Torres, as well as chasing Aston Villa midfielder James Milner. “Torres is one of the best strikers in Europe and is already playing in the Premier League for three years and knows it very well,” Mancini said. “But it depends on his
situation - his price and whether he wants to come. “There are two or three strikers that we could go for, but it is the same situation as it is with James Milner. “First there is the price and then it depends if the players want to change team. Until today, Liverpool haven’t bought many players.” Although Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill insists he won’t let Milner leave unless City meet his valuation of the England international - believed to be around 30 million pounds - Mancini is adamant City won’t be held to ransom. “When Manchester City enquire about a 10 million pounds player, the club asks for 20 million pounds. That is not good for us,” Mancini said. “James is still a player who interests us but only at the right price.” While the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal have spent little in the transfer market during the close-season, Mancini has continued to throw money around with abandon. The former Inter Milan boss, who took charge of the club in December, believes City’s finan-
cial muscle has the rest of the Premier League running scared and he won’t rule out a challenge for the title this season. “Are they scared? I think so. At the moment only Manchester City are buying players,” Mancini said. “But that is normal because Manchester City want to improve and the other teams are just big teams who would like a lot of people. “I think all these teams over the years have spent a lot of money - Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool but now City do. “We have a big opportunity to win the league if we believe in ourselves and do our jobs. We have improved as a team. “It depends if we can put together a team in the short time available. In my experience, I know after the World Cup in every country there can be a different situation in the league. “Last year, we fought for fourth place until the penultimate game against Tottenham - the aim this year is to try to win the Premier League. That must be our target.” —AFP
LONDON: Gavin Grant, a former Millwall and Bradford striker, will serve at least 25 years in prison for his role in the gun murder of an old friend. Grant was given the sentence at the Old Bailey after being convicted of murdering Leon Labastide, 21, outside his parents’ home in 2004. The 26year-old had previously been cleared of the murder of Jahmall Moore as a series of shootings scarred a north London estate. But Grant was charged with Labastide’s murder when new witnesses came forward. Gareth Downie, 25, and Damian Williams, 32, were also jailed for life and given minimum terms of 25 years Downie for murdering Labastide and Williams for conspiracy to murder. Grant spent the second half of last season with League Two club Bradford, where he made what look likely to be the final 11 appearances of his career. Judge Peter Beaumont, said Labastide’s murder had been in revenge for a series of “tit-fortat” shootings.—AFP
GLASGOW: Celtic new signing, Mexican defender Efrain Juarez, poses for the media following a press conference at Celtic yesterday. —AP
www.kuwaittimes.net
Sri Lankans discipline India in familiar style Paranavitana, Sangakkara torment with tons
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara (right) is congratulated by his teammate Tharanga Paranavitana after he scored a century during the first day of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and India at The Sinhalese Sports Club Ground yesterday. —AFP
SCOREBOARD Scoreboard at the close of the first day of the second test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo yesterday. Sri Lanka first innings T. Paranavitana b Sharma T. Dilshan c Laxman b Ojha K. Sangakkara not out M. Jayawardene not out Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-1, nb-4) Total (two wickets; 90 overs) Fall of wickets: 1-99 2-273
100 54 130 13 15 312
To bat: T. Samaraweera, A. Mathews, P. Jayawardene, D. Prasad, S. Randiv, D. Fernando, A. Mendis. Bowling (to date): Mithun 17-4-75-0, Sharma 15-4-66-1 (2-nb), Ojha 23-5-59-1 (2-nb), Singh 22-3-61-0 (1w), Sehwag 9-0-26-0, Raina 4-0-15-0. India: M. Vijay, V. Sehwag, R. Dravid, S. Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S. Raina, M.S. Dhoni, H. Singh, I. Sharma, P. Ojha, A. Mithun.
Wizards beat Man United 2-1 in friendly KANSAS CITY: Davy Arnaud and Kei Kamara scored first-half goals as the Kansas City Wizards beat Manchester United 2-1 in a friendly on Sunday in front of the largest crowd to see a soccer match in Kansas City. A crowd of 52,342, the biggest for Manchester United on its North American tour so far - eclipsed the 37,319 who witnessed a World Cup qualifier here in 2001. Arnaud scored in the 11th minute. Dimitar Berbatov converted a penalty to equalize in the 41st after defender Jimmy Conrad was sent off for a dangerous tackle on the Man United striker, but Kamara headed in the winner a minute later for the Wizards. United was missing some star players, including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Park Ji-sung, but Conrad was still jubilant afterward. “MLS owns the city of Manchester right now,” crowed Conrad. Manchester City lost to the New York Red Bulls earlier Sunday. Wizards coach Peter Vermes was a little more humble. “It’s a great accomplishment for our team, for our organization,” Vermes said. “But in the end, it’s an exhibition. And what matters most for us is the league, and trying to win a MLS championship. Look, they’ve played in Champions League finals. We’re not there yet. By any means.” Man United coach Alex
Ferguson was full of praise for the Wizards. “They’re a big, strong team,” he said. “Athletic. Very powerful. I thought once we scored the goal we’d be all right. Too many of our shots were off target. “The game is improving in the general play of the players. Some United States players are doing well in Europe and in England, and that’s the best barometer.” City officials were hoping a big, enthusiastic crowd, drawn partly to get their first glimpse at Arrowhead Stadium following a $375 million makeover, might also boost chances of hosting World Cup games in 2018 or 2022 - if the US gets to host the event. “Events like tonight’s where we’re going to have over 50,000 people in the building for a soccer game I think will be a big selling point for both FIFA and US Soccer when it comes time to make the decision on which stadium to bring the World Cup to,” said Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, who lobbied to bring Manchester United to Arrowhead. With the unexpected win, Hunt and the others got all they wanted and more. Backup goalkeeper Eric Kronberg replaced Jimmy Nielsen at halftime and made five saves for the Wizards, who have not won an MLS title since 2000. In the 11th minute, Arnaud beat United’s offside trap
and took a well-placed through ball from Kamara. Given the one-on-one against backup keeper Ben Amos, Arnaud dribbled into the penalty area and calmly slotted the ball into the lower left corner. Berbatov equalized from the penalty spot in the 41st minute after Conrad was dismissed for a sliding tackle on him. Replays appeared to show Conrad made contact with the ball before Berbatov went down, but referee Terry Vaughn went straight for the red card and Berbatov converted low into the right corner. “I know I ended up with every piece of the ball,” Conrad said. “I know I had to go through him a little bit. I tried to sweep it, but I’d have to see it on replay before I could say with 100 percent certainty.” Kamara put the Wizards up in the 42nd minute. He headed Ryan Smith’s corner over Amos and off the underside of the crossbar, and the ball landed just over the goal line. United captain Ryan Giggs said the final score only confirmed what was already evident, that the sport in the United States is on the rise. “You can see it in the standard of the teams, the standard of the national team, the interest within the crowd and the fans,” he said. Manchester United’s next stop will be a match against the MLS all-stars tomorrow in Houston. — AP
KANSAS CITY: Mame Biram Diouf No 32 of Manchester United collides with goalkeeper Eric Kronberg No 18 of the Kansas City Wizards during the game at Arrowhead Stadium on July 25, 2010. —AFP
COLOMBO: Tharanga Paranavitana and Kumar Sangakkara flayed India’s bowlers for centuries in consecutive matches as Sri Lanka dominated the opening day of the second Test yesterday. The left-handed duo, who made hundreds in their victorious first Test in Galle, put on 174 for the second wicket to help the hosts pile up 312-2 by stumps at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Paranavitana, a 28-year-old playing his 12th Test, reveled in the familiar environs of his home club to follow his maiden century at Galle with a fluent 100. Skipper Sangakkara returned unbeaten on 130, his 23rd Test hundred, after he won the toss and elected to take first strike in typically good batting conditions at the SSC. Both players reached their centuries in the same over, the 71st of the innings, as Paranavitana took three runs off a Pragyan Ojha misfield and Sangakkara lofted Virender Sehwag for a boundary. Paranavitana was dismissed in the next over, bowled by seamer Ishant Sharma off the inside edge, but former captain Mahela Jayawardene kept Sangakkara company at stumps on 13. The easy-paced wicket left India’s bowlers facing an uphill struggle in hot and humid weather after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost his seventh straight toss. Young seamer Abhimanyu Mithun went for 075 in 17 overs and leading spinner Harbhajan Singh gave away 61 runs in 22 wicketless overs. India, trailing 1-0 in the threematch series, suffered twin blows when opener Gautam Gambhir and middle-order batsman Yuvraj were ruled out of the key match. Gambhir failed to recover from a knee injury, while Yuvraj developed high fever overnight. The duo were replaced by lefthand batsman Suresh Raina, making his Test debut after playing 98 one-day internationals, and opener Murali Vijay. Sri Lanka changed the entire frontline bowling attack that won them the first Test by 10 wickets. With Muttiah Muralitharan now retired and fast bowler Lasith Malinga injured, the hosts replaced them with spinner Ajantha Fernando and Dilhara Fernando. Also out were left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and seamer Chanaka Welegedara. Their places went to debutant off-spinner Suraj Randiv and fast bowler Dammika Prasad. “It is a good position to be in after day one,” Sangakkara said on television after the day’s play. “We are looking to get 450-500 or even 550 tomorrow. “Tharanga is playing better after getting his first century in the previous match and even though (Tillakaratne) Dilshan missed out on a big score, his contribution at the top was vital. “We have a new attack, but I am sure the bowlers will be able to exploit the conditions. I think the spinners will get bounce as the game goes on.” Paranavitana and Dilshan gave Sri Lanka a flying start by hammering 99 for the first wicket in 18 overs. Dilshan smashed 54 off 42 balls before he was caught at short extra-cover by Venkatsai Laxman off left-arm spinner Ojha to provide India their only success of the morning session. Dilshan hit Sharma for four consecutive boundaries and then took three in one over from Mithun. When Paranavitana lofted Harbhajan for a six over mid-wicket, he brought up both the century partnership with Sangakkara and the 200 of the innings. Paranavitana also struck 10 boundaries.—AFP
LAGUNA SECA: Jorge Lorenzo of Spain celebrates after winning the Red Bull US Grand Prix MotoGP world championship motorcycle race Sunday, July 25, 2010. — AP
Lorenzo wins US MotoGP Pedrosa crashes out on lap 12 when leading LAGUNA SECA: Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo benefited from a spectacular crash by compatriot Dani Pedrosa to win the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday, a fourth victory in the last five races extending his world championship lead. The 23-year-old Yamaha rider, who started on pole in bright sunshine at Laguna Seca, finished 3.517 seconds ahead of Ducati’s Australian Casey Stoner, champion here in 2007. Lorenzo twice punched his right fist forward in celebration after crossing the finish line, having extended his run of successive podiums to 10. He has finished no worse than second all season. MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi outdueled fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso to secure third place in only his second race back after breaking his right leg in practice for last month’s Italian Grand Prix. Pedrosa, who won last week’s German Grand Prix, had powered ahead early in the 32-lap race before hitting a bump to crash out on the fifth turn of lap 12 to hand Lorenzo the overall lead. “Dani was pushing so much but I knew if I kept pushing like him, maybe he make a mistake,” a smiling Lorenzo told reporters after recording his sixth win of the season but his first at the US.venue. “I’m sorry he crashed but from then on it was very easy for me because I had a big gap over Casey. I’m so happy to win here at Laguna Seca. This is very special. I rode so well today, right on the limit.” With nine rounds of the championship to go, Lorenzo leads by a commanding 72 points with an overall tally of 210. Pedrosa has 138 and
Dovizioso is third with 115 points. First turn Pedrosa, who began Sunday’s race in fourth place on the grid, surged into the lead after the first turn before opening a 0.6-second advantage over the fast-starting Stoner after four laps. Lorenzo snatched second place from Stoner on the sixth lap over the twisting, technically challenging circuit but he trailed Pedrosa by 1.104 seconds with 24 laps remaining. Pedrosa, winner of last year’s U.S. Grand Prix and bidding for his third victory this season, then slid off his bike as he entered the left-hand fifth turn on lap 12 to gift Lorenzo the race lead which he never relinquished. “It’s very, very disappointing obviously but this can happen when you’re trying everything to win,” said Pedrosa, who triumphed at Laguna Seca 12 months ago after Lorenzo had been on pole. “You have to push as much as you can and take risks-and I really wanted to win this race. When I crashed, I was pushing hard to maintain my lead over Lorenzo and my rhythm was good.” Ninetimes world champion Rossi, who needed the help of crutches to walk to his bike before the start of the race, was delighted with his first podium on his return to competition. “It’s great for me and it is very important to be back on the podium in such a short time,” the 31year-old said. “It was more difficult than we expected because this track is one of the toughest for the body.” — Reuters
Sporting Lisbon draw 2-2 with Tottenham HARRISON: Sporting Lisbon came to Red Bull Arena with the sole purpose of winning Barclay’s New York Challenge. Thanks to a goal by Jaime Valdes in the 48th minute of its 2-2 draw with Tottenham on Sunday, Sporting is on the verge of attaining that goal. The draw gave the teams eight points each over their two games, but Sporting leads because it allowed one fewer goal than Tottenham. Sporting was awaiting the outcome of the Red Bulls-Manchester City game that followed. The third-place Red Bulls went into that contest with just one point, needing a five-goal winning margin to overtake Sporting. “It was very good to be in a position to win this trophy,” said Sporting’s Nuno Coelho. “That was the main objective of our coming to America.” For Sporting, the game marked the end of its preseason before playing Portugal’s Liga Sagres on Thursday. Tottenham is also nearing the end of its preseason, with only four European friendlies left to play. “We’re in good shape,” said Spurs coach Harry Redknapp, whose team finished fourth in the Premier League last season. “There’s still some work to be done. We need to improve if we’re going to improve on last year, and this is the time to do it.” The teams hardly treated the game as a preseason contest. Despite searing heat, they pressured each other all other the field. Valdes’ goal came when he collected the ball in
the penalty area and knocked it just inside the right post. Tottenham’s second-half substitute, Jonathan Obika, equalized when he received a pass outside the box, beat a defender, and blasted the ball in off goalkeeper Rui Patricio’s outstretched hands. The teams played an energetic first half, too, each having numerous chances. Tottenham scored first in the 24th minute after captain Robbie Keane took a pass from midfielder Niko Kranjcar about 40 yards out, dribbled into the box, and knocked the ball past goalkeeper Rui Patricio. Sporting came back seconds later, though, when Diogo Salomao chipped to midfielder Matias, who hit a low header past goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini to level in the 25th minute. For Valdes, scoring the decisive goal proved a nice way to introduce himself to the Sporting fans hoping to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish. He played last season for Atalanta in the Serie A. “I was happy to score my first goal with Sporting,” Valdes said. “Now we’re prepared to play our serious games.” Kranjcar said just facing Sporting and the Red Bulls was beneficial for Spurs. “When you run in this heat, it’s good for you,” Kranjcar said. “You get your fitness level as high as possible. But it was a great experience, too. We had a great time, and we’ll be well-prepared for our schedule.” — AP
Lulu Hypermarket to open at Al-Qurain
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Amid strikes, IMF team inspects Greek finances
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EU slaps new sanctions on Iran Gasoline imports fall BRUSSELS: The European Union imposed tighter sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program yesterday, approving measures to block oil and gas investment and curtail Tehran’s refining and natural gas capability. The restrictions go well beyond sanctions imposed by the United Nations last month and mirror steps taken by the United States this month to apply extra pressure on Tehran to return to negotiations over its uranium enrichment program. The measures include widespread limits on dealings with Iranian banks and insurance companies and were accompanied by a call from EU foreign ministers for Iran to resume talks over its enrichment work, which Western powers see as a covert quest for nuclear weapons. Iran says it is for peaceful purposes only. Diplomats conceded that the sanctions’ impact will depend on steps to enforce them fully, a problem in the past. A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry dismissed the EU’s new restrictions, saying they would not affect Iran. “Sanctions will only further complicate the conditions and they will have no impact,” Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA. “One should think about the necessity of cooperation by all countries in resolving the global crisis.” Britain, which with France and Germany has been the heart of the push for extra Iran sanctions, welcomed the EU’s move. “The message to the Iranian Government could not be clearer: the longer it refuses to talk ... about its nuclear program, the greater the pressure and isolation Iran will bring upon itself,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said. “But Iran does have a choice: Britain and the international community stand ready to engage, and still believe that the way forward on this issue is multilateral negotiation.” The extra sanctions, which also limit dealings with Iran’s
state shipping company and with air cargo flights, will not legally come into force until they are published in the European Union’s official journal on Tuesday, diplomats said. Perhaps the hardest-hitting element of the sanctions is the move to prohibit new investment in and technical assistance to Iran’s refining, liquefaction and liquefied natural gas sectors which are a mainstay of Iran’s energybased economy. There is a broad clampdown on the “supply, sale or transfer of items, materials, equipment, goods and technology” that could have “dual-use” - civilian or military - purposes, including software, and curbs on financial transfers and bond sales or purchases. The broadened sanctions are intended to apply financial heat on Iran, which is the world’s fifth largest crude oil exporter but has little refining capability and has to import around 40 percent of its gasoline needs for domestic consumption. Traders said this month Iran was depending more on friendly countries for fuel supplies to sidestep sanctions intended to hinder its fuel imports, and was buying about half of its July gasoline imports from Turkey and the rest from Chinese sellers. Only three cargoes of gasoline have so far reached Iran this month, however, according to shipping documents seen by Reuters, a sign that sanctions are biting. Because Iran subsidises fuel for consumers, pump prices will not be affected. While China, Turkey, Malaysia and others may now step in to furnish Iran with goods it will no longer be able to get from the European Union, analysts said the EU sanctions were wellenough designed to ensure they would be effective. “Most of the sectors that have been targeted in the EU sanctions are ones over which Europeans have a substantial leverage,” Mark Fitzpatrick, an Iran specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Reuters. —Reuters
RICHMOND: Workers build a new home that has been sold in Richmond, Virginia. —AP
New US home sales up, market remains sluggish WASHINGTON: Sales of new US homes jumped last month, but it was the second-weakest month on record. The lackluster economy has made potential buyers skittish about shopping for homes. New home sales rose nearly 24 percent in June from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 330,000. May’s number was revised downward to a rate of 267,000, the slowest pace on records dating back to 1963. Sales for April and March were also revised downward. The housing market had boomed earlier in the year on the strength of federal tax credits. Since they have expired, the number of people looking to buy has dropped even with the lowest mortgage rates in decades.
Despite the month’s increase, sales are still down 72 percent from their peak annual rate of 1.39 million in July 2005. New homes sales made up about 7 percent of the housing market last year. That’s down from about 15 percent before the bust. Weak sales mean fewer jobs in the construction industry, which normally power economic recoveries. Each new home built creates, on average, the equivalent of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes paid to local and federal authorities, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The impact is felt across multiple industries. Builders have sharply scaled back
construction in the face of a severe housing market bust. The number of new homes up for sale in March fell 1.4 percent to 210,000, the lowest level in nearly 42 years. Due to the sluggish sales pace, it would still take eight months to exhaust that supply, above a healthy level of about six months. The median sales price in June was $213,400. That was down 0.6 percent from a year earlier and down 1.4 percent from May. New home sales rose by 46 percent in the Northeast, 33 percent in the South and 21 percent in the Midwest. The West posted a nearly 7 percent decline. — AP
Hayward’s fate hangs in balance BP board debates decision on embattled chief LONDON: The board of oil giant BP faced a decision yesterday on whether to keep Tony Hayward as its chief executive, although deliberations appeared to have narrowed to setting the terms for his departure. After a series of blunders, Hayward has become the battered face of BP’s efforts to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and clean up the damage. He was called back to London a month ago after a bruising encounter with a Congressional committee and has since kept a low profile. “We’re getting to the end of the situation,” said David Battersby at Redmayne Bentley Stockbrokers. “To draw a line under it, they need a new chief executive.” The BP board would have to approve a change in company leadership, and there is persistent speculation that chairman Karl-Henric Svanberg, who moved into the post on Jan 1, is also likely to lose his job later this year. News reports suggested that Hayward would be replaced by an American, Bob Dudley, who succeeded Hayward as BP’s point man in dealing with the oil spill effort. The Financial Times reported that Hayward was likely to remain in his post for a couple of months before handing it over.
A US government official also said on condition of anonymity that Hayward was on his way out as CEO. The one-day board meeting comes a day before BP announces earnings for the second quarter. That report is expected to include preliminary provisions for the cost of the Gulf disaster, with analysts saying that could be as high as $30 billion. It was not clear when BP would announce any management changes — it could be after London trading ends, after New York trading ends or not even until 7 am (0600 GMT, 2 am EDT) Tuesday, an hour before London trading begins anew. The stock is traded in both London and New York. “BP notes the press speculation over the weekend regarding potential changes to management and the charge for the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP confirms that no final decision has been made on these matters,” the company said in a statement Monday to the London Stock Exchange before trading began. Shares were up 2.6 percent at 408.95 pence ($6.33) in midaf ternoon trading in London. Hayward, 53, who has a Ph.D in geology, had been a
well-regarded chief executive. But his promise when he took the job in 2007 to focus on safety “like a laser” came back to haunt him after an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and unleashed a deep-sea gusher of oil. Hayward’s early attempts to shift blame to the rig operator, Transocean, failed to take the heat off BP. Later remarks that the amount of oil pouring
into the Gulf was “tiny” compared to its volume of water and Hayward’s whining that he would “like my life back” made him an object of scorn. That emotion turned to fury when Gulf residents heard that Hayward spent a day at a fancy English sailing race in which his yacht was competing at the height of the disaster. David Cumming, head of UK equities at Standard Life
BP PLC CEO Tony Hayward
Investments, said the board’s reported intention to remove Hayward is an act of “political appeasement.” “I think they have taken view that his departure will relieve some of the political and media pressure in the U.S. and help BP rebuild its U.S. reputation,” Cumming told BBC radio. Chief executives inevitably often are sacked for corporate failure, whether or not they had any direct responsibility for what happened, said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London. “Neither should we forget that Mr. Hayward has been master of his own downfall and that by those sometimes unfortunate remarks and attitude displayed in public he made his own situation all the more worse,” Wheeldon said. Dudley has so far avoided any gaffes. Currently BP’s managing director, Dudley grew up partly in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He spent 20 years at Amoco Corp., which merged with BP in 1998, and lost out to Hayward on the CEO’s slot three years ago. BP says the cost of dealing with the spill had reached nearly $4 billion by July 19, but that it was too early to quantify the eventual total cost. New Orleans Mayor
Mitch Landrieu said BP’s attitude about making things right was more important than who is running the company. “BP, from I think everybody’s perspective, made a very bad mistake,” he said. “I think what the world expects from BP is an acknowledgment that something was done wrong. I think BP has a long way to go to gain the trust of the people.” Hayward makes 1.045 million pounds ($1.6 million) a year as the company’s head, according to its annual report. In 2009, he received a performance bonus of more than 2 million pounds plus other remuneration, bringing his total pay package to over 4 million pounds. BP is the process of selling assets to raise $10 billion toward a $20 billion fund that will finance the clean-up of the mess in the Gulf. BP announced last week that it had sold properties in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corp for $7 billion. Under pressure from President Barack Obama, BP has also announced that it will pay no more dividends to shareholders this year. That move disappointed some 18 million Britons, many of them retirees, who hold stock in what used to be the country’s largest company. —AP
MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS
SABIC, Kayan fall as plant costs rise DUBAI: Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) fell yesterday after affiliate Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co said it needed more money to cover a $2.4 billion rise in building costs for a new plant. Most Middle East benchmarks made minor gains, but trading was light. “Regional markets are still directionless to slightly lower, despite positive developments on international markets - we’re not reacting because it is summer and this trend will continue until after Ramadan,” said Shakeel Sarwar, Sico investment bank head of asset management. SABIC fell 2 percent and Saudi Kayan dropped 3.6 percent to a two-month low, but banks helped Saudi Arabia’s index rise for a third session in four. “Banks and domestic-focused companies are leading the market higher, but it is banks that are having the biggest impact on the index,” said a Riyadh trader who asked not to be identified. “The bank sector has been well bid since Saturday and today it broke out above resistance levels on high volumes.” Al-Rajhi Bank climbed 2 percent, SABB added 2.3 percent and Riyad Bank gained 2.1 percent. “Combined bank sector earnings rose quarter-on-quarter, so it looks like the worst is behind them, while there is increased competition to lend and borrowing rates for consumers is coming down and we should start to see some good results towards the end of the year,” added the trader. Dubai’s Emirates NBD (ENBD) rose 0.8 percent, shrugging off an early earnings-driven decline. “When it comes to UAE banks, and especially those from Dubai, they will have to book huge provisions this quarter and coming quarters, so it’s very difficult to estimate earnings, because there’s a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity about the size of bad loans,” added Sarwar. ENBD’s second-quarter profit dropped by more than half, missing analysts’ forecasts, to send the stock towards a fourmonth low before it rebounded. “ENBD numbers are a miss but this is largely priced in already,” said Julian Bruce, EFG-Hermes director of institutional equity sales. In Egypt, Orascom Telecom rose 2.2 percent, extending gains since Algeria on Thursday said talks would soon begin with the Egyptian company over Djezzy, its Algeria unit. Algeria is planning to buy Djezzy after preventing Orascom from selling it to other investors, while the two parties have also been embroiled in a long-running tax dispute. Vodafone Qatar fell 0.6 percent, dropping for a second day since the regulator said Qatar Telecom’s involvement with Virgin Mobile did not constitute a third operator in the country. Qtel was unchanged. “Vodafone Qatar has a right to be aggrieved - it all comes down to the economic terms of the agreement between Qtel and Virgin Mobile, which we don’t yet know,” said Irfan Ellam, Al Mal Capital telecoms analyst. “Is it purely a licensing agreement and Virgin gets a license fee or a percentage of revenues? Or will Virgin share a substantial part of the economics, if so, I would say it would be a third operator.” —Reuters
India’s DLF to buy out Dubai World unit in JV MUMBAI: Indian real estate firm DLF is buying out the stake held by a property unit of debt-laden Dubai World in an equal joint venture in India for about 2 billion rupees ($43 million), the Economic Times reported yesterday. A unit of DLF will buy the stake owned by Limitless Group, part of Dubai World, in Bidadi Knowledge City in southern Karnataka state, the newspaper said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the transaction. Dubai World is currently restructuring $23.5 billion in debt. Limitless said in April 2009 that it was reviewing a $12 billion residential and commercial project in India because authorities there had not bought the required land. India’s DLF and Limitless
won the contract to build the Bidadi development on the outskirts of Bangalore in October 2007. “Under the agreement, government agencies are responsible for the land acquisition,” a Limitless spokeswoman said in a statement at the time. “Unfortunately, af ter 18 months, the land acquisition has not advanced. As a result, Limitless and DLF have notified the government that they are reconsidering their position.” A spokeswoman from Limitless in Dubai declined to comment on the news report yesterday, pointing to the company’s statement from last year. A representative from DLF was not immediately available for comment. — Reuters
Oil steady as home sales data supports NEW YORK:- Oil prices seesawed near unchanged levels yesterday as stronger-thanexpected US home sales data lifted prices even as energy companies restarted production after Tropical Storm Bonnie fizzled. US crude for September delivery slipped 12 cents to $78.86 a barrel by 12:49 p.m. EDT (1649 GMT), having seesawed between $78.06 and $79.33. US crude prices reached an 11-week high at $79.60 a barrel on Friday before ending just below $79 and still ended up 3.91 percent for the week. Thursday’s $79.30 settlement was the highest close since prices ended at $79.97 on May 5.In London yesterday, ICE
Brent crude was down 6 cents at $77.39. Oil prices turned positive when government data showed sales of new US single-family homes rebounded strongly in June from May’s record low, driving the number of houses on the market to the lowest level in nearly 42 years. A brighter outlook from economic bellweather FedEx Corp and the new home sales data sent US stocks higher, building on the biggest threeweek gain for the S&P 500 Index in a year. Oil’s price strength remained curbed as energy companies restarted production that had been shut in last week ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie. —Reuters
BUSINESS
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Dubai bank Emirates NBD misses Q2 profit forecasts Bank confirms Subramanian as new CFO DUBAI: Emirates NBD, one of the Gulf banks most exposed to indebted Dubai World, missed analysts’ forecasts as its quarterly profit more than halved due to higher bad loan provisions. ENBD, the biggest bank by assets in the United Arab Emirates, posted a 53-percent fall in second-quarter profit to 398 million dirhams ($108.4 million) from 852 million dirhams in the same quarter in 2009. Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated an
Kuveyt Turk’s $100 million bond sale seen in August
Al-Danah KD1000 winners of the week announced KUWAIT: Gulf Bank’s Al-Danah 2010 now has more chances for its Al-Danah customers to win cash prizes throughout the year. The Bank holds weekly, quarterly and annual prize draws encouraging customers to keep their money in their account for as long as possible to enhance their chances of winning. The Bank held its twenty-fifth draw on July 25, 2010, announcing a total number of 10 Al-Danah weekly prize draw winners, each awarded with prizes of KD 1,000. The winners were: Rouqaya Abdulkarim Abdulreda Abdulkarim, Mohammed Husain Ali Mohammed, Fahad Mohammed Ghenaim Al-Ajmi, Haifa Ahmed Rahou, Gory Faisal Mahdi Mohamed Al-Ajmi, Hasan Mohammed Manea Al-Mutairi, Mustafa Abdurasoul Ali AlArbash, Hafeth Mohalhel Sarhan Humoud Hazam, Mariyam Tawfeek Ahmad Al-Ali, and Raed Aarafat Ali Abdulla. A minimum deposit of just KD 200 is needed to open an Al-Danah account. Not only does Gulf
average profit of 736 million dirhams. It took 745 million dirhams in provisions against bad loans in the first half, the bank said, increasing the total by more than 30 percent since the end of last year. Shares in ENBD closed 0.8 percent higher after falling in early trade. The stock has dropped around 15 percent in the past three months, in line with the Dubai bourse’s performance. ENBD is one of two local banks that sits on a seven-member committee handling debt talks between Dubai World, the state conglomerate which is restructuring billions of debt, and the rest of its lenders. The bank never revealed its exact exposure to Dubai World but committee members hold 60 percent of the conglomerate’s $14.4 billion debt pile. Also on the committee are HSBC, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Dubai-based ENBD said the Dubai World restructuring is advancing “satisfactorily” and that it hasn’t booked any specific provisions or non-performing loans related to the conglomerate. ENBD has “put it under general provisioning rather than specific as in the strictest sense the negotiations are still under way and the banks are not yet required to provide for it as such,” said Janany Vamadeva, banking analyst at HC Brokerage. “We believe ENBD has provided for the bulk of its exposure (to Dubai World) during this quarter,” she said. The United Arab Emirates central bank in April told local banks they “are not required to provision their related exposure to Dubai World” and that it would “provide further guidance to banks concerning the treatment of Dubai World debt in DUBAI: Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi, the their books.” Islamic lender majority held by Kuwait ENBD, majority-controlled by Finance House, plans to launch a three-year, Dubai, said its non-performing $100 million Islamic bond sale in the first half loan ratio rose to 2.88 percent of August, sources said yesterday. from 2.36 percent at the end of Kuwait’s Liquidity Management House and 2009. Its net impairment loss Citibank are lead arrangers for the deal, the inched up to 1.19 billion dirhams two sources said, while law firm Norton Rose from 1.15 billion in the same periis structuring the transaction. od in 2009. The company is currently roadshowing in Chief Executive Rick Pudner London and will also meet potential investors said he expects the NPL ratio to in Dubai later this week, the sources added. peak at between 3 and 3.5 perSukuk are known as participation certificates cent by the end of the year. Dubai and Islamic banks are called participation World on July 22 presented more banks in Turkey, which is careful to preserve details of its restructuring plan to its secular stance on politics and finance. creditors and warned it would Kuveyt Turk’s issue would be the first use a special tribunal set up by sukuk offering out of Turkey. decree to force any recalcitrant “Kuveyt Turk is interested in putting out lenders back in line. feelers for this market,” said one of the Net interest income and sources. “They want to be the first to set the income from Islamic financing benchmark.” Fitch Ratings assigned a BBBduring the quarter rose marginalrating on the expected sukuk issue on Sunday, ly to 1.72 billion dirhams. saying the rating was in line with Kuveyt ENBD said “economic activiTurks’s long-term foreign currency issuer ty and credit expansion in the default rating. Investor appetite for Turkish second quarter (was) relatively paper has been increasing in recent days, with subdued as a result of renewed Akbank’s $1 billion offering earlier in July. global uncertainties.” For the remainder of the year, Pudner While sukuk has been uncharted territoexpects loan growth at the bank ry in Turkey, one source said that demand to remain flat, mainly due to a is increasing from corporates and more slow start in 2010 offsetting an sukuk issues are likely in the coming anticipated recovery in the next months. —Reuters six months. —Reuters
Bank’s Al Danah account allow customers to win, but it also encourages customers to save money. The more money deposited and the longer it is kept in the account, the more chances there are to win. Al-Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al-Danah Deposit Only ATM card which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience; as well as the Al-Danah calculator which is now in operation to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an AlDanah winner. To be part of the Al-Danah draw customers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 51 branches, transfer on line, or call the Telebanking service 1805805 for assistance and guidance. Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s bilingual website, to find all the information regarding AlDanah or any of the Bank’s products and services or log on www.e-gulfbank.com/aldanah, to find out more about Al Danah and who the winners are.
Grand opening of new Lulu Hypermarket at Al-Qurain KUWAIT: EMKE Group, the multinational, multidimensional business conglomerate with interests in wide-ranging industries, including businesses that span all aspects of the retail supply chain, including popular supermarkets, department stores and hypermarkets under the Lulu brand, is opening their largest Lulu Hypermarket in the country at Al-Qurain Commercial City. Located just off Route 40 on the way to Fahaheel along Road 208 in the suburb of Al-Qusoor, the sprawling 20,000 sq m of retail space at the new Lulu Hypermarket anchors the upcoming Al-Wahda Mall and is spread across three floors. With its pleasant and novel variation from the usual supermarkets, the new Lulu Hypermarket offers an ultra modern shopping ambience that integrates every conceivable need of consumers under one roof. Catering to over 320,000 customers everyday, the Lulu brand has grown to become the shopping center of choice among discerning customers looking for quality retailing. This popularity is attest-
ed by over 79 retail stores spread across the region and by the fact that the brand enjoys 32 percent of the total retail market share in the GCC. The brand has a distinct competitive advantage when it comes to understanding the retail needs of customers. Leveraging this unique customer knowledge, the Group operates under the successful corporate philosophy of providing “right products in the right place at the right time”. The new Lulu Hypermarket, which will cover the residential areas of Jaber Al Ali, Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Al-Qurain, AlQusoor, Al-Ahmadi, Fahaheel, South Surra, Adan and Sabah Al-Salam, will undoubtedly attract huge footfall of not only the local populace but also of neighboring suburbs. The Hypermarket, with its extensively laid out counters, sprawling parking space that can accommodate in excess of 3,000 cars play area for children, food court, money exchange and bank counters, alongside a panoply of international and regional brands which, aptly justify the brand’s tagline of, “Lulu, where the world comes to shop”.
Wataniya offers Wnet with free USB or a discounted router! Exclusive deals on finest connection KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience by constantly offering surprises and a range of unmatched deals such as the new mobile internet offer; now customers get a free USB or a discounted router with a Wnet high speed package. Internet has become an essential communication tool; Wataniya Telecom will leave no stone unturned to make it easily accessible and affordable for its customers. “At Wataniya we aim to offer our customers the latest, the most convenient and the best value products and services,” commented Abdol Aziz AlBalool, PR Manager at Wataniya Telecom. He further added that “Wnet has been consistently gaining popularity amongst our growing customer base and we believe it’s time to upgrade our existing services
Abdol Aziz Al-Balool PR manager and offers so that more people can benefit and enjoy mobile internet at the most competitive prices.” The latest Wnet offer comes with an irresistible deal that allows customers to purchase a high speed mobile internet con-
nection for KD 21 per month with a free USB. For those who would prefer a Wnet router can buy it for an incredibly discounted price of KD 20 with their connection. Both offers are available only with a monthly subscription with a commitment of one year. Customers can call the Wataniya hotline at 66996666 for a free delivery and installation within 90 minutes. In today’s world everyone needs access to internet from students who want to complete their school work to business men who need to stay constantly updated with their emails, stocks etc. Wnet is the best solution because it gives customers the choice of accessing the internet from their home and outside: almost anywhere in the world. Wataniya’s new promotion continues to add more convenience and choice in the lives of its customers.
EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso US Dollar Sterling pounds Swiss Francs Saudi Riyals
.2830000 .4410000 .3690000 .2700000 .2750000 .2550000 .0045000 .0020000 .0780720 .7602380 .4020000 .0750000 .7452810 .0045000 .0500000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2874500 .4436720 .3709690 .2726670 .2774710 .0497890 .0393200 .2573100 .0370050 .2097410 .0032860 .0061480 .0025550 .0033810 .0041650 .0783000 .7628510 .4065320 .0766920 .7469960 .0062480 TRANSFER CHEQUES RATES .2895500 .4468050 .2745980 .0771810
Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees
ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.346 6.154
.2930000 .4490000 .3760000 .2780000 .2830000 .2630000 .0075000 .0035000 .0788570 .7678790 .4180000 .0790000 .7527710 .0072000 .0580000 .2895500 .4468050 .3735890 .2745980 .2794360 .0501420 .0395990 .2591270 .0372670 .2112260 .0033090 .0061920 .0025730 .0034050 .0041950 .0788000 .7677160 .4094110 .0771810 .7517590 .0062920
Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash
3.380 2.558 3.854 211.100 37.192 4.163 6.236 8.964 0.296 0.310 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 77.048 Qatari Riyal 79.379 Omani Riyal 750.570 Bahraini Dinar 767.320 UAE Dirham 78.672 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 53.700 Egyptian Pound 50.717 Yemen Riyal 1.261 Tunisian Dinar 197.790 Jordanian Dinar 407.970 Lebanese Lira 193.800 Syrian Lier 6.170 Morocco Dirham 34.094 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 288.780 Euro 376.280 Sterling Pound 449.340 Canadian dollar 282.090 Turkish lire 190.310 Swiss Franc 277.810 Australian dollar 258.600 US Dollar Buying 287.445 GOLD 20 Gram 236.000 10 Gram 120.000 5 Gram 62.000
Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal 10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar
SELL CASH 261.900 767.460 4.270 281.900 566.700 14.100 49.300 167.800 53.460
375.500 37.650 6.150
407.930 0.194 92.300 3.880 212.300 749.470 3.385 6.240 79.390 77.050 211.760 41.320 2.557 448.000
9.150 78.640 288.600
Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd
Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound
377.800 37.800 6.480 0.035 0.273 0.255 3.390 409.800 0.195 92.300 45.700 4.510 213.800 1.966 46.600 749.550 3.540 6.540 79.820 77.050 211.760 41.320 2.735 450.000 39.500 277.500 276.000 6.400 9.290 198.263 78.740 289.100 1.320 GOLD 1,283.260 TRAVELLER?S CHEQUE 448.000 288.600
SELL DRAFT 260.400 767.460 4.162 280.400
211.800 50.688
US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Cyprus Pound Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees
288.500 279.842 449.369 375.298 273.449 707.130 763.625 78.527 79.223 76.902 407.112 50.680 6.167 3.374
Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees
2.555 4.172 6.240 3.310 8.914 6.293 3.843
Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency
Rate per 1000 (Tran)
US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Candaian Dollars
288.800 3.385 6.120 2.570 4.170 6.250 78.730 77.220 767.700 50.725 445.600 0.00003280 3.890 1.550 410.200 5.750 377.800 283.300
Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change
Transfer rate 288.200 376.000 448.800 280.200 3.350 6.150 50.630 2.559 4.156 6.235 3.385 767.400 78.600 77.000
BUSINESS
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
23 NBK ECONOMIC REPORT
Real estate transactions levels ease back in June KUWAIT: Real estate activity fell back somew hat in J une after a very strong May, but overall sales levels remain buoyant. The total number of property transactions (residential, commercial and investment) registered at the Ministry of J ustice stood at 708, 17% low er than in May but still 74%
ATHENS: The European Union’s Servaas Deroose (right), the International Monetary Fund’s Poul Thomsen (left) and the European Central Bank’s Claus Masuch, walk outside the Greek Finance Ministry, in central Athens yesterday. —AP
Amid strikes, IMF team inspects Greek finances ATHENS: The International Monetary Fund began inspecting Greece’s public finances yesterday to make sure the government is implementing promised austerity measures before it gains access to a second rescue loan installment in midSeptember. The inspectors arrived as strikes continued against the painful spending cuts and an overhaul of labor rules. A walkout by fuel-tanker drivers caused supply shortages in Athens, while serious departure delays were reported at Athens International Airport as air traffic controllers continued a work-to-rule protest started last week. Officials from the European Union and European Central Bank are also taking part in the inspections in Athens and are due to remain through Aug. 6. They met Monday with Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. Debt-ridden Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May and was pledged up to 110 billion euros ($142 billion) in rescue loans from the IMF and the 15 other EU countries using the euro. While in Athens, the inspectors will meet with at least five other cabinet ministers, union leaders, central bankers and the board of the newly independent Greek statistics agency, tasked with
cleaning up a budget-figure misreporting scandal that helped trigger the country’s crisis. Greek financial officials say the latest scrutiny is expected to concentrate on massive public health care debts and the prospects of loss-making state enterprises like the National Railways. “The main thing is that we are on course for our (deficit reduction) targets,” Ilias Plaskovitis, general secretary of the Finance Ministry, told state-run NET television. “Of course, there is always more to be done.” Greece says its painful cuts program is working, and last week reported that its effort to slash the country’s budget deficit from 13.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 to 8.1 percent remains on track. It reported a 45.4 percent year-on-year decline for the first six months of 2010 — that remains ahead of the 39.5 percent annual target. Greek officials say their prediction of a 4 percent contraction in Greek economic output this year now seems too severe. The IMF, in an interim report released this month, praised progress made by Greece’s center-left government in curbing spending and pushing through unpopular reforms to overhaul the pension and labor systems. — AP
European banks could seek 25bn euros in capital top-up Sovereign risk disclosure helps outweigh doubts LONDON: European banks who only just scraped through a health check could look for over 25 billion euros in new capital, while Spain’s smaller lenders set out to reassure investors yesterday that they too can raise funds. Of the 91 banks tested, seven failed, including five from Spain, and another 17 barely passed the EU tests which have been widely criticized as not demanding enough. The tests were aimed partly at opening the door to funding markets for a batch of southern European banks and lowering costs for other lenders, and analysts said it would make sense for banks to seek to raise the capital they would have needed had the test criteria been tougher. “Those that are at the margin may as well raise equity to dampen down fears ... The sums of money involved are really relatively small,” said Ian Henderson, who runs a global financials fund for JP Morgan. “We can navel gaze until we’re blue in the face about this (stress test process). Most people are going to be absolutely fine.” Results announced on Friday showed the seven that failed need to raise just 3.5 billion euros ($4.5 billion), far less than expected. But if the minimum pass mark had been set at a Tier 1 capital ratio of 8 percent, rather than 6 percent, banks would have needed an extra 27 billion euros ($35 billion), analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated. About 40 percent of that would have been for German and Italian banks. A 7 percent hurdle rate
would have meant an extra 8 billion euros. Or if losses on sovereign debt that banks are assumed to hold to maturity were included-as critics said should have happened-then 23 banks would have failed, needing 15.5 billion euros, according to analysis by Reuters BreakingViews. The Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (CECA) said its smaller regional savings banks, known as cajas, would be able to raise capital this year if needed, as it kick-started a roadshow in London aimed at reassuring investors. “There is a lot of interest,” Jorge Gil, managing director of CECA told Reuters Insider. “The timeframe is pretty much anticipated to be within the year 2010. The raising of the equity should be in the coming months, it should be pretty quick.” Credit markets showed an improvement in banks’ funding costs, but the real test will come when second and third tier banks try to move away from dependency on central bank funding. Europe’s banking index was up 0.4 percent in a generally weaker stock market by 1350 GMT while the euro, driven last month to below $1.19, its lowest since 2006, was little changed on the day at around $1.29. Analysts said while the test generally underwhelmed, the level of detail on holdings was a boon and could help Europe achieve its aim of repeating the boost given to US banks early last year from a health check on that sector. Even some US banks to “pass” that test raised cash to
reassure investors, analysts noted. German banks, including Deutsche Bank, were criticized for not providing as much information as rivals about their exposure to sovereign debt in the euro-zone-the major worry that prompted the tests. Shares in Deutsche Bank, which also owns just under 30 percent of Postbank, were down 1 percent, the weakest of the top names. Some of the banks to squeak past the official test are already making strides to raise capital, including Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Banco Popolare, so they are unlikely to need more government aid. Deutsche Postbank, Germany’s largest retail bank by clients, said it will continue with a plan to rebuild capital, included halting dividends. As for the Spanish cajas, their problems have long been flagged and are being remedied, led by the government. European banks have already raised about 300 billion euros since the start of the crisisincluding 34 banks taking 170 billion euros from governmentswhereas the US tests were conducted much earlier in the cycle and kick-started the fundraising. The subdued response to the tests in Europe was a far cry from early May when global markets feared Greece’s debt crisis might spread like wildfire through Europe and beyond. Stronger-than-expected economic data suggesting the eurozone will avoid a double-dip recession, despite fiscal austerity measures, have also helped revive investor confidence in Europe. — Reuters
Oman Cement Q2 misses despite government aid DUBAI: Oman Cement Company, the sultanate’s second largest, posted a 71 percent jump in second-quarter net profit bolstered by state compensation but still short of analysts’ forecasts. The company reported net profit of 11.17 Omani million ($29.01) versus 6.52 million rials in the same quarter one year earlier. That fell short of the 13.26 million forecast on average in a Reuters poll of six analysts. For the first half of the year, the company reported
earnings of 18.29 million rials, up from 11.2 million rials in the first half of 2009. In June, the government paid the company 7.34 million rials ($19.06 million) as a compensation for keeping cement prices low on the directive of the ministry of finance. The company at the time said the payment would bolster its second quarter and full year profits. Oman Cement shares were recently down 0.7 percent. — Reuters
The sector’s strong sales performance continues to be driven by the residential and apartment segments, while activity in the commercial sector remains comparatively weak. The overall sales picture is similar when looked at in KD value terms. Sales dropped by 30% between May and June, to KD175 million. But May’s sales activity was exceptionally strong. At current levels, sales values are still nearly twice as high as in the first half of 2009. The growing availability of financing options and relatively weak returns in other asset classes may be boosting sales activity. There were 510 residential sales in June, down 19% from 632 in May but up 82% on a year ago. We estimate that nearly half of these transactions involved land, rather than buildings. Private land sales have been of growing importance to the residential property scene over the past 18 months, perhaps linked to government plans to develop infrastructure in nearby areas. Nevertheless, residential sales excluding land also remain strong at nearly double the levels of a year ago and well above the average levels of earlier years. Average sales prices in the residential segment are also up (7%) over the past year. Sales in the investment segment fell by 9% in June to 196, but remain close to the all-time record high of 215 set a month earlier. In KD value terms, the improvement has been slightly less marked, with sales levels - at KD70 million - remaining below their 2007 peaks. These two things may be linked. Anecdotal evidence suggests that relatively attractive prices and yields have made apartments a preferred asset class for some local investors. Disappointingly, commercial property enjoyed a weaker month, seeing just 2 sales. This comes after double-digit sales in the previous two months. This is the most volatile and least predictable of all the main property segments and we are reluctant to draw too many conclusions from one month’s data; on average, the first half of the year has seen 7 transactions per month, which is comparable to previous years. But in general, uncertain demand, a potential overhang of supply in the office sector and cautious lending policies by banks are likely to continue to weigh down on the commercial segment’s prospects. The NBK report concluded: There were 271 loans approved by the Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) in June, a drop of 19% from May. In value terms, loan approvals dropped 20% to KD 7.5 million, close to its recent low of KD7.1 million. Unlike the sales side of the property market described above, SCB loan approvals seems to have trended flat-to-lower in the first half of 2010. The weak numbers are largely the result of low approvals for outright purchases of homes. At 134 in June, these have failed to recover after falling sharply from a peak of 447 in late 2008. And within these loans for purchases, loans for constructing new homes fell to just 45, the second lowest on record. It should be noted, however, that loan activity does sometimes drop off during the summer months. Loan approvals for maintenance and additions purposes the other main SCB loan segment - also fell in June, down 24% to 137. In general, however, approvals for this loan type have been trending higher for the past three years. We continue to suspect that this reflects the high price of home purchases, encouraging loan recipients to upgrade or expand their existing properties instead.
higher than a year ago. Admittedly, activity through most of 2009 w as unusually w eak. But at their current levels, sales volumes are w ell above the average of 608 per month seen during the pre-crisis era betw een 2003 and 2008.
Abu Dhabi port H1 cargo up 12% despite slowdown ABU DHABI: Slowed property development in Abu Dhabi hit container traffic at Port Zayed in the first half of the year but cargo volumes rose, helped by infrastructure projects and higher vehicle imports, a senior port official said yesterday. The port handled 206,866 containers, down 7 percent, and 2.98 million tons (MT) of general cargo, an increase of 12 percent, said Julian Skyrem, acting chief executive of Abu Dhabi Terminals. There was a 62 percent jump in vehicles handled, rising to 32,177 from 19,809. The number of cruise passengers rose by 52 percent to 111,407 from 73,113, he said. Skyrem declined to give forecasts for the full year. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where fallout from the global financial crisis has put an end to a six-year construction boom.
ìWe are seeing the effects of the reduction in construction activity that led to the slight dip. However, industrialization in Abu Dhabi is having a positive effect,î Skyrem told reporters. Abu Dhabi is investing billions of dollars in industry, infrastructure and tourism to diversify its economy. Home to most of the countryís oil, it has fared better than other emirates such as Dubai. Abu Dhabi Terminals is managed by DP World, which has been ringfenced from asset sales by parent firm Dubai World, now grappling with a $23.5 billion debt restructuring at the heart of the emirateís recent woes. The port has a total capacity to handle 650,000 TEUs and 7.5 million tons of cargo. It is expected to gradually shift operations to the new, larger Khalifa port in Taweelah beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012. — Reuters
NEW YORK: A FedEx jet is parked at John F Kennedy International Airport, in New York. In another sign of confidence for the global economy, FedEx Corp yesterday sharply raised its earnings outlook for its fiscal first quarter and full year. —AP
Rosneft’s Q2 profits surge 60% to $2.6bn MOSCOW: Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft yesterday reported a 60 percent increase in second-quarter profit due to higher crude prices and lower taxes for its new oil field. Net profit rose to $2.6 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier, Rosneft said in a statement. The results - in line with analysts’ estimates - were helped by higher oil prices and savings on zero duties for exports from Rosneft’s key Vankor field. Swiss investment bank UBS estimated that tax savings from the field amounted to $900 million in the second quarter. Rosneft shares were up 1.7 percent on the MICEX stock exchange less than one hour before the closing bell. Production in April-June rose by nearly 9 percent, and Vankor was one of the two key fields that contributed to the increase. Sales rose to $15.4 billion from $10.9 billion in AprilJune 2009. The oil company also said its free cash flow reached a record high of $2.8 billion in the second quarter, which allowed it to cut down on its debts. Observers, however, are more worried about Rosneft’s outlook than current results. As Russia runs its second budget deficit in a decade, authorities are getting anxious to boost state revenue. The finance ministry is working on a bill that is expected to raise the key mineral extraction tax (MET) in the next few years. Although a final decision is yet to be taken, the ministry is expected to propose that the base rate in the formula used to calculate the tax be increased by 6.5 percent in 2012 and a further 5.4 percent in 2013. —AP
24
BUSINESS GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT
Last-minute trading drives KSE to positive territory KUWAIT: In line with most of regional markets, Kuwait Stock Exchange kicked off yesterday’s session on a negative note. However last-minute intensive trading helped boost the market to end in green territory. During the last minute, 6 million shares, distributed in a total of 93 transactions, were traded contributing 1.20 percent of the total traded volume. These late transactions enabled KFH and Zain to end flat after they have reported daily losses during the whole session. Global General Index (GGI) rose by 0.85 points (0.44 percent) during yesterday’s session to reach 190.87 points. While, KSE Price Index, gained 38.50 points (0.58 percent) yesterday and closed at 6,654.10 points. Market capitalization added KD139.87mn to its value to reach KD31.87bn. Market breadth During yesterday’s session, 122 companies were traded. Market breadth skewed towards advancers, as 68 equities advanced versus 24 that retreated. A total of 120 stocks remained unchanged during the trading session. Trading activities was higher yesterday as volume of shares traded on the exchange surged by 62.18 percent to reach 500.91mn shares, and value of shares traded rose by 23.42 percent to stand at KD39.51mn. The Real Estate Sector was the volume and value leader, accounting for 53.73 percent of total market volume and 24.39 percent of total value traded. Investors Holding Group Company topped the volume and value leaders’ list, with a total
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Yemen vows support after currency hits record low SANAA: Yemen’s central bank governor said yesterday more cash injections were possible after an $80 million injection in the exchange market failed to raise the rial currency, which traders said has fallen to a record low. The rial has fallen about 12 percent from a level of 208 versus the dollar in mid-January. Traders in the capital Sanaa said the currency fell further against the dollar to 236 rials per dollar yesterday from around 229 rials after the central bank injection on July 17. “As far as I know, the current exchange rate is the worst in the history of the Yemeni rial,” said currency trader Yahia Al-Yemeni in Sanaa. Yemen’s central bank blamed the rial’s drop in the last few weeks on increased demand for foreign currencies to import goods for the holy month of Ramadan. It said it would inject more foreign cash if necessary. “The demand for the dollar is still large because of imports for Ramadan and Eid
(feast),” said central bank governor Mohammed Awad bin Hamam, quoted by state news agency Saba. He said he expected demand to decrease as supply of foreign currencies like the dollar increase in coming days when remittances would be sent to Yemen by expatriates. In May, bin Hamam told Reuters that Yemen’s security troubles have been hurting the exchange rate. Impoverished Yemen faces an insurgency in the north and a growing separatist movement in the south. It is also fighting a resurgent regional Al-Qaeda wing based in the country. The central bank has repeatedly injected dollars into the exchange market, selling a total of $927 million to support the rial this year, Saba reported. The central bank governor said in May that Yemen had $6.1 billion in reserves then compared to $7 billion a year earlier. —Reuters
Vodafone likely to sell its stake in Bharti: Report traded volume of 170mn shares with a total value of KD4.03mn. In terms of top gainers, Manazel Holding Company took the top spot, adding 9.80 percent and closed at KD0.028. On the other hand, Salbookh Trading Company decreased by 5.62 percent during yesterday’s session, to be the biggest loser. The scrip closed at KD0.084. Sectors Regarding Global’s sectoral indices, all eight sectoral indices went up yesterday led by Global Real Estate Index, which soared 1.54 percent. Investors Holding Group Company was the highest gainer in the sector adding 8.89 percent. Also, Kuwait Real Estate Company gainer 1.49
percent lifting the index to end with this value. Global Industrial index followed adding 1.29 percent. Gulf Cables & Electrical Industries Company was the highest gainer among the sector adding 5.81 percent. Global Non-Kuwaiti Index came in third place gaining 1.28 percent. Heavyweight, Gulf Finance House was the highest gainer among the sector soaring 6.49 percent. Egypt Kuwait Holding Co followed adding 6.17 percent to its value. All Global’s special indices ended the day on a mixed note, with Global Small Cap 2.21 percent. While, Global Large Cap Index marginally went down by 0.02 percent. Also, Global
Islamic Index lost 0.13 percent from its value. Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $74.44 a barrel on Friday, compared with $73.47 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The Kuwait Airways Company constituent committee announced receipt of offers for alliances of investment banks and aviation activity and related auditing specialists, that are to promote shares in the new company and supervise auction of the strategic partner stake. A press release by the committee said it would be cooperating with World Bank
specialist to assess the offers and expects to finish selection procedures by August 1, upon which date the investment group is to start operation. Kuwait’s exports to Japan rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier to JPY 55.81 billion ($636.7 million) in June, while imports from Japan soared 164.8 percent to JPY 12.90 billion ($147.2 million), official data showed yesterday. As Kuwaiti export prices to Japan exceeded import prices, Kuwait ran a trade surplus with the world’s second-largest economy for the 29th straight month in June at JPY 42.91 billion ($489.5 million), the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.
LONDON/MUMBAI: Vodafone may sell its 4.4 percent stake in Bharti Airtel, a media report said yesterday, although a senior telecoms banker said he was not aware of any sales process launching imminently. The Business Standard reported that Vodafone could sell the stake in India’s leading mobile operator, which is valued at around 52 billion rupees ($1.1 billion), as part of its plan to get out of minority investments in companies across the world.
Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator by revenue, declined to comment on the report but a telecoms banker who asked not to be named said he was not aware of any sale mandate. Bernstein analyst Robin Bienenstock said she also did not expect an easy or imminent sale. “It is pretty illiquid,” she told Reuters. “We value the stake at 707 million pounds ($1.1 billion) but we do not put it in our sum of the parts because realizing the value is extremely difficult with
only one buyer.” Officials at Bharti could not immediately be reached for a comment. Vodafone bought a 10 percent stake in Bharti in 2005 for around $1.5 billion. It then sold half of the stake after the British firm entered into a tie-up with India’s Essar Group. Vodafone said last week it could reconsider its strategy following investor complaints, prompting speculation it would look to sell or spin off its minority stakes in countries including France, the United States and China. —Reuters
BUSINESS
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
25
S Korea’s economy slows as construction contracts SEOUL: South Korea’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter despite gains in exports, manufacturing and capital outlays as construction contracted and government spending and services weakened. Gross domestic product expanded 1.5 percent in the three months ended June 30, compared with the first quarter this year when it grew 2.1 percent, the Bank of Korea announced Monday. Compared with the same period last year, the economy grew 7.2 percent. The figures are preliminary and may be revised. South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has rebounded strongly from the global downturn to expand six straight quarters, boosted by
record-low interest rates, government stimulus spending and robust exports. The latest GDP figure, which beat the central bank’s own forecast as well as analyst estimates, comes amid worries about the durability of the global recovery. Monetary authorities are raising interest rates, government stimulus programs that have helped promote growth are winding down, the US is showing signs of slowing and questions linger about Europe’s financial health. “The data show that at least through the second quarter, like most of the Asian region, the Korean economy continued on a strong uptrend,” said David Cohen, director of Asian
economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. Cohen also said, however, that the result comes amid broader concerns about future direction as “like everywhere, people are nervous about sustainability of the momentum.” In the second quarter, South Korea’s manufacturing, exports and capital spending all posted increases from the previous three months. Exports of goods grew 7.1 percent, led by increased shipments of automobiles, semiconductors and machinery, the bank said. Exports have been a key factor behind Asia’s recovery. Japan’s exports rose for the seventh straight month in June, indicating that overseas demand continues to underpin
recovery in the world’s No. 2 economy even amid a stronger yen. Exports climbed 27.7 percent from a year earlier to 5.87 trillion yen ($67.2 billion), the Finance Ministry said yesterday. South Korea’s growth was tempered, however, as the construction sector shrank 0.8 percent during the second quarter compared with a gain of 1.9 percent in the first. Services growth slowed to 0.2 percent following an expansion of 1.6 percent. Government spending eked out growth of 0.1 percent, down sharply from the 5.8 percent registered in the first quarter. “Exports are strong. That’s the secret of Korea’s success,” said Oh Suk-tae, regional head of research in
South Korea at Standard Chartered First Bank Korea. “The problem is its sustainability.” Oh said the contraction in construction backs up worries about South Korea’s weakening housing market, whereas the slowdown in government spending came as little surprise as it was frontloaded into the first quarter. The 1.5 percent growth figure equates to an expansion of 6 percent on an annualized basis, he said. The result came in stronger than a consensus estimate of 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The BOK had forecast growth of 1.2 percent earlier
this month. South Korean financial markets rose. The benchmark stock index gained 0.6 percent to 1,769.07 for its highest close this year. The South Korean won, meanwhile strengthened to 1,191.10 to the dollar from 1,198.80 on Friday for a gain of 0.6 percent. The Bank of Korea earlier this month raised its 2010 economic growth forecast to 5.9 percent. Also, at its July policy meeting the bank lifted its key interest rate to 2.25 percent from a record low 2 percent, the first increase since August of 2008, amid the strong growth outlook and expectations for higher inflation. Standard Chartered First Bank
Korea’s Oh said BOK policymakers are in a bind as they want to keep raising rates, but may find the environment difficult. He predicted they will act quickly and hike the bank’s benchmark borrowing cost next month by 0.25 percentage point to 2.5 percent before pausing for the rest of this year. Cohen, of Action Economics, said the central bank was more likely to move twice more this year and close out 2010 with the key rate at 2.75 percent. That would still remain far below the 5.25 percent where the seven day repurchase rate stood when the BOK’s record easing cycle began in October 2008 as a response to the global financial crisis. —AP
Economic recovery may be losing steam
Japan export growth slows but beats analysts forecasts TOKYO: Japanese exports continued to rise in June on shipments to Asia but the pace of growth was the slowest this year amid signs that recovery may be losing steam as global demand falls, data showed yesterday. “We previously saw a robust, V-shaped recovery in exports after the financial crisis. Now the speed of the recovery is tapering off,” said Atsushi Kamio, economist at the Daiwa Research Institute. However, the slowdown was
SEOUL: Workers labor at a construction site in Seoul. South Korea’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2010 despite gains in exports, manufacturing and capital outlays as construction contracted and government spending and services weakened. —AP
India micro lender aims to raise $350m in IPO MUMBAI: India’s top lender to the poor, SKS Microfinance, said yesterday it hopes to raise up to $350 million in an IPO as it becomes the country’s first microfinancier to float. SKS, which lends small sums to India’s neediest who are unable to get credit from mainstream banks, is selling a 22 percent stake in the initial public offering (IPO). There are currently more than 3,000 micro-finance institutions and self-help groups in India, lending more than $7 billion to nearly 80 million users, but SKS is the country’s biggest. It says it is staging the IPO to raise capital to offer loans in coming years. “We expect the expansion of our geographic footprint and network of branches and members to continue,” SKS, based in the southern city of Hyderabad, said in its share prospectus.
The IPO, managed by Indian financial group Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup and Credit Suisse, will be launched on Wednesday and closes next Monday. SKS, which says its mission is to eradicate poverty, fixed the price band for its IPO at 850-985 rupees ($18-21). SKS, which will join a select group of microfinancers globally to have shares listed, could raise up to 350 million dollars if demand from investors comes in at the higher end of the price range. Founded in 2003, SKS has served seven million borrowers and operates more than 2,000 branches in 19 Indian states. The company, whose borrowers pay back their loans in weekly installments, has a 99percent repayment rate. Some 60 percent of the share issue is earmarked for institutional buyers. SKS has cited research showing the supply of funds for
micro-loans in India stood at $4.3 billion in 2008 while demand was $51.4 billion. Demand for small loans is expected to reach $72 billion by next year. However, like most microfinance lenders, SKS’s interest rates are hefty. SKS’s annual loan rate ranges up to 28 percent, which some critics say is exorbitant. But the lender says the rates reflect its costs and are far lower than those charged by predatory moneylenders who ask for up to 72 percent interest annually and to whom India’s poor would otherwise turn. Less than half of India’s 1.2 billion population has a bank account while fewer than 10 percent have life insurance. With India posting 8.6-percent expansion in the latest quarter, experts said improving the poor’s access to financial services is crucial to ensure they can take advantage of robust growth. —AFP
Cigarette maker Lorillard Q2 profit falls RICHMOND, Virginia: Lorillard Inc, the thirdbiggest US cigarette maker, said yesterday that lower volumes and higher promotional costs drove its net income down 8 percent in the second quarter as it raised its prices. The maker of Newport, Maverick and True cigarettes said its cigarette volume fell less than a percent to 9.78 billion cigarettes compared with a year earlier when retailers and wholesalers restocked following cuts they made to prepare for a one-time federal tax on inventory. The weak economy and high unemployment have caused many smokers to trade down to cheaper brands during the recession in a bid to save money. Lorillard’s Maverick discount brand and Reynolds American Inc.’s Pall Mall cigarettes have been among the beneficiaries. Volumes for Maverick
increased 26.5 percent in the latest quarter. But shipments of its Newport brand, which holds about 35 percent of the U.S. menthol market share, fell 3.4 percent. Most tobacco companies have been raising prices to keep profits up as the recession and declining demand cut into cigarette volumes. Tax increases, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma also have made the cigarette business tougher. Lorillard, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, said it earned $263 million, or $1.73 per share, for the April-June period, compared with $286 million, or $1.71 per share, a year ago. The cigarette maker said revenue excluding excises taxes edged up slightly to $1.04 billion from $1.03 billion in the year-ago period. —AP
New Philippine trading system throws bourse into disarray MANILA: The Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday rolled out a new trading system that quickly plunged the market into disarray with wildly wrong data. It took the bourse more than three hours after the close of trading to issue the correct figure for the benchmark index, after officials told investors to disregard the whooping 14 percent gain erroneously calculated by the new system. The stock exchange advised traders in a statement “to disregard a glitch in the index values and market statistics affecting market data feed, the electronic board and the PSE website” while they looked into the problem.
Trading was not suspended. The stock exchange said the index fell 2.07 points or 0.1 percent to 3,414.03 in an advisory posted on its website and in an e-mail to the media more than three hours after trading closed yesterday. The exchange replaced the MakTrade system it had been using since 1993 with the New Trading System or NTS. It uses the trading software product developed by NYSE Technologies SAS, the commercial technology unit of NYSE Euronext, which in turn operates the largest exchanges around the world including the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext. “Like any new technology
system, the PSE’s migration to NTS had its birth pains and glitches which were deemed minor by the NTS project team,” said the bourse’s Chief Operating Officer Val Antonio B. Suarez. Many investors complained. EquitiWorld Securities Inc. assistant marketing manager Genalyn Lim said the confusion “appears to have dampened trading.” The new application was designed to trade a wide range of cash, debt and derivative instruments not possible through the previous trading system. The new system is also expected to improve the capacity of the bourse to handle any future sharp increase in its turnover. —AP
Strong demand for automobiles, high-tech products and factory parts have helped offset a weaker domestic picture, enabling Japan’s biggest companies to return to profit and bring about a tentative economic recovery. But anxiety remains about the impact that the withdrawal of global stimulus measures and European debt will have on Japanese exports, with equipment and components makers also facing a knock-on effect from falling demand for Chinese goods. Analysts warn that risks to export demand remain as world leaders embrace tighter fiscal policies to help rebalance a global economy knocked off its axis by the financial crisis. The recent appreciation of the yen versus the euro and the dollar may also pose a risk, government officials have warned recently, as it threatens to erode the overseas profits of exporters such as Sony and Honda. “We have to monitor the effects of the global trend of fiscal tightening,” said Kamio. A slightly softer yen encouraged Japanese investors Monday, sending the Tokyo market 0.77 percent higher, but it remained relatively high at more than 87 to the dollar. However, Kamio added that Japan’s recovery was expected to continue despite external challenges, albeit more slowly. Robust Asian demand for Japanese cars and steel also contributed to the seventh straight monthly increase in exports, the finance ministry said. Japanese exports to Asia rose 31.7 percent, with those to China up 22.0 percent at 1.1 trillion yen, led by demand for automobiles and engines. Imports from China also jumped 27.5 percent to 1.1 trillion, led by electronics and audio products. The figures compared with US-bound exports valued at 914.5 billion yen, up 21.1 percent, and American imports to Japan estimated at 537.1 billion yen, up 9.6 percent. However, Japan’s exports to EU nations slowed more drastically. They increased just 9.0 percent to 611.2 billion yen, compared to a 17.4 percent rise in May. Despite the comparatively weak figure, the overseas slowdown was unlikely to derail Japan’s economy, Norio Miyagawa at Mizuho Securities Research & Consulting told Dow Jones Newswires. “The economy has recovered to a good level. You don’t need to worry that this slowdown in exports will lead to the double-dip recession or another severe economic downturn in Japan,” he said. Japan’s trade surplus reached 687.0 billion yen in June, marking the 13th straight month of improvement on year-earlier levels, according to the Ministry of Finance. For the first half, Japanese exports reached 33.1 trillion yen, up 37.9 percent from a year ago, while imports rose 23.3 percent to 29.7 trillion yen. —AFP
less sharp than economists had expected. Exports rose 27.7 percent to 5.87 trillion yen ($67 billion), their seventh consecutive monthly rise, beating market expectations of a 23.1 percent increase but still below May’s rise of 32.1 percent, the finance ministry said. Imports jumped 26.1 percent to 5.18 trillion yen, led by crude oil, liquefied natural gas and non-ferrous metals.
ANHUI: A worker labors at a steel plant in Hefei, in central China’s Anhui province. China’s Cabinet promised private investors a bigger role in industries from oil drilling to finance, apparently responding to complaints that state companies were boosted by Beijing’s huge stimulus while private enterprise withered in the global crisis. —AP
China promises bigger private role in industry
TOKYO: A businessman uses his mobile phone before a share prices board in Tokyo yesterday. Japan’s share prices rose 72.70 points to close at 9,503.6 points at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, on a weaker yen and growing hopes of strong quarterly earnings by major Japanese firms. —AFP
BEIJING: China’s Cabinet promised private investors a bigger role in industries from oil drilling to finance, apparently responding to complaints that state companies were boosted by Beijing’s huge stimulus while private enterprise withered in the global crisis. The Cabinet announcement yesterday appeared to apply only to Chinese investors, not foreign companies, and gave no details of their possible role in politically sensitive areas such as energy. It also promised to help private companies invest more abroad. Beijing’s stimulus spending fed an expansion of state industry while private companies shrank or struggled amid plunging global demand, temporarily reversing the trend of three decades of economic reform. Chinese media dubbed the phenomenon “guo jin, min tui,” or “the state advances, society retreats.” “This statement shows the government’s decisive momentum to address ‘the state advances, society retreats’,” said Lu Zhengwei, senior economist for Industrial Bank in Shanghai. Private companies generate the bulk of China’s new jobs and wealth and analysts warned that concentrating so much money on less dynamic state-owned companies might lead to economic problems later. Lu said the impact of yesterday’s announcement will not be clear until ministries say how
each industry will be affected. “Whether there are big opportunities and in which areas, we really need to see the final regulations,” he said. Monday’s announcement included a fivepage list of areas where the government promised to increase access for private investment. They ranged from building airports, hospitals, schools and water systems to setting up financial institutions. In energy, private companies will be encouraged to partner with state oil and gas companies to “co-exploit” reserves, the statement said. China’s energy and finance industries are dominated by state-owned entities and there was no word on what limits might still be imposed on private investors. In recent years, private owners of oil wells and coal mines in some areas have been forced to sell them to government entities. Beijing also will support a role for private investors in major science and technology projects, another sensitive area, the statement said. Private companies will be encouraged to invest abroad and regulators will treat every investment entity equally, the statement said. Chinese foreign direct investment has surged in recent years, but much of that is spending by state companies on oil and other resource assets while investment by private entities is low and growing slowly. —AP
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Investors find some reassurance in Europe’s bank tests SINGAPORE/PARIS: Investors took some reassurance that European banks had passed “stress tests” on their ability to deal with a debt crisis, prompting European stock futures prices to rise yesterday. Shares rose in Asia as the worst fears about the tests were assuaged and European markets were set to follow suit with spread betters calling for British, German and French stock markets to open as much as 0.8 percent to 1 percent higher. The euro held on to its gains from Friday. But skepticism remained about the credibility of the tests because they showed a combined capital shortfall of the 91 banks put under the microscope that was much smaller than expected. “On the surface, if anything, you have to take these tests with a pinch of salt,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, currency strategist at Westpac, Sydney. “Sovereign debt problems remain, funding constraints for their banks are still there and these have the potential to weigh on the euro.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up 0.5 percent at 0550 GMT. It was still down around 7 percent from its year-todate high in mid-April, in part over con-
NEW YORK: Joseph Quaglieri, a trader with Kellogg Capital, looks at a trading monitor from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stock futures traded in a narrow range yesterday as investors put a recent rally on pause and European markets reacted coolly to tests measuring the health of the continent’s banking system. —AP cerns that debt defaults in the euro zone could derail the global recovery. By 0602
GMT, futures on the STOXX Europe 50, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC were
up 0.6 percent to 0.9 percent. Financial spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE 100 to open as much as 0.8 percent and their call on the DAX and France’s CAC40 largely reflected futures pricing. The euro was changing hands around $1.2910, little changed from $1.2916 in New York on Friday. Fears of a euro-zone debt crisis and its impact on European banks had driven the euro below $1.19 last month, its lowest since 2006. But it began a swift recovery in July and hit a 10-week high above $1.30 last week. Only seven of 91 banks failed the stress tests-five small Spanish banks, Germany’s state-rescued Hypo Real Estate and Greece’s ATEbank. No listed bank failed. Financial markets had expected a shortfall of 30 billion euros to 100 billion euros, although many European banks had already raised capital during the financial crisis. The relatively placid exercise in Europe was a far cry from the high anxiety in early May over Greece’s debt crisis that reverberated in global markets over concern it could spread like wildfire through Europe and beyond. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said then that
Europe’s fate was at stake. France declared the euro was under speculative attack. Violence erupted on the streets of Athens over the Greek government’s austerity measures to deal with the crisis. But stronger-than-expected economic data, and business confidence surveys suggesting the euro-zone will avoid a double-dip recession despite fiscal austerity measures, were helping to revive investor confidence in Europe. More than a dozen banks barely passed the tests, with just over the required 6 percent of Tier 1 capital in the most stressful scenario, and are likely to come under market scrutiny. The stress test scenarios included how banks would cope with a double-dip recession, a 20-percent drop in stock markets and sharp rises in interest rates. While the tests were criticized as too lenient, the wealth of data disclosed by banks representing 65 percent of Europe’s banking assets, and the commitment of banks, regulators and governments to follow-up action, may outweigh the skepticism. Given the haggling among EU governments and regulators about the tests right up to the last moment, the degree of transparency was greater than had been
expected a few weeks ago. Sources familiar with the discussions said Germany fought hard behind closed doors to limit the extent of disclosure. In the end, most banks-except Deutsche Bank-issued a detailed breakdown of their exposure to the sovereign debt of EU countries, enabling investors to run their own risk simulations to gauge a counterparty’s solidity. That should help reopen the interbank lending market, which partially froze at the height of the euro-zone debt crisis and has remained tight on fears banks have been hiding big exposures. EU authorities were chastised for refusing to test the impact of a debt default by Greece. But European Central Bank governing council member Christian Noyer said euro-zone states “have put several hundreds of billions of euros on the table with the support of the IMF to make this hypothesis completely excluded”. Economist Nicolas Veron of the Bruegel think-tank said the success of the exercise would depend partly on whether European regulators adopt a more cooperative approach after the stress tests than they did before them. — Reuters
Quarterly results could tell the facts
Six German banks did not reveal full debt holdings FRANKFURT: European banking regulators say six German banks did not reveal full details of sovereign debt holdings as part of a key test of the sector’s health, the Financial Times reported yesterday. “We agreed with all supervi-
sory authorities and with the banks in the exercise that there would be a bankby-bank disclosure of sovereign risks,” the FT quoted Arnoud Vossen, secretary general of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), as saying.
BHAKTAPUR, Nepal: Nepalese farmers return home after working in paddy fields as a rainbow stretches over the horizon in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu yesterday. Over 80 percent of Nepal’s 27 million population depends upon agriculture and rice is the major crop in the Himalayan nation. —AFP
UK fleshes out regulation reform, warns EU against meddling LONDON: Britain fleshed out its plans for sweeping reform of financial supervision yesterday, starting with a new macro watchdog in the autumn, and warned the European Union against meddling too much in domestic banks. The coalition government was launching a public consultation on its plans to scrap the Financial Services Authority regulator and hand the bulk of its powers to the Bank of England. It said the new Financial Policy Committee (FPC) to spot broader risks in the economy would start operating later this year and a separate Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (CPMA) would follow. Both would operate in “shadow form” until legislation, anticipated in mid-2011, is approved. “Good regulation is the bedrock that prevents the ground from caving in,” Britain’s Financial Services Minister Mark Hoban told a packed financial audience at the London Stock Exchange. The Office of Fair Trading’s powers to regulate credit may be folded into the CPMA, Hoban said. He said supervision of clearing and settlement houses for securities transactions will be shifted to the Bank, making it one of the most powerful central banks in the world. Angela
Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, said making the BoE responsible for clearers has a “logic” and that moving credit supervision to the markets regulator has been a longstanding request of the association. Further work was needed to ensure Britain has a strong voice in European and international rulemaking during the switchover, and the government should also say who will head the CPMA, even on a temporary basis, she added. The Investment Management Association said it was worried not all retail products would be supervised in the same way. There is also a need for an efficient and effective mechanism for the investor voice to be heard, particularly in the BOE’s new regulation arm, the IMA said. Membership of the FPC, which will monitor risks that could destabilize the wider financial system, will include the governor of the BoE and the chairman and chief executive of the Financial Services Authority in the interim period. The committee will have “ultimate authority to identify imbalances, risks and vulnerabilities in the financial system and take decisive action to mitigate these in order to protect the wider economy,” the government said in a document on
the public consultation. Still up for discussion is exactly the kind of tools the new committee will have to engage in so-called macro-prudential regulation. The government is looking at countercyclical capital requirements which would add a
“buffer” to capital requirements based on the current cyclical position of the economy. For example, when private sector credit is growing rapidly, banks might be forced to hold additional levels of capital. — Reuters
Egypt’s Suez canal H1 revenue, traffic up ISMAILIA, Egypt: Egypt has deepened its strategic Suez canal to ensure the biggest ships will be able to pass between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean as its revenue, traffic and tonnage perks up from a slow 2009. The waterway, a barometer for the health of global trade, suffered through the financial crisis as flows shrunk but has seen a decent rebound this year, particularly in tonnage moved. “There is no ship in the world, if it came to the Suez canal, it won’t cross,” the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Ahmed Fadel, told a news conference. “We want to improve crossing for all the big ships.” The authority this year allowed ships with draughts up to 66 feet (20 metres), which typically carry 220,000 tons of cargo, to enter the canal after it was deepened from 62 feet. Fadel told Reuters the authority was considering a further deepening of the canal to 72 feet, without providing details. Revenues for the first half of 2010 reached $2.251 billion, up 12.5 percent from the first half of 2009, Fadel said. For the fiscal year 2009/10 revenues were $4.542 billion. In January, Fadel said the authority would keep its transit fees steady for 2010 and forecast full-year revenue growth of 2.4 percent, after a 20 percent decline in 2009. The number of ships passing through increased 3.3 percent in the first half of 2010 to 8,651 versus 8,375 in the same period last year, but total tonnage shipped jumped 20 percent to 313.4 million tons, he said in Ismailia, on the banks of the canal. — Reuters
The six German banks included the country’s biggest, Deutsche Bank, as well as Deutsche Postbank, which has the nation’s largest retail network, and Hypo Real Estate, which failed the so-called “stress tests,” the newspaper said. The other German banks which did not disclose all the details on holdings of public debt were identified as the mutual banks DZ and WGZ and the regional state-owned lender Landesbank Berlin. Deutsche Bank, Postbank and the German financial market regulator BaFin responded to the report, with Deutsche Bank saying full details would come as planned with quarterly results today. The German banks said they sought to provide updated information rather than data on March 31 as requested by test officials. On Friday, CEBS released findings on 91 European banks which were checked to see if they had enough core capital to withstand another economic recession coupled with steep losses on loans, including sovereign debt. Only seven banks failed the tests, leading some analysts to wonder if they was too lenient. Financial markets are concerned that a default by a eurozone country such as Greece could cause some banks to collapse, and the stress tests were aimed at showing where each stood to restore confidence and boost interbank lending. Analysts might also assume that a refusal to make a full disclosure means the German banks have something to hide. BaFin spokesman Sven Gebauer told AFP: “By law we cannot force them to do so.” On Sunday, the European Commission reportedly “encouraged the few banks who had not disclosed the information to do so.” But both Deutsche Bank and Postbank, in which Deutsche Bank holds a stake of about 30 percent, said they sought to provide more up-to-date information than asked for by CEBS. “The reporting date was a problem for us because we wanted to provide recent data,” Postbank spokesman Joachim Strunk told AFP. “We are permantely reducing our exposure” to sovereign debt, he added. A Deutsche Bank spokesman told AFP that figures from March 31, “are no longer current, that is why we did not mention them. “We will do that Tuesday when we publish second quarter results,” he added. Postbank passed the stress tests but came close to missing the key criteria, which was the ability to maintain core capital of at least six percent of all assets, such as outstanding loans. Postbank reported a 6.6-percent ratio in the test’s most demanding case, a so-called adverse economic scenario which combined a hypothetical recession with the shock of a crisis in sovereign debt. —AFP
JAKARTA: Visitors fill an exhibition hall of the 18th Indonesia International Motor Show in Jakarta. International carmakers are optimistic about Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and the world’s most populous Muslim majority country with a population of about 240 million. —AFP
Stock markets cheer Russia’s sell-off plan MOSCOW: Russian shares rose yesterday as the finance ministry confirmed it had put forward a plan to sell minority stakes in some of its biggest companies, a move that would help plug budget deficits and lure new investors. Ministry sources told Reuters on Saturday the plan could include minor stakes in ten firms including Russia’s biggest oil producer Rosneft and second-biggest lender VTB-raising $29 billion for state coffers. There was no comment on the plan from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office-vital for policy in Russia-though the ministry sources said it had been discussed and approved at a preliminary meeting chaired by Putin. “It is a positive development-less state in the economy is better for the economy. The government has to sell assets as it fights for every ruble to tackle the state’s budget deficit,” said Anton Struchenevsky, senior economist at Russian investment bank Troika Dialog. “I think it is a genuine attempt to broaden the investor profile in Russia,” added Kevin Dougherty, a portfolio manager at Moscow’s Pharos. Others, however, pointed to failed past attempts by pro-reform forces in Russia to push through further sell-offs. Russia’s first wave of chaotic privatizations in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin resulted in major state oil and metals assets being sold for cheap to a group of well-connected businessmen, known in Russia as the oligarchs. Putin, who was Russia’s President between 2000 and 2008, has repeatedly criticized the sales and brought some of the assets back under state control, including through the bankruptcy of oil major YUKOS, whose oil fields were sold mostly to Rosneft at state-forced auctions. “It’s not a sensation and its only a draft. We’ve heard such talk before,” said VTB analyst Mikhail Galkin. The finance ministry confirmed it had
drawn up a shortlist of companies earmarked for privatization, but said it had yet to make a final decision. “Such a list exists, but it is only a proposal,” a representative of the ministry’s press service said. The ministry sources told Reuters on Saturday sales would include 27.1 percent in state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, 24.16 percent of Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, 24.5 percent of Russia’s No.2 bank VTB, 9.3 percent of largest lender Sberbank, 25 percent minus one share of rail monopoly RZhD. Other firms on the list include 28.11 percent of power grid FSK, 9.38 percent in hydro power generator RusHydro, 49 percent in mortgage agency AIZhK, 49 percent in agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank and 25 percent minus one share in shipping major SovComFlot. Moscow’s MICEX index jumped over 1 percent in early trade, but later pared gains to be up 0.5 percent by 0907 GMT. Transneft shares rose 7.4 percent. Investors said the company, which controls the biggest oil pipeline network in the world, was the most interesting of the assets and could have the biggest price-tag. “The big one is Transneft-it is potentially a very-very interesting asset. It is a huge profitable company that pays dividends,” said Kevin Dougherty, a portfolio manager at Moscow’s Pharos Fund, although he declined to speculate on who could buy it. The ruble hit its highest level versus the dollar since mid-May, but the boost was put down to rising oil prices and the need for companies to make local tax payments. The asset sale would be the biggest in Russia since the early 1990s, when a chaotic series of privatizations saw a oil and metal assets sold on the cheap to a small number of well-connected businessmen, now knows as the oligarchs. — Reuters
Sony likely bounced to black in first quarter TOKYO: Japan’s Sony is likely to have swung back to the black in the first quarter with operating profit reaching 30 billion yen ($340 million) due to aggressive cost-cutting, a report said yesterday. That would compare with a 25.7-billion-yen loss in the same April-June period last year and represent the first profit in two quarters, the Nikkei business daily reported ahead of official results on Thursday. Under chief executive and president Howard Stringer the Japanese company has been streamlining operations and cutting costs to trim back the sprawling group, which was battered by the glob-
al downturn. Plant consolidation and lay-offs saved the company more than 300 billion yen the previous fiscal year, making the company more resilient to blows such as the yen’s recent rise against the euro, the Nikkei said. Rebounding demand from China and other emerging companies helped lift sales of digital cameras, personal computers and video cameras, the report said. Liquid crystal display televisions also sold well, and Sony’s game and mobile phone divisions returned to profitability thanks to cost savings. Stringer has promised to reinvent Sony-the maker of the iconic Walkman-and the group
is revving up for the year-end holidays with the September launch of the “Move” motionsensing controller for PlayStation 3. The company is also banking on the mounting popularity of products that enable three dimensional viewing. In April it released a software update enabling the PS3 to support 3D games. Televisions showing 3D images went on sale in Japan last month. The company has also released a 3D camera and its film studio Sony Pictures is rolling out 3D movies. Shares in Sony closed flat in Tokyo yesterday, with earlier gains eroded by profit taking, dealers said. — AFP
TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Internet warriors hone skills at Black Hat: DefCon SAN FRANCISCO: Internet warriors are gathering this week to explore chinks in the armors of computers, bank teller machines, mobile phones, power grids, and other “smart” devices intrinsic to modern life. Black Hat USA kicks off in Las Vegas on Wednesday with briefings at which security professionals from technology firms including Microsoft and Cisco will dissect ways to safeguard or foil computers. Black Hat segues on Friday into DefCon, an infamous annual assembly of hackers that pride themselves on finding ways around computer defenses. Attendance at the events overlaps, with security pro-
fessionals and software rogues sharing insights in an irreverent setting that has become a recruiting ground for US law enforcement agencies. “Black Hat is a place where security researchers go to show off their work and get peer feedback,” said Jeff Moss, who founded and runs both gatherings. “DefCon is the fun stuff they don’t have time to do in their day jobs.” The packed roster of topics at Black Hat will include hacks that make automated teller machines spew cash and the vulnerability of nuclear power plants, chemical factories and other online systems. Hot trends are expected to include vulnerabilities of smartphones
along with how hackers, and the crime fighters trying to catch them, are adapting to programs hosted as services in the Internet “cloud.” “There is a continuing focus on ways the current Web works and how to attack that,” said Moss, whose hacker name is Dark Tangent. “Smartphones are a big target.” Attacks aimed at Internet browsers continue to grow as more aspects of people’s lives go online. Hackers are hiding malicious viruses in mini-applications, videos and other files to take advantage of the trust with which people share and download digital content. Tracks focused on cyber war, government technology policy, and
organized crime have been added this year. A “Chinese Cyber-army” presentation by the chief technology officer of Taiwan-based Armorize Technologies was yanked by the company, reportedly due to concerns it would anger Chinese officials. “That is a shame, because they had real numbers and these guys were going to really frame the size of the problem,” Moss said of the canceled presentation of data about China-backed hacking during the past decade. “This is the environment we are all living in. We’d better have our eyes open.” DefCon is “an order of magnitude cheaper” than Black Hat and notoriously attracts the kinds of
basement-dwelling computer savants portrayed as quirky geeks in Hollywood films. DefCon’s array of activities includes a lock picking village and a “capture the flag” contest to see who can break into a computer network and fend off rivals. A “social engineering” contest will challenge contestants to prove how adept they are at telephoning people at companies and talking them into revealing information that hackers could use to crack networks. “There is a lot of voodoo and mysticism around social engineering,” Moss said. “We are trying to clarify what works and what does-
n’t.” DefCon talks this year target the gamut of computerized gadgets and some unusual sessions, such one about how to “hack your own body.” “We like DefCon because it is a great forum for the right people,” said lock-busting expert Marc Tobias, who will show how top locks from a set of well-known companies can be popped in seconds. “Fingerprint locks, electromagnetic locks... all these guys are winning all kinds of awards and nobody wants to admit that Egyptian locks from four hundred years ago are more secure. Clever doesn’t mean secure.” Lock picking has natural appeal in the world of hackers, since getting hold of a computer can
make it easier to break into the machine. Even DefCon badges keep with the theme, bearing computer circuitry that can be turned into radios, light message boards or other gadgets by hackers clever enough to bend the hardware to their wills. So many national security officials speak or recruit at DefCon that the traditional game of “Spot the Fed” has been modified so that only hackers spotting a cop with a badge and actual arrest authority can win a T-shirt. Black Hat attendance is up 35 percent this year and DefCon, which doesn’t register people in advance, is expected to reflect a similar rise. —AFP
Publishers rage against Andrew Wylie’s ebook deal with Amazon Fear and loathing among the movers and shakers of America’s publishing industry have reached new heights with both Random House and Macmillan denouncing the literary agent Andrew Wylie’s move into digital publishing. Home to 700 authors and estates ranging from Philip Roth to John Updike, Jorge Luis Borges and Saul Bellow, the Wylie Agency shocked the publishing world yesterday when it announced the launch of Odyssey Editions. The initiative has been set up to sell ebook editions of modern classics - including Lolita, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Updike’s Rabbit tetralogy - exclusively via Amazon’s Kindle store, leaving conventional publishers out of the picture. The move provoked an immediate reaction from Random House, which publishes in print several of the authors involved with Odyssey Editions. The publisher fired off a letter to Amazon “disputing their rights to legally sell these titles”, which it said were “subject to active Random House publishing agreements”. It went further, threatening that “on a worldwide basis”, it “will not be entering into any new English-language business agreements with the Wylie Agency until this situation is resolved”. It said the agency’s decision to sell ebooks exclusively to Amazon “for titles which are subject to active Random House agreements undermines our longstanding commitments to and investments in our authors, and it establishes this agency as our direct competitor.” A Random House spokesman, Stuart Applebaum, told the Guardian that the severing of relations with Wylie would relate only to new book deals, while titles already in the pipeline would still go ahead. He accepted there was a risk involved for Random House, but argued that the stakes were higher for Wylie and his authors who would potentially lose a lucrative outlet for their work. “It is not a decision that Random House reached lightly, but one that is unanimously agreed by our senior publishing colleagues in the US, Canada and the UK,” Applebaum said. Wylie’s impressive client roster - which includes Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie as well as the estates of Hunter S Thompson, Norman Mailer and Evelyn Waugh - makes this a huge
step for Random House, but one the publisher clearly felt was necessary. At issue is who holds digital rights in older titles published before the advent of ebooks. Publishers argue that the ebook rights belong to them, and authors and agents respond that, if not specifically granted, the digital rights remain with the author. There is also a dispute over the royalty that should be paid for ebooks: authors believe they should be getting up to double the current standard rate of 25%, because ebooks are cheaper to produce than physical editions. As yet, none of the authors involved with Odyssey Editions have commented on the move, but Susan Cheever - whose father John Cheever’s stories are in the initiative - said he would have been “torn”. “He was a tremendously loyal man who famously stayed at the New Yorker even when they weren’t doing right by him,” she told the Associated Press. “He had very good feelings about Knopf and Random House, with good reason. But in principle, I’m all for writers getting the largest percentage possible for their work.” Macmillan’s US chief executive, John Sargent, hit out at Wylie’s move, saying he was “appalled” by the two-year deal with Amazon, which he felt “empowers the dominant player in the market to the detriment of their competitors and creates an unbalanced retail marketplace”. “It is an extraordinarily bad deal for writers, illustrators, publishers, other booksellers, and for anyone who believes that books should be as widely available as possible. This deal advantages Amazon, which already has the dominant share in this market,” Sargent wrote on his blog. “Independent booksellers across the country are making plans to launch their e-bookstores this fall. Now they will not have these books available and Amazon will.” Andrew Wylie could not be reached for comment by the Guardian today, but he told the New York Times he had been taken by surprise by Random House’s statement and had not yet decided how to respond. “I’m going to think about it a little bit,” he said. “We take it seriously, as do the authors we represent. This area of discussion and negotiation needs to be resolved.” —Guardian
TOKYO: Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto (L) and Audi Japan President Dominique Boesch (R) pose during a talk show in Tokyo yesterday. Audi Japan announced their ecological carbon offset project “-50 tons of CO2” in conjunction with Sakamoto’s Japanese public performances from November this year. —AFP
Technology fetishism is skin deep Our shallow obsession with gadgets disguises a conservatism where real change takes place at numbingly slow speed A milestone has been reached, a Rubicon crossed. With the news, announced on the Guardian’s front page on Wednesday, that ebook sales on Amazon have outstripped hardbacks for the first time, I have decided no longer to pay attention to hi-tech company marketing memos. That means
Android phone sales triple this year Sales of Android phones have risen by more than 300% from the beginning of 2010, with one in 10 contract handsets sold in the UK now running Google’s mobile operating system. Android’s share of the UK mobile contract market grew by 10.2 percentage points from the first quarter of 2010 to the second quarter, from 3% to 13.2%, new figures from retail watcher GfK show. From the beginning of 2010, most of the UK’s major mobile operators have started selling a number of hotly-anticipated mobile devices running Google’s Linux-based software. The HTC Desire and
HTC Legend are among other devices lauded by critics. Just last week, Samsung launched a direct marketing challenge to the Apple iPhone with its Android-powered Galaxy S device. Many mobile operators were unable to keep up with demand for the HTC Desire when it launched in the UK in April this year. HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer of many devices running Android, posted a 41% global sales increase for the first six months of 2010, with figures from April, May and June reflecting record sales, according to the company. In the same period,
mobile devices running “advanced” operating systems - defined as those able to run independent compatible applications grew in the contract market from 55% to 66.7%. Figures available from June show mobiles with advanced operating systems now representing 73.5% of the contract market. “The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name,” said GfK analyst Megan Baldock. “Operating systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right.” —Guardian
It’s not that such announcements aren’t sometimes genuine news. The latest Amazon press release, for example, does confirm an admittedly fairly widespread suspicion that when consumers buy overpriced shiny gadgets, they spend a certain amount of money using them. iPhone users download apps. iTunes users download songs. Kindle users download paid-for ebooks.. No one could deny that ebook readers are catching on. What surprises me, though, amid the endless “what format do you prefer?” real and e-navel gazing that goes on whenever someone says “ebook”, is how slow this catching on process is proving to be. ebooks are cheaper to produce, aren’t made out of trees, don’t take up space, don’t weigh anything, do fit in your pocket (as a whole library), can be viewed in a customisable font size, are easily annotated, readable in the dark, better, cleverer and better again. But still everyone says, oh I don’t know, surely real books are better because, oh I don’t know, you can read them in the bath. (To which the answer is yes, but you can’t get real books read aloud to you while you have a proper bath). What news stories like this really show is that the rampant technology fetishism, which runs like e-wildfire through our i-society, is really only skin-deep. To be sure, the fetishism is real enough, evidenced by the way in which our interest is so often more in the medium than its content. “What format do you read your newspapers in?” (not: “Did you read the news today?”). “Does your phone have a wide enough angle to take in the ceiling of the Sistine chapel?” (not: “The Sistine chapel’s ceiling is too much to take in in one go”). If the future develops along the lines being laid by the present, the question of the century won’t be: “Where were you when Barack Obama was assassinated?” but “Did you read about the dematerialisation of
that next time Mark Zuckerman converts another half billion users to Facebook, Jeff Bezos converts another half million words to Kindle ebook format, or Steve Jobs farts to the left - or will it be to the right this time? I won’t be reading.
ebooks have outsold hardbacks on Amazon, but the ‘catching-on’ process is still taking a while. —Guardian Steve Jobs on the iLavatory Mk 3.14 or Mk 3.14159265? Mk 3.1? Oh dear, you must be distraught?” But the reality is that these shallow obsessions disguise a simple, pervasive conservatism. Imagine if William Caxton had returned to Westminster with his new printing press and everyone had said: “What’s this newfangled nonsense? Hand-copied is much better - you really get the sense you’re getting something for your money. (And besides, what are you doing with this euro-tech? You can’t trust it you know.”) Sure, there will have been some moaning from the guild of copyists or some such, but you wouldn’t have caught Caxton printing questionnaires asking readers whether they like the new technology or not. It’s not just media technology, either. Can you imagine the architects of the great cathedrals trying to get planning permission
today, or even obtaining agreement on how best to honour the spirit of the past? Hagia Sophia was built in five years following the destruction of the fifth century church, yet it’s taken the architectural, engineering, design and financial might concentrated on Manhattan island nearly nine years to replace the fallen twin towers with this. We flatter ourselves with endless talk about living at the “cutting edge” in an era of “constant change” and “permanent technological revolution”. Most of the time, though, by conspiring to keep capacity at a set distance from potential, the progress implicit in the technological cycle of perpetual upgrading is an illusion we use to distract us from the numbingly slow speed at which real change actually takes place. How else do you explain that, over 80 years after women obtained equal voting
rights in this country, we still can’t get more than four of them round the cabinet table, or more than one woman for every nine men into our company board-
rooms? Still, at least we can read all about it on the latest iDespair format while waiting distractedly for society to upgrade itself. —Guardian
iPhone 4 coming to 17 more countries The iPad launch may come a bit late in some countries, but at least the iPhone 4 is arriving on schedule. According to a statement from Apple, the device will be available in 17 more countries this Friday, July 30. The countries are as follows: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The iPhone 4 is already available in France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the U.S., which brings the total number of countries where the device is available to 21. As far as other countries are concerned, Apple claims that the “iPhone 4 will roll out to many more countries later this year and Apple will announce availability and local pricing for these additional countries at a later date.” —Mashable
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Educated people cope better with dementia LONDON: Educated people are better able to cope with the physical effects of dementia, and even one extra year of education can significantly cut the risk of developing the brain-wasting disease, scientists said yesterday. The findings by scientists from Britain and Finland could have important implications for public health at a time when populations in many countries are rapidly ageing and dementia numbers are expected to rise sharply. The researchers found that people who go on to university or college after leaving
school appear to be less affected by the brain changes, or pathology, associated with dementia than those who stop education earlier. “More education is not associated with any differences in the damage to the brain, but people with higher education can cope with that damage better,” Hanna Keage from Cambridge University, who worked on the study with an Anglo-Finnish team, said in a telephone interview. Over the past decade, studies on dementia have shown that the more time you spend in education, the lower your risk
of dementia-but until now scientists had not known whether this was because education somehow protected the brain against damage, or because it made people better able to cope. In this study, published in the journal Brain, post-mortem examinations showed that the pathology, or changes, in the brain, were similar in those who were educated for longer and those who were not, but the disease’s affects on more educated people was mitigated by their greater ability to cope. Keage said this may be due to psycho-
logical strength, which might allow those with more education to think around problems presented by their disease or find ways to overcome them. It also found that for every extra year of education there was an 11 percent decrease in the risk of developing dementia. Around 35 million people around the world have dementia. Its most common form is Alzheimer’s disease, in which patients gradually lose their memory, their ability to understand the world and to look after themselves. Despite decades of research, doctors still have few effective
weapons against it. Developing ways of preventing dementia is becoming more and more important for governments worldwide as the number of dementia cases globally is expected to almost double every 20 years to 66 million in 2030 and over 115 million in 2050, and the cost of coping with the disease in ageing populations is forecast to rise dramatically in the coming decades. Keage’s team said that in the United States for example, if the onset of dementia could be delayed by two years in those aged over 50, there would be nearly two million fewer cases of
dementia over the next 40 years-a reduction that would also dramatically cut the projected economic costs of the disease. The scientists examined the brains of 872 people who were involved in three large European studies of ageing and who, before their deaths, had completed questionnaires about their education, when they left school and if they went to university. “Our study shows education in early life appears to enable some people to cope with a lot of changes in their brain before showing dementia symptoms,” Keage said. —Reuters
Device harnesses sniffing, breathing
Scientists use noses to help disabled write, surf, move WASHINGTON: Severely disabled people may soon be able to use their noses to w rite, drive a w heelchair or surf the Internet, thanks to a device developed and tested by doctors in Israel. The device harnesses sniffing-or breathing in and out through the nose-w hich involves the soft palate on the roof of the mouth, according to a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. The soft palate is controlled by cranial nerves which are “always very well conserved following severe injury,” Noam Sobel, a professor of neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and one of the lead authors of the study, told AFP. “That’s why eye blinks can be used to communicate with severely injured peoplebecause eye blinks are also controlled by cranial nerves,” Sobel said. Sobel worked with other scientists from the Weizmann Institute and the Sackler faculty of medicine at Tel Aviv University to develop a way to convert sniffs-which the device measures as nasal pressure-into electrical signals. Able-bodied individuals who tested the device, which consists of a small cannula, like the tubes used in hospitals to deliver oxygen to patients, that sits at the opening of the nostrils and is connected to a small pressure sensor, quickly learned to play computer games and write sentences by sniffing. Encouraged by the results in SABAH: This undated handout photo released by the Sabah Wildlife Department yesterday shows an the healthy trial participants, endangered hairy-nosed otter, taken by a remote camera, walking in a forest reserve in Malaysia’s the researchers decided to test Sabah state. —AFP their device on quadriplegics and “locked-in” individuals-people who are paralyzed but whose mental faculties remain intact. One, a woman who became locked-in following a stroke around seven months earlier, had to be retaught how to sniff. But within three weeks, she was able to use the sniff-controller to write. She “started KUALA LUMPUR: Asia’s most endan- for Sabah and shows once again how unique meat and traditional medicine. Its habitat writing with this device at once, gered otter, a species not seen in the wild in and fortunate we are in terms of wildlife and has also been hit by pollution and loss of initially answering questions Borneo for a decade, has been caught on nature,” Laurentius Ambu, Sabah Wildlife prey due to overfishing. and after a few days generated In 2008 Sabah launched a program to camera for the first time, conservationists Department director, said in a statement. her first post-stroke meaningful said yesterday. Researchers using camera “In addition, these findings also boost the study the state’s carnivores, including wild self-initiated communication traps photographed the elusive hairy-nosed conservation of this endangered otter inter- cats, civets, and otters. The project is being that entailed a profound, perotter in the Deramakot forest in Malaysia’s nationally as historically this otter was dis- carried out by the German-based Leibniz sonal message to her family,” Sabah state last year, but it took some time tributed throughout large parts of Southeast Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research with the study says. A man who had help from the Sabah Forestry Department. to confirm its identity. The otter had not Asia.” been locked-in for 18 years and The international environmental The forestry department said the discovery been seen in Sabah for a century. was only able to communicate The last specimen known in Borneo alliance, the International Union for the of the otter showed that long-term forest by blinking one eye was able to was an animal found killed by a car in 1997 Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has listed management was key to the “protection of write his name by sniffing within Brunei, the oil rich kingdom located on the hairy-nosed otter as endangered as it some of this country’s most threatened in 20 minutes of being fitted Borneo-a vast island also shared between clings to existence in pockets of Southeast species and of the unique biodiversity of the with the device. Malaysia and Indonesia. “This is great news Asia. It is most threatened by poaching for forests of Borneo.” —AFP And a quadriplegic woman with severe multiple sclerosis was able to write for the first time in 10 years, thanks to the sniff-controller. She also learned how to move a cursor on a computer screen by sniffing and now uses the device to surf the Internet and write emails, the study says. Ten quadriplegics who tested the device very quickly learned to use their noses to write words, open an Internet browser, and copy and paste words into a search engine. “This device allowed us to communicate with very severely disabled individuals, even with individuals who could not blink,” Sobel told AFP. “We had one patient who couldn’t blink at all and she sends us emails now by sniffing. That’s pretty moving,” he said. Encouraged by their success in helping severely disabled people to communicate, the researchers decided to push the envelope of the new technology and devised a code to allow an electric wheelchair to be driven by sniffs. Ten healthy people easily mastered sniff-driving a wheelchair through a maze and a 30-year-old man who had been paralyzed from the neck down for six years was as good a sniff-driver as the healthy participants by his second attempt, the study says. “In other words, a quadriplegic person could use the sniff controller to drive an TOKYO: Jackass Penguins keep cool under water shower at a zoo in Tokyo on Sunday. A heat wave electric wheelchair with high following a total of continued across Japan, marking 38.1 degrees centigrade in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, according to the precision only 15 minutes of practice,” Japan Meteorological Agency. —AFP the study says. —AP
Endangered otter caught on camera in Malaysia’s Borneo
LOUISIANA: In this June 27, 2010 photo, churchgoers sing during a service at Barataria Baptist Church in Lafitte, La Religious leaders who consider environmental protection a godly mission are making the Gulf of Mexico oil spill a rallying cry. —AP
Green religion movement hopes spill wins converts NEW ORLEANS: Religious leaders who consider environmental protection a godly mission are making the Gulf of Mexico oil spill a rallying cry, hoping it inspires people of faith to support cleaner energy while changing their personal lives to consume less and contemplate more. “This is one of those rare moments when you can really focus people’s attention on what’s happening to God’s creation,” said Walt Grazer, head of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. Activists in the movement often described as “green religion” or “eco-theology” are using blogs and news conferences to get the word out. Some are visiting the Gulf, inspecting oil-spattered wetlands and praying with idled fishermen and other victims. Believers in the stricken coastal regions are looking at the consequences of the oil’s reach and asking what good can come out of it. During worship services on a recent Sunday, pastor Eddie Painter of Barataria Baptist Church in the fishing village of Lafitte told his congregation a silver lining in the tragedy might be renewed government commitment to restoring the region’s battered coastal marshlands. “I actually didn’t think I would be as deeply affected as I was by seeing oil in the water, the birds with oil stains, the marsh grass that had turned a shiny brown,” said the Rev. Jim Ball of the Evangelical Environmental Network, who recently toured Louisiana’s Barataria Bay by boat. Another delegation came to New Orleans for an interfaith prayer service and tour. Participants included Jim Wallis of the progressive Christian group Sojourners and Rabbi David N. Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Both have served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Their appearance was coordinated by the Sierra Club, which has forged alliances with organized religion since its former director, Carl Pope, acknowledged in a 1997 speech that the environmental movement had erred by shunning such relationships. “Different people have credibility with different segments of the population,” said Lyndsay Moseley, the group’s Washington representative. “The oil spill is ultimately a matter of values, which for many people are rooted in deeply held religious beliefs.” Organizations including the National Council of Churches and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued statements urging soulsearching. Some are providing ecologically themed online resources , prayers, liturgy, scripture readings , for use in worship services. “We
have used God’s creation without regard for the impact our rapacity had on the other creatures with whom we share our earthly home,” reads a model prayer on the Council of Churches’ website. The push for an ecological Great Awakening since the oil spill began in April has come from liberals as well as theologically conservative groups such as the Evangelical Environmental Network. That group previously sponsored an ad campaign with the slogan “What Would Jesus Drive?” that promoted more fuel-efficient vehicles. In a resolution this month, the Southern Baptist Convention declared that humanity’s “God-given dominion over the creation is not unlimited, as though we were gods and not creatures” and called for “energy policies based on prudence, conservation, accountability and safety.” “Caring for creation is an extension of loving your neighbor as yourself,” said Russell Moore, dean of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, who wrote the statement. Disagreements persist, especially over public policies like climate-change legislation. Painter, the Lafitte preacher, criticized the Obama administration’s fight for a moratorium on offshore drilling, saying it would worsen unemployment in the struggling community. “I think we’re called to be good stewards of God’s creation,” said Painter, who also is a parttime crab fisherman. “But I have no patience with people who are using the situation to push a political agenda.” Some scholars say the religious response to the oil spill suggests at least an emerging agreement that environmental issues are fair game in houses of worship where they were long ignored. “Very few of the world’s religions were making any statements about the environment 20 years ago, and now virtually all of them have,” said Mary Evelyn Tucker, a historian of religion and founder of Yale University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology. “The challenge is to put them into practice.” Even people with no specific religious beliefs are recognizing a spiritual dimension in the Gulf tragedy and taking a deeper look at their energy use, Tucker said. “There is a yearning for meaning and purpose and being able to contribute to something larger than ourselves,” she said. The disaster may help replace longstanding divisions based on dogma or culture with “a new kind of consensus that isn’t liberal or conservative, left or right, but focuses on stewardship of creation, care for the poor and accountability for corporate leaders,” Wallis said. —AP
Pollution makes quarter of China water unusable BEIJING: Almost a quarter of China’s surface water remains so polluted that it is unfit even for industrial use, while less than half of total supplies are drinkable, data from the environment watchdog showed yesterday. Inspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection tested water samples from the country’s major rivers and lakes in the first half of the year and declared just 49.3 percent to be safe for drinking, up from 48 percent last year, the ministry said in a notice posted on its website (www.mep.gov.cn). China classifies its water supplies using six grades, with the first three grades considered safe for drinking and bathing. Another 26.4 percent was said to be categories IV and V- fit only for use in industry and agriculture-leaving a total of 24.3 percent in category VI and unfit for
any purpose. Despite tougher regulations over the last decade, the ministry has struggled to rein in the thousands of small paper mills, cement factories and chemical plants discharging industrial waste directly into the country’s waterways, and the overuse of fertilizers has also left large sections of China’s lakes and rivers choking with algae. The ministry said there were noticeable improvements in air quality throughout the country’s cities in the first half of 2010, with sulphur dioxide emissions declining 30.2 percent compared to last year. Airborne particulate matter in China’s cities fell 12.1 percent and nitrogen dioxide declined 5 percent, the ministry said. However, 189 out of 443 cities monitored suffered from acid rain in the first half of the year. —Reuters
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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In Arctic, scientists see dire effect of ocean acidification NY-AALESUND: The icy Arctic waters around Norway’s archipelago of Svalbard may seem pristine and clear, but like the rest of the world’s oceans they are facing the threat of growing acidity. Oceans have always absorbed part of the carbon dioxide, or C02, present in the air, which in turn makes them acid. But with CO2 levels soaring, the scientific community is getting worried about acidification harming marine life. Off the coast of Ny-Aalesund, a tiny coal mine village turned scientific outpost just 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the North Pole, researchers from nine European countries conducted in July an unprecedented effort to analyse the phenomenon. To do so, they submerged nine tubes, each weighing two tonnes and the height of two double-decker busses, in the icy waters of the remote fjord framed by snow-capped mountains. They then injected the water-tight tubes, called mesocosms, with CO2, to reproduce sea life under different acidity levels expected from now until 2150 with the aim of studying the potentially disastrous effects of acidification on marine life. “It’s here in the Arctic that the ocean will become corrosive the fastest,” Jean-Pierre
With CO2 levels soaring, scientific community getting worried Gattuso, with France’s National Center for Scientific Research, said, explaining why the researchers chose to turn these waters thick with icy slush into a laboratory. The threat to the world’s oceans is not so much the absolute concentration of acidity, but rather the pace at which it is changing, Gattuso explained, pointing out that “cold water swallow up gas faster than hot or temperate water.” Oceans absorb more than a quarter of the CO2 emitted by humans, which in one way is fortunate since this natural absorption mitigates the impact the gas has on the climate. However the soaring levels of manmade CO2 in the atmosphere are proving devastating to the oceans themselves: since the beginning of the industrial era they have become 30 percent more acidic, reaching an acidity peak not seen in at least 55 million years, scientists say. And with no sign of CO2 emissions slowing down, ocean acidification will likely keep increasing in the decades to come. This is especially worrisome since higher acidity levels have been shown to sharply slow calcification in corals, shellfish
NY-ALESUND: IFM Geomar scientists take samples of water from large floating contraptions, used to predict the acidity in the oceans, sit offshore the scientific outpost of Ny-Alesund on June 3, 2010. — AFP
and other species. Corals, a source of rich biodiversity that prevents land area from being submerged and draws much-needed tourists to some of the world’s poorest corners, might thus have trouble shaping their skeletons, while shellfish could lose their shells. Ulf Riebesell, a German oceanographer, said not all sea creatures were equal in their ability to adapt to their increasingly acid environment. “For micro-organisims which have generation times of a few days, adaptation may happen during the next 100 years or so as the ocean continues to acidify to critical levels,” explained the researcher from the IFM-Geomar centre, braving glacial winds in a bright yellow padded windbreaker and a woolen hat. But for organisms with long life spans, like corals, “adaptation is much less likely because they need so many generations to change their genetic set-up,” Riebesell said. Scientists caution the current frantic increase of seawater acidity is already causing serious problems for the pteropod, a sort of sea snail vital for the Arctic food chain. The tiny, translucent mollusc could end up naked in
the near future, unable to shape its shell in an increasingly acid environment, explained Jan Buedenbender, another German researcher from the IFM-Geomar institute. This could have far-reaching consequences, he warned. “They’re a key species for the Arctic food system because they’re feeding on very small particles and on phytoplankton, and they’re getting quite big and really big animals like whales and birds and fish can feed on them,” he explained. They are also key because their shell contributes to fighting climate change, since it helps the sea snail sink to the bottom when it dies, dragging down all the CO2 ingested over its short lifespan. By doing so “they’re helping the ocean take up more CO2,” Buedenbender said. There is still a chance to save species like the pteropod, according to Iris Menn, a marine biologist with Greenpeace which shipped the giant test-tubes up to Svalbard. But there is no easy solution. To make a difference, industrialized countries will have to slash their CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2020, she said. “We can’t stop the trend anyway. We will have a high level of acidity in the water no matter what,” she said. “But what we can do is stop CO2 emissions, so the effect will be reduced.” — AFP
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Tursday, July 27, 2010
Surgery center targeting teens for gastric bands The controversies swirling around NYU’s influential bariatric surgery center-as well as its two top surgeons- have done little to ease concerns. An investigation by the New York State Department of Health in 2006 found that Fielding falsified data on Vincent Esposito, a 14-year-old boy who was part of the FDA-authorized study that was looking at the use of the device in obese teens. A week after Esposito’s Lap-Band surgery, he developed an infection with an abscess-a common complication with gastric bandingand returned to the NYU facility, where Fielding performed an appendectomy. The investigation by New York health authorities determined there was no evidence of appendicitis, according to the report. “They told me I was a ticking bomb,” Esposito had told the Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland in 2007, referring to his obesity. Reached by telephone, his father said his son was “fine” and that they are being represented by an attorney and declined to comment. NYU also declined to comment. In its response to the NYDH report, the university maintained no wrongdoing, saying “the surgeon probably misinterpreted his opera-
tive findings.” In a statement at the time, the school added, “...we are persuaded that he assumed that the infection did not begin in the gastric band device.” The response and NYU’s plan to correct the issues were accepted by state regulators. In the NYSHD report, Fielding was also cited for failing to address a post-operative patient’s persistent lack of urine output. The patient went into cardiac arrest and died 36 hours later. This was the death that alarmed Pal and led her to warn patients. The same report said the program director, Ren, had permitted two surgeons to practice without the appropriate licenses, in violation of the law. For four months, the unlicensed physicians “performed multiple surgical procedures, made pre- and post-op assessments, and wrote orders to be carried out by nursing staff,” the report said. After Ren learned she was being investigated by an internal committee, she went back and removed the name of the unlicensed surgeon from the operative report, according to court testimony. She was found to have committed professional misconduct and received a letter of reprimand that was
put in her file for a year. Fielding, who got a gastric band himself in 1999, is from Australia, where he left behind multiple personal injury lawsuits, most of which have been settled. Dr Robert “Skip” Nelson, a pediatric ethicist at FDA, said he had no specific knowledge about the incident at NYU Medical Center. If the agency did learn that an investigator has entered false data, he said, there would be an investigation. He added that if the FDA doubted the integrity of the data, they would not be considered in the decision-making process. An investigator, as doctors who run clinical trials are called, could also be disqualified as a result. Despite the reports of misconduct, the NYU Langone Weight Management Program has retained its status as a “Center of Excellence,” a designation conferred by the Surgical Review Corp, an entity created by the American Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery. Surgical Review Corp CEO Gary Pratt said that he was unaware of the incidents and the NYSHD report. He said the corporation’s reviews maintain the highest standards with the goal of advancing the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery.
The company intends to put out a new list of approved bariatric clinics that treat teens later this year-which may coincide with the FDA granting approval, or not. If the FDA does greenlight it, insurers would be more likely to pay for the procedure, which costs the insured patient $2,000 to $4,000. The uninsured, making up about a third of patients who have the surgery in the United States, pay about $15,000 for the surgery. Some health professionals worry that band manufacturers will target teens with direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads on television and radio or in subway stations that have proven effective at luring people to doctors’ offices. The FDA said there is no guidance or regulation on DTC ads to young users. For Allergan, based in Irvine, California, the implications are significant. And the company is acting accordingly. It recently launched a campaign with bariatric surgeons to invite their patients to enter an essay contest and win a chance to go to Washington, D.C. to “share their personal stories with legislators and media.” Allergan has seen its stock underperform
the S&P 500 year to date. Botox remains its key product and has weathered increased competition amid the recession, while obesity intervention was hit hardest by the economy. At the same time, Lap-Band has also been slowly losing market share to Johnson & Johnson’s competing device called Realize. In 2009, Allergan’s obesity products generated revenue of $258 million, down 13 percent from 2008. Management is betting that continued investment in direct-to-consumer advertising will stimulate growth in the obesity segment, said Gleacher & Co analyst Amit Hazan. He estimates there will be 83,500 gastric band procedures in the United States in 2010, up 6 percent from 2009. Sanford Bernstein analyst Aaron Gal said FDA approval of the Lap-Band for teens could increase sales by as much as $20 million for Allergan. Even critics of gastric band surgery acknowledge that there are few good solutions to adolescent obesity. It is a mounting problem, affecting nearly 1 in 5 American teens, and many doctors believe that it should be addressed sooner rather than
later when other health problems can develop. Some experts are wary but believe the benefits may outweigh the potential harm. “My conclusion is that it makes sense to intervene sooner because surgery can head off other related problems. Kids are better surgical risks, but the downside is that I suspect most teenagers are doing it less for health and more for social and psychological reasons,” said Dr. Jeffrey Zitsman, who is leading an independently funded teen study at Columbia University. Those who do it out of vanity, he cautioned, may have a harder time. “When health reasons don’t motivate them,” he said, “sometimes there are compliance issues.” Yet, Dr Robert Murray, director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, argues that the heavy psychological problems obese teens carry should not be ignored. “They’ve been teased out of school, they have social issues, many are depressed, and their quality of life is equal to that of a kid with cancer,” he said. “If you get them at 14 and reverse weight and health problems, they’ve got a shot at a normal life.”—AFP
Nuclear experts seek to advance fusion project Work to start at test reactor site MARSEILLE: An explosion in costs has cast a cloud over a multi-billiondollar nuclear fusion project aiming to make the power that fuels the sun a practical energy source on Earth. Delays, rocketing costs and financing
problems have hit the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) whose consortium members start a meeting today aiming to get the project back on course.
DHAKA: A Royal Bengal tiger rests in an enclosure at the zoo in Dhaka yesterday. International Tiger Day is celebrated all over the world to raise awareness, funds and action for tiger conservation. —AFP
Costs of animal disease outbreaks rising steeply ROME: Urbanisation and growing demand for animal products in developing countries are causing the potential costs of animal disease outbreaks to rise steeply, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said yesterday. “We are expecting the costs to human, animal and plant health of these pathogens, and their overall economic costs, to rise substantially over the next decades,” Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer said in a statement. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, urban areas are sprawling closer to intensive farming operations, while at the same time, the con-
sumption of animal products is on the rise. More than 21 billion animals were raised for food in 2008, a figure that FAO believes by 2020 will grow by more than half, as demand for animal products rises in East Asia and other parts of the world. “The threats are very real. Deadly and economically devastating livestock epidemics have existed throughout history but there is no doubt that more pathogens are emerging - and spreading,” Lubroth said. The 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom cost between 25 billion and 30 billion dollars (between 19 billion and 23 billion euros),
while the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS cost China, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore between 30 and 50 billion dollars, FAO said. “Governments could save billions of dollars by stepping up the prevention and control of high impact animal diseases, some of which pose a direct threat to human health,” FAO said. Along with the World Health Organisation, FAO has launched and is seeking funding for a fiveyear initiative aimed at detecting and fighting animal disease outbreaks with particular emphasis in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.—AFP
Medical device problems hurt 70,000 kids annually CHICAGO : More than 70,000 children and teens go to the emergency room each year for injuries and complications from medical devices, and contact lenses are the leading culprit, the first detailed national estimate suggests. About one-fourth of the problems were things like infections and eye abrasions in contact lens wearers. These are sometimes preventable and can result from wearing contact lenses too long without cleaning them. Other common problems found by researchers at the US Food and Drug Administration include puncture wounds from hypodermic needles breaking off in the skin while injecting medicine or illegal drugs; infections in young children with ear tubes; and skin tears from pelvic devices used during gynecological exams in teen girls. Malfunction and misuse are among possible reasons; the researchers are working to determine how and why the injuries occurred and also are examining the prevalence in adults. Those efforts might result in FDA
device warnings, depending on what they find, said study co-author Dr. Brock Hefflin. The most serious problems involved implanted devices such as brain shunts for kids with hydrocephalus (water on the brain); chest catheters for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at home; and insulin pumps for diabetics. Infections and overdoses are among problems associated with these devices. Only 6 percent of patients overall had to be hospitalized. Dr. Steven Krug, head of emergency medicine at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, said the study highlights a trade-off linked with medical advances that have enabled chronically ill children to be treated at home and live more normal lives. Home care can be challenging for families; Krug says he has seen children brought in because catheters were damaged or became infected. “Health care providers need to be aware of these kids and their devices and how to recognize or diagnose” related problems, Krug said. He was not involved in the study.
The study appears in Pediatrics, published online yesterday. Hefflin and lead author Dr Cunlin Wang work in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. They note there has been recent concern about medical device safety in children, particularly since many devices intended for adults are used in children. The researchers analyzed medical records from ER visits reported in a national injury surveillance system. Based on data from about 100 nationally representative hospitals, they estimated that 144,799 medical device-related complications occurred during 2004 and 2005, or more than 70,000 yearly. Almost 34,000 problems were linked with contact lenses in the two-year period. The rest were scattered among 12 other categories including general medical devices such as needles and catheters, gynecology devices and heart devices. Hefflin said the study is the first to evaluate device-related injuries in children only. It did not include device problems in already hospitalized children.—AP
ITER was set up by the European Union, which has a 45-percent share, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States to research a clean and limitless alternative to dwindling fossil fuel reserves by testing nuclear fusion. Work is to start at the test reactor site at Cadarache in southern France next month, but the cost now worries many members. The total estimated bill for the EU, the main backer, has doubled to 7.2 billion euros (9.2 billion dollars), with the overall cost now reckoned to be around 15 billion euros. The meeting today and tomorrow in Cadarche of ITER’s council members marks the start of the construction phase and comes after the EU pledged to pump in extra funds to keep the project going. The European Commission, the EU executive arm, this month offered to fork out an extra 1.4 billion euros to fulfil Europe’s commitment to the project, but this needs the approval of EU member states. ITER’s administrative headquarters and two buildings housing equipment will be the first to be started. This week’s meeting is also expected to name Japanese physicist Osamu Motojima as ITER’s new boss, to replace his compatriot Kaname Ikeda. Launched in 2006 after years of debate, the scheme aims to build a testbed to see whether fusion, so far achieved in a handful of labs at great cost, can be a feasible power source. Nuclear fusion entails forcing together the nuclei of light atomic elements in a super-heated plasma, held in a doughnutshaped chamber called a tokamak, so that they make heavier elements and in so doing release energy. ITER’s council decided last November to abandon its goal of 2018 to obtain the first plasma, and in March it said November 2019 was its new target. ITER is designed to produce 500 megawatts of power for extended periods, 10 times the energy needed to keep the energy-generating plasma-a form of radioactive gas-at extremely high temperatures. It will also test a number of key technologies for fusion including the heating, control and remote maintenance that will be needed for a full-scale fusion power station. Preliminary trials would use only hydrogen. Key experiments using tritium and deuterium that can validate fusion as a producer of large amounts of power would not take place until 2026. The process of nuclear fusion, used by the sun and other stars, would be safe and have negligible problems of waste, say its defenders. In contrast, nuclear fission, which entails splitting the nucleus of an atom to release energy, remains dogged by concerns about safety and dangerously radioactive long-term waste. If ITER is a success, the next step would be to build a commercial reactor, a goal likely to be further decades away.—AFP
US program involves whole family to tackle child obesity DENVER: Zachary had always been a big child but when he turned 10, his weight started to rise rapidly and he stopped going outside to play. His parents, who had thought Zachary would “grow into his weight,” become concerned as their son seemed to lose his zest for life and any interest in taking part in anything active. This led his mother, Leslie Frantzen, to sign Zachary up to a 10-week weight program at The Children’s Hospital in Denver called the Shapedown Program which teaches not just the child but also the parents about nutrition, the emotional side of eatingand that exercise can be fun. “Like many families, we have had our share of struggles and trials in life. Zachary has always been our “sensitive” child. He internalized these life challenges more than we realized,” Leslie Frantzen told Reuters. “I always knew that I turned to food to “self-medicate” but I had no idea that children do that, too ... Shapedown has helped us, as parents, know how to validate Zach’s feelings and how to help him understand them and work through them.” Since signing onto the program in March, Zachary has lost about six pounds, trimming down from 134 pounds, and seen a 6.4 percent decrease in his body mass index (BMI) which measures body fatness based on a person’s weight and height. “Moe importantly, Zach’s moods have improved dramatically. He smiles more! He is motivated and excited about life again. He helps our family remember what is healthy,” said Frantzen. Zachary is one of about 200 children referred by their pediatrician every year to attend the Shapedown Program which has a non-diet approach to weight management. The program aims to teach families how to make healthier food choices as part of a drive against rising obesity rates in the United States, a cause taken up by First Lady Michelle Obama. The program also
includes two years of individual followup after the course to reinforce the changes a family makes to its lifestyle. Marilyn Day, who runs the Shapedown Program at the hospital, said this program was different because it involved the whole family and addressed issues like self-esteem. “The concerns are for a child’s emotional health, such as weight-teasing and discrimination, and for physical health, including high blood pressure, high blood fats, pre-diabetes, difficulty breathing during sleep, orthopedic problems, and many other medical issues,” Day told Reuters. Obesity is one of the biggest health challenges facing the United States with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating 15 percent of American children are obese or overweight. In some states this figure is above 30 percent. Obese children are more likely to be saddled with risk factors associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes and they are much more likely to be obese as adults. The Garcia-Villanueva family were referred to Shapedown when their six-year-old daughter Fernanda developed a snoring problem that the doctor believed was due to being overweight. Fernanda has since lost weight and it has changed her attitude and that of her family who has given up Internet access as a way to cut back on screen time. “Fernanda is more confident and now takes more pride in her appearance. She wants to be active and go outside to play and exercise,” said her mother Areli Villanueva. “She loves swimming and dancing. Before ... she was content to sit and watch movies all day.” Fernanda’s mother said it was key that the whole family was involved to help her daughter get her weight under control. “Working together as a family makes a big difference,” she told Reuters.—Reuters
WASHINGTON: Two 8-week-old Sumatran tigers cubs hide under their mother, Jaya, during their public debut Friday at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. The cubs, born on May 25, will be on exhibit intermittently with their mother Jaya startling Friday, July 23. —AP
WHATʼS ON IN KUWAIT
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Al Mahara Tent at the Movenpick during the holy month of Ramadan
Embassy information
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EMBASSY OF US
njoy a traditional Ramadan atmosphere in our elegant and glass-fronted Al Mahara tent. A
rich variety of Arabic and Western cuisines with live stations, complemented by true Swiss hospitality will
be available for our guests during the holy month of Ramadan. The wide range of delicacies on the Iftar Buffet, prepared for you by our International Chefs, is available for only 9.50 KD +10% service charge per person starting daily at sunset. The buffet includes cold salads & mezzes, fatayer & sambousek, mix grill, Oriental sweets to name just few of the dishes on offer. In addition to Oud and Tambourine players as well as Shisha to compliment the Arabic setting. The Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a Kuwait has teamed up this year with Etihad Airways to offer its guests a very rewarding and unforgettable Ramadan experience. Plenty of prizes can be won every day such as tickets to destinations around the World from Etihad Airways, amazing trips to Turkey including airfare and several nights at the exquisite Movenpick Hotel Istanbul, free OMRA complemented by free stay at
the Movenpick Hotel & Residence Hajjar Tower Makkah and much more. Our aim is ‘to offer our guests a complete Ramadan experience at the Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a Kuwait’ said the General Manager of the hotel, Gary Moran. Ramadan Kareem and we look forward to serving you this Ramadan. For more information or bookings, please call: 22253100 extensions 5444 or 5445 Banqueting offers: When it comes to celebrating the special occasions, few venues compare with the stunning setting of Al Mahara tent at the Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a Kuwait. With it s beach location and glass front providing breathtaking sea views, Al Mahara tent will continue to be the ideal host for seminars, product launches, social gatherings and events of all kinds during the holy month of Ramadan. For more information and bookings please call: +965 22 25 31 00 ext 5610.
Beldani restaurant: Throughout Ramadan Beldani restaurant will be open daily from sunset until midnight. Visit Beldani restaurant during the month of Ramadan to experience a ‘world of seafood’, it is also the perfect setting for a sheesha, enjoying the breathtaking seaside atmosphere. For more information and bookings please call: +965 22 25 31 00 Veranda Café: During the holy month of Ramadan Veranda, cafÈ will be open daily from sunset until 1 am. Enjoy with your friends and your family members fresh brewed coffees, fresh juices, light snacks and mouth-watering cakes at the Veranda lobby cafÈ, which offers a truly soothing ambiance during the holy month of Ramadan. For more information and bookings please call: +965 22 25 31 00
Bangladesh United Media organizes public reception PABAK tourney: The PABAK organizing committee would like to announce the opening of the PABAK/Western Union 24th Conference Basketball Tournament in the second week of August 2010. Registration in the following categories: Open 5’9” & under, non-leaguers, veterans and inter-company, is now going on at the Kuwait Sports Club for the Disabled gym in Hawally every Friday, through email at: rodcerezo@yahoo.com; or call: 6668954. Early entries: IKEA, Kuwait Cement Co, Wataniya AW, Unisteel, POLO and Caboria Restaurant. ✦✦✦
Dar Al-Athar survey: Dear friend, we would like to know your opinion for DAI workshops to he held during the upcoming 16th Cultural Season (2010-2011). To make a difference click on the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/ Please note that your responses will remain completely anonymous. Thank you for taking part in our survey. Wishing you happy summer holidays looking forward to see you during the 16th Cultural Season. Latest issue of Canvas is available in the Museum Shop. Dar Al-Athar Al-lslamiyyah. Please note the new summer timings for Al-Maidan Cultural Centre urea 9:00-15 hours Sunday through Thursday. AlMaidan Cultural Centre Abdullab Al-Salem School, Maidan Hawally, near Al-Sha’ab Leisure Park. Tel: 25636528 /25636561; Fax: 25653006; Email: membership@darrnuseuimorg.kw; Website: www.darmuseum.org.kw
angladesh United media group gave a public reception to A S M Abdur Rab a gallant freedom tighter and ex-state minister of Bangladesh, during his visit in the State of Kuwait. The reception was held at three star Ceasers hotel on 2nd July 2010 and it was presided over by Nek Mohammed president of the Media group, Khabar bureau chief, and editor of Shaymol Bangla. Visiting dignitary A S M Abdur Rab was the chief guest. Ataul Gani mamun a renowned organizer and businessman, Md Abdur Rauf Mawla Senior Vice president of the United Media groupKuwait and editor of monthly Marulekha, Hasan Waris a renowned businessman, Mohammed Hossain a renowned businessman, Z·far Ahmed chowdhury a renowned businessman and organizer, Zalal; Ahmed chunnu mullah a renowned businessman and organizer, Shahzamal
B
Khondoker president of Bangladesh Kuwait manpower employment businessmen association, Sahabuddin Managing director of Asian Golden air cargo group of industries were the special guests. Selim Reza had brilliantly presented the program. All speakers in the reception meet-
ing gracefully remembered the contribution of gallant freedom fighter A S M Abdur Rab in the emergence of independent Bangladesh under leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman, and heartily welcomed him in Kuwait. In this thanking speech Rab expressed his satisfaction and gratitude to the expatriates for their contri-
bution to the national economy. He urged all expatriate Bengali to work as an honorary consul in abroad for Bangladesh and refrain from doing anything that tarnish our national pride and honor here. The ex-state minister also claimed credits for all that was good in his tenure of public office and had blamed the successive governments for
failures as he termed. Nek Mohammed President of the united media groupKuwait and Khabor bureau chief welcomed the distinguished guest in Kuwait and thanked him for his stand on behalf of the repatriated Bengali expatriate from the region during the 2nd Gulf war. Also he highlighted the ongoing success of the united media group in depending the expatriate worker’s interest abroad and urged the community leaders to extend their all out support for the Media group. Among the journalistsSharif Mizanur Rahaman editor of the Madiner Pathe, Sheikh Ehsanul Haque Khokan news editor of Shayamal Bangla, Karnal Ahmed Jmtiaz Ajker Sutjodoy bureau chief incharge, Masud Karim editor of Swadesh, Mainuddin Sumon representative of website Probasi Voice.com were also among notable presence in the reception.
July 27 Aware Diwaniya: The Aware Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya about, ‘Islam between culture and religion,’ by Dr Ibrahim Al-Adsani. The Arab culture. as is the case in any culture, dominates the lives of Arabs. Culture and religion are often confused, and this confusion is quite apparent to people who are new in Kuwait. In his 25 minute presentation, Dr Ibrahim will shed some light on some practices which many non-Muslims deem Islamic yet they are cultural. The presentation will be followed by a general discussion. You are all welcome at the AWARE Center on July 27 at 7 pm. For more information, call 25335260/80 or email: Htaware.hassan@gmail.com or log onto:www.aware.com.kw July 28 UPW to mark anniversary: Unity Prayer Warriors - Tamil Prayer Group (UPWTamil), is celebrating their 3rd anniversary with Special Guest Speaker from India. The well known Preacher Pastor Joyson, Asst President of AG Pentacostal churches in Kanya Kumai Dist, Tamil Nadu, will serve message and prayers on following meetings: Convention: Monday (June 28) - Tamil Full Gospel Church, NECK Tuesday (June 29) - Mangaf- [PC Hall Baptism Service Thursday (July 1) - UPW Hall, Abbasiya Join hands with us in regular prayers to stand in the gap for unity among all Tamil churches and to reach the un-reached in Kuwait and in India. 1) Fasting Prayer - Last Friday - Mass Auditorium, Abbasiya 2) Chain Prayer - Third Friday - for all your prayer needs 3) Worship Service - Thursdays Evening 7-9 pm Abbasiya For other programs of pastor and other prayer needs call: 97927436, 66025668 and 66429708. August 5 Alvernaz-Lalush Memorial Trophy: Navelim Youth Centre (NYC) will organize the Alvernaz-Lalush Memorial Trophy 7aside football tournament on Aug 5 and 12, 2010 in Kuwait. The entire tournament is sponsored by Churchill Brothers, Goa. Draw of the tournament will be held on Friday, July 30 at Little India Restaurant, Salmiya. The first and second round of the tournament will be played on Aug 5 while the quarter-final stage onwards will be played on Aug 12. All games will be held at Surra Stadium, Block 2, Street 5, of the 4th ring road. Matches will begin from 6:30 pm onwards and wind up by 10 pm. The tournament under the leadership of NYC President Agnello A S Fernandes promises a festivity of football for players and spectators as it is played under floodlights and on International standard 7-aside grounds and rules. In case of matches ending in a draw there will be 5 penalty shoot-outs for each team. It may be noted that last year Navelim organized a grand tournament that included 18 teams. For more details please contact the tournament coordinators at 99671107, 99502686, 99469782 or 66515418.
KCICO holds a get-together
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CICO (Kuwait Chittagong Integrated) (PTY) Co organized a get-together party for Honorable director of KCICO Shafiqur Rahman and Saidul Houque on the occasion of their annual leave to Bangladesh at Gulshan Hotel Ballroom on July 19, 2010. The Event was presided over by Chairman of KCICO and President of Chittagong Samity Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury. All the Directors of KCICO along with many local community leader and Salim Reza, Masood karim, Mohd. Jashim Uddin, Morshed Alam Badel, Tawhidul lslam(Harun), Abdul Mannan(sandipi), Mohd Yousuf, Tawhidul Alam CHowdhury, Abdul Samad, Jamal uddin, Abul kalam, Salim, Anjuman Ara Begum, Mafizur Rahman, Omar Faruk Nahid, Muzammal Houque. Also representative from local media and Reporter group was present at this get together. A Crest was given to Shafiqur Rahman and Saidul Houque for their service rendered with KCICO. The gathering was concluded with participants offering their best wishes, prayers for them throughout their holiday.
Reception held for AFMI by FIMA
“E
ducation is the key for the progress and development of any community” said Ajai Malhotra - ambassador of Indian, Kuwait. He was inaugurating the reception held for American Federation of Muslim of Indian origin (AFMI) by Federation of Indian Muslim Associations (FIMA). Dr Nakadar, founder and trustee of AFMI stressed strongly on the importance of education and said that no community, society or country anywhere in the world could ever progress with a humane face to lead a dignified life without adoring itself with the jewels of education. He emphasized the necessity of girl-child/women
education, parents awareness towards education, value-based education and quality education. Dr Nakadar also made a detailed presentation explaining the philanthropic activities of AFMI in US and India. In his part, Dr Shakir Mukhi, AFMI trustee and human rights commissioner of Nassau County, New York said that the no one can deny opportunity anywhere in the world if you are equipped with necessary qualification, knowledge and experience and we should not blame others for our failures. Ali Qureshi, AFMI trustee and former Indian Army officer elaborated the need for encouraging the students and teachers by giving rewards and recogni-
tions. In addition provide financial assistance to poor students we should also recognize the students who secure high scores. This will motivate others to come up and work hard
to achieve excellent results. The program started with recitation of versus from holy Qur’an by FIMA treasurer Muneer and presided by FIMA president Siddeeque
Valiyakath. Secretary General Mohammed Masoud welcomed the participants and the function concluded with vote of thanks by joint secretary Dr Naeemuddin.
The United States Department of State announces the increase in various visa fees to ensure sufficient resources to cover the increasing cost of processing nonimmigrant visas (NIVs). US law requires the Department to recover the cost of processing nonimmigrant visas through the collection of the application fees. The increased fees are to take effect June 4, 2010. Under the new rule, applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, will pay a fee of $140. Applicants for petition-based visas will pay an application fee of $150, as each of the below categories requires a review of extensive documentation and a more in-depth interview of the applicant than other categories, such as tourists. These categories include: H visa for temporary workers and trainees L visa for intra-company transferees O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors R visa for religious occupations The application fee for K visas for fiance(e)s of US citizens will be $350. The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors will be $390. EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India has further revamped and improved its Legal Advice Clinic at the Indian Workers Welfare Center, and made the free service available to Indian nationals on all five working days, i.e. from Sunday to Thursday every week. Kuwaiti lawyers would be available at the Legal Advice Clinic daily from Monday to Thursday, while Indian lawyers would be available on Sundays. Following are the free welfare services provided at the Indian Workers Welfare Center located at the Embassy of India: [i] 24x7 Helpline for Domestic Workers: Accessible by toll free telephone no. 25674163 from anywhere in Kuwait, it provides information and advice exclusively to Indian domestic sector workers (Visa No. 20) as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. [ii] Help Desk: It offers guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal, and other issues (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iii) Labour Complaints Desk: It registers labor complaints and provides grievance redressal service to Indian workers (Embassy premises; 9 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4.30 PM, Sunday to Thursday); (iv) Shelters: For female and male domestic workers in distress; (v) Legal Advice Clinic: Provides free legal advice to Indian nationals (Embassy premises; Kuwaiti lawyers 3 PM to 5 PM, Monday to Thursday; Indian lawyers 2 PM to 4 PM on Sunday); and (vi) Attestation of Work Contracts: Private sector worker (Visa No. 18) contracts are accepted at the Embassy; 9 AM to 1 PM; Sunday to Thursday; Domestic sector worker (Visa No. 20) contracts are accepted at Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO), Hawally, Al-Othman Street, Kurd Roundabout, Al-Abraj Complex, Office No 9, Mezzanine Floor; 9 AM to 9 PM, Saturday to Thursday; 5 PM to 9 PM on Friday. EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to invite all Nigerians residing in Kuwait to come and register with the Embassy. The registration is compulsory for all Nigerians residing /visiting Kuwait. Kindly bring the following documents along with you: • A photocopy of the Nigerian passport • One passport photograph • Copy of the civil identification card or visa For additional information please call: 25620278 or visit the Embassy at Block, 4, Malik Bin Anas Street, Avenue 44, House 31, Along Al-Aqsa Road, Rumaithiya. The Consular Section opens Sunday - Thursday from 9 am - 3 pm Your prompt response is highly solicited. EMBASSY OF BANGLADESH Bangladesh Embassy closure: The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will remain closed today, on the occasion of Holy Shab-e-Barat. The Embassy is located in Khaldiya, Block 2, Street 29, House 11. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow the following office hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday: 09:00 - 3:00 pm. Friday and Saturday: Weekly holidays.
TV PROGRAMS
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Orbit / Showtime Listings 08:40 Everyday Italian 09:05 30 Minute Meals 09:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 10:00 Guys Big Bite 10:30 Barefoot Contessa 11:00 Everyday Italian 11:30 Food Network Challenge 12:30 30 Minute Meals 13:00 Tyler’s Ultimate 13:30 Guys Big Bite 14:00 Barefoot Contessa 14:30 Everyday Italian 15:00 30 Minute Meals 15:30 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 16:00 Iron Chef America 17:00 Barefoot Contessa 17:30 Everyday Italian 18:00 30 Minute Meals 18:30 Guys Big Bite 19:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 19:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:00 Iron Chef America 21:00 Barefoot Contessa 21:30 Everyday Italian 22:00 Chopped 23:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 23:30 Guys Big Bite
00:00 Ugly Betty 01:00 Without a Trace 02:00 Ghost Whisperer 03:00 The Murdoch Mysteries 04:00 Without a Trace 05:00 Dawson’s Creek 06:00 ER 07:00 Ugly Betty 08:00 White Collar 09:00 Saving Grace 10:00 Ghost Whisperer 11:00 Dawson’s Creek 12:00 ER 13:00 The Murdoch Mysteries 14:00 Hawthorne 15:00 Without a Trace 16:00 White Collar 17:00 Saving Grace 18:00 Ugly Betty 19:00 ER 20:00 House 21:00 Supernatural 22:00 Sons of Anarchy 23:00 Nip/Tuck
00:45 Animal Cops Houston 01:40 Untamed & Uncut 02:35 I’m Alive 03:30 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 04:25 Dogs 101 05:20 Wildlife SOS International 05:45 Gorilla School 06:10 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes? 06:35 Up Close and Dangerous 07:00 Animal Crackers 07:25 Meerkat Manor 07:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:45 Dogs 101 09:40 Wildlife SOS International 10:05 Killer Jellyfish 10:55 Gorilla School 11:20 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes? 11:50 Miami Animal Police 12:45 E-Vets: The Interns 13:40 Animal Cops Miami 14:35 Wildlife SOS International 15:00 RSPCA: Have You Got What it Takes? 15:30 Killer Jellyfish 16:25 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 17:20 Cats 101 18:15 Animal Cops Houston 19:10 Amba the Russian Tiger 20:10 Animal Cops Houston 21:05 Untamed & Uncut 22:00 Animal Cops Houston 22:55 Animal Cops Miami 23:50 Amba the Russian Tiger
BBC ENTERTAINMENT 00:45 New Tricks 01:45 The Weakest Link 02:30 Last Of The Summer Wine 03:00 Teletubbies 03:25 Me Too 03:45 Tellytales 03:55 Tweenies 04:15 Teletubbies 04:40 Me Too 05:00 Tellytales 05:10 Tweenies 05:30 Teletubbies 05:55 Me Too 06:15 Teletubbies 06:40 Me Too 07:00 Tellytales 07:10 Tweenies 07:30 Teletubbies 07:55 Me Too 08:15 Tellytales 08:25 Tweenies 08:45 Teletubbies 09:10 Me Too 09:30 Mastermind 2006 10:00 Coast 11:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 11:30 Last Of The Summer Wine 12:00 The Weakest Link 12:45 Eastenders 13:15 Doctors 13:45 Mastermind 2006 14:15 Coast 15:15 Last Of The Summer Wine 15:45 Last Of The Summer Wine 16:15 The Weakest Link 17:00 Doctors 17:30 Eastenders 18:00 Holby City 19:00 Holby City 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 Hotel Babylon 22:45 The Whistleblowers 23:45 The Jonathan Ross Show
00:00 Masterchef Goes Large 00:30 Saturday Kitchen 01:00 Saturday Kitchen 01:25 Living In The Sun 02:15 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 03:00 Come Dine With Me 03:50 Hidden Potential 04:10 Cash In The Attic Usa 04:35 Bargain Hunt 05:25 Saturday Kitchen 05:55 Saturday Kitchen 06:25 Masterchef Goes Large 07:00 Cash In The Attic Usa 07:20 Antiques Roadshow 08:10 Living In The Sun 09:00 Bargain Hunt 09:45 Hidden Potential 10:10 Cash In The Attic Usa 10:30 Saturday Kitchen 10:55 Saturday Kitchen 11:25 Living In The Sun 12:15 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 13:00 Come Dine With Me 13:50 Antiques Roadshow 14:40 Living In The Sun 15:35 Bargain Hunt 16:20 Living In The Sun 17:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 17:55 Antiques Roadshow 18:50 Come Dine With Me 19:40 Masterchef Goes Large 20:10 James Martin’s Brittany 20:35 What To Eat Now - Autumn 21:00 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 21:50 The Home Show 22:40 Come Dine With Me 23:30 Masterchef Goes Large
01:45 Normal Life-R 03:30 Le Nouveau Protocole-PG15 05:30 Kiss Of Life-PG15 07:00 Farrah’s Story-PG 09:00 Max And Co.-PG 11:00 Edward Scissorhands-PG 13:00 Dragon Hunters-PG 15:00 Reservation Road-PG15 17:00 It Might Get Loud-PG15 19:00 Losing Isaiah-PG15
Battle in Seattle on Show Movies 21:00 Vanilla Sky-18 23:30 Casualties Of War-18
00:00 Ross Kemp on Gangs 01:00 Street Customs 2008 02:00 Dirty Jobs 02:55 Ultimate Survival 03:50 Extreme Explosions 04:45 Mythbusters 05:40 How Stuff’s Made 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Extreme Explosions 07:55 Street Customs 2008 08:50 Mythbusters 09:45 Ultimate Survival 10:40 Overhaulin’ 11:35 Border Security 12:00 How Stuff’s Made 12:30 How It’s Made 12:55 Mythbusters 13:50 Miami Ink 14:45 Ultimate Survival 15:40 Dirty Jobs 16:35 Deadliest Catch 17:30 Mythbusters 18:30 Cake Boss 19:00 Border Security 19:30 The Gadget Show 20:00 How It’s Made 20:30 How Stuff’s Made 21:00 Miami Ink 22:00 LA Ink 23:00 My Shocking Story
00:30 Nextworld 01:20 Da Vinci’s Machines 02:10 Kings of Construction 03:00 Beyond Tomorrow 03:50 Scrappy Races 04:45 How Does That Work? 05:10 Weird Connections 05:40 One Step Beyond 06:10 Nextworld 07:00 The Kustomizer 08:00 NASA’s Greatest Missions 09:00 Mega World 16:20 How Does That Work? 16:50 Brainiac 17:45 Mythbusters 18:40 Ecopolis 19:30 Discovery Project Earth 20:20 How It’s Made 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 The Greatest Ever 22:00 Ecopolis 22:50 Discovery Project Earth 23:40 Building the Biggest
00:15 Suite Life On Deck 00:35 Jonas 01:00 Sonny With A Chance 01:25 Hannah Montana 01:50 Hannah Montana 02:15 Jonas 02:35 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 03:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 03:25 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 03:50 Replacements 04:15 Phineas & Ferb 04:40 Hannah Montana 05:05 KIM POSSIBLE 05:30 A KIND OF MAGIC 05:55 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 06:20 Replacements 06:40 STITCH 07:05 Wizards of Waverly Place 07:25 Hannah Montana 07:50 Sonny With A Chance 08:10 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 08:35 Phineas & Ferb 09:00 TIMMY TIME 09:10 SPECIAL AGENT OSO 09:35 Handy Manny 10:00 IMAGINATION MOVERS 10:20 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:45 JUNGLE JUNCTION 11:00 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 11:25 Phineas & Ferb 11:50 Wizards of Waverly Place 12:15 Sonny With A Chance 12:40 Hannah Montana 13:00 Hannah Montana 13:25 Jonas 13:50 Sonny With A Chance 14:15 Wizards of Waverly Place 14:35 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 15:00 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 15:25 Replacements 15:50 Phineas & Ferb 16:15 Hannah Montana 16:40 KIM POSSIBLE 17:05 A KIND OF MAGIC 17:30 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 17:55 Replacements 18:15 STITCH 18:40 Wizards of Waverly Place 19:00 Hannah Montana 19:25 Sonny With A Chance 19:45 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS 20:10 Phineas & Ferb 20:35 Suite Life On Deck 21:00 Wizards of Waverly Place 21:25 Hannah Montana 21:45 Jonas 22:10 Suite Life On Deck 22:35 Sonny With A Chance 23:00 Hannah Montana 23:25 Wizards of Waverly Place 23:50 Wizards of Waverly Place
00:15 Leave It To Lamas 00:40 Dr 90210 06:00 E! Investigates 07:45 Style Star 08:10 Style Star 08:35 E! News 09:00 The Daily 10 09:25 Denise Richards: It’s Complicated 09:50 Leave It To Lamas 10:15 E!ES 11:05 THS 12:00 E! News 12:25 The Daily 10 12:50 Battle of the Hollywood Hotties 13:15 Pretty Wild 13:40 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 14:05 Kendra 14:30 Dr 90210 15:25 THS 16:15 Behind the Scenes 17:10 Kendra 18:00 E! News 18:25 The Daily 10 18:50 Wildest TV Show Moments 19:15 Pretty Wild 19:40 THS 21:20 Kendra 22:10 E! News 22:35 The Daily 10 23:00 Keeping Up with the Kardashians 23:25 Kourtney & Khlo√© Take Miami 23:50 Pretty Wild
00:00 Fim World Motocross Mx1 = Mx2 Ep4 01:00 Winter Dew Tour 09/10 02:00 M1 Challange 03:00 Cape Epic 04:00 Breitling Airsports 2009 05:00 I-Ex 05:30 I-Ex Season 2 07:00 I-Ex 08:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 10 09:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 11 10:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 12 11:00 Flipside 12:00 Breitling Airsports 2009 13:00 Winter Dew Tour 09/10 14:00 Cape Epic 14:30 Cape Epic 15:00 Flipside 16:00 Breitling Airsports 2009 17:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 10 18:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 11 19:00 Summer Dew Tour 2009 12 20:00 Breitling Airsports 2009 21:00 Flipside 22:00 Winter Dew Tour 09/10 23:00 M1 Challange
00:00 Chopped 01:00 30 Minute Meals 01:30 Tyler’s Ultimate 02:00 Iron Chef America 03:00 Barefoot Contessa 03:30 Everyday Italian 04:00 Chopped 05:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 05:30 Guys Big Bite 06:00 Food Network Challenge 07:00 30 Minute Meals 07:25 Tyler’s Ultimate 07:50 Guys Big Bite 08:15 Barefoot Contessa
00:30 A Haunting 01:20 FBI Files 02:10 FBI Case Files 03:05 I Escaped Death 04:00 Forensic Detectives 04:55 Crime Scene Psychics 05:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:10 Ghosthunters 06:35 Ghosthunters 07:00 Forensic Detectives 07:50 FBI Files 08:40 Disappeared 09:30 Mystery ER 10:20 Forensic Detectives 11:10 FBI Files 12:00 On the Case with Paula Zahn 12:50 Diagnosis: Unknown 13:40 Final Days of an Icon 14:30 Forensic Detectives 15:20 FBI Files 16:10 Disappeared 17:00 Mystery ER 17:50 Forensic Detectives 18:40 FBI Files 19:30 On the Case with Paula Zahn 20:20 Diagnosis: Unknown 21:10 Final Days of an Icon 22:00 Deadly Women 22:50 Deadly Women 23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner
00:30 Banged Up Abroad 01:30 Departures 02:30 Long Way Down 03:30 Bondi Rescue 04:00 Banged Up Abroad 05:00 Food Lovers Guide To The Planet 05:30 Lonely Planet- Roads Less Travelled 06:30 Banged Up Abroad 07:30 Departures 08:30 Long Way Down 09:30 Bondi Rescue 10:00 Banged Up Abroad 11:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 11:30 Lonely Planet- Roads Less Travelled 12:30 Banged Up Abroad 13:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 14:30 Graham’s World 15:00 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody Europe 15:30 Bondi Rescue 16:00 Banged Up Abroad 17:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 17:30 Lonely Planet- Roads Less Travelled 18:30 Banged Up Abroad 19:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 20:30 Graham’s World 21:00 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody Europe 21:30 Bondi Rescue 22:00 Banged Up Abroad 23:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 23:30 Lonely Planet- Roads Less Travelled
00:00 Billable Hours 00:30 Will & Grace 01:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Global Edition) 01:30 Colbert Report Global 02:00 Friends 02:30 Friends 03:00 Monday night Stand Up 04:00 South park 04:30 George Lopez 05:00 Just Shoot me! 05:30 Friends 06:00 Friends 06:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 07:00 Eight Simple Rules 07:30 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 08:00 Frasier 08:30 Just Shoot me! 09:00 George Lopez 09:30 The Drew Carey show 10:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:30 Eight Simple Rules 11:00 Frasier 11:30 New Adventures of old Christine 12:00 Friends 13:00 The Drew Carey show 13:30 Just Shoot me!
Year of the Dogon Super Movies
14:00 George Lopez 14:30 Will & Grace 15:00 Billable Hours 15:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Global Edition) 16:00 Colbert Report Global 16:30 The Drew Carey show 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:30 Frasier 18:00 New Adventures of old Christine 18:30 Eight Simple Rules 19:00 The Office 19:30 Will & Grace 20:00 Late night with Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Party Down 22:30 Weeds 23:00 South park 23:30 New Adventures of old Christine
00:00 The Martha Stewart Show 01:00 10 Years Younger 02:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 03:00 Moms Get Real / Now you know / Amplified 04:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 05:00 GMA (repeat) 07:00 Ahead of The Curve 07:30 Nature’s Edge 08:00 The Martha Stewart Show 09:00 10 Years Younger 10:00 The Best of Jimmy Kimmel 11:00 The View (repeat) 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 GMA Live 16:00 GMA Health 16:30 What’s the Buzz 17:00 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Best Of) 18:00 10 Years Younger 18:30 10 Years Younger 19:00 The View 20:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 21:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live! 22:00 The Tonight show with Jay Leno 23:00 The Monique Show
00:00 The Cell 2-PG15 02:00 Exterminators-PG15 04:00 Igor-PG 06:00 All She Wants For Christmas-PG15 08:00 Gifted Hands-PG15 10:00 Mostly Ghostly-PG 12:00 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 14:00 The Man From Earth-PG15 16:00 Gifted Hands-PG15 18:00 Wild Child-PG15 20:00 Battle In Seattle-18 22:00 Up-FAM
01:00 Speed Racer-PG 03:00 The Core-PG15 05:15 The Flash-PG 07:00 Room 6-PG15 09:00 Shifty-PG15 11:00 Speed Racer-PG 13:00 Godzilla-PG15 15:15 Shifty-PG15 17:00 The Building-PG15 19:00 The Art Of War III: Retribution-PG15 21:00 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-PG15 23:00 Final Destination 3-PG15
00:00 Kingpin-PG15 02:00 Kettle Of Fish-18 04:00 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-PG 06:30 The Pink Panther 2-PG15 08:00 The Promotion-PG15 10:00 The Hammer-PG15 12:00 Legally Blondes-PG 14:00 Meet The Applegates-PG 16:00 Kingpin-PG15 18:00 How To Be-PG15 20:00 New York City Serenade-PG15 22:00 The Big Lebowski-18
00:00 Bugs Bunny 1001 Rabbit TalesFAM 02:00 Bedtime Stories-FAM 04:00 Robin Hood: The King’s ReturnFAM 06:00 Scruff A Christmas Tale-FAM 08:00 Red Wall: The Movie-FAM 10:00 Robin Hood: The King’s ReturnFAM 12:00 Mamma Moo And Crow-FAM 14:00 Bedtime Stories-FAM 16:00 Alexander The Great-FAM 18:00 Scooby-doo And The Loch Ness Monster-FAM 20:00 Tommy And The Cool Mule-PG 22:00 Mamma Moo And Crow-FAM
00:00 Eureka 01:00 Drop Dead Diva 02:00 Desperate Housewives 03:00 Dawson’s Creek 04:00 Three Sisters 04:30 Home Improvement 05:00 Psych 06:00 Emmerdale 06:30 Coronation Street 07:00 Desperate Housewives 08:00 Three Sisters 08:30 Home Improvement 09:00 Dawson’s Creek 10:00 Psych 11:00 Desperate Housewives 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 Three Sisters 13:30 Home Improvement 14:00 Eureka 15:00 Drop Dead Diva 16:00 Psych 17:00 One Tree Hill 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Lost 20:00 Lost 21:00 Desperate Housewives 22:00 Psych 23:00 One Tree Hill
06:00 American Dragon 06:50 Kid Vs Kat 07:40 Power Rangers Rpm 08:05 Kick Buttowski 08:30 Pokemon 09:00 Phineas & Ferb 09:25 Zeke & Luther 10:15 Kick Buttowski 10:40 Suite Life On Deck 11:30 Phil Of The Future 12:00 Phineas & Ferb 13:00 Kid Vs Kat 14:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 14:50 Zeke & Luther 15:15 American Dragon 16:15 Kick Buttowski 16:40 Shreducation 17:05 Zeke & Luther 17:30 Zeke & Luther
Speed Racer on Show Movies Action 17:55 Phineas & Ferb 18:20 Phineas & Ferb 18:45 Pokemon 19:10 Suite Life On Deck 19:35 Power Rangers Rpm 20:00 Aaron Stone 20:30 Kick Buttowski 21:00 Phineas & Ferb 21:25 Shreducation 21:55 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody
01:00 Masters Football 04:00 Super League 06:00 AFL Highlights 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 ICC Cricket World 09:30 Tri-Nations 11:30 AFL Highlights 12:30 World Hockey 13:00 NRL Premiership 15:00 AFL Highlights 16:00 ICC Cricket World 16:30 NRL Full Time 17:00 FEI Equestrain World 17:30 Tri-Nations 19:30 ICC Cricket World 20:00 NRL Full Time 20:30 Brazil League Highlights 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 AFL Premiership
00:00 Futbol Mundial 00:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 01:00 AFL Highlights 02:00 Super League 04:00 AFL Highlights 05:00 ICC Cricket World 05:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 06:00 Futbol Mundial 06:30 World Sport 07:00 Masters Football 10:00 AFL Highlights 11:00 Sea Master 11:30 Super League 13:30 AFL Highlights 14:30 World Sport 15:00 NRL Full Time 15:30 Super League 17:30 NRL Premiership 19:30 AFL Highlights 20:30 FEI Equestrain World 21:00 World Hockey 21:30 Brazil League Highlights 22:00 Tri-Nations
00:00 WWE SmackDown 02:00 WWE Vintage Collection 03:00 UFC 116 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE NXT 08:00 WWE SmackDown 10:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 11:30 V8 Supercars Extra 12:00 WWE Bottom Line 13:00 FIM World Cup 13:30 Red Bull X-Fighters 15:00 V8 Supercars 16:00 FIA GT1 World Championship 17:30 V8 Supercars Extra 18:00 Prizefighter 21:00 UFC Wired 22:00 UFC Unleashed 23:00 UFC Unleashed
01:00 Blood Diamond-PG15 03:30 The Memory Keeper’s DaughterPG15 05:15 A Shine Of Rainbows-PG15 07:00 Racing For Time-PG15 09:00 The Children Of Huang Shi-PG15 11:15 The X-Files: I Want To BelievePG15 13:15 A Dog Year-PG 15:00 The Loss Of A Teardrop DiamondPG15 17:00 The Children Of Huang Shi-PG15 19:15 Sunshine Cleaning-PG15 21:00 Malice In Wonderland -PG 23:00 Bride Wars-PG15
00:00 The Last Run 01:35 The V.I.P.s 03:30 The Screening Room 04:00 Return To Macon County 05:30 Boys’ Town
07:00 The Bad And The Beautiful 08:55 Forbidden Planet 10:30 Two Weeks In Another Town 12:15 An American In Paris 14:05 Boys’ Town 15:35 Penelope 17:10 Jailhouse Rock 18:45 The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight 20:20 The Wizard Of Oz 22:00 Strictly Business 23:25 The Screening Room 23:55 Blame It On Rio
00:30 Ice Road Truckers 2 01:20 Tunnellers 02:10 Extreme Trains 03:00 Tales of the Gun 03:55 Mega Movers 04:50 Deep Sea Detectives 05:40 The Universe 06:30 Ice Road Truckers 2 07:20 Tunnellers 08:10 Extreme Trains 09:00 Tales of the Gun 09:55 Mega Movers 10:50 Deep Sea Detectives 11:40 The Universe 12:30 Ice Road Truckers 2 13:20 Tunnellers 14:10 Extreme Trains 15:00 Tales of the Gun 15:55 Mega Movers 16:50 Deep Sea Detectives 17:40 The Universe 18:30 Ice Road Truckers 2 19:20 Tunnellers 20:10 Extreme Trains 21:00 Battle Stations 21:55 Dogfights 22:50 Battle 360 23:40 Battle Stations
00:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 01:00 Planet Food 02:00 Hollywood and Vines 02:30 Travel Today 03:00 Cruising the Spirit of Adventure 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Planet Food 06:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Grannies On Safari 08:30 Distant Shores 09:00 Budapest to Bamako 2010 09:30 Great Scenic Railways - 175 Years 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Chef Abroad 13:30 The Thirsty Traveler 14:00 Floyd On Africa 14:30 Distant Shores 15:00 Budapest to Bamako 2010 15:30 Great Scenic Railways - 175 Years 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Grannies On Safari 17:30 Chef Abroad 18:00 Planet Food 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Cutting Edge California 20:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 21:00 Flavours of South Africa 21:30 Top Travel 22:00 Working Holiday 23:00 Globe Trekker
00:05 Cow And Chicken-U 00:30 Cramp Twins-U 00:55 George Of The Jungle-U 01:20 Adrenalini Brothers-U 01:45 Eliot Kid-U 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy-U 02:35 Class Of 3000-U 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls-U 03:15 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends-U 03:40 The Secret Saturdays-U 04:05 Codename: Kids Next Door-U 04:30 Ben 10-U 04:55 Best Ed-U 05:20 Samurai Jack-U 05:45 Cramp Twins-U 06:10 Eliot Kid-U 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack-U 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door-U 07:25 Chowder-U 07:50 Best Ed-U 08:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary
Friends-U 09:00 Ben 10: Alien Force-U 10:00 The Secret Saturdays-U 11:00 Bakugan-U 12:00 Chop Socky Chooks-U 13:00 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack-U 14:00 Chowder-U 15:00 Eliot Kid-U 15:35 Casper’s Scare School-U 16:00 Skunk Fu!-U 16:25 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes-U 16:50 Bakugan Battle Brawlers-U 17:15 The Secret Saturdays-U 17:40 Ben 10: Alien Force-U 18:05 Chop Socky Chooks-U 18:30 Squirrel Boy-U 19:00 Best Ed-U 19:25 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends-U 19:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey-U 20:05 The Powerpuff Girls-U 20:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack-U
00:00 Dr 90210 01:00 Millennium Fashion: The Year In Fashion 02:00 Split Ends 03:00 Go Fix Yourself 03:30 The Look for Less 04:00 Millennium Fashion: The Year In Fashion 05:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 05:30 Area 06:00 How Do I Look? 07:00 Style Star 07:30 Style Her Famous 08:00 My Celebrity Home 09:00 Style Star 09:30 Dress My Nest 10:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway? 11:00 How Do I Look? 12:00 Ruby: My Australian Adventure 13:00 Clean House 14:00 Clean House Comes Clean 14:30 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 15:00 Dr 90210 16:00 Whose Wedding Is it Anyway? 17:00 Peter Perfect 18:00 Peter Perfect 19:00 Split Ends 20:00 Clean House: Search For The Messiest... 21:00 Tacky House 21:30 Tacky House 22:00 Most Outrageous Weddings 23:00 My Celebrity Wedding With The Knot
01:04 RNB 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 05:04 Guest Star 05:18 Playlist 08:04 New 08:45 Playlist 13:04 Urban Hit 13:50 Playlist 16:04 Hit US 17:00 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Playlist 20:04 Latina 20:45 Playlist 21:00 Focus 22:00 Playlist
00:00 Music For The Masses 01:00 Greatest Hits 02:00 Vh1 Music 05:00 Chill Out 07:00 Vh1 Hits 09:00 Aerobic 10:00 Vh1 Hits 11:00 Vh1 Superchart 12:00 Top 10 ¬†90’s 13:00 Music For The Masses 14:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 15:00 Vh1 Music 17:00 Music For The Masses 18:00 Vh1 Superchart 19:00 Music For The Masses 20:00 Music For The Masses 21:00 (P) The Album Chart Show 22:00 Vh1 Pop Chart 23:00 Cover Power
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
33 Flight Schedule Arrival Flights on Tuesday 27/07/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jordanian 802 Amman Wataniya Airways 188 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 306 Cairo Kuwait 544 Cairo Wataniya Airways 434 Damascus Wataniya Airways 408 Beirut Gulf Air 211 Bahrain Turkish 772 Istanbul Ethiopian 620 Addis Ababa Air Arabia Egypt 551 Alexandria Egypt Air 614 Cairo Jazeera 267 Beirut DHL 370 Bahrain Emirates 853 Dubai Etihad 305 Abu Dhabi Qatari 138 Doha Air France 6782 Paris Jazeera 503 Luxor Kuwait 412 Manila/Bangkok Jazeera 527 Alexandria British 157 London Kuwait 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur Jazeera 529 Assiut Falcon 201 Bahrain Jazeera 613 Lahore Kuwait 206 Islamabad Kuwait 382 Delhi Kuwait 302 Mumbai Kuwait 332 Trivandrum Fly Dubai 053 Dubai Kuwait 676 Dubai Kuwait 284 Dhaka Emirates 855 Dubai Arabia 121 Sharjah Iran Air 605 Isfahan Qatari 132 Doha Etihad 301 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 425 Bahrain Jazeera 497 Riyadh Iran Air 619 Lar Gulf Air 213 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 182 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 102 Dubai Jazeera 165 Dubai Egypt Air 610 Cairo Kuwait 672 Dubai United 982 Washington DC Dulles Jordanian 800 Amman Wataniya Airways 432 Damascus Fly Dubai 057 Dubai Wataniya Airways 332 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 422 Amman Kuwait 512 Tehran Kuwait 562 Amman Saudia 500 Jeddah Kuwait 744 Dammam Syrian Air 341 Damascus Jazeera 525 Alexandria Qatari 134 Doha Kuwait 546 Alexandria Nas Air 745 Jeddah Mihin 403 Colombo/Dubai Etihad 303 Abu Dhabi Emirates 857 Dubai Gulf Air 215 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 402 Beirut Saudia 510 Riyadh Jazeera 493 Jeddah Arabia 125 Sharjah Jazeera 239 Amman Jazeera 367 Deirezzor SriLankan 227 Colombo/Dubai Wataniya Airways 304 Cairo Kuwait 104 London Kuwait 166 Paris/Rome Wataniya Airways 106 Dubai Rovos 093 Kandahar/Dubai Kuwait 502 Beirut Kuwait 542 Cairo Kuwait 786 Jeddah Kuwait 618 Doha Jazeera 481 Sabiha Jazeera 177 Dubai Kuwait 614 Bahrain Kuwait 674 Dubai Kuwait 774 Riyadh Singapore 458 Singapore/Abu Dhabi Kuwait 552 Damascus Fly Dubai 061 Dubai Indian 993 Chennai/Mumbai Oman Air 647 Muscat Middle East 402 Beirut Wataniya Airways 612 Sabiha Jet A/W 572 Mumbai Egypt Air 618 Alexandria KLM 0443 Amsterdam Wataniya Airways 404 Beirut DHL 372 Bahrain Gulf Air 217 Bahrain Emirates 859 Dubai Jazeera 459 Damascus Egypt Air 618 Alexandria Rovos 091 Baghdad Qatari 136 Doha United 981 Bahrain Jazeera 449 Doha Lufthansa 636 Frankfurt Jazeera 185 Dubai Jazeera 429 Bahrain Egypt Air 612 Cairo India Express 389 Kozhikode/Mangalore Kuwait 1804 Lahore/Peshawar Pakistan 205 Lahore/Peshawar Wataniya Airways 108 Dubai
Time 00:05 00:30 00:50 00:50 00:55 01:05 01:05 01:15 01:45 02:00 02:05 02:10 02:15 02:25 02:55 03:25 03:25 05:50 06:15 06:20 06:30 06:35 06:40 07:00 07:05 07:15 07:20 07:50 07:55 07:55 08:00 08:10 08:25 08:40 08:55 09:00 09:25 10:25 10:40 10:40 10:45 10:45 11:05 11:15 12:55 13:15 13:35 13:35 13:35 13:50 14:05 14:10 14:20 14:20 14:30 14:40 14:45 15:00 15:05 15:30 15:55 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:40 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:35 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:45 18:50 18:50 18:55 19:00 19:00 19:05 19:20 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:40 20:05 20:15 20:15 20:20 20:20 20:30 20:35 20:40 20:50 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:55 22:30 22:30 22:40 22:45 22:55 23:10 23:55 23:55 23:55
Departure Flights on Tuesday 27/07/2010 Airlines Flt Route Jazeera 528 Assiut Tunis Air 328 Dubai/Tunis Indian 576 Goa/Chennai Pakistan 240 Sialkot Lufthansa 637 Frankfurt Turkish 773 Istanbul Ethiopian 620 Bahrain/Addis Ababa Air Arabia Egypt 552 Alexandria Egypt Air 615 Cairo DHL 371 Bahrain Emirates 854 Dubai Etihad 306 Abu Dhabi Qatari 139 Doha Air France 6782 Dubai/Hong Kong Wataniya Airways 101 Dubai Jordanian 803 Amman Jazeera 164 Dubai Jazeera 496 Riyadh Jazeera 422 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 331 Alexandria Gulf Air 212 Bahrain Wataniya Airways 181 Bahrain Rovos 094 Dubai/Kandahar Jazeera 524 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 431 Damascus British 156 London Kuwait 545 Alexandria Fly Dubai 054 Dubai Kuwait 671 Dubai Wataniya Airways 421 Amman Kuwait 561 Amman Arabia 122 Sharjah Kuwait 101 London/New York Emirates 856 Dubai Iran Air 604 Isfahan Kuwait 511 Tehran Qatari 133 Doha Etihad 302 Abu Dhabi Kuwait 121 Malaga/Casablanca Jazeera 480 Sabiha Wataniya Airways 401 Beirut Gulf Air 214 Bahrain Iran Air 618 Lar Kuwait 165 Rome/Paris Wataniya Airways 303 Cairo Kuwait 743 Dammam Kuwait 541 Cairo Wataniya Airways 611 Sabiha Jazeera 238 Amman Jazeera 366 Deirezzor Jazeera 492 Jeddah Kuwait 501 Beirut Kuwait 785 Jeddah Egypt Air 611 Cairo Kuwait 551 Damascus Jordanian 801 Amman Wataniya Airways 105 Dubai Fly Dubai 058 Dubai United 982 Bahrain Jazeera 176 Dubai Kuwait 673 Dubai Wataniya Airways 403 Beirut Kuwait 617 Doha Syrian Air 342 Damascus Saudia 501 Jeddah Jazeera 458 Damascus Kuwait 773 Riyadh Qatari 135 Doha Kuwait 613 Bahrain/Doha Kuwait 1803 Cairo Nas Air 704 Riyadh Etihad 304 Abu Dhabi Mihin 404 Dubai/Colombo Wataniya Airways 305 Cairo Gulf Air 216 Bahrain Emirates 858 Dubai Rovos 092 Baghdad Arabia 126 Sharjah Jazeera 184 Dubai Saudia 511 Riyadh Jazeera 116 Abu Dhabi Jazeera 448 Doha SriLankan 228 Dubai/Colombo Wataniya Airways 407 Beirut Wataniya Airways 433 Damascus Wataniya Airways 107 Dubai Wataniya Airways 321 Sharm El Sheikh Jazeera 428 Bahrain Jazeera 266 Beirut Kuwait 283 Dhaka Kuwait 361 Colombo Fly Dubai 062 Dubai Singapore 457 Abu Dhabi/Singapore Kuwait 343 Chennai Kuwait 351 Cochin Oman Air 648 Muscat Middle East 403 Beirut Jet A/W 571 Mumbai Egypt Air 619 Alexandria Wataniya Airways 187 Bahrain KLM 0443 Bahrain/Amsterdam Gulf Air 218 Bahrain DHL 373 Bahrain Kuwait 801 Cairo Kuwait 675 Dubai Emirates 860 Dubai Falcon 102 Bahrain Kuwait 381 Delhi Qatari 137 Doha Kuwait 301 Mumbai Jazeera 526 Alexandria Jazeera 636 Aleppo Jazeera 502 Luxor United 981 Washington DC Dulles Kuwait 411 Bangkok/Manila Egypt Air 613 Cairo
FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 161
Time 00:05 00:25 00:50 01:10 01:15 02:15 02:30 02:40 03:15 03:15 03:45 04:00 05:00 05:15 06:50 07:00 07:05 07:15 07:30 07:30 07:45 07:45 08:00 08:00 08:10 08:25 08:35 08:40 09:00 09:10 09:15 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:55 10:00 10:00 10:10 10:20 11:20 11:35 11:35 11:40 11:45 11:50 11:55 12:00 12:05 12:10 12:15 12:15 13:00 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:50 14:55 15:10 15:10 15:10 15:45 15:45 15:50 16:05 16:20 16:20 16:40 16:45 17:35 17:40 18:05 18:05 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:50 19:10 19:25 19:30 19:40 19:45 19:50 20:10 20:15 20:20 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:20 21:30 21:35 21:35 21:40 21:55 22:00 22:00 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 23:20 23:35 23:40 23:40 23:40 23:55
ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for a couple or two working ladies in a two bedroom flat with a small family in Abbassiya, near Time out restaurant from the end of July. Contact: 99272057/ 66015211. (C 2511) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for decent executive bachelor, new building separate room, independent bathroom/ balcony, Kalabhavan building, near UI School. Contact: 97208351. (C 2510) Room available in C-A/C flat for Asian couple, Old Khaitan airport road opp Farwaniya bridge just one minute to all route bus stop, Filipina preferred. Contact: 97468551. (C 2513)
attached bathroom, Salmiya near garden. Contact: 99360073. (C 2496) New Riggae, only for Keralite people, two bedroom flat, single bathroom, sharing from August 1st week, only couples or executive bachelor lady. Contact: 66889615. (C 2495) 24-7-2010
FOR SALE Toyota Camry 2007 GL golden color, very low mileage well maintained, excellent condition, price KD 3650. Contact: 66015265. (C 2504) Toyota Camry 2006 GLI silver color, with alloy wheel, remote key, fog lamp, wood-
No: 14802 A furnished room with attached bath in spacious C-AC flat with all facilities available in Ashbiliya, a new locality adjacent to Farwaniya. Contact: 99714430. (C 2514) 27-7-2010 Sharing accommodation available, Keralite family or working ladies at Abbassiya. Please contact: 97234410. (C 2502) Sharing accommodation available for single decent bachelor, non smoking share with family. Opposite Al-Rashid hospital, Shara Amman, Salmiya. Tel: 5651678/ 66232356. (C 2508) Sharing accommodation available with all facilities for one or two working ladies with a decent couple in a double bedroom C-A/C flat near Salmiya garden. Contact: 99627139/ 97916379. (C 2507) Sharing accommodation available for small family, decent lady or decent gent with separate bathroom in Salmiya Amman street new building C-AC flat fully furnished. Call 99678634. (C 2506) 26-7-2010 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya for working ladies, 2 bedroom/2 bathroom CAC flat with Keralite family. Contact: 66013882. (C 2500) 25-7-2010 Sharing fully furnished flat, C-A/C 2 bedroom 2 bathroom for rent, nice location, specially for families on visit. Phone: 67060429. (C 2494) Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya near Highway Center for bachelor or family, bachelor rent KD 50, family rent KD 80. Contact: 99645213. (C 2499) Accommodation available in Abbassiya with Keralite family, single room for a single bachelor, Rent KD 50. Contact: 99379165, 24319893. (C 2497) Accommodation available for a family or bachelors in Abbassiya near Highway Center and Paradise hotel in a two bedroom, two bathroom flat. Contact: 66558927/ 66720897. (C 2498) Sharing accommodation available for a couple or bachelors to share with Keralite Christian family in a CA/C flat, one bedroom with
en decor, excellent condition. Price KD 2950. Contact: 66033875. (C 2505) Mitsubishi Nativa GLS, model 2007, color light blue, done km 47,000, very good condition, price KD 2,700. Contact: 66211779.
SITUATION VACANT
English-speaking maid wanted. Please call 60055305, 23741548 25-7-2010
34
SPECTRUM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Calvin
CROSSWORD 34
Aries (March 21-April 19) You may find yourself deep into conversation with groups most of this day. In the morning it may be one group and in the afternoon it could be another group. Mental stimulation from others is the key for you right now and it's a good idea to make every effort to cooperate and compromise with others. Any project should be a great success. This is an excellent time for taking part in social activities. Relations with lovers and friends are exceedingly pleasant. Your energy level is high and it is best to apply it in practical pursuits. Giving flowers or some other token of your esteem to a loved one will bring rich rewards. This is a stable time where much of your relationships are in harmony with other parts of your life. Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is an excellent day to focus, concentrate and get many things accomplished. Caution should be exercised before entering into any type of relationship or transaction impulsively. Your mind is clear and you are ready to tackle any problem that comes across your path. Balancing your time commitments may be difficult but necessary in accomplishing what you set out to do the rest of this week. You will find yourself engaged in some fun activities this afternoon with friends or relatives that are both carefree and pleasant. You are bursting with your usual charisma. Think about making that phone call to a relative that you have not heard from in a while. There are plans and new ideas that you will feel flattered to be included in the process of communication.
Pooch Cafe
ACROSS 1. An artificial language that is a revision and simplification of Esperanto. 4. Eurasian perennial bulbous herbs. 10. An enclosed space. 13. (usually followed by `of') Released from something onerous (especially an obligation or duty). 14. Having winglike extensions. 15. A user interface in which you type commands instead of choosing them from a menu or selecting an icon. 16. A metal-bearing mineral valuable enough to be mined. 17. The ratio of reflected to incident light. 18. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body. 19. Of or in or relating to the nose. 21. Leaf bugs. 23. Singing jazz. 26. The corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm. 27. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism. 29. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh. 33. A member of a legation. 37. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 38. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else. 39. The mountain peak that Noah's ark landed on as the waters of the great flood receded. 41. Any of various coarse shrubby plants of the genus Iva with small greenish flowers. 42. A light touch or stroke. 43. Destruction of heart tissue resulting from obstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle. 46. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas. 49. The capital and largest city of Yemen. 55. A public promotion of some product or service. 56. One million periods per second. 57. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America. 60. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 61. A sock with a separation for the big toe. 64. A benevolent aspect of Devi. 65. Tropical starchy tuberous root. 66. Jordan's port. 67. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye. DOWN 1. Metal shackles. 2. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (19021984). 3. A port city of south central Ukraine on an arm of the Black Sea. 4. An official language of the Republic of South Africa. 5. (Norse mythology) One of the Aesir known for his beauty and skill with bow and skis. 6. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research. 7. A distinct part that can be specified separately in a group of things that could be enumerated on a list. 8. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling). 9. Love intensely. 10. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae. 11. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill. 12. Make reference to. 20. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers. 22. A tiny or scarcely detectable amount. 24. Any of various orchids of the genus Bletia having pseudo-bulbs and erect leafless racemes of large purple or pink flowers. 25. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group. 28. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric. 30. An independent ruler or chieftain (especially in Africa or Arabia). 31. (Polynesian) An alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub. 32. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC). 34. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event. 35. A republic on the west coast of Africa. 36. An alloy of copper and zinc (and sometimes arsenic) used to imitate gold in cheap jewelry and for gilding. 40. The district occupied entirely by the city of Washington. 44. A metallic element having four allotropic forms. 45. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 47. Any of various cycads of the genus Zamia. 48. 100 kopecks equal 1 ruble. 49. The square of a body of any size of type. 50. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind. 51. A small cake leavened with yeast. 52. (computer science) A data transmission rate (bits/second) for modems. 53. God of love and erotic desire. 54. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses. 58. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 59. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits. 62. A bachelor's degree in religion.
Gemini (May 21-June 20) This is the time to shed away old concepts and ideas and prepare instead for a higher level of consciousness. New insights about your goals in the professional world come to you today. You are apt to spend a considerable amount of time and effort to improve finances, principally through physical or manual activity. There is growth and gain through these things. Generally, this is a fruitful period. It may be that you talk with a financial consultant this afternoon. Companionship with others is most rewarding this evening and you should take every opportunity to be with friends or family. You can be helping them as much as their presence is helping you. Family, home and the other roots in your life give you a sense of mission now.
Non Sequitur Cancer (June 21-July 22) A sudden business trip will open new doors of opportunity. Relationship is very important to you when it comes to the way and extent of your accomplishments. This is a time when your powers of creativity are great. Your work automatically multiplies according to your adaptability. You show a great deal of interest in all family matters, particularly concerning the general living environment in the home. It may be that you have decided to marry or to increase your family. Giving of you now can be a tremendous boon to someone close. This is an excellent time to maintain those relationships that are truly important to you. There is a new and sweet intimacy to your love relationship now. Leo (July 23-August 22) Today, you tackle a project classified as work, although because it interests you deeply, you really consider it fun. Status and security goals need rethinking in order to take advantage of changing circumstances. Your career is a focus for this, but your home and family situation are also involved. Finances-purchases, investments and credit in particular--could stand some clear thinking. Planning a budget system with input from all concerned may be in everyone's best interest. You could receive unexpected help or support from those around you, especially a young person. You and your family will prosper from new skills in communication and financial planning. This new information brings the family closer together.
Zits
Virgo (August 23-September 22) You may receive an offer to work for another place of business this Monday. There could be pressure, but you would be best to educate yourself on the company, the people they sell their wares to and their standing in the community, city or country. Your analytical abilities are good. Projects that require much study may also involve travel to a library or museum. Fresh insight comes to you through mass media news reports-broadcasting, publishing and/or advertising. You will have a whole new perspective on a particular subject. There is a need to see both sides of an issue and strike a fair balance in several basic ideas that you have. Indepth discussions and probing conversations find you at your mental best this evening.
Libra (September 23-October 22) A group meeting this morning reveals new information that would cause more study or investigative work to take place regarding some on-going program or project. You may uncover or find an answer to some reason that there have been delays. Without realizing it someone gives you new insights into the way of finding answers. A long, complicated work matter may have everyone on edge. You may have to talk several people into the idea that the project will just need to take a little more time and patience. You may talk someone out of leaving the company this afternoon. This is an excellent time to sway others to your cause through speeches or clever arguments. You receive good news this evening.
Mother Goose and Grimm
Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You feel ready to conquer the world today. Perhaps you have done your homework or prepared the speech or just feel good after a few days of feeling kind of low. There is not only a desire for accomplishing great things but there will probably be many opportunities to partake in life's challenges. However, you should be careful in taking any undo risks or thrill seeking stunts. Road rage and taking undue cautions in the heat of the day might be included here. There is an opportunity to increase your finances. It would be good to weigh the pros and cons of any business venture or investment. A common interest in spiritual and mystical values among family members may occur this evening. Religious activities are enjoyed. Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your moods may fluctuate as much as the weather. Keeping an eye on the tendency to become negative will help you to stay in touch with the things you need to be involved with this day. This is not a good time to make any concrete decisions about a relationship or business deal. Applying yourself to work and helping friends, even in the subtlest manner, should prove successful. This afternoon a little quiet time at home is preferred. You might enjoy working in the garden or reading a book or stopping all activity to just hang out with a young friend and perhaps, feed the ducks. You encourage others to loosen up and you enjoy your companions, friends or family this evening. Relationships started at this time can be long lasting, if you wish.
Yesterday’s Solution
Yester
Yesterday’s Solution
To
00965 00974 009712 009714 009717 009716 00968 009626 00973 009661 009662 00202 00203 009611 0096311 0096321
Tunisia Rabat Washington New York Paris London Madrid Zurich Geneva Monaco Rome Bangkok Hong Kong Pakistan Taiwan Bonn
0021610 002127 001212 001718 00331 004471 00341 00411 004122 0033 00396 00662 00852 0092 00886 0049228
Aquarius (January 20- February 18) The energies today show a fluency in communication and sharpen your intellect. You are curious and talkative, adept at problem solving and conversation. There are also indications that you may increase your finances as a result of your communication abilities. Friends or acquaintances discover your gains and may ask for a loan from you. You must be cautious and discriminate between those who truly need help financially and those engaged in rip-offs. This is a time you greatly desire peace and quiet in the family setting. Maternal instincts may come to the forefront now and you make every effort to appease any discordance in the home. Also, there is a strong wish to make your surroundings pleasant--perhaps by redecorating.
INTERNATIONAL CALLS Kuwait Qatar Abu Dhabi Dubai Raas Al Khayma Al-Shareqa Muscat Jordan Bahrain Riyadh Makkah - Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Beirut Damascus Allepo
Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You display an urge to be recognized by co-workers for hard work. There is a possibility that supervisors will analyze and summarize job positions and you and your co-workers may chat about the professional realm of life. This is life in the big business world and nothing to do with any individual but instead the maximum and minimum flow of business. Kindness to each other is important during the analyzing as each employee may be a bit sensitive. You have some projects that will come to an end, especially large ones. Resist selling short just to finish work as it could be misleading as to just how much work can possibly be fit into one day. This afternoon you may enjoy a few mental games with your friends. Romance is highlighted this evening.
Word Sleuth Solution
Pisces (February 19-March 20) This is a good time to lead the way on a project, for your originality is unusually heightened. Also, a business deal hinges on your being competent and assertive. You are buoyed with confidence now to succeed at any project you attempt. You and your friends may be planning a fun trip on a riverboat that has gambling or perhaps some other entertainment soon. You may feel that lady luck is in your corner this week. You could be right . . . just do not become carried away with the moment--walk away with money in your hand. Make sure both your expectations and abilities are realistic. Your sympathy for others is great--particularly a favorite charity. It is good to give money to a charity, but your time and energy could be important as well.
INFORMATION
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
35 FIRE BRIGADE Operation Room 112 Al-Madena 22418714 Al-Shohada始a 22545171 Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 Al-Nuzha 22545171 Sabhan 24742838 Al-Helaly 22434853 Al-Fayhaa 22545051 Al-Farwaniya 24711433 Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 Al-Fahaheel 23927002 Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 Ahmadi 23980088 Al-Mangaf 23711183 Al-Shuaiba 23262845 Al-Jahra 25610011 Al-Salmiya 25616368
Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw
For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 HOSPITALS Sabah Hospital
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THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 AIRLINES
PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE Ahmadi
PHARMACY Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan
ADDRESS Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd
PHONE 23915883 23715414 23726558
Jahra
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24575518 24566622
Capital
Ahlam Khaldiya Coop
Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop
22436184 24833967
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New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan
Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11
24734000 24881201 24726638
Hawally
Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy
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EMERGENCY 112
PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists: Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea Dr. Masoma Habeeb Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy Dr. Mohsen Abel Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly
25622444 25752222 25321171 25739999 25757700 25732223 25732223
Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT): Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners: Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists: Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Plastic Surgeons: Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272
22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801
Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari Dr. Abdel Quttainah
22617700 25625030/60
Family Doctor: Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581
Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.
Zahra Qabazard Sohail Qamar Snaa Maaroof Pradip Gujare Zacharias Mathew
25710444 22621099 25713514 23713100 24334282
(1) Ear, Nose and Throat Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians: Dr Adrian Harbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons: Dr. Abidallah Behbahani 25717111 Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148
Paediatricians: Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300
Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290
(2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)
25655535 Dentists:
Dr Anil Thomas
3729596/3729581
Dr. Shamah Al-Matar
22641071/2
Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed
22562226
Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer
22561444
Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan
22619557
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22525888
Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan
25653755
Dr. Bader Al-Ansari
25620111
Neurologists:
Internist, Chest & Heart: DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Tel: 25339667 Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Consultant Cardiologist Tel: 2611555-2622555 Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123
Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan
Internists, Chest & Heart: Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3
Physiotherapists & VD: Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288
25345875
Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman
22636464
Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali
22633135
Endocrinologist: Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari
25658888
Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr
25329924
Psychologists/Psychotherapists Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677
Kuwait Airways Wataniya Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines
22433377 24379900 177 22477631 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/2433141 22456700 22412284/5 22453820/1
INTERNATIONAL CALLS Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK)
0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345 00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044
Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Holland (Netherlands) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Ibiza (Spain) Iceland India Indian Ocean Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Liberia Libya Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia
00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689 00241 00220 00995 0049 00233 00350 0030 00299 001473 00590 001671 00502 00224 00592 00509 0031 00504 00852 0036 0034 00354 0091 00873 0062 0098 00964 00353 0039 00225 001876 0081 00962 007 00254 00686 00965 00996 00856 00371 00961 00231 00218 00370 00352 00853 00389
SPECTRUM
Kim Kardashian
Applegate craving
‘weird’ food regnant actress Christina Applegate is craving avocados and other “weird” foods. The ‘Samantha Who?’ actress has been hungry for obscure treats at unconventional hours since she discovered she is expecting her first child with her musician fiance Martyn Lenoble. She told ETonline: “Am I getting cravings? Everything, I’m craving everything. Besides avocados, just weird things at weird hours. Food. Food’s a craving!” The 38-year-old star wouldn’t reveal the sex of her unborn child, or announce how far into the pregnancy she is, but confirmed everything is going well. She said: “That is for me to know I’m somewhere between zero and nine months. How’s that? Does that answer questions? “I feel OK... I feel great.” Christina is also adamant she will continue to wear high heels as her bump expands - because the added height balances out her growing tummy. She quipped: “I have to always wear heels,
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begs fan to avoid plastic surgery im Kardashian has begged a fan not to go under the knife. The curvy socialite responded to a twitter message from a woman who claimed she was to undergo a head to toe plastic surgery transformation in the hope of saving her marriage by making herself look like the brunette beauty. The fan wrote: “I’m getting head 2 toe plastic surgery nxt week 2 look like @kimkardashian so my husband won’t leave me. He worships her (sic)”. But Kim, 29,
K
begged the woman to change her mind, before sending a message to her over four million followers on the social networking site, imploring them to love themselves. She tweeted: “Pls dont. Ur husband should love u 4 who u are! Don’t try 2 b someone else. Im sure u are beautiful inside &out! Just as u are @brisajohnson “Don’t change yourself for anybody but yourself...be happy with who u are! Someone will appreciate and adore u just as you are. (sic)” The reality television star
recently admitted she had visited a doctor to discuss having her nose - which she sees as her “worst feature” - altered, but she decided not to go through with the procedure after seeing mock pictures of what she would look like. She said: “But what’s funny is about my nose, it’s my biggest insecurity. I always want to get my nose done. I went to a doctor, I had them take the pictures, he showed me what it would look like and it just didn’t- It- I wouldn’t look the same.”
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Gibson lost it at tree planting
36
el Gibson and Ok sa na Grigorieva ’s relationship allegedly imploded during a tree-planting ceremony for their young daughter. Tensions between the couple reportedly reached their conclusion on February 18, when the pair invited close friends and family members to their mansion in Malibu, California, to celebrate the arrival of baby Lucia then aged three months - by planting a tree in her honor. However, a source told RadarOnline.com the ‘Braveheart’ actor lost his temper during the day, and accused the Russian singer of “smiling too much” while talking to one of the male gardeners. Just hours later, at approximately 6pm, Oksana took baby Lucia and left the lavish home and moved to one of Mel’s other homes in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Mel - who has been accused of domestic violence against Oksana - faces a criminal inves-
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tigation on domestic battery charges by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and is part of a Department of Children and Family Services investigation, which is looking into claims Mel left Lucia bruised and hit Oksana while she was holding her. Before Oksana left Mel in February, it has been claimed he pulled a gun on her and threatened to shoot her, their daughter and her 12-year-old son Alexander, before turning the weapon on himself. Alexander - who is the son of former James Bond star Timothy Dalton - was interviewed by child protection services earlier this month about the January 6 incident. Mel, 54, has now arranged for an independent observer to be present whenever he visits his daughter, to stop Oksana from making any further accusations against him and to speed up the ongoing child protection investigation.
Lindsay Lohan makes friends in jail Madonna to move he 24-year-old actress - who started her sentence at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, last Tuesday- has gotten close to some other inmates after settling in. Her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley told UsMagazine.com: “She is doing fine. She has made some friends.” Lindsay is expected to serve less than 14 days of the 90-day sentence she was given for breaching the terms of probation set for her in 2007 for a driving under the influence (DUI) conviction. While Holley could not confirm an exact release date, she explained: “I would like to ensure that she has received all the time credits to which she is entitled [from her previous time in custody]. I am hopeful that her sentence will be reduced once those credits are properly factored in.” And Lindsay’s lawyer - who briefly quit last week before taking up the actress’ case again - insisted numerous reports of preferential treatment for the star were incorrect. Holley revealed: “We are not asking for special treatment from the court or the sheriff, nor is she receiving special treatment.” It was revealed last week the actress was cheered by other inmates shouting “we love you Lindsay” as she arrived at the prison. Prisoner Tiffany Hawes, who was being released from the centre at the time of the actress’ arrival, said: “Lindsay was crying when she came in. She was handcuffed but seemed calm. We all started saying, ‘God bless you Lindsay,’ and saying, ‘Hi’ to her and then she smiled at us.”
T
back to England adonna is reportedly planning to move back to Britain. The singer - who relocated from London to New York following her divorce from film director Guy Ritchie in 2008 - is currently in London directing her new movie ‘WE’, about late British monarch King Edward VIII’s decision to abdicate the throne for his American divorcee lover Wallis Simpson. Despite originally planning to only stay for the six-month shoot, Madonna has rediscovered her love for the UK capital and told ex- husband Guy she wants to move back to Britain for good. An insider told the Daily Star newspaper: “Guy says she talks about their home in Wiltshire, the kids and their friends in London. She seems nostalgic for her old life. She had built up a big circle of friends and fell in love with London. She’ll
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Penelope Cruz won’t lie about age enelope Cruz wants to embrace getting older and never wants to “lie” about her age. The 36-year-old actress doesn’t want to give into the pressure in Hollywood of having surgery to stay looking young and is inspired by her grandparents’ attitude to old age. She said: “I never want to lie about my age. If I look around at the actresses I admire, they are all women who have not fought growing older, but embraced it - women like Sophia Loren or Audrey Hepburn. “I was very close to both of my grandmothers growing up - they lived long into old age and they were always beautiful to me. They loved life and it showed in their faces. Of course my face will change as I get older, but that’s OK. It’s a good thing to be old, because
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that means you haven’t died yet right? And when I do get older, I want to have the grace to be proud of it, not to lie about it or try to fight it.” And Penelope - who recently married Spanish actor Javier Bardem - insists the people closest to her in her life shouldn’t want her to change her appearance. She added in an interview with You magazine: “The people who love me, love me for who I am. They love me for a mixture of things that makes anyone love another person, and those things will still be there when I am 40, 60 or 80.” Although she has a super-slim figure, the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ star admits she enjoys indulging in calorieladen treats. She revealed: “My favourite foods are bread and pasta, Coca-Cola and fried foods.”
Sienna wants English countryside wedding ienna Miller reportedly wants to marry Jude Law in the English countryside. The actress and the actor - who have been together for around nine months after rekindling their romance - are trying to decide where to tie the knot and although Jude is keen to marry abroad Sienna seemingly has her heart set on a big ceremony in England. A source said: “They are very happy and want to get married. But they are still undecided about where to tie the knot. She loves the idea of an English country wedding, but Jude wants as much privacy as possible and thinks a small wedding abroad would be better.” Sienna was recently seen walking around Vaudelnay in the Loire Valley - where Jude’s parents live - holding a “wedding file”, leading to speculation that would be the location for the big day. The pair have previously been engaged but ended their relationship in 2005 after it was revealed Jude was having an affair with his children’s nanny Daisy Wright. But they got back together in October 2009 and are now set to say “I do”.
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always love New York but she feels more at ease in London.” Madonna - who has four children, Lourdes, 13, Rocco, nine, Mercy, five, and fouryear-old David - is believed to be keen to move back to Britain so she can reconnect with her old friends. The source explained: “The person she spends most time with is her daughter Lourdes but she is desperate for more adult company.” Madonna, 51, previously said she fell out of love with the UK because she couldn’t stand being referred to as ‘Madge’, her British nickname. She said: “That’s one of the reasons I left England - so I don’t have to hear the word ‘Madge’ anymore. Some people say ‘Madge’ is a colloquialism for a boring middle-aged housewife. And other people say it’s short for Majesty.” —Bang Showbiz
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Music & Movies
Comic Con superheroes set to soar in 2011, and beyond People mourn in front of candles and flowers of a make-shift memorial site in the tunnel that formed the entrance to Love Parade grounds yesterday, where panic broke out in Duisburg, western Germany. —AFP
Actor Robert Downey Jr speaks onstage at the Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: The First Avenger” panel during Comic-Con 2010 at San Diego Convention Center. —AFP
By John Gaudiosi omic book movie fans who are mad at Hollywood in a summer season bereft of many superheroes, fear not. Help is on the way. As the giant Comic Con pop culture convention neared its end on Sunday, it was clear that the major movie studios have plenty of costumed crime fighters set for adventures in 2011 and beyond with the Green L antern, Green Hornet, Thor, Captain America and a team of Avengers making their way to theaters. This current summer got off to a strong start with Marvel Studios’ movie “Iron Man 2,” but family films such as “Toy Story 3” and “Despicable Me,” as well as vampire romance “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and more recently sci-fi thriller “Inception” have been the big draws in theaters. Next summer promises to be different, judging by the studio hype at Comic Con. Warner Bros expects to elevate DC Comics character, the Green Lantern, to a top-tier superhero. Actor Ryan Reynolds brings to life test pilot Hal Jordan, who joins the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps after he is given a ring with supernatural powers. “This character felt like an amalgamation between Chuck Yeager and Han Solo,” said Reynolds during a Comic Con panel that included co-stars Peter Sarsgaard, who plays Hector Hammond, Mark Strong (Sinestro) and Blake Lively (Carol Ferris). “He can throw a punch, tell a joke and kiss a girl. Who wouldn’t want to play that for a movie, let alone two or three?” said Reynolds. Green Lantern, who has 70 years of comic book stories from which to draw, is also a key member of the Justice League of America, a group of comic book crime fighters that includes superheroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. During one Comic Con panel over the weekend, fans asked Geoff Johns, the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics’ media wing DC Entertainment and a key “Green L antern” comic writer, if the movie will launch a Justice League movie franchise. Johns sidestepped any definitive statement, saying there was always that possibility, but he did allow that a successful “Green Lantern” release in
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Anger, sadness, questions after German Love Parade tragedy By Richard Carter lags in the mourning German city of Duisburg flew at half mast yesterday as investigators probed allegations over lax safety measures at a techno festival where a stampede killed 19 people. Officials said seven foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Bosnia and Spain, were among those killed on Saturday at the Love Parade in the small city in western Germany. More than 340 people were injured. Deputy police chief Detlef von Schmeling said the victims, aged between 20 and 40, died as they scrambled to escape from a crush in a narrow, 100-metre (yard) tunnel that served as the only
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entrance. Television pictures showed lifeless bodies being passed over the heads of those frantically trying to escape. “I saw dead people in the tunnel, others alive but unconscious on the ground,” said Anneke Kuypers, an 18-year-old from New Zealand. “Others were crying.” German-born Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their horror over the catastrophe, as the German leader called for a “very intensive investigation”. “This was a very, very dreadful and sad day,” Merkel said. “We must do everything we can to ensure that something like this never happens again.” But shock quickly turned to anger as furious survivors demanded explanations for why security plans could
Angelina Jolie wows Moscow with Russian ‘hero spy’ By Anna Smolchenko ollywood star Angelina Jolie delighted Russians as she arrived in Moscow to promote her thriller movie where she plays a “big hero” Russian spy two weeks after a real-life espionage swap fascinated the world. In Moscow on the heels of the biggest spy exchange between Russia and the United States since the end of the Cold War, Jolie said Sunday evening her playing a Russian in the spy
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thriller movie “Salt” was a good thing for the country. “Maybe there are some bad guys that are Russians but if you look closely the big hero is Russian,” Jolie said of the movie at its Russian premier in central Moscow. “So I think it’s very positive for Russia,” the actress, who wore a scarlet halter dress that revealed some of her famous tattoos, said in her brief speech. With her latest fast-paced action movie, Jolie is essentially bucking the Hollywood trend by playing a
Actress Angelina Jolie arrives for the Russian Premiere of her feature film “Salt,” Moscow, Russia, Sunday. —AP
went so wrong and reports emerged that authorities had been warned beforehand that Duisburg was too small for the event. At the entrance to the tunnel, where dozens of candles and an impromptu remembrance board with hundreds of signatures marked the dead, there were angry messages for the organizers. “This event should never have taken place here,” read one. “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” another message read. Yesterday’s edition of the daily Stadt-Anzeiger in nearby Cologne said the mayor had been warned in writing in October 2009 that the grounds were too narrow for the expected crowds but that their concerns went unheeded. Spiegel magazine said on its website
good Russian. She plays CIA officer Evelyn Salt, who turns out to be a Russian spy. Her real name is Chenkov and she was trained since childhood for a mission which has the ultimate goal of preparing for war against the United States. Dedicated to the mission, Chenkov-Salt however turns against her Russian spy master and fellow sleeper spies when they kill her German husband whom she is deeply attached to. For the movie-and the premierJolie had to learn some Russian, she said. “Dobry vecher!” (Good evening), she greeted the audience before the start of the film. “I tried to speak a bit of Russian. Hope I did OK.” The spy movie hits the screens just weeks after the spy swap between Russia and the United States during which Washington detained and deported 10 reallife Kremlin sleeper spies after they were exchanged for four Russian convicts on Vienna tarmac. Jolie’s heroine is also at the heart of a spy swap with North Korea in one of the movie’s opening scenes. The actress spoke just hours after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revealed he gave a heroes’ welcome to the 10 spies, singing Soviet-era patriotic songs with them. The film’s crew, who travelled to Russia for a scene on the Volga River, said they were fascinated with the notion of the Russian sleeper agents. “There’s something really mysterious and sexy about the notion that somebody could lie in wait-for decades, if necessary,” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was quoted as saying by Sony Pictures, whose unit Columbia Pictures made the movie. “We discovered it was more real than we could have guessed,” Jolie was quoted as saying. “Truth really is stranger than fiction.” Fans waited for hours in Moscow’s baking summer heat to steal a glimpse of their favorite actress. People screamed and cheered as ordinary and famous Russian men and women professed their love for the Hollywood celebrity. During a 40-minute red-carpet appearance before the start of the movie Jolie gave out autographs and brief interviews, telling the Russians to travel the world whenever they felt frustrated. —AFP
that the festival only had authorization for 250,000 revelers instead of for 1.4 million people who organizers had expected beforehand to attend. The mayor, Adolf Sauerland, said the investigation had been passed to prosecutors but defended what he said was a “solid security plan.” “I know that everyone wants an answer to the question ‘why?’ and this must be cleared up. But I ask for people not to jump to premature judgements,” Sauerland told angry reporters at a charged news conference. Germany’s police union chief, Rainer Wendt, also attacked the planning, telling mass circulation Bild: “At the end of the day, the city and the organizers are to blame for this
tragedy.” “I warned one year ago that Duisburg was not a suitable place for the Love Parade. The city is too small and narrow for such events,” Wendt said. With several questions still unanswered, one thing was clear: the tragedy of the 2010 Love Parade will not be repeated. Chief organizer Rainer Schaller said the popular event, one of the biggest techno festivals in Europe, would not be held again “out of respect for the victims and their families.” First hosted in Berlin in 1989 just months before the fall of the Wall, the Love Parade left the capital in 2007 after disagreements with city authorities over logistics and security and has since been held in several other German cities. —AFP
Louis Prima Jr, center, poses with his band the Witnesses on the newly unveiled Hollywood Walk of Fame star of his father, the late jazz singer and composer Louis Prima, outside the Montalban Theatre in Hollywood on July 25, 2010. —AFP
Louis Prima gets posthumous Hollywood star ing of Swing’ Louis Prima has received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a centennial celebration that included dancing in the street to his big-band sounds. The influential band leader was honored at a Sunday ceremony on Vine Street attended by his son Louis Prima Jr, who continues the legacy of his father’s music, his daughter Lena Prima, celebrities, dignitaries and fans.
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“Louis Prima was a great entertainer and presented a great show. But more than anything else, he brought happiness to his audiences,” said Bill Cosby in a congratulatory message read at the midday ceremony, which also included a concert of Prima’s music by Louis Prima Jr’s big band, The Witnesses, as well as swing-dancing fans. Prima, who died in 1978, would have been 100 years old this year. —AP
June next year would lead the charge for projects DC Entertainment undertakes in the future. Back in theaters, fans will not have to wait to see another group of crime fighters as Marvel Studios’ gears up to release “The Avengers,” a collection of some of Earth’s mightiest superheroes brought together by the character Nick Fury. Marvel has been building a new film franchise by releasing individual superhero films like “Iron Man” and “The Hulk,” and upcoming 2011 releases include “Thor” and “Captain America.” Samuel L Jackson, who portrayed Fury in small parts in “Iron Man” and “Iron Man 2”, surprised Comic Con audiences when he took the stage at a Marvel presentation and assembled the entire cast of 2012’s planned movie, “The Avengers”Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Downey received a rousing ovation and said “The Avengers” is the most ambitious movie idea Hollywood has hatched. Fans of Marvel characters will likely thrill to a double feature, of sorts, next summer when “Thor” hits theaters in early May and “Captain America: The First Avenger” opens in July. The cast of both films were featured during the Marvel presentation. In “Captain America,” which has just started filming, Evans dons the red, white and blue costume to battle Nazi villain The Red Skull. The film, which is set during World War II, will link Captain America with Thor. Kenneth Branagh is bringing the Norse god of thunder, Thor, to the big screen with the hero battling the villain Loki. Natalie Portman plays Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster. Kat Dennings is Darcy, an original character who will help Foster, and the movie sees Fury recruiting Thor for The Avengers. Finally, early in 2011 Sony Pictures rolls out “The Green Hornet” which stars Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, a playboy-turnedsuperhero who drives a 1965 Chrysler Imperial with machine guns, rockets and other gadgets. Amid all the spandex-clad superheroes, Rogen believes his character has a secret weapon to lure audiences. He is grounded in reality. —Reuters
‘Cats and Dogs’ sequel a charmless tale By Kirk Honeycutt lthough critter movies have performed extremely well at the box office, “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” will put that trend to a tough test when it opens on Friday. This isn’t so much that the story and characters are weak though they very much are-but that animatronics and computer animation so anthropomorphize these critters that they bear more resemblance to cartoons than actual flesh-and-fur animals. When cats and dogs, not to mention a bird and a mouse,
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don’t act like animals, those story and character weaknesses really stand out. Which is not to say young audiences won’t embrace these critters too. CGI is so accepted now in video games and movies that these “Cats and Dogs” may look goof y rather than grotesque. Let’s just hope no youngster returns home and flings the family feline across the lawn to see if she can fly like Kitty Galore. The movie begins with a perfectly actionable premise: It’s “Spy Kids” with critters. The opening-title sequence, easily the best thing in the movie, deliciously mim-
Actor Michael Clarke Duncan arrives at the world premiere of “Cat & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” on July 25, 2010 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. —AFP
ics those in James Bond movies. Then, true to form-for early Bond films at least-there’s an MI-6-like organization called DOGS, determined to keep the world safe for only one kind of pet, and an elite spy organization called MEOWS, which challenges that assumption. But where is the Bond character? What you get for a protagonist, or at least the fourlegged character with the most screen time, is a failed police dog, a German Shepherd named Diggs (voiced by James Marsden). Only in human movie terms, he’s more like Inspector Clouseau. —Reuters
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SPECTRUM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
SPECTRUM
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KT World Cup Quiz winner receives prize By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: The first prize in the Kuwait Times’ recent World Cup quiz was won by KT reader Kurien George, who received his prize at a special ceremony held on Sunday evening at the Swimming Pool Complex, when the winning ticket was selected. The Kuwait Times’ Marketing Manager also took this opportunity to reveal that the paper is to run another great competition for readers during Ramadan. The quiz, set by the Kuwait Times, was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and sponsored by Gulf Mart, the Touristic Enterprises Company, and Red Bull (Bushehri). Many people attended the prize draw event, with a total of 50 entrants winning a variety of great prizes, apart from those presented in the competi-
tion itself. Mr George, a 62-year-old training coordinator with the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), won a KD 500 Toshiba laptop and a free meal for two at the Crowne Plaza Hotel worth up to KD 60. “I’ve had a great relationship with the Kuwait Times since 1975 since it was the only paper with a Malayam supplement,” he explained. He was full of praise for the quiz itself, saying, “The questions were very nice and very easy to answer; actually my son helped me in answering them. I’ll participate in future quizzes and I want to thank the Kuwait Times for such a lovely prize.” The second place prizewinner, a Khorafi Company employee named only as Daniel, was also enthusiastic about the competition: “This is my first time taking part in a contest like this. I knew about it from my friends at Al-Khorafi, who also participated in it.
Upcoming Ramadan contest announced
I think I’ll take part in future Kuwait Times quizzes too.” The World Cup Quiz attracted over 15,000 entrants of various nationalities, with only 3,000 answering all the questions correctly. Their names were then submitted for Sunday night’s raffle. Among the senior officials attending the event were Remesh TA, the national manager of Gulf Mart, Abdulaziz Ashkenani from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Abdullah Shaheen, the Manager of the Swimming Pool Complex and the Kuwait Times Marketing Manager Adnan Saad. Mr Saad also revealed that the prizes for the Ramadan quiz will be worth a total of KD 20,000. “Now you’ve got enough time to find out about Ramadan on the internet before we launch the Ramadan Quiz - and I’ve got to say that it will be a little bit more difficult than the last Ramadan Quiz!” he told the enthusi-
astic audience at Sunday’s event. The prize draw and ceremony were a great success, with a crowd of all ages coming together to have a lovely time and applaud the winners.
KUWAIT: The audience is seen receiving gifts from Gulf Mart Mr Remesh TA the Country Manager, Abdallah Shaheen the Manager of Swimming Pool Complex, Abdulaziz Ashkenani representing the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Adnan Saad the Marketing Manager of Kuwait Times.
www.kuwaittimes.net
KUWAIT: The winners are seen receiving gifts from Remesh TA, Gulf Mart Country Manager, Abdallah Shaheen, Manager of Swimming Complex, Abdulaziz Ashkanene representing the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Adnan Saad, Marketing Manager of Kuwait Times.